#this whole situation is upsetting me in the weirdest ways

[razzek]

One thing that's starting to really get to me with the James Somerton stuff is a real strong undercurrent of disdain toward his fans. And yeah, I was one of them. A good scam artist isn't as easy to spot as y'all seem to think. You forget that you have all the information right now. Two days ago most of you had never heard of him and it would have kept going. Anyone can fall for a scam, nobody is immune. I would love to have had whatever resources you guys think we all should magically know about so I could have kept my sad $5 a month I really needed but thought was going to something worthwhile. Some of us can only devote so much energy into things and when you have no idea whatsoever that something is amiss of course you're not going to go digging for sources, why would you when everything is fine as far as you know? I really wish I could have seen the dissenting opinions on him but for many, many reasons that aren't just that the dissenting voices weren't widely circulating at the time all I had was the thought every now and again that "huh that doesn't seem right" and then go on with my day. And I think that happened to a lot of us. So yeah. Say what you gotta say about Somerton, he has more than earned it with the damage he's caused, but maybe don't shit so hard on his former fans because that is going to be you someday with something, it happens to everyone sooner or later.

[supernovafics]

𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆

pairing: college!steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 2.8k words

summary: in which a plethora of coincidences keep pushing you and steve toward each other and you kind of hate it

warnings: slight!fuckboy steve, explicit language, angst, some fluff

author’s note: hope y’all enjoy<3333 (full folklore series masterlist here!)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“and isn't it just so pretty to think, all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

You didn’t know his name, but you saw him almost everywhere. 

Actually, you did know his name, Steve, but you didn’t really know him. 

What you did know was that he had been a shitty group partner to have last semester for a history class, and that he had an on-again/off-again, more so off-again, relationship with your roommate who you had a polite but surface-level friendship with. He also frequented the diner you worked at a few minutes off campus with his basketball friends and dates; and you couldn’t help but notice that it was always a different girl each time. 

Even though there were a bunch of opportunities for something to happen between you two, you’d never had an actual conversation with him. Not that you necessarily wanted to. But, after having the plethora of instances where you could’ve talked to one another, it sometimes surprised you that you didn’t at least have some sort of a friendship with this guy you’d see way too often. 

You chalked it up to the fact that even though you two would share passing glances every so often with one another, you’d never been in a one-on-one situation with him. 

Until you finally were, and it was in perhaps one of the worst and weirdest ways possible. 

You were walking down a random aisle on the fourth floor of the campus library when you bumped into Steve. Well, “bumped” is a bit of an understatement because you quite literally tripped over him. 

For some reason, he was sleeping in the middle of the aisle, and you didn’t notice until it was too late since your eyes were solely trained on the shelves as you searched for one book in particular. 

“Jesus Christ,” You yelped as you tumbled to the ground, glad that your brain thought quick enough to put your hands out so that you didn’t completely faceplant. 

When you looked at what caused you to fall and saw Steve leaning against a bookshelf with his legs out, you inwardly groaned because, of course, it was him. 

“Ouch,” He said with a small yawn as he rubbed the leg that you tripped over. “Weird wake-up call.”

“Why the hell are you sleeping here?” You asked as you started to get up. 

“I was trying to study for a test and then I got tired,” He shrugged and then finally looked at you. “Hey, you look crazy familiar.”

You almost laughed at that and thought about simply walking away from him, but decided against it. The universe clearly wanted you two to have a conversation with one another, so you decided to finally give it what it wanted.  

“We were in the same group for a history project last semester,” You answered. 

“Oh yeah,” He said and his eyes cast downward. “Sorry about that. I know I was probably the worst person in that group.”

“Very, very true,” You nodded, although you were no longer upset about that whole situation. Not that you were ever truly mad, anyway. “Also, you had, or maybe still have, some sort of fling going on with my roommate. Lissa.”

“That is definitely a past tense thing,” He responded with so much certainty that you silently wondered what happened between them. You weren’t close enough with Lissa to talk to her about that sort of thing, though.  

“I think I’ve seen you somewhere else though, too,” Steve said and then thought for a moment. “Oh, you work at that diner, right?”

“Yup, mostly weekends but some weeknights too.”

Steve nodded at your words. “Huh, surprised we never talked before.”

You didn’t tell him that you had been thinking the same thing and instead decided to sit down across from him putting your legs out as well. “What class are you studying for?”

“Psychology,” He answered and then showed you the textbook next to him, which looked eerily familiar. 

“With Dr. Brooke?” 

Steve nodded and you fought the urge to look around to see if you were on some sort of elaborate prank show. Because it didn’t fully make sense to you how all of these fucking coincidences were happening. 

“I’m in that class too,” You responded after a brief stint of silence. 

In this case, it kind of made sense that you didn’t know he was also in that class because it was huge, with at least a hundred fifty people in that auditorium-type room. 

“Wow,” Steve verbalized the surprise you were inwardly feeling. “Weird.”

You couldn’t help but finally let out a small laugh. “‘Wow’ and ‘weird’ are probably the understatements of the century.” You pulled your legs up and wrapped your arms around them. “I think we kind of have to be friends now. These coincidences are too fucking insane to not be.”

He smiled at you and there was something about it that made you fully understand why he so easily had a new girl to bring to the diner every week. 

“What if I take you on a date?”

A part of you immediately felt surprised by his question and how abrupt it was. However, the other part of you sort of saw it coming because it made a little bit of sense. Case in point, the fact that you would frequently see him with a new girl. Asking someone out was probably equivalent to breathing for him. 

“No,” You answered simply before standing up. 

You didn’t notice the immediate confused look on his face as he followed suit and abruptly stood as well. 

“Why not?”

There were a lot of reasons you could’ve given him as the answer to that question. Such as how he’d been with your roommate, and although you weren’t best friends with Lissa, something about it still felt at least a little wrong. Or the fact that the thought of being added to his list of conquests made you feel physically ill. 

“I’d just rather not,” You ultimately answered with a small shrug and then started walking away. You quickly pushed away your lingering thought that told you that if the circumstances were different you would’ve fully considered saying yes to him. 

Steve didn’t follow you as you walked away. Instead, the wheels in his brain started turning as he thought about how he could get you to go out with him, something told him that you would be harder to get than the majority of girls he’d been with before. 

However, he never shied away from a challenge. In fact, there was a part of him that loved them. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“time, curious time. gave me no compasses, gave me no signs. were there clues i didn't see?”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Somehow through the hordes of people, Steve managed to find you the next day in your shared psychology class, and he sat right next to you. 

“Hi, friend,” You said when you noticed him and smiled. 

Before he could say anything in response, class started and the professor started speaking, almost immediately jumping into the lecture; and he was very intense about his no talking policy. As you half-listened to him discuss the final chapter that would be on the test next week and tried to take somewhat useful notes, you were interrupted by Steve bumping your elbow with his and sliding his notebook over to you. 

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the action before you read what was written in the margin.

Do you like pizza?

You almost laughed at the randomness of the question. You met his curious gaze for a brief moment and then wrote your response.

Obviously. I’m not a psycho

You pushed the notebook back to Steve and then went back to paying attention to the lecture. Moments later, he slid it back toward you. 

Wanna get some tonight? I know a really good place a few minutes off campus 

If it’s just a friendly hangout then yes

No. Date?

You rolled your eyes at the question and moved the notebook back toward him without saying anything. You could see in your peripheral that he was adding something else before pushing the notebook to you. 

Please?

You crossed out that question and his previous words, and then under it drew a tic-tac-toe board, putting an X in the middle. 

You watched as Steve made his move, an O in the top left corner, and then wrote something else. 

If I win, will you say yes?

Your one worded response was immediate. 

No.

And then you made your move, putting an X under his O. 

He didn’t write anything else, which you were actually surprised about, and instead just continued playing tic-tac-toe. You won the first game, and then he won the next two, and you were close to starting another one with him, because you wanted to redeem yourself, but you forced yourself to listen to the end of the lecture. 

“So pizza date tonight? I’ll pick you up at 8?” Steve asked when class was over, and the both of you started packing your things. 

You laughed a bit. “I think we have very different memories of the conversation that just took place in your notebook.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but you were glad when he was bombarded by a few of his basketball friends. You used that opportunity to slip away and out of the room without having to say anything else to him. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“gave me the blues and then purple pink skies. and it's cool, baby, with me.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Surprisingly enough, when Friday night rolled around, Steve showed up at the diner alone; for the first time probably ever. 

You didn’t say anything to him aside from giving him a small wave, which he returned with a smile. 

You weren’t the waitress taking care of him that night, and you could tell that Casey, who you worked with most nights, was also surprised to see him by himself because just like you, she was used to seeing him with girl after girl. 

Toward the end of your shift, you slid into Steve’s booth, sitting across from him. “You’re probably bored out of your mind being here alone, aren’t you?”

He shrugged nonchalantly and then took a bite from one of the few stray fries left on his plate. “I’d rather be alone if it’s not gonna be you sitting across from me.”

You pretended as if his words had no affect on you, even though they slightly pulled at your heart. You had to remind yourself of his track record, most of which you’d seen firsthand. And because of that, you also reminded yourself that you could only be friends with him. 

“Very smooth,” You said and then slid back out of the booth. “But, also probably the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s the truth.” You heard him say as you walked away, and you couldn’t help but smile as you rolled your eyes. 

Barely ten minutes later, he went up to where you stood behind the counter putting napkins in a dispenser. His bill was paid and you had expected him to leave at any moment, and you hated that the thought of him leaving made you feel a little bit sad. 

“What time are you done here?”

You met his gaze. “In exactly five minutes, actually.”

“Can we do something after?” He asked and when you tilted your head at him, he followed up with, “I promise I only have the friendliest of intentions.”

“I finally brought you to the friendship side?”

“No, but for this instance, yes.”

That managed to make you smile a bit. “Can we go to that pizza place you were talking about? If they’re still open?”

“Yeah, it is. They close at three because the stoner crowd usually shows up around one and that’s peak business.”

“Makes sense,” You nodded.  “I don’t drive, so I’ll meet you at your car.”

A confused look crossed Steve’s face. “You don’t drive? How do you get here?”

“I walk from my dorm, it’s only about ten minutes,” You answered with a small shrug. 

“Oh, okay,” He responded, and didn't say it aloud to you, but he now knew that he would make it his mission to pick you up at the end of your shifts so that you wouldn’t have to walk alone in the dark anymore. “I’ll meet you outside.”

When you stepped out of the diner, a minute earlier than expected, you were quick to get in Steve’s car.

“Do you have a sweater or something I could wear? I left my jacket at home,” You asked, not really thinking too much of the question because you hated wearing the baby blue dress that was your uniform anywhere other than the diner. 

Steve reached into the backseat and handed you a hoodie, which you immediately slipped over your head. The hoodie swallowed you whole and made it look as if you weren’t wearing anything underneath, but it felt so comfortable that you couldn’t even bring yourself to care. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“hell was the journey but it brought me heaven.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“What are you thinking?” Steve asked when you both finally decided to leave the pizza place around two in the morning. He had walked you to the passenger side of his car, but before you opened the door to get inside, you turned around to face him and you didn’t say anything as you met his eyes, which was what prompted his previous question. 

There was a lot that you were thinking right then, and most of the thoughts surrounded the fact that you had thoroughly enjoyed yourself on this “non-date” with Steve. He was genuinely nice and funny, and such a fucking charmer that it made you want to roll your eyes while giggling at his words. And he was being honest about keeping things friendly for the most part, although you had a feeling that not being a least a little flirty was impossible for him. 

And it was all of that put together, that made one thought sit heavily at the forefront of your mind. 

“I think I wanna kiss you,” You finally answered, and you were surprisingly not scared by your complete honesty. 

He smiled at that and his hands found your hips as he moved the tiniest bit closer to you and his next two words came out softly. “Do it.”

You had to pull your eyes away from his because you were so close to listening to him. 

“I can’t.” Your voice was quiet. 

“Why not?”

“Because I really just want us to be friends.”

“We can still just be friends even if you kiss me right now,” Steve told you, and although you were unsure if you fully believed him, you still decided to take his word for it and you pushed yourself up on your toes a bit to press your lips against his. 

You could tell he was initially surprised by the abruptness of it, but he kissed you back almost immediately. Your arms came up to wind around the nape of his neck to steady yourself as your back was pressed into the side of the car. 

It felt almost surreal how much better this was than you thought it would be. Your mouths moved against each other so seamlessly, almost as if this was already something that had happened a million times before. 

You expected to be able to kiss Steve once as a way to sort of get the attraction you felt toward him out of your system so that you could then let things become completely normal and solely friendly between you two. But, right then– with his lips against yours, and one hand on your waist and the other cupping your cheek– you were hit with the sudden thought that you would need this to happen so many more times. 

You didn’t necessarily want to pull away from Steve at that moment, but you had to because you were completely out of breath. 

“That was— That was really good.” Your lips were still tingly as you licked them and you felt slightly light-headed, but in a good way, if that was possible. 

Steve pressed a chaste kiss against your cheek. “You sure you wanna still be just friends?”

That was the question that you now were unsure of the answer to. 

However, a small “yes” was what you responded with after what felt like a year’s worth of silence, and you could hear exactly how unconvincing you sounded.

Steve nodded and you could tell that he was pretending to believe you. “Okay.” 

He was about to finally pull away from you, but you stopped him. “What if…What if we are just friends, but we can kiss and maybe do other things,” Your mouth was moving much quicker than your mind could fully process the words you were saying. And you weren’t entirely sure how you felt about what you were proposing, but most of it seemed really good to you. “But, you shouldn’t date people, and I won’t either.”

“Okay,” Steve responded, smiling amusingly at your words. “But, this is starting to sound a lot different from a friendship.”

“Shh,” You said as you slotted your lips against his again. You knew how all of that sounded, but it made you feel a little better about the situation you were putting yourself in because you convinced yourself that you couldn’t get hurt this way. And aside from kissing Steve, not getting hurt was all that really mattered to you right then. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“one single thread of gold tied me to you.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

let me know ur thoughts<333

[dmercer91]

you mentioned char making orphan jokes

and all i can think of us someone making them mid-game

and char is fucking laughing at em, while jack is being held back by nico and dawson from swinging at the player

(but one does probably go too far and dawson and nico are like “get him”)

it’s matty tkachuk

it’s so, 100% matty and charlie knows he’s not being malicious cause it’s him

she’s literally giggling like a maniac cause he’s giving her so many new jokes and jack is both upset cause she’s laughing and upset cause what did you just say about my girlfriend

she doesn’t really care about the last comment, she’s still laughing, until she sees how affected jack is

dawson fully lets go of jack and nico is definitely thinking about it, but decides it would be cool if his lady bing finalist alt didn’t get laid out by matt tkachuk

oh, wait- | hooked au, jh86

it started during a faceoff- tanner standing shoulder to shoulder with matt while he gnawed on his mouth guard.

