#this doesn't have a name yet so that's the tag we're sticking with for now

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook/platonic!OT7

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝 [Part 1: Rain]

There's something strange about Jungkook.

Main tags/Warnings: Werewolf!Jungkook, Werewolf!Bangtan, strangers/enemies to lovers, romantic Jungkook x reader, Platonic bangtan x reader, eventual smut, mentions of past emotional/psychological manipulation, hurt and comfort, fluff!, some wariness from MCs side

Length: x Words (will be added later)

-> Masterlist

There is no taglist for this fic.

🌲── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ─🐺─ ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──🌲

"Here-" Jungkook offers, having taken off his zip hoodie for you to hold over your head. "-so you don't get wet." He smiles, and you take it after a moment of contemplation.

It's only after, when you walk after him through the woods, that you notice the full, partially colored tattoos covering almost every inch of skin of his arm, probably even up his shoulder- some ink found on the back of his hand, too. "Careful!" He suddenly says, reaching out to hold you- just in time, because during your blatant staring at his exposed skin, you'd failed to notice the large tree root sticking out from the ground. "You okay?" He asks, and you're stuck in place for a second-

Oddly mesmerized by his golden eyes looking at you from such little distance.

But it doesn't take long for you to snap out of it and nod, before you step over the root, quietly urging him with another nod to continue walking- something he does, but not without looking at you with something almost like suspicion. The rain isn't letting up- rather intensifying now, as he picks up his steps to get through the woods at a faster pace, your hand subconsciously reaching out to grab onto the back of his shirt to keep up- something he notices, as he smiles and reaches out his hand for you to hold. "We're almost there, promise." He tells you, and you nod, trusting him-

and he stays true to his word.

Because not even a few minutes later, there's an actual path now- not man-made, but trampled down from generations of animals and people alike it looks like taking the same route. It leads you both to a more open space, wooden cabins in varying sizes built long ago from the visuals of them, lights turned on in the largest of them. A door opens- multiple people are seen, one waving, before more seem to try and get a glimpse of who Jungkook is bringing along.

"They're really nice. Some of them can be a bit intimidating, but I promise you they're completely harmless." Jungkook reassures you as he notices the way you slow down now, and you nod, a drop of water falling from your nose. You've got no idea where you are at this point, so you can't do much other than trust him, for now.

Even though you're incredibly nervous at the prospect of being in the same house as an entire pack of wolves.

Someone seems to break up the people squeezing together to catch a glimpse of you, leaving only two in front of the house, door now closed. "Hello." One of them says- friendly, but not inviting. "Jungkook?" He asks, and the wolf next to you sends you a reassuring smile, before he talks, and explains to who you assume must be his packleader.

"I didn't know you were back already." Jungkook says, hugging him in a greeting for a second, before he steps back to stand next to you again, telling the young man your name. "She was just kind of.. having a picnic near the entrance path when it started pouring. And she's here without a ride or anything, so I offered her to stay until it clears up maybe." He explains.

"My name's Namjoon. I'm the packleader here- have you told your pack yet that you'll be here?" He asks, and you shake your head.

"I'm human- I don't have a pack, and my friends know I'm up here so if anything happens I can ask them to pick me up." You shrug, trying to appear relaxed- even if you're straight up trying to lie since you don't actually have.. well, friends. Though you're sure Namjoon must already notice that you're just putting up a front.

"I see. Alright then." He says, before he turns around, opening the door. "You guys can stop eavesdropping now, by the way." He scolds his packmembers inside, who all, except for one, have been actively listening in on the conversation.

"Sorry.." a tall guy with broad shoulders laughs softly, opening the door a bit wider. "We were just curious. Come inside you two, you must be freezing!" He ushers you both in, and you follow with a bit of hesitance, trying to distract yourself with rather examining the interior of the large cabin. Jungkook takes a moment to talk to his pack, probably to catch up with his leader and to tell the rest that you're.. not too fond of werewolf people.

All while you're in the bathroom, towel drying the ends of your hair while contemplating your life choices.

That's a whole pack of wolves- seven people currently present, and god knows how many more members they have! If they wanted, they could literally just cook you for dinner tonight, and no one would even really notice. Since you work as an independent person, you don't technically have an employer, and like mentioned, you only really have one somewhat friend who you text once in a blue moon.

No one would miss you if these guys were to just.. murder you. Or do even worse.

"Hey- you okay?" Jungkook's voice calls out through the closed door, a knock before that announcing his presence.

"Y-yeah, I'm done." You say, opening the bathroom door to reveal the young wolfboy who's looking at you with his golden eyes filled with worry. And he's not the only one-

most of his other packmates somewhat look into your direction with varying degrees of the same emotion. "Let's stop staring at her, maybe then she'll feel a little less like prey." the only one who's not currently looking at you says, making most of the other's avert their eyes caught red-handed.

"I'm sorry, if you'd like I'll show you my den- I mean, house! You can stay there by yourself if that's a little less threatening to you." Jungkook offers, and you shrug, before nodding.

Right now, you feel way too crowded. Like they're circling you, waiting for a chance to strike.

You both run a little from the main house to another, smaller one- a small cabin, cozy and a little chaotic inside. "Sorry- I didn't clean up." He laughs a but bashfully, turning on the lights before he swiftly throws an empty paper bowl from the small table in front of his kitchenette into the bin nearby.

"Its fine." You reassure him, feeling a bit better in here. "I'm.. is it really fine if I stay here?" You worry, and he nods.

"Its totally fine. You can even sleep here if it doesn't let up- which it won't, to be honest." He says.

"How do you know?" You wonder.

"Senses. Perks of the wolfblood I guess." He offers kindly, walking over to put a blanket on the couch. "I'll just make you a place to crash if you want, I promise I'll sleep at the packhouse so I won't bother you-"

"No-!" You rush out, actually a bit unintentional, as you swallow, before you collect your words properly. "I- could you maybe stay? I don't.. sleep well alone.. during storms." You mumble. "I know it's stupid but-"

"Its not." Jungkook promises, a warm glimmer in his eyes like a warm furnace during a cold winter day. "Seokjin- one of my packmates, the tall one with the broad shoulders who gave you the towel-" he says, occupying himself with putting a pillow on one side of the couch, "-he's similar. He needs the pack together during storms or he can't sleep well. Something to do with instincts." He shrugs, walking onto an open room with a bed inside, where he steals another pillow and a thick blanket to put on the bed.

"Oh." You say. "Then you should sleep with them-" you start, but Jungkook laughs.

"Nah, he'll be fine. He's treating me too much like a pup anyways!" He jokes, finishing up the couch before he moves the small coffee table further away for space. "There you go. Oh, you can charge your phone here too- let me get you a cable for that-" he perks up, before he moves into his bedroom to search for one.

Something feels... off.

You're no longer very worried about things going south for you, the small cabin offering you a warm place to stay- and in a way, his company is oddly soothing. He's kind, clearly not out for blood, and you also feel pretty sleepy, as the exhaustion from the last week catches up with you.

You've never felt so.. tired, but in a good way. As if your body is finally preparing to rest and restart.

"There. You can plug it in over there- just not on the left, that ones kind of wonky. I need to fix that up soon." He chuckles a bit shyly, and you nod, plugging your phone in near the small TV.

"Did you make this.. yourself? Or..?" You wonder, as you look at your phone starting.

"Yeah. Most of us built our homes ourself. It's like a coming-of-age thing almost." He says, pride swelling up in his chest at your next words.

"I like it. It's very.. warm. Welcoming." You nod, looking at him, who's staring back at you with round cheeks and even rounder eyes.

"Thank you!" He grins, slightly sharpened canines reminding you of what he is, down the line, and past his soft words and gentle looks.

But it doesn't scare you.

"I'll leave the door open in case you need anything." He offers, as he walks into his bedroom. "Have a good night." He smiles, and you nod, phone in your hand vibrating once to tell you it's started and charging.

"Thanks-" you say, smiling back a little hesitant. "-.. and good night to you too." You offer, before you watch him get ready for bed.

And that night, despite being alone in the woods and in the same home as a wolf-

You sleep soundly, tightly, no dreams haunting your slumber at all.

[lurkingteapot]

Thai BL Favorites Tag Game

Tagged by @lurkingshan, @ginnymoonbeam, @incandescentflower and @recentadultburnout! Created by @thatgirl4815 as Thai BL Favorites Tag Game, and that's the name I'm playing it under because, a) well, it's all BL on my particular list, it'd feel disingenious to call it anything else except maybe Y Series because we're talking Thai audiovisual media specifically and b) I'm not entirely comfortable with the unilateral renaming of a genre which which originated and grew into its current forms in another cultural context. Don't get me wrong, I made the jump from calling it Yaoi to Boys Love to BL in the 1990s and 2000s; I know to say danmei and dangai (or boy boy) when talking about it in context of media from China/Taiwan, or Y series when talking about it in Thai. If fans and markets in the communities of origin change the names again, so will I. But for now I'm sticking with the term BL. Thanks for understanding.

Favorite Thai BL: @lurkingshan makes a great point with best vs favourite, and her contenders are also mine – is ITSAY my favourite? is Bad Buddy? I suppose if we go by times rewatched, Bad Buddy takes the crown; if it's "what do I rec other people with the least amount of caveats", ITSAY wins.

Current obsession: Laws of Attraction, with Be My Favourite as a close second.

Favorite pairing: I don't particularly like this type of industrially-pushed shoehorning of actors together as a general rule (let's not pretend Julia Roberts and Richard Gere or Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire weren't also a kind of fixed ship, and I know the Philippines does a similar thing with their (mostly het) love teams – this is not Thai BL exclusive, at least historically speaking), but it clearly sells, so I don't think the industry's going to move away from this model for a long while yet.

That said: tough, but I think it'll have to be Billkin and PP. Just. Look at them act together. Look. Whether it's ITSAY/LTIP/IPYTM and related material, or one of the advertisement shorts or the incredible music videos from last year or even My Ambulance – they're just. So!!!!

Most underrated actor: Fiat Patchata. Give that boy a main role, goddamnit.

Favorite main character: quoting @lurkingshan here:

Teh, I Told Sunset About You and I Promised You the Moon. Yes, both shows, and before you all come yell at me: I SAID WHAT I SAID. 

because she's not the only one who loves this disaster of a boy.

Favorite side character: I really loved the friend group in Secret Crush on You, and Tin's friends in Triage.

Favorite scene in a BL: There are so many to choose from, but I'm going to go with the bus stop scene in Bad Buddy ep 3. The way brick shithouse Pat, all 180some beefy adolescent centimetres of him, turns himself into a cute girl at the drop of a hat … that rewired something in me, had me sit up and take notice (and block the Bad Buddy air time slot in my work calendar for the remain of the show's run time). Because they took it seriously. Didn't play it for laughs.

Favorite line in a BL: oh, there are so many. But I guess if we want to go with largest impact on me, personally, I'm gonna go with Thian in Khun Chaai going "May I love you, Jiu?" because. whew. That just hit me right in the feels.

Most anticipated BL (& why): Only Friends and Love in Translation. Only Friends because it looks to shake up a lot of the things we're used to from GMMTV in particular – I know we've had a little bit of flirting outside of the fixed ships this year already in Moonlight Chicken and Our Skyy 2, but if Jojo is going to shake it up more I'm very, very here for that. Love in Translation because the Thai title is รักไม่รู้ภาษา "Love doesn't know language" and languages are my jam.

Healthiest relationship in a BL: I don't really enjoy thinking about relationships in these terms because it just … urgh. I don't care if it's ''''healthy'''' (and seriously, who gets to decide what is and what isn't healthy, anyway? and why are we making this a moral judgement?)

Questions I do ask about relationships: Is the relationship compelling? is it believable? do the people involved behave like they don't only love and desire, but also like each other as people? that's what I want to know.

Most toxic relationship in a BL: see above. 

Ginny suggested Relationship dynamic I would most like to have myself: and Relationship dynamic I would least like to have myself: to replace the "healthy" and "toxic" questions and I think that's fantastic, but I'm honestly blanking on both so I'm skipping this part.

Guilty pleasure series: I like what I like, I don't see a reason to feel bad about that.

Most underrated series: He's Coming To Me. It's such a lovely little show.

If you'd like to play, please consider yourself tagged (and feel free to tag me if/when you play -- I'd love to see!)

[zooterscooter]

thank you for asking @expensive-muscle i will be doing that for sure

i had this sitting in my drafts for a while so here we go hehe. it'll be quite a bit so i do apologize in advance

original post with the tags

the guy with the mask will be first :) his name is mars (legally his name is micah, but he doesn't go by it anymore, not a deadname or anything he just doesn't like it. not terribly important but yknow) he's part of a group of four... outlaws... i guess ? the group consists of him, his sister, the other girl in the drawing (who's also the one in the fifth drawing) and one other guy (when you look a bit closer on the 8th drawing, he's the one in the speech bubble they're talking about. their names are cecil, finch and karman, in order of being mentioned

he was unfortunately caught in a warehouse fire a few years back (story wise) and was pretty badly scarred bc of it. he wears the mask so he doesn't have to walk around with his scarred face and blind eye showing. he really only wears it out in public and around strangers because it is quite uncomfortable

i'm still working on a group name for the four of them, and nothings really sticking. but since we're on the topic of them i'll talk about finch a bit :)

she's a hitman, late 20s. she's been employed by a bunch of higher power people in the city where she lives, so she's kinda sorta untouchable by law. she's been taken in a few times but is always bailed out by someone somehow. money can buy anything i suppose

the other two mentioned, karman and cecil, are kind of a team... as someone who has no clue how sports betting works (yet) i don't really know how to explain, but cecil is like... this worlds equivalent of a nascar driver kinda ? kinda not really. anyways. betting is legal in this city, but for karman and cecil it's like an inside job, if that makes any sense at all. i haven't thought about this group as a whole much if i'm being honest, but it'll come in time i hope

moving on !!

onto the "mf in the beanie" :3 her name is lilith and she's a screenwriter. her dad kinda sorta skipped town when she was younger, but she is super close with her mom, and they're so awesome. her mom gets a bit sick at one point, spending a lot of time at various hospitals, but she ultimately turns out fine

lilith wanted to peruse comedy as a career at one point, but she didn't really get as into it as she thought she would, so she just sticks to the behind the scenes by writing :)

the "homosexual friendship" is about her now girlfriend, who was an alchemist at one point a few years ago but i've changed her career a bit and don't know the exact word to describe it 😭 her name is ophelia, very smart, very pretty, younger sister.

i'm going to be honest with you, dear readers. lilith was a danganronpa self insert at one point. she comes from a simpler time. her and her girlfriend, tho said gf wasn't a self insert, just a dangan oc. not anymore tho....

the more i rack my brain for info the more i realize i just. don't have the descriptors for anything that they do. questions welcome and encouraged

now onto the rest of the people in the drawings, i'll attempt keep them short and simple hehe

1st drawing- ophelia/her sisters moms, vada medea (left) and sage (right) both are biological. i took inspo from how the "making babies from bone marrow" stuff that's kinda sorta happening in the science scene. the timeline for all this takes place about a hundred years from now, so i think they'd be figuring out how to do it with little complication. i am not a scientist myself, so i have plenty research to do to get the specifics down

2nd drawing- ophelia's sister, rue, and some 180 year old freak scientist. the freak is the one in the sewer. he had a grand time fucking up a bunch of people and giving them what appear to be lizard scales, and then was told to get the hell out of the city lest he causes more chaos. unfortunately the scales get passed down, but they really have no impact on the lives of the people who have them. rue is nurse who lowkey gets corrupted by the freak (his name is emrys) after her girlfriend passes from a long battle with various medical complications. she takes her grief to the wrong person and starts to lose her mind.

3rd drawing- their names are kaleo (left) and Non (right) not quite sure what their deal is exactly if i'm being honest. kaleo is a boxer, and Non just... exists really. he's alive to be pals with kaleo so far 😭 he's one of the people who had the scales passed down to him, which is silly and fun. kaleo is related to the person in the 6th drawing, which i will get to

4th drawing- zephyr (left) and kairos (right). detective and cop due respectively. sometimes they're tasked with keeping up with finch and her little gang of criminals but they can't really do much.

5th drawing- that's finch. love her

6th drawing- her name is desdemona and she's a spirit freak. she's been alive for hundreds of years or maybe she was just willed into being alive yesterday. she's got a bunch of weird spiritual abilities, like time travel (sounds cheesy) and communicating with the dead. she also eats people sometimes but that's a minor thing don't worry about it. she's the "wrong person" rue went to after her girlfriend died... oopsie. kaleos relative somehow also. the body on the floor is her ""human disguise"" because she can't really walk around town with a skull on her head. said skull isn't hers btw

7th drawing- holt (welding the sandwich) and caspien (watching him weld) they're just a little duo of gays tbh. it would take a while for me to explain it all so lmk if anyone wants to hear about it. holt is a mechanic, early 20s, and caspien is legally dead but he's fine. has wicked nightmares a lot but other than that he's fine. caspien and zephyr are brothers.

8th drawing- finch and mars :)

9th drawing- lilith (explained above) and her pal alaric. alaric is the guy that knows everyone and everything about the city they're in. somehow related to emrys (sewer freak) but neither of them are exactly sure how. emrys shouldn't even be alive but here he is, corrupting the youth

10th drawing- eve and varden :) (varden is @yaffles-world 's oc, shoutout to you) eve is sage's sister, making him ophelia and rues uncle. one of the only guys in the family which is lowkey funny bc he's a trans guy. someone had to attempt to balance the scales i guess. varden is his secret partner he hid from everyone for like 15 years because he was scared of being made fun of for some reason. i dunno. he's my main projection oc and even i don't get it. his full legal first name is evening btw. he's named this because i was like "hey wouldn't this be funny ?" and then it stuck. eve is an astrophysicist (which is why his name is funny to me) and varden is a mechanic :) lots of mechanics in the city

and with that im gonna cut it off or else i'd just keep yapping on in a single post about everything. thanks for taking the time to read this all if you did, please PLEASE ask questions i obviously love talking. asks are encouraged

[spiritsncrystals]

if ya still doin that ask meme how about miss sherry? :3c

Even if I wasn't I'd still probably jump at a chance to talk about her : D

[WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HER]

The french woman of all time!! One of the few in canon Female Turbo Duelists in 5ds!! (And by few, I mean two) she's so cool even with her few counts of breaking and entering like I genuinely enjoy the fact she's a woman with a plan and is willing to go the mile for her goals

Also her bike god her bike's design is so fucking good Storm (as tag force called it I dont exactly remember the name duel links gave it) with the medival horse motif like god it's so unique (Shout out to Mizaguchi too he's a real one for sticking with her for all these years)

[WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT HER]

I guess if i had to pinpoint anything it's the fact she was so easily willing to jump ship to Illiaster when Z-ONE gave her the chance to see her parents again because that's clearly more important than the fact a temple is being dropped on a city yet at the same time I get it especially considering they'd literally been murdered when she was like 6 or 7

[WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HER APPEARANCE]

The suit absolutely! Just like the pairing of the colours because the white and magenta play off each other really well and the darker colours from her shoulder pads and breast protection plate are a good contrast

And her red turtle neck really brings it all together!!

Her eyes are also very pretty

The Illiaster attire is neat too what with the monochromatic palette but I still prefer her original outfit

[SUB OR DUB NAME]

There's zero difference for her specifically

Her butler Mizaguchi has his dub name Elsworth but I think I still prefer Mizaguchi

[FAVOURITE CARD]

Honestly, as iconic as Sorcerer du Fluer or ZONE are I quite like Horses of the floral Knights one of the few sherry cards i own Irl too

[OTP]

I have to mention my Oc X Canon Ashblossom with my Oc Iari Fudo (If people want to know more about her I can always make an indetail post about her and her relationship with Sherry in the future) for now all I need to say is Them <3 (and that Tag force says their canon/j)

I also think Rose Knight (Aki Sherry) is pretty neat :))

[NOTP(s)]

This really isn't against either her or bruno but shipping them together just doesn't really vibe with me but if anyone does like it fair enough

[FAVOURITE SCENE/LEAST FAVOURITE SCENE]

Honestly I love the episodes she debuts in mostly for the high thrill action like girl shows up on the scene like "yeah there's a bomb in your D-wheel you stop moving its gonna explode" damn

I also like the scene when she's facing Aki n Crow up in the Arc Cradle and whilst hung up in the grip of that one card she's about to loose and she just starts wailing that she wants her parents to hold her and kiss her again just wahhh it tugs

Least favourite I guess the supposed "Death" and meeting Z-ONE. Same reasoning for when I said what I disliked but again I do get it

[Fuck marry or kill]

Your honour, we're already married ✨️

[firespirited]

Here's how I use shinigami eyes (not saying you have to do it this way)

I see a post that’s got a red name and click which leads straight to posts that have been heavily through the terfosphere, usually marked 'terfs do touch' 'rf gc do interact' and some of my muted tags. I open all the non red urls who reblogged from red urls, scroll to their main, ignore any intro and read one page of their blog. If they're cruel to a trans person within 10 posts they get marked. That's the low bar to pass. Ten posts without obsessing. Read more for length and word blergh.

The point of shinigami eyes is to mark transphobes not just radfems, it's just that radfems are bigoted 95% of the time, and a bunch that say they're not radfems/terfs have a post explaining that they don't align with the feminism part (anti choicers, women libertarians...). It's also important to keep going when there are no terfy indicators as there are a bunch of right wingers who also enjoy blogging about trans people as 'cringe content'.

It feels like doing something useful by not making trans folk have to see that vileness and I feel a strange responsibility as a brit and a feminist who started with the radical texts and knows them well.

I don't care who created the extension, it's useful and I can't exactly be picky from my slave and blood mineral computer chips on billionaire monopoly software.

There are things I'd very much like to discuss without it getting co-opted by bigots or turned into pile on fodder. It happens so fast and with such ferocious accusations that you have to be in a good head space and towards the start of the day so you can disable reblogs or delete a post if it gets into the wrong hands. Right now I'm marking about a dozen or more a week, it doesn't make you feel safe writing anything when you feel you have to check all reblogs on a post because a bunch won't be marked as haters before it's too late.

Word blergh ahead :

I want to be able to talk about what it means if scotland and wales leave the UK for someone who has family in all, about our femicide epidemic, about the teachers having to learn to deprogram boys from manosphere ideology, about women in stem, prison abolition, how alienated I feel from gender performance, how I think Dylan Mulaney is the most annoying toxic positivity theatre kid turning transition into hashtag content I can't stand her she's not even mean just so confident in her ignorance, and can I rant about women enforcement of patriarchy while also running support networks within churches but always being on edge for what they will or won't refuse support about, girl bullying and teen girl pressure hurting deeper, trans folk helping me rediscover gender euphoria and also how I find rupauls drag race reductive and catty. How I'm still furious the covid vaccine wasn't tested on pregnant women and we don't have data about covid and womb damage/period disruption when given the kind of cells involved we really should be seriously looking into it. I want to talk about male violence or female labour exploitation with the understanding that we're talking about the social constructs that we're all tangled up in. I want to talk about ugliness, medical misogyny, all the adhd things my dad could get away with

and I can't without having to stick asterisks everywhere saying I don't believe in gender essentialism, i do believe in patriarchy and if this doesn't apply to you congrats on being one of the good ones there are good people and my experiences as a woman are not universal

and I hate transphobes so much for hijacking what should be basic human rights for their culture war of distraction when we have so so many problems to deal with and yet this issue is so important because it's breaking the sex binary and comphet down and they're so scared they're recycling the anti-gay talking points without even filling the serial numbers off! The disruption to ideas about patriarchy is worth the fight even if there weren't flesh and blood humans getting hurt (it's a strong motivator though ilu all my gnc and trans friends).

I get so tangled: I think sending death threats is wrong, i regularly call for the death of the pope and posted about stoning king charles yesterday. I have catholic friends. I'm problematic and enjoy problematic media. I'm conflicted when I see quotes from books that helped me understand why I was so miserable back then and why the world was so unfair so much remains true. Those books also left huge fragments that didn't fit and by all that is dear to me: working class and black womanists provided the missing pieces then trans and non binary folk added more and then the disability activists who'd read all that and had more nuances to add, my heart.

I have so much I've held inside because of people who can't even be bothered with Dworkin's evolving philosophy of gender or that maybe we might have learned a few things since the Sixties because they take individuals like me and throw them to mobs and I really don't want to retraumatize my trans friends either. Aaaaargh.

It's complicated. I'd rather have to censor 'kill' and have hate speech enforcement to be able to speak openly about feminism or gender in general without the bullies swarming. I know for many that's just talking about any politics and it's silly to complain when I'm not even trans just a 'traitor' to these women but Tumblr had been safer, it's certainly a place where I haven't been attacked as much for being socialist. The mobs on twitter were frightening in scope, the ones on tumblr accused me of things that felt horribly personal. I feel like a big coward for not wanting to deal with fallout so I haven't shared some of the amazing feminist reading and learning I've been doing the past few years.

[gravitywonagain]

so @layzeal is hilarious and wonderful and this post gave me a chuckle and, because i think i'm funny, i added the following tags:

#oh god yes #and you just know that like 80% of the shidis and shimeis have massive crushes on their da-shixiong #so lwj would show up and be forced to reconcile this new unconscious and irrational desire to murder actual children #with his very conscious but still irrational refusal to examine why

and then the idea just sat in my head for months and now... well... i wrote this mostly today. it's not done. it's not edited. there are more parts, like, at least two more parts. but i figured i'd share this as it was and see if she liked it or not.

hope you all enjoy!

[T, 1.5k, 1/?, Wangxian]

--

Accepting this invitation was a mistake.

Lan Wangji had, in fact, been determined not to accept it.

But then Xichen had become involved.

Even Shufu was no help, having apparently decided that, while Wei Wuxian was an undisciplined boy, his siblings were well mannered enough and Jiang Fengmian was widely respected for the way he ran his sect. It would be good, Lan Wangji was told, for him to spend time outside of the Cloud Recesses with cultivators of like age and skill.

Wei Wuxian was, as Xiongzhang so helpfully pointed out, the only one of Lan Wangji’s peers to ever duel him to a draw.

As the comfortable serenity of meditation evades him for the third day in a row, Lan Wangji reflects with frustration on every step that led him here, to this lake, this pavilion, this unrest.

He circulates his qi through his meridians, carefully, precisely. He forces his attention to the flow of it, an exercise he teaches to his sect brothers and sisters who have only just begun to form their golden cores.

It is ineffective.

Stillness is fleeting at best. Thoughts slip into and around him, inevitable, insurmountable.

Lan Wangji would like to blame the heat -- he's never spent a summer in the southern plains -- the way the sun beats down and lingers. Even in the shaded protection of the pavilion, he can feel the overwhelming power of its rays. Oppressive and inescapable.

The air is thick with water. The breeze off the lake offers no relief.

He has, for the first time in his life, considered dressing in fewer than six layers. But fewer layers would likely lead to another problem, the source of which Lan Wangji refuses to examine. He's a teenager. Surely it's normal to--

Lan Wangji jerks his thoughts back to his meditation like a toddler who has never learned how to gently dismiss such mental interruptions. Basic, basic meditation practices. First principles.

Fuck. He feels so undisciplined. He hasn't struggled with his meditation this badly since he was six years old and his mother had just died and he couldn't understand what that meant. But that struggle was cold. Her absence had settled into his mind like fresh snowfall, crystalline flakes of guilt and fear that fell thick and heavy through the thin air of his calm.

This is similar, but not. This is heat: rays of the midday sun blinding him as they burn his skin. He feels like his blood is boiling inside his veins. His qi flares with yang -- bright, hot, fierce -- and his meditation fails him over and over.

He tries again.

Deep breaths. One at a time.

He counts out each inhale, each exhale.

He focuses on the expansion of his lungs, feels his stomach round itself to make room.

The exercise makes him feel silly, childish, but he is not above the basics. Clearly.

He is still counting, not yet centered when the thought returns: tanned skin, bare to the sun that turned it golden, shifts with the casual motions of an intermediate level sword form performed by someone who has long since mastered the style --

No.

Start again.

Lan Wangji releases tension where it’s built beneath his shoulders. Unclenches his jaw. Relaxes his hands.

Droplets of lake water trace the tendons of a slender neck, dripping from raven-black hair, still wet from swimming this morning --

Breathe.

Find the steady current of his body. The flow that settles within him.

The water is helpful in this: lotus flowers sway with an easy, vacillating rhythm. Back and forth. Gentle with the breeze.

He matches his heartbeat to it, the pulse of his golden core. Builds his breath from there.

He doesn’t allow himself to think about how long it’s been since he required external stimuli to regulate the patterns of his body. This is somehow easier than not thinking about other things. The erudite discipline of it is easier to reconcile within himself than the hot shame that flushes through him, following visions of sun and skin like the rush of the tide on the ocean beaches near his home.

Lan Wangji is unsure how much time passes like this -- which is worrisome by itself -- before he feels someone press against the range of his awareness.

Lan Wangji will admit that his range is… larger than most cultivators of his age. He’d chosen this pavilion on this pier because of its distance from the main house because, while normally it wouldn’t be a problem for him, with his focus as fractured as it is, he’d needed to find somewhere with the least amount of distractions possible.

Now, he waits to see if the person -- a woman, Jiang Yanli -- will come to him or if she is simply passing by.

She does neither, settling, instead, into a waiting position of her own, likely unaware that she has even been noticed. To be fair, by almost anyone else, she wouldn’t have been.

She sits with a kind of determined patience that anticipates but doesn’t begrudge a long wait. She would be perfectly unobtrusive if he couldn’t hear her every breath and feel the slow spin of her golden core.

Lan Wangji grits his teeth at yet another distraction and then forces himself to stop.

It is not her fault he cannot find stillness.

It is not even her brother’s.

This failure of Lan Wangji’s discipline is brought on by his own errors and he alone bears responsibility.

He gathers himself and rises. Stewing in his own frustration is no reason to neglect his host, patient as she may be. He feels worn and a little tender despite himself. Like sunburned skin rubbed raw with sand and salt and then covered with six layers of robes.

Yet he holds his sword and his posture smoothly. He moves with all the grace expected of him, Lan Wangji, a Jade of Lan and his brother’s heir.

Jiang Yanli’s smile, as she rises to meet him, betrays nothing but pleasantness. It reminds Lan Wangji of Xichen’s smiles when they are for other people: a perfect mask.

“Lan-er-gongzi,” she says, voice mild and sweet, easy to listen to, “how are you finding Yunmeng?”

He will not lie to her, but neither will he be rude. Despite his reputation, he is not cold enough to say, I find it loud and am more uncomfortable here than the last time I had to spend significant quantities of time with Nie Huaisang so that my brother and his could pretend to nighthunt together.

“Warmer than I am accustomed to,” he says instead, “but lovely to behold.”

“That is good to hear.” Something turns in her disposition. A wariness taking hold. She asks, “And the company?”

Lan Wangji isn’t sure what she means and he allows his confusion to show briefly between his eyebrows, “Jiang-guniang?”

Jiang Yanli seems to fold in on herself: shoulders setting themselves softer, chin dropping, eyes briefly lowering. Holding herself in deference, in contrition.

“If you find yourself the recipient of unwanted attention,” she places each word carefully, one after another, “please let me know and I will see that the attention stops and offer our apologies on behalf of Yunmeng Jiang.”

For a moment, Lan Wangji doesn’t understand what she could be referring to. And then he abruptly does understand. He has been secluding himself, meditating at the end of a pier for who knows how long and neglecting the very people he is here to learn from.

He feels himself flush as he works to gather the appropriate words and sees Jiang Yanli’s gaze flick to the side -- again, so much like Xichen -- to where he knows his ears are turning red with it. When her eyes return to his, her smile has changed. Not by much, and Lan Wangji is not as studied in reading the subtleties of her expressions as he is his brother’s. But, if their similarities continue, then the new brightness might mean something like Xiongzhang’s sharpness, and that never bodes well for Lan Wangji’s pride.

His posture stiffens, an involuntary reaction to brace himself for his brother’s ridicule, and he shakes his head politely, “That is not necessary, Jiang-guniang.”

He feels Jiang Yanli’s eyes on him again, which is strange because they never left him. It is a sensation he has only ever felt around Nie Huaisang before. Like being dissected, but kindly and from a distance. Not unlike his teachers evaluating any hint of deviation in his sword forms.

“Ah,” she says, and Lan Wangji wonders what she could possibly have seen on his supposedly unreadable face that might induce such a knowing sound.

He does not ask and she does not elaborate.

She sways lightly on her feet and catches herself against the railing as Lan Wangji reaches out to help her. She does not bat his hands away, but reaches out for him instead and says, “Lan-er-gongzi, I’m feeling a bit tired. Would you be so kind as to escort me to the practice field?”

Lan Wangji is not dense. He knows when he is being manipulated. But he isn’t sure why, exactly, Jiang Yanli wants him at the practice field, and he truly has no objection to bringing her there. So he nods.

“Of course, Jiang-guniang.”

da-shixiong wei wuxian…. can be so personal

him training the younger disciples….. helping the little ones mount their swords for the first time by holding both their hands…………. making them run little errands for him while he chews on a wheat stick ………giving a piggyback ride to one who twisted his ankle….. lightly scolding a shidi for practicing a dangerous sword form he wasn’t ready for yet but still patting his head with a smile so he doesn’t feel sad……… 

like. maybe it’s a good think lwj didn’t visit him in yunmeng, imagine if he saw that type of scene where the smart and witty troublemaker he fell in love with is also RESPONSIBLE and GOOD WITH KIDS. this was pre-sunshot guys. poor lan zhan would pass out on the spot

[sugawarassoulmate]

Okay, first of all I love bully!Osamu - that man just 👌. But like, imagine if he’s at the mall with Atsumu or his team or whatever and he notices you also there wandering around with some other guy?

omg ok picture high school bully!osamu (so the two of you haven't fucked yet)

he's out at the mall with atsumu already pissed bc the two of them asked you to tag along but you told them you had plans. he figured you'd be hanging out with some friends so imagine his shock when his brother notices you a few yards away.

"oh shit, y/n's here" atsumu nudges his twin in the arm. osamu's head shoots up and lo and behold, there you are walking around with a boy that neither of them recognizes.

"the fuck is she doin'?" he grumbles under his breath but atsumu chuckles.

"leave her alone, samu. she's probably on a date or somethin'," but even atsumu can't hide the bitterness in his voice.

no. osamu thinks. you don't just go on dates—nobody's been dumb enough to ask you out and actually follow through with it. (because osamu would either beat the shit out of them or convince you not to go) which is why he's so annoyed in the first place. why didn't you tell him? did you want to go out with this loser?

atsumu claps him on the shoulder. "come on, let's do somethin' else," he drags his brother away so he doesn't have to look at you anymore. of course, osamu isn't gonna let this go (he's a demon)

after the twins meet up with some of their teammates, osamu excuses himself so he's finally separated from his brother. he seeks you out very easily, finding the two of you sitting in the food court. you look so pretty smiling at this nameless boy. it's the same sweet smile osamu finds you giving his brother from time to time.

now, he could stick to his tried and true method of embarrassing you—dropping a slushie in your lap or tripping you as you're throwing out your food. but with his brother nearby it would just end in another fight with his twin and he doesn't really want to hear you whining about it for a whole week.

instead, osamu pulls out his phone and just sends you a simple message.

to: crybaby: look up

he waits for you to stare down at your phone, eyes going wide when his name pops up on the screen. discreetly, as to not let your "date" know that your attention was elsewhere, you tap away a reply.

from: crybaby: he's just a friend

from: crybaby: pls don't do anything

osamu snorts, it's cute how skittish you get around him

to: crybaby: make up an excuse and get away from him. i'll be in the parkin lot

he waits for you to read the message before walking out of the mall and heading to the parking lot. it only takes about five minutes before he sees you timidly walking over to him. osamu opens his arms out to trap you in a hug. "yer gonna have to make it to me, dummy" he says tugging on your wrist to drag you to the bus stop.

making it up to him usually means spending the whole day with him, eating the food that he makes, cuddling on the couch, and kissing for "practice" (his words).

"who was that?" he asks as the two of you wait for the bus.

you bite your lip, it really was just a friend but osamu would never see it like that. "minoru...we're in the same math class..."

what you didn't know was that osamu was now planning on meeting up with this minoru to have a "friendly chat" with him when they're back in school.

[doodleybugg]

Can I request uhhhhh reader playing at Eddie's table?????

hell yes you can!! sorry this request took so long tags: fem(ish)!reader x eddie munson (she/her pronouns used), pining, i know next to nothing about dnd so please tell me if i get anything wrong and keep in mind that i have no clue what i'm doing, this is rlly short so if you want another part you can request!!

"Is that whatever's on your shirt? Hell…" Dustin unzips his sweater so you can read the rest of his shirt. "Hellfire?"

He nods, smiling hugely. "Yep! We're short a player and need someone to fill in. If you do it, you get a shirt.." He tries to convince you, excitement clear in his voice.

And that makes you smile. If you were correct, Eddie Munson ran that club. You must have been infatuated with that guy since grade school when he once let you borrow his oversized jacket when it was cold. You remembered him saying he stole it from his uncle the night before. He probably doesn't remember it, just a small kindness from years ago, but it stuck with you.

"Hello? Earth to Y/N?" Dustin says, waving a hand in front of your face. Comical, you think.

"Sorry- I'll come! I mean, if there's nobody better to fill the spot. I'm telling you now though, I've never played Dungeons and Dragons-"

"Oh, we just say D&D. You know, it's shorter." He cuts you off.

"…D&D. I've never played it before. That's alright?"

"Totally! To be honest with you, we're stuck with either you or erica. and from what I know about you, you're much nicer than her. I'd prefer it if you came."

You chuckle. "Thanks?"

"Just the facts!"

"Okay, Dustin. When's the game? Like, next we-"

"Tonight! I'll wait for you at the front doors, next to that water fountain, alright?" You'd have to make a mental note of Dustin's habit of interrupting people.

"I- sure! Alright! See you there." And Dustin is already walking, no, sprinting away. Probably off to another one of his friends to let them know that Y/N Y/LN would be joining them. Tonight. No, not even, just after school. Giving you zero time to learn the rules or even just get to know the game enough to not make a fool of yourself. Great.

~

By the time classes end for the day, you're practically trembling. Time to go make a fool of yourself in front of strangers. Well, and Eddie. Does he even remember you? He's a huge outcast, a troublemaker. Most of his efforts are directed at pissing off the popular kids and hanging out with his outcast friends. He practically ignored everyone in between. Not in a rude way, of course, you didn't think he was capable of being rude.

He would still high-five people in the hall or help someone who's dropped a book. But you weren't sure if faces would stick to a name in his mind unless he actually knew the person.

Your thoughts were basically repeating the same question as you made your way to the fountain, does he remember me? When you got there, Dustin was already waiting. He spotted you and waved, again in a comical way. Was this just his usual attitude? You were already exhausted from classes, that pop quiz in science, and your plans plaguing your mind all day, but he didn't seem the least bit tired.

Maybe it was just that freshman energy. You were already a senior, graduating this year, and God, you couldn't wait to get out of this school.

"Ready to go?" He asked as soon as you got closer.

"As ready as I'll ever be." That much was true. Your nerves were practically fried. Dustin led you down a couple halls to where Mike, Dustin's friend, was waiting outside an empty classroom's doors.

"Hey Dustin, Y/N!" He greets you kindly enough, he looks a little conflicted though. Like he's debating something, fighting with his mind. Nevertheless, he opens the door to let you and Dustin in, walking in behind you and shutting it yet again.

The room is relatively small, seemingly more so with the huge table right in the center. Sat down are a couple of seniors, you recognized them as friends of Eddie, who's sat at the very head of the table looking like a complete God, messy hair in tight ringlets pointing in every direction, that same smile plastered to his face that he usually makes after a good laugh. Everyone's wearing the same shirt with a devil's head on it. Everyone but you.

You felt awkward standing with the closed door against your back but didn't exactly want to move until you knew what was happening.

Eddie looked up from the rings on his finger that he was fiddling with, to lay eyes on you. You smiled, it was short and awkward, but you smiled.

"This is who you've got, Dustin?" He asks, and though he doesn't sound angry, you almost get offended. You could be a great D&D player! You're not, but you could be.

"Y/N's great, Eds!" Dustin replies. "Besides, it was a choice between her or Lucas' scary little sister and honestly, I think I made the right choice."

Dustin must have thought that was more flattering than it was. Whoo hoo, you're more pleasant to be around than an 11-year-old girl.

Eddie seems to think, gaze fluttering between you and Dustin, before ultimately coming to a conclusion to whatever question was in his mind and using his foot to kick the chair across the table from him, the chair right in front of you, as an invite to sit.

~

"Come on!" Dustin nearly shouts as he shoots the d20 die from his hand. It hits the table and rolls for a seemingly endless amount of time, but by the time it does finally stop, the number on top is 11. Groans and curses echo the room from everyone in the party, including Edde.

Now you're the last player alive, somehow, and from what you've gathered of the game, you need to roll the die and land on a 20 to keep that title. The odds are so horrifyingly against your favour as Eddie drops the die in your hand, muttering a small, unconvincing "good luck".

You press the die between your two sweaty palms and start skaking your hands. The air is so unbelievably thick right now, you're surprised you're able to breathe, and everyone's eyes are on you as you let go of the die. It rolls against the table, knocking into things, every thud echoing in the base of your skull until it stop. 

And everything stops. 

There's no noice, there's nothing. 

Because you just rolled a 20.

[aromanticbastards]

i have been tagged by @mushroomjar ! thank you :)

Favorite band(s)?

billy talent

the creepshow

knocked loose

dead poet society

lessoner

heisskalt

the interrupters

refused

pascow

Favorite musician?

i'll also say laura jane grace :)

Favorite song?

yes.

okay i'll list one from each band:

devil in a midnight mass

sticks and stones (and creatures of the night)

oblivions peak

animation (and sound and silence and .intoodeep.

risse

angst hab (and gipfelkreuz)

leap of faith

malfire (and new noise)

kriegerin

Favorite genre?

punk in most shapes and colours :)

Favorite era of music?

early 2010s i guess? but that changes pretty often

Favorite years of music?

i'll go with 2017-2019 right now

Least favorite genre?

schlager. and what is known as mallorca music

Been to any concerts?

yes, quite a few. the last one (pascow) was postponed due to the band catching covid. the one before was lygo, and my next one will be zsk. and an extra mention for the save the scene festival!

Favourite broadcasted concert:

tbh i don't really watch broadcasted concerts, so i couldn't say one on top of my mind

Favourite album:

laugh tracks by knocked loose and jade by pascow right now :)

Upcoming concert?

yeah, zsk tomorrow :) (and van holzen in june, and pet needs. also the full force festival)

In a band?

yes, it doesn't have a name yet, but we're getting closer. the genre is (depending on who you ask) punk rock or garage rock with hardcore influence

Play any instruments?

yes, in the band i play the bass (badly, and i also sing part-time). and i played the oboe for quite some time

tagging @anarochist @anartchism @klavierpanda and everyone else who'd like to do this :)

[thekillingjoke-haha]

Beauty Sleep

Marvel and Supernatural bingo

Square:Sleeping Beauty

Castiel x Archangel!Reader

Warning?: Reader seems bad, Twist on Sleeping Beauty/Snow White, Poisoning, Wicked Father,ect.

A/n: [This text is a memory]

Tag: @thisismysecrethappyplace

The loud clap of a book dropping on the table startled the brothers for their own research. "What the hell,Cas." The eldest said more then likely woken up for his half sleep mind set. "I found it." He said as he pointed to the thick book.

"Found the weapon that can restore balance." He explained further causing them to grow intrigued. It was the weapon they were looking for that could keep Angels in heaven,demons in hell,and other supernatural in purgatory. The one thing that can fix everything."Perfect where do we get it?" Sam asked as he pulled the book three times thicker then the largest dictionary towards him. "Where do we find her you mean." Castiel said making the Winchester's look at him confused.

Dean cleared his throat and dragged his hand down his face. "Her? The weapon is a person?!" He asked. "Not exactly. She was the first Archangel made by both God and Amare. Legend has it she's more powerful then both of them she could create life with ease and equally wipe it without so much as a single thought. Because of this she had to be put to rest." The angel explained further.

"If she's so powerful how is she "put to rest" can't she wake herself up?" Dean asked as he looked over his brother's shoulder at the book. "Apparently her prison has hex symbols that takes away and returns her grace in a constant loop to keep her weak yet alive." The younger brother explained pointing out the drawing of the three symbols on the page. "So a real life sleeping beauty? Sweet! I always fit the role of prince charming ya know?" Dean said cockily posing victoriously.

The angel rolled his eyes. "There's a catch,Dean. It says once we break those symbols all of heaven and hell will feel it. The creations that she made will hunt her down...all things supernatural will come for her,but once she's back in full power she'll be able to cloak herself." Cas said as he paced slightly. If she was a powerful as legend had it she could fix it all for them. "Her creations? She made the monsters we hunt?! I thought that was Eve." Dean exclaimed as he ran a hand through his hair. "That's a common misconception the apple she ate gave he knowledge that only three beings knew. That special apple was made from her grace." That's when the angel paused as his words raked over him. "Her garden was never just a place it was her prison."

"The garden of Eden. What's this Angel's name?" Sam asked as he flipped through the book and tried to find a name,but all he saw was angel of light and darkness,the perfect balance. "God was nice enough to name it after her. Eden the first Archangel,but she's gone by many names before." He said.

Dean looked at the book with Sam. "Where do we find the magical garden? No book supernatural or not ever gave a location." The eldest asked and it was a good question. "The garden never stays in the same place for to long it moves often. One day it could be in a forest the next in a mountain." Cas said with a sigh it was impossible to find the prison with out a bit of her grace to track the source.

"Her grace is strong even a little can help us. Even if a millennia has gone by and it's became one with the elements it can help." Cas explained. "Cain" The name fell from Dean's lips as he numbly rubbed where the mark once was. "Cain is the son of Adam and Eve. Eve had that grace in her system she must have pasted it to him!" With that the boys packed up and were heading to Cains house to use him as a tracking device. The day long drive dragged on and with those time Sam continued to ask questions.

Most of the questions the angel had no answer to until one made him freeze up. "How did it happen in the first place? Was she casted out of heaven like Lucifer?" The younger Winchester asked. "I think Chuck poisoned her. She was like Lucifer she questioned a lot of things it was a new angelic trait, curiosity, except she loved all creatures and things Chuck made so when he makes something new she was the first to see and that was the last time any angel has seen her." The vivid memory came to mind.

The giggle of the young fledglings filled the air. A girl with H/c hair dragged a younger version of himself around. "My little raven come look! Father has created such beautiful things." She said as she showed him the flowers in her hand each different from the other. "What are they called?" He asked tilting his head. "Father said I can name them,but I can't think of anything...come help me plant them on earth there we can name them!" She said using her three pairs of large F/c wings to bring them to earth before humans were even thought about.

The soil on the ground was dark and it was vastly different from the sand surrounding it. With gentle hands she planted all of the flowers and together the angels named them. "Hmmm..." The girl hummed. "What is it Y/n?" He asked her. "We need something to keep them growing in numbers, raven." She said using a stick to draw on the dirt. "What should it look like?" Y/n asked him as she was going to go to her father to create it.

"Um...give it wings and make it the color of those sunflower over there." Castiel suggested. The drowning at took a couple tries,but as the kept adding and removing things they got what they wanted. Without realizing that the archangel just made multiple winged creatures on a whim and she wasn't even trying. God saw it all a d it scared him,but he couldn't do anything about it when his sister along with his other archangels would be there to stop him. He had to wait.

Three mil past and the two children grew bigger and she grew stronger. The small patch has turned into a garden of various plants that were only found in different climates around the world. Together they went there everyday even more often after the imprisonment of Amara and Lucifer along with the disappearance of Gabriel. Michael was busy trying to keep order after the two archangels left so it was his chance. Chuck called his daughter to see another one of his inventions,but that time was so much different from the others. Afterwards she didn't comeback she was never seen in heaven again and on that day a tree taller then any other in that garden with apples of pure gold grew.

The garden of Eden disappeared after Eve ate the forbidden fruit and it wasn't ever seen again by man,angel,nor demon knew of it location. Cas lost his friend and he knew it was god that did it even if he was suppose to be a loyal soldier he couldn't when he knew that the father of creation so willingly got rid of his most prized pupil what would he do to all the underlings.

Hours have past they stand in Cains living room. "Cain we don't need much from you just some of your blood that's all." Cas said as Dean explained what for. It took some convincing,but he agreed and bleed into a vile. "You guys better stop this apocalypse before shit hits the fan." He said as he shut them back out of his house. Sam handed the vile to Cas. "Now what do we do?" He asked the angel. Without saying a word he pulled something from his pocket a old looking compass. "Rowan taught me a location spell all I need to do is..." Pouring the small amount of blood on the glass of the compass and spoke in Latin causing the red substance to disappear. "...follow the arrow." Cas finished.

The arrow spinner rapidly as it settled on the strongest pull of the grace. "Looks like we're heading west. We have a estimated week before it changes course so off we go." Cas said as they all went back to the car. Keeping his eyes trained on it a small smile formed on his lips. "I'm coming N/n." He whispered to himself. Almost five thousand miles away a the unmoving body had a shocking pull of her lip at the mention of her name if only that could have woken her up for her comatose state.

It's been three days on the road and the impala had to come to a stop a thick treeline stopped them. The dirt road turned into a hiking trail and they had no choice,but to go on foot. Together they hiked up the trail blindly following the arrow through the woods. "Cas what are we suppose to be looked for?" Sam asked as he stepped over a fallen tree branch. "The closer we get the more exotic the plants and animals will be. Also be careful some of the wild life is experimental." The angel warned causing the brothers to freeze. "What do you me by experimental? Are we going to see a truducken?!" Dean asked jokingly as he looked around.

A loud snarling noise caused him to pull out his gun and look around. "More like human eating plants and venomous insects." This made Sam tense and stick closer to a still walking Castiel and Dean to cautiously does the same looking at each and every plant close by. "What is this fucking Jumanji?!?! Everything can kill us." Dean said keeping his gun up and ready to fire. "Oh, that was the name of the movie. Yeah those types of movies were based off of what explores experienced when getting to close to the garden." The blue eyed angel said with a shrug.

In a clearing they all look with widened eyes at the land before them. Flowers of all types with various animals and inserts. They watched in wander at everything creatures they've never seen or never insisted out of the garden. Everything was in bloom even though it was mid fall. There was a clear gravel path cutting off between the forest and wonderland in front of them.They wandered around since it became more difficult to find where the pull was unclear. "She won't be in plain sight she'll be hidden well. Look for something that doesn't quite match the rest. Trees of all kinds surrounded the area,but it was Sam who noticed the sand that mirrored a sky full of stars. He slowly followed it till it grew thick into a sanded path.

The youngest Winchester had his eyes trained down so when he looked up the apple tree before his eyes took his breath away. It looked straight out of a child's most imaginative fantasy. A white trunk with red leaves and the most noticeable feature the solid gold apples on it's branches. Sam didn't hear the voices of his brother or friend as he stepped closer directly under one of the low hanging fruits. Reaching up he picked the ripe fruit his brown eyes glazed over by temptation and curiosity. "SAM DON'T EAT THAT THAT!!!" Cas yelled using his grace to stop him mid bite. The angel looked in horror at the item in his hand a dark purple almost black apple sat in his friend's hands.

To anyone mortal it looked beautiful with it golden exterior,but Cas could see the ugly,fermented,poisoned inside. Glancing up the tree was rotting with barely any leaves and the few left were the color of blood. "It's poisoned their all poisoned." His words cleared the Winchester's vision of the tree and the surrounding woods all the plants were dead all around it. "It's beautiful on the outside,but deadly on the inside. And we're seeing it for what it truly is."

"It's clear as day that's she's here. Just how do we get to her?" Dean asked looking around. Castiel snapped towards Sam holding his hand out. "Do you still have the book?!" Sam nodded quickly taking the strap off his shoulder to dig it out of the bag. He handed it over the the angels that viciously flipped through the pages. "He made her a monster so a beast she became. She was blinded by curiosity and temptation she chose wrongly that day. Pick the fruit that doesn't call to you for the right one will choose you." He read word for word trying to see through the riddle. A beast? She was never a monster,but she was depicted as one. A angel that tainted the flock.

The Archangel landed gracefully in front of her father. She bowed on one knee as a warrior would clashed in her white armor and sword by her side. "Stand my child." She stood up looking at him. "Yes,father?" Her voice was gentle,but that didn't make the God of creation hesitate in his actions. "I've made something new for you to try and plant in the garden." Chuck said handing her the item. The skin was red and the surface was smooth unlike the peach that had a light fuzz. "What is this?!" Her e/c eyes burned bright her wings fluttering in excitement. "A red apple my dear." He said softly a smile on his lips stepping closer "Taste it."

Bringing it to her mouth she took a bite out of it and started to chew. It started of sweet,but became bitter within seconds and no matter how long she chewed it never broke down in size for long. "Father...something not right." She said that single bite still in her mouth. "Trial and error,darling, try to swallow it." Her h/c hair bobbed as she nodded. With a gulp she swallowed it down,but to her shock it stopped. Using her free hand she beaten at her chest to unblock her air way. Looking up at her creator she saw a look that can only be described as pure evil as a liquid poured out of her mouth.

Touching her chin a dark violet substance came dripped to the ground. Her gaze shifted to the apple within her hand and the inside no longer looked right. It was as if it gone bad from the inside,but the outside stayed fresh hiding the disgusting center. In fear she stepped back and with that she fell and continued to fall watching her home fade away. Y/n broke through the soil of the earth in a prison of her own design that she cared for and nurtured. Her arm dropped from her side the apple rolling away. The deceitful visibly harmless fruit planted it seed and grew becoming the only way to enter her personal mausoleum.

Castiel looked at the tree. All of the fruit looked the same nothing was different about a single one of them. Together the trio walked around the looming tree. The Winchester's saw something beautiful and they couldn't help,but want to pick one of the apples to taste. "What do we do,Cas. We don't have much time before this place disappear and possibly taking is with it." Dean said flinging his hands in the air. "The riddle said to wait then that's what we must do.

They grouped together and sat at the base of the tree waiting for who knows what to happen. "This is stupid! Let's just get the shovels from baby and start di–" His words were cut short as a apple full down from above them. "Well that was covenant." Sam said as Cas picked it up. To the brothers it looked odd a bronze color compared to the rest just less appealing. While to Castiel it looked horrible making the clearly deadly fruits more appetizing. "Our key in." He said. Using his hands to break it open to reveal the mouth watering interior that a honey like liquid dripped from,they picked correctly. The ground began to shake and they all stepped away from the base of the tree as the dirt around it caved in making a spiral staircase down and down they went.

It was pitch black down there so Sam and Dean pulled out flash lights to look around. They all went around the surprisingly large pocket in the ground. Dean checked for the symbols when he tripped over roots and landed on something hard and and moving. Snapping up he shined the light on the women laying as if sleeping in front of him. She was in white leather armor with a sliver sword in her hands on her chest. "Didn't find any hex symbols,but here's sleeping beauty." He said looking her over she rested on a raised stone that worked as her bed. "Never mind found them." The markings from the book in a pyramid shape was on one side of the bedrock glowing a soft F/c. Sam walked over along with Cas. The knifes both brothers held was used to break the engraved symbols,but nothing happened.

"No no no that's not right. Y/n is suppose to be freed!" The angel in distress said as he flicked through the book nothing else was said to be imprisoning her, why didn't it work? The Winchester's examined her the youngest looking at the elegant armor while the oldest focused more of the feminine features. "Sammy you read that book while in the car. Didn't you say something about her being the first female?" He asked his eyes not leaving her. "Yeah a model for Eve and later Amara's less celestial form. Why?" Sam asked touching the blade of the sword. "Yeah if that’s try why does she have a Adam's apple?"Cas wasn't fully paying attention until that sentence. His blue eyes imminently went to her throat were a noticeable lump was. "That wasn't there before." He mumbled loud enough for them to hear. Placing his ear just a centimetre away from her lips a shallow breath was let out and a wheezed inhale drew it back in.

The angel put his overlapping hands on her chest. He didn't know everything about humanity,but he knew enough to understand what he was about to do. He pushed with all his strength and he heard a sharp breath push out it just wasn't enough to dislodge whatever was there. Cas continued his actions and just when he was giving up hope she coughed up the chunk of apple and a weird substance. F/c glowing eyes snapped open as she lurched forward her grace burning bright casting a shadow behind her. It was a sight to see three sets of wings,what can only be described as a halo,along with twisted horns. After the grace calmed down her eyes returned to their normal color and they instantly when to Cas a wide smile spreading on her face. "My raven." She said. Y/n knew why she was awoken after all this time. To fight in a war she wanted no part of,but with the thought of putting everything in balance and striking down her father where he stood made her ready to fight. After all she felt like she's had enough Beauty Sleep.

/////////

A/n: This one took a minute,but I was torn between sleeping beauty and snow white since both of them fall asleep so a mix of both.

Also post #69....Noice

[bonny-kookoo]

JJK: Fictional Happiness 3

In which Jungkook, youngest of Kpop Group and werewolf Pack BTS, finds his mate at his own concert; just to learn that reality is nothing like the movies - and that not everyone is blindly after him and his name.

Tags/warnings: werewolf! AU if it wasn't obvious already lol, angst, there's so much angst Jesus, romantic kook, kinda selfish kook though, shy!reader, anxiety, medication mention, therapy mention, panic attacks, idol!Jungkook, slow burn, strangers to eventual friends to lovers/mates, insecurities, bad habits, kind of tsundere! Jk, Impatient kook, alpha!kook, omega!Reader, swearing, reader doesn't like him a lot at first just as a heads up, realistic approach- meaning she won't just fall head first right away like nuh-uh we're wearing seatbelts on this ride yall, smut in future chapters

Additional chapter warnings: mentions of male masturbation, suggestive dreams, you'll want to beat kook with a stick at the end of this chap trust me

---

<- Previous || Next ->

---

Jungkook is growing increasingly frustrated.

He's been having dreams, painfully embarrassing ones, where his instincts take over as he takes you in scenarios he'd rather not day out loud. He feels like a pubescent pup whenever he wakes up from them, either having stained his underwear and sheets, or still painfully hard, forcing him to either take a freezing cold shower, or bring himself to his rather dissapointing release. He knows why it's happening, knows what it means.

But he still believes it won't be like this for long.

While he's been arguing with managers and other staff members alike, everyone tells him that you don't want to even talk to him at all. And its true; because you're absolutely unable to even look him in the eyes, you know it. Ever since your accident as a child where you almost lost your inner omega in a packfight you got caught in between by accident, you can't help but be scared of others of your kind.

Especially an alpha like Jeon fucking Jungkook.

But he's persistent- there's a letter in your post box almost every day, there's managers reaching out to you, emails sent and you're not even sure where the hell they have all these infos from in the first place. It scares you a little.

You have go put an end to it.

So here you are, standing in that small room, where Jungkook is supposed to be meeting you. You can hear him already, walking closer, as the door opens; revealing him dressed in a simple sweatpants and sweater combo. He's beaming, eyes wide open as he walks closer instantly.

But you step back.

It makes his inner alpha scold him like a child, angrily telling him to back down as both can sense the way your omega is already on high alert, bearing her teeth as if she needs to protect you. Jungkook doesn't quite get why, and doesn't really think much about it either as he just starts talking. "So, you're finally here " He says. "I uhm.. you already know my name and I kinda know yours but-"

"Jungkook-ssi." You unterrupt him, his facial expression showing his clear distaste at the way you say his name like that. "I just.. agreed to this short meet up to uhm.. ask you you please stop trying to contact me." You say, as he scoffs.

"What do you mean?" He asks, as if you're trying to tell him a bad joke. "You're my mate." He says, and you nod.

"Yeah, I.. know, but honestly, I think it's best if we just.. forget about this all." You say. "I'm.. really not the right fit for you, I don't belong in this world you live in." You say.

"Whatever it is-" he starts, using all his composure to hold himself back. "I can solve this for you. Trust me- we've got top security, you don't need to-" he starts, but you cut him off.

"Thats not it-" you say. "I'm just not.. made for any of this, I can't.. this is all a lot, please understand.." you says as he furrows his brows.

"So you're rejecting me?" He scoffs yet again, as if he can't believe what he's hearing. You nod, and he can't help the way he now looks at you- even though his alpha is angrily trying to keep him in check.

>> stop this, you're scaring her away! You're making it even worse you insensitive brat!<<

But Jungkook doesn't listen. "Okay, stop this now." He says, making your eyes widen. "You can't tell me that we're both supposed to just move on like this. We're mates." He says, and you walk past him, instinctively pulling your hand away as he tries to reach for it. He can see your omega in your eyes for a second, baring her teeth, angrily telling him to back off as he's taken off guard by it.

So much so, that all he does is stare into your direction, even long after you've left.

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes

Sequel to A Forgotted Memory

Somewhere out there

Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight…

Chapter 14 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

Previous Chapter : Alex and Augustus

Meet Me Halfway

John "Soap" MacTavish

Task Force 141

Location Unknown

18 hours ago

He thought he was dead. He thought they were going to kill him. He wished they would, just to end the suffering. But he also wished they wouldn't. He had greater plans, he still wanted to enjoy his life. And it looked like Nero granted half his wish, while depriving him of the other half. He's going to live the rest of his years in hell.

He couldn't stop thinking about that song, he lay flat on the ground, feeling weak, powerless and defeated.

If I lay here… Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

He couldn't feel a thing but he knew he was being transported somewhere. Red flashes filled his eyes as he slowly slipped away from the conscious world.

~

2 Seconds.

A single drop of water plopped on the cold floor where he laid every 2 seconds. It was getting annoying, but he thanked it for actually waking him up.

Soap struggled to get up and forced himself to do so, grunting in pain as the muscles and bones of his body reacted to his sudden movements. Enduring all the pain, he gasped and got up, moving to the direction of the only ray of light from a crack in the ceiling.

He limped but he had hope, exhaling with excitement as the light got closer every step he took. Then clang! He hit his head on an iron bar. He's in a prison cell, deep underground.

"Shite." he cursed, dropping his knees on the ground, his energy already ran out and he felt thirsty.

"That's freshwater dripping down there." An unknown voice emerged from the darkness, Soap wanted to believe he's hallucinating, but an old figure emerged from the shadows. His hair mostly greyed out and it was long enough that Soap believed he'd been here for far too long.

"The name's Jack. And I suggest you rehydrate. I've been here long enough that you could trust that it's safe." he suggested. His tone was strict but helpful and Soap knew he's trustworthy. They're both prisoners and as the saying goes: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

"So… uh Jake. What brings you to this dark and gloomy place?" Soap asked, his voice was barely audible but he was heading straight to the dripping freshwater.

"Turns out our friend Nero doesn't want me dead yet. He couldn't pry any information from me. I'm CIA, literally trained half my life to keep information away. He should've just killed me when he got the chance." He replied.

"So, that means he's going to get something out of you too…" he added, Soap looked worried, he didn't undergo some torture training and hes afraid of what Nero wants from him.

"Look kid, I know you're worried. That's why we won't let that happen. Okay? I have a plan." Jake patted Soap's shoulder, it still hurts from all the stomping and the tossing around but he knew he didn't mean it.

"So… CIA. Guess you crossed paths with Alex." Soap asked, his low accent echoed across the dark cage.

"Yeah. Alex. He was like my son, trained him and assisted him all throughout his CIA Career."

"He kinda disobeyed orders by joining the good side which looked bad in the eyes of the higher ups." Soap reported.

"Hm… It's very unusual of him to not follow orders, unless he believes it's for a better cause." Jack supplied to which Soap nodded, agreeing Jack's assumption.

"It was a good cause. Sacrificed himself for the greater good. Miraculously made it out, but lost his leg in the process." Soap continued, updating the old man about his protege, he's actually glad he did as he could feel the man's mood rising from grumpy prisoner to someone a little less grumpy.

"He had good morals, that kid. He could go far with that attitude… I just hoped that falling in love would not be his downfall… just like what happened to me…" he muttered. Soap didn't make out the last sentence so he assumed it was his own thoughts leaking out of his head. He didn't bother asking again.

The iron doors opened and a new patch of light opened. Jack looked at Soap with determination and nodded.

"Looks like it's showtime, sharkbait." Soap nodded noting the Finding Nemo reference at these trying times.

Jack was right. They had a practice of how to handle prisoners for interrogation. A few stomps, handcuffs, sack on the head and push you if you don't cooperate. Soap had to go through the whole thing, and as far as he knows, Jack must have gotten the key.

He limped his way to the interrogation room, buying enough time for Jack to blindly find the keyhole from the cell. He tried fighting back but the taser sticks were already giving him a bad time.

Just as Jack described, the interrogation room consisted of a dentist chair and a television, his captors were beside him preparing orders from Nero on the screen.

Soap squirmed his way out of the chair, trying to be convincing that he had no idea what's going on.

"Stop squirming! Tell us where the girl is… or I'll take a wild guess and destroy your base instead." Nero yelled. His voice was low, like it ran through a voice changer.

"Sod off…" Soap spat and squirmed again, receiving a shock from the taser. He groaned as tendrils of electricity ran through his body shaking him almost unconscious.

"Lower the voltage or he won't respond! Dumbasses! We need something from him!" Nero yelled at his henchmen.

"So… MacTavish…22nd Parachute Regiment, S.A.S., Now Task Force 141… Skilled in combat, Sniper and Demolitions… You know a proper brainwash would help me get the code from you right?" he mused.

"FOUR!" Soap roared from the top of his lungs, panting after he yelled.

"Four? What the fuck are you talking about?" Nero asked, looking confused. Addition to that, the ground shook and made everyone else in the room wonder.

"What's going on?" Nero asked.

"What? we're under attack? By who? How?" Soap's ears could hear the distress from their leader and from the looks of it, 141 already found him making it easier for him and Jack to get out of this hell hole.

"Augustus is gone? They're going to pay! Okay boys kill this man now. We have to send them a message!" Nero yelled angrily and the tv turned to static.

Meet me Halfway

Francine "France" Winters

Task Force 141

Task Force 141 Base - Briefing Room

"We're being pressured to capture Nero. With our base compromised, the Board would now decide for our force's future. Simon Riley is now researching Augustus' burner phone, if we're lucky enough, it could lead us to our next clue." Shepherd calmly informed the force about the status. He looked in distress but he had to keep pushing forward, to end this warfare.

"Some of Nero's forces are already in New York. It turns out he could command the brainwashed civilians to deploy EMP blasts but recon noticed that he could only command a few at a time. This means without the IP address, he is still powerless and trying hard." Shepherd added.

"I want you all to always be ready for an all out attack on Nero. Let's prove to the board that we're the best one for the job." He muttered and dismissed everyone. France decided to stay in the briefing room and let the quiet consume her thoughts.

"You okay?" A reassuring hand held her shoulder. She knew it was Gary and tears started to fall from her eyes.

"I… I can't stop worrying about him, Roach." She croaked and gave Roach a very pained stare. She actually missed John's presence even after being together for a short while, she felt that they shared a lot of common things together, the strive to become better, the response to danger even off duty and the determination to achieve a goal. Those were her traits that he also had, these same traits that made him like her despite his cocky first impression.

"Let's help out Ghost track that son of a bitch Nero down. And maybe it'll lead us to him." Roach assured them as they both stood up and went to Research.

"How… how can you still be so sure that he's okay?" she sobbed.

"The dogtags." Ghost interjected while typing furiously on the computer.

"If Soap was dead, he should've shown us his tag. That would cripple some of our Force's focus and would lead to his success in invading and capturing Samantha." Ghost continued, he made sense and France almost smiled with the two's support. Instead, she just breathed out and helped Ghost.

"So, have you traced each source?" France asked Ghost as she also started furiously typing codes and strings of data input.

"Yes, they're really sneaky with the encryption, but I keep on getting pings at one location before it spreads in different places." he explained.

"The nearest signal tower. Every packet almost goes through there. You see that?" France pointed at the screen.

"Yeah I do. Let's start tracing that source." Ghost muttered and the map already pinged the tower's location.

"Bingo." they both whispered and cheered, hugging each other as a sign of success. France felt Ghost's tight hug and felt something off about the guy, then he actually removes half of his mask and pouts his cheek close to hers.

"I…. uh… I'm sorry" Ghost shyly said as France pushed him away and felt awkward at the situation. Gary just stood there in shock as Price entered the room.

"What's the news?" he asked, looking at the three.

"We found him, Sir." Ghost cleared his throat and put back his mask.

"Well, bloody hell. Let's go then!" he said as they all ran towards the exit and prepared themselves. France didn't have the time to think about the events earlier as she was still worried about Soap's safety. She hopes that whatever lies in that place would give her an answer.

~

"FIRE!" Captain Price yelled as snipers quickly shot the guards surrounding the icy fortress. The gulag housed people that the world didn't want but couldn't kill, and she hoped that John MacTavish was on that list.

Danger close explosions crippled both attacking and defending forces as Price roared at Shepherd to be careful. France gulped as she saw a very open field that they're dropping in on and knew for a fact that she's very open and weak at these positions.

Her mind raced, looking at every angle. Tangos were everywhere carrying different kinds of weapons. With minimal angles to hide on, the force, led by Roach aggressively advanced to the Gulag, dodging heavy fire, grenades and RPG Rockets. As soon as they found the tunnel leading deep into the Gulag, France already felt comfortable. This was her playing zone and no one's going to stop her from getting into Nero.

The way in was almost clear, no enemies were against them but instead they ran further into the Gulag. Something was off.

Gunfire was heard deep into the Gulag and as soon as the team reached the control room, Ghost already did his magic. Opening gates, looking at the cameras and defending their six. The masked man helped them further advance into the Gulag.

"Nero's not here…" Ghost said.

"How so?" Price angrily muttered.

"He never set foot in this place. He only uses a television to communicate."

"Bloody hell. Now what?"

" I see two heat signatures behind that wall."

Roach quickly planted a c4 breach and as soon as it exploded Francine pounced at the closest person, raising her fist and looking at its eyes to see the punch go through.

Blue eyes. Those shades of blue. France stopped his fist as tears started to well from her eyes, dropping some on his bare chest.

"John…" she whimpered and smiled.

"Fra.." she didn't let him finish, she kissed him. She didn't care what everyone else thought. The gunfire and explosions suddenly felt nothing to her. She didn't care how John's lips tasted, all she cared about was that he's alive and she's on his arms.

Extraction quickly followed as Shepherd's forces already did a lot of damage on the old fortress. They barely got out just in time for the building's inevitable collapse but they're safe.

Next Chapter : Secret Alliances

Notification Squad my beloved

@samatedeansbroccoli @enderio @smokeywhalee @beemybee @whimsywispsblog @ricinbach

[voidstilesplease]

Fandom/s: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus

Pairing/s: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Rachel Elizabeth Dare/Percy Jackson

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Tags: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Cheating, Friends to Lovers, Friends With Benefits, Jealousy, Angst, Bad Decisions, OOC Characters, a significant amount of Taylor Swift references

Chapter 3

But the possibility that Piper knows about it didn't cross her mind. Percy had mentioned being back in town for a few days now, but Piper could not have known that, right? If Piper did, she would have told Annabeth right away because if anybody knows about Annabeth's broken heart pining after Percy all these years, it's Piper. She would've said something.

III.

And soon enough, you're best friends.

Laughing at the other girls who think they're so cool.

/./

Annabeth jerks awake from disturbances originating in the general vicinity of her kitchen. In her half-asleep state, her usually sharp mind turns to a useless mush. So with what mentality she can grasp, she concludes that it's possibly just her cutlery deciding to worm their way out the drawer to skydive to the kitchen floor. Her dream-silly brain likes the image she conjures. After all, not everybody's cutlery would be as adventurous as hers if that should be the case.

Maybe they want to remind Annabeth that they still exist, and she can use them sometimes. Good point, she thinks, but between blueprints after blueprints shoved to her at work, she doesn't have the time to be guilty about using only one spoon for her morning mashed potatoes. Unless it can wash, wipe itself dry, and put itself back to the drawer, she's sticking to her one-spoon-morning routine, thank you very much - that's all she can spare the time to clean.

She squints one eye open and sighs in relief to find that her entire bedroom blanketed in the same comforting darkness that engulfed her to sleep the previous evening. Yesterday morning had been hell. The sun had glared at her accusingly like she had done something wrong by sleeping it through past her alarm after a murderous evening at work. Usually, Annabeth scares people away when she glares at them, so she tried to glare back at the sun, and if she didn't have a degree in architecture and a line of buildings credited to her name, she'd have doubted her own intellectual capacity. She had hauled her ass up from the bed and went about her routine like she'd swallowed an entire pack of Sour Patch in one go. That morning would have sucked completely if it weren't for Percy.

Percy. Who's back in town. For good.

Whom Annabeth is going to have dinner with this evening.

A smile automatically tugs at her lips. In her kitchen, something clatters again, and she sighs. She moves her head to peek up at the alarm clock on the table. It's only fifteen minutes past seven.

She groans.

Now she can hear the blender whirring to life and the unmistakable 'ding' of her toaster. Any sane person who is aware of not having a roommate should already be springing off their bed and grabbing the nearest weapon they can use to bonk the intruder's head.

But Annabeth is used to the intrusion - this is her life now. So, she calmly gets off the bed and folds her sheets. She opens the door to her room and walks the short distance to her kitchen. As the whirring continues, she remembers the first time she woke to the noises. Annabeth wishes she can say that she was calm then, but she wasn't.

She had jumped out of bed, heart drumming so fast in her chest, and took the only item she could find in her room that could bash anybody's brains out - a baseball bat. (She didn't like the sport. It was just a souvenir from a memorable day. Her heart belonged to swimming. Or, though it wasn't clear to her at the time, to a specific swimmer.) As stealthily as she could, she tiptoed on the cold floor to knock someone out who thought they could use her kitchen while robbing her blind.

As it turned out, she had almost bashed her friend Piper.

Piper, bless her, had been unfazed. Not even after seeing the raised baseball bat and Annabeth's wide, frantic eyes. Piper gave her an innocent smile and a chirpy good morning, then went back to chopping celery, ignoring Annabeth's confusion and gaping mouth.

Piper grins as soon as Annabeth appears in the kitchen. "Good morning, Annie!" she lowers the cup of coffee she's holding on the table in front of Annabeth, who immediately reaches for it.

"This smells amazing," Annabeth closes her eyes and inhales. It is why she loves having Piper around for breakfast. She doesn't remember when Piper decided to be her mother, but as long as it benefits Annabeth with cooked meals and non-Starbucks coffee, she's not complaining.

But she can't exactly complain about Starbucks coffee, though. Not when Starbucks brought Percy back to her life - sort of. She realized that if Piper had come yesterday, she'd have missed Percy. But the fates brought Piper to her apartment today so she could meet Percy yesterday. She smiles contentedly at her coffee.

Piper doesn't miss her dopey smile. She raises a brow, pouring the contents of the blender on a tall glass. "Is it that good?"

"No words," Annabeth answers with a silly grin.

Piper draws her eyebrows in suspicion, "Why do I feel like we're not talking about the coffee?"

Annabeth shrugs.

Piper narrows her eyes but lets it go. Knowing Annabeth, it's probably a work-related high. Piper sets her glass of smoothie on the table and sits beside her friend. "Hey, I remember," she says, taking her phone out and starts browsing. "Juniper asked me to show you these." Piper swipes image after image as Annabeth waits curiously. Finally, she passes the phone to Annabeth.

Annabeth takes it and promptly gasps. "Are these for the wedding?" She draws the phone closer to examine the picture. It's of a forest-painted canvas with a man and a woman in the center, holding each other's hands as they walk side-by-side in the middle of a flower-field surrounded by butterflies. Annabeth looks up to Piper for confirmation. When she nods, Annabeth shakes her head in amazement. "That is beautiful."

"I know!" Piper takes the phone from Annabeth, glancing at the picture again before putting it down on the table. "When Juniper sent the picture to me, my eyes goggled."

Annabeth chuckles, "Grover and Juniper commissioned the right artist."

Piper nods in agreement, "And they're even getting it for, like, half the usual price. I suddenly want to get married." She smiles dreamily, reaching for her smoothie.

Annabeth laughs. Jason and Piper have been together since they were in High School. To be fair, they are practically like a married couple - sharing an apartment, sharing bills, considering the possibility of sharing a dog. They've even met each other's parents and got one another's mother or father smitten with them. It's perfectly sensible if they decide to legalize it. With that in mind, Annabeth asks, "So why don't you?"

Piper stiffens, and she briefly averts her eyes before giving Annabeth a wan smile. "He hasn't asked me yet," she says softly, looking away from Annabeth, slurping half-heartedly at her vegetable smoothie.

Annabeth bites her lower lip, mentally reprimanding herself for her careless asking. She didn't mean to poke on touchy subjects. She didn't even know it was a touchy subject at all. "Well," she begins awkwardly. "I'm sure you'll get there anyway." Annabeth offers a smile, hoping to ease the sudden tension.

Piper shrugs, "I'm not in a hurry. Jason's it for me." she pauses, then adds with uncertainty, "I just hope I'm it for him."

Annabeth frowns at the statement. "Now that's ridiculous, Piper." She reaches to touch her friend's hand a bit forcefully. She looks her dead in the eyes and says in total assurance. "Jason's head over heels for you, okay, it's almost criminal that you think you're not it for him."

Piper lifts her eyes, a hint of smile ghosting in her pouting lips. "You think so?"

"You're an idiot for even doubting,"

That seems to alleviate Piper's insecurity, at least for the moment, because she smirks at Annabeth. "Yeah, I guess I'm an idiot. Of course, Jason can't get enough of me. I mean, come on."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. Piper's weird sometimes.

She happily slurps at her smoothie now, humming a chipper tune. She reaches for the plate of toasts and passes it to Annabeth along with a jar of strawberry jam. Annabeth just watches her with amusement.

They eat in silence for a moment before Annabeth hears a clearing of a throat. She looks up to see Piper looking at her intently. Of course, Piper didn't come into her apartment early in the morning just to accompany her to a lovely, peaceful breakfast.

"…Yes?" Annabeth prompts with resignation. If this is happening -and it is- because it's Piper's business now to harass Annabeth, she wants to get it over with sooner than later. She mentally prepares for the onslaught of Piper's usual intros. But, instead of saying "There's this spa that we should check out," or "Do you remember Mark Castillo from 10th grade? Did you see his Facebook status change to Single last night?" or "We should shop new underwears for you, Annie. What you have are boring me to death", she said:

"How's work?"

That certainly catches Annabeth off-guard. Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

At Annabeth's incredulous expression, Piper says defensively. "What?" she reaches for another toast. "Am I not allowed to ask about your work?"

"You're not interested in my work." Annabeth deadpans.

"I'm asking, aren't I?" Annabeth detects the unspoken 'duh'. "And I know a little about architecture, mind you. I just want to know how you're doing at work."

Annabeth hums unconvincingly, taking another sip of her coffee. She decides to ride along with it. "Well, for starters, I'm up to my neck busy. As always."

Piper nods for her to go on.

"We've contracted a new project for downtown."

Piper hums.

"It's nothing major, but the area is swarming with water pipes -many of which are old ones- so we have to be extra careful with the planning."

Piper nods, "But you aren't the only one working on it, right?"

"No. I have a team." Annabeth confirms.

"So," Piper stretches the 'o', studying the toast in her hand a little too casually. "That means that even if you weren't around, say you went out or something, a whole team is still gonna work on it?"

Annabeth narrows her eyes skeptically, "…I suppose. I'm not the project head." Annabeth answers slowly.

"So…" Piper looks away again, picking at the toast. "There's no reason to cancel Friday night, right?"

Annabeth purses her lips. She sets her cup on the saucer and folds her arms together, "I already said I would go."

Piper blushes crimson and gives up the innocent, interested-in-friend's-work scheme, "I just want to make sure!"

"I'm going, okay?" Annabeth huffs in mild exasperation. "And, if I ever go back on my promise, you have the permission to drag my ass over to the club."

"Deal," Piper quickly agrees. "Do we seal this oath with blood?"

Annabeth shakes her head as Piper starts laughing.

Piper is weird but a wonder. Annabeth is ever so thankful for having Piper as a friend. They have been friends since the 10th grade when the Cherokee girl transferred to Goode. They didn't particularly become friends instantaneously because she came around the school as Drew's half-sister.

Drew wasn't exactly Annabeth's favorite person on campus. She was a cheerleader who penned herself as the queen of Goode High, dated around, and clung to different guys when her grade couldn't even hang on to a C minus. And her face, always caked in make-up, always smiled condescendingly at everybody as if they were lesser beings. She made Annabeth want to punch something. Anything. Drew's annoying face would have been good enough.

When rumors scattered about Drew having a half-sister on campus, Annabeth was sure she'd be a clone of Drew, and Goode High was doomed. Frankly, their school had had enough mini-skirt, crop-top, belly-button girls who thought the ground they stepped on was sacred. Another one to add to them and Goode would have crumbled. After all, what else could they expect from somebody blood-related to Drew? Annabeth loathed her guts.

As it turned out, though, her half-sister hated Drew's guts just as much if not more. Literally.

She proved that during P.E. class in a volleyball game when she purposely spiked the ball straight towards Drew's midsection hard enough that Annabeth was surprised why Drew hadn't spewed her entire digestive system all over their gym court. Drew doubled over, wheezing in pain and yelling about how Piper tried to murder her. The teacher had to give Piper detention since the girl didn't deny the accusation and refused to apologize. When they took out Drew, who glowered at her sister the whole way out, Piper smirked at her unapologetically and waved her goodbye by flicking her fingers and blowing her a kiss.

Annabeth wanted to slow clap and pat her in the back for a job well done. She didn't need to anyway because the matching gleam in their eyes spoke enough for both of them. Piper and Annabeth became good friends, bonding over a mutual hatred of Drew. Then Piper started hanging out with Annabeth's group of friends, and the rest is history.

"You've got to be honest, though, Annie. You love it when I come by." She sips from her smoothie. "Because then, you won't have to eat packed mashed potatoes again."

"I love mashed potatoes," Annabeth says defensively, reaching for a toast and slathering it with strawberry jam.

"No, you don't." Piper also eats her toast with avocadoes. She gestures at Annabeth's food. "I hope you like strawberry jam."

"It's okay," Annabeth chews. It's decent enough, she thinks. Strawberry had been her favorite jam when she was younger, but that has changed now.

"I just thought maybe you should try a different flavor. All I ever see you have is blueberry. I figured maybe you miss your old favorite."

"I don't. Blueberry is everything to me."

Piper probably doesn't mean to sting Annabeth when she mutters, "Took you long enough to realize it, though."

But Annabeth is stung. And Piper is correct.

Blueberry is Percy's favorite. She had never appreciated it until Percy was gone from her life. She just one day found herself picking blueberry jam instead of strawberry at the grocery. Because, somehow, it made her feel closer to him. It was a futile act, but it was all she could cling to.

They ate in relative silence for a while before Annabeth remembers the conversation over the phone the previous day. It's time to question Piper about it. "Hey," she waits until Piper is looking at her. "You wanted to tell me something."

Piper's brows scrunch up.

"Yesterday," Annabeth clarifies. "Over the phone?"

Piper draws a blank.

Annabeth elaborates, "We were talking about Friday night, and I said yes to going, and then it's like you hesitated over something?"

Annabeth can tell when the realization hits. Piper's eyes widen a fraction. "Oh,"

Annabeth stares expectantly.

Piper looks down, breaking their eye contact, "It was nothing," she says with a small voice.

"You're lying."

Piper doesn't deny the accusation, but her eyes remain downcast.

"Piper, what are you keeping from me?" Annabeth asks, feeling that the playful air around them has been replaced by tension yet again. Piper bites her lower lip, only spurring Annabeth's curiosity. "Piper,"

"Annie, I'm sorry." Piper whispers. She raises her head to look at Annabeth with wide, desperate eyes.

"I can't accept your apology if I don't know what it is for," Annabeth's gaze doesn't leave Piper's. They look at each other - Annabeth urging and Piper trembling.

Finally, Piper sighs in defeat and quietly utters. "It's Percy."

Silence immediately follows Piper's statement. Because for the first time in many years, Piper openly mentions Percy's name in her presence.

Annabeth answers, trying to keep her voice level, "What about Percy?"

Piper gnaws at her lower lip, "I've wanted to tell you, but…"

"But?"

Like a dam breaking, Piper begins barraging. "I don't know if I should be the one to tell you this. I mean, yes, of course, I'm your best friend, but I'm his friend too. And after that-that," she wrings her hands. "I mean, he's been gone for so long, and maybe if I tell you, he's just going to disappear again. He never said anything about not telling you, but I - or, or maybe you're going to disappear this time and I - we can't have any of that, you know? Especially not now. So I decided to wait for the right time, but I don't know if there's ever a right time for anything, really-and, and,"

Piper is talking so fast that Annabeth struggles to catch up. "Piper, you're rambling."

"I know!" Piper whines in frustration. "And I hate to be turned into a blubbering fool, but I… but I want you to know that I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want either of you running away in different directions when the wedding's in a week!"

Annabeth grabs Piper's swinging arms. "Piper," she snaps to get her friend's attention and stop her from ranting anymore. "If you would just tell me-"

"He's in New York!"

It makes Annabeth pause. Well, she knows that. But the possibility that Piper knows about it didn't cross her mind. Percy had mentioned being back in town for a few days now, but Piper could not have known that, right? If Piper did, she would have told Annabeth right away because if anybody knows about Annabeth's broken heart pining after Percy all these years, it's Piper. She would've said something.

But Piper is in her kitchen with a guilt-stricken face. "How long have you known?"

Piper blinks, confused. "You don't sound surprised. Do you know he's back?"

Annabeth nods, "Only yesterday. We saw each other at Starbucks."

"Oh,"

"Piper, how long have you known that he's here?" Annabeth repeats her question, impatient to hear that Piper only actually found out the same day Annabeth did.

But Piper grimaces, hunching in her seat to make herself small. "Since he told Jason that he was coming home," she finally admits. She draws a shaky breath, hanging her head in guilt.

Something inside Annabeth collapses. She leans back in her seat in disbelief, "You all knew?"

Piper quickly shakes her head, "No, not all of us. Only Jason, Grover, and I." Annabeth almost sag in relief to know that she isn't the only one left in the dark about this. "None of us has seen Percy yet, though. He's been busy with the transfer of work location and settling in again. That's also why Friday night is important. He'd be there. For the first time in a long while, we'd be complete."

Annabeth is silent for a period, then nods weakly.

"Do you hate me?" Piper's voice hitches, and when Annabeth turns to her, her eyes are already brimming with tears.

She hates when Piper cries. God, it isn't even her fault that she knows. It isn't her fault that Percy told Jason and Grover, his best friends, and it isn't her fault that Jason told her. Annabeth knows Piper would rather not know. But now that she does, it's not her fault she wants to protect both Annabeth and Percy from each other. Not after what happened years ago between them.

Annabeth stands up and walks over to her friend, who is just about ready to explode. As soon as she opens her arms for Piper, her friend immediately melts into soft sobs. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. I didn't want to lie, but…" her voice catches again, and Annabeth rubs her back to soothe her. Piper must have felt bad about keeping the secret from her, knowing how important it is for Annabeth.

"I don't hate you, Piper. I can never hate you."

Piper sniffles, "I lied to you,"

"You kept a secret." Annabeth corrects. "That's hardly lying. And you did it for a good reason."

Piper pulls away from the hug to look at Annabeth, her eyes still misty from crying. "Thank you, Annie."

Despite herself, Annabeth smirks. "But you owe me a week of coffee and breakfast for this."

Piper laughs, and the heavy atmosphere around them dissipates completely.

/./ curt /./

[wonkasmissstarshine]

The Chocolatier’s Rose {Willy Wonka x OC} Ch.39

GIFs not mine. Credit go to owners.

Summary: Rose and Willy make a decision about the next step in their relationship.

A/N: Only a little bit of smut.

Tagging: @holdmeicant​ @willymywonkers​ @sleepiesapphicxoxo​ @frozenhuntress67​

It was another morning and Rose's eyes opened. She smiled when she saw that Willy was beside her, still fast asleep. The memories of last night flooded her brain. Memories of their wedding and them making love for the first time.

Rose kissed Willy on the cheek and she was about to get up to go have a shower, but a mumble coming from her husband stopped her. "Starshine, don't go just yet. Lay with me a little longer" Rose laid back down. She caressed Willy's face and stroked his soft skin. Willy's eyes opened. "So last night wasn't a dream" He said.

Rose shook her head. "Nope. It was real, cocoa bean"

"Then why did it feel like such a dream?"

"Because that's what it feels like when you're with someone you love"

Willy smiled. "If being with you is like a dream, then I'll never wake up again"

Rose giggled at that. She inched her face closer to his and gave him a kiss. Willy's arm wrapped around her and he pulled her closer to him. Their naked skin was warm against one another.

"Last night was the most amazing night of my life, starshine" Willy confessed. He touched his forehead to hers and lightly brushed his fingertips along the silky skin of her back. "It wasn't just the...you know...which made it so wonderful. But I definitely liked that part" He giggled before continuing. "The whole wedding was wonderful"

"It sure was" Rose said dreamily. She kissed Willy once more. "I was about to pop in the shower. Perhaps you'd like to join me?"

"You know I would" Willy answered with a smirk. Rose hopped out of bed first. She walked around to Willy's side and held out her hands to him. He grabbed her hands and rose up from the bed. He let Rose carry him towards the bathroom.

******

Their shower was getting quite steamy and in more ways than one. Rose and Willy massaged shampoo into each other’s hair, and when it came to washing one another, they took their sweet time.

Willy lathered up Rose first. He carefully washed her arms, stomach, back, and legs. He spent some extra time when it came to her breasts. He didn’t just wash them. He groped, kneaded, and kissed.

While he was enjoying himself with her tits, Rose decided that she would start washing him. She made sure to lather every inch of skin. Of course, she saved a very special place for last.

Rose took Willy’s cock in her hands and started jerking him off. His lips left her skin so that he could moan. “Oh, truffle”

Rose leaned her face in close so that their lips were almost touching. “Will you make love to me again?”

“I will” He whispered so desperately. “Whenever you want me to”

“Mmm. Well, I want you right now” She teasingly brushed her lips against his. “Do you want me?”

“More than you know” He growled before grabbing the back of Rose’s head and pulled her into a searing kiss.

He pushed her against the tiled wall. Rose shivered at the contact. It felt cool against her back. Willy made sure to keep Rose steady as she positioned herself so that she had one of her legs wrapped around his waist.

Willy took his cock in his hand, and guided himself so that he was lined up with Rose. “Are you ready, starshine?”

“Yes” Rose gave her consent.

Slowly and gently, Willy pushed himself inside her. They proceeded to make such sweet love to each other, until they reached their simultaneous highs, swallowing each other’s moans in feverish kisses.

******

Rose stood in the kitchen as she worked on cooking breakfast for her and Willy. She was wrapped in a robe, and her damp blonde hair was sticking to her skin.

Willy soon joined her, dressed in a matching robe and wet hair. He came up behind Rose, wrapping his arms around her and tucking his chin on her shoulder. He pressed a kiss to her neck.

"Breakfast looks almost as ravishing as you, starshine"  Willy purred to her.

"Cocoa bean, if you keep talking to me like that, I'm just going to have to have you for breakfast instead"

"I wouldn't mind going again"

"Willy Wonka!" Rose gasped, a bit over dramatically. "Since when did you get such a dirty mind?"

Willy giggled innocently. "I think you had something to do with that" He pressed his palms flat against her stomach. "Starshine, do you think that you're...?"

Rose smiled, relaxing her body and leaning against Willy. "I don't know, cocoa bean. It might not happen right away" She went silent, her smile falling from her lips.

Willy noticed. "Tell me what you're thinking"

"Are you absolutely sure that you're ready to be a dad?" Rose asked, turning around so that she was facing her husband. "I mean, I'm not even sure if I'm ready to be a mom"

"Sure, I'm not sure if I'm ready" Willy cupped Rose's face in his hands. "But I'm absolutely certain that I know it is something that I want"

And Rose was certain that's what she wanted too. She wanted to have a beautiful family with Willy. Two children. Twins. One boy and one girl. Their names would be Fleur and Dulce. And they would be the spitting image of their father.

Of course, even if that's not quite how it works out, Rose would still be happy all the same. And she knew Willy would be too.

"Is it official then?" Rose wondered. "Are we officially trying to start a family of our own?"

Willy smiled. "I would like to think so"

Rose copied his smile. "You know that means we're going to have to keep making the baby"

"Everyday?" Willy asked, his eyebrow raised and his tone hopeful.

Rose answered playfully. "If that's what it takes"

"I like that sound of that!" Willy excitedly said before pressing his lips to hers. He untied Rose's robe and pushed the satin material off of her. It pooled at her feet.

"Willy, what about breakfast?"  Rose only pulled away slightly from Willy's lips.

He fell to his knees and pushed her legs apart. Her bare pussy was revealed to him. Willy looked up at Rose with an almost animalistic hunger in his eyes and licked his lips. “I thought we agreed we'd be having each other for breakfast"

******

It turned out to be quite the fun morning for Rose and Willy. Once they did get dressed and actually eat breakfast for real, they made their way to the Bucket house. The both of them talked it over and felt like it would be a good thing to inform their family of their next steps. Rose let out a shaky breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She went to knock on the door, but she paused, her fist hovering just above it.

Why was she feeling so nervous about talking to her parents about the possibility of them having grandchildren in the near future? What if they tell her things like, "It's too soon for you to even be thinking about children" or, "You're not ready for motherhood yet"?

Willy had noticed that Rose fell rather quiet. He peered in her direction. He saw that she was in mid-knock, staring blankly at the door. It reminded him of how he would stare off into space when he got his flashbacks.

"Starshine," He started. He grabbed the hand the remained at Rose's side and he gave it a squeeze. That knocked Rose out of her thoughts. She blinked a few times, turning to look at Willy. "Are you okay?"

"Yes" Rose pointedly said.

But Willy knew that she wasn't. "I know you, Rose. And you only stare blankly like that when something is wrong" He then wrapped his arm around her, bringing Rose into a hug. "So tell me starshine, what's got you so scared?"

"I'm.... I'm scared to tell mum and dad. What if we tell them and they tell us that we shouldn't have children? What if they say we're being young and naive?"

"Well that doesn't sound like the Mr and Mrs Bucket I know" Willy attempted to ease Rose. "If they thought that we were young and naive, would they have approved of us even getting married so soon?"

"I suppose not"

"My sweet and beautiful Rose, you may be young but you're certainly not naive. Now me, I may be a little naive, especially when it comes to family things, but I'm not as young as you are"

Rose suddenly realized that for as long as she has been with Willy, she never did catch his age. She tilted her head curiously. "How old are you?"

Willy stiffened and then his smile turned into a pout. "I... I really would rather you didn't know"

Rose smiled and nodded in understanding. "That's okay. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable by asking. I was just curious"

"Forty" Willy suddenly blurted. He then instantly regretted it, scared that Rose would now reject him because of the fact that he was older than she was. But Rose wasn't cringing or wretching. She was still smiling. Willy repeated his age, more confident. "I'm forty"

"Forty" Rose repeated, implanting the information in her brain. "You definitely look younger than that. I would have pegged you for early thirties, at least"

"So you're not disgusted?"

"Why would your age make a difference with how I feel about you? Yes, there's a fourteen year age difference between us, but so what. Does knowing I'm younger make you any less attracted to me?"

"You'd be silly to think otherwise, starshine" Willy giggled so happily as he took Rose's face in his hands. "Nothing is ever going to make me change the way I feel about you"

Rose bit her lip as he scanned every inch of his face with her eyes. "You make forty look real good. So sexy" She winked at him. "And besides, I did always have a thing for older guys"

"Oh, do you?"

"Oh yes. First boy I had a crush on, Jimmy Wells, was fourteen. A full two years older than me"

And that was the end of that conversation as the door suddenly opened, revealing Mrs Bucket. "Thought it was you two we heard out here"

"Hello mum" Rose greeted her.

"Hi Mrs—" Willy stopped himself. He was married to Rose now, which meant that her mom was now his mom as well. So he greeted her as such. "Hi mom"

The couple stepped inside the house and were quickly greeted by the other Buckets. "Hello Rose! Hello Willy!"

Charlie immediately ran up to them, engulfing his sister and his new brother in a hug. Rose pat him on the head. Willy pat him on the shoulder.

"Well hello to you too, Charlie!" Rose said. "What's got you so happy this morning?"

"You two" Charlie answered, letting go of both of them. "I can't believe it. You two are married now"

"I'm still wrapping my head around it too" Willy said. He looked at Rose and smiled. "I was sure when I woke up this morning, it was all a dream"

"That's the honeymoon phase for you" Grandpa George said. "It doesn't last forever but I have a feeling with you two, it won't ever go away"

"Speaking of honeymoons, are you two planning on going on one?" Grandma Josephine inquired.

"We never discussed it. I don't think we'd need to go on a honeymoon. I'm quite content here in the factory" Rose explained. She then looked to her husband. "As I'm sure you are"

"Rose, if you want us to go somewhere special for a honeymoon, we can" Willy tried to tell her. He still wasn't all that comfortable with the idea of leaving the factory and being so far away from it, but he'd be willing to go away with Rose for a week or two.  She was more important to him than the factory anyway.

"Thanks cocoa bean, but a honeymoon isn't a priority to me right now. Something else is" Rose turned to face her family. "Willy and I have been talking and we'd like to share something with all of you"

All the Buckets leaned forward with anticipation, curious as to what Rose had to say.

Rose took in a deep breath before sharing with her family. "We've decided that having a family of our own is something that both Willy and I want. So, we're officially trying for a child"

The Buckets all broke out into smiles and cheers at the news.

"That's wonderful to hear!" Grandpa Joe said. "You'll make wonderful parents"

"See, starshine?" Willy said to Rose. He playfully bumped his shoulder against hers. "I told you they wouldn't get mad"

Mr Bucket raised an eyebrow. "Why would you think we'd be mad at you for wanting children?"

"Because we just got married. I mean, Willy and I haven't even been together a year"

"Did you know that when I became pregnant with you, your father and I weren't even married yet?" Mrs Bucket revealed. Rose's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't known that. "And even though we weren't married yet, we knew in our hearts that we were ready for you"

"Just like you two know that you're ready for your own children" Mr Bucket said. "You know you're ready because children is something you both want. And as long as you know that, that's all that matters"

Oh yes, the two Wonkas were absolutely, definitely, positively sure about their want of a child. And now matter how long it takes, they would have one.

[tomishaped]

Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warnings:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence • Major Character Death

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Supernatural

Relationship:

Dean Winchester!Izzy Hlton

Characters:

Dean Winchester • Izzy Hilton • Sam Winchester • Asmodeus • Dagon • Demons • Hellhound • Ellen Harvelle • Jo Harvelle • Hunters • Crowley • Charlie Bradbury • Bobby Singer • Ruby • Death • Pestilence • Famine • War • Castiel • Angels • Cain

Additional Tags:

Demon Dean Winchester • Demon Sex • Kidnapping • Gay Sex • Blood • Blood Kink • Hate Sex • Love/Hate • Major Character Injury • Major Original Character(s) • Character Death • Past Child Abuse • Past Rape/Non-con • Past Sexual Abuse • Past Torture • Past Violence • Canon-Typical Violence • Violence • Protective Dean Winchester • Bisexual Dean Winchester • Top Dean Winchester • Dean Winchester is Bad at Feelings • Izzy is too • Emotional Hurt/Comfort • Emotional/Psychological Abuse

Summary: After being pulled out of hell Dean realizes quickly that the four months he had been gone made way for a lot of changes in the lives of everyone he knows, including the life he had known for himself before he died. Nobody was treating him the same, and there was seriously something going on with his brother that he could not figure out. He was spending most of his time alone nowadays, not really hunting anymore since Bobby and Sam were against it for him, and spending most of his time drinking instead to try and forget. He was angry, pretty much all the time. That anger really worked in his favour though when walking back to the impala he came across a freaking hoard of demons getting ready to attack some blond chick. He didn't know who she was or what the hell all the demons wanted with her, but there was no way he could just walk away. Maybe if he had any idea what trying to save this person was going to lead too he would have just walked away, maybe if he had actually given any thought to the situation before him he wouldn't have put himself in the middle of it, but even before hell he made impulsive and rash decisions... so maybe not.

Previous Chapters

• Chapter One •

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

Chapter Two: Welcome to the Batcave

Part One

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

When they had reached the car Dean made quick work of the door locks and got them both inside before he punched it, only leaving squealing tires and smoke behind them as they took off. Dean didn’t start to relax till they were a mile or so away from the group of demons, still keeping an eye on the mirrors though just in case. “You really pissed someone off," he said with a grin as he glanced over at the other while he drove.

Izzy did manage to force himself to relax once they were in the car, though Dean still happened to look tense with the way he was looking out his mirrors for someone. Honestly, it probably helped the demon to relax with the fact that Izrael couldn't feel Dagon as close anymore. She was either losing interest or losing track of them for now, either way that worked for him. "Huh?" He was honestly confused at first when Dean said that, "Why would you think I pissed some- oh! Because of all that? Right. Yeah. They don't seem to fond of me, do they? I should probably stop crashing into their parties like that." 

Izrael shifted in the seat a little and rolled his eyes when he saw the man look out his mirrors again, "You can stop doing that now. We're fine, mommy lost us," he said with a shrug, leaning back in the seat again, trying to get comfortable. He was ready to get out of the Winchesters car now, and he would really like to do it without having to kill the hunter next to him in order to keep him from following or trying to track him. Even if he didn't have an issue with killing humans, he didn't know which way Dean's soul would go now and having it back in the pit after he killed him could possibly become… problematic. "So uh, yeah, you can just drop me off whenever now and can go get back too… whatever the hell you were doing before joining me at that lovely party tonight. I'm actually supposed to be at a different party right now anyways, so anywhere is good."

Dean snickered when the other said that they had crashed a few parties, it made sense. He did raise an eyebrow when he was told that the horde had backed off of them. Granted he hadn’t noticed any one but still, he never trusted demons to give up. “To be honest, I was out looking for a good time… guess I found it,” he said with a wicked grin, still feeling a bit of an adrenaline high from the fight and sprint to the car. “Rest of my evening is open if you want some back up,” he offered the blond. “Not saying you can’t handle yourself, I saw your moves back there but… twenty to one is a bit much,”  he said while giving him a bit of a doubtful side look. 

This is what Dean thought of as a good time? The human was either suicidal or crazy. Sure, Izzy did have fun doing shit like this too, but he was a demon- he was fucking crazy. "Mmm, yeah… it was a bit much till you showed up. Definitely would have ended up losing this jacket," Izrael laughed a little at Dean and shook his head, "See, I haven't gone and learned my lesson yet it seems since I'm definitely gonna be crashing one of their parties again. Gotta find it first though, and I can't do that in a strangers car."

Dean raised an eyebrow when the blond mentioned that they weren’t done yet and was looking to start a similar party to where he just found them. Ok sure he had been doing stupid stuff since he got back but he had an excuse. He was trying to repress what felt like forty years of Hell - literal Hell. So what was this kid's excuse? She might be crazy, but her crazy was also kinda hot and hunters like this don’t tend to stick in one place long because of the next big hunt. Besides, too often if they stayed in one place for long then all the enemies they made along the way had a tendency to catch up to them. “I can drop you off wherever your next party is so you don’t get jumped on the way again…” Dean trailed off a little as he drove, “could at least tell me your name before you get yourself killed.”

Izrael smiled at the hunter. "Why would I give someone I've never met in this life my name? Doesn't sound too smart. Besides, I don't see you passing over that information either."

Dean grinned. “Sorry, thought you picked it up before things got hairy. Names Dean, Dean Winchester," he said as he held a hand out to shake as he drove, glancing at the blond but mostly keeping his eyes on the road. “You know demons can’t keep their big mouths shut, if your next party is anything like that one, they’re going to be ready for you and you’re going to lose more than your jacket, sweetheart," he said in a matter of fact tone. “Might be a better idea to show up with back up and armed to the teeth,” he offered with a mischievous grin. “Lucky for you I know the perfect place.”

His excuse? His absolute only memories were of hell. Turning into a demon the way he had had wiped out all his human memories and the little demon only knew the last sixty years he had spent in hell training to do just this. He wasn't trying to repress hell, why repress when it was all he knew? He was just doing what Asmodues sent him off to do, and with the youngest prince of hell being the closest person to the blond and having nothing else to really do… he listened. He enjoyed killing other demons, it was a task he found fun. But when your job is to kill any demon that stands against the man you're working for, you don't exactly make any friends. And being alone only gave him more time to hunt down Asmodues's enemies. It was a vicious never ending cycle that wasn't going to change anytime soon as far as Izrael could tell. Hell either hated him, feared him, or admired him from afar - very afar. No one was brave enough to chance getting on Izzy's bad side. And those that were like the hoard tonight that actually tried to kill him were just too stupid to stay away and deserved to die anyways as far as he was concerned. 

Of course he knew who Dean was once he heard his name. But the hunter didn't need to know that Izrael had heard of him. He eyed the other’s hand for a moment before he sighed and half gave in to the man, though didn't reach his own hand out, "Izzy Hilton," he said, using the name that Asmodues had given him for when he had to pretend to be human. Though he had no idea that it actually was his name. That Asmodues called him Izrael to see if any of the once nineteen year old’s memories would spark with little clues like that. It never did. "They're always on the lookout for me… wouldn't be anything new…" he said with a little shrug, getting the gut feeling that this hunter was not about to let him go off on his own anytime soon. The last thing the little demon needed was to do spend time with a fucking Wincester, especially the one that spent all that time in hell. "No offense, but I don't really work with others. Thanks for the help back there and everything, but you're Dean Winchester… so you and I working together is a bad idea. Trust me."

With both hands back on the wheel, Dean snorted when Izzy said that demons watching out was nothing new. He understood that, that's what made the Bunker so beautiful. It was the definition of a safe house for spooky shit and basically everything else. He sucked some air between his teeth when it seemed the other knew who he was by name, having heard some of the stuff hunters thought of him while he was putting in time at the Roadhouse. “Fair, I mean we did just meet and I also just saved your ass from a fucking gaggle of demons, but okay,” he said, half joking. “We don’t know each other, and inviting you to my secret Men of Letters bunker can seem a little Silence of the Lambs but I promise, imma damn puppy dog compared to your normal party guests,” he said,.  Ane yes, he did just name drop the Men of Letters to see if that helped his case. Dean wasn’t a creep and if Izzy wanted out he’d drop them off wherever they wanted but all horn-dog habits aside, he wouldn’t rest well if he did. He’d probably end up asking around and looking into this pretty Izzy Hilton to see what her story was about. “Again, I know bunker can be off putting, but this place is huge, over twenty bedrooms to pick from. It’s armed to the teeth so nothing is getting in. I have one of the few keys to get in but you can get out whenever you like,” he added, trying to seem a little less kidnappy and rapey. “That and there's a hundred year old whiskey collection.”

Izzy had absolutely zero ideas of what other hunters thought of the man he was currently sitting next too. Up until now, he had done a really good job at avoiding them in his travels and work. Sure, to be on the safe side he did do some research on hunters who seemed to be the biggest threats but until now he hadn't actually met any of them. So, right now he couldn't figure out if it was just bad fucking luck that Dean Winchester happened to walk in on his ambush, or some weird good luck to get him out of it unharmed. Even after over fifty years as a demon, almost sixty now maybe? He honestly had never actually hurt a human. So did he deserve this kind of bad luck? On the other hand though, can demons actually have good luck? It was really confusing. 

Fact was, Izzy only knew of Dean Winchester from the mouths of other demons. His research on hunters in general was by word of mouth in hell. It wasn't like there were any books he could read on them. So he knew the man was obviously a good hunter, and not just when it came to demons. He knew the idiot sold his soul to save that dumbass brother of his that was hanging around one of the main demons on his own hit list. It was just really hard to get to the bitch when she was being protected by the hunter drinking demon blood. He only knew that from actually running across her once, he could fucking smell the demon blood radiating from the human she was with and it didn't take long to figure out who that human was and what fucking Ruby was doing with him. Little Sammy Winchester. Lovely. He also knew the man next to him spent what was like forty years in hell, being tortured for most of them by fucking Alastair. It had come as a surprise when he heard that there was some sort of angel watching out for him. Well, the angel part wasn't really known when he figured it out. It was just known that the man was pulled out of hell and Izrael knew that an Angel was the only way the man could have escaped hell and returned to his body the way he had. And really, he would prefer to avoid angels. Most demons weren't really that much of a threat to him. They could likely hurt him but Izzy was not easy to actually kill. Not that they had quite figured that out yet. But he had no idea what an angel might be able to do to him. 

Izrael couldn't remember his own torture. He actually had no idea it even happened. Ever since the day Asmodues found his newly turned demon in that cage he kept his pet in, the youngest prince acted as though that was the first day of Izzy's life. He didn't even know that he was in that cage because of that man in the first place. "I'm not afraid of you, Dean, even though I'm pretty damn sure you're no puppy dog," Izzy told him with a little roll of his eyes, the man who had spent his last few years in hell torturing other souls was far from a puppy. But he had caught Izzy's attention mentioning the Men of Letters. He vaguely remembered Asmodues mentioning them decades ago. Something about them being all dead now… about them holding knowledge no one else had. Going to this bunker… could prove useful if the knowledge thing was true.

Izzy finally looked over at Dean again, tucking hair behind his ears, "Well whiskey is always a very good and tempting offer," he said, chewing on his lip a little as he thought it over. "If you're all armed like you say you are… Do you also have books and shit? Like, books on demons and shit." Izzy knew he had been turned differently than almost every other demon that existed, he had to have been to have his own body and no ability whatsoever to jump from one meatsuit to the next, but he had no idea what happened to make him this way. And no book he had found since being set loose on the world had been able to give him the answer he was looking for. If this bunker had hidden knowledge it might be his best bet to find out how he turned, because Asmodues wasn't telling him anytime soon. "And I really wouldn't have to just stay if I don't want to. I can just walk out? Seriously?"

Dean just grinned when the other said he was pretty sure he wasn’t a puppy, calling him out like that. And he believed them when they said that they weren’t scared of him, he did find her in the middle of a demon infested alleyway in the middle of the night. His grin grew when Izzy seemed to be mulling the thought over. He raised an eyebrow and chanced a longer glance at the other when he was asked about books. That he hadn’t been expecting, didn’t peg her for a book type. There might be something they were looking for specifically that the old bats had locked away. He would definitely be doing an inventory check but hey it sounded like they were coming around to the idea. A new face and alone time might do him some good, even if they don't get handsy and this Izzy turned out to be a gigantic book worm. 

“Like I said you need a magic key to get in but getting out isn’t a problem, locks behind you but I gotta warn you the cell service sucks,” he said with a smile. He altered his route and started out of town and toward the bunker. The long ride was pretty much silent after that, Dean was honestly a bit too nervous to say something and have the blond change her mind about coming. He couldn't help wanting to help her, wanting to figure her out at least a little. From wanting to protect the little thing and knowing that he would just worry about them at this point. “Just don’t take anything, alright? Not really supposed to take people to the BatCave but…” he trailed off with a shrug after he parked by the bunker, obviously making an exception for the blond right now. 

Izzy shrugged when he mentioned cell service, that meant pretty much nothing to him. Of course he knew what a cell phone was, he had been in this world long enough. But he never felt the need to get one. Who the hell was he gonna call? "No big deal, no cell phone. I was serious, I've never worked with someone else before. Never felt the need to get one," he shrugged, as little like it was normal or something to not have a cell this day and age. He honestly didn't actually know either way though. "And I don't plan on taking anything. I've got my own weapons and shit. Just… looking for a little info is all. If you happen to have a book with what I want to know, well, then I won't really need it anymore once I read it." He ignored the Bat Cave comment for the moment, not wanting to let the hunter next to him realize he actually understood the reference. He especially didn't want him to know he found it amusing.

Dean decided to leave Baby in a little hidden knook they made for when they didn’t plan on staying long and putting her in the very nice garage. He just grinned as they walked up to the old green doors after grabbing a bag from the trunk and he pulled it open for the other. Once past the first threshold Dean unlocked the second doors and stepped through, holding it open for the other. “This is the legacy of the Men of Letters, a bit old and dusty but we’re still fixing the place up.” he said as they made their way down the spirling, metal staircase. He walked past the light up map table and tossed his bag on the first long table in the library. “Wanna tour?” he asked as he turned to the other, smiling at them.

He just wanted a fucking book that explained how humans became demons. Without their souls spending hundreds of years tortured in hell. Asmodues had no choice but to tell him that he turned differently than everyone else when he realized he couldn't just jump from meat suit to meat suit like everyone else could. His soul never left his body, something in him changed while he was still a human. But that was all Asmodues would say on the subject. Honestly it was the one thing about the man who called himself Izzy's master that drove him absolutely insane. He didn't care so much about whatever his human life was since he couldn't miss what he didn't remember or had any sort of idea what it might have been like, but he did want to know why he turned into a demon. Was he evil in his previous life? Is that how it worked? He remembered someone once saying that he must have cracked to change the way he did, but cracked from what and how? He just wanted to know how the fuck he came into existence. What made him so different from other demons. Why even Dagon, who knew that Izzy couldn't kill her without that oh so special gun, feared him to some extent. And nothing he had found so far explained any of that shit. Was he a bookworm? Mmm, debatable. Ask any demon who knew him they'd say no,, but Izzy was really good at keeping things about himself pretty damn secret. The less people knew the less they had on you and the safer you were. But the truth was that he did love books, loved to read and learn. And now that he wasn't under Asmodues' thumb at all times and had a mission to carry out, he was able to use research for said mission as an excuse to read. Sure, he was actually doing research but for so much more than anyone actually knew. 

Izzy was a bit unsure following Dean into the bunker when they got there. This could be a really, really stupid idea. But on the other hand… he was going to have info on the Winchester's no one else could possibly dream of having and he might get a few other answers out of this as well so he followed along. He looked around as Dean led him through the place, tilting his head and letting a confused little look cross his face as he tilted his head back to see the ceiling, "Uh, sure, if you want. So, do you keep the bats in some special room or something? I kinda just pictured them all over the place."

Her not havung a phone probably should have set off more red fags then it did because even if you were a loner it was useful to have one since pay phones were all but extinct. He tilted his own head when Izzy had mentioned bats, that had been a reaction he might have expected from Cas but really? “It’s not really a batca-... never mind. This is our fortress,” he said, just trying to get past what he felt was a painful moment. He turned on his heel and held up his arms out on either side as he gestured to the books. “This is the library. Nothing says stuffy bookworms like having a library right at the front door right?” He said with a laugh, turning completely to face the other as he walked around one of the tables. 

If Izrael actually cared much about completely blending in when he was going by Izzy he probably would have gotten a cell phone. But truth be told, he didn't actually care what humans thought about him and despite Asmodues having insisted he play the part on earth he could probably count on one hand how many times he had ever used the name Izzy before. Since he usually avoided hunters he rarely ever felt the need too. So really… What was the point of carrying around a little electronic box used to call people? The only person who would ever actually want to get ahold of him had his own ways of doing so. But even Asmodues left Izzy to himself for the most part nowadays as long as he kept doing what he was told and continued to work his damnedest to keep Lucifer in his box. Though if he had realized how odd it actually was to not have one, he wouldn't have mentioned it. 

Of course it wasn't actually a Bat Cave. It almost annoyed him that the hunter found it so easy to believe that the batman reference really meant nothing to the blond. Sure, part of him was glad too because he didn't want the fact that he enjoyed those comics to be known by anyone, but still… how stupid did this hunter think he really was if he believed that Izzy? He was pretty sure that Batman was popular among humans. It was the Winchester thinking he was dumb that bothered him more than anything though, because that was just not true. Izzy had always been rather smart, even before he turned, he had a near photographic memory. But with all memories of humanity gone, and those memories being from close to sixty years before anyways, all that was left was hell and the supernatural. And he figured that shit out quickly, easily. Humans, not so much. Humanity and what they were like and what they did like were never on his list of things he needed to learn about. Humans weren't his targets. "No offense, but you don't exactly strike me as the bookworm type," he said, moving around the table to go and look at the spines of the books, fingers running lightly over them. Yeah, this would definitely be his best bet at finding answers. Some of these were obviously old as fuck. "The kill first and ask questions later type. Though I suppose since all you hunters go after everything supernatural, you need the lore books, huh?" He personally didn't bother with any other supernatural beings, just the demons on Lucifer and Dagon's side. Which was probably a good thing for them, if this little demon were to ever start working as a real hunter with someone like Dean… they wouldn't stand a chance. As they had proved earlier… the two of them working on the same side had some pretty nasty consequences for those fighting against them. 

Dean chuckled when Izzy said he didn’t seem like the book worm type, oh hell no that was Sammy’s department. “Yeah no, that's more my brother's thing,” he said as he walked over to the opposite wall, towards the small table with a few bottles filled clear, brown liquid and a few glasses. “I at least wait long enough to see what I'm fighting so I know how to kill it.” Dean poured them a few glasses and headed to the closest main table to the blond. He leaned against it on his hip and took a sip from his glass while he held out the other to Izzy. The other’s wording did strike him as odd though and he raised an eyebrow a little. The way he said it was just off, but Dean wanted to think Izzy was just into demons, and therefore could know some pretty useful stuff. That or maybe he was really green and thought of himself being different from regular hunters. His gut was telling him something was still off though, but he wasn’t sure what.

Izzy was glad his back was to the hunter when he mentioned his brother so he didn't see the little demon roll his eyes and scowl at the mention of that junkie who was seriously getting in his way with that bitch he was attached to. He was pretending he didn't really know much about them… which wasn't a complete lie, but he had a serious suspicion he knew something about the younger Winchester that Dean didn't. He might know about the demon bitch Sam hung out with but he highly doubted this man knew about the blood and psychic shit that boy was playing with. The psychic shit was honestly the main reason he hadn't gone after Ruby yet, he wasn't like other demons, he had no idea how Sam's little exercising shit would affect him. 

“You know, you never mentioned what you were looking into. I’m guessing something demon related,” he mentioned to the other. There wasn’t much small talk on the car ride over.

He didn't say anything for a bit while Dean spoke and walked around the room, more interested in looking through the shelves of books for anything that looked promising. But he never let his guard down really, constantly aware of where Dean was around him or how close he was. He stiffened a bit when he felt Dean closer again and he asked that direct question. Izzy didn't really want to answer anything he was asked, but avoiding taking to him too much might just seem more suspicious. Fuck. He really should have paid more attention to the humans around him the last decade, he was really bad at trying to be one. "Yeah, demon related," Izzy finally said as he turned around and saw Dean holding out the whiskey he had promised. Alcohol didn't really affect him as much as it did humans unless he drank an ungodly amount so he wasn't worried about drinking at least. 

He took the glass offered to him and leaned against the bookshelf behind him, shrugging his shoulder a little, "Don't know if you picked up on it during that whole ambush shit, but I kinda hunt demons. Apparently I'm pretty good at it since they don't seem to like me much at all." He took a drink from the whiskey he was given, relishing in the burn that goes down his throat. As a demon, the little blond didn't need to eat. The few times he did were few and far between and it was always for some reason he couldn't figure out, but knew he just wanted whatever the hell it was that he was trying. But he did like to drink. Alcohol that is. He liked the burn. 

"Just curious what kind of people become demons and how. Always good for a guy to know everything he can about his enemies and all, yanno?" It wasn't a lie. He had actually been avoiding actually lying to the hunter. Izzy didn't like to lie, it was too hard to remember the fake information he had given to who. So the only thing he had lied about was his name, but that wasn't that big of a lie as Izzy did sound like a nickname for Izrael. Mostly, he was just leaving out details he didn't think Dean needed to know. Like the fact he was a demon and really just wanted to know how he, himself, had turned. How demons like him were made. Because as far as the books he had found about demons elsewhere knew, Cain was the only other person to become a demon this way. And almost nothing was fucking known about that man. As a matter of fact, he was the one demon who no matter how hard he tried Izzy could not fucking find. Not that he had really looked into how to find him. He didn't want to kill Cain like he did with everyone else he hunted down, he wanted answers. But even so, he knew Cain wasn't exactly like him and probably didn't have the answers he wanted. So that had just been another fucking dead end. The little blond didn't do a whole lot of shit that he actually wanted to do or something anyways, ninety percent of his time was spent following Asmodues' orders to hunt down Dagon's followers and make sure Lucifer didn't get out of that cage. 

Dean nodded a little when the other confirmed that it was demon related, easy guess. “You don’t pick up that kind of attention without being a major pain in their ass,” he said with a snicker. The man's shoulders stiffened when he took another drink when Izzy said what he was looking into. What kind of people become demons. He forced back a smile and shifted a little as he tried to keep his mind focused on the task at hand and not let it run off with the flashbacks and nightmares he has. It felt like every time he blinked he was hit with a flash of something he’d seen or had done. He told everyone he didn't’ remember any of it and refused to talk about it and self medicated with liquor like any good hunter.

Well duh, obviously he was a pain in their asses. Two dozen of them had actually gotten together without someone in power telling them what to do to try and take him out. They failed, miserably thanks to the hunter near him right now, but it didn't negate the fact that Izzy was a huge threat to them and their plans. Really though, if the whole fucking lot of them just fucking stopped trying to set Lucifer free Izzy would have no problem leaving them alone. But until that happened…. He had a job to do. What the hell would he do with himself if Asmodeus actually managed to take the crown and this mission was over? He'd actually never thought about that before. Every single memory he had had something to do with him having to keep Lucifer in the cage. 

“Well demons are mostly twisted and tortured souls. You get twisted up so much down there you turn into something else,” he said, rubbing at his brow as he fidgeted a little as he spoke. “At the end of the day they're a spirit, just nastier. You don’t normally catch one running around before they possess someone but the same tricks apply, salt and iron,” he told him, running off a few things off the top of his head, mostly from first hand experience. “I’m sure you know all about devils traps and all that,” he said, waving his hand and finally looking over at the other. It was probably a good thing Dean had been so caught up with that Izzy was looking into that he completely missed the suspicious pronoun.

Izzy couldn't help but roll his eyes at Dean when the man just told him shit he already knew. Was he actually under the impression that someone he thought was a legit demon hunter didn't know that shit already? Also. He was wrong. While holy water did have the same effect on him that it did to most demons, salt and iron actually didn't bother him for some reason. Every single voice in his head was screaming at him to keep his mouth shut for a while, to not get sucked into this conversation. But the thing was… he actually wanted to talk about this shit. He never talked with anyone about shit he actually wanted too. Demons avoided him unless they were trying to kill him, he avoided humans and hunters, and Asmodues pretty much just told him what to do. The little demon didn't actually have any memories of just talking with someone about something he was interested in. And this happened to be the biggest fucking intrest he really had right now.

"See, right there just proves you really have no fucking clue what you're actually dealing with, do you? Obviously being tortured in hell is going to fuck up any soul in some way, but not every soul in hell becomes a demon. This world would be fucked if they did. There are millions and millions of souls in hell." He only just stopped himself from pointing out that despite Dean's own torture and escapades with Alastair he didn't actually turn into a demon. No, a fucking angel actually came and pulled him from the pit. So what the hell was it that made some souls twist the same way he had even though he hadn't gone through that die and be tortured shit and made others just… well, be tortured for all eternity. Or torture as was the case with some. "Yeah, most of them are just nastier twisted spirits, and you don't normally see one walking around without someone else's meat suit… but they can. It's apparently super fucking rare for it to happen, but a human can just wake up a demon somehow. In their own skin and everything. So I want to know what makes the souls that twist that way different from those that don't. What kind of person they must have been. And what happens to those people who turn? How does that happen? But unfortunately, because it's so fucking rare, I haven't been able to find a single book in the last ten years that actually explains that shit." He sighed a little in frustration at the thought before just shaking his head and finishing the rest of his own drink before he turned his back to Dean again to start looking through the books again, waving his own hand in dismissal of the subject. Dean wasn't going to have the answers he wanted obviously. "But yes, of course I know all about devils traps. I just don't use them." He couldn't if he wanted too, not unless he wanted to get stuck inside one himself. Besides, even if he could… with the way he hunted, it would be pretty damn useless and time consuming to try since it was usually a sneak attack/ambush of his own on their own grounds. Wasting time with a devils trap when it was just so much easier to kill them just seemed stupid. "Do you have any sort of order with these books or am I gonna have to look through all of them to find the ones about demons?"

Dean was a little taken back when Izzy said that he had no clue about demons. He felt anger rise up in his belly and his face tightened some. His pride didn’t like that but the built up emotion subsided the more Izzy spoke. He did have a point, if that’s all it took then Hell would be nothing but demons. He never really focused on the fine details, he just killed them. His face became a mix of surprises and doubt when Izzy kept going and told him about the type of demons that keep their bodies. What the hell? He’d never heard of something like that before, what the hell could it be capable of? It was a worrying thought. “This keeps getting better and better,” Dean muttered under his breath. He couldn't stop his brain from thinking about his younger brother on his road trip with his little demon buddy. What if that was Ruby's plan, twist his brother into one of them? He’d fucking gank that bitch before she could try. He wanted to call and check up but that hadn’t gone so well last time. 

He made a small face when Izzy asked about an order to the crazy amount of information. He finished his half glass of whiskey and pushed off of the table, setting the glass down before walking away. “I have a feeling what we’re looking for isn’t in here, come on,” He said, motioning the other to follow him with a head nod. He led the blond down the hall a bit, through another doorway and down some stairs. He pushed one of the two heavy doors open and held it open for the other hunter. “When we started going through the stuff that was left here we found that most of the heavy reading books are in here,” He told him. The room was about 25 by 25 feet, metal shelving lined all the walls filled with books and some jars. There was a decent sized table in the middle of the room under the only light, taking up a good chunk of the free space. 

Dean just nearly kidnapped the little blond he helped out that he knew nothing about other than the fact he could kill demons pretty damn well and brought him to his secret bunker and he thought anything that came out of this idea wouldn't be completely fucked? Hell. He was pretty damn sure that Dean didn't even realize yet that he hadn't stepped in to help a pretty little girl, but actually a boy who just happened to look a lot like one. Add on to that fact that this boy was also one of those freaky ass demons he was just talking about and you could see clearly that this man definitely hadn't thought this through. "You have no idea," Izzy mumbled back, not sure or honestly even caring if Dean heard him. 

Izzy set down the glass still in his hand before he shrugged again and followed Dean through the bunker. Fuck. This place really was huge. Izzy couldn't help but grin a little when he looked into the room. Dark. Enclosed. No way for anyone to try and sneak up on him again. Exactly the kind of rooms he liked and usually worked in when he was looking for a party to crash. "Awesome," he said as he walked in the room. Creepy jars and big old books lining the walls on top of everything else, Izzy had instantly and probably noticeably relaxed more when he was in the room that was so much like a place he would actually want to be in. He didn't say anything else as he started scanning the books on one of the shelves, his eyes widening some when he saw what he instantly felt like he had been looking for for years now. It was smaller than any of the other books in here, but that wasn't surprising considering how little information there probably was at all on demons like him. Humans Turning Demon. 

Izzy grabbed the book off the shelf and took a few steps backwards to push himself up to sit on the table, just remembering that Dean was there as he went to open the book. "Uhm… thanks," he said, forcing himself to remember that he was supposed to be a human and actually used to having someone around and even weirder for him- that someone helping him. "Hey… uh, why are you being so like… nice and normal to me? As far as I've seen, people aren't just nice to strangers. Especially when said stranger is a pretty boy who can shove a knife into a human skull."

Dean noticed the small change in the others' demeanor when he showed them the room. The room didn’t bother him or his brother too much but ‘awesome’ wasn’t the normal reaction to this stuff. Though in this line of work, who’s really normal? You see a lot of weird and horrible shit fast and you pick up a few quirks along the way. He had half turned when  the other called out to him and thanked him, he was going to leave Izzy alone to do their digging. He raised an eyebrow when he was asked why he was being so helpful. He opened his mouth with a grin to say it was just the right thing to do for a lady when Izzy said that last part, his words luckily getting caught up in his throat. BOY!? WHOLY FUCK!! Dean’s back straightened as he looked the other over again. It took him a second or two to catch himself and he cleared his throat out a little. “Well you want demons dead and I want demons dead,” he said with a shrug, his brain still trying to absorb this enlightening new detail about the blond. “And I learned about a new fleshy kind of demon, win win,” Dean chuckled. Hell all of Dean seemed stiff. Right now, he honestly didn’t know what the fuck to do.

[xxisxxisxxis]

Gateway Drug | Part Forty-Nine

Table of Content or Part Forty-Eight

Wattpad

Word count: 3.9K

Warning(s): Explicit language, mentions of Drug abuse

Tag List: @unknownoblivion @sinningsixx @edwardtriggerhandzz @lemmyjelly @haileynicoleseavey17 @cierrasixx19 @oskea93 @mgkobsessed @vamprlestat @sharon6713 @itsametaphorbriansblog @miriampraez @allie-mcginn @rebeccaphillips14 @nicholeh7 @fandomshit6000 @lilmou5ie @tamedhearts @divaanya @kingbouji3 @evrsncnewyork @6ixx6ixx @ratedrkohardychick91 @floregrohlssard @oldschoolimagineblog @thanks2pete @abaldboi @swoopygorl @justjodeye @liith-ium @caos18blog @ytwahsog @shamlessobsessions @scarecrowmax @toadspleen @random-internet-user-4471 @solohqrry @loveofmyloif @sparxx27 @kaitieskidmore1 @xpoisonousrosesx @cruecifymesixx @ijustwanttokiss70srogertaylor @emmaelizabeth2014 @meetthesixxter @sixxsixxsexx @sublimeprincesswasteland @arianareirg @girlnight-terror @mcnibberachi

@fancywasmyname1 @teller258316 @ggorehorror @blowinmeupwithherlove @xrosegoldwolfx

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED

Vanity: something that is vain, empty, or valueless.

I watch with my water in hand as Vanity and Tansy dance like wasted strippers on the bar...granted they are wasted.

Sparkie and Nikki are in the bathroom, Vince is occupied with a bundle of groupies who waved him over, we're still waiting for Tommy to get here since it was date night with Heather but he still wanted to come out, so I'm sitting in silence with Mick and giving glances at anyone that looks like they may be interested in approaching me because I don't necessarily want to speak to anyone right now.

"So..."   I start, finishing me water. "...How've you been?"

Mick takes a sip of his drink and nods a little bit.

"Not too bad." He tells me. "What about you? Did you and asshole work your shit out?" He asks and I scoff.

"Yeah." I tell him, smiling a little. "We're good."

I honestly believed we were at that moment. Stupid of me.

"Good." He replies.

Nikki, Tommy and Sparkie all show up simultaneously, Nikki and Sparkie heavily under the influence of more tha just alcohol.

"Hey, man." Nikki smiles to Tommy, patting him on the back. "Haven't seen you since the wedding...over two months ago." His dimpled smile is a nice cover up to to underlying anger and bitterness woven into his words.

Tommy has been nearly disconnected from everyone since Heather and he got married.

I'm glad they're getting along that well, but life doesn't revolve around one person.

Even my codependent ass can leave Nikki to spend time with my other friends, and vice versa.

"Oh, yeah, dude, we've been really busy." Tommy tells him as they sit by Mick and I. "We just bought a new house and she's had some time off so we've been just enjoying it before she starts on a new project and the album gets going for us." He explains.

"Nah, I get it." Nikki scoffs, glancing at me. "Being married changes shit around."

"That's why I'm not marrying Tansy." Sparkie says out of nowhere, looking at the blonde as she and Vanity are a compiled of booze and giggles, nearly tripping and falling off the bar in their heels.

"Just depends on the person, I guess. I like being married." Tommy shrugs. "I'm about to grab a drink. Mick, you want another?" He gets up from his seat, motioning to the empty glass of vodka Mick's finished.

"Sure." Mick tells him.

"Get Saint Vivian another water while you're at it." Sparkie tells him, his tone a degrading scrape at me for not drinking, and the look he gives me stamps the confirmation of his aggravating attempt to rile me up some.

Nikki shoots him an unamused glare and I can practically see him cowering back into his shell out of fear of pissing Nikki off.

My ego gets a pat on the head.

He might have worn more makeup than me at times, been spazzing on coke one minute and nodding off on smack the next, but he could still kick ass up one end and down the other over me.

Tommy comes back with drinks for him and Mick, bringing Vanity and Tansy back with him.

The two girls sit down, hand in hand, whispering and laughing among themselves as they try to catch their breath.

"Where'd Vince go?" Tansy asks us, running a hand through her platinum hair and Vanity looks around.

"Oh, he's socializing." Vanity lets out and Tansy glances over in her line of sight to see Vince making out with a tan blonde in a mini skirt.

Before Tansy can say anything else, Vanity's reaching across the little cocktail table with a beaming smile directed at Tommy.

"Hi, I'm Vanity." She pipes and Tommy looks as if he knows who she is, but is still confused as to why she's hanging out with us. 

"Tommy." He replies, shaking her hand. 

"I'm Tansalyn's and Nikki's friend." She adds for explanation and he raises his brows a little, quickly shifting his eyes to Nikki, whose expression I can't quiet read...he looks kind of nervous.

"Yeah, I've seen you on T.V. some." Tommy strikes up conversation with her and she just glows at the fact she's well-known. "And a few magazines." He adds.

"I've done several differing magazine issues." She informs in, nodding. 

"Everything from fashion to Playboy." Tansy cuts in, grinning a little.

"So, that's how you two met?" I ask.

"Well, not exactly." Vanity explains. "We knew some people, who knew some people, who knew some people, who thought we'd be great friends and got us together and..." Her beautiful brown eyes catch on Nikki, who's nervousness seems more apparent, despite his neutral expression as he watches her. "...we just clicked from the beginning." She says softly, blinking at him before she quickly averts her attention back at Tansy, her hand squeezing at her's affectionately. "And have been great ever since." She adds.

"Agreed." Tansy nods, smiling at her.

"I need another drink." Nikki mumbles standing up. 

"Can you get me some more water, please?" I ask him and he nods, stepping to the bar.

"Why's he so tense?" Tommy asks once he's out of earshot.

"Must be the blow." Sparkie suggests with a shrug. "He spent good money on it and it wasn't worth a damn." 

I take it without question.

Vince is stepping to us before long, lip stick smudged on his lips as he tries to wipe it off before going home to his wife and child. 

I just give him a ball busting look and he raises his brows.

"Go ahead and say it, Viv." He tells me, sighing.

"Swine." He and I say at the same time, except he's being a smart ass and I'm being serious.

"So, how did you and Nikki meet, exactly?" Vanity asks me out of nowhere and my water glass is merely slammed down in front of me, causing the liquid to slosh out a little, and causing me to jump out of my skin, as Nikki sits back down beside me with an entire bottle of Jack.

He's giving Vanity a surly look and she doesn't even flinch, her curious expression focused on me.

"Tommy introduced us." Nikki shortly states before I can explain it myself.

"Well, that's not just what happened, Nikki, I mean, you two are married aren't you?" She argues politely to him. "I want the whole story."

"Tommy introduced us, dated a couple years, engaged, married, here we are." Nikki, again, interrupts me.

"Baby, it's not that big of a deal." I mumble to him, wondering why he's being rude to her.

"Yeah, baby, it's not that big of a deal." She repeats me, and I can't tell if she's mocking me or just being flirtatious with the way she says "baby."

He rolls his eyes, irritated.

Vince seems to be studying Nikki as Vanity and Tansy change the subject to the album.

I don't listen very much, neither does Nikki, apparently, because it takes Tommy repeating his name three times, and me nudging his leg with mine to get his attention.

"Yeah?" He asks Tommy and Tansy and Vanity let out some more cocktail induced laughter as his lack of enthusiasm.

"Tansy was just talkin' to you." He tells him.

"Oh, what Tans?" Nikki asks, sighing out a little.

"I was just wondering if you've gotten any songs up yet for the album?"

"No? Why would I? There's not even a concept." He states, borderline abrasive.

"You had some songs for 'Theater of Pain' written before the concept was decided on." I remind him and he just let's out a breath.

"Well, there goes that conversation." Tansy exhales, playing it off like Nikki didn't hurt her feelings.

Vince is now giving the slightest hint of a smirk to Nikki before it suddenly disappears from his lips and he's excusing himself to go get a beer.

Game recognizes game. And Vince--being the cheating bastard he was--had sat there and put together what he needed to in order to figure out Nikki either fucked Vanity, was fucking her, or planned on fucking her until further notice. The answer was all three. And he made no attempt to tell me...not even when Nikki later told him and confirmed it.

"We're still working on figuring everything out, Tans." Tommy tells her in a more polite way than Nikki.

"Like you would know what's going on since you've been up Heather's ass all this time. Literally." Nikki stifles out and I look at him.

"What is wrong, Nikki?" I snap.

He just lets out an exaggerated breath before getting up and heading outside.

"He's always moody." Vanity cuts in, rolling her eyes, lighting a cigarette.

I ignore her and follow after him.

"Nikki." I say, my heels clicking against the wet pavement as fine rain sprinkles down on us.

"What?" He asks, going to where we parked.

"What's wrong with you?" I gently pull at his hand, stopping him.

"Nothing."

"Nikki, c'mon, now, I'm not stupid." I argue, crossing my arms. "You're an asshole but I know when you're an out of character asshole."

He just unlocks his Corvette and slides into the driver seat, shutting the door.

Before he can crank it and get his window rolled up, I'm 'Dukes of Hazzard'-ing his shit and putting my legs through the window, scooting into his lap, my feet in the passenger seat, and he leans his head back and let's out a loud groan of irritation.

I just crank the car for him and roll the window up to avoid getting rained on, before turning the car off and waiting patiently for him to start talking, blinking up at him.

"Alright..." he gives up, rubbing his face before resting his arm behind me on the sill of the window. "...fine." he sighs. "I shoulda gone to the funeral, I guess. And I thought I was ready to go out and see everybody but it just--Vince is being Vince. And Tommy hasn't even acknowledged anybody since he got married. Good for him he's so fucking happy in his relationship he can't even call his best friend every once in a while but whatever. And Vanity--Jesus Christ--Vanity." He grumbles. "Like dragging my balls against shards of fucking glass anytime she opens her mouth."

"Then why're you friends with her?" I ask him, chuckling, and he rubs his lips together, looking at me.

"We're into the same thing." He tells me and I don't have to ask what he means.

"So, she's a drug buddy." I say as his fingers trace along my kneecap.

"Yeah." He replies quietly.

"Well, I think she's nice." I admit and he looks at me crookedly.

"No. You can't be friends with her, Viv." He chuckles with obvious distaste of the idea, and I raise a brow.

"Why not? She seems like a sweet girl."

"As much as I'm a sweet guy." He scoffs out. "People like her aren't good friends to keep."

"Tansy's like her." I argue. "You're like her and we're married."

"I never claimed that Tansy's a good friend or that I'm a good husband, did I?" He asks me in a stern tone, avoiding my gaze.

"Why do you think you're such a bad husband, Nikki?" I furrow my brows.

"I'm not getting in to--"

"'--No, baby, I'm serious. It's like your default when you're high is apologizing to me for being a shitty husband." I point out and he shakes his head a little.

"I just feel like I let you down a lot." He shrugs.

"I'm not perfect, Nikki, I let you down more than you do me." I assure him.

"No..." he looks as if he's thinking about something for a moment. "...you don't. I promise."

I was too caught up in Nikki's mood to notice the hole in the story Tansy had told me of Tommy taking Nikki out for our anniversary. But it was the first red flag that popped up in hindsight while assessing the situation after I found out he was having an affair.

Tansy had told me Tommy was taking Nikki out for our anniversary that year, that was the night me and the guys got locked up for a little bit.

That first night back out with Mötley and Vanity Nikki mentioned not seeing or talking to Tommy since his wedding...over two months prior.

What really happened on our anniversary: Vanity came to our house and was still there when Nikki came to pick me up from jail. Which is why he wasn't too eager for me to go back home with him.

My finger tips lightly brush over the scratch of his unshaven cheek and I give him my best smile, hoping it will cheer him up.

He just keeps his near frown and I decide to do to him what he does to me when he's trying to cheer me up.

My lips press to his cheek softly, then pepper random kisses all over his face until he's smiling, finishing off with one, long, passionate kiss to his lips.

"Okay." I breathe out, about to find a way to get out of his lap so we can go back inside.

He puts his arm across my legs, though and stops me, giving me a devious grin.

"We don't have time." I giggle, squealing a little as his fingers trail up the inside of my leg, going up my skirt as he says:

"There's always time."

Just before he can breach the fabric of my panties, a loud knock on our window has us both jolting.

It's Tommy.

Nikki sighs out cranking the car and rolling the window down.

"The girls are hungry." He explains to us.

"And?" Nikki asks.

"They want food, dude, c'mon." Tommy chuckles, nudging his arm.

"What're you kids up to?" I hear Vince next, and I lean my head back to lay on the open window frame so I can look up to see him and Tommy.

"Guys, let's go!" I hear Sparkie shout from the entrance of the club we were in and me, Vince, Nikki, and even Tommy, all share a collective eyeroll.

I think it's safe to say we simply tolerate the greasy bastard at this point.

"Ignore it, it'll go away." Nikki says, rubbing his eye.

"Guys!" Vanity calls next, the bubbliness of her personality in her tone.

"Why the hell is she so perky?" Vince asks next.

"She's been on a three day bender of base. That's why." Nikki replies flatly, rolling his eyes at the sound of heels coming towards us and my ears perk up, deciding to put the question on the tip of my tongue away for now.

He opens his door and Tommy helps me out of the car, Tansy and Vanity hand in hand.

"We're starving." Tansy tells us.

"The Rainbows's our best bet." Tommy suggests.

"Okay, let's go." Tansy shrugs, pulling gently at Vanity's hand, and Vanity's hand grasps at mine and pulls me along with them as we head to the Rainbow.

I wasn't good at making girl friends. Tansy came into my life before I adapted to mainly being around guys, so it was never hard to form a close friendship with her, but I got along better with men because Tansy, Tommy and Vince were the only people I really ever had relationship with before meeting Nikki, and Mick and my other friends I gained through them.

To this day, my list of close girl friends consists of Tansy, Susan--who I was motivated to get to be friends with because she's the step mother of Monroe, Brittany--who's married to Tommy...and is young enough to be one of mine and Nikki's miscarried children so I view her more like a daughter than a friend--and Sharise and I are still very close, despite her being divorced from Vince for 27 years.

Of course, over the years, I've had to adapt at being friends with everyone's girlfriends and wives until they split.

And most of them were sweet girls, so after a while it got annoying because I'd get attached to them and really like them, and then BAM! Divorce or sudden break up.

I learned not to get too attached to new lovers of any of my male friends. They wouldn't be around for long.

That being said, one of my girl friends, believe it or not, was actually my husband's mistress, for an entire year.

She just had a...er...learning curve, if you will.

I watch as Nikki goes back and forth from our bedroom, to the front door, going outside, coming back inside, and repeating.

"Uh...babe?" I call, raising a brow and he stops by the living room where I'm sitting on the couch in my pajamas, reading "The Art of War" and eating a granola bar.

"Yeah?" He raises his brows.

"Whatcha doin'?" I ask curiously.

"It's been over a month since Tansy was asking about the album concept and I realized I needed to start writing for the album, like, a month ago, so I'm cleaning up my shit in our closet and bedroom and kicking drugs so I can focus." He explains, walking back to our bedroom and I raise my brows, a little surprised.

"Do you wanna read my book?!" I offer.

"Nope, got my own strategy!" He replies.

"But is it on Sun Tsu's level?!"

"I'm getting a dog!" He explains and I furrow my brows, putting my book down and walking to meet him in the bedroom.

"A what?" I cross my arms as he's putting needles and trash into a garbage bag.

"It'll be like having a kid around, so I'll have more incentive--aside from you, and working on the album--not to shoot smack and keep away from blow." He goes on.

"A dog?" I repeat.

"Yep."

"You know if you're serious about kicking it this time, you're gonna have to distance yourself from some of your friends." I remind him. "No more Jason or any other dealers, no more Izzy--"

"--You're friends with Izzy, too." He argues.

"I'm not trying to get off drugs." I tell him. "And Tansy and Vanity."

"Okay, you three have sleepovers like fucking high school girls. How the hell am I suppose to avoid them when they're at my house all the time?"

"Well...Tansy doesn't have a house here in L.A. and Vanity's apartment gives me a God-awful feeling everytime I step foot in there." I inform him.

"Right, and I'm the paranoid one." He mumbles.

"Babe. When you're lying in bed and feel someone get into bed with you and start breathing down your neck, and nobody's freaking in bed with you when you turn to see who it is, you kinda never want to even think about going into the apartment it took place in ever again." I state and he chuckles.

"I would've asked it for a blow job." He comments.

"Nikki, I'm serious."

"I am, too." He defends himself and I give him an unamused look. "Alright, fine, for entertainment sake, let's say she has monsters under her bed. What sense would that make? She's up Jesus' ass as far as you are and I highly doubt dark shit stays around God fanatics." He brushes me off.

"Um, hard, mind altering drugs are a pretty good invitation for quote unquote 'dark shit' to hang around people. It makes it easier to get in their heads, break them down, and try to kill them."

"Kill them?" He tries not to laugh. "Are you on drugs?"

"Nikki, I'm being serious. I'm worried about our friend."

"Which friend? We've got, like, all of them on the highway to hell right now." He scoffs, tying off the full garbage bag.

"She's got a lot of shit she's carrying on her, Nikki, and I'm scared for her. And Tansy can say 'everything's fine' but I know she's got a lot of shit happening behind closed doors that she won't open up about, too."

"Everyone has shit going on behind closed doors, babe. That's life in this business. Smiles and good times out on the town, and demon filled bedrooms when we get back home." He shrugs.

"Is that not sad to you?" I ask and he sighs, stepping to me.

"Just pray about it. Like everything else you worry with." He wraps his arms around me and I roll my eyes, taking it as sarcasm. "Get all quiet and soft sounding so you don't wake me up, and start talking to the ceiling about bullshit that won't matter a month from now..." He grins, pressing a kiss to my neck and I refuse the urge to push him away from me because he's making fun of me. "...and after an hour of wasting your breath, you end it in 'in Jesus' name I pray, amen'. And then I think, 'wow, she's really has me fooled to believe she isn't on something, too'." He laughs out.

"Find it funny all you want. My prayers for your's and everyone else's bullshit doesn't fall on deaf ears or one of you would be dead by now." I state.

He smirks, before a lightbulb goes off in his eyes before walking to the closet.

"I'm glad we're on this topic of conversation because it's great foreplay for this." He pulls out a raunchy mockery of a catholic school girl uniform I completely forgot we had and I cross my arms.

"You don't get to insult my religious beliefs and then turn around and fantasize about a concept attached to a denomination of said religion."

"You can put it on and talk to me about getting on your knees all you want." He keeps his smirk and I grab the uniform off the bed, about to go hide it somewhere else in the house.

"We have plenty of film of me with this on to choose from. There's no need for a live show." I peck him on the lips and walk out of our bedroom with the skimpy clothing.

"I meant getting on your knees to pray!" He tries to tell me to get me to bring the outfit back and I laugh.

He was serious about quitting...but once he started getting dope sick, he got desperate enough to go out in the middle of the night, get the garbage bags full of used cottons and needles, and use the rinses of cotton to ring the smallest fix out of them before getting Jason back over as soon as possible.

And I knew he got back on crack when I came home from seeing Sharise and Skylar, to him and Vanity locked in our bedroom.

When I finally picked the lock, Vanity was having a base fueled arts and crafts session on the bed--wearing my clothes that I'd left in the floor--trying to explain the inspiration of her art was Jesus coming back for the rapture, while Nikki was screaming about his late grandmother, in the closet.

And that's typically what I would walk in on if they were at our house. It always appeared like they were way too far gone in their minds to even think about sex. So I honestly never thought anything about it.

But if there's a will, there's a way, and in the midst of Nikki waving a gun around, screaming, and Vanity laughing like a maniac while plastering glitter, styrofoam peanuts and Nikki's used cottons on a piece of construction paper, the two of them had the will and found a way to kickstart the demise of my already fragile marriage.

They truly were functioning addicts.