#thank you to laura for letting me plagiarize

[silentglassbreak]

Fragmented

Noah Sebastian x OFC

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Thank you all for being patient with me. We need to develop this plot, so let's all buckle up.

Warnings: Nothing wild here. Testosterone being tossed around.

+It goes without saying. This is a work of fiction. My words are mine. Plagiarism is a crime.

Taglist: @flowery-mess @lma1986 @myownthoughts12 @poisongirl616 @missduffsblog @reidsblessing @malerieee @jilliemiw86 @thisbicc @xx-like-a-villian-xx @diabolicdiatonics

Part 9 - First Time

One Month Later

Normal is a relative term, isn’t it? By definition, it means conforming to a standard. Therefore, my life was getting into a sense of normalcy, as I was forcing it to.

I couldn’t handle the heartbreak anymore. It was too painful to allow myself to continue to sulk. Every time she left, anytime we said goodbye, my soul folded in on itself more and more. Is it going to stop hurting just because I want it to? No. Can I allow myself to move on? I think so.

One hundred and eighteen days since she ended things. My world fell apart, but I only have to wait so long before I start trying to put it back together. I’m encouraged to move forward. I’m told to let myself heal. And I think maybe it’s time.

Thirty-six days since Mileena and I recovered from the stomach flu, and our safe bubble was burst. We haven’t kissed, fucked, or had any above mildly flirtatious contact since.

We’re still close, and we still talk every day - sometimes for hours, but I’ve put up a silent barrier between us. Continuing to allow the physical affection was only making it harder for both of us. And I’ve learned, through months of dealing with this, that she has little to no control.

She’s still seeing Justin, which stings in ways I can’t even begin to explain, but I’ve swallowed it. Leena seems to have taken to him, which makes me happy. Although I never expected to feel that way, I do. Seeing her smile, and seeing her joy has brought a sense of calm to my soul, even if I’m not the person lighting that fire inside her.

Maybe I’m moving on.

Today, I was awake early, driving to the guys’ place, anxious and excited all at once.

Today was album completion day. After hours on hours of sitting with Jolly in the studio, rewriting lyrics, re-recording vocals, and reworking the instrumentals, it was finally ready.

Today, at 9AM, the album was due to Sumerian. We were going to send it at 8AM, the email already drafted and all of the files attached. It was a big moment, and we were ecstatic. The amount of work that had gone into this album made Death of Peace of Mind look like child’s play. We were all so ready to be moving to the next stage - preparing for release.

I pulled into the driveway, and noticed the amount of vehicles. I, clearly, wasn’t the only one there.

Just inside the front door, I kicked my boots off and made my way toward the living room, already hearing many conversations ongoing. Just inside the foyer, I could see Nick and Laura, enthralled in whatever conversation they were having. Jolly was sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the screen of his laptop, surely checking the email again to make sure all of the attachments were sound, and nothing had been forgotten.

In the back corner of the room, Folio stood by the fireplace, mid-conversation with Leena, who was holding Addison on her hip.

“Well, hello family!”

Everyone’s eyes flashed to me, smiles breaking out on everyone’s faces.

“There he is!” Nick walked over and clapped my shoulder. “Cant believe you’re the last one here!”

I shook my head. “Traffic was rough this morning.”

I gave him and Laura welcoming hugs, and made my way over to Leena and Addison.

“There’s my girls.” I gave Mileena a one-armed hug, and took Addie from her, squeezing her tight.

“Are you excited?” Leena was beaming at me, something like pride on her face.

“Excited and anxious. I’ll be glad once it’s out of our hands.”

Folio snorted next to me. “Yeah, so you can’t fuck with it anymore.”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “It’s not fucking with it. It’s perfecting.”

He reached over, slipping Addie from my arms. “Well, go check on Jolly. He hasn’t spoken in twenty minutes.”

I padded over to the couch and flopped down. “All good here?”

He nodded, reopening the email. “I think so. Everything’s working. Cover art and back art is there. Lyric docs are attached. I think we’re all set. Bryan is going to forward in the pictures for the social media announcements. And Matt’s working on the details for the release party already.”

I nodded. “We don’t know how long?”

Jolly shrugged. “Three months, maybe? Slaughter is releasing their album next month, but then Alec told me it’s pretty clear until November. We’re likely shooting for a fall release.”

“Oh sweet. We can start touring in spring, maybe?”

Jolly smiled and leaned back. “I fucking hope so man. We’ve been getting a lot of heat for not hitting Australia on the last tour. Or Asia.”

“Maybe we start there?”

I could feel eyes burning into the side of my head, Mileena standing close enough to hear our conversation, but I ignored them.

“Festival season is in the spring and summer, so maybe we start with that? And work our way out?”

I huffed, and let my eyes drift over to Leena, who had a sad expression on her face that she wasn’t hiding well. “We’ll let Matt and Lana work it out.”

“Two minutes, guys.” Nick called from across the coffee table.

Folio came and plopped next to me. Nick sat next to Jolly, Laura perched on one of his knees. Leena sat, Addie in her lap, on the arm of the couch.

Jolly’s finger hovered over the ‘Send’ button, and we all held our breath.

“As always, I would like to just say, you guys are the best. We have worked our asses off for this, and if we receive even half of the success as Death of Peace of Mind, we’re lucky. We’re lucky to do what we love, and do it well.” I spoke to the entire room. To my brothers.

“Let’s fucking do this!” Folio announced, and the clock struck 8:30, Jolly clicking the mouse.

A second of silence fell over us, until the confirmation that it was sent popped on the screen.

We all broke out in celebratory hollers and clapping.

“Fuck yeah! We fucking did it!” Nick exclaimed, patting Jolly’s shoulder.

“You guys are awesome, you know that?” Laura smiled at us all.

“We need to celebrate!” Folio stood up suddenly, all of our eyes snapping up to him. “Let’s call Matt, Bryan, Lana, and Davis, and let’s go fucking celebrate!”

“Uh, dude…it’s not even 9AM…” I was smirking at him.

“It doesn’t have to be a party.” He stopped, thinking for a moment. “Let’s go ride fucking roller coasters!”

Nick, Jolly, and myself all stood up, affirming our excitement at once.

“That’s fucking awesome! Let’s do it!” Nick was still holding onto Laura. “You’ll come?”

She smiled wide. “Blocked my whole day for you, babe. I’m down.”

Nick glanced at Leena. “You too?”

She seemed to hesitate, her eyes looking over to me. “I, uh, might need to pass.” She chewed her lip. “Addie and I had plans today.”

“So…cancel them?” Jolly interjected.

“We were supposed to meet with Justin.”

I scoffed. “So bring him?” Her eyes widened in surprise at me. Valid, given I was mildly surprised at myself as well. “Unless, of course, he’s too scared…”

-

The drive to Knott's Berry Farm was quicker than I expected. Folio and I rode in my truck with Addison, Nick and Laura were in her car, Bryan and Matt were picking up Davis and Lana, and Mileena would be meeting us in about an hour after she picked up Justin. As we turned right off of La Palma onto Beach Boulevard, the traffic came to a dead stop. The turn-in to Knott's toward the parking lot was packed.

"Is something going on today?"

I shrugged. "No idea. We got here early, so I didn't think it would be too packed for a Thursday." I glanced at the dash. "It's only noon."

He rolled his window down, leaning his body out of the window, and waving at a security guard who was directing traffic.

"Hey," The guard walked over to my car. "is there a reason it's so busy?"

The guard stood with his hands on his belt, and glanced down to the line of cars.

"The concert today. It doesn't start until 6, but folks want to get in early."

Folio raised an eyebrow, dropping back into the vehicle. "Concert?" He pulled his phone out and opened his browser. After a moment of searching, he smiled. "Oh dope, dude! There's three bands playing today!"

I was pulling toward the parking lot now, waiting for my turn to pay at the stall. "Which ones?"

"Skillet, Daughtry, and Lifehouse."

I nodded in surprise. "That's fucking cool, man. We picked a good day to come."

Once we had all parked, I was pushing the stroller with Addison squealing excitedly. We all talked about which rides we were hitting first.

"Dude, we can't just start with the biggest ones. We've got to warm up." Nick was trying to reason with Folio, who looked as though he was crawling right out of his skin.

"Bro, I am riding the Xcelerator first, and you can't fucking stop me."

I chuckled. "I'm so in on that, man."

Laura reached for the stroller, taking it from me easily. "That's fine. You and Folio go get your adrenaline rush. Addie and I will be waiting for Leena in Camp Snoopy."

I bent down to kiss Addie's nose as she munched on her cotton candy, making an absolute mess. "You be good for Auntie, baby girl."

She blew a bubble in response.

Folio and I practically sprinted to the line for the roller coaster, only being a few dozen people back. He immediately hopped up onto the railing, smiling wide.

"So excited. I haven't been here since I was a kid."

I nodded. "Leena and I came like...three months after we met? She likes to act like she loves roller coasters, but in reality, she only rides the mellow ones."

He giggled. "She always talks such a big game, dude."

"Fucking honestly. She's as human as the rest of us, contrary to popular belief."

He nodded, jumping down to move with the line. "You going to be good with her bringing Justin?"

I perused this a moment. "I think so. I've had some time to adjust."

He looked at me suspiciously. "Have you been adjusting? You and Leena seem to be pretty...I don't know...weird?"

Leaning against the rail, I crossed my arms and looked at him. "Weird like how?"

"Well, let's see," Folio turned to face his body toward me. "you break up, when clearly neither of you wanted to do that. You both get majorly depressed for a while. Then you have an outburst at the 4th party, where you both disappear for half an hour." He raised his eyebrow suspiciously. "Then you flirt all the time, and both get sick at the same time, hiding out for three days together, where neither of you will talk about what happened." I chewed on my bottom lip. "Now you guys just stare longingly at each other from across rooms, and act like everything's okay." We moved forward with the line.

"Oh, and not to mention that she has a boyfriend."

Thanks for that, Folio.

"Doesn't seem very adjusted."

I scoffed. "Well, I didn't realize I came today to get attacked, but alright."

He chuckled at me, smacking my shoulder. "I'm just asking. I'm not sure any of us really get why you two aren't just...together...."

I shrugged, then. "That was her decision."

He cocked his head. "But why?"

I sighed hard, arms still crossed. "She can't handle it, dude. The," I waved my hand around us. "Bad Omens, rock and roll, touring thing."

Folio looked interested. "No?"

Shaking my head, I noticed we were getting closer to the front. "Nope. And that's my life."

"Can't her and Addison come on tour?"

"Man, I wish. I've even tried to convince her too, but having a toddler on a tour bus wouldn't work, and even I know that."

He looked disappointed. "Fuck, man."

"Yeah, I know." Huffing out a weak laugh, I rubbed the back of my neck. "I even offered to quit. Just write and produce so I wouldn't have to tour."

"You couldn't do that, dude. You love this shit."

I nodded, and looked directly at him. "I know, but I love them more."

Folio and I were walking over to Camp Snoopy, where everyone had convened after riding their respective rides. I caught a glimpse of Mileena sat at a picnic table, surrounded by everyone, feeding Addison in the stroller. Before I even reached the group, I noticed it.

Everyone was speaking, laughing together. Justin was stood talking to Davis, talking about something with his hands, and Davis was definitely into the story. The entire group was engaged in some form of conversation, looking excited and lighthearted. Everyone, except Mileena.

She was handing Addison her snacks, back turned to the group, and a look of frustration on her face.

We approached them, everyone turning their attention to us.

"How was it?" Nick chirped up from behind Laura.

"Fucking rush. So much fun." Folio responded, coming to sit next to Leena, and grabbing the snacks from her. Leena smiled at him as he started talking to Addie, handing her the puffs from the bag. If anyone bonded with the baby the most, to everyone's surprise, it was Folio.

I stepped over to stand in front of Leena, staring down at her. I lowered my eyes so I was looking directly at her. I gave her the look; the one that she knew asked if she was alright. She just pursed her lips, and nodded curtly.

I glanced back over to where Justin was still talking to Davis, Jolly now having joined the conversation.

I smiled down at Leena. "Want to come with me to grab a soda?"

Her eyes drifted over to Justin, who was paying her no mind, and stood up.

"You okay with her for a minute?" Folio just nodded to her in response.

She followed behind me as I made my way toward the Calico Ghost Town, and the snack shops they had nearby. We joined the long line, and I turned to look at her.

"What's going on?"

She sighed. "Nothing, just wanted to be here a lot sooner."

"Everything okay with you two?"

She looked at me, her eyes hesitant, but I could see that she wanted to tell me.

I held my hands up. "Safe space, here."

Leaning her head back, she groaned. "He's irritating me."

"How so?"

"He's pissed that I wanted to come here. We had plans to get lunch, and take Addie to the park. I explained that today was a big deal, but he told me he didn't see why I had to come."

I raised an eyebrow. "Ah, okay. Makes sense."

"No, it doesn't. He knows that I'm close with all of the guys, not just you. But he still gets so fucking weird about it." Her voice was full of annoyance, which amused me.

"I mean..." I calculated my words. "Can you blame the guy?"

Her head snapped toward me. "What?"

Laughing, I took a step away from her. "Leena, I am your ex. We spend an awful lot of time together."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "We have a kid together, Noah."

I nodded. "I get that. I'm just saying, he probably has pretty good reason to be skeptical."

She huffed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know. I just," Taking a slow breath, she calmed herself. "if him and I are going to make it work, he's going to have to understand. You guys are my family."

I let my arms reach for her, pulling her into a comfortable hug. "I know. And if he really likes you, he'll figure it out."

The day passed comfortably, the warm sun baking us while we waited in lines, played games, and ate funnel cakes. Mileena passed on the bigger coasters, as I had expected. Laura and I rode the Jaguar six times in a row, nearly toppling over from lightheadedness after the last ride.

Justin and I didn't speak much, only in passing comments and niceties. It was easier that way.

By 5PM, we started to see the signs go up for the concert, so we decided to head over to the stage area, tucked behind the Ghost Rider, in an attempt to get decent seats. We found a table big enough for everyone - with the exception of Matt and Lana, who insisted they be at the front - and got comfortable.

Addison had been sleeping for about an hour, and I had pulled her from the stroller, cradling her to my chest against my sweatshirt, so I could try and shield her ears some from the music. I stood at the end of the table, swaying her back and forth, Mileena sitting next to where I stood, chatting idly with Laura about the day.

I felt a bump to my elbow, and looked to my right, seeing Justin standing next to me, large beer in his hand.

I nodded toward him. "What's up, man?"

My hand was rubbing circles on Addison's back, my knees bouncing gently.

"Could I borrow you for a minute?"

Looking at him curiously, I tried to gauge his intentions. I had kept a good enough distance from Leena for the day, in an attempt to not stir any drama.

"Uh, one sec." I turned, motioning with my chin for Folio to come over. "Can you take her for a minute?"

He just peeled her off of me, repositioning her on his chest. This caught Mileena's attention, who had a concerned look on her face as I began following Justin to where he stood a few feet away. I flashed her a small smile for reassurance.

The opening riffs to Skillet's first song caught my attention for a split second before I turned my attention back to Justin.

"What's going on?"

He took a long pull from his beer, and I noted that it wasn't the first he had that night. "I just wanted to chat with you. Hadn't had much chance to talk today." He snorted then. "Or...ever, really."

I laughed, putting my hands in my sweater pocket. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Congrats on finishing the album, man."

I nodded. "Thank you, I appreciate that."

We both looked over to the stage, taking a second to listen to the song. Comatose. A good one.

"So, can I ask you something? Man to man?"

I turned back to look at him, shrugging. "Go for it."

"Are you fucking Mileena?"

This caught me wildly off guard, making me lean back on my heels, eyes blown wide.

"Excuse me?"

"Cause you two seem a little more comfortable than typical exes."

My mouth was hanging open, my brain scrambled. "Dude..."

"If you are, I guess it's whatever. We never made anything exclusive." His words didn't match his tone at all, which told me if I didn't give the right answer, he would probably put a fist straight into my mouth.

As tempting as that was...

"No, man, we're not sleeping together." I waved a hand in between us, shaking my head. "We're not like that."

"Anymore." He added on.

"Well," I glanced back at Leena, who was watching the concert from her seat. "clearly. We do have a kid together."

He smiled at me then, his eyes darkening. The look made my stomach turn.

"She's great in bed, isn't she?"

My blood turned to ice, and my spine involuntarily straightened. I may be moving on, but I'm still a human being. I can only tolerate so much, and he was testing my fucking limit.

Before I could respond, he decided to continue. "I can't imagine how you ever let go of that, brother. She's fucking wild."

I ground my teeth together, jaw clicking in the process. My hands were balled into fists at my side.

"Let's not." Was all I could get out.

He scoffed. "Oh come on, it's not like we haven't both been there."

The eyes staring back at me were malicious. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A hot, angry fire lit in my chest, screaming at me to rip this jackass' tongue straight out of his mouth, but I didn't. Instead, I returned his smile with my own, venomous and rage-induced.

"I mean, I guess you have a point." He raised his eyebrows, clearly not expecting my response. "There is a small difference, though."

He took another chug from his cup, wiping his mouth. "What's that?"

I licked my lips, glancing around to ensure no one was around.

"You get to fuck her, right?" He just nodded in response. "She begged me to fuck her."

I watched his smile fall, his eyes squinting and chest puffing out. "Oh yeah?"

I let my shoulders roll back easily. "Yeah. So," I leaned in, making sure he could hear me clearly. "that girl over there, regardless of if she's riding your cock, or any other douchebag's, belongs to me."

I could see his jaw tighten. I turned my body to walk away, leaving him with one last comment.

"And I'll just warn you now," I looked him up and down. "you're just temporary. May want to wrap your head around that."

With that, I walked away. It wasn't my proudest moment, I'll admit, but I didn't care. I held my head high as I walked back to the table, and took my daughter from Folio, bobbing to the music while she slept soundly in my arms.

Mileena and Justin had disappeared shortly after our talk, which didn't surprise me. I didn't see them through the rest of Skillet's set, and Lifehouse was due to come out after the intermission. I had handed Addie to Laura, taking a few minutes to run to the restrooms and grab a pretzel. I waited in line at the snack stand, scrolling through the photos I had taken on my phone that day, when I felt a hard slap come across my left shoulder.

I looked over, seeing a tearful Leena, face red with anger. "What the fuck did you say to him?!"

My eyes panned around, seeing all of the eyes staring at us.

"C'mon." I grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the line, but as soon as we were alone, she squirmed out of my grip.

"Seriously, Noah! What did you say?! He fucking left!"

I rolled my eyes at that. "I didn't say anything he didn't need to hear."

She deadpanned at me. "Which was what?"

Sighing, I adjusted my hat, turning it backwards on my head. "The guy's a dick, Leena. He wanted to talk about how you are in bed with me."

Her eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"I just made it clear that wasn't a good idea."

She narrowed her eyes. "He told me you said we were still sleeping together."

I shook my head. "Nope. I actually told him that we weren't."

"Noah, what did you say?"

After several attempts of trying to give her the cliffnotes version, she finally snapped and demanded to know what I said, verbatim.

Once I told her, I thought the big vein in her neck was going to explode all over both of us.

"What the fuck, Noah?!"

I kept my voice even. "I love how you're only mad at me, when he wanted to antagonize me, while also being halfway drunk." I threw my hands up. "On a day that's about my band, to begin with." I smirked, annoyed, and put my hands in my pockets. "Guy's got some fucking balls, I'll give him that."

Leena shook her head. "I am mad at him. But I'm more mad at you."

My face held an amused, bewildered look. "Make it make sense?"

She rolled her eyes. "Noah, you were the one who reasoned that he had a right to be uncomfortable."

"Oh, well let me be clear - I hereby retract that statement. Guy's a douche." I nodded at her to emphasize each word.

She groaned, and rubbed a hand over her face.

"The fuck am I going to do?"

I snorted. "That's on you, dude." She glared at me. "But my two cents? Break it off. He's an ass." And with that, I walked away from her, leaving her to stare after me with an exasperated look on her face.

Lifehouse finished, but my mood was dead. I had no interest in staying for Daughtry. I was so beyond annoyed by this entire situation, that I elected to leave early.

I offered to take Addison, but Mileena assured that she would take her until my regular day. Rather than argue, I just said my goodbyes to everyone, and headed for the entrance of the park.

My irritation grew the further out I got, and was at a full blown rage by the time I reached my truck, my fist landing on the door.

How could she? This muscled-up dirtbag comes in, pisses her off, and then has the audacity to try and talk shop with me, about her, and she's mad at me? Where is the fucking math on that? What did I fucking miss?

I had been so God damn tolerant. So patient. I had taken the mixed fucking signals, the back and forth emotions, the wanting me one second, and treating me like the outlier the next. I had taken it all on the chin. I'd sat there and watched her be in a new relationship, ignoring how painful that is. Moving on before my very eyes.

And all for...what? For going on tour? For leaving her alone? For admitting that I'm a human fucking being and pictured another woman naked? That for a split fucking second, I considered sleeping with her? For which I then beat myself up and felt guilty as fuck afterwards?!

I was done. Done being patient. Done being the bigger person. I got the fucked end of the stick this entire time, and now she's mad at me?

I sped down the highway, no regard for the limit, zooming toward my house so I could be alone. She ruined this day, and I was fucking over it.

It only took me twenty-five minutes before I was pulled up to my gate, noticing a sedan parked on the street outside of it with it's headlights on. This caught my attention, as it was a vehicle I didn't recognize.

I swiped in, and saw the sedan following me through the gate. This had me on guard, my eyes watching my rearview mirror as the car stopped behind my truck. I was too keyed up, willing to fuck up anyone who tried me at this moment.

Jumping out of my struck, I slammed the door behind me and walked toward the vehicle. The driver's door opened, and a small man, slightly hunched over, stepped out. He wore a lanyard around his neck with some form of ID, and held a manila envelope in his hands.

"This is private property." Was all I said before he walked up to me, a kind smile on his face.

"Noah Davis?"

I scrunched my nose. "Who's asking?"

He looked down at his papers and back up to me. "My name is Leonard James. Are you Noah Davis?"

I crossed my arms. "Sebastian."

He adjusted his glasses. "Oh, I apologize sir. I see that here. Noah Sebastian Davis?"

I rolled my eyes. "My government name, sure. Who are you?"

He handed me the envelope, still smiling at me.

"You've been served."

[dyinglikenarcissus]

Feel Better?

My mom has once again left town leaving me alone 😭 so I wrote this little drabble to help me feel better

Warning: This is an 18+ blog. Read at your own risk. Contains: oral sex female receiving, overstimulating, a mom leaving town, fluff, that’s all

Please don’t copy or repost my work, thanks! Plagiarism is rude

Comments, likes, and reblogs are always appreciated ☺️

1k word

“It was so nice having you, Mrs-“

“Ah ah ah!” Your mother interrupts, wagging her finger at the giant blond.

Steve lets out a soft chuckle before correcting himself. “It was so nice having you, Laura.”

“Thank you for letting me stay for so long. I know no one wants their girlfriend’s parents around for three weeks.”

“Oh no! You make her happy. Anything to keep that smile on her face.” You watch sadly as your mother and Steve share a warm hug. Then she turns to you and you have to fight back tears.

“Don’t want you to leave,” you whine as she pulls you into a tight hug.

“I don’t want to go,” your mom sighs. “You take care of yourself, alright?”

You nod. “Have a safe flight. You have your ticket and your snacks?”

“Your sister is making me a bento,” your mom laughs practicing the foreign word. You can’t help but smile as she leads you to her rental car.

“Drive safe,” you mutter.

“I will. I love you.”

“Love you, too.” The two of you embrace once more and she gets into her car and drives off towards your sister’s then to the airport and back to Florida.

You feel a strong arm wrap around your waist while you wave at your mother’s car shrinking in the distance. You finally lean into his embrace and let him pull you to his chest.

“You alright?”

“I guess,” you sigh and smoother your face in Steve’s jacket.

Steve sighs and pulls you a little closer before tugging you back inside.

To be honest, he couldn’t be happier to see the woman leave. Every night you were up late watching movies with her and every day you were out shopping or at the museums or sightseeing. He hadn’t had a moment alone with you in three weeks.

And he had a lot to make up for.

“What can I do to make make it better, princess?”

“I don’t know,” you sigh softly. “I just want to hang out. Watch a movie or something.”

“Of course we can do that,” Steve smiles and leads you to the couch. He already knows what will bring up your spirits. He pours you a glass of wine and turns on one of your I Love Lucy DVDs and makes sure you’re as comfortable as possible with plenty of pillows and blankets.

You catch yourself giggling at Lucille Ball’s and Vivian Vance’s antics and Steve already knows he’s done good.

You curl into one of the pillows and he easily curls over you, cupping your breast with one hand and tucking the other between your thighs.

“Stevie,” you giggle as he peppers kisses across your shoulder. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing,” he mutters, his lips still trailing up to your throat.

You giggle again at Desi Arnaz’s pronunciation of ‘explain’ giving Steve an opening to tuck his hand into you shorts.

“Steve,” you smile and move your head so he can reach more of your skin.

“Just trying to cheer you up,” he mutters before pressing his lips to yours. “Is it working?”

“I think so,” you smile. He leans at your side and pulls your shorts down your hips before kneeling on the ground between your legs.

“Oh no! I need you to know so, my little princess,” the blond insists, spreading your legs a little wider to view your dripping core. “And look at my beautiful girl. She’s just begging me, to, make, her, feel, good.” He punctuates each word with a kiss up your thigh ending right before your wet lips. He doesn’t even bother asking for permission. He just dives right in licking and slurping at his favorite meal.

“Stevie,” you whine lifting your leg over his shoulder so he can get a little deeper. “Nnngmmmhhh ah ah ah right there, baby. Uh huh,” you whimper, your nails digging into his thick locks to press his head deeper into you. As his lips lock around your mound and his nose buries into your clit, you wonder if he can even breathe.

Then his tongue connects with that spot and you aren’t worried about anything anymore as you let out a muffled scream.

“That’s it, princess. Let it out,” Steve insists replacing his tongue with his fingers and focusing his mouth solely on your clit.

The little whimpers and whines escaping you only spur him on, his tongue flicking that bundle of nerves on overdrive while he adds a second finger to your core.

It’s too much! Far too much! Your moaning cries come out in ragged breaths. “Uh huh! Uh huh! Uh huh! Pl-please! Please, Stevie! I’m s-ahhh! So close, baby!”

“Let go for me, princess,” Steve urges. His fingers pulse inside you at such a rapid speed it feels like a vibrator right into your spot. “That’s it, sweet girl. Squeezing the shit out of me. That’s it. Come on,” he coxes and you can never say ‘no’ to Captain America.

“Ahhh!” You cry out as the knot inside you snaps and your eyes flutter shut. Stars fill the space behind your eyes as you take a deep shuttering breath.

But he doesn’t stop.

He continues to suck at you clit, pressing at the spot inside of you, keeping you overstimulated, making you whine his name and writhe against the couch and his mouth.

“Too much,” you whine and attempt to push him away but he stays put, swatting your hand away, until you can’t hold it in anymore. You let out a high pitched whine as you release right into his waiting mouth.

“Good girl,” Steve mutters lapping your core clean. “So good for me.” He kisses your sensitive clit one last time making you jerk away. He pulls back to meet your gaze. The look of satisfaction crosses his ocean eyes and you smile back in an orgasmic stupor. “Now, how are you feeling?”

“Good. So good, baby,” you moan stretching out on the couch, curling and uncurling your toes trying to regain feeling in your legs.

“Good.” He stands from his kneeling position with a soft groan and reveals a heavy hard on tenting his sweats. He palms it while making eye contact, making you want to drown in those beautiful blues. “Now, I think it’s my turn to feel good. On your knees.”

“Yes, Captain,” you smile and turn over obediently, wiggling your ass just for him. He really did make you feel so much better.

Dividers by firefly

Master List

[kenneth-carson]

Task: What’s Your Favorite Spoopy Movie?

Or, Scooby and the gang investigate a ghost haunting a local amusement park.

The sound of screams filled the room. There was an echoing chorus of nervous laughter followed behind the quick footsteps of the group of girls that passed through, hands clamped around one another’s for support. Said room was dark, save for the red lighting seeping in through the fogged ground from the only way out. One of the girls gave a final shriek before they all disappeared through the door. 

“This shit never gets old,” laughed the skeleton in the corner who was settling back into his ready position for the next group who, by the sounds of it, weren’t too far behind. 

“I’m surprised she didn’t clock you,” said the zombie, who was trying to get her shoe back on from where one of the girls had stepped on the heel in an attempt to get away. 

“Don’t say that! You’ll jinx me,” the skeleton, otherwise known as Garrett, hissed. Then he quickly shushed the zombie. “They’re almost here! Hurry up, Cruz, what’re you doing?” 

“My shoe came off, okay? Relax,” she shot back, only a little heated. It wasn’t Garrett that she was mad at, really. It was Jennifer, who was supposed to have taken her shift tonight, but she had refused to come in after what happened to her yesterday. Which Cruz thought was sorta bogus because, come on, sometimes technical glitches happened. It wasn’t Drakken’s fault he was the only technician out here holding the 10 pop ups together with duct tape and paste. 

It had been a good night, though. The teenagers were extra giggly, the adults were extra scream-y, and the kids all seemed to be having a blast. 

At the sound of approaching voices, Cruz quickly got back to her hiding spot, shoe finally slotting into place as she did. She ducked behind the hidden half wall, waiting for Garrett to get his scare in before she made her move. Only, by the sounds of it, the footsteps were heavy and at a higher pace than normal. 

“Go, go, go!” someone shouted on their way right past their room. Cruz’s eyebrows furrowed together as she peaked out, watching as a girl was hauling a guy behind her, both of them not looking back as they pretty much sprinted through to the next room. 

Ugh, she hated when people ran. It was just asking for an unnecessary and totally avoidable injury! 

She was about to crouch back down when she heard more panicked voices and screams. More people came through, some in their regular clothing but some were the cast members that she knew and worked with. Jared in his clown garb with Michelle right behind him. 

“It’s him! He’s back!” Jared cried, rushing through. 

“Who?” Garrett had gotten out from his spot, following after them. Cruz watched them all go as more crew members from the rooms before and haunted house go-er’s alike all seemed to be in a rush to get away from something. 

“The Phantom of Tea Gardens!” 

And, yeah, okay, that got a snort out of Cruz because that name was still pretty awful and didn’t send a chill up anyone’s spine. 

It seemed like everyone who had been in the haunted house had managed to make their escape, no one else coming to pass by. 

Cruz, though, had remained in her spot behind the little half wall. 

So many stories had been circulating about this Phantom ever since the month of October started. It had run off plenty of workers, both actors and otherwise. Heck, it had made Jennifer stay home tonight! She figured she would at least stick around to get a glimpse of this thing. 

Her mother had always told her that her curiosity was going to get her into a tight spot one day.

The music track was the first thing to go. It began to skip at first, as if the bluetooth speakers were actually playing a record. Then it slowed, noise more shreeky than usual, before it turned off completely, leaving Cruz with the buzzing of the other electronics and soft whooshing of the fog machine that sat over to the left of her. 

The red light went next, plunging the room into darkness. Which was pretty bad considering this was the dark room. It was lined in cloth and noise absorbers, making it feel claustrophobic and like you were stepping into a vacuum. Without the other elements, there was no relief from it and Cruz felt as though her ears were ringing with the sudden silence and pitch blackness closing in on her. 

It was broken by footsteps, the gate sounding uneven, like someone was dragging their foot behind them as the other took the lead. 

Step. Scrape. Step. Scrape. Step. Scraaape. 

She swallowed thickly. 

Why had she stayed? 

The music began again, rewinding this time, before getting impossibly loud. Too loud to tell where the footsteps of before were falling, her impending doom countdown having been taken away from her. 

The red light came on again. It flashed, slow and steady, like a car’s blinker. 

Her nails dug into the little wall, eyes glued to the doorway as a figure got caught in the beam. 

Blink, they were gone. Blink, they were there. Blink, they were gone.  

Cruz lost them to the darkness of the room, the light unable to seek them out. She clenched her jaw. The music was still loud, deafening, she could feel the base of it inside her chest. Or maybe that was the intense beat of her heart that was falling hot and heavy against her neck. Only then it cut out again. The light didn’t blink back on. 

She stood up, moving out from behind her wall. 

“I know you’re in here,” she said, defiant. 

Step. Scrape. Step. Scrape. 

“And so are you,” came the rumble of a voice behind her. 

She screamed and suddenly all the lights came back on, including the emergency ones overhead that cast the whole room into a blinding white. The dark walls allowed her eyes to readjust better, absorbing the brunt of it, and she spun around. 

The room was empty. 

It was only her.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG3H1-tKzmM&ab_channel=SimplePlan )

Ken threw the van into park and clapped his hands together before signing along as he spoke. “We made it gang!” 

There was a round of whooping from the back from Su and Scooby making the three up front turn around to watch the pair of them. 

“I’m so excited!” Su said, her arm thrown around the Great Dane’s neck as the dog pressed his nose to her cheek. “I heard the churros here are like, 5 feet long!” 

“That’s what you’re excited about?” scoffed Toby. He used the back of his hand to push his glasses into position up the bridge of his nose. They’d fallen from where he’d been reading on his phone. “What about the rides? The games?”

“The haunted houses?” Gabriella, from beside him, signed. Her expression more fond than the confusion that was written over Toby’s. 

“No way am I going into one of those things,” Su shook her head. “I don’t know if you guys know this but from the amount of times we’ve explored big mansions, abandoned warehouses, and graveyards, my quota for haunted anything has been more than fulfilled for this year. Actually, it’s probably been fulfilled for my entire life!” 

Ken laughed, opening his door so he could get out. The smell of the park hit him square in the nose. It was sweet, fried, and a little mechanical. 

“Everyone better send Gabriella’s friend a thank you for getting us tickets for this place,” Ken said, winking over at the girl in question. “It’s super hard around this time of year!” 

“It’s said that Tea Gardens’ 31 Days of Halloween is booked up for ten years to come,” Toby agreed. Ken had no doubt that the guy had spent the week leading up to this adventure reading about the place. Which was great because it meant that they all had their own walking talking wiki article. 

Su and Scooby jumped out from the back doors, joining the other three as they all walked toward the welcome gate. 

“Remind me we parked in the Latte section,” Ken told the rest of the group as they got further and further away from the Mystery Machine. Her bright colors were easy enough to decipher among the other cars, but the sheer size of the parking lot paired with how many cars were packed in there meant it would be a bit of a search no matter what. 

“There’s so many people here,” Toby commented as they crossed the way from the car park to get to the entrance. “We’ll probably be standing in lines longer than we will be doing the activities.”

“I downloaded Heads Up for that!” Ken threw him a thumbs up. 

The line to get inside wasn’t very long and moved quickly. Security was a breeze, despite the odd looks they gave Scooby. 

“You! Yes, you!” a voice called out, causing Ken to turn his head. There was a man standing there, camera at the ready. “You guys want a picture in the teacups? I can take ‘em for you! Much better quality than that phone you just stashed away in your pocket! They’ll be fully developed and waiting for you right over there for when you leave the park!” 

Ken grinned, bright and hopeful, and turned to the rest of his friends. 

Toby was frowning at him, arms crossed over his chest. Gabriella was also shaking her head. Su seemed to be checking their reactions and shrugged in apology to Ken. His shoulders sunk as he turned back to the guy.

“Sorry, I think we’re going to pass,” he told the photographer who was already moving on to a family that had just walked through the gates in matching t-shirts. 

Oh well. 

“You guys made it!” someone else said and suddenly there was a zombie hugging Gabriella, spinning her around in a little circle as they swayed back and forth. When they pulled away the two grinned wide at one another. 

Seeming to sense her friend’s confusion to the newcomer Gabriella pulled away to free her hands to explain. “Guys, this is my friend! Cruz Rameriz.”

“Oh,” came the chorus from Ken, Toby, Su, and Scooby. They all stepped in closer to greet her, now understanding why she was decked out in full zombie makeup and attire. She was the one who had gotten them all the tickets into the park on such short notice, supposedly since she worked here and had strings that could be pulled in her favor. 

“You look fantastic! This application is very well done for a local amusement park…how long did it take to do all this?” Toby asked her, leaning it a bit too close to examine set makeup. Gabriella pressed a hand to his chest to gently push him back. 

They had been working on his lack of understanding of personal space lately. Ken thought he was getting the hang of it pretty well considering the whole ride here Toby hadn’t tried to reach across Ken while he was driving. 

Progress! 

“Thanks, uh, I use Pretty Zombie Cosmetics,” Cruz said, tone wary. She had been at this job long enough to know the types of weirdos out there, and this guy felt like he fit into that category. Her eyes shifted to Gabriella, as if to ask how this guy passed her vibe check. She was met with a smile from the other girl, whose hand had shifted, arm wrapping around her friend’s for a touch of reassurance. It perked Toby up from where his shoulders had hunched forward, glancing at Gabriella now, too, and smiling as he met hers. Ken came around behind them, putting his hands around their shoulders to squeeze them into his broad chest. Su filed in next to him, Scooby at her side. 

And that was sort of Cruz’s answer she supposed. 

“Alright! You guys ready for some spooks?” 

“Absolutely!” “No!” Ken and Su chimed in at the same time, respectively. Cruz shot them a confused look, unsure of whose answer she was supposed to believe. Judging by the look of unbothered joy on Ken’s and the frown of the girl and her dog, probably both. 

“Ooooh-kay,” she replied. “Come on then, can’t just stand around the entrance all night.” 

Cruz led the gang down the main walkway of the park, where most of the restaurants were situated, along with the spinning tea cups. Su and Scooby were pressing their faces to the glass of the concession stands as they walked by, taking in the scents of freshly spun cotton candy and warm tea that had been brewing for the next hand in need of warmth. 

Gabriella was busy watching Toby’s ever moving hands as he told her one fun fact after the other, Cruz only adding things in here and there of behind the scenes stuff that didn’t get posted online. 

And Ken was just taking in the sights, eyes bright and wandering. 

That was until a high pitched scream echoed down the street, seemingly causing everything to come to an abrupt halt. The group of friends instinctively moved closer together. 

Gabriella was confused as to the sudden shift in mood, eyeing her friends. Everyone’s gaze was focused down the way as a group of kids came running out of one of the haunted house attractions and went sprinting past them, presumably toward the exit back beside the entrance gate. 

“The Phantom was in there!” “Run!” the kids screamed as they went by. 

After a few moments, everyone seemed to settle back into what they had been doing before the interruption, assuming that they had just gotten too scared by whatever was inside the haunted house. 

“What was all that about?” Ken asked, his height offering him the advantage to follow the kids as they continued back up the main stretch. 

Cruz gave a hefty sigh. “Well, I was sort of hoping to get you guys through some rides and food before I hit you with the real reason I asked you to come here.”

“Aw, man,” Su looked to Scooby who was shaking his head. “I told you this was too good to be true, didn’t I?”

“What do you mean?” Ken raised a brow at the zombie. The gang moved toward the haunted house where cast members were filling out onto the walkway, most of them dressed in bloodied white coats. Which made sense since it was called The Butcher’s Shoppe, according to the sign along the top. 

“Cruz!” one of the chefs called out as they approached. “Man, you would not believe what just happened in there.”

“The Phantom?” 

“Yeah, it was crazy. He was apparently just following around this group of kids in there and they just thought he was a part of the gag until he tried to grab one of them.” 

“That’s new,” Cruz frowned, glancing at the group of friends that were playing audience to the conversation. “He’s never tried to hurt anyone before.” 

“Guess he’s getting bolder,” the chef said, face betraying how terrifying this thought was. “He’s gone now, at least, but Millie told us she was going to shut this one down for a few hours.”

“But then only four will be open! That’s less than half!”

“I know.”

“What are you all supposed to do until then?”

“I guess do what you and the other street walkers are doing,” the chef shrugged. “Just hang around and scare people walking. Though I don’t know how a bunch of butchers and bakers are supposed to make sense in comparison.”

The chef waved, a sad smile on her face as she returned to join the others who were trying to figure out what they were going to do now. 

Cruz turned back to the gang, a sheepish look on her face. 

“Let me guess,” Toby said before she could say anything. “You’ve got a ghost-”

“Phantom,” Cruz corrected. Toby shot her a look that made her hold her hands up in surrender, expression apologetic.

“You’ve got a phantom terrorizing the park and you want us to figure out what’s going on?” 

“....yes?”  

“What?” Su gaped. “No way! I was promised a fun night! With the only monsters being the ones dressed to look like one!” 

“Su, when has there ever actually been a ghost that wasn’t someone dressed up?” Gabriella signed, an eyebrow arched upward. 

“Haven’t you guys, like, called the police?” Su tried, as she always did when they were put into situations like this. 

“Of course, but they never find anything.” Cruz turned to look at the Butcher’s Shoppe. Someone was already putting an Out of Order sign up on the door. “We’ve tried to tell them it’s someone doing this but they just keep trying to say that this place is old, that the wires will go on the fritz, and that there’s no reason to worry. Blah, blah, blah. And like, yeah, okay, this place is kinda old, but we have not had this many problems before!”

“Do you have anyone on the staff for that sort of thing?” Toby asked. 

“Ever since this stuff started happening more and more people have been quitting. Mostly the techs. We’ve got a few, but our main guy has been running around here like a chicken with his head cut off trying to keep everything up and running just so we can stay open.” She sighed, turning back to the group. Her hands were folded together briefly showing that she was ready to beg before freeing them so she could sign along as she spoke again. “Please, you guys have to help us. This place has been my home away from home ever since I started coming here as a kid! It employs so many people and brings in so many tourists, I don’t know how bad it would get without it! Probably, like, really bad! I don’t know a lot about economics because it wasn’t really my thing, but without the supply and demand we’re all going to have to move, right? I don’t want to move! And- and I promise that when we do figure it out that you guys can get season passes! All year! On me! And-”

Gabriella stepped over to her friend, placing her hands over the other girl’s to get her to calm down. “We’ll help. That’s what we do.” She stepped sideways so she could look at her friends. “Right?”

“Absolutely!” Ken agreed, grinning. 

“Basically,” said Toby. 

A beat.

They all three turned to look at Su and Scooby. She had her arms crossed over her chest, a deep frown on her lips. Scooby’s ears were flobbed down, head bowing a bit, as he tried to commit to the protest alongside his best friend. 

“Come on, Su!” Ken stepped over to her but she turned away. “It’ll be fun!” 

“No it won’t!” 

“Please?” Ken tried again, getting in front of her to hit her with the puppy pout. “We can’t do it without you guys.” 

This seemed to soften Su up a bit. She glanced down at Scooby, then to Toby and Gabriella, and then, finally, to Cruz who looked much more pathetic and tugged at her oh so soft heart. There still seemed to be some hesitance. 

“If we don’t do it then you’ll never get that churro you’ve been raving about,” Toby added. “The park will be shut down and no one will be here to make them.” 

At this Su’s eyes widened and turned to look at Scooby who seemed to be ready to give in, too, and she let her arms drop. 

“Fine!” Everyone cheered. “But I want as many churros as me and Scoob can eat after this.”

“Oh, don’t even worry. If you guys can get this phantom, I will make sure you have a life time’s supply!” Cruz squeed, running over to hug the girl.  

“Alright, gang, we’ve got a mystery to solve!” Ken clapped. “Cruz, do you think we can get a look into that haunted house? If the phantom was just inside then there’s gotta be some sorta clue left behind.”

“Follow me,” Cruz said, leading the group around to the backside of the attraction. They followed her through a large gate with plenty of KEEP OUT EMPLOYEES ONLY signs, along with a large lock that she punched in a code to. 

“Wow,” Su commented, both her and Scooby assessing the pretty boring scenery. It was like stepping into another realm. Gone were the cubes of hay with pumpkins sitting atop, images of witches and ghosts and vampires, scarecrows, and cobwebs. It was pretty empty, save for covered wires running along the ground and plants that popped up around the fenced in area. “This place looks so…normal.”

“Yeah, it kinda loses the magic back here,” Cruz shrugged, leading them around the bend. “But it’s nice to get away sometimes. The workers usually- oof.” 

Everyone paused as they watched Cruz run straight into a man. He was tall, about the same size as Ken, had dark hair and a baseball cap on his head, the bill turned backwards. An apron was tied around him with the park’s logo embroidered in black and orange. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m sooo sorry!” Cruz stuttered, falling back as the gang stepped up to stand beside her. 

The man hummed, eyeing all the kids. “You giving tours again, Cruz?” 

“No, no, nothing like that. These are the people I’ve been telling everyone about! Mystery Incorporated? They’re here to help with the phantom.”

“Oh.” He nodded. “Alright. Just make sure they don’t get hurt.” 

“Will do.” Cruz gave a curt salute and the man nodded again before walking away. Toby watched him for a second longer than the others did, brow furrowed. 

“Who was that?” he asked once it seemed like the stranger was out of ear shot. 

“Hm? Oh, that’s Dave. He’s been here for longer than anyone else. He’s one of the brewmasters.”

“Brewmasters?” Su prompted.

“Yeah! This place basically started as a tea shoppe back in the day, then the owners kept expanding and expanding on it until it became the park. We’re still pretty big in the tea game, you know. It’s a whole brand that’s sold in, like, supermarkets or online and stuff. He’s the guy who basically comes up with the funky flavors everyone knows us for.”

“He seemed so-” 

“I promise he’s super nice! He’s basically everyone’s dad,” Cruz assured them. “Although, I don’t know what he was doing back here…”

She shrugged, a smile back on her face as they approached the door. “This is the cast member’s entrance.”

Opening it up brought them into what looked like a costume closet. Two walls were lined in a mirror and desk like units underneath, chairs tucked underneath. It must have been where the workers got ready before going into the house itself. Bags, shoes, and clothes were strewn all around the room. Make-up covered the vanities, along with photos on the mirrors, of movies and references of other makeup jobs similar to the ones they had seen on the chefs that had been run out. 

“So who is the phantom, anyway?” Gabriella asked as everyone fanned out, looking over the room for anything that may look suspicious.

“Supposedly everyone thinks he’s the ghost of the owner,” Cruz explained. “He was the last of the original family that owned the place and since he didn’t have any kids, no one else from that family has any ownership now. He died in the park a few years ago so everyone thinks he’s haunting it and messing with all the stuff he doesn’t like. Which is just dumb to me since we’ve had these haunted houses before. Sure, not with these themes and overlays, but what does that matter? And some people think he’s-”

Suddenly someone said a resounding, “KA-CHOW!” 

“Oop,” Cruz said, pulling out her phone from one of the tattered pockets on her costume. “Shoot. I’ve gotta go. Uh, think you guys will be okay in here on your own?” 

“Totally,” Ken nodded. “Go do your thing! We’ve got this.”

“Okay,” she replaced her phone and gave Gabriella’s arm a squeeze. She seemed reluctant to leave them alone before turning and pushing back out the door they had entered from, jogging out. The door slammed behind her.

Toby was already making headway, leaving the behind the scenes and trying to find the entrance into the haunted house itself. The other four followed right behind until they found the right door. It led them out onto a track, a cart right in the middle, the lap bar and door ajar from where someone had probably hopped out as soon as the ride had stopped. 

The place was lit up with only the lights that adorned the track, casting a glow upwards. The decor resembled a bakery, on one side was the counter, a glass casing for the display of breads and cookies and other baked goods. Only these deserts were demented, eyeballs for chocolate chips, fingers sticking out of brownies. It made Su stick out her tongue and Scooby whine, both saddened to see the food in such a state. 

“I don’t get it,” Gabriella signed as they walked along the track. “Why would someone want to terrorize an amusement park? It’s not like this place has buried treasure or anything important hiding around.”

“Especially if it’s the owner,” Ken agreed. “Why ruin the thing your family built up after all these years?” 

“It’s not actually a ghost,” Toby tutted. “Ghosts don’t exist, we’ve learned that much by now, right?” 

“Uh, guys,” Su tried to cut in.

“You never know, Toby,” Ken said, having not heard her. “I think if anything we’ve learned that anything is possible.” 

“Guys.”

“Yeah, when human ingenuity is mixed with greed, but it’s never been anything actually paranormal,” Toby continued on. “Everything we’ve seen always has a rational explanation.”

“Guys!” Su yelled now, hand grabbing onto Gabriella’s wrist to get her attention, too. Everyone stopped.

“What?” Toby asked. 

“Who’s that?” Su was turned around, pointing at a figure standing behind the cart still on the track. 

“Uh, hello?” Ken called, stepping in front of the rest of his friends. 

The figure gave no reply. Only began to walk forward. 

Step. Scrape. Step. Scrape. 

The emergency lights started to flicker at their ankles. 

“It’s the phantom,” Su whispered and Toby scoffed at her.

“No, it isn’t. What did Cruz say that guy’s name was? Dave? Look, he’s got the same haircut,” he said. “Mr. Dave, sir, did Cruz send you in here for us?”

A rumbling moan was his answer. It made Toby cower a little, hidining back behind Ken.

Music began to play, loud enough that everyone but Gabriella had to put their hands up against their ears. While they winced in pain she continued to watch the figure as it moved toward them. 

The cart came back to life as soon as the figure reached it. It rocked forward, driving along the track. 

Gabriella grabbed hold of Su and tugged on the collars of the boys, urging them to movemovemove. They all seemed to recover from the jarring shift in volume around them, catching on to the danger as the cart began to pick up speed as it came for them. Everyone moved off the track, up onto the sides of the ride and out of its way. 

Only another one entered as the figure continued forward, too, his pace having seemed to have gotten faster. 

“Come on!” Ken waved everyone back down onto the track, following it into the rest of the ride. The cart had disappeared through curtains that pulled apart for it. Ken shoved them aside, waiting until all of his friends were through before following them. 

This room seemed to have come back online, along with the rest of the ride. Maniacal laughter played along with the music, the lights having gone out in favor of the black lighting that had certain colors in neon. Toby’s white long sleeve was bright, alongside Su’s orange, and Scooby’s collar. It was both hard and easy to see all at once. Everyone moved further up the track, now trying to find a way out. 

“Look out!” Toby called, shoving Ken and Gabriella out of the way as the next cart came barreling toward them. Su and Scooby were not so lucky and wound up getting hit in the back by it. Lucky for them both they were scaredy cats and knew when to jump. Instead of meeting their fates by falling forwards and getting run over the two went backwards and landed hard inside of the cart. 

“Su!” Ken yelled, hand reaching out from the pile the other three had fallen into on the side. “Scoob!” 

They watched their friends disappear behind the next set of curtains as they pulled up and fell back into place. 

Ken and Gabriella were quick to stand and so focused on trying to follow after Su that they failed to notice that they had left Toby behind, still on the floor. 

“Ugh, not again,” he grumbled to himself under the sounds of the carnival music. In the scuffle his glasses had been knocked from his face, rendering him to a world of 144p rather than the usual 720. On his hands and knees he crawled around, one arm out like a feeler. 

The phantom was standing over him with a bat-like weapon over their head, seemingly ready to bring it down upon him. Toby turned at the feeling of movement, squinting. The dim light of the ride paired with the fuzziness of his vision had him unsure as to who the figure was standing there but, judging by the height, he guessed, “Ken? Hey, can you help me? I can’t find my glasses, do you see them?” 

The figure did nothing but continue to stand there which made Toby crawl forward, using them to stand. This made the phantom try to back away, falling off balance when their foot hit the track of the ride on the ground. A cart came rushing forward, the breeze hitting Toby in the face as it went.

At the sudden lack of his friend Toby frowned. “Ken?” 

“Toby!” came his voice, finally. “Come on, we’ve gotta- oh hey, here are your glasses.” 

He swooped down, picking them up from off the floor. After a quick wipe with the hem of his shirt he placed them back on Toby’s face, his smile the first thing that came into focus. “Good?”

“Thanks.”

“Great, now come on, the phantom was in a cart right behind Scooby and Su.” 

The pair followed the track down the line.  They were blinded as soon as they stepped through a second set of curtains, regular lighting all around them. It must have been the end of the ride, the queuing area just up ahead indicated by the rows of metal fencing that herded people in the right direction along with a control panel that was all lit up. A man was sitting at it, dressed in a blue jumpsuit. 

The cart that had taken Scooby and Su had stopped just beside him, and empty one merely feet behind.  

“What the heck are you kids doing in there?” he yelled, flipping a switch that had the cart’s door popping open. Su and Scooby launched out, their balance wobbly as they made it up onto the platform. Ken, Gabriella, and Toby were quick to join them with comfort and concern. “This place is shut down! You are not supposed to be in there!”

“Who are you?” Ken shot back. “Why were you chasing us? Why did you try to kill my friends?”

“What? I’m not trying to kill anyone! I only just walked in when I saw those two!” He pointed an accusing finger toward Su and Scooby before it was directed at Ken. “I’m the ride engineer, I was called in to fix this thing. I was told it had been cleared out! It’s not my fault you and your friends were in here messing around. You’re asking for trouble!” 

“But…there was someone else in there, they came out just before we did.”

“Oh god,” the man threw his hands up. “Not more ghost hunters.” 

“We are not ghost hunters,” Toby frowned. 

“Whatever. I don’t know who you are and I don’t care. Get out. Now!” the man yelled, marching toward them. The group shuffled off, like a group of lambs being shepherded. He threw open a door, the setting light of the sun casting them in an orange glow. He pointed harshly at the sign on the door. “If it says keep out, then KEEP OUT!” 

He took a hold of the handle and slammed it behind him. 

“Yeesh,” Su frowned. 

“Oh my god, are you guys okay?” 

They all turned to find Cruz running up the walk way toward them. “I’m so sorry! I had no idea Drakken would get here so quickly!” 

“That was Drakken?”

“Yeah. Sorry. He hasn’t been in a great mood these days what with everyone quitting and all the rides breaking down and, well, the-”

“Ghost hunters?” 

“Those, too.” She made a face then quickly recovered. “So did you guys find anything?”

“Uh, yeah, I’d say we more than found something.” Su and Scooby shivered. 

“That’s great! Come on, let’s get you guys some tea and you can tell me everything.”

The park seemed as though it had gotten even more busy than before they had taken their detour. All the families had cleared out, but adults and teenagers still roamed the place. Either they didn’t believe in the phantom, thinking it was just a publicity stunt the park was pulling to lure more people, or they were the people that had gotten lured in by said stunt, eager to get their eyes on this so-called phantom that was roaming the park. 

“Do you guys have Wi-Fi?” Toby asked, looking up from where he had been fiddling with his phone while everyone was waiting on the tea they had ordered. 

“We do,” Cruz nodded. Then one side of her mouth pulled down, air being sucked in through her teeth. “Buuut it doesn’t really work. It’s been a whole thing. Everyone wants to update this place but everyone also says they just don’t have the funds to do so.” 

Toby jumped a little when a mug was set down in front of him. He peered up to find the same guy in the baseball hat from before standing over him. Only this time his cap was pulled around to the front, the bill casting a shadow over his features. He distributed the other teas and left a bowl of sugar cubes and a pitcher of cream on the table for them. There was also a plate of cookies set down beside the spread. They were in the shape of pumpkins and leaves. 

“Thanks, Dave!” Cruz beamed. He hummed in reply, lumbering off back behind the counter. Again, Toby watched him go while the others tucked in. “You guys are going to love these, he makes the best shortbread ever.” 

Su and Scooby were the first to reach, grabbing two for themselves while everyone else had to fend for what was left behind. “Finally! Food!” 

Cruz gave everyone a few minutes to settle in, drink their tea, get comfortable. Then she couldn’t wait anymore and pressed them to tell her what had happened. 

“Wow,” she said once they had finished recounting their tale. She slumped back into her chair, eyes focused on her cup.

“Right?” Su said through a full mouth. Her hand was hovering in front, so no one would see the crumbs. 

“Has he ever tried to hurt anyone before?” asked Ken.

“No. And just today Kylie was saying that he was trying to take someone from that ride, remember? That’s never been his motive before. It was just, like, limping around and being creepy,” Cruz shrugged.

“Limping?” Toby asked. “So you’ve seen him before?”

“Well yeah, everyone who works here has by now. Or, at least, they say they do. I guess it’s kinda like a badge of honor.”

“Badge of horror, more like,” Gabriella signed with a shake of her head. 

“People are saying they’re thinking about shutting the whole park down until we can get this figured out. Now that it seems that there’s actual danger instead of just power surges and blackouts.” Cruz sniffed, biting off a piece of cookie. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay,” Ken said and reached across to put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to figure this out, aren’t we guys?” 

Everyone nodded in agreement. A smile slowly spread over Cruz’s face which, without her zombie makeup, may have looked very sweet. 

“Thanks. Sorry I sorta ruined your night.”

“Are you kidding? This is what we call a good time!” 

“No it is not,” Su scoffed at Ken. She motioned to the table. “This? Yes. That out there? No way, we almost got kidnapped by that thing.” 

“I would not have let that happen,” Gabriella reassured her, a grave look in her eye. “That ghost may be dead, but I’ll kill him again. I don’t care.” 

This statement, while terrifying, did make Su feel a little bit better. 

A lot of the time she wondered why she was friends with the people sitting around the table. Ken was rich and cute and wore nicer clothes than anyone she had ever met. He was probably in the running for most popular boy in school, if he even didn’t care about such a statistic. The only thing keeping him from the top slot was that he hung out with people like her and Toby instead of the rest of the baseball team. 

Toby was pretty smart, but only in the sense that he could tell you everything and anything you needed to know about the history of India, or about the science behind how bread is made, stuff like that. He didn’t really get people all that well. When someone was upset with him because he had crossed a social boundary it was like a baby bird trying to fly for the first time. All awkward and terrifying, having to watch through your fingers because while you didn’t want to see what happened you had to make sure it ended okay, right? 

Then there was Gabriella. Not really the Queen B type but she could be cut throat enough if she wanted to claim that title down the line. She was a dancer and an activist. That’s how she and Su had met, trying to protest the removal of one of the oldest trees in their town that just so happened to be in the spot where they were wanting to build the new football stadium. While Su had just thought the most she could do was to sit by the tree and hope no one tried to remove her, Gabriella had gone the full nine yards in getting the media involved, starting a petition, and calling attention to the past expenses the football team had gotten. In the end, they’d saved the tree and Gabriella had been her friend ever since. 

Ken had followed behind Gabriella, they’d met during the school play. He was in the costume department. They had all just sort of adopted Toby after he had been at the only table in the cafeteria who had enough room for the three of them. He had taken them a bit to get used to, Gabriella especially, but he’d turned out much different than his inicial first impression. And second. And third…

Next thing Su knew they were being thrown into situations like this amusement park mystery all the time! It was like you solve one ghost haunting you suddenly had to be solving them all. Anywhere they went there seemed to be a spirit or a monster that needed to be investigated. Ken and Gabriella were always in the business of helping people while Toby just liked a good puzzle. And Su…well, she didn’t really know what she brought to the table other than snacks during late night study sessions. At least Scooby brought the moral. 

The answer, unknown to her, was that Su brought the odd knowledge. Since she rarely said no and gave in easily if someone were to only wave a good treat in front of her face she had an arsenal of seemingly useless tricks up her sleeve that came in handy at the best of times during the gang’s adventures. 

Plus, she was their friend, and that alone was enough.

The next day the gang returned to the park where an even bigger crowd had formed inside the park gates. It took them way longer to get through the line and inside, and even then it felt like they were being swarmed by the vast amount of people that were there. 

“I think we should go back to the Butcher’s Shoppe,” Toby said as they waded through the mass, trying not to get run over by baby strollers. “I feel like we didn’t even get a chance to look around before we were running for our lives.”

They headed up that way only to find that the ride was letting in people, the line all the way out to the 1 hour mark. 

“Huh, I guess people had the same idea as you, Toby,” Ken said, slapping the shorter boy on the back. Toby frowned. “Aw, come on, we can look in the other haunted houses, can’t we? The ones that are really shut down?” 

The group continued on their way, only having to stop once to drag Su and Scooby away from the caramel apple cart. Only when they tried to go in the direction of the other haunted house they had in mind, they were blocked by a gate. 

“Now what are we supposed to do?” Toby threw his hands in the air.

“Go get food?” Su suggested. Gabriella stepped past the both of them, sizing up the gate. She turned around and smiled, that terrifying gleam in her eye. 

“I can climb over and open it from that side, probably,” she signed, then waved Ken over. He happily obliged her, kneeling down so she could step up onto his back. 

“Hey! This is a Stella McCarteny! Careful!” he tried to sign, but Gabriella was not paying attention. Although, maybe she had been judging by the roll of her eyes. Su shared a glance with Toby, the both of them trying not to giggle. Scooby wagged his tail, trotting over to stand by Ken and lick at his face that was now so close to the dog’s height. “Thank you, Scooby. You’re the only one that gets it, bud.” 

Gabriella pulled herself up and over the fence with grace, the sound of her feet landing on the road coming from the other side of the gate a second later. The rest of the gang stepped back, waiting for her to open it. 

Her footsteps were soft and steady. 

Until they weren’t. 

Everyone frowned, getting closer to the gate as they heard a sudden shuffling against the dusty pavement, shoes scuffling. Gabriella grunted. 

It went quiet. 

Then more footsteps, pace uneven.

“Gabriella!” Toby called out, despite knowing that she couldn’t hear him. The three of them began pulling at the gate, desperate to get to their friend. Panic began to settle in their chests, fearing the worst now as they knew they wouldn’t be able to get it opened without an employee’s combination, like Cruz had done for them the day before. 

Only, it did open. It swung back, heavy and slow. Everyone pushed through the opening to find the Phantom standing on the other side. 

“There he is!” Ken pointed. “Get him!” 

They all started forward only to come to a halt when the Phantom turned around to face them. He may not have been so intimidating, just any other man, had it not been for the eyes. They were white and piercing, like a pair of headlights. He raised his hands, fingernails like claws, hands gripping the weapon from before. Now, in the daylight of the evening, they could see that it was not a bat but a long handle of some sort. Wires were sticking out the end, like it had been ripped off its original machine. The ghost growled at them, teeth yellow and spit flying. 

“Or not,” Toby whimpered. He and Ken ran one way while Scooby and Su went the other, flanking either side of him. The Phantom went after Ken and Toby, makeshift weapon held high over his head and ready to strike. They ran out of the gate, the only opening afforded to them as the ghost tried to corner them. 

Ken zigged while Toby zagged, the Phantom struggling to keep up with trying to catch the pair. They rounded back, heading through the gate to where Su and Scooby were hiding on the other side. 

“Shut it! Shut it!” Ken yelled at them as he passed through, the ghost just behind him. The two shoved at it, having to put their shoulders into it to lock it back into place. Toby and Ken heaved in air, now seemingly safe from the monster. 

“Hey! He’s gone!” Su smiled. It quickly turned into a frown as she glanced down at her hands that were instinctively signing along. “But so is Gabriella.” 

She bent down to wrap her arms around Scooby, the both of them whimpering and crying. 

“Ow!” Ken cried. Everyone looked over at him as he was rubbing the back of his head. He reached down and picked up a tube of lipstick. Toby stepped over to examine it. 

“That’s Gabriella’s.” 

“She’s come back to haunt us from the great beyond!” Su said, tucking in closer to Scooby as they began to cry some more. 

Something else landed by Ken’s feet, this time it was the hand sanitizer Gabriella always carried around with her. Ken turned, looking up into the little grouping of trees that were just to the side of them. In one of the branches was Gabriella, smiling down at everyone. 

“Guys!” he pointed up at her. 

“He’s gone,” she signed, waving over to the fence.

“How’d you get up there?” Toby asked. She peered around herself then shrugged. “How are you going to get back down?” 

She shrugged again. 

“I’ll catch you!” Ken signed up to her before opening his hands. Gabriella frowned and shook her head. “Aw, come on, I will!” 

“We will,” Toby corrected, waving Su over. 

The three of them all huddled under where Gabriella was. She made her way down to the lowest branch just above them and when there was nothing left to grab onto, she let go. Their arms were waiting, catching her before she hit the ground. 

“Talk about a trust fall,” Su laughed and they all huddled in closer, a group hug forming. 

“Hey, look at that,” Toby said as soon as they pulled apart. He stepped over to the side of the path where concrete met dirt and pulled a tin from the ground. His hand brushed the earth from it, revealing a label. “It’s…make-up.” 

“Jeez, Gabby, you could have taken Ken’s head off with that thing!” Su signed, smiling to show she was only joking but Gabriella remained serious. 

“That’s not mine.” 

“No, that’s because it’s costume make-up,” Toby stood to show them the tin. “Look it says, Pretty Zombie Cosmetics. It’s the same stuff that Cruz has been wearing since we’ve seen her.” 

“But…why would Cruz be the phantom?” Su asked.

“You’ve heard her, she thinks this place needs a renovation. If she can get the place shut down for long enough, maybe they’ll think about updating it.”

“I don’t know, Toby,” Gabriella signed. “If it’s Cruz then why would she ask us to help figure out what’s going on?”

“And she said she saw the Phantom herself,” Ken added. 

“I don’t know, maybe she’s hoping our involvement will help further her progress in trying to shut the place down. Nothing like a bunch of kids in places they’re not supposed to be, like behind employee lines, to get people to think this place is irresponsible. Just like with the other ghost hunters,” Toby continued to rationalize his theory. “And she could have made that whole story up just to entice us.” 

While none of the other three wanted to believe it was true, that someone as nice and bubbly as Cruz could be doing all this, they also knew that Toby was pretty good at putting together the puzzles. 

“But I…I don’t know, I also think it could be that tea shoppe guy,” Toby continued. 

“You mean Dave?” 

“Yeah. He was leaving the Butcher’s Shoppe when we first got there and did you guys notice his limp?”

“Limp?”

“He and the ghost walk the same way.” 

“He was kinda creepy,” Gabriella admitted. 

“And I think that someone who has been working here for as long as he has might not be too happy to see the Tea Gardens be turning into a modern spectacle.” 

“Alright, gang,” Ken said. “I think it’s time we split up.”

“Like, Scoob, I think you and I couldn't have gotten the better option,” Su sighed as she sat back in her chair. 

Ken had appointed them the ones to keep an eye out on the brew master for the day. They had taken a table in the back of the shoppe, getting cups of tea and basically the whole menu of sandwiches that were available to them. Their spread layout on the table top before them, being thoroughly enjoyed as they watched the older man go from table to table, taking orders and refilling cups. 

Meanwhile, the other three were headed to find Cruz’s locker to see if they could find anything else that might either clear her name or confirm Toby’s suspicions. Getting in had been easier than both Ken and Toby anticipated, but Gabriella’s lock picking skills had been coming in handy more and more often these days. Toby still had no idea where she had learned how to do it and was honestly too scared to ask. The same way he was scared to ask how she knew how to properly put someone in a chokehold. 

“How do we know which locker is hers?” Ken frowned as they were faced with several rows of them. The only distinguishing marks being that they were numbered. 

“Call it a hunch, but…” Toby walked down one of the aisles until he was standing in front of 95. 

“Hey!” someone yelled, making Toby jump a good few inches into the air. Ken and Gabriella were quick to back him up. “What are you brats doing in here!” 

The engineer from before, Drakken, was standing at the other end of the row. His anger seemed almost palpable, Toby unable to even think of a good excuse as he was too consumed with fear. 

“Cruz let us in,” Ken was quick to pick up the conversation. “She needed something from her locker but just forgot to tell us which one it was.” 

Drakken regarded the three of them for a long moment, glare hard as he waited for one of them to break. When no one did, he relented. 

“She shouldn’t be letting you kids wander around back here on your own. It’s dangerous,” he sighed, obviously still angry, but maybe not for the reasons they had originally thought. 

“Because of the phantom?” Gabriella asked. At Drakken’s lack of understanding Ken repeated it for him aloud. 

“No! Of course not, ghosts don’t exist,” Drakken rolled his eyes. 

“See?” Toby smiled, smug. 

“At least, that’s what I thought, anyway,” Drakken continued, sitting down hard on the bench that ran down the middle of the aisle of lockers. “But these days, I don’t know what to believe anymore! With only me keeping all the lights on in this place, it’s getting harder and harder to tell. Especially when it looks exactly like…” 

He trailed off, shaking his head. 

“Like?” Toby pushed. “Like what?” 

“Not a what,” Drakken scoffed. “A who. They look exactly like the last owner, Mr. Hatter.”

“He’s the one who died in the park, right?” 

The engineer nodded his confirmation before standing once more, his annoyed attitude falling back into place. “You kids better stay out of any ride that says out of order. I mean it! Just because some ghost is lurking back there doesn’t mean you should, too!” 

He was gone in a huff, the door slamming behind him. 

Ken frowned, turning to look at his other friends. “Is it just me or was that the angriest word of concern we’ve ever gotten?” 

Toby and Gabriella shrugged, but nodded in a sort of agreement. 

Everyone turned back to the locker. It wasn’t locked, oddly enough, but there was also nothing inside. Not a bag or change of clothes or anything. 

“Huh,” Toby said. “She must be off work already.” 

Gabriella made a face, pulling her phone from her pocket and turning it so the two of them could see the missed texts from Cruz that had been sent only 10 minutes ago. 

Hey!! I’ve got the night off so I can help you guys look for this phantom. 

Where are you? I’m headed to the main tea shoppe now, maybe we could meet up there?

Everyone shared a look of alarm, all thinking the same thing. They hustled over to the door but found it was locked. 

“No,” Gabriella signed after she had tried the knob. It turned easily and yet she still couldn’t get the door opened. “There must be something blocking it from the other side.” 

Ken bent down to look through the little window and saw that someone had tied a rope from the handle to a tree, keeping anyone from pulling it open. With an impressed expression Ken said, “Gotta admit, that’s a pretty good trap.” 

Gabriella and Toby slapped their foreheads. 

Back in the tea shoppe Su was roused from where she had been dozing off in her chair. It had been getting late, after all, the sun sinking below the horizon. The shoppe had been getting less lively as more people stepped out to go to the attractions, leaving the atmosphere quiet and cozy. And with the warm tea and a full belly, she had been in perfect napping conditions. 

“Hey!” she protested against Scooby’s wet tongue against her cheek. “What? What is it?” 

The dog wagged his tail, then turned his head. She followed his gaze to watch as Dave was leaving out the front door of the shoppe, passing by the window as he looked over his shoulder. 

“Dang it,” she whined, standing up and going to follow after him. But only after coming back for the last of her sandwich she’d left on her plate. Only when they turned the corner it was not Dave they ran into. Cruz was waving at them, crossing the dense group of people to meet them on the side of the walkway. 

“Hey! There you guys are,” she smiled, no longer decked out in her zombie make-up. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Gabriella wasn’t answering my texts.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry, we’ve just been so busy!” Su shrugged, glancing down at Scooby. 

“Which I super appreciated,” Cruz said. “So, uh, where’s everyone else?” 

“Who?” 

Cruz snorted, giving Su a funny look. Before she could say anything else, though, there was the sound of someone screaming filling the air. The two girls and the dog looked down in the direction to watch as waves of people were clearing out of the way, yelling out of fear or to warn those around them as they went. Overhead the lamps all began to go out, sparks flew as the bulbs inside burst. 

In the middle of the pathway stood the phantom, looming in the light of the one lamp that had yet to go out that stood right beside him. 

“Uh, Cruz?” Su asked, reaching out to twist her fingers into the other girl’s sleeve. 

“...Yeah?” 

“We should run, right?” 

The phantom took a step toward them. Then another, this time like a lunge as he prepared to pick up his pace. 

Above him, the light went out. 

“Yeah!” Cruz cried, pulling at Su as they both turned to get away. 

“Seriously? Since when was this guy a track star?” Su panted as they rounded the corner of the tea shoppe again, heading up the main street and hopefully toward the exit. Would the phantom even be able to follow them out of the park? 

The lights of the park began to shut down all around them. The decorations began to deflate, the music went silent. Shop lights went out, the whirring of air conditioners and generators stopped. The only thing left to guide their way was the dying light of the sun, casting everything in a darkening blue tint. 

They hauled ass toward the gate, only when they got there, it was closed. Pulling on it revealed it had also been locked, the crowd probably having no order or care no doubt making it close behind them and letting it lock automatically. 

“Come on, we’ve gotta go!” Cruz insisted when the angry growls and footsteps of the phantom began to approach them. They ducked inside one of the merch stores, hiding among the clothes and other knick knacks among the various displays. 

Only seconds later did the door open again, the phantom figure following them inside. 

Well, Su had always figured that one of these monsters was going to kill her eventually. 

She had just thought that she would at least be around all her friends when it happened. 

Her breath was trying to catch what air it has missed during the run but she kept her mouth clamped shut, knowing any sort of sound would alert the ghost to her hiding spot behind the giant cardboard cutout of a cup of smiling tea in the corner of the room with a speech bubble telling people that they’re “TEA-riffic.” 

Su swallowed, her person beginning to tremble. She knelt down to cling to Scooby who was doing the same thing. The closer the footsteps got the more they began to shake. 

“Well, Scooby,” she whispered. “It was nice knowing you!” 

She dug her face into his neck, fur tickling her nose. 

Suddenly the sound of the door bursting open filled the room followed closely by a loud, “Hey!” 

Su and Scooby shot up, peaking around the sides of the cardboard. 

Their friends were standing in the doorway, phone flashlights bright circles in their hands. Ken peered around before grabbing hold of a teapot that was sitting on the table in front of him. He threw it at the phantom, hitting them square in the chest. The ghost wheezed, arms going up to defend their face as they doubled over to nurse the no doubt aching middle. 

“Come on!” Ken encouraged, picking up the butter plate as he threw that, too. Toby went for the sugar holder and Gabriella got a stack of saucers. They began to bombard the ghost, the shop nothing but his expressions of pain and the clattering of porcelain against his limbs and eventually the tiled flooring. They got closer with their ammo, running the phantom off to the other side, exiting. 

A moment later the lights turned back on.

“Like, wow,” Su said as she and Scooby exited their hiding places. “You guys sure threw him a tea party.” 

“Su! You’re okay!” Ken ran forward to pick her up in a hug. 

“Where’s Cruz?” Toby asked.

“She was with me when the phantom attacked, we ran in here together. But I don’t know where she hid.”

“Over here!” 

Everyone turned to watch the girl come tumbling out of a giant pile of stuffed animals, sprawling on the floor next to tea bags and sugar cubes. Ken and Gabriella went over to help get her up, taking an arm each. She smiled at the pair of them in thanks. 

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, “KA-CHOW!” 

“Ugh, sorry you guys. With the park a mess right now, they probably need all hands on deck,” she said, pulling it out to read the alerts. “I’ve gotta go! Be safe!” 

They waved her off before reconfiguring around Toby, who was kneeling down on the floor. 

“What is that?” Gabriella asked, pointing to whatever Toby was holding between his fingers. 

“It’s a circuit board,” he said, tucking it into his breast pocket. Toby whipped his palms clean against his shirt, popping back up to his feet. “I think I’ve got this mystery about wrapped up. All that’s left to do is find this phantom.” 

A beat. 

The gang all looked over to Ken, expectant. He smiled back at them until it clicked. Right! 

“I’ve got a trap that’ll be perfect!” he said, index finger pointed up in the air. “I’m pretty sure the phantom will go after the only other open haunted house, so all we have to do is be inside when he does. Toby, Gabriella, and I will have set up a fake room with two doors! Scooby and Su will be inside the haunted house and get the Phantom to follow them inside. They’ll go out the exit door and we’ll be standing there to make sure to lock the Phantom inside. Easy!” 

“Uh uh, no way!” Su protest. “I’m not doing that! Last time I went into one of those things he almost took my head off!” 

“You wouldn’t go at all?”

“Nope.” Both she and Scooby lifted their chins, noses pointing in the air at the very suggestion. 

“Not even for a Scooby Snack?” Gabriella signed before pulling out the obnoxiously large green striped box with orange lettering. Su’s eyebrows arched, demeanor shifting in an instant. Scooby’s tail began to wag beside her. 

“Well, okay, I guess it won’t be so scary,” Su smiled as she reached out her hand for the treats.

“This is so scary!” Su whimpered as she and Scooby maneuvered through the haunted house. 

The park was up and running again within a matter of about half an hour. It was not as busy as it had been earlier but the night crowd was in full swing now. 

Su and Scooby had waited in the line while the other three set up the fake offshoot room from the haunted house they were guessing would be the Phantom’s next target. It was zoo themed. Couldn’t get any better than this, right! 

“Oh the things we do for our friends,” Su had said as she and Scooby were beckoned into the house by a bloody zoo keeper. 

As if the Phantom had been in on Ken’s plan, too, he showed up right on time. Su and Scooby had been passing through the bird room, screaming at the ostrich that had tried to peck at them. The music cut, the lights went off, and everyone cleared out. 

All except Su and Scooby, who had been cowering in fear of the haunted house itself, and not realizing that they were still in the middle of a plan until someone grabbed Su’s shoulder. She peered up into the Phantom’s ghastly face and remembered. Scooby bit the man’s arm, causing him to let go and giving them enough time to scramble away and get back on track. The Phantom followed after, yelling in anger, weapon at the ready in his hand. 

“Here they come!” Toby signaled to Ken and Gabriella. 

Su and Scooby were heading right down the hall, Toby getting ready to shut the door behind them and the Phantom! 

But then they turned the corner, heading on the track of the actual haunted house rather than the fake one they had set up. Toby frowned. 

“And there they go.” 

Ken and Gabriella came through the fake room into the hall with Toby. Everyone shared a look of exasperation before taking off to go help their friends. 

They had made it all the way out of the haunted house and back down toward main street. Su and Scooby were doing a great job of ducking the wild swings of the handle, but were in no doubt getting gained on. With every missed strike the phantom seemed to only get angrier and more motivated. 

The two climbed over a fence and found themselves among giant tea cups, one spinning round slowly as Su tried to use it for balance as she attempted to catch her breath. Probably a good thing, too, since it spun her around in time to watch as the Phantom was climbing up onto the platform after them. They played a riveting game of cat and mouse in the maze of circles.  

The gang caught up, watching at the Phantom slammed their weapon down just as Scooby skittered in the other direction. 

“There’s the control panel!” Toby pointed out, jogging up the line to where a worker would usually stand. Gabriella and Ken ran up onto the ride after Su and Scooby. Luckily whoever had run from the ride had left their key in the machine. Toby turned it, the ride lighting up and engines buzzing. 

The platform began to rotate and all around the Phantom, so did the tea cups. The ghost staggered and tripped over Scooby, who had been crouching right behind him. He fell into one of the teacups, watching helplessly as the faces of Ken, Gabriella, and Su went by in a blur of color, each one standing around the cup to push it to go faster and faster. 

The ghost attempted to stand but when he did he was thrown off balance and thrown out of the cup, face first onto the platform. 

Toby punched the big red button, bringing the ride to a slow stop. 

Behind him Cruz and a crowd of workers from the park had followed the chase, all huddling around the entry gate to the tea cups. Toby hurried up onto the platform, wincing as he watched his friends all try to reorient themselves to no longer being on a revolving disk. He stepped over to where the ghost was groaning and pulled the mask from their face. 

“Dr. Drakken?” everyone chorused from behind the gate at the reveal. 

“What?” Su gasped. “But he was the one cleaning up after the Phantom! Why would he make a mess for himself?” 

“That was my biggest clue,” Toby explained, standing back up to smile down at Drakken’s venomous glare. “Since he’s so overworked, why wouldn’t he try to make it so bad that they eventually had to shut down the park? I knew that whoever the Phantom was had to know how the park was set up, right down to every wire. That’s how he was able to mess with the technology, he was the only one with enough knowledge of the park’s setup to be able to control it with a remote device on his person.” 

He produced the circuit board from his pocket from the shop. He pressed a button and everyone gasped when the lights turned off and on again, the music fading in and out. 

“But…but he loves this place!” Cruz argued. The workers around her seemed to begrudgingly agree. 

“I do love this place!” Drakken finally spoke up from where he was trying to push himself off the floor, but was clearly still whirling around inside his mind. He pointed a finger at…where he probably thought the gang was, but was really a tea cup. “I wanted it for myself! Drakken Land! I’ve had the plans for my own amusement park for years now. With this place shut down I could finally buy the owner out and make it into what it was always meant to be. And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” 

Everyone watched as the police escorted the grumbling engineer out of the park in handcuffs. 

“There’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Ken said as the car pulled away, red and blue lights fading into the traffic. “He said he wanted to buy out the owner…but didn’t he die?”

“Yeah,” Cruz agreed. “I was under the impression a whole board of people owned this place now.”

“Well, Mr. Hatter,” a police officer said, catching everyone's attention, “you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“Actually, I wasn’t planning on pressing any charges,” someone said, stepping out from behind the scarecrow decoration. 

“Dave?” everyone said in unison and with equal bemusement to color their harmony. 

“Are you sure?” the police officer asked only for the brew master to nod and send him on his way. The officer shrugged and exited out the gates, presumably to go down to the station to tell Drakken of the news. Dave joined the group after, hands stuck in the pocket of the apron he was still wearing. 

“You’re the owner?” Cruz asked, pointing her finger at him. The man nodded. “But..but you…but I thought-”

“Don’t hurt yourself, kid.”

“How?” 

“My name’s David Hatter. My family started the Tea Gardens and I’m just here to carry that legacy on as best I can,” he shrugged. “I always liked serving tea more than doing all the paperwork to keep this place open. I hired people to do that stuff so I can focus on the tea side of things, kinda the perks of being the boss.” 

“I thought you died!” 

“Almost died,” he corrected. “I got pretty badly electrocuted a few years ago that had been in pretty bad shape for a while there. I had to take a few weeks off and people thought I’d kicked the can since I didn’t come into work. I guess Drakken dredged that rumor back up just to help him pull this whole thing off.” 

“Huh.”

“Thanks for helping out,” Hatter said, turning to the other teens who looked less gobsmacked. 

“You’re not going to press charges?” Toby asked instantly. “Why not! That guy wanted to ruin this place! He wanted to buy it from you!” 

“Yeah, well, we weren’t exactly treating him very fair,” Hatter winced. He glanced over his shoulder at the exit for a moment. “He shouldn’t have been the only guy on call when stuff broke down. It’s my fault, I’ve been putting off getting this place up to date. I was just scared they would turn it too modern, erase my family’s history with it. He tried to pitch a plan a few times over the past years, but I always shut him down.”

“Man, no wonder he went crazy then,” Su frowned. 

“No, he’s just kinda like that, actually,” Cruz cut in, eyeing Mr. Hatter still. “But does that mean you’re going to actually listen to those plans this time?” 

“I think so,” Hatter nodded. She smiled up at him. He gave a smaller one in return before adding, “So, I believe someone’s in need of a life time supply of churros?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Cruz brightened and looked over to Scooby and Su. “Come on! Now that that’s over I can finally give you guys the full Tea Garden’s Halloween experience!” 

“Scooby dooby dooo!” the dog barked in excitement, tail wagging in a flurry behind him. The gang laughed, following their new friend back up the walkway and into the park where everyone else had seemed to be happy to get back to the fun and games.

David Hatter watched them go before making his way back to the tea shoppe. 

As he went, the lights above him flickered.

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The Newcomer Laura talks to a video conference with David, Lawrence, Anthony, John, and Michael, “I have tried calling for Council, and Wayne has refused me! Even if he accepted, I don’t have time! The Christian Wolves of Mizpah are attacking my military headquarters as we speak! If I don’t get additional support, and get it now, I am going to be overthrown!” Lawrence, “I commend the job you have done bringing order to Moab, Laura, but given your country’s history, perhaps this is inevitable.” Laura, “It will not be inevitable if I get the support I need!" Lawrence, "Yes, but how much more support are you going to need?" John, "Samaria is sending support." David, "As is Gilboa.” Michael, “And Gath." Lawrence, “I’m not sending Edomians to die for a lost cause.” Laura, “Moab is not a lost cause! It will be a stable country! Damian Meyer could have been a great king, if he'd have gotten an ounce of military support, but you let him fall!” David speaks up, “I believe that the CWM is currently being supported by Ammon, just as it was in the past. Princess Grace agrees with my assessment that King Wayne is trying to push his father’s beliefs and agenda into other countries. If Moab falls, Edom could be next.” Lawrence, “Edom can stand on its own, without outside support!” Anthony, speaking up nervously, “I agree with Lawrence. It isn’t worth sending Aramian soldiers.” Laura, "You are siding with these terrorists! Your failure to act will forever be a part of your legacy-” There's a sudden loud noise outside Laura’s door. A swarm of security guys hurry in, one says, “Ma'am, we have to get you to a secure location!" David, "Laura?" Her feed goes blank. Lawrence sighs, “That'll be the last time we hear from her." David stands up.

David bursts into Abby and Michelle’s new residence at the palace. Abby, usually dressed and very heavily pregnant, and she, Jack Jessie are putting the last touches on the baby-proofing. David bursts in, “Abby!” Abby, “You’re the king, but you’re still supposed to knock.” David, “Abby, Laura’s about to be overthrown, and I have to go to Moab to stop it.” Abby grows more serious, “They know you’re coming, right?” David, “Yes!” Jack, “CWM again?” David, “Yes.” Jack, “Is Wayne behind it?” David, “Probably, but he’s not saying anything!” Jessie, “David, you can’t leave, the baby’s almost here.” David, “The due date is two weeks away!” Jessie, “Babies arrive on their own schedule! You came a week early!” David, “It’s kind of an emergency, Mom!” Abby, “What do I need to do?” David, “Lawrence and Anthony are still denying support, do you think you can work on them?” Abby, “I can try. I honestly don't know what I can do.” Jack, “Lawrence will never budge, and Anthony will do whatever Lawrence dies.” Abby, “What about the CWM themselves, are they saying anything? Are there any hostages?” Jessie, “You need to be relaxing!” Abby, “David’s right, this is kind of an emergency. We have to deal with it.” Jessie sighs and knits her eyebrows in concern, “I don’t like it when you just run into these things.” David, “Laura is our closest ally, and if she gets overthrown, we are beyond fucked!” Jessie, “Language!” David, “If we don’t deal with this now, it’s gonna make it a lot harder for me and Abby to be parents!” Abby, “David, you go get on a plane. I’ll get everything set up we we can talk when you’re on the way.” David, “Jack can look after Abby while I’m gone, okay?” Jack, “Yeah, I’ll be here.” Jessie nods, “You do what you have to do.”

David, Shay, and Joel sit in the cabin of David’s royal plane, while Jack, Asher, and Abby join in on video. They all watch a video of Duncan Penzak, the young, blonde, and handsome man calling himself the leader of the Christian Wolves of Mizpah. Penzak, “I call on the Christian men of the world to join me. The time has come to overthrow Queen Laura Wall. The Christian Wolves of Mizpah takes responsibility for the recent bombing attacks…” Jack, “He looks like you.” David, “What? He’s blonde, but I don’t see anything else.” Jack, “More than that.” David, "What's his name, again?” Abby, "Duncan Penzak.” David, "And what's his deal? Has he like… done anything heroic?” Abby, “Robbed some banks, made a big show of it.” David rolls his eyes, “It’s not heroic if you’re the only person with a gun.” Penzak, “As Christians, we ask, what must be done? Queen Laura has perverted God’s perfect, natural order by leading a country. She misleads us with the lies of feminism, humanism, and progressivism.” Asher, “Huh. They’re appealing to their base, not going for popularism.” David, “Yeah, so?” Asher, “When Warner and the Christian Front were fighting for control of Ammon, they gained support from the public by basing much of their rhetoric on the fact that Allen White was a terrible king. People supported the heroes who were fighting for a better future. Once you agree to that, the fundamentalism becomes much more palatable. People will put up with authoritarianism if it means they have a job and a government that looks after their needs. CWM is skipping all that and going straight for the fringe.” David, “So what does that mean?” Asher shrugs, “Probably that they don’t need popular support in Moab. Their support is coming in from elsewhere.” Joel, “They’re sending their propaganda outside of Moab. They’re seeking, bored, disaffected, and insecure men looking for meaning in their lives and something to fight for.” David, “That’s what Amal did.” Joel, “Same shit, different asshole.” Asher, “Extremists are all the same, no matter their religion.” Penzak, “We must resist! We must demand that our leaders honor God! We must demand our authority as men! The time has come for Queen Laura to be removed!” Jack, “He’s copying you! Ashdod! W-when you interrupted Dad!” He pulls up a video of David on his phone, “We must resist! We must demand honesty from our leaders…” Abby, “I wrote that fucking speech. Do they know they’re plagiarizing a woman?”

The plane lands in Moab. David, Joel, and Shay get led through a building on an army base. An army officer leads them into a room where Laura waits for them, “Your Majesty, King David is here to see you.” Laura gets up and greets David with a tight hug, “Oh my god, David.” As she hugs him, she’s overcome for a moment, and she wipes her eyes as she steps back, “They’ve taken the palace. I just barely made it out alive.” David, “We will drive them out, okay?” Laura shakes her head, “I know my country. I know its history. I’m lucky to have made it this long.” David, “Don’t talk like that!” Laura, “If it comes down to it, I want Steven to go back to Gilboa with you.” David, “What?” Laura, “Steven will go to Gilboa where he can live out the rest of his life in safety, but I’m not going into exile. I will die before I let Moab fall.” David, “Laura, that’s not going to happen, do you hear me? I can’t lose you as an ally, and I’m staying here with you, okay?” Laura, “Don’t be stupid, David.” Joel speaks up, “Hey, we took care of the Amalekites, we can handle the CWM. The big thing is gonna be getting Penzak.” Shay, “You were smart, calling us. CWM took over your palace. We spent a long time trying to do the same thing.

Jack sits in Abby's office, Abby waits on the phone, “King David is in Moab right now. It’s vital that King Lawrence grant immediate aide… Yes… Yes... I understand, but…” she sighs heavily, "Okay thank you.” She slams the phone down, "What the fuck is Lawrence even up to, playing golf?” Jack, “You know it’s just a dead end, right?" Abby, “Yes, but I need to keep trying." Jack, "Abby, seriously, you’ve been at it for hours, there's nothing you can do." Abby, "I have to do something.” Jack, “No you don’t. Not to sound like too much of a bitch, but Jessie’s kind right. If there’s nothing for you to do, you should be relaxing.” Abby gives him a dirty look. Jack, "How the fuck are you going to survive three months of maternity leave?” Abby, “It’s hard to relax when there’s shit happening! How the fuck do you relax?” Jack, “My good friend, reality TV.” Abby, “You had a traumatic brain injury, and you still rot what’s left of your brain with that?” Jack, “Helped me survive the hospital. I get a migraine, it distracts me. I watch someone else's problems.”

David, Shay, Joel, Laura, Steven (who is an officer in the army now and wearing army fatigues), and Laura’s military advisors watch a team of Queens of Gilboa fighting in a wing of the palace. David scrutinizes the image of a CWM fighter, “Are- are they wearing fucking jackets?” Shay squints and looks closer, “Yeah. It looks like they are.” Laura, “Good God, where are they getting jackets?” David, "They're copying the AFG." Shay, “They can't even be original. How fucking lame." David, to Laura, “Do you have any long-term plans? How are you going to deal with these guys after this?” Laura, “I’m just trying to survive this.” David, “How were they operating before? Did they always have a leader?" Laura sighs, “They've always been loose, but organized. They’ve had a few generals that we’ve managed to take care of, but none of them seemed to love the spotlight the way Penzak does.” Joel, "Are you trying to take him alive?" Laura, “These men make martyrs of themselves so well. I’m sure he wants to die. I hate to give him what he wants.” David, "What would you do, if you caught him alive?” Laura, "Put him on trial. Show the world he's a criminal, not some brilliant leader." Shay, “He’s not a brilliant leader. He’s copying David. Do you know how dumb David is most of the time?” David, “I think we can catch him, but… it's gonna take some risks.” Laura, "What kind of risks?" David, “Penzak is going to want to do something glorious, something that makes him famous.” Shay, “So what, do we send a tank in there?” David, “Something close,” he glances over at Steven, “If we send Steven, he won’t be able to resist it.” Laura, “I am not doing that!" David, “We don’t send him in alone!” he turns to David, "You're an officer now, right?” Steven, “Yeah.” David, “Send him in as the leader of a unit, like he's just there to fight. Say his name over the radio a few times, make sure it’s clear he’s there.”  Everyone exchanges nervous looks. Laura shudders, “I don't like this idea." David goes on, “The tank thing, I did that by myself, and I was fucking lucky, but my luck definitely ran out. I made it out alive because I had Shay with me. We send in Steven and keep him well-covered, we can take Penzak alive.” Laura, "David, I know you rely on heroics-” David, “These guys are trying to be heroes. Sometimes you gotta remind people who they're dealing with." Steven, “I can do it." Laura shakes her head, “No. No, I can’t do that," she goes over to David and puts her hands on his shoulders, "David, you're going to be a parent very soon. I was a mother long before I was a queen. Steven is the one thing I care about more than my country. This is why I want him going back to Gilboa with you!” David, "He won't be going in alone I have been burned, shot, stabbed, poisoned, and hit with a car, and I'm standing here today because I’ve always had someone covering me. Penzak seems to think he can be a hero all by himself. That's how we're gonna take him down.” Steven approaches Laura, “Mom, if there’s anyone who can get me through this safely, it’s David.” David, “Actually, it’s Shay. And he’s going to have both of us." Laura shudders, "I- I can’t watch it. I can't be in the room with you. But I trust you.” Steven, "I know the layout of the palace, where all the hiding places and potential traps are. I know where we can lure Penzak.”

Jack and Abby sit watching TV and eating ice cream. Abby, "I don't get it, why are they all trying to marry him?” Jack, "He's a millionaire." Abby, "So? No amount of money is worth a lifetime of bad dick." Jack, "You're a lesbian. What do you know about dick?" Abby, "I know what your sister does with a strap-on." Jack, "Oh my god, I’m traumatized! Already traumatized!” Abby, "Besides, I was married once, remember?" Jack, “Yeah. Norman. Why the fuck did you marry him?” Abby, "Why the fuck were you dating Katrina Ghent? It's what my parents wanted. He didn't seem that bad at first. Ha came from a rich family, and my dad said he had a good career in front of him. Turns out he didn't like having a wife wanted a good career, too." She makes a face, “So many men just want a mommy they can fuck on demand,” she pats her baby, "Not this baby, though. He's gonna know how to do his own damn laundry.” Jack, "Michelle doesn't know laundry." Abby, “Exactly, why do you think I’m making sure my kid knows how to do it?” Jack, "You know, maybe I went wrong in looking in the wrong direction. I should have married you." Abby, “What?!” Jack, “We get along. We’re parents. I go fuck David, you go fuck Michelle. Easy.” Abby laughs, "No way. I’m not nearly pretty enough. Rose would never let me marry you.” Jack, “Mom was very desperate. Would you say no?” Abby, “Probably not.” Jack, “I’m better than most straight guys. I know where the clitoris is.” Abby grimaces and puts a hand on her belly. Jack, "You okay?” Abby, “Yeah, I just-” her expression falls, “Oh, fuck. Fuck me." Jack, "What?" Abby, “Goddamnit! Of course it's gonna happen right now!” Jack, “Oh my god, are you in labor?" Abby, "You're gonna need someone to clean your couch."  

David, Shay, Joel, Laura, and her generals sit tensely watching a firefight on their TVs. Steven’s voice, “We’ve got pretty heavy resistance!” Shay, “Do you need reinforcements?” On screen, Steven shoots down a CWM fighter. Steven, “I think we’ve got it.” Shay nods, “Hang in there, Lieutenant Fletcher.” David’s phone buzzes. He takes it out, looks at it: MICHELLE. David, “Shit.” He stands up, “I have to take this.” Shay, “Make it short. We’re almost in position.” David steps into an isolated spot and speaks quietly, “Hey, what's up?” Michelle answers, standing on the outside of hospital room, “Hey, uh, Abby's kind of in labor." David, "What?" Michelle, "She's dilated at only one centimeter.” David, “What does that mean?" Michelle, “It means that the cervix usually expands at once centimeter per hour. It takes six hours for you to get from Mizpah to Shiloh. If you leave right now, you might make it in time.” David, “I….” He struggles to think of the right words. Michelle, “Can you leave?” David, “I can’t discuss it over the phone.” Michelle, “Okay.” David, "Tell Abby-” Michelle, "David, you do what you need to do. Whatever happens, happens.” David, “I want to be there." Michelle, "I know you do." David, “I- I…” he falters, “I have to go.” Michelle, “I’ll call you if anything happens.” David, “Yeah. Okay.” Michelle, “Bye.” David, “Bye.” His hand drops to his side. Behind him, Shay appears, “David?” He glances back at her, as if snapping out of a trance. Shay, “Everything okay?” David, “Let’s get Penzak.”

Abby lays in the hospital bed, groaning, gritting her teeth, and squeezing Jack’s hand, “Oh my god, where is the fucking epidural?!” Michelle, “They’re getting the medicine and the anesthesiologist. It’s going to take a little while.” Abby, “I’m about to deliver the anesthesiologist’s future king!” Michelle, “And you’re in here earlier than we expected. It usually takes a half hour for the medicine to arrive, and then another half hour for the anesthesiologist to arrive after that.” Abby, “Motherfucker!” She clenches down on Jack’s hand, and Jack cries out with pain, “Aaah!” Abby, panting, “Michelle, call Lawrence.” Michelle, “What?” Abby, “Take my phone and call King Lawrence.” Michelle, “Why?” Abby, “So help me God, I am going to get Edomian aid to Moab!” Cut to: Lawrence’s POV on a tablet screen: Abby in a hospital gown, sitting on the edge of her bed, with an anesthesiologist swabbing her back down, “I’m sterilizing the area to prevent any infection.” In his office, Lawrence watches it all on a tablet, “Good god, I was told you were at the hospital, I didn’t believe you were actually in labor!” Abby, “Yeah, and David’s not here because he’s in Moab, stopping a coup without your fucking help!” Anesthesiologist, “You’re gonna feel a little pinch, that’s the local anesthetic numbing you up before I insert the big needle.” Lawrence, “This is obscene!” Abby, “Yeah, it’s obscene that you’re actively fucking up this child’s future!” Lawrence, “It’s too late. It’s too far into the crisis, any support I send now will be completely useless.” Abby, “Even if the crisis is fully averted, long-term support is going to be critical! Laura’s position as queen has to be secured and made safe, and any remaining CWM cells and operatives eliminated!” Lawrence, “I am not sending my troops to stay in Moab indefinitely!” Abby, “Motherfucker! Aaaaagh!” She grimaces with another contraction. Lawrence, “Are you all right, Minister Benjamin-Hatch?” Anesthesiologist, “Okay, I think I can stick the epidural needle in, now.” Abby re-gains control of herself with a loud moan, “Sending support now ensures that there will be no further need in the future! Moab is unstable because it has never been given stability! Stability in Moab means stability is Gilboa, which means this baby won’t miss the glorious birth of his first child because he’s still fighting the Christian fucking Wolves of Mizpah! Stability in Moab can only benefit Edom politically and economically!” Anesthesiologist, “You’re gonna have to be still so I get get the needle in the right way.” Lawrence, “You are in no condition to be negotiating right now.” Abby, “I’m not negotiating shit, I am stating facts! Laura is the most successful and beloved monarch that Moab has had in its existence, and she’s still not as popular has fatherhood has made David! If David misses the birth of his heir, and Laura still gets overthrown, he will go to every major news outlet in North America and spell it out explicitly, this is all Lawrence Merritt’s fucking fault! King Lawrence does not give a shit! He sits in his palace signing let them eat cake while the world crumbles around him! David will speak to the people of Edom, and the people of Edom will be fucking pissed!” Lawrence, trying to hide the fact that he’s shook, “David can’t possibly inspire a revolt in Edom.” Abby, “Wanna bet?” She doubles over and cries out in pain, “Mother fucker, put the fucking needle in!” Anesthesiologist, “Hold still!” The anesthesiologist jams the needle into Abby’s spine, and pushes the plunger on the syringe. Lawrence sighs and looks away awkwardly. Anesthesiologist, “You should be feeling it now, but it’ll take about fifteen minutes for the full effect. If you still feel pain, we can give you more.” Abby, sighing with relief, “Thank you.” Lawrence, “If David succeeds in defending Laura… IF he succeeds… I will consider sending Edomian troops to help secure stability in Moab.” Abby, “I’m not considering anything, either you will or you won’t.” Lawrence, “If David succeeds.” Abby, “You’ll send support!” Lawrence, “I will send support!” Abby, “So now I can give birth knowing that this isn’t a problem my child will have to be dealing with.” Lawrence, “Yes. I’m going to leave you now to deliver your child. You have my warmest congratulations.” He shuts the stream off. Jack, “Holy shit!” Abby falls back into he bed, smiling and panting with relief, “Okay. Now let’s get this baby out of me.” Michelle, “Probably still gonna be a while.” Abby, “Fuck!”

At the base, David and the others all watch tensely. Steven and two other soldiers stand outside the door of a long hallway. David, "You ready, Captain Fletcher?" Steven, “I’m ready.” David glances over at Laura, who suddens and nods. David, "Okay. Let's secure the next target." Steven, “Moving in." He leads his two men into the hallway. The hallway is long and fancy, with black and white tiles, fountains, plants, high ceilings, and decorative skylights. Slowly, Cautiously, they inch down the hallways, wary of any sudden movement. Suddenly, Two CWM fighters burst in at the end of the hallway, firing away. Steven and his men return fire. One of Steven's men fas wounded, and then the other. Steven dives behind a statue, still firing. The CWM fighters move to corner him, filling the statue with holes, sending shards of marble flying. Eventually, Steven drops his gun and holds his hands up in surrender. At the base, Laura looks over at David, distraught, “David!” David, “Hold on.” The two CWM fighters slowly approach Steven, grinning ear to ear. A door at the other end of the hallway opens, and Duncan Penzak comes strutting in. He approaches Steven, gloating over him, “My, my, my. God certainly is good to us today.” David, “Now.” Suddenly, the glass above their heads shatters, and teams of Queens of Gilboa come rappelling in through the skylights. Steven’s two “wounded” men spring to their feet and disarm the two CWM fighters. While Penzak is distracted, Steven tackles him, takes his gun, and points it at his head. Steven, "I got Penzak!" Laura has to sit down, overcome with relief. David grins, "Good going, Steven. Bring him in.” Shay comes up behind David and pats him on the back, “Good going man.” David, “I'd be dead seven times over if I didn't have you covering me.” Shay, “What was that call earlier?” David, “Uh, it was Michelle. Abby’s in labor.” Shay, “Are you fucking kidding me? What are you still doing here?" David, "Had to make sure the mission is successful.” Shay, “It's fucking successful! Go!” David, "The palace isn't fully secured yet." Shay, "It's just mopping up now, Joel and I can handle that!”  

Abby lies in her hospital bed, Jack and Michelle at her sides, a doctor checking on her dilation. Abby whines, “Uuuugh, can I push yet?” Doctor, “You’re at six centimeters. Two more to go.” Michelle, “You are doing so good.” Jack’s phone dings. He looks at it, “David is on the plane!” Abby, “Is he gonna make it?” Michelle, “Uh, if your labor slows, maybe.” Abby, “Oh, fuck it, I want this baby out of me!” Doctor, “When you’re fully dilated!”

(“Welcome to the World” Kevin Rudolf) Penzak forlornly gets photographed at the military base, now a prisoner in custody. Behind the camera, Shay and Joel laugh and smirk at him. Joel, “Cheer up, bro. You're gonna be famous.”

Laura surveys the damage in the throne room: it’s a mess, but fixable. Most importantly, it's still hers. Steven appears at her side. Laura smiles at him, bursting wit pride, and he grins back at her.

On his airplane, in the dark, his face illuminated by the screen of his phone, David watches with bated breath.

In her hospital room, Michelle and Jack both hold on to Abby’s hands. Doctor, “Just one more push!” Abby takes in a deep breath and lets out a ferocious roar.

David watches. He covers his face with his hand. The sound of a baby dying comes over the phone. The doctor says, “A healthy baby boy!” David throws his head back, overcome with joy and amazement.

Abby looks on in astonishment as the doctor places the baby in her arms. Michelle coos, “Hi, Daniel! Hi!” Jack is too overwhelmed to say anything. Abby gazes down at her new son awe-struck, “Hi! Hi!” Michelle, softly, “Daniel Seth.” Abby laughs, joyous tears in her eyes.

David walks down the hallway of the hospital. Jack comes running up to him, and they embrace each other with a long, tight hug, both of them laughing deliriously.

Jack leads David into the delivery room. Abby sits in bed, holding the baby, Michelle at her side. They both look up as Jack and David enter. Abby beams, “Hi, Dad.” David approaches, completely awe-struck. Abby, "He looks like you!” Gently, David reaches out his arms, and Abby hands the baby over to him. Slowly David backs down into a chair, transfixed by the face of his new son. David, “Abby… Abby, he’s perfect.” Abby laughs and wipes a happy tear from her eye, “Yeah.” David glances back at Jack, and they both share tired smiles. David looks back down at the baby, softly murmuring, “Hi, Daniel, hi…”

[silentglassbreak]

Fragmented

Noah Sebastian x OFC

The next chapter of Noah & Leena's story

I was so on the fence about writing a sequel, yet here we are. I saw the sequel in my head, and decided it was worth the write. This story is told from Noah's perspective. This time, I'm going to put warnings in on each individual chapter, as some may not need any. Also - something worth mentioning; the names of each part in the first story were obviously Bad Omens song titles. This time, they will be titles from songs that just inspire me. If you're here, thank you for reading! Leave me your thoughts, and let me know if you'd like to be tagged. xo

Warnings: Just some gool ol' fashioned smut with some kinky stuff added in. (Also mention of marijuana smoking)

+It goes without saying. This is a work of fiction. My words are mine. Plagiarism is a crime.

Taglist: @flowery-mess @lma1986 @myownthoughts12 @poisongirl616 @missduffsblog @reidsblessing

Part 1 - Shame On Me

I've been a morning person my entire life. Even before I was active, and in the shape I'm in now, I was usually risen with the sun. However, after having spent the vast majority of my days the last year running on fumes, I found myself still laying in bed, hugging my pillow, letting my brain drift comfortably in and out of consciousness.

That is, until I felt something tugging at the edge of the blanket I had draped over my midsection.

I rolled over, eyes cracking open, seeing the miniature fingers grasping at me, Addison's eyes bright with a smile plastered across her face.

"Da da da da!" I smiled back at her, sitting up and lifting her onto the bed, flopping her down on the pillow next to me. She giggled wildly and I pulled the blanket up over the both of us.

"Five more minutes, baby girl."

Her tiny hand was pulling at the hem of my tank top, trying to 'wake me up' as I laid there, dramatically snoring.

"Da da!" Her voice was getting angrier, and I laughed.

"Da da's tired, Addie! I get to sleep in!"

"Nooo!" I snorted at one of the few words she had come to learn very well.

"No?!" I grabbed her sides, pinching and tickling her, causing a roaring laughter to burst out of her. Her onesie was wrinkled and nearly popping open at her diaper from how hard she wriggled under my grip. "You don't get to say no to me, lady! I am your Daddy!"

She thrashed her head back and forth, gasping for air between happy squeals.

"Addie, would you let your Daddy sleep?" Mileena's voice floated in from the doorway.

I turned my head, and my hand stopped the torment on Addison. Leena was stood in a pair of black leggings, white crop top exposing her belly button, and her dark brown faded hair now pulled up in a messy bun. She looked so comfortable, so unkempt, and absolutely fucking delicious.

I reached an arm out toward her, earning me a small grin when she walked toward me. She placed a hand in mine, and I pulled her close to me. She bent down, her face stopping only inches from mine.

"Happy Birthday, Noah." Her voice was even, but her eyes were hungry.

With everything we had been through the last few weeks, with shows, Addie's first birthday, a bout of the flu, and Laura announcing she was getting a divorce, there had been very little time for us to be alone. I knew she felt it, but we weren't there yet. We needed to get through today, the Halloween party/birthday celebration, before we had any chance of spending time together.

"Thank you, my love. Happy Halloween."

Leena's eyes lit up. Halloween was her favorite holiday even before her and I met, so getting to have a huge celebration was right up her alley.

After Addison was born, it became abundantly clear that living with a newborn and all of the band members was no longer ideal. Addie was as colicky as they come, keeping everyone up at all hours of the night. The constant crying, mess, and general irritation that it caused made our living arrangements difficult. As much as Uncles Nick, Jolly, and Folio loved baby Addie, they needed a change.

I had offered to move us out, buy a new house, but Nick insisted that they would get a place - promised to be close by - to allow us our space. I was eternally grateful, and will never be able to pay him back for everything he had done for me. Eventually, they moved out, and the house was left for just us.

Aside from the struggle that being new parents took on Leena and I's sex life, it also took a serious toll on our recovery. Nothing sounds better to take the edge off from three-day long sleepless binges than a rum and Coke. Leena confessed her drink of choice was Vodka, and she nearly broke down once, driving to the liquor store, but never making it inside.

We both went back to our meetings once Addie was old enough to be babysat, spending a few hours at a time with either Laura or the guys.

After spending a few more minutes smothering Addie in kisses, I finally began getting out of bed. Leena was folding laundry on the dresser, putting it away meticulously.

"What time is it?"

"Almost noon. Laura will be here in a few hours to pick up Addie for the night." She folded one of my pairs of pants, placing it neatly in the dresser drawer.

I turned my attention back to my daughter, wiggling my eyebrows at her. "Nah, I think she's going to stay here with me. Hang out with Daddy on his birthday!"

Addison squealed, her legs kicking at me. I grabbed her hand and began pretending I was going to eat her fingers.

"As fun as that would be, I don't know that her being here when the sheer amount of musicians in our house come by is such a great idea."

I didn't look at her, still pretending to take bites out of the baby's arm. "What do you mean? Andy loves kids! Oli does too, said Addie was the next Stevie Knicks!"

Mileena shook her head and snorted. "Yeah? Are you referring to the last party, when she was kept awake most of the night, and we had a miserable day afterwards because she was so tired?"

I narrowed my eyes back at her. "Listen, Folio promised he wouldn't play drums this time."

She gave me a look that told me I wasn't winning this.

"You sure she isn't old enough to trick or treat, yet?"

She shook her head at me. "Honey, that's what the trunk or treat last night was for."

I pursed my lips. "Fine, but tomorrow, I'm taking you guys somewhere. Just the three of us, yeah?"

I was standing now, shirtless, and pulled Addie down onto the carpet. She immediately crawled toward Angel laying on the floor.

"That sounds fun." Mileena was bent down, putting one of her shirts in the drawer in the bottom of the dresser.

I walked up behind her, my hand grazing the back of her thigh, coming to rest on the curve of her ass. My touch startled her, making her stand up straight in a flash, her back bumping into my chest.

I took the opportunity to wrap an arm around her middle, pulling her back into me. "Mmm," I hummed into the skin just below her ear. "think Addie's going to nap today?"

Leena pressed her ass against me, pushing into the fabric of my shorts. She leaned her had back against my collarbone, eyes closing comfortably.

"Probably not." Her voice was breathless. "She slept in."

“That’s too fucking bad.” I kept my voice low, glancing at Addie, who was leaned against Angel’s sleeping body, holding her feet in wonder. “Because it’s been so long.” I let my hand graze over the hem of her leggings, slipping a thumb in the waistband.

She groaned. “Noah, don’t start something you can’t finish.” As annoyed as she sounded, she was still pressed against me, hands now gripping my arm where it held her in place.

“Oh, baby, I’m finishing it. The second I get you alone, I’m ripping you to fucking shreds.”

She giggled then, pulling away and turning to peer up at me, her eyes as dark as mine.

“Yeah? You always say that. Yet, somehow, I can still walk afterwards?” Her smirk was devious, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

She chuckled, and picked the laundry basket up from the bed, making her way back toward the hallway.

Oh, she was dead.

-

The living room was buzzing with energy, music playing over the speakers, and conversations filling the air. I stood, leaned against the bannister of the staircase, hands in my pockets. The smell of marijuana permeated the air, which was to be expected.

Hearing we were having ‘dry parties’ didn’t sound like much fun, until people learned we made other accommodations. Although Leena and I didn’t partake, we weren’t opposed to others having a good time.

Speaking of my girl, I had lost her at some point in the night. When Ronnie and Saraya showed up, she had excitedly grabbed the latter’s hand and drug her off to the backyard, where her garden was flourishing. The girls were undoubtedly gossiping. They usually did.

I made my way through the sea of bodies toward my kitchen, where I found Jolly and Nick, ripping a joint, laughing about something I hadn’t heard.

I had to raise my voice for them to hear me. “You seen Leena?”

Jolly exhaled his smoke, a rough cough coming out as he passed it back to Nick. “Last I saw, she was outside talking to Oli.”

I nodded, heading for the back door. I stopped at the dining room table, catching sight of her. Her floor length black, unforgivably tight dress hung so beautifully off of her frame. The sleeves reached her wrists, the neckline plunging disrespectfully. Her, now freshly dyed, black hair was pulled up into a ponytail, the length falling down her back. I drank in the sight of her.

My gaze was disrupted when I saw her hand reach up, grabbing an arm. It was a thick, muscular arm covered in tattoos. I then realized that she was, in fact, talking to Oli. Her lips were pulled in a smile, her teeth flashing. She was laughing. And she was touching him.

He was towering over her. Oliver was nearly as tall as me, his frame poised so you could see the ripples of his chest under his shirt. Something inside me tightened. I didn’t like it.

Stepping outside, I consciously kept myself calm as I approached them. Oli saw me first.

“Hey, there he is! Birthday boy!” His thick accent made me smile, my primitive rage fading slightly.

“Hey, what’s going on guys?”

Leena turned, her body pressing close to me instinctively. “Hey! Oli and I were just talking about that tour you were on with him in Europe?”

I nodded. “Fun stuff, man. Cant wait to do it again.”

Oliver nodded, a lazy smile spread across his face. “Oh yeah, we had that crowd eating out of our hands, man. What a fucking rush.”

Leena giggled at Oli’s excitement, it made my spine stiffen, and my blood run cold.

She shouldn’t be laughing like that, not because of Oliver. That giggle was so high-pitched and squirrely. I didn’t care for that at all. It felt flirtatious.

I knew before Leena and I even got together that Bring Me The Horizon was one of her favorites, of course Oli being, by extension, one of her favorites. However, she was also a huge Falling in Reverse fan, but she sure didn’t giggle like that around Ronnie.

Ronnie was also not Oli Sykes; a big British brute with a natural sense of seduction, whether he was trying to or not. Regardless, I still did not like that laugh, not when it wasn’t pointed at me.

“Hey, could I borrow her for just a few?”

Oliver nodded, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Well, of course, man! Listen, I’ve got to get out of here anyways, got to head back to the motherland in the morning. Early flight and all that.”

He reached an arm around me first, pulling me into a tough, tight hug. “So good to see you, mate. Come see me on the other side of the pond some time, right?”

I slapped his back while embracing him. “Of course, man. I appreciate you being here.”

Oli excused himself inside the house, leaving Leena and I stood on the patio, alone.

She smiled brightly at me, but I still had this unnerving itch. She must have noticed my stiff demeanor, because her face fell some and she raised an eyebrow.

“You alright, babe?”

I exhaled. “Yeah, why?”

She took a step back, putting a hand on her hip. “Well, you asked Oliver if you could borrow me? And you look irritated?” Her eyes were soft, which contradicted the sass in her stance.

“Mm.” I sucked my teeth and glanced back toward the house. “How is Oliver?”

Anything soft fell right off her face, her eyebrows scrunching together. She saw right through me.

“He’s great.”

I inhaled deeply.

“What did you need to borrow me for, Noah?”

I looked back at her then, realizing I didn’t have a reason to pull her out of her conversation aside from disliking the way she was touching another man. Running it back in my head, it felt stupid.

“Oh, uh,” I ran a hand over my mouth, thinking. “just wanted to see if you heard from Laura? How Addie’s doing?”

She wasn’t buying it. “Addie’s fine, like she always is with Laura. Last update I got was an hour ago, when I came and found you.”

This wasn’t going well.

“Well, good.” I pulled at the skin of my bottom lip with my teeth.

“Noah?” I looked back at her. “What’s going on?”

Shaking my head, I tried to look clueless. “Nothing, why?”

She crossed her arms. “Cause you’re acting weird.”

Something about her tone, her body language, I couldn’t put my finger on why, but it irritated me. She was feeling up on someone else, and I’m getting questioned?

I mimicked her and folded my own arms over my chest. “I’m not the one acting weird.”

Eyes narrowed at her, I held my face even.

“And how is that?” She didn’t falter. Leena was one of the only women I knew who could give my poker face a run for its money.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you not just getting all grabby with Oli?”

Her eyes widened then in disbelief. I knew, because when I heard it come out of my own mouth, I realized that was a pretty big stretch. She grabbed his arm, not his cock.

But still, we were already here, and I wasn’t in a place to back down. Not right now, feeling this attracted to her when she was pissed off.

“Grabby?!” Her voice came out louder than I expected, and I whipped my head around to see if anyone else was outside. “How in the hell was I being grabby with him?”

I rolled my eyes.

“Well, it was pretty clear to me.” I was digging myself a hole, I knew it. So did she, but now she was waving her hands around, and her tits were bouncing in her dress, no confines of a bra. My mouth was watering, so I doubled down. “Was it really necessary to be grabbing his arms like that?”

My tone was cool, which contrasted her face that was now turning a shade of pink with rage. Was I proud? Not exactly… Maybe a little.

She’s so fucking sexy when she’s mad.

“You’ve lost it, you know that?” Her voice was filled with incredulous frustration. She then began trying to walk away, forcing me to reach out and catch one of her wrists in my hand. I was too tired, too depraved. I needed her so badly, but the idea of her being spitting mad at me made it worth the effort. I wanted her so angry that she was damn near ready to rip me apart. The idea made my dick twitch in my slacks.

“Leena,” She looked down at where I held her arm, then looked back at me with narrowed eyes. Oh she was enraged. Excellent. “I-“ I wanted to say sorry, tell her I was being dumb and to go inside and enjoy the party, but I just…couldn’t.

Something in her stare told me she had figured me out, and her eyebrows lowered, her lips twisting up in a menacing grin.

“Are you…jealous?”

I was taken back. Jealous? Of Oli? Nope. Couldn’t be me.

“No.” I said through grit teeth. “I just don’t want you to forget who you belong to.”

That was it. That sent her over the edge. She ripped her arm out of my grip, standing back defensively.

“Belong to? Like a piece of fucking property?”

I didn’t respond, just shrugged.

“You son of a bitch!” Twitch.

“How dare you speak to me that way?! As if you own me?!” Twitch.

“I don’t give a half of a fuck who I’m talking to, or grabbing. You don’t own me.”

Maybe this was going too far. Maybe.

But then she stormed inside, and I was barreling after her. She was already halfway to the staircase when I grabbed Nick by the sleeve on my way after her.

“Everyone out. Now.” No one needed to hear what I was about to get into.

The bedroom door slammed when I was about a foot away. I could hear bodies shuffling out the front door, but I didn’t care. I just burst into the room, not surprised it wasn’t locked.

She stood between the bed and the dresser, fists balled at her sides, baring her teeth. Oh it was lovely, seeing her so fucking hostile. I nearly fell to my knees in front of her, begging her to do whatever she saw fit. I didn’t, however.

Instead, I slipped the door closed and turned the lock carefully behind me. My face was stoic, doing my best to keep my own composure. It was taking every bit of self restraint, but I could feel it faltering. We were going down soon, I could feel it. My brain was sizzling just looking at her.

“I don’t care how much I love you, Noah Sebastian. I will not be treated like a piece of meat.” She was waving a finger at me, manicured and perfect.

I took a step toward her. She didn’t allow me the space to speak.

“I’m not sure where you found all of that fucking audacity, but I will tell you, it is so out of character for you.” Her voice had fallen some.

“Is it?” My words came out low and slow.

She couldn’t believe me. As if I had no idea the inconvenience I had caused her.

“Why would you do that?” Her face was now pulled into something that looked like confusion. “I can’t think of one good reason why you-“

She didn’t get to finish, my control finally slipping through my fingers, and my hands grabbing her and pressing our mouths together. She stilled at first, but when I pressed my tongue against her lips, she melted, her anger being fed through her grasp on me.

Mileena pulled at my blazer, ripping it down my shoulders and tossing it on the bed.

In a moment of absolute primal agitation, she growled at me, which sent every drop of blood in my body down to my crotch.

When her fingers began pulling at the bottom of my shirt, I wrapped my hand in her hair and pulled her backwards. She stared at me, all venom and lust, and snarled. I smiled, licking my lips. It was unbelievable. I used my free hand to rip the front of her dress open, her breasts falling out, and capturing my attention. My hand loosened on her hair, sliding down her face, neck, and reaching for her chest.

She used this opportunity to wrap a hand around my throat, which took me by surprise, my gaze lifting. She was controlling this, which was new.

Her teeth ground together, and her fingers squeezed me, the tips of her sharp acrylics digging into my skin.

“On your fucking knees.”

I scoffed. “Or what?”

Her hand tightened even further, and her other hand came up to grab me by the cock, gripping the fabric of my pants in an almost uncomfortable squeeze.

“Or I walk away, right now.”

That sounded like misery in the highest degree, so, naturally, I sunk down to the floor, sharp eyes glancing up at her. The hand on my neck was now running through my hair. She was looking down at me with an almost loving look on her face.

“You were so fucking mean, you need to make up for it.”

My hand grabbed her ankle just above her heel, sliding up the back of her calf, to her thigh. When my fingertips reached her hip, I noticed something that made me nearly fall backwards. She wasn’t wearing any panties.

Using the slit up the side of her dress skirt, I moved the fabric over to see her, already visibly wet. She loved this as much as I did. I only peered up at her for a split second, seeing she now had her head leaned back, waiting, anticipating.

Catching her off guard, instead of starting slow, building her up, making her whine and beg, I attached myself to her core, drawing a sharp breath out of her.

“Fuck, Noah!” She pulled at my hair, looking down at me while I worked her over, feeling the moisture running down my chin. “Ugh, you look so fucking cute when you do that.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t detach. I pulled her one leg so her thigh balanced on my shoulder and dove in deeper, sliding my tongue up and down her folds. I saw her tits bouncing up and down as she bucked into my face.

I settled in, intending to let her finish before I took the reins back, but I was interrupted at her pulling me upward by the hair. The unfamiliar sting on my scalp made me wince, but I still stood up in response.

“Lay the fuck down.” She pushed me down onto the bed. “Pants off.” I smirked at her, not moving an inch. “Now.”

Her voice was terrifying. I began unbuckling my belt, and popped the button open with one hand. She must have been getting impatient, because her hands ripped my pants down and off, her eyes focusing on the bulge in my boxers. I leaned back on my elbows, waiting for her to do whatever she needed to torment me further.

I truly did not expect what she said next.

“Touch yourself.” This confused me.

“What?”

“You fucking heard me.” She jumped up onto the dresser, leaning back against the wall, and let her legs fall open, giving me full view of her. My eyes followed her every move.

I reached down and palmed myself over my underwear, feeling vulnerable.

“C’mon now Sebastian, this is no time to be shy.” This made me actually fucking blush. She was enjoying this way more than I expected.

Hooking my thumbs in the band of my boxers, I carefully slid them down low enough to let myself free. My fingers gently grabbed my dick, tugging at it ever so slightly. The sensation was good, but it wasn’t her.

“That’s it, baby.” She spread her legs, her pussy sitting just above the wood of the dresser, putting herself on full display. “Nice and slow.”

I whimpered. I actually fucking whimpered. It wasn’t lost on her, either, her eyes darting to my face and licking her lips.

“See, Noah? This is what happens when you’re an asshole. You get treated like the fucking brat you are.”

Who the fuck was this girl and how quickly could I lock her in a room and never let her escape?

My hand worked up and down my shaft, my eyes falling closed and my breathing erratic. I could feel myself getting close just thinking about her.

“Stop.” My hand froze, and I opened my eyes, staring at her in defeat. “Don’t come yet.”

I was getting frustrated. “Why the fuck not?”

She sat up, crossing her legs, putting herself away.

“If you don’t wait until I tell you to come, I swear I will put on my sweats, go downstairs, and start cleaning.”

That was the threat that made any confidence I had falter. Once she started cleaning, it was over. She would hyper-focus, and I wouldn’t see her again until the entire house was shining.

I moved my hand off of my cock to resist the temptation and laid flat back on the bed, digging the heels of my palms into my eye sockets.

I stopped when I felt the bed dip on either side of me, and looked up to see her kneeling over me, now fully nude. My heart sped up as I felt her slide herself up and down my shaft, her slick pussy gliding so fucking deliciously. Instinctively, I reached for her hips, but my hand was met with a hard slap, which caused me to pull away.

“Not this time, baby boy.” I groaned, lavishing the feeling of her on me, the weight on my hips excruciatingly divine.

“Now, what do you have to say for yourself?” I looked at her, lost on what she was asking for.

“What?” My voice was a breath, an exhale.

“For treating me so foul?” She pulled back, and grabbed the base of my cock, pulling it forward to line up with her entrance but holding steady as not to let it touch her.

“Ugh, Leena,” I moaned,

My hips trying to buck. She pulled further away as I tried to press into her.

“Say it, Noah.” She demanded.

“Fuck!” My body was screaming, fire coursing through me as she ran her hand up and down, grazing the head. “I’m sorry! Jesus Christ!”

With that, she sunk down, enveloping all of me so fucking perfectly. My eyes snapped shut, trying like hell not to finish just from the edge of it.

“That’s right, honey.” Her voice was a soft moan, her hand coming up to wrap around my throat again as her hips snapped forward. My vision was turning white.

“Now, ask me fucking nicely.”

Wild that she could think I could speak, given she was cutting all my air off. It was unholy, and I loved every fucking second.

I choked, trying to speak, and I felt her fingers loosen slightly.

“Please, baby,” I breathed in hard. “please let me come.”

“Fuck, Noah, you’re so fucking gorgeous.” She let go of my throat, reaching down to circle her clit. I felt her rhythm become unsteady.

“Leena, Jesus fucking Christ, please, baby, please.”

She thrusted faster, her climax coming uncoiled, and I felt her tighten around me.

“Oh, fuck!” She fell forward, wrapping her fingers in my hair.

“Fuck me, Noah. Fuck me, please!” Did I need to be told twice?

My hands gripped her ass and lifted her, slamming my hips up and pounded into her. She still hadn’t told me yet, so I was fighting as hard as I could to hold it together.

“Noah, come for me.” She cooed directly into my ear, her voice so fucking sweet.

I think I may have had a stroke, the sheer velocity of my orgasm ripping out of me. I let out a hard, visceral scream.

Once we were both still, her body laid lazily on top of me, I left soft kisses on her shoulder.

“I really am sorry, baby.”

She chuckled softly. “I know, babe.”

I turned my head to look at her face, looking absolutely exhausted.

“You’re so fucking amazing when you’re angry.”

She lazily lifted her eyebrow. “Did you start a fight just to have angry sex?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. That was probably the better answer.

“Maybe.” I tried to be coy, and she seemed to buy it.

I didn’t know what had come over me in the backyard, or why I got so annoyed with her talking to another man. I’m not like that, I never have been.

But something inside me told me that the feeling was going to get me into trouble.

[dyinglikenarcissus]

How It All Started

Bucky Barnes x Black Female Reader x Steve Rogers

Warnings: 18+ only! Language, nothing else really. This one’s short and sweet, an intro for our doll

Please don’t copy or repost my work, thanks! Plagiarism is rude

Comments, likes, and reblogs are always appreciated ☺️

1k words

Master List | Next Chapter

“A place all to ourselves!” Wanda cries after you and your two roommates finally finished moving in.

“Booze, parties, no curfew, boys,” Natasha listed. The last word rolling off her tongue suggestively.

“This is going to be amazing,” you sigh opening the door to the balcony and letting in some fresh air. You pat your back pocket and let out a feral whine. “Shit. I left my phone in the car. I’ll be right back,” you sigh and step out into the courtyard.

After being stuck in the dorms with every rule they could think of putting on you, it was a breath of fresh air to have a place to yourself.

Your school required that all freshmen spend their first year in the dorms with whatever grab bag roommates they gave you. You met Natasha and Wanda during orientation and instantly clicked.

They both hated their roommates while you had a one sided crush on yours who was already in a committed relationship so the three of you thought it was for the best to all move in together the second you got a chance. You were apartment hunting since the end of orientation and got on the waiting list for a beautiful townhouse rental community that was recently built off campus. It was perfect: you each had your own bedroom and bathroom, there were multiple pools, a tennis and basketball court, and a gym. You never had to leave. Except to go to class, of course. The day after school ended, you moved in. You still needed to find some furniture to make it more homey but the three of you could work on it over the summer and comfortably live out the rest of your academic careers in comfort.

You reach your little car and notice your phone on the dash board, just where you left it. You unlock it and snag the way word piece of technology, unlocking it to see if you missed anything while it was out of your sight.

Carol and Maria were on a celebratory beach trip, Clint posted a prank video he pulled on Laura, Tony was on live probably talking about how much smarter he was than everyone else and how he didn’t even study for his astro quantum physics or whatever exam and he got the highest score in history.

You met him once at a party. Why did you even bother following that guy?

You blink hearing Tony’s voice even though you never unmuted the video. You look at your phone and unmute it just to re mute it to confirm it’s not your phone his voice is coming from.

Bizarre, you think to yourself right before you crash into a wall and fall backwards onto your butt.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” The wall talks.

You blink and look up to see the wall has blond hair and blue eyes and such a perfect jaw you want to melt.

The wall of a man crouches down to your level to offer you a hand. “Are you hurt?” He asks, brow knitted in concern.

You open your mouth but nothing comes out. You don’t know if the fall knocked the wind out of you or if you were at a loss for words at this beautiful man. “I can pick you up if you need me to,” he offers.

The thought of being cradle against his chest brings back your voice. “Um, no. I’m fine. I should’ve been watching where I was going.”

It seems you finally speaking calms him and his brow relaxes slightly.

“I think that makes two of us,” he smiles shyly and twitches his hand, reminding you that it’s there. You take it and feel how rough it is against your soft skin. He easily pulls you to standing with him and you can see how much taller he is than you. You almost whistle in awe looking up at him.

A plain white t shirt and grey sweats looked like a three piece suit on his sculpted body. You really wanted to touch but you retracted your hand from his once you were righted.

“Again, I am so sorry,” he frowns, seeming to look you over for injuries but you were sure all you’d have was a sore butt in the morning. You even managed to keep hold of your phone during he whole ordeal.

“No, really. I’m fine,” you insist, smiling up at him. He returns a soft grin and you almost melt. The reason you bumped into him in the first place pops back into your mind. “Were you watching Tony Stark’s live?”

He glances away, a soft blush tints his cheeks. “Yeah. It was more out of curiosity than anything,”

“Same,” you giggle. “I met him once at a party but his social media is kind of addicting. It’s kind of like watching a train wreck.”

The blond exhales a laugh that quickly becomes a chuckle. “I think that’s the best way to describe Tony, honestly. The man’s a genius, but, god is he full of it.”

“All my homies have a strong dislike for Tony Stark.”

“Isn’t it ‘all my homies hate Stewart Little’?” He asks cocking his head to the side. Oh, he’s cute.

“Yeah. But hate’s a strong word.” Well, Wanda might hate him.

“Are you new around here?” He asks changing the topic.

“Yeah. I just moved into 108.”

“Really? Then it’s nice to meet you, neighbor. I’m in 107.” Your mouth forms a small oh and you finally introduce yourself. “Steve Rogers,” the blond grins and extends his hand, “The old neighbors weren’t as easy on the eyes.” You feel your face heat at his comment. “I gotta hit the gym,” he smiles excusing himself. “Hey, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to drop by.” You nod and wave as he walks off towards the rec area.

God! That ass!

You bite your bottom lip and quickly search for ‘Steve Rogers’ on insta to stalk his page and curse that it’s private.

Maybe Facebook. You attempt to hunt this man down as you reenter your apartment distractedly.

“Get lost?” Nat asks hauling a box back upstairs.

“No,” you smile cryptically. “I just met one of our neighbors.” His Facebook was indeed public and he wasn’t shy about sharing photos either.

“What are they like?” Wanda asks stacking dishes in the kitchen.

You crock your finger for both of them to come see. You click on a photo of him beating up a punching bag to show your besties. “This is Steve Rogers.”

“What?” Natasha exhales.

“Wow,” Wanda grins.

“That is living next door to us?” Nat asks.

You nod. “In 107.”

“He’s gorgeous,” Wanda smiles before looking up at you with a suggestively raised eyebrow. “Did he flirt?”

“I’m not sure. He said I was easy on the eyes.”

“Interesting way to flirt,” the strawberry blonde mutters.

“Is he single?” Nat asks.

“His stat says ‘its complicated’,” you regurgitate after reading his profile.

“Complicated? How old is this kid? 12?” Nat chuckles before picking her box back up. You shrug and ponder your own pile of boxes.

“Oh well. Don’t get your hopes up too high and it won’t hurt when they fall,” Wanda states sagely. “I told Nat while you were out being easy on the eyes but Tony’s having an end of the year party. Vis invited us.”

“Vision’s inviting us places now?” You smirk tugging a box toward the stairs. You turn to watch a soft blush coat your best friend’s cheeks.

“As long as there’s free alcohol, I’m there!” Natasha shouts from upstairs.

“You know I’m going. I’ll take any chance to watch you and Vision make googoo eyes at each other,” you laugh and blink dramatically, clasping your hands in front of your chest.

“Go put your stuff away!” Wanda demands with a laughs.

Unpacking was just as much of a flurry as packing. Runs to discount furniture stores and Target seemed to happen once a day until the three of you threw away the last box together. You hugged and laughed and made a fancy dinner and invited over Vis, Pietro, and Clint.

It was great. The perfect start to your academic futures together.

Master List | Next Chapter

[liz27moore]

Citing Podcasts and Websites

Over winter break I saw a capital Beyoncé meme that said, “If you liked it, you should have put a citation on it,” which made me laugh and reminded me of this listener question:

Hi, Grammar Girl. My name is Laura and I am a teacher of 9th-grade English and a big fan of your podcast. I've used your podcast in my classroom and the Quick and Dirty Tips definitely come in handy. My question is how do I cite your podcast and podcasts in general? Do you know of a website that keeps really up to date on how to cite things, especially citing things from the Web?

Thanks, Laura. All three of the major academic style players, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and The Chicago Manual of Style, have issued guidelines on how to cite electronic sources. 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab, affectionately known as OWL, has a huge 12-page chart that compares all the different citation types for all three styles. It looks like it was last update in 2014, so I checked all the current styles for citing websites and podcasts and made a small chart with examples:

APA (6th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, M. (Host). (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, M. (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites. Retrieved from  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

CMS (16th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, podcast audio.  January 19, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites.

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips. January 19, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Note 1: The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed, 14.7) says access dates are not required in Chicago style unless a publication date is unavailable, but it notes that teachers often require students to include an access date in citations. If the access date is included, it comes immediately after the publication date.

Note 2: I was confused about this for a while, so I’ll mention it here to save you time. Chicago puts the last name first in bibliographic entries, but the last name second in numbered notes. Further, items in notes are separated by commas, whereas items in bibliophilic entries are separated by periods. Many of the Chicago examples in sections related to podcasts and websites are formatted as notes and not bibliographic entries.

MLA (8th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, ep. 552, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips, Macmillan Holdings, LLC, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Why Citations Are Important

First, people have asked me why it's important to include citations in the first place.

Aside from the fact that many teachers or editors require you to include citations in your work, including citations is necessary to acknowledge the people whose work you've incorporated into your document. Not including citations is a quick route to plagiarism: more commonly known as taking credit for someone else's words or ideas. Including citations is mandatory when you've drawn on someone else's original work or quoted someone verbatim.

Even when citations aren't necessary to avoid plagiarism, including citations helps people who want to learn more about your topic. Citations are a great starting point for further research. And including citations adds credibility to your writing. Frankly, I include citations at the end of most of my transcripts to head off people who disagree with my recommendations relating to points of style or topics where there are common misconceptions. I'm completely open to disagreement and discussion, but I don't just make this stuff up; I research every topic I cover. I'm almost always sorry when I don't include references on the website, and more than once, especially in the early years, I've gone back, reconstructed my work, and added them later.

Risks of Citing Electronic Sources

OK, so now that I've convinced you to include citations, it's time to think about the special risks of citing an electronic source like a website, podcast, or blog.

First, you have to determine whether it's a credible source, and second, you have to worry about whether it will still exist tomorrow.

Credibility

Determining whether a source is credible is subjective, but here are a few things to look for and consider:

Can you tell who wrote the site? And if so, does the author seem to have any expertise in the area you are researching? The Stanford Cancer Center is likely to be a more credible source than Aunt Mary's Kancer Page.

What are the credentials (or at least the stated credentials) of the author? I might take Aunt Mary more seriously if she is a board certified oncologist practicing at a well-known hospital or university.

Can you tell when the page you are looking at was written? All else being equal, something written recently is generally more credible than something that hasn't been updated in years.

Does the page cite other credible sources you can check? (There's that point about citations adding credibility again!)

Does it sound too good to be true? If it does, it probably is.

Is the site selling something based on the information it’s providing? If so, be wary.

Do other credible sites link to the site? Many online tools let you see what sites link to other sites and pages. One free tool is the site explorer at moz.com.

Are there a lot of typos? If there are a lot of language mistakes, it can mean that there are a lot of factual mistakes, too.

Finally, use common sense and evaluate the arguments yourself. It's up to you to determine whether a site's conclusions are actually supported by its statements.

Permanence

You have control when you’re evaluating a site’s credibility, but you have less control over the fact that pages might disappear or change their Web address. If it's an important source, you should consider printing out the page or saving it on your own computer as HTML, a screenshot, or an audio or video file. If you find that a Web page is gone and you haven't had a chance to save it, you can search for a copy at the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine), at http://archive.org.

Despite the risks, an abundance of credible information resides on the Web, and you shouldn't dismiss a source simply because it is in an electronic format. The style guides let you cite live events you attended, which other people are much less likely to be able to revisit than a website or podcast. So cite away! Beyoncé would want you to do it.

Sources

“Citations of website content.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.245. 

“Online magazine articles.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.200.

“Published or broadcast interviews.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.221.

“Works Cited: A Quick Guide.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited-a-quick-guide/ (accessed January 16, 2017).

Gibson, Angela. “URLs: Some Practical Advice.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/2016/11/02/urls-some-practical-advice/ (accessed January 16, 2016).

Lee, Chelsea. “How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in AP A Style.” APA Style. November 18, 2010. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/11/how-to-cite-something-you-found-on-a-website-in-apa-style.html (accessed January 16, 2016).

(Note: We use a house style for fomatting sources.)

This article was originally published April 11, 2008 and updated January 18, 2017.

from Grammar Girl RSS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

[buddy31salvo]

Citing Podcasts and Websites

Over winter break I saw a capital Beyoncé meme that said, “If you liked it, you should have put a citation on it,” which made me laugh and reminded me of this listener question:

Hi, Grammar Girl. My name is Laura and I am a teacher of 9th-grade English and a big fan of your podcast. I've used your podcast in my classroom and the Quick and Dirty Tips definitely come in handy. My question is how do I cite your podcast and podcasts in general? Do you know of a website that keeps really up to date on how to cite things, especially citing things from the Web?

Thanks, Laura. All three of the major academic style players, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and The Chicago Manual of Style, have issued guidelines on how to cite electronic sources. 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab, affectionately known as OWL, has a huge 12-page chart that compares all the different citation types for all three styles. It looks like it was last update in 2014, so I checked all the current styles for citing websites and podcasts and made a small chart with examples:

APA (6th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, M. (Host). (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, M. (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites. Retrieved from  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

CMS (16th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, podcast audio.  January 19, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites.

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips. January 19, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Note 1: The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed, 14.7) says access dates are not required in Chicago style unless a publication date is unavailable, but it notes that teachers often require students to include an access date in citations. If the access date is included, it comes immediately after the publication date.

Note 2: I was confused about this for a while, so I’ll mention it here to save you time. Chicago puts the last name first in bibliographic entries, but the last name second in numbered notes. Further, items in notes are separated by commas, whereas items in bibliophilic entries are separated by periods. Many of the Chicago examples in sections related to podcasts and websites are formatted as notes and not bibliographic entries.

MLA (8th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, ep. 552, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips, Macmillan Holdings, LLC, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Why Citations Are Important

First, people have asked me why it's important to include citations in the first place.

Aside from the fact that many teachers or editors require you to include citations in your work, including citations is necessary to acknowledge the people whose work you've incorporated into your document. Not including citations is a quick route to plagiarism: more commonly known as taking credit for someone else's words or ideas. Including citations is mandatory when you've drawn on someone else's original work or quoted someone verbatim.

Even when citations aren't necessary to avoid plagiarism, including citations helps people who want to learn more about your topic. Citations are a great starting point for further research. And including citations adds credibility to your writing. Frankly, I include citations at the end of most of my transcripts to head off people who disagree with my recommendations relating to points of style or topics where there are common misconceptions. I'm completely open to disagreement and discussion, but I don't just make this stuff up; I research every topic I cover. I'm almost always sorry when I don't include references on the website, and more than once, especially in the early years, I've gone back, reconstructed my work, and added them later.

Risks of Citing Electronic Sources

OK, so now that I've convinced you to include citations, it's time to think about the special risks of citing an electronic source like a website, podcast, or blog.

First, you have to determine whether it's a credible source, and second, you have to worry about whether it will still exist tomorrow.

Credibility

Determining whether a source is credible is subjective, but here are a few things to look for and consider:

Can you tell who wrote the site? And if so, does the author seem to have any expertise in the area you are researching? The Stanford Cancer Center is likely to be a more credible source than Aunt Mary's Kancer Page.

What are the credentials (or at least the stated credentials) of the author? I might take Aunt Mary more seriously if she is a board certified oncologist practicing at a well-known hospital or university.

Can you tell when the page you are looking at was written? All else being equal, something written recently is generally more credible than something that hasn't been updated in years.

Does the page cite other credible sources you can check? (There's that point about citations adding credibility again!)

Does it sound too good to be true? If it does, it probably is.

Is the site selling something based on the information it’s providing? If so, be wary.

Do other credible sites link to the site? Many online tools let you see what sites link to other sites and pages. One free tool is the site explorer at moz.com.

Are there a lot of typos? If there are a lot of language mistakes, it can mean that there are a lot of factual mistakes, too.

Finally, use common sense and evaluate the arguments yourself. It's up to you to determine whether a site's conclusions are actually supported by its statements.

Permanence

You have control when you’re evaluating a site’s credibility, but you have less control over the fact that pages might disappear or change their Web address. If it's an important source, you should consider printing out the page or saving it on your own computer as HTML, a screenshot, or an audio or video file. If you find that a Web page is gone and you haven't had a chance to save it, you can search for a copy at the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine), at http://archive.org.

Despite the risks, an abundance of credible information resides on the Web, and you shouldn't dismiss a source simply because it is in an electronic format. The style guides let you cite live events you attended, which other people are much less likely to be able to revisit than a website or podcast. So cite away! Beyoncé would want you to do it.

Sources

“Citations of website content.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.245. 

“Online magazine articles.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.200.

“Published or broadcast interviews.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.221.

“Works Cited: A Quick Guide.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited-a-quick-guide/ (accessed January 16, 2017).

Gibson, Angela. “URLs: Some Practical Advice.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/2016/11/02/urls-some-practical-advice/ (accessed January 16, 2016).

Lee, Chelsea. “How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in AP A Style.” APA Style. November 18, 2010. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/11/how-to-cite-something-you-found-on-a-website-in-apa-style.html (accessed January 16, 2016).

(Note: We use a house style for fomatting sources.)

This article was originally published April 11, 2008 and updated January 18, 2017.

from Grammar Girl RSS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

[anal29cheng]

Citing Podcasts and Websites

Over winter break I saw a capital Beyoncé meme that said, “If you liked it, you should have put a citation on it,” which made me laugh and reminded me of this listener question:

Hi, Grammar Girl. My name is Laura and I am a teacher of 9th-grade English and a big fan of your podcast. I've used your podcast in my classroom and the Quick and Dirty Tips definitely come in handy. My question is how do I cite your podcast and podcasts in general? Do you know of a website that keeps really up to date on how to cite things, especially citing things from the Web?

Thanks, Laura. All three of the major academic style players, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and The Chicago Manual of Style, have issued guidelines on how to cite electronic sources. 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab, affectionately known as OWL, has a huge 12-page chart that compares all the different citation types for all three styles. It looks like it was last update in 2014, so I checked all the current styles for citing websites and podcasts and made a small chart with examples:

APA (6th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, M. (Host). (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, M. (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites. Retrieved from  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

CMS (16th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, podcast audio.  January 19, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites.

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips. January 19, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Note 1: The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed, 14.7) says access dates are not required in Chicago style unless a publication date is unavailable, but it notes that teachers often require students to include an access date in citations. If the access date is included, it comes immediately after the publication date.

Note 2: I was confused about this for a while, so I’ll mention it here to save you time. Chicago puts the last name first in bibliographic entries, but the last name second in numbered notes. Further, items in notes are separated by commas, whereas items in bibliophilic entries are separated by periods. Many of the Chicago examples in sections related to podcasts and websites are formatted as notes and not bibliographic entries.

MLA (8th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, ep. 552, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips, Macmillan Holdings, LLC, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Why Citations Are Important

First, people have asked me why it's important to include citations in the first place.

Aside from the fact that many teachers or editors require you to include citations in your work, including citations is necessary to acknowledge the people whose work you've incorporated into your document. Not including citations is a quick route to plagiarism: more commonly known as taking credit for someone else's words or ideas. Including citations is mandatory when you've drawn on someone else's original work or quoted someone verbatim.

Even when citations aren't necessary to avoid plagiarism, including citations helps people who want to learn more about your topic. Citations are a great starting point for further research. And including citations adds credibility to your writing. Frankly, I include citations at the end of most of my transcripts to head off people who disagree with my recommendations relating to points of style or topics where there are common misconceptions. I'm completely open to disagreement and discussion, but I don't just make this stuff up; I research every topic I cover. I'm almost always sorry when I don't include references on the website, and more than once, especially in the early years, I've gone back, reconstructed my work, and added them later.

Risks of Citing Electronic Sources

OK, so now that I've convinced you to include citations, it's time to think about the special risks of citing an electronic source like a website, podcast, or blog.

First, you have to determine whether it's a credible source, and second, you have to worry about whether it will still exist tomorrow.

Credibility

Determining whether a source is credible is subjective, but here are a few things to look for and consider:

Can you tell who wrote the site? And if so, does the author seem to have any expertise in the area you are researching? The Stanford Cancer Center is likely to be a more credible source than Aunt Mary's Kancer Page.

What are the credentials (or at least the stated credentials) of the author? I might take Aunt Mary more seriously if she is a board certified oncologist practicing at a well-known hospital or university.

Can you tell when the page you are looking at was written? All else being equal, something written recently is generally more credible than something that hasn't been updated in years.

Does the page cite other credible sources you can check? (There's that point about citations adding credibility again!)

Does it sound too good to be true? If it does, it probably is.

Is the site selling something based on the information it’s providing? If so, be wary.

Do other credible sites link to the site? Many online tools let you see what sites link to other sites and pages. One free tool is the site explorer at moz.com.

Are there a lot of typos? If there are a lot of language mistakes, it can mean that there are a lot of factual mistakes, too.

Finally, use common sense and evaluate the arguments yourself. It's up to you to determine whether a site's conclusions are actually supported by its statements.

Permanence

You have control when you’re evaluating a site’s credibility, but you have less control over the fact that pages might disappear or change their Web address. If it's an important source, you should consider printing out the page or saving it on your own computer as HTML, a screenshot, or an audio or video file. If you find that a Web page is gone and you haven't had a chance to save it, you can search for a copy at the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine), at http://archive.org.

Despite the risks, an abundance of credible information resides on the Web, and you shouldn't dismiss a source simply because it is in an electronic format. The style guides let you cite live events you attended, which other people are much less likely to be able to revisit than a website or podcast. So cite away! Beyoncé would want you to do it.

Sources

“Citations of website content.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.245. 

“Online magazine articles.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.200.

“Published or broadcast interviews.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.221.

“Works Cited: A Quick Guide.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited-a-quick-guide/ (accessed January 16, 2017).

Gibson, Angela. “URLs: Some Practical Advice.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/2016/11/02/urls-some-practical-advice/ (accessed January 16, 2016).

Lee, Chelsea. “How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in AP A Style.” APA Style. November 18, 2010. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/11/how-to-cite-something-you-found-on-a-website-in-apa-style.html (accessed January 16, 2016).

(Note: We use a house style for fomatting sources.)

This article was originally published April 11, 2008 and updated January 18, 2017.

from Grammar Girl RSS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

[abby27collins]

Citing Podcasts and Websites

Over winter break I saw a capital Beyoncé meme that said, “If you liked it, you should have put a citation on it,” which made me laugh and reminded me of this listener question:

Hi, Grammar Girl. My name is Laura and I am a teacher of 9th-grade English and a big fan of your podcast. I've used your podcast in my classroom and the Quick and Dirty Tips definitely come in handy. My question is how do I cite your podcast and podcasts in general? Do you know of a website that keeps really up to date on how to cite things, especially citing things from the Web?

Thanks, Laura. All three of the major academic style players, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and The Chicago Manual of Style, have issued guidelines on how to cite electronic sources. 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab, affectionately known as OWL, has a huge 12-page chart that compares all the different citation types for all three styles. It looks like it was last update in 2014, so I checked all the current styles for citing websites and podcasts and made a small chart with examples:

APA (6th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, M. (Host). (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, M. (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites. Retrieved from  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

CMS (16th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, podcast audio.  January 19, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites.

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips. January 19, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Note 1: The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed, 14.7) says access dates are not required in Chicago style unless a publication date is unavailable, but it notes that teachers often require students to include an access date in citations. If the access date is included, it comes immediately after the publication date.

Note 2: I was confused about this for a while, so I’ll mention it here to save you time. Chicago puts the last name first in bibliographic entries, but the last name second in numbered notes. Further, items in notes are separated by commas, whereas items in bibliophilic entries are separated by periods. Many of the Chicago examples in sections related to podcasts and websites are formatted as notes and not bibliographic entries.

MLA (8th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, ep. 552, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips, Macmillan Holdings, LLC, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Why Citations Are Important

First, people have asked me why it's important to include citations in the first place.

Aside from the fact that many teachers or editors require you to include citations in your work, including citations is necessary to acknowledge the people whose work you've incorporated into your document. Not including citations is a quick route to plagiarism: more commonly known as taking credit for someone else's words or ideas. Including citations is mandatory when you've drawn on someone else's original work or quoted someone verbatim.

Even when citations aren't necessary to avoid plagiarism, including citations helps people who want to learn more about your topic. Citations are a great starting point for further research. And including citations adds credibility to your writing. Frankly, I include citations at the end of most of my transcripts to head off people who disagree with my recommendations relating to points of style or topics where there are common misconceptions. I'm completely open to disagreement and discussion, but I don't just make this stuff up; I research every topic I cover. I'm almost always sorry when I don't include references on the website, and more than once, especially in the early years, I've gone back, reconstructed my work, and added them later.

Risks of Citing Electronic Sources

OK, so now that I've convinced you to include citations, it's time to think about the special risks of citing an electronic source like a website, podcast, or blog.

First, you have to determine whether it's a credible source, and second, you have to worry about whether it will still exist tomorrow.

Credibility

Determining whether a source is credible is subjective, but here are a few things to look for and consider:

Can you tell who wrote the site? And if so, does the author seem to have any expertise in the area you are researching? The Stanford Cancer Center is likely to be a more credible source than Aunt Mary's Kancer Page.

What are the credentials (or at least the stated credentials) of the author? I might take Aunt Mary more seriously if she is a board certified oncologist practicing at a well-known hospital or university.

Can you tell when the page you are looking at was written? All else being equal, something written recently is generally more credible than something that hasn't been updated in years.

Does the page cite other credible sources you can check? (There's that point about citations adding credibility again!)

Does it sound too good to be true? If it does, it probably is.

Is the site selling something based on the information it’s providing? If so, be wary.

Do other credible sites link to the site? Many online tools let you see what sites link to other sites and pages. One free tool is the site explorer at moz.com.

Are there a lot of typos? If there are a lot of language mistakes, it can mean that there are a lot of factual mistakes, too.

Finally, use common sense and evaluate the arguments yourself. It's up to you to determine whether a site's conclusions are actually supported by its statements.

Permanence

You have control when you’re evaluating a site’s credibility, but you have less control over the fact that pages might disappear or change their Web address. If it's an important source, you should consider printing out the page or saving it on your own computer as HTML, a screenshot, or an audio or video file. If you find that a Web page is gone and you haven't had a chance to save it, you can search for a copy at the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine), at http://archive.org.

Despite the risks, an abundance of credible information resides on the Web, and you shouldn't dismiss a source simply because it is in an electronic format. The style guides let you cite live events you attended, which other people are much less likely to be able to revisit than a website or podcast. So cite away! Beyoncé would want you to do it.

Sources

“Citations of website content.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.245. 

“Online magazine articles.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.200.

“Published or broadcast interviews.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.221.

“Works Cited: A Quick Guide.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited-a-quick-guide/ (accessed January 16, 2017).

Gibson, Angela. “URLs: Some Practical Advice.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/2016/11/02/urls-some-practical-advice/ (accessed January 16, 2016).

Lee, Chelsea. “How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in AP A Style.” APA Style. November 18, 2010. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/11/how-to-cite-something-you-found-on-a-website-in-apa-style.html (accessed January 16, 2016).

(Note: We use a house style for fomatting sources.)

This article was originally published April 11, 2008 and updated January 18, 2017.

from Grammar Girl RSS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

[aliya31fost]

Citing Podcasts and Websites

Over winter break I saw a capital Beyoncé meme that said, “If you liked it, you should have put a citation on it,” which made me laugh and reminded me of this listener question:

Hi, Grammar Girl. My name is Laura and I am a teacher of 9th-grade English and a big fan of your podcast. I've used your podcast in my classroom and the Quick and Dirty Tips definitely come in handy. My question is how do I cite your podcast and podcasts in general? Do you know of a website that keeps really up to date on how to cite things, especially citing things from the Web?

Thanks, Laura. All three of the major academic style players, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and The Chicago Manual of Style, have issued guidelines on how to cite electronic sources. 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab, affectionately known as OWL, has a huge 12-page chart that compares all the different citation types for all three styles. It looks like it was last update in 2014, so I checked all the current styles for citing websites and podcasts and made a small chart with examples:

APA (6th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, M. (Host). (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, M. (2017, January 19). Citing podcasts and websites. Retrieved from  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

CMS (16th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, podcast audio.  January 19, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites.

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips. January 19, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2017. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Note 1: The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed, 14.7) says access dates are not required in Chicago style unless a publication date is unavailable, but it notes that teachers often require students to include an access date in citations. If the access date is included, it comes immediately after the publication date.

Note 2: I was confused about this for a while, so I’ll mention it here to save you time. Chicago puts the last name first in bibliographic entries, but the last name second in numbered notes. Further, items in notes are separated by commas, whereas items in bibliophilic entries are separated by periods. Many of the Chicago examples in sections related to podcasts and websites are formatted as notes and not bibliographic entries.

MLA (8th edition)

Podcast Episode

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, ep. 552, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Web Page

Fogarty, Mignon. “Citing Podcasts and Websites.” Quick and Dirty Tips, Macmillan Holdings, LLC, January 19, 2017, www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites

Why Citations Are Important

First, people have asked me why it's important to include citations in the first place.

Aside from the fact that many teachers or editors require you to include citations in your work, including citations is necessary to acknowledge the people whose work you've incorporated into your document. Not including citations is a quick route to plagiarism: more commonly known as taking credit for someone else's words or ideas. Including citations is mandatory when you've drawn on someone else's original work or quoted someone verbatim.

Even when citations aren't necessary to avoid plagiarism, including citations helps people who want to learn more about your topic. Citations are a great starting point for further research. And including citations adds credibility to your writing. Frankly, I include citations at the end of most of my transcripts to head off people who disagree with my recommendations relating to points of style or topics where there are common misconceptions. I'm completely open to disagreement and discussion, but I don't just make this stuff up; I research every topic I cover. I'm almost always sorry when I don't include references on the website, and more than once, especially in the early years, I've gone back, reconstructed my work, and added them later.

Risks of Citing Electronic Sources

OK, so now that I've convinced you to include citations, it's time to think about the special risks of citing an electronic source like a website, podcast, or blog.

First, you have to determine whether it's a credible source, and second, you have to worry about whether it will still exist tomorrow.

Credibility

Determining whether a source is credible is subjective, but here are a few things to look for and consider:

Can you tell who wrote the site? And if so, does the author seem to have any expertise in the area you are researching? The Stanford Cancer Center is likely to be a more credible source than Aunt Mary's Kancer Page.

What are the credentials (or at least the stated credentials) of the author? I might take Aunt Mary more seriously if she is a board certified oncologist practicing at a well-known hospital or university.

Can you tell when the page you are looking at was written? All else being equal, something written recently is generally more credible than something that hasn't been updated in years.

Does the page cite other credible sources you can check? (There's that point about citations adding credibility again!)

Does it sound too good to be true? If it does, it probably is.

Is the site selling something based on the information it’s providing? If so, be wary.

Do other credible sites link to the site? Many online tools let you see what sites link to other sites and pages. One free tool is the site explorer at moz.com.

Are there a lot of typos? If there are a lot of language mistakes, it can mean that there are a lot of factual mistakes, too.

Finally, use common sense and evaluate the arguments yourself. It's up to you to determine whether a site's conclusions are actually supported by its statements.

Permanence

You have control when you’re evaluating a site’s credibility, but you have less control over the fact that pages might disappear or change their Web address. If it's an important source, you should consider printing out the page or saving it on your own computer as HTML, a screenshot, or an audio or video file. If you find that a Web page is gone and you haven't had a chance to save it, you can search for a copy at the Internet Archive (also known as the Wayback Machine), at http://archive.org.

Despite the risks, an abundance of credible information resides on the Web, and you shouldn't dismiss a source simply because it is in an electronic format. The style guides let you cite live events you attended, which other people are much less likely to be able to revisit than a website or podcast. So cite away! Beyoncé would want you to do it.

Sources

“Citations of website content.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.245. 

“Online magazine articles.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.200.

“Published or broadcast interviews.” Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition, 14.221.

“Works Cited: A Quick Guide.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited-a-quick-guide/ (accessed January 16, 2017).

Gibson, Angela. “URLs: Some Practical Advice.” MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/2016/11/02/urls-some-practical-advice/ (accessed January 16, 2016).

Lee, Chelsea. “How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in AP A Style.” APA Style. November 18, 2010. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/11/how-to-cite-something-you-found-on-a-website-in-apa-style.html (accessed January 16, 2016).

(Note: We use a house style for fomatting sources.)

This article was originally published April 11, 2008 and updated January 18, 2017.

from Grammar Girl RSS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/citing-podcasts-and-websites