“nice twig. daddy’s money?” she furrowed her eyebrows, giving him a look. he grinned, chuckling to himself “oh, wait-“

she shook her head slightly, giggling to herself and looking back towards the ref.

then, the next faceoff they had with each other was at centre ice, after she’d scored.

“know you don’t have an old man to shoot on, but go easy on bob, char. he’s not as spry as your little brother,” he winked, charlie looking to her skates and holding back a snort

“i’m telling bob you called him old.” he smirked, crouching and leaning closer into her, getting ready for the faceoff. that was the first one jack heard, and to say he was displeased would be an understatement.

when they were both in the box after a friendly line brawl, she already knew what she had coming

“i like your style,” he yelled, a grin finding its way on her face

“yeah?” she sprayed water into her mouth, waiting for his response

“yeah! very motherless. so sick,” this time around, her head tilted back in laughter and she shook her head at him, still giggling and trying to catch her breath

“thanks! the daddy issues are really highlighted in your right hook,” she retorted, matt snorting as he put his gloves back on.

jack had been watching from the bench as the whole conversation played on the jumbotron- glaring at it since is wasn’t hard to read their lips cause of how loud they were yelling

nico took notice quickly, nudging his shoulder and shaking his head. “don’t even think about it,” dawson chimed in as well, nodding along with nico “she can take care of herself,”

then, by the end of the game, matt had taken notice of jacks glares to him. he knew that the two of them were dating- and originally he hadn’t meant to step on anyone’s toes, but now he was in too deep to leave the chance sitting there.

jack was renowned for keeping away from shit stirring on the ice, and matt wanted to see how far he could push it before jack deemed it necessary to respond

so, at the face off “if ever you need someone to call daddy, you know where to find me,” could crisply be heard over the in-arena music.

jack turned his head, the ref was honestly a little stunned, and charlie was giggling uncontrollably.

because the game was tight, akira had been on the bench and nico, dawson, dougie and timo were all around the face off circle

dougie and timo knew to leave tanner be- if she was offended they’d know. nico and dawson each grabbed jack by the collar, feeling him jerk against them

“this is the weirdest chirping i’ve ever heard, matty,” tanner laughed, a little confused at jacks anger. this was what matthew was known for- he should know it’s nothing serious

“that wasn’t a chirp,” matt winked, jack moving against nico and dawsons grip once again. dawson tilted his head a little, releasing his grip and patting jack on the shoulder, earning a glare from nico

charlie had rolled her eyes, still in position and finding the whole situation fairly funny.

“i’m not into that. ask him,” she nodded to jack, his face flushing a little while matt smiled

despite the fact that she saw no reason to be mad, tanner wasn’t gonna let jack go without defence.

“i’m fucking with him,” she nodded, smiling over at matt. “i know, he’ll get over it. but for future reference, women in committed relationships don’t like to be flirted with,” she gave him a pointed look and he nodded, putting his fist out for a truce

“just orphan jokes, then?” she smiled, knocking her glove against his

“just orphan jokes,”

[tofics]

The Pact - Part 2

Masterlist

Pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x fem!Reader

Summary: It's always been you and your dad. A tough duo, tackling life's challenges together. Not even an outbreak can change that. It's you and your dad against the world, doing whatever it takes to survive. But one day, tragedy strikes. You get separated from your father on a supplies run. By now it's been months, and you're losing hope. That is, until a strange man appears, looking weirdly put together for someone who's years into an apocalypse. There's something off about him. The weirdest part though? He seems to know your father...

Word count: 2781 words

Warnings: Cursing, losing a loved one

Previously: "My name is Elijah Mikaelson. Are you Y/N L/N?" If anything, you should have shot him right then and there. It would have been the smart thing to do. But instincts and smart-things-to-do don't always go hand in hand. Instead of shooting him, you lowered your rifle as you stared at him in bewilderment. "Now how the fuck do you know my name?"

If it had been anyone else, Elijah wouldn't have tolerated Y/N's behavior. Not this stand-off, and certainly not the language. But this was Y/N. Steve's daughter. He had made a promise, and Elijah was a man of his word. He owed it to Steve. And, by extension, to you. Even up until a couple of minutes ago, your paths had never crossed before.

Elijah sensed the fragility of the situation. This could go either way: your surprise would either lower your defense, or send you over the edge. He was hoping that it wouldn't be the latter. It would make things a lot more... complicated.

"Your father sent me. Steve." He watched his words sink in. The brief flicker of hope in your eyes, your bodily response of your heart skipping a beat and then beating even faster. The seconds it took for you digest his words and the struggle to find your own.

"I - how do I know you're not lying?" To anyone else, the wavering in your voice might have gone undetected. Elijah's supernatural hearing had no trouble picking it up though. He knew this was his win-or-lose moment.

"I'm going to reach into my pocket, if I may." You started to object - "Hey, hey!" - but before you could do anything, Elijah reached into his front pocket where he kept the picture neatly tucked behind his handkerchief. He deliberately made his movement a little too fast for you to react, but not too fast that you'd grow suspicious. He was here to win your trust, after all, not to scare you.

He held the picture up so you could see. He was still too far away from you for it to be recognizable at this distance though and he saw you trying to peek at it through the scope. A creased line appeared on your forehead when you were unsuccessful.

"Walk that up here. Real slow. No shenanigans, I dare you." You pointed the rifle at the ground between you two and then focused it back on him. Elijah nodded and slowly closed the three fourths of distance between you and him until you interrupted him again. "Ah ah ah, enough. Put it down and then back it up, buddy. Right back over there."

Klaus would have had a field day if he saw how she was ordering him around, he thought. "A puppet, are you now, brother?" He could almost hear his younger brother mocking him in his mind. But it didn't matter. He had a duty to fulfil. Elijah walked backwards to where he'd exited the woods. Once he was at a certain distance, you left your position on the porch. You matched his speed while you kept the barrel steadily pointed at him. When you reached the photo on the ground, you squatted down without taking your eyes off of him.

'She's well-trained', Elijah thought to himself. He wondered how much of it had been Steve's training and how much of it you'd had to learn on your own out of necessity. How much had you had to endure on your own? The thought was upsetting to him.

He watched you carefully retreat to the porch and then unfold the picture. One glance, and a whole array of emotions played out on your face. A small sob escaped your throat and with it, any hostility you'd previously exuded.

"How... how do you have this?" Your eyes found his over the distance and Elijah could read the silent plea in them. You were begging him to have answers about your father, answers that you hadn't found so far. He saw the build up of hope and worry that had accumulated over the last months behind your eyes. And it broke his heart.

"May I?" He gestured at the cabin. He was reasonably certain that he'd earned enough of your trust to let him approach, and he was right.

You gave a single nod of approval before you slumped down in your rocking chair. You couldn't believe it. There, in your shaking hand, was the picture your father had always carried with him. It showed you and him when you were still little enough to be carried on his arms, the both of you cheesing at the camera, smiles glistening in your eyes. It was his favorite picture of the two of you and it was one of the few things he'd kept on him when you had to leave your home. As far as you knew, it was the only picture of the two of you that still existed. You know your district went up in flames just hours after you made it out. You and your dad had watched the flames from afar, holding on to each other.

The past months had been the longest you'd ever been without your dad. Seeing his face again on the picture felt like drowning and coming up for air at the same time. You knew you were supposed to be paying more attention to the stranger that was coming up to the porch, but you couldn't help it. Your eyes were glued to the photograph in your hand.

"Your father and I met a couple of months ago. We decided to travel together for a while, but he... we got separated." The man spoke quietly, but even so, his words barely registered with you, coming to you in muffled sounds like being pressed through cotton candy. Moments passed before their meaning sunk in and with it, your heart. Separated.

You had just begun to try and accept the idea that you'd never see your dad again. It was the most painful thing you'd ever had to deal with and trying to come to terms with it seemed even more impossible than the idea of your dad no longer being alive, but the more time had passed, the less plausible it seemed that he could still be out there. You didn't want to ask, you didn't want to know for sure, but you had to. If it meant you could see your dad again, you had to know. Even if the answer might kill you. To know for sure that he's gone. It took a deep breath to find the courage to ask what you had to ask.

Elijah had stopped in front of the porch, just a little off to the side of its steps. It was for both of your sake's; a gesture of respect for your personal space that he didn't want to intrude on as someone you didn't know, and as a favor for himself. He hadn't fed in some time. Not out of choice, but because of a lack of opportunities. Blood banks had long since gone out of business, and people were not as easy to come by anymore. It was also a matter of simple calculation: the rotten ones seemed to outnumber the living by a large amount. If he mindlessly gorged on whoever he came across, he'd be an active contributor to the dwindling numbers of living humans on this planet, thereby slowly cutting off his own food supply. No, he'd had to resort to a 'vegetarian' lifestyle for quite some time now. His diet largely consisted of a variation of animals he came across, but even so, he did not feed on every feathery of furry creature that crossed his path. It was for the same reason he could not feed on just any human he came upon. So, it had been a minute since he'd had a proper chance to fill his hunger. He hadn't meant to meet you on an empty stomach, but there was no changing that now. When he realized he was coming up on you, he'd paused and dipped fingertip under his nose, applying no more than a drop of perfume beneath each nostril. It wouldn't be noticeable to you, but a great help for him in keeping his hunger in check.

He watched you drink in the picture he'd carried with him for so long with a hunger that seemed to almost match his own. It didn't take long though for the sadness to reach your eyes. It snuffed out every spark that had lit up when you first laid eyes on the photograph. A few moments passed before you took a big breath.

"So he's still alive? When did you last see him? When did you get separated?"

'She's going to ask about me. Be evasive. Just gain her trust. That's the most important thing. Make sure she trusts you. She might never forgive me for hiding the truth from her, but it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that she'll be safe. Promise me that you'll keep her safe. Promise me!' Your fathers words rang in Elijah's ears as he contemplated how to answer you.

He could see the battle within you, it was visible in your eyes. Hope was almost winning, but the despair that had grown within you over the last months was trying to keep grounded, to shield you from the pain that a confirmation of death would ultimately bring.

Elijah was not a stranger to lying. Many of the battles him and his siblings had fought over the centuries had been won through deception and deceit. Despite that, he prided himself on being a man of his word. Over the long, long course of his life, he had perfected the art of 'omitting the truth', as he preferred to call it. Words were binding and constricting. There was so much more freedom in what wasn't said.

"I believe it has been a little over a month since I last spoke to your father." He waited, giving you a chance to process. You slowly nodded and softly ran your thumb over his face on the picture. When you looked back up at him, the look in your eyes asked him to continue. "We formed an... alliance, if you will. He was on his own, I was on my own. It seemed only sensible to travel together. I agreed to aide him in his search for you."

This much was true. He could only hope she would not repeat the one question he promised he wouldn't give an answer to. Not yet, anyway.

"Why?"

Elijah shifted on his feet. "Pardon me?"

"Why did you agree to help him? What do you get out of it?"

Omit the truth. It's not yet time.

"I know what it's like to try and find a lost family member."

That seemed to strike a cord with you. In what appeared to be a flash-wave of shame, your cheeks lit up as the blood rushed to your head. It became apparent to Elijah that you had jumped to the conclusion that he had lost someone in the same way you had. It wasn't an uneducated guess, grief over a lost one had become a common denominator.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize... I apologize." It left him feeling sickly. Unlike you, he had very little reason to believe that his siblings had suffered the same fate as Steve. To impose shame on you, when he was feeding you lies. Alas, in the grand scheme of things, he had done worse. And he was doing this for a greater cause after all.

"I gotta ask." You sat your dinner down in front of you: a can of cold beans, served with a side of stale crackers, both of which were way beyond their expiration date but still edible. In front of you, the man who'd introduced himself as Elijah was nibbling on some beans himself, his pack of crackers still untouched. You'd literally needed to talk him into eating. It was one of the many strange things about him. Who in their right mind turned their nose at food that was freely offered? You'd have thought he'd be grateful, considering he'd arrived without so much as a water bottle on him.

Come to think of it though, he didn't appear malnourished in the least. If anything, he looked a bit sickly in the face, but that could've just been the heat. He'd finally taken off his jacket when they sat down for dinner - how he could walk around in a suit in this weather was beyond you, never mind the questionable fashion choice in general - and it became very clear that Elijah had not missed a meal in quite some time. Moreover, he was not only well-fed, he was clearly well-trained too. It was hard to miss how his biceps stretched the fabric of his shirt tightly whenever he lifted the spoon to his mouth.

It was hard to miss, but you'd still looked twice. Quick glances, ones you hoped he wouldn't notice. You also hadn't failed to notice that his trained body came with a rather handsome face. Quite handsome, in fact. If you added the suit into the equation, it was almost ridiculous just how handsome he looked. Still, as much as the suit did for him, it also weirded you out.

"What's up with the fit?" You gestured at him from top to bottom with a raised eyebrow. It could have been just the way the candle-light danced over his face, but you thought you saw a small smile flutter across his lips.

"Old habits are hard to shake, I suppose."

"Huh. I guess." You mused over it for a moment. "Must be kinda hard to keep clean though, no?"

Elijah put his can of beans down and leaned back on his chair. There was a look in his eyes you simply couldn't put a name to - cold? Calculating? Yet you didn't feel threatened. On the opposite. You could feel the heat rising to your cheeks as his gaze wandered from the top of your head down over your body to your feet. It was as if he was seizing you up, but it was more than that - judging you? You tried to keep as clean as possible, but hey, tap water was a luxury you could no longer count on, much less a shower head. Still, you did fairly well. Compared to him, however, looking like a damn model in his pristine clothes - it was like day and night.

His gaze wandered back up and met you at eye-level. You tried to meet his eyes with defiance. However he had achieved to look the way he did, clearly, you hadn't been granted the same miracle. 'Bite me,' your face was saying, your attitude a lot cooler than the heat that was burning in your cheeks. Still, you couldn't shake the feeling like there was more that you were just not catching up to yet.

"I try my best," Elijah finally replied, a small smile playing around his lips. He held your gaze for just a moment longer before he redirected it to the tin can hin his hands. As his eyes went down, so did the tension you had felt from his ever-lasting gaze.

A couple of hours later, you were sprawled out on your makeshift cot, tossing and turning. Although the sun had set hours ago, there hadn't been a significant drop in temperatures. It wasn't just the unbearable heat that was keeping you up though. You'd decided to trust Elijah - more out of necessity than choice - but he was still, by all means, a stranger, capable of anything, as far as you knew.

You had insisted on keeping watch for the first few hours. Strange as he was, appearance-wise and unpreparedness in terms of supplies or weapons, he was still your only lead in months in finding your father. Whether he was just reckless enough to wander through this version of the world unprepared, you didn't know, but you would make sure to do your part in keeping your only lead alive and well. And that meant sleep. For him, not for you. Until he rose just two hours after you'd ushered him to bed and insisted he'd take over watch.

So here you were, plagued by the heat and the uncertainty of the stranger keeping watch outside of the hut. 'If he wanted to kill me, he'd have already tried,' a voice in your head insisted. It was hard to argue with, but still. And there was another thing on your mind too. You kept going over it in your head until it suddenly dawned on you.

He hadn't been judging you for your poor hygiene. He had been checking you out.

You couldn't help but snort about the ridiculousness of it all. What a strange day you'd had.

[ih3artkitty]

girl do i have a story to tell you

so as we know q is highkey for the streets. like she be talking to multiple girls at the same time like she gets paid to do so. so anyways she was talking to this one stud named mariah (her tiktok has everything if u rlly want the mess). mind you, mariah wasn't rlly cool with her but q kept like nagging her for facetimes and stuff like that right. so obviously mariah is like trying to back off before it gets too crazy vc obviously something is wrong with q, so she blocks her. that got q upset and i think she started finding mariah on other platforms (crazy work). MIND YOU during all this mariah had a girl that q knew about and q was still trying to get with mariah.

so i think at that point mariah started using the opportunity God gave her and started basically keeping a log of everything going on. building a portfolio of evidence if u will. and yesterday at like...11AM (my time), mariah posted a screenshot/collage of a bunch of things q said to her in private and basically how she acts behind closed doors.

so after mariah posted that pic, a BUNCH of other girls (mainly poc) who talked with q started coming forward about her weird ways basically. it got to the point where mariah went on live so people could air out what they experienced with q. i wouldn't be surprised if it was recorded, but idk where you would find it. during that live, a bunch of girls came forward (a good bit of them being minors) mainly talking about how q would block them for the weirdest of things. like i remember one girl saying she commented on kk harvey and q's little thing (the person said they were cute together) or wtv on live and she got blocked for it shortly after. you know weird shit.

but then it got sooo much worse. more people were coming forward saying q was basically a creep and a freak who always made conversations sexual asf. like in the collage mariah posted, there's a pic of q asking for phone s3x like huh?? and that's bad already but mariah is over 18 so yeah. but MINORS were coming out saying q was doing that to them too. apparently q told a minor that she's gonna "talk her through it" like im sorry what???

another girl came on the live and said q was racist against asian people in particular because she had snapped her earlier this year and q said "you're pretty for an asian girl" (aka the most used microaggression poc women have to deal with).

there's other shit like fatphobia, transphobia, q saying the r word..like this really exploded.

and what's even worse is the thing that got this whole mess started in the first place was bc q was airing out her teammates business to mariah (a total stranger mind you). at this point im pretty sure it's almost confirmed that at least two people being talked about were paige and azzi

there's alot of other weird shit q has done. honorable mention goes to q saying she flirts with her stud friends. which is bad in itself, but then someone said that q and ayanna are roommates so...take with that what you will.

all i know is that q needs to get off the team because she has no place being on the team when she's acting like this behind closed doors.

̩͙꒰ঌ✞໒꒱· ﾟ

when I tell you my jaw was in the fucking floor. That hoe has to be the weirdest person I have ever heard about in my life. I looked up the whole situation last night and to say her ass needs to get kicked off that team is an understatement. Her telling a minor that she would “talk her through it” bitch how fucking sick are you ☠️. I also find it crazy she was talking about Asians when a LITERAL Asian girl is on her team….

I don’t see how some people are so comfortable with telling their “friends” secrets, I put quotations around friends cause I know them girl don’t like her fr, if I was any of them I would beat her ass because I bet you she won’t do that shit again

but thank you for telling me all this shit because I was already looking at her funny because of all the people coming forward and just saying she was a rude person but I know for a fact that hoe is weird. So thank you again 😭

[vpalmersfootballgloves]

yellowjackets 206 thoughts

no one hears anyone crying but y'all will hear these spoilers if you don't scroll past. spoilers below

SOPHIE NELISSE EMMY TONY OSCAR GRAMMY NOBEL PEACE PRIZE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE PULITZER PRIZE BRAVERY MEDAL CAMPAIGN

precrash!taivan with their desks together during sex ed and tagteaming randy. this was the last time i was seen happy and carefree.

VAN EATING A LOLLY MIDDAY WHILE REARRANGING VHS TAPES, VAN'S SCREAM POSTER, VAN NOT ADMITTING TAI ACTUALLY KISSED HER, VAN STOPPING FOR COFFEE FOR TAI, VAN'S PESSIMISTIC OUTLOOK ON LOVE AND LIFE, VAN ON BUMBLE, VAN'S SNARKY CULT COMMENTS, VAN EATING HER OWN WORDS UPON SEEING HER EX-GOD, LOTTIE MATTHEWS.

"youre married taissa, there's no us anymore" honestly simone is probably already done filing the papers dw honey we're good.

i know some will take tai minding into van's broke and bitchless business as a whole pot calling kettle black situation etc, BUT i'm arguing that she cares about her loved ones (nat, van) so much that she's willing to ignore the shitload of problems on her own plate to help out where she can

the dream birth sequence was so creepy from the start til end. personally, i think its either shauna placenta previaed and postpartum hemorrhaged into her obligatory near death dream/hallucination sequence. OR she just passed out and the dream was a manifestation of all her insecurities, worries and grief.

tai is seriously shauna's RIDE AND DIE. shoving the van's deer bone into her hand and giving her the Lottie special. tai LOVES shauna SO HARD.

travis you have 5 litres of blood to donate with no monthly bleeds and yet you only gave the gods THREE DROPS????? lottie dont lie to him we can BARELY see his sacrifice.

still better than ben i guess. dude just dipped and went to his mind palace

"i love you so much" "it's you and me kid" shauna i dont need a reminder of my mommy issues rn

lottie turning shauna's son into a communal baby like wdym OUR???!?!?!!?

natalie :C she has so much survivor's guilt and remorse that she genuinely believes she's an irredeemable, irreparable Very Very Bad person incapable to be loved because everything she touches hurts one way or another.

lisa and 14th gilly will remind natalie she is so capable of love and to be love. TRUST.

misty praising natalie among lottie's acolytes. she's rooting for natalie so hard. its adorable how much she loves natalie in all the weirdest ways

simone kessell you are a STAR. the lottie-psychiatrist scene MOVED MOUNTAINS

speaking of psychiatrist, that woman is not your psychiatrist. she is switching your meds, egging you on and praying on your downfall.

"what is... IT?" BITTTCH STAY AWAY FROM LOTTIE!!!

teen shauna's sincere, pure and unadulterated love thesis for her son versus adult shauna's nonchalantly saying why didn't callie have sex WITH A FUCKING GROWN ASS MAN PREDATOR to nullify the evidence... the wilderness really did a number on her huh

thank fuck some maternal instincts kicked in during the pornstache interrogation

day 8349 of pornstache saracusa not being dead or tortured. its honestly upsetting

nat staring at van during the milf avengers line up bc nat's just shocked to see van in the flesh ever since these two childhood bestfriends lost contact postrescue.

[gale-dragon-writer]

While I’m working on some stories, here are some random snippets from a few planned Miraculous projects~. They’re not in any particular order.

~}I{~

Kindness and Karma

}{

Malcom (Satan) growled in annoyance when he snapped out, "No! Your anger is the only thing that doesn't make any sense in this whole issue!"

Alya snapped back in anger, "What are you talking about?! How can me being angry NOT make any sense?!"

Malcom ran a hand through his hair when he stated, "Because there's no reason why You should be angry!" Before Alya could retort, the fiery redhead pointed at a surprised-looking Nino and then Kim when he snapped out, "They had a legitimate reason to be angry!" He waves his hands when he explains, "They gave you a specific deadline as to when they had to leave and wanted to leave no later than that! A deadline, that you agreed to! But you got mad at them for wanting to leave after keeping them at the event long after the deadline had passed! Their anger was in the right, while yours is just out of nowhere!" Malcom then pointed at a shocked Marinette when he stated, "Her anger is legitimate! She's fed up and upset with the majority of her supposed friends making plans and then bailing on her at the last minute when someone else gives them a call, yet you have been nothing but belligerent towards her!"

Karen (Ramiel) couldn't help but point out, "Mal is making a valid point." She shrugged her shoulders when she added, "While they are negative emotions, they are healthy responses to what has happened." She looked at the childhood friends when she stated, "So their emotions are normal for what happened." Karen then looked at the blogger when she said in a concerned tone, "You on the other hand... Seem to lash out at almost every interaction from what Mal and I have seen..."

Malcom folded his arms in annoyance when he scoffed out, "Which includes you leaping in my mouth when I asked legitimate questions."

Karen quickly corrected with a flat tone, "The phrase is "Jumping down your throat", Mal."

The fiery redhead huffed when he got out, "That too, Kare."

}{

Malcome and Karen glanced at each other in uncertainty before the one with the pink-tinted glasses stated in confusion as she semi-pointed her left index finger towards the group of girls, "Uhh, I'm not sure if it's because we're recent additions to this class or something, but I'm seeing a rather clear pattern to... Those indences."

Malcolm folded his arms when he stated in annoyance, "Agreed... It's making me wonder How is it that None of you noticed that it has been happening?" He scoffed before adding, “This also explains why Marinette has been acting the way she is.”

}{

Adrien: "Okay, can we agree that while it wasn't how we planned it..."

Marinette: "Yeah, no, it's got to be the weirdest way to find out someone's ID."

Plagg: "Well, at least it is a unique identity reveal. Hehe."

Tikki: "Not helping, Plagg..."

}{

Markov reviewed the data before asking, "Max, are you positive this is accurate?"

Max nodded when he stated, "It is. I quadruple-checked it..." He bit his lips when he said, "But if this is true..." Max looked at the screen again before he picked up his phone and dialled the number on the screen. Markov hovered as both listened to the dial tone.

The sound of someone picking up the other side of the line was heard. "Hello? Who's calling?" The voice of an adult man came over the phone.

Max took a deep breath before he said, "Umm, hello, is this Mr Antonio Rossi?"

}I{

Trip to Gotham

}{

Assassin’s Creed: … These new screen names oddly fit… Though I’m not sure about Alfred and Bastard’s…

Red Hoodlum: Demon Spawn, you better be talking about Blood and not me. Mine is literally my hero's name!

AcroBatz: Ah, right, Damian hasn’t met Jason Blood yet, so he wouldn’t know that ref.

RobinRed: I can tell you that it’s still going to be confusing having both Jasons in the same space… I’m surprised that Blood kept his cool in that situation.

Red Hoodlum: Really? Demon Spawn hasn’t met the Demon? I’m a little surprised.

Assassin’s Creed: Wait, so this Demon Knight screen name isn't Bastard? What are you two talking about? Who's this other Jason? And what does it have to do with a demon?

Sebastian: I just noticed the chat and read what had happened. Right now, all I have to say is…

Sebastian: Really, Master Bruce?

Demon Knight: Well, I agree with Bruce on that. You’re one hell of a butler.

Batdad: Exactly!

Sebastian: Hmm, touche.

AcroBatz: OH SHIT!

RobinRed: No! No! No! I don’t believe it!

Red Hoodlum: I did NOT read what I thought I read!

Kunoichi: ?

Assassin’s Creed: ?

Batdad: Is there something wrong with what we were talking about?

AcroBatz: Yeah! How the hell do you three fossils know about Anime?!

Sebastian: Master Dick, we are not fossils. We are merely older gentlemen.

Batdad: And we are allowed to indulge in Anime every once and a while.

Assassin’s Creed: Cass… Do you have any clue what they’re talking about?

Kunoichi: Nope. I was hoping you would…

Demon Kight: Back to the og topic… What was Cassandra texting about you Bat-Kids getting siblings?

Batdad: I was also going to ask that.

Kunoichi: 😏

}{

Alix was passing back and forth in front of the park bench Kim and Max were sitting at while Markov hovered above. The skater then got out in an annoyed tone, "I don't get it, why would Lila say something like that when it isn't true?" She paused as she looked at her friends when she stated, "We know the real reason why our class is going to Gotham, but if Lila claims to be "super close" to the Wyanes as she claims, she should've known that too."

Kim couldn't help but point out, "And know why it should be kept a secret until the Gala." He paused before he questioned, "But wouldn't that implication be worse if Lila is saying that she asked one of the Wyanes to have our class and Ms Mendeleiev's class go to Gotham?"

Max was feeling self-conscious when he got out, "Well, that can only mean one of two things... Either Lila is telling the truth and the reason we're going to Gotham is because she asked for it to happen... And the letter I got was a prank or... Lila is lying about both knowing the Waynes and being the reason behind the trip..."

Markov was quick to say, "Considering that the letter has the watermark and seal from the Wyane Company, I can conclude that it is 100% authentic." He held his claw in the air when he stated in a logical tone, "Therefore, Lila is lying about a major event."

Alix clicked her tongue before she said, "If that's true, then why make us think that?"

Kim shrugged when he suggested, "Attention? Because that's the only thing I can think of." He then had a thought before he placed a hand on his chin when he commented, "Wait, now that I think about it..."

}{

Adrien leans over and whispers to Chloe, "Uhh, do you have any idea what's going on here?"

Chloe whispers back, "No, I was kind of hoping you would."

Damian scoffs before he states in an annoyed tone, "They are not staying unless they can hold their own in a fight! I refuse to have any incompetent allies."

Cassandra: 😏

}{

Miss Bustier ran a hand through her hair when she got out in a flabbergasted tone, "I know I heard Marinette during roll call before we got on the bus! And our students can testify to that!"

Ms Mendeleiev placed a hand on her chin when she mused thoughtfully, "True, we Heard Ms Dupain-Cheng call out "I'm here!" at every roll call, but I can't recall actually Seeing her during roll call." She let out a thoughtful hum before she said, "Let's do something a little differently next roll call."

}I{

Smiling Agent

}{

With a smirk, she said, "Al'ight, Hawkmoth, I'll help you get those Miraculous. However, I'm doing things My way." With that, a black aura festered out of the Akumatized object and engulfed her.

}{

Marinette held up her hand in a 'hold-on there' manner when she got out, "Whao! Wait a second! I just talked to them regarding what kind of baked goods they would like and they told me a very different story."

Nino raised a brow when he asked, "How different are we talking?"

Marinette folded her arms when she stated, "That the type of items that Alya told me to make sure to have are things that two of them can't eat."

Ivan raised a brow in concern when he asked, "Wait, that... Doesn't make any sense." He moved his hands a bit when he added, "If they can't eat those flavours then they wouldn't ask for them."

Marinette narrowed her eyes when she stated, "Oh, they would have to ask about it alright, but only to make sure they aren't used at all." She held back a growl when she nearly hissed out, "Especially since one of them is severely allergic to one of the items!”

"Wait?! WHAT!!!?"

That was when Marinette asked in a serious tone, "So this is where I have to ask, who told you about their "favourite flavours"? Because from my point of view, someone thought it would be funny to put someone in the hospital, or worse."

}{

"Listen, I'm not bein' hypocritical or rude, but given that I can tell that Adrianne is not comfo’table when that Storyteller latches onto 'er at every interaction I've seen... It's kind of bad. So how the hell could all but a few of you NOT see that?"

"I'm a little more concerned about why Adrianne hasn't said or told anyone about the unwanted attention if it's that bad?"

"Or at least told her to stop or set up some boundaries."

}{

With that, he smiled.

}I{

Sin of Reveal

}{

Jason Blood smirked when he replied to the mental terrorist, "Oh, so you were after her! Guess that technically makes you a paedophile."

Hawkmoth: "WHAT?! No! I'm nothing of the sort!! I simply know that Ms Duapin-Cheng will be my greatest Akuma and will get me the Miraculous of the Back Cat and Ladybug!"

Jason let out a hum as he looked over the Akumatized item he used to catch the Akuma when he said almost casually, "So, that's what you've been waiting for, huh. I must say, you seem to have quite a lot of time to just sit around and wait for people to get emotionally distressed, especially teenagers, so I can't help but think that you don't have much of an active life."

Marinette couldn't help but be in awe at what she was witnessing. This man was... Taunting Hawkmoth... While he was in the middle of being possessed by the terrorist!

The rest of Miss Bustier's class came rushing over, also baffled and confused about what was going on as Marinette.

Jason kept that smirk with a short chuckle when he said, "Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline. I'm trying to avoid being involved with the Miraculous, and besides... Three's a crowd."

}{

Satan got all flustered and nervous when he got out, "Oh! My dear sister! It's good to see you!" He did his best to recover his composer when he asked, "But why are you here?"

}{

"SIr Raguel, we've got a bit of a problem."

}{

"Adrien, boyo, yah're allowed ta want answer ta questions yah had fur a good while, even if yah no longer have a connection ta tha source of it."

}{

Raguel tilts his head to the side when he asks, "Lord Satan, are you sure that you have the part of Young Adrien's soul that was agreed upon?"

Satan raises a brow at this as he shifts the box he is holding and says, "Of course I'm sure, I extracted it myself. You can ask the witnesses listed if you want to confirm." He paused before he asked the Angel of Justice, "Why do you think that I didn't have any part of Adrien's soul?"

Raguel replied in a slightly confused tone, "Because the aura coming from that box doesn't match Young Adrien."

Satan blinked in confusion when he asked, "I know it's Adrien's but... Why are you getting a different sense? And how does it feel?"

Raguel states in a calm tone, “I am not sure as to why it feels different from Young Adrien.” He then nods his head to Amelie when he adds, "But the bond you have in the box feels near-identical to that woman over there."

}I{

Inconsistency

}{

Marinette raised a brow at the question when she asked, "Why do you want to know that?"

Everyone flashed back to when Jazz kissed Officer Prowl on the lips before their final battle but knew they couldn't tell Marinette that that was the reason why they were asking.

Thankfully, Sabrina explained to the bluette, "Well, Mr Jazz did seem pretty affectionate towards Officer Prowl when we first met him, so I guess we couldn't help but wonder."

'Thank you, Sabrina!' the Miraculous Heroes thought with glee, now having a legitimate reason to be asking that question.

Marinette had an expression that read 'good point' before she finally said, "Oh, they're married to each other. In both the Magical aspects and the human way."

}{

Nino was waving his free hand frantically when he almost shouted into the phone, "Uncle Al! Calm down! I can't understand you when you're talking that fast! What happened?"

}{

Lila smirked when she said to herself, "I was right, this does look perfect on me~."

}{

Jazz tapped the surface of the wood when he asked Gabriel Agreste, "Given that there was a time gap between when her symptoms started and when she went inta tha coma... How come yah never brought her ta any hospital or even called an ambulance?" He waved his other hand when he added, "All this could've been avoided if yah did either."

}{

D hung up the phone and looked around at his work.

Everything was perfect.

}{

Officer Prowl looked up worriedly at Jazz as he clutched his niece close to his chest and then said in an anxious tone, "Don't make me arrest you."

"Don't worry, it an't gunna happen," Jazz stated coldly.

}I{

Until the Stories come out~.

[stopitjon]

The second-weirdest thing about all the drama surrounding The Article (the first being Sean Howard's initial tweet reactions, obviously) is how people outside the fandom proper seem to truly believe that RQ had maintained a spotless reputation up to now and that the fandom is unwilling to accept that it's not perfectly unproblematic. Lol. Lmfao, even. You'd think the fact that posts criticizing The Article uniformly state "I'm completely sure there is some bullshit happening, just not as reported here" would be a clue, but WHOOOSH.

I mean...does anyone hate RQ more than RQ's fan base? A single one of their employees sneezes at an inopportune time and this fandom will go apeshit. This is the fandom that uncritically swallowed a callout post about RQ in which several Problematic Events being called out were perpetrated *by the writers of the callout post,* who didn't even bother to conceal the evidence. This is the fandom where fans decided that a (horror!) podcast should be their safe space and then harassed the shit out of the writer, company, and anyone in the general vicinity when said podcast dare portray things that upset them. MULTIPLE TIMES.

People haven't only ever been on RQ's case for stupid reasons, either. The company didn't really listen until the volunteer Discord mods walked out, but a lot of people were vocal about their disappointment with that whole situation beforehand (and afterward, of course). I actually don't think podcast transcripts would be such a prolific thing now if this hadn't been an issue people were raising about RQ podcasts for a long time. And there certainly have been some valid points made about racial stereotyping and representation along the way.

Anyway, it's really funny to see people act like we've all been frolicking about eating gumdrops up til someone on the outside dared say something negative about RQ. God I wish that were me.

[bluerosesonata]

Enya (Tav OC)/Astarion- to be named, to be known

[author notes: Takes place before the invasion of Moonrise. Contains vague Spoilers for Act 2 and Astarion’s storyline.

I still have not finished the game (currently mid act 3. yes I’m in the crypt and suffering) so be kind and don’t tell me Jack shit.]

[AO3 link ]

Given everything that was going on in his life, Astarion reflected, this whole situation was a bit absurd. Here he was with a mindflayer parasite eating holes in his brain, monster hunters on his trail, a demonic contract carved into his back, working with a team of the weirdest people he had ever met to kill a necromancer that refused to die— and yet somehow, four simple words had him out in the woods, pacing, feeling the most anxious he had in weeks.

“Can we talk later?”

It was clear Enya had meant ‘alone, in private ’— and the gentle cadence of her low voice implied ‘about Us.’

Us.

A few nights ago, Enya had used that word to ask him about— well, whatever was going on between the two of them.

It was an apt, but aggravatingly simple way to describe it. Enya and Astarion. Astarion and Enya. An elf and a Tiefling. A man and a woman. Us.

If he was a normal man, maybe that’s all it would be. Just another word your lover(?) used to talk about the two of you. But he wasn’t a normal man, and the word had unexpectedly made him…ache. That he…liked it.

And that worried him.

It certainly didn’t help that just a few days ago, the whole thing with the drow lead him to tell her how he wasn’t…what people wanted him to be. How he didn’t…well, he didn’t hate sex. That would be an oversimplification of things. But it had become something he just…Did. A wretched routine for a miserable little puppet. And that he was still not quite used to being his own person.

Astarion fully expected her to be upset. Annoyed, even. But in response, Enya just said that she…cared about him. That she never wanted him to do anything he didn’t want to. She quite literally embraced him— not as pretense, not as foreplay— but held him, in a way he hadn’t been touched in…god knows how long.

It was all… too perfect.

She was too perfect.

That was what really put his teeth on edge about all of this. Because there was no way she was actually perfect. Enya was a very good liar. Astarion had seen her get away with feeding people some of the most bald-faced bullshit he’d ever heard, and had them asking for seconds. On its own, he considered this a positive trait - it made her a powerful ally, and had gotten them out of a lot of scrapes. But Enya could also have an irritatingly tender heart.

So it wasn’t impossible she’d just been paying him lip service. That she’d shown him hope and gentleness and kindness all in preparation to cruelly, completely shatter him, just like— he stopped himself, rubbing his temples.

No. That wasn’t fair.

This…wasn’t like that. She wasn’t like him. He was getting himself worked up for no reason.

No matter what happened, he told himself, he would survive this.

He always had.

From about 20-odd meters away, in the shade of a copse of trees, a shadow watched Astarion pacing, her indigo skin blending gently into the blues and greens of the wooded twilight. She sighed to herself, her pronged tail flicking in irritation. You’ve really mucked this up, haven’t you?

The very fact she could just stand here and not be noticed by him was a testament to how badly she’d messed up. He was usually quick to notice traps, and he could almost always tell when they were being watched. But now…

Why didn’t you just say something normal? Something like, ‘I want to spend some alone time with you,’ or literally anything else, she scolded herself.

Well, actually, she’d specifically decided not to say something like that because it sounded like wanting to have sex, which would be more than a little gauche right now. For all her so-called eloquence, she couldn’t find a better way to put this besides “talking later.” She absentmindedly ran a taloned finger over the silver rings set into the cusp of her ear, and bit her lip. No time like the present, I suppose. She stepped out into the evening light, and called out to him.

A bit later, they sat side by side, on a fallen log nestled into the hillside, where they had a lovely view of the setting sun. It could have been romantic, even— if the two of them weren’t buzzing with anxiety. Their respective parasites, resonating with one another’s distress, only made them even more attuned to the already obvious tension.

For a few minutes, nothing was said. They just sat there, not looking at one another— not even using the tadpoles to delve deeper, for fear of what they would see— as the sun crept lower and lower in the sky. At the same time, both broke the silence.

“So…”

“Sooo….”

The tension couldn’t sustain itself. They both chuckled and grinned sheepishly at each other, sharp canines for sharp canines.

“You’re wearing your hair loose,” Astarion observed. Enya nodded, giving a weak smile as she tucked a long strand of purplish-red hair behind her ear. Typically, her long hair was neatly rolled up, braided, and pinned into a configuration almost reminiscent of folded wings. Today, it hung wavy and loose, tumbling over her bare shoulders, framing her collarbone, partly obscuring the centipede tattoos on her cheek and shoulder.

In truth, this small change made Astarion feel even more nervous. It felt…significant. Almost like he was being tested, somehow.

What about? He had no clue. But it made him feel wary, like the two of them were dualists circling one another for an opening, or animals sizing each other up for a fight.

On top of that, Enya’s hair being loose made her long, slender neck even more appealing, and it was taking a lot of self control for him to not glance at it. He forced himself to look into her eyes— her lovely, blue-orange eyes, with sclera black as pitch— but he saw something there that made him look away.

There was affection, yes, but under that…

Guilt.

Ah. So, this is it, then.

“Can I…hold your hand?”

He offered it limply, numbly. Possibly for the last time. Sure. Why not.

Careful to be gentle with her talons, Enya held his hands in hers, gently rubbing her thumbs all over in small circles, almost like she was trying to return circulation to his pale hands.

She loved his hands. They felt somewhat incongruous with the speed and nimbleness they moved. They were not particularly slender, nor were not particularly soft or rough (unlike her fingers, callused from plucking lyre strings) but they were still strong and quick with a bow. His nails were short, unvarnished— but he clearly worked to keep them clean and buffed, which she found very charming and dandyish of him.

They were so… different from other hands she’d held in her life. Pale, of course. Always moving, always being used in conversation. Not cold, like you might expect for someone who was dead, but pleasantly cool. She liked that, since Tieflings always ran a little warmer. (Or so she’d been told.)

“So… I’m sorry for the way I called you out here.” He didn’t respond. “I just thought, given how much I know about you, you deserve to know more about me.” After all, we might not get another chance, but she left that thought unvoiced.

He blinked.

“I- erm, you…what?”

Enya grimaced.

Oh dear. I’ve broken him.

“Well, only if you want to. You don’t need to—“

He sat up straight, drawing his hands back from hers, and the atmosphere shifted rapidly. Enya watched as he opened this mouth slightly, then shut it, his face flashing through several emotions— confusion, relief, joy, irritation— before settling on indignation, brow furrowed. His hands were still pulled up and back, fingers curled, as if someone had told him to surrender with his hands in the air, and then called him something particularly offensive.

“Darling, do you have any idea what I’ve been through today because of your little theatrics? I—“ he shut his mouth promptly, possibly realizing he was about to admit he had been emotionally compromised. Instead of admitting this, he gave a little huff of a laugh, crossed his arms, and looked away, pretending to be angrier than he actually was. “Well, out with it, then. For your sake, I hope it’s interesting.”

She couldn’t help but smile, and a tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, a direct contrast to the irritated, dismissive little wave he then gave for her to continue. Enya paused, trying to find the right way to begin.

“It’s funny. Bards typically have a story or a poem for everything and every occasion. But here I am telling my own, and I’m suddenly at a loss for words.”

“The beginning is a traditional place to start,” Astarion replied glibly. Seeing her brow furrow, he softened his tone and added, “…If that is important to you, that is.”

“No, no, you’re perfectly right,” Enya conceded. “The problem is,” she said, trying to pick her words carefully, “I…am not entirely ready to discuss some aspects of it, if that’s all right with you.” Seeing his slight frown, she added, “I’m not keeping it secret, okay, it’s just…” she made a vague, hopeless gesture. “The timing isn’t quite right.”

It was unfair of her, she knew. It was unfair to know the dark rooms of his past, to see the pain that was there, then ask that he not open certain doors inside of her. He looked pensive, then sighed.

“Could you at least promise me that whatever it is isn’t someone or something that’s going to try and kill us? Because I am quite over this camp having those come to light on a weekly basis.”

“No. In that regard, I don’t think it will be a problem.”

Her bitter smile must have said more than she thought, because his face softened.

“It’s all right, darling,” he smiled, “What’s romance without a little mystery, hmm?”

She considered it.

“Divorce, usually.” He lit up at that.

“Ohhh, now that would be novel. I’ve never been divorced.”

“Have you been married, though?”

“Now now,” he chuckled, “A gentlemen never tells.” She rolled her eyes in response, which made him laugh.

“So.”

“Yes.”

“Astarion, I….” Enya stopped, sighed. Fidgeted a bit. “My name isn’t actually Enya.” A single raised eyebrow.

“It’s not a criminal thing,” she assured him quickly, “and I have gone by Enya for a while now. It was a nickname I picked out for myself when I started working in Baldur’s Gate,” she explained with a sigh. “But I haven’t spoken my given name out loud to anyone in over a decade, and…” she trailed off. Maybe this was stupid. Why did this matter, really?

“Well,” he said, breaking through her thoughts, “I’d love to hear it, darling. Or we can just write this off as a waste of an evening. Your choice.” She pointedly ignored his little jab.

“My name- the name my parents gave me- was Lízellenya. Lízellenya Merlo.” He repeated it, softly, sounding it out, and despite herself, she felt a blush creep across her face. He asked her how she spelled it, then said it again, softer. It was strangely lovely when he said it, she thought.

“It’s a lot of syllables,” he said at last, making a face. “I can see why you changed it.” She burst out laughing.

“You always know just what to say,” she sighed, wiping away a tear. “Honestly, even as a kid, I didn’t like it very much.“

“I can only imagine. And Merlo? Like the wine?” She smiled.

“No, like a blackbird. Mehr-lo.” His brow furrowed.

“How the hell is that like a blackbird?” Enya shrugged.

“I dunno. It’s just what my dad said once.”

The two of them quietly watched the stars slowly fill the night sky.

“You know,” he said slowly, unsure of himself, “There are a lot of things I don’t know about you. Nor you about I. Perhaps we could change that. We could make a little game of it — a question for a question.”

“That’s…uncharacteristic of you,” Enya replied, suspicious. “What happened to all that stuff about mystery?” He smiled, sharp teeth gleaming in the twilight.

“Call it a…passing fancy. If you’re not interested, though—“

“No, no. It sounds…fun, actually. Maybe. As long as we make a few rules.”

“Such as…?”

“If either of us gets a question we don’t want to answer, we can pass. No digging. Just move on. Okay?” He nodded.

“Quite reasonable of you. I agree.”

She turned toward him.

“All right, Astarion. You go first.”

“Hm, well…let’s start with something simple. A little dry, maybe, but important to know. How old are you?”

“Astarion, really…” Enya chuckled.

“Ah, older than thirty, then.” Another fit of giggling. “Oh, please, that’s the only reason younger women ever get flustered about their age. I’m over 200, darling, I really don’t care. Just answer the question, please.”

“Fine, fine— I’m forty-two. Forty-three in a few months.”

“I see,” he replied crisply, “now, a follow-up question, because that means nothing to me— how long do Tieflings live, exactly?“

“Mmm, that depends— with or without an illithid parasite in their brains?” He gave her a withering look. “Okay, okay, sorry. A bit longer than humans, I think. 20 years longer, maybe 30 more. It’s not even a drop in the bucket compared to—“ she gestured to all of him, “you know. But the oldest I’ve ever met was 80.”

He was quiet a moment, taking that in.

“That’s…unfortunate,” he said eventually.

“Please don’t start acting like I’m on death’s door.”

“We are, though. All of us. Plus you’re always having us stick our necks out for some sad sack. One of these times it’s going to stick.” Enya grimaced.

“I regret agreeing to this.”

“Oh, come now. You haven’t even asked me a question yet.”

“All right,” she sighed, “What’s your favorite color?” He made that same little huff of a laugh again.

“That’s your question? Really? Anything at all, and you ask-“ he caught her gaze. “ugh, fine.” He shifted his sitting position, and sighed. “Seeing as I’m not five years old, I don’t have a favorite color.” he gave Enya a look clearly intended to be piercing, “But lately, I’ve found myself quite fond of blue.”

Enya simply stared at him, arms crossed expectantly, and raised an eyebrow.

“What, nothing? That was good! You have to admit that was clever!”

One of the things that Enya had learned about Astarion is that most of the time, if you just stared at him in silence for a bit, he would either fold like a house of cards, or work himself into a lather. Sometimes both.

“UGH, fine, goddamnit…” he muttered with a distinctive whine in his voice, “I- I don’t know! I know it’s not red. God knows I’ve had enough of red. Black? Maybe?”

“Black’s not a color.”

“The hell it isn’t!”

“It’s a neutral.”

“Oh, For fuck’s sake...” he grumbled, “well, what’s your favorite color then? Hmm?”

“Is that your next question?”

“Sure! Fine! Since it’s clearly of the utmost import that one has a favorite color.”

“Green,” she replied without a moment of hesitation, “Emerald green. But I like seafoam green and turquoise as well.”

“God. You’re insane.” Enya gave him a smug smile.

“I have been told that is a part of my girlish charm.” She crossed her arms. “My turn again, then. What’s your last name?” He cringed.

“Pass.”

“Okay. Fair. Won’t press on it.” A small, dissatisfied sigh. “Then…have you had many lovers in your life?” He gave a hiss-like exhale, his lips pressing together into a flat line. Enya realized quite suddenly she had crudely, stupidly stepped into something quite sensitive.

“Shit, Astarion, I didn’t mean—“

“Yes,” he answered, interrupting her. His eyes looked hollow and flat. “I have.” When his eyes flicked to meet hers, the intense look in them made her feel like the game had…changed. “Many. Very, very many. Does that hurt your feelings? Does that…bother you?”

He had gone very still, in a way that reminded Enya of a creature on the hunt— or was it was like an alerted deer freezing stock-still, bracing itself to flee…?

Either way, she thought, I should tread carefully.

“No, it doesn’t bother me. Is that your question for me?”

“No. I’ll ask the same of you. How many lovers have you had before me?”

That’s not really the same question, she wanted to protest, but the look in his eyes and his unnatural stillness made her think better.

“That’s…difficult to answer,” she replied slowly. The sweat was starting to bead on her neck. “Do you just mean, sexually, or…relationships?” He gave her a flat, charming smile.

“Whichever you think is more important.”

She didn’t need to roll high on investigation to know that was a trap, and they both knew it. The real question was, would she tell him? She shut her eyes and exhaled, knowing that she had gone still now, too.

“Three formal relationships. But…like you? Just the one.”

“Man or woman? Or neither?”

“Woman.”

“How long?”

“Around three years.”

“What was her name?”

Exhale.

“Pass.”

They both relaxed at the same time. Whatever had its claws in them seemed to dissolve, like someone’s concentration had broken during a spell. They sat in that quiet relief for a moment, both troubled by their own thoughts. When he met her eyes again, the look he gave her would be bordering on apologetic, if it didn’t look so pained.

“What do you mean by…’like me’?” His voice was soft. Not accusatory. Just…lost. Confused.

There was no point in lying to him. She turned back to the horizon.

“Our relationship was…intense.” Life changing. Inevitable. “She didn’t know what she wanted from me.” Until she did. “And she had her demons. It didn’t end well.” She met his eyes, silently begging him to let it go. “But that’s where the similarities end. Back then I was young, and I was stupid. That’s all.”

He wasn’t happy about it, and he knew she could tell. He wanted to ask more.

He wanted to ask, ‘what am I, to you?’

He wanted to ask, ‘am I just another episode in a long line of tragedies?’

And most of all, he wanted to ask her, ‘what are the odds that the two of us will end any differently?’

But instead of pressing, he gave her a tight smile.

“You’re still young, my dear. And judging by your plans to have us fight an immortal necromancer on his own turf, you’re still incredibly stupid.” She felt a smile tug at her lips.

“Hey. That makes you stupid for following me.” The moon had risen by now, full and bright, washing the two of them in silver.

“Astarion.” He turned to her.

She wanted to ask, ‘If we are cured tomorrow, will I ever see you again?’

She wanted to ask, ‘When I tell you everything, will you resent me for it?’

But more than anything, she wanted to ask, ‘Since we could die tomorrow, would you hold me tonight?’

Instead, she just asked, “is it okay if i kiss you goodnight?” He smiled, and she smiled back. Under the moonlight, fangs met fangs, and talons gently intwined with pale fingers.

For now, they both thought, this would do.

[amaroadriana]

It was like he was begging her to throw it at him, so she did. "Twenty-eight and yet you dated his junior. So what does that say about you, my dear, dear brother?" She grinned, knowing full well that was going to get some backlash. Maybe deserving, maybe not. Either way, she didn't like seeing her brother all upset.

The thing was, she was not happy with the girl. No, Adriana didn't care who was right or wrong in this situation. She didn't judge her as a person, because it wasn't fair to judge. Because as fucked as it was, they all had a fucked up dating record. Be it Lara with her never ending heartbreak, Damon with his endless supply of women, even Yvonne with her more peculiar picks. She herself was the cherry on top with her choices, too. So no, she couldn't judge based on who he had picked.

This was different. Gideon had been hurt by the snake herself where he found it so fucking hard to open himself up again. Yes, maybe in another life he could have been happy with Mila. Maybe in another life her best friend and her brother could have made it work and it wouldn't have caused such an endless shit show. For either of them. Yet here they were. And when he finally fucking opened himself up, let himself be happy even for a fucking millisecond? That's how it turned out?

So no, she wasn't happy with her. Because her moody, ever careful brother was going to find it even harder to allow himself to be happy again. To let anyone into this dysfunctional family.

"Everyone's got a conscious, Gid. They just show it a different way." At leas that's what she had learned over the years. "Ben's old enough, yeah. But he's got a trauma. He's lost his parents when he was what? 16? That's a whole lot older than either of us did." One way or another, she, Lara, Gideon and Damon lost their parents. "I don't know if I can blame him for latching onto someone who was present for him. Someone who showed up when he needed it most. I know I did. I mean, look at me, right? I lost my dad. Andrew stepped in and became my father figure. Maybe he isn't the best kind, but... He fills that place I've been missing. The same way he does to you. So, can we really judge him that way?"

She didn't think so. Yet Adriana did hope Benjamin would eventually find his footing. Because following blindly is also a fucked up thing. Melissa may care for him, in her own way, but she'd still put herself first. She looks at him like a soldier who is replaceable.

"Are you trying to tell me you don't get enough?" Even in the weirdest deepest topics, Adriana managed to grin at him like a fool. "I can do something about that." Even if she did lose out on another life with Aviv, looking at her brother now, at her sister, at Damon, at Yvonne... God, she was so fucking lucky to have them. The love she felt was unconditional and she was so glad that each time she fucked up... They still welcomed her back with open arms. They were still there. Dangerous, fucked up, dark, light,happy all the different things and moments in life, she felt, just like this, Adriana could always go back to them and they'd still be there. They were her home. The best one she ever had.

Hooking her arm through his, careful not to spill her drink, Adriana rested her head on his shoulder. "This is the support. I tell you what you're good at and what you're terrible at. Because I'm sure you get enough praise in all the other rooms you walk into. Like come on, do you really want another..." She lifted her head from his shoulder so she could face him. "Oh, Mr Rutherford, how glad I am to see you! The research paper you did on the role of the Neurons, Astrocytes and Particle-Wave Duality in Plasma Brain Dynamics and Quantum Brain Dynamics was phenomenal. I'm sure your father must be very proud. If you were my son, I would be too. You must come visit us in the Hamptons this summer." For that Adriana put on the performance of basically anyone they ever met in one of the events they've gone to. "You want that?" She asked again, grinning.

"Anyway, you fix it by letting it run its course. You do your best, but then you understand there's a limit to what you can do. You're not superman, Gid." She lightly patted the top of his head as she spoke.

Soon, she was giggling again, this time patting his back, so he didn't choke to death. "Good thing he doesn't hate you, then." Though they both knew that Spencer's hate was much worse than that. They've had a taste of it already. When he didn't talk to either of them. And that was fucking horrible. "It's going to be fine. If she didn't break up with you, none of this would have happened. Besides... What's done is done. Are you going to end up doing the things where you go and profusely apologise?" She was 95% sure he was going to do that. "My advice? Stop giving in and hold your head high. You don't have to accept it, but at least don't beg."

'Don't hate on Vox, he can't help the fact he's been brainwashed.'

"Yes he can." Gideon challenges gruffly. "He's twenty-eight, not eight. We keep babying these kids until we blink, and then suddenly they're grown up and waving guns all over the place. Old enough to know what he's doing." Maybe it's hitting harder because he knows Benjamin has sustained significant injuries in separate episodes, this past year alone. He's even tried to warn the young man about the inevitable consequences of the lifestyle he seems so desperately to emulate — though clearly to no avail.

And while it's yet another casualty of the mob's that he blames on Melissa Lin, truth be told, Benjamin can also stand to be held accountable for his choices in maturity.

... Especially if he so badly wants to be treated like an adult.

"He's got a conscience... That's the worst part."

He makes a face when Adriana sneaks a smooch to the top of his forehead, making him feel about the same age as his son — but what he won't admit, is that it scatters the gathering clouds of his mood, just the same. "Come again?? Who on earth gives me 'too much love'?" Gideon protests, although he can't help the smile beginning to crack over his lips. "Must've missed that memo. Doesn't ring any bells."

Another thing he's reluctant to admit, is that he admires her ability to let loose at events like these, surrounded by so many strangers; many of whom don't wish her good will. Much as he enjoys the conditions and end goals of this event more than most, Gideon still feels a background tension in knowing that they're surrounded by his father's enemies on all sides. "Trust me, brain surgery is easy compared to what you're suggesting." Simply forgetting himself in such an environment feels unnatural, impossible. "And where's the fraternal support?? You're supposed to say that I would make a bloody amazing psychiatrist." Her laughter's infectious, even at his expense.

"Alright, Carl Jung. How would you fix something if not by getting involved?"

He takes a gulp of his whiskey, which is poorly timed with the revelation that Adriana's also seen the twin shirts sported by his former friends. He begins to cough, dragging the sleeve of his sweater over his mouth. "Unbelievably, that was meant to be support. Now let's take a moment to imagine what more I'd have to endure if he actually hated me... That is what I need white lilies for, Adriana, not my love life."

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

Hi! What is your very specific Twilight AU?

okay, so. New Moon.

party disaster, dumping her and dipping, all happens normally.

but THEN. Bella finds out she’s pregnant.

(and I know you’re thinking- pre-marital sex?!?! Edward would NEVER! but listen. I am the author now. I’ve been around Christians my whole life. shut up!)

so anyway after a million pregnancy tests and a lot of googling about vampire baby legends, Bella’s like...well this is probably gonna be a situation,

Nessie doesn’t have an insane growth rate here because I hate that, so she has a normal amount of time to prepare, and she’s very...aware that the birth is gonna be Rough at best. So she goes to Jacob

who is NOT a wolf yet but Is aware of the pack and the treaty, and they are closer friends already, and she’s like ‘hey. paranormal emergency. you’re the only person in this town who enables me. help.’

 and Jacob’s like I’m Fucking Fifteen and goes and gets Leah, since she’s technically an adult and a girl

(ms. meyer How did you make one of leah’s only 3 character traits ‘upset she’s infertile’ and then not have her support bella’s choices in breaking dawn please make it make sense)

 so they start brainstorming solutions and the best they can work with is. Bella’s gotta ride out the pregnancy in hiding. they have no way of knowing whether she can survive the pregnancy and the only clue they have about whether the baby will be a monster or not is from google searches, but they also can’t exactly take her to an obgyn when her uterus feels like it’s calcified and her ribs are getting broken and she seems to be craving blood

So, Leah’s got her own little place. Bella moves in there, telling Charlie she wants to move back in with Renee (she knows her parents would never willingly call each other so as long as she keeps up communicating with both of them they should be none the wiser of her growing a little dracula in Leah Clearwater’s basement).

Leah has already defected from the wolf pack at this point (because...the Cullen’s left and she didn’t really like any of the guys anyway lmao) so they don’t run the risk of them hearing her thoughts while she’s in wolf form. She goes out and hunts animals, brings them back and her and Jake drain the blood from them so Bella can drink it. All three of them find this extremely disgusting obviously but Jake’s loyal and a little bit lovestruck, Leah’s a supportive friend and queen, and Bella’s just trying to keep her and her baby alive, and none of them feel like trying to rob a blood bank

Bella is 100% certain the baby will just be a baby who happens to like blood, like she was in bd, but the tentative plan is that if a crazy soulless monster comes out of her Leah will...handle that...

Which neither are thrilled about, so Bella’s just trying to focus on staying positive. And between that, trying to survive and stay hidden, Bella doesn’t really have time to...Check Out the way she did in new moon. Like, she’s absolutely still depressed, and she’s still getting an occasional Edward hallucination because carrying a vampire baby counts as reckless in many books, but she’s just more...resigned and pissed than anything. She’ll have days like the ‘possibilities’ scene, but more often than not she’s just telling the Edward hallucination to go fuck himself when he’s begging her to find the real him so they can have Carlisle deal with the pregnancy 

at some point, Seth gets roped into the whole mess (he’s prone to just breaking into his sister’s house) but since he’s like, 13 and The Best Baby Boy he’s immediately supportive. He didn’t even fucking know about the wolves and the vampires until he walked in on a six months pregnant Bella drinking blood while his sister and Jacob are hacking away at a dead deer, but he’s like...you know when you were 13 and sneaking around about Anything made you feel like the coolest person alive? point is he’s helpful

AND he can get away with spending a lot of time at Leah’s house without anyone finding it weird, unlike Jacob, so he starts spending most of his free time there keeping Bella company and brightening her day up

HE is the one who enables her when she comes up with the name Renesmee lmao

(just because she hates Edward doesn’t mean Esme ever did anything wrong!)

“bella I’ll throw you out of this house if you don’t come up with a real name” “leah she’s white you can’t just disrespect her culture like this omg”

anyway these four become the DORKIEST and WEIRDEST little family it’s cute

so then. labor.

it’s less...graphic than in bd because Bella hasn’t been actively dying the whole pregnancy and she doesn’t snap her spine in half, but it’s still. bad.

she essentially delivers a rock that Nessie then begins chewing her way out of. she’s actively bleeding out. Jacob’s having a panic attack. Leah made Seth watch so he would never have unprotected sex and the scare tactic is working. Leah’s covered in Bella’s blood which is not great considering she’s Holding A Rock That A Vampire Is Emerging From

Leah’s been taking classes and researching deliveries so she needs to stitch Bella up and see what else is wrong but Seth is rocking back and forth on the floor crying and Jacob’s screaming and pacing too fast to grab so she’s like. Bella babe I know you’re dying but you need to hold this thing for me ksjdfllksf

so while she’s handling That, Bella’s got this weird little rock in her arms and is watching the baby slowly fight it’s way out like this is a very fucked up egg or something and she’s just. overwhelmed. maybe it’s the blood loss but she’s looking at the messy, scrunchy little face and she’s already in love and envisioning their lives together.

and then, you know, the baby bites her,

she has just enough time to think ‘how did we not think to prepare for that’ before she can feel the venom coursing through her. it’s just as bad as she remembers from James’ bite but somehow...easier to tolerate. she blacks out pretty quickly

the other 3 notice and are like : 👁👄👁

Jacob...literally explodes into a wolf On Spot

Seth darts out the fucking door he’s seen enough for one day

Leah, sole holder of the braincell, realizes Nessie just bit and isn’t drinking from Bella, and deduces this is like...a survival instinct or something. the baby instinctively changes it’s mother first thing. weirdly...touching? 

So she gets the baby and checks that everything is physically okay with Bella (apart from you know. changing species) and is like...guess this is an issue for 3 days from now Leah

more immediate pressing issues: screaming new born baby and oh, yeah, the giant red wolf in the basement,

“Jacob I know this is disorienting but if you break anything in my house I’ll fucking kill you”

she really just leaves the poor boy to go get the baby cleaned up and warm up some of the frozen blood they’ve got in her fridge (RUINING HER TUPPERWARE, BELLA)

she’s not worried about the wolf pack mind meld yet because she knows Sam took the guys on a mission way farther up the coast for a few days and they’ll be too far away to hear Jake. hopefully, by the time they get back, Bella will be awake and they’ll have made an escape plan by then

and as she’s bottle feeding blood to the baby she’s thrilled that it seems to be like...relatively normal and not s horrific monster or anything. mission: unwillingly murder my best friend’s baby has been successfully canceled 

“Oh Goddamn it....Renesmee DOES fit you...”

Seth, from where he’s cowering behind the couch: “told you”

so, Jake eventually calms down, they spend the next few days cooing over Nessie and brainstorming how to handle Bella when she wakes up a vampire, and also nicknaming Nessie ‘Nessie’ because they know Bella will find that intolerable and they feel she deserves karmic punishment for stressing them out so much lmao

so, three days are up. Seth’s upstairs putting on a way-too-elaborate puppet show for the baby with not a care in the world. Leah and Jake are in the basement because they know Bella probably won’t want their wolf blood and their ready to phase in case she gets a little aggressive

but she just wakes up and is like. hey! how’s it going? where’s my baby?

sjdhfksdj they were expecting feral but Bella still has her super self-control. she didn’t even realize she’d changed into a vampire until they told her lmao

Bella’s a little too freaked out to try hunting yet so they give her some of the stored blood they’ve been feeding Ness and she’s like. good to go. Leah’s about to scream like have the elders been exaggerating this whole time or is Bella truly a freak??? lol

So, they spend a couple days just...relaxing, Bella and Renesmee bonding, they’re trying to come up with fun places Bella can move to with the baby so no one she knows finds out, and every now and then Leah and Jake go out and she tries to help him get the wolf thing under control

and then,,,,the pack get back from their mission early

and immediately are able to read Jacob’s mind

so they head over to Start Shit because there’s two bloodsuckers on their land but,

the pack not attacking because Jake imprinted on Renesmee? tired. the pack not attacking because Jake’s Alpha Genes have taken over and declared Nessie and Bella as part of his Pack and attacking would literally start a war? inspired

so they hash the whole thing out....ultimately Sam decides Bella is more of a victim than a threat, and since neither her or Nessie seem to be going on a bloodlust rampage any time soon...he decides to grant them immunity from the whole ‘kill the vampires’ rule. He’ll let her and her daughter stay in La Push as long as they agree to stick to animals and only hunt out of town. PLUS from what little Bella knows about the Volturi, she’s worried about them finding out about Nessie, so they’ll offer protection if that does happen, in exchange for her being able to help them with intel on any other vampire threats in the area (you know like. if a nomad is fucking stuff up in a nearby city, they’ll send her to talk to them first before deciding if they need to intervene. Sam has become acutely aware he has a lot of teens and kids in his pack, so he’s trying to keep them out of fights as much as possible)  

anyway that’s the story of Nessie gaining like 17 chaotic as hell ride or die uncles,

let’s fast forward a bit

it’s like 15 years later. Bella’s not living with Leah anymore, but she’s got a cute apartment in a nearby town, and owns and runs a bookstore on the first floor of it. she got her ged and did college online and teaches night classes at a community college. She’s still in contact with her parents, who Adore the life out of Nessie. She still helps the pack out and they’re all close. Nessie is a handful but in a fun and lovable way. They go on little weekend trips whenever they have time. Bella’s happy.

but then a. Situation. arises.

basically, the Volturi have been made aware of some unknown vampire chasing others out of the pacific northwest and conspiring with shapeshifters. and you know when Aro gets curious he tends to spin things dramatically. who’s to say this vampire isn’t conspiring against all vampires? against them? why has no one’s special talents worked on her? he simply must find out.

Bella and the Pack get word and decide their best course of action for now is to go on the run. they’re not gonna be able to take on a whole army but if they can bide some time and lay low they might be able to figure something out

except Bella is like....I have a teenage hybrid that the Volturi don’t know about yet...it would be EXTREMELY irresponsible to take her with me

but she can’t send Nessie to Charlie or Renee because they don’t know about her...dietary restrictions. She can’t stay with Billy or anyone else in La Push because the Volturi might trace the pack’s scent there and discover her. She’s panicking, they have to leave in a few days max and she can’t find a safe place for her daughter

and then she’s like.....fuck.

she had run into Jasper a couple of years ago- they have the same forgery guy and were heading to his building around the same time as a coincidence. She promised to forgive him for the party incident if he promised not to tell Edward he saw her and that she’s a vampire now. He agreed, but then told her Edward’s been living on his own for a while now and insisted on giving her his number...she never could bring herself to call it or delete it...but now...if she wants to be 100% Nessie is safe and protected...

fuck

So, the past 15 years have been fairly rough for Edward

he’s still convinced leaving in order to save Bella was the best course of action, but like...the vampires canonically mate for life. that’s his soulmate. he’s absolutely miserable without her. he’s thought about cracking and going to find her again but he always talks himself out of it, convinced she’d just tell him she hates him or something

so as stated in his patented Edward Cullen Self Loathing Guide, first thing to do is isolate yourself from all the lovebirds you usually live with. Sure, he keeps in contact, but...not well. he’s currently living alone and posing as a university student. He’s not even really sure what he’s supposed to be majoring in. He’s mostly been in a haze since he left Forks.

and one day....he gets a call from an unknown number. he ignores it, thinking it’s a spam call. but then it calls like 8 more times in a row and he figures answering might be a bit smarter than simply throwing it at the wall

And Edward...swears he came back to life and immediately had a heart attack the second he hears Bella’s voice

He feels breathless and disoriented the whole conversation, trying to figure out if his memory did her voice any justice, trying to rush out 15 years worth of apologies, trying to comprehend she’s actually speaking to him.

But Bella’s very blunt on the phone. She doesn’t want to let herself get emotional. She’s on a time limit, and she has to focus on getting her daughter to safety

And Edward swears he somehow misheard her the first ten or so times she told him. He had a daughter? that wasn’t possible

“she has the audacity to be your Evil Twin so I’m pretty sure it’s possible”

so she gives him a rundown. she needs to go into hiding, no I don’t need your help with that, gives him details about Nessie, what she’s like, what she likes to do, her diet, her favorite color, how annoyed she is by this whole situation, “Edward I know you don’t love me anymore, but I remember how protective you were, and that’s what I need Nessie to have right now. She needs you right now” and Edward wants so badly to refute Bella’s claim of lost love, to tell her he has absolutely no idea how to be a parent, but...her tone is aching so much he can barely speak. He can’t let Bella down again, and he can’t let this little girl he foolishly created and left down anymore than he already has, either.

So he agrees, she tells him to be at the airport in a few days, and hangs up. 

Edward loses about half a day staring at a wall in shock, before he jumps into preparations.

Bella told him while their daughter possessed some speed and strength, hunting was fairly dangerous for her. She was more delicate than his kind, and had a heartbeat. Reheated blood bags had been their best option, and she also needed human food as well. He also had to get a room ready for her- he wandered around stores for hours, reading young girls minds to see if there was any furniture or decorations that were universally liked- which was of course, fruitless, but he did manage to find a handful of things he was sure Bella would have liked at that age, and prayed for the best. He somehow got himself covered in purple paint that was a nightmare to get off. Bella had sent him some forged documents claiming Nessie was his younger sister he’d won custody of, and he got her enrolled in a nearby school. He lived every day leading up to her arrival staving off a panic attack.

it wasn’t until he was on the way to the airport that he realized he forgot to inform his family about this life update. they must’ve been on a hunting trip, because he got nothing but voicemails 

imagine being Carlisle and you come home to a voicemail from your son who’s banished himself from the family that’s just like ‘hi. you’re a grandfather now. I’m having a nervous breakdown and might crash my car. call me back at your earliest convenience I suppose” like what would you DO

 after he gets to the airport he starts panicking again, realizing Bella had never actually sent him a picture, worrying about how he’d find her, but then- he sees a tiny girl with untamed, dark red curls, features strikingly similar to his own that are pulled into the expression Bella always made when she was reading, absently chewing on her lip, and before she looks at him with her mother’s big brown eyes, he already knows who he’s looking at, and he’s certain if he was human his tear ducts would be having a fit right now

Renesmee, however, seems less willing to have an emotional meeting. She mumbles out a simple greeting before gathering up her bags and heading for the door, Edward rushing behind her to try and help

listen. the awkwardness of Charlie trying to connect with Bella. but 10000x worse because of Edward’s overthinking, self-deprecating ass and Nessie being like ‘ah yes the guy who broke my pregnant teenage mothers heart, fantastic’ lmao

the car ride is p a i n f u l. Edward’s trying so hard for light conversation and Nessie’s barely giving one word answers. Bella had warned her about the mind reading so she was carefully keeping her mind blocked, which Edward is trying very hard to be understanding about instead of annoyed, but By God does he want to know everything about her

when they get back to his place, she quietly thanks him for the room and then promptly locks him out of it lol. He spends the rest of the day just pacing back and forth until he realizes he should eventually feed her lmao

and that’s...kinda how the first couple weeks go. she only emerges from her room if he bribes her with food, she awkwardly tries to dodge his questions, he drives her to school and then begs her to tell him how it went when he picks her up, he spends his college classes distracted because he’s freaking out constantly about how to successfully bond with her. His favorite time of day now is night, because she can’t block her mind while she’s asleep, and even if her dreams are all nonsense they’re still...part of her that he gets to know.

His family keeps begging him to let them meet her, but he’s pushing back because if she’s this bad at adjusting to one new family member, how is she going to handle six more?

(meanwhile Alice and Rose started a group chat with her and are having a ball clowning Edward lmao)

wait ksjflksd I think this vine perfectly sums up the dynamic im envisioning  https://youtu.be/wQZIUHNORHg

anyway they....very slowly make some progress. much too slowly for Edward’s taste, but hey.

Like he finds out snacks she likes. or jewelry she likes. stuff like that and just...wordlessly leaves it around for her lmao. he thinks it’s like trying not to startle a deer, Nessie thinks it’s more like a cat trying to gift you a dead mouse, but either way it’s weirdly endearing.

He notices she always has a huffy little frown when he picks her up on Wednesdays. So instead of begging her for an ounce of information of her school life, he asks her one Wednesday morning if she’s excited for the day and she admits she has an elective class every Wednesday with a girl she doesn’t get along with.

He gets her school photos (and Weeps) and realizes apart from her room the home is fairly barren of decorations, so he buys a bunch of picture frames and hangs up the school shots, and some pictures of the Cullen’s over the years, and the few he has of Bella that he could never bear to part with. Other than catching her smiling at the prom picture of her parents, Nessie doesn’t say anything- but the next time he comes home from hunting, there’s a pile of pictures of her growing up on the table, and he starts weeping all over again as he hangs them up

(there’s one of her and Bella hugging and looking at the camera with identical grins and joy in their eyes, he can’t help but put that in his room. He hopes one day he’ll get to see a scene like that in person)

He starts trying to get her out of her room a little more- he still hasn’t managed to a get a ‘favorites’ list out of her, so he starts playing movies Bella loved, to see if any of them lure her out. some do, some don’t- he got halfway through a Lord of the Rings marathon, which was Torture in his opinion, but then Ness came out and quietly asked if he could restart it and suddenly they became his favorite movies ever.

Bella’s not able to contact her on a set schedule or anything because of her situation (and you can bet your ass Edward’s contacted every vampire he knows and ordered them to help her out if they come across her or the Volturi), and Edward realizes that’s probably taking a toll on the girl, so he starts telling her stories of her mother when he knew her in Forks. She’s particularly amused by the blood typing incident- the first time Edward hears Nessie properly laugh, he literally starts crying on the spot

could you imagine the sheer panic if she ever gets so much as a cold

And yes, she’s still pissed on Bella’s behalf, and yes, she specifically blasts 70s music because Bella told her he hates it one time, and yes, if he looks at her like he’s a kicked puppy one more time she might claw his eyes out, and yes, she refuses to introduce him to her friends from school because she Knows everyone will then start asking her about her ‘hot brother’ and she can’t live with that and also can’t live with him knowing that so she told him if he ever introduces himself to any of her friends she’ll set him on fire, and yes, she’s homesick 95% of the time but...he’s growing on her. like a mold, or something.

(okay, maybe when Seth tried to analyze why Mamma Mia is her favorite musical, he might have had a point. half a point. quarter of a point. shut up.)

And Edward’s still trying to not have a panic attack every time she’s out of his sight- he’s got Carlisle keeping tabs on the Volturi for him, and it’s not exactly hard for him to keep track of her through other people’s minds- but she’s so tiny and her heartbeat is Too Fast and what if she inherited her mother’s unlucky streak??

but they’re toeing the line of co-existing peacefully and Edward’s scared to push it past that

then he has to, because it turns out he sent her to one of Those Schools where the parents have to be involved in the school in some way or another and Nessie’s Annoyed

sdkjfsdkjf she keeps trying to get him to just sign up for like pta meetings or something and he’s like ‘I need you to understand you are the only person in this town I actually know or like I Cannot survive around fundraiser moms I can’t’ 

so she’s like ugh fine I’m in the drama club

listen.....Stage Parent Edward Cullen.......the power this holds...

that’s right this whole post was an elaborate ruse for me to make a musical theater headcanon again lmao

no okay but seriously he starts off just helping build sets and stuff like that but then midway through the year their music teacher gets fired and the schools like begging him to take over because they can’t find someone in enough time that’ll know the music for the show they’re doing and he’s like “I need you to understand Nessie will never talk to me again if I start actually working at her school” and they’re like “She also will never talk to you again if we have to cancel the big musical, though” and he’s like. fuck.

silent treatment for a week and a half

lmao so now he’s trying to juggle being an overly-enthusiastic stage parent who’s making costumes and sets and kinda crying backstage when he sees his daughter in her costume with also being the music director for the damn show and trying to teach a bunch of kids how to read sheet music 

one day he ended up in a coffee shop with the hair and makeup moms, gossiping about the cast’s love lives, and he literally doesn’t know how he got there

is it wrong to pass Nessie in class even though she’s putting all the wrong answers on the test but he Knows she knows the right answers and is only answering wrong to try and get a rise out of him

Bella sneaks into town to see the show- they thought it would push their luck if the pack came, but they sent an ungodly amount of flowers and candy. When she snuck into the house while Ness was sleeping she Was Not expecting to find Edward up to his elbows in sequins, trying to fix a bedazzler he accidentally broke in frustration, muttering under his breath about how if Nessie’s romantic opposite in the show doesn’t keep his thoughts clean he’s gonna kill him- and it just cracks her up. She WAS nervous about seeing Edward again but now she’s assured he’s still a dork lol

So Edward freaks when he sees her but they don’t wanna wake Ness up so they’re trying to be quiet but like. they’re going through it 

Like Bella Wants to be pissed at him but she can’t, she still loves him- and while she can’t just get over what he did to her, it’s also not lost on her that ‘leaving to protect someone I love’ is literally what she had to do to her daughter

And Edward....Edward, who only left to give Bella a chance at a safe, human life, seeing Bella in front of him as a vampire, knowing it’s his fault she ended up that way and she had to go through it alone, had to raise a baby herself because he’d made it so hard to find him...knowing if he’d just pulled his head out of his ass he would have been able to be there for her...would be able to form a coherent sentence around his love right now, would have long and fond memories of Nessie’s childhood, likely wouldn’t have to watch Bella hide from the Volturi...he’s back in a self-loathing spiral already

But they haven’t seen each other in so long and they just don’t want to...deal with the unpleasantness right now, so they just push it aside. Bella helps Edward with the costumes. Edward fills her in on what she’s been missing with Nessie. Bella tells him some stuff about when Ness was younger. They just spend the night talking, and it feels like no time has past between them at all- which just makes the heartaches a little stronger

When Nessie wakes up to her mother there she’s ecstatic- bubbly and loud and glued to Bella’s hip all day, giving her in depth play-by-plays of her school and rehearsals and friends she’s made, bouncing on her toes all morning, hyper, giggly, and- it kind of breaks Edward’s heart a little, even though he knows he hasn’t really...earned this side of his daughter, yet. 

(at least he got his wish of seeing their twin smiles in person)

(he wishes he could see them every second of every day)

so the girls spend the day catching up while Edward mostly feels like a thirdwheel, and then they have to get Ness over to the school so she can get ready

Bella decides to hang out around the school theater before the show actually starts- she leans against the wall next to the piano, the two talking in hushed tones while Edward runs through songs. Bella really missed watching him play- the only thing that managed to drag her away from it was when Nessie called her to the dressing room to help with a hair emergency 

she didn’t talk to him much at intermission, her attention being stolen by the rest of the Cullen family (who had been Very Loudly supporting the show so far, she knew Ness was probably dying of embarrassment backstage)

after the show, the three went back to Edward’s and just...talked. Nessie was gushing about the show and eating while her parents assured her she was the greatest actress ever born, simple stuff like that. she fell asleep sandwiched in between them on the couch 

Bella realizes she’s never going to be able to bring herself to leave again if Nessie wakes up, and tells Edward as much. He clearly doesn’t want her to go just yet either, but...she’s on the run, it’s not like she has much choice 

He has so much he wants to say to her but he just- can’t. it’s not the right time. but he’s hoping she can see that in his eyes

Bella shifts Nessie off her shoulder so Edward can hold her, and she gives him a light kiss and says ‘thank you, Edward’ before disappearing in a flash. she needed to go before she lost her nerve.

Edward can’t bring himself to let Nessie out of his arms, so instead of carrying her to bed he just stays there, holding her, trying his best not to think that that could be the last time for a long time he’d ever see his Bella again, trying not to let thoughts of a life he gave up unwittingly consume him

okay I didn’t mean for this to be So Long so I’m cutting it here uhh...let me know if anyone wants a part 2? sorry lmao

[c0s-lettuce]

cute - piers nivans x reader, part seven

writing (no social media in this part), female reader

a/n: i'm finally back with the last part! thanks for waiting for me! i never expected anyone to be interested in what i made. but i was wrong and i got to meet some of the coolest (and sometimes weirdest) people ever. so shout out to all the mutuals i've made and thanks to everyone who's ever interacted with my posts. you're all the best!

word count: 1896

warnings: minimal swearing, mentions of injury

p.s. also sorry this part is so long. i suck at planning. an epilogue will be coming out very soon!

< part six - masterlist - epilogue >

------

Was it a good idea to insert yourself into the investigation? Probably not. Is Chris going to kick your ass when he finds outs what you did? Definitely. But anything would be better than sitting at home, banned from work and waiting on others to fix your mistakes. Your source - a totally not questionable private eye - informed you that Daniel has been at O'Malley's Bar during late hours.

So here you are, sitting alone in a rather crummy booth, sipping on a drink that tasted too much like hand sanitizer. You've dressed up enough to blend in but not enough to stand out, lest a certain someone recognizes you. As you looked around, you thought, this is definitely the place to hide out. You don't imagine anyone here would question anything, from the lazy-looking patrons to the close-to-absent staff.

You hadn't seen Daniel yet, which is a good thing considering you haven't decided what you would do if you did see him. But it's also a bad thing because now you have time to do other, less pleasant things, like thinking.

So you think. Piers hasn't spoken to you since this whole situation started, and you don't yet have the guts to say something to him. And there's also the fact that he was definitely upset the last time you did speak, which wasn't even your fault. Or maybe it was.

More minutes pass until finally, a familiar face appears. Daniel walks out from behind the bar. Tensing up, you watch from the corner of the bar. He whispers something to the bartender, who nods in response. Then he promptly leaves the building.

Once he's gone, you walk closer to the bar and spot a door behind the shelves. That must be it. That must be where your answers lie.

You cause a quick distraction; you drop a glass on the floor. The bartender looks up, makes an irritated face and walks over to clean up the mess. With no one tending the bar and everyone else in the room who couldn't care less about the smashed glass, you make your way behind the bar and through the door.

A flight of stairs lies ahead. You head down and reach the bottom. Walking down the short corridor and around the corner, you're now in a small room. The place is like a bunker; it's dirty and dark, there are control panels, buttons and keyboards all over a desk, and half a dozen screens illuminate the space.

Your first thought is that you have to tell someone about this. Hastily pulling out your phone, you think to call Chris. But then you see a small green circle next to Piers' icon. He's awake right now.

You call him. To your luck, he picks up.

"What's wrong?" he asks, rather unenthusiastically.

At any other moment, you'd comment on his dull greeting. But not tonight.

"Don't get mad," you begin, "But I've been following Daniel, and I've found where he's been hiding."

"What?" he says with a lot more interest now. You hear shuffling on his end, "Where are you?"

"O'Malley's Bar, just downtown," you tell him.

"Jesus, ok. Stay where you are. Don't do anything stupid."

"Too late," you walk up to the desk, "I found a bunker with a ton of computers."

"Can you please just wait?" Piers urges you.

You shake the mouse, and the screen lights up. The Umbrella logo wallpaper is the first thing you see. Not surprising.

"It's Umbrella," you inform him.

You start looking through the tabs and windows. You find status reports and read through them.

"Just hold on for a second and-" Piers tries to say.

But you interrupt, "Holy shit..."

"What? What is it?" he asks.

You take a step back. Your heart drops as you stare at the screen. You reread the report, hoping you read it wrong. But you didn't.

"They're trying to recreate the T-Virus," you say.

Silence comes from the phone. Seconds later, you hear even louder shuffling, and Piers says, "Listen to me. Stop whatever you're doing and get out of there."

But you've already gone in too deep. Setting down your phone on the desk, you look through the rest of the windows. You find mountain loads of data all about the same thing, while Piers' pleas from your phone go unheard.

"So you finally found this place," a familiar voice says from behind.

You spin around. Daniel stands at the entrance.

"I have to say I'm not surprised it's you," he continues.

You're thankful that you didn't put your phone on speaker. Piers should be able to hear all of this.

Daniel starts walking closer, "Did you take a look through the computers?"

"Yeah," you say, backing away from him, "Found some pretty big stuff on there."

"Oh yes," he hums, "Truly magnificent, isn't it?"

You scoff, "Magnificent? What about any that is magnificent."

"You lack vision, my dear," he condescends.

"And you lack brain cells," you fire back.

Your insult doesn't affect him. He continues, "The T-Virus was so effective, the government's solution was to blow up the entire city."

You heard a loud noise from upstairs. Your first hope is that someone's here to help. But there's no way Piers would've gotten here that quick. Nevertheless, Daniel doesn't appear to notice, so you keep him occupied.

"You know we have vaccines for the virus? Even if you make a new strain, they'll make one before too much damage can be done," you tell him.

"Maybe, but an initial outbreak will cause enough panic for our other plans,' he responds.

Other plans? What else have they planned?

"Why are you doing this?" you ask. A worthless question to ask, but at this point, you're just trying to stall.

"It's just... so much fun," he says with a smile, "but now that you've seen what's down here, I have to kill you."

Before you even react, Daniel pulls out a gun and points it at you.

Your hands shoot up immediately.

"For what it's worth," he continues, "This has been entertaining."

The next few moments happen so fast that you barely register what happens. The sound of the door opening upstairs distracts Daniel for a second. You have no chance of getting out of this situation, but you try your luck by ducking behind the desk. Though it seems your luck has run dry tonight as a sudden pain spreads from the side of your body. You land roughly on the floor.

A man appears in the room and tackles Daniel. With your blurry vision, you recognize it to be... Chris? What is he doing here? You don't think of an answer before Daniel's gun slides towards you. You're in no state to aim it at Daniel without risking Chris, so you get another idea. You reach for it and shoot at the computers. Sparks fly from the display. You make sure to use up all of the bullets. Your vision goes dark.

------

The next thing you know, you open your eyes to be met with a blinding white ceiling. Groaning, you try to look at your surroundings. You don't see much before hearing someone say your name. You recognize the voice.

"Piers?" you call out in response.

"Yeah, I'm here," he says.

"What happened?" you ask.

"You got shot in your side. You've been in the hospital for a few days," Piers tells you.

You finally get a good look at the room; it's a standard hospital ward. There are monitors surrounding you. Piers sits on the right side of your bed. In the corner of the room, you see a small collection of flowers and cards. You hear the door open. Looking over, you see Chris come in.

"Hey, you're awake," Chris walks over to your left, "how's your memory?"

You back to the bar, "I think I remember most of what happened... before I blacked out."

"Right..." Chris pulls up a chair and sits beside you. He briefly explains everything that happened. You had destroyed the computers, and they couldn't retrieve the data. Hopefully, that meant no one else could get it either. The bar is now closed and under investigation. Blue Umbrella is also under some fire now.

"How'd you know I was there?" you ask when he finishes.

"I followed you. Your neighbour was worried and told me what you were up to," Chris tells you.

"Oh, I see..." you say.

It makes sense, you think to yourself, though you wouldn't be surprised if he said he used his magic Chris Redfield powers.

"And what happened to Daniel?" you continued.

"He's gone for now. But I don't want to worry. You should focus on getting better right now."

You sigh, "Yeah, ok."

Chris stands up, "I gotta get back to work. Take it easy, alright?"

"Of course," you say.

Chris and Piers nod at each other. Chris starts heading out.

"Oh, one more thing," he stops at the door and turns around.

You sit up a bit to look at him, "Yeah?"

"We're gonna need to have a serious chat later about how you inserted yourself into an official investigation without proper permission."

You stare at Chris, not expecting him to say that. After a second, you reply, "Right... yeah, sure thing."

He offers you a small smile and leaves.

Once he's gone, you lie back down and stare at the ceiling, "He's totally going to kill me."

Piers holds in a laugh, "Yeah, and whose fault is that?"

You sigh and ask, "Did I do bad?"

Piers takes some time to think.

"Nah," he shrugs, "if anything, you probably caused a major delay in whatever they were planning, which gives us more time to catch up. Besides, it's in the past. Nothing you can do about it now."

"Ugh, it never stops. It's just virus after virus, terrorist after terrorist."

"Yeah, maybe. But if people like us continue to fight, there's still hope."

You let out a weak laugh, "That sounds like a line from a Star Wars movie."

Piers chuckles, "Well, space would be much more interesting than viruses. Missions would have better views too."

"Yeah, I would hope for a better view than..." you look out the window of your hospital room, "the side of a building."

Piers laughs, "Alright, when you get better, I'll take you to the very top of my apartment building, and we can watch the sunset together. How does that sound?"

You smile, "That sounds wonderful."

The two of you stay in that moment for a while. It feels perfect, almost like that moment after the dinner party.

Piers stands up and breaks the silence, "It's getting late. I should let you rest."

But you stop him, "Wait, Piers... can you stay?"

He pauses and looks at you as if searching for something. Was he looking for sincerity? Was he looking to see if what you said was what you meant? Whatever it is, he seems to have found it.

"Sure," he says, smiling softly.

You scoot over on your bed as Piers takes off his jacket and shoes. He carefully slips in and puts an arm around you. The two of you fit snug on the bed.

You lay for a moment of comfortable silence before saying, "Thank you."

Piers responds, "Anything for you."

➸

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! / Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here! / Part 11 Here! / Part 12 Here! / Part 13 Here! / Part 14 Here! / Part 15 Here! / Part 16 Here! / Part 17 Here! / < This is Part 18!>

Donate to Move to Higher Ground HERE!

* Your eyes open, and your hand flies to your throat 

* You’re thirsty

* You sigh as you sit up in your bed a little annoyed, you were having such a good dream too

* Only when you look to your night stand to grab your blood bottle, past it you see Edward sitting in your desk chair 

* “What are you doing?” Your voice is gravely, and you don’t wait for a response before uncapping your bottle and taking a sip

* Edward fidgets, his hands tugging with the sleeves of his shirt 

* “I like watching you sleep” he admits with a shrug and a boyish quirk of the lips. 

* Of course the dork likes watching you pretend to sleep

* Somethings haven’t changed from the books at least

* Maybe he’s part owl or something

* “Ugh, it’s already Sunday where does the weekend go?” You mumble, it’s around 3 am right now

* To be fair you know  half your Saturday went in self loathing in a tree, and the other half spent with your entire coven congratulating you and Edward on your new relationship

* “I call (Y/N) as my sibling the next time we move!” Emmett grins

* “That’s not fair, I was going to make them my sibling.” Jasper pouts

* “You already have Rosalie don’t get greedy”

* And then they all basically tried to plan out your wedding. 

* So the pressure is on

* At least you still have all Sunday before you have to face everyone at school though. You haven’t even tried to look at your phone 

* “Edward,” he perks up at the sound of your voice “were they really thinking vile thoughts about me?”

* His eyebrows thread together, head tilting to the side

* “Mike and Conner, you said they were thinking vile thoughts when you...came to get me.”

* It’s been bothering you for some time, Conner you can understand, but Mike? 

* You feel....betrayed 

* Edward averts his eyes, you’re half hoping he was lying to you and that he was just upset you were kissing other people

* “Were they thinking of r*ping me?” The second the words fall out of your lips he scampers closer, the chair screeching behind him.

* “No! No of course not-at least I don’t think so-“ His hand cups your face, the other cards through your hair. He sits on the edge of your bed carefully

* “They were thinking of taking you...” 

* oh well that’s no so bad.

* “At the same time”

* So that’s a little worse

* “So they were thinking about a threesome?” Edward winces at the word but nods

* You let out a sigh of relief, a threesome is still kinda sketchy but that’s just normal teenage boy brain for you 

* “At the time I didn’t appreciate their...vivid thoughts but” he looks into your eyes, like two pools of gold. “Maybe you wanted that.” 

*  He had acted instinctively upon seeing their thoughts, but in reality he wasn’t much better

* He had imagined that same needy expression on your face dozens of times 

* Maybe... you might have enjoyed an experience like that. After all two lovers are better than one

* He’s stuck in his own self loathing until he hears you laugh. 

* You’re actually laughing at him!

* He’s worried that you missed out on a vital human experience and you’re laughing!

* The nerve

* And yet, he feels his heart flutters when he see’s you smile at him

* “No, I’m good.” You laugh, and he feels himself let out a sigh of relief.

* “What about Jessica? Does she hate me now” Edward shakes his head

* “I think she might have a bit of a crush on you now.” He grins at your confused expression

* Well that’s unexpected

* You know you can’t really sleep but you feel exhausted, completely emotionally drained

* You snuggle back into the covers  And pat the space on the bed beside you

* “Sleep with me?” 

* Your face feels uncomfortably hot when you realize what you just said. “I just meant like-dream with me-not um no-“

* “I know what you meant” Edward says with a small smile

* He lies down on the other end of the bed, at least five feet away from you

* “You can come closer, you’re my boyfriend now, boyfriend privileges”

* Boyfriend 

* He’s always thought the word was garish. 

* A boy who was your special friend, how idiotic. But hearing the word tumble from your lips makes him unbelievably  happy 

* “What are boyfriend privileges?” He repeats carefully. Shifting so he is lying beside you

* “Normal couple stuff I guess, kissing, hugging, public affection-“ 

* and sex stuff

* “So I get to be as greedy with you as I want?” 

* You feel your face grow warm at the thought of Edward being as greedy with your body as he wants

* The way his hands would feel as they ghost over your body, his sweet rosemary and argon scent filling the air

* You can’t manage to get out words so you just nod, and he grins

* “Let’s go out tomorrow” 

* To like a hotel or?

* “We can go to the aquarium in Seattle, I think it’s supposed to rain so something indoors would be good.”

* Oh like greedy with your time

* That seems more on brand for Edward tbh 

* “The aquarium sounds nice”

* You curl into his chest, breathing in his scent deeply. He feels warm, not as warm as a human, but soothing in its own right. A gentle warmth, like the warmth from a candle

* You feel so safe here with him. You feel yourself drift off into sleep, and Edward’s arms tentatively wrap around you

* Your weight is pressed against him, and he can’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have you pressed against him even more

* Your hands clawing at his chest as you plead

* “Great now I’m the one having vile thoughts” he murmurs to himself 

* You both sneak out early in the morning, while all your other coven members are still preoccupied 

* “Grab a couple blood bags and I’ll get some tumblrs” you nod, shoving it all quickly in his nike backpack, and you both practically jog to your jeep.

* The drive feels a lot shorter than you remember, it’s only 10 when you get there. 

* You sigh as you get out, you’re wearing faded blue jeans and a black coat that cinches at the waist

* Edward is dressed in a similar fashion, faded blue jeans, white shirt and a leather jacket

* Both of you wearing sunglasses 

* You don’t miss the looks you get as you walk across the parking lot. You already get a lot of attention as is  with the hot pink Barbie jeep

* But you and Edward together look like something straight out of a magazine catalog 

* “Did you already buy tickets?” You ask, your arm linking through his. 

* ���Yeah, we just have to pick them up at the box” 

* It’s actually pretty busy, it is a weekend day though so it’s to be expected 

* “(Y/N)?” You turn to the voice and feel like the wind got knocked out of you

* “Jessica, Bella...” and there’s someone else with them, brown skin and long dark hair.

* Well he’s kinda hot, for a human that is

* “What are you doing here?” 

* They’re like the weirdest group for a Sunday hang out

* “My Dad had some tickets, he was going to come with my mom but I guess they got in a fight or something.” 

* You get the feeling that there’s more to it than that, but you’re just happy she’s talking to you after you kissed her without consent 

* “Oh um , this is Jacob we’ve been friends since we were kids.” 

* So this is Jacob, he looks older for his age.

* “Hey Jacob nice to meet you, I’m (Y/N)” you extend your hand and you see him stiffen for a second

* Yeah that sounds about right. All humans get afraid when they first me et you, you are technically their natural predator after all. He seems to get over it and grasps your hand

* “Hey, nice to meet you” 

* “Do you go to school with us?” 

*You know he doesn’t, but you’ve found it best to pretend in this situation. 

* You glance at Edward who hiding a twitching smile, looks like he heard something interesting

* “No I go to school on the res, I’m a sophomore.” 

* Oh a sophomore, younger man is more her speed huh? And they’ve been friends for years, he’s to her what Edward is to you

* You ship it

* “Do you guys want to join us?” 

* You can feel Edward’s eyes piercing you in the back. Yeah you know this is a date, and he probably wants some quality time with you or whatever-

* But it’s not like you’re f*cking after or anything

* And honestly you kinda wanna see how this whole Bella-Jacob ship plays out 

* “Well I don’t-“ Bella starts

* “We’d love to!” Jessica interrupts, and then taking a nervous glance at Edward she adds:

* “That is if you don’t mind?”

* Queue everyone looking at Edward. He looks at you, a small pout bowing onto your lips and let’s out a deep sigh

* “No of course not, I’ll get the tickets and meet you at the gate.” He says with a resigned smile

* He leans down, catching your lips in his. You know you don’t have a beating heart, but you feel it stutter when he pulls away and smiles at you

* “See you in a bit daring” and then he walks towards the empty “reserved pass” line

* Darling?

* DARLING???

* (Y/N).Exe is broken

* And you would stay broken if Jessica and Bella didn’t each grab a shoulder and shake you.

* “Oh my god what was that?!?!” Jessica shrieks

* “Are you guys like...dating now?” Bella grins

* “Yeah, I guess we are?” The human part of you understands that you’ve just agreed you feel the same, and that you have just started a relationship

* But the vampire part of you, the primal part, knows it’s so much more than that

* He’s your mate

* And saving any major changes, he is yours for as long the universe will permit 

* “Wait are you guys on a date right now?” Jessica asks, and it pulls you right out of your thoughts

* She’s worried she’s intruding

* “No-I mean maybe? Honestly we both just wanted an excuse to get out of the house.” You sigh

* “Are the rest of the Cullen’s not taking it well?” 

* You do live together, and you’re at that age. Sure Emmett and Rosalie and together, but that seems to be under more transparent circumstances 

* So imagine her surprise when you card your fingers through your hair

* “No they’re taking it too well!” 

* Last night you basically rotated between coven members as they all told you how happy they were you were with Edward now

* “Honestly I thought the nerd would never find the nerve” Emmett confided in you

* “Eleazer you’ll never guess what happened....we’re going to be brothers!” You had heard Carlisle tell Eleazer over the phone before breaking down into tears

* “Carlisle stop crying, the venom is going to make a hole in the floor.” Esme shouted before turning her attention back to you

* “So what colors do you like (Y/N)? I’m partial to gold and white myself-“ she said pointing the color combination examples in her wedding book 

* They were driving you crazy.

* “Carlisle keeps rotating between smiling and crying because ‘two kids are leaving the house’ and Tanya called to give me the most smug speech about it- I just need a break.”

* You sigh

* “Wait-did all of this happen after the party?” Bella asks with a smile creeping onto her face

* Before you can answer though, you see Edward walking towards you

* “We’ll talk about this later” Jessica whispers, not that it matters, going on the smirk on Edward’s lips he already heard everything

* “So Tanya called you huh?” He whispers in your ear when the others move ahead

* His breath fanning against your ear causes your stomach to flip. You’ve been around him so long, you almost started to forget how hot he was.

* “Yeah, she’s basically hoping I crush your heart so she can get revenge.”

* You’re mostly joking, but given past history, you know she wouldn’t mind if that’s how things turned out anyway

* “That’s fair.” He looks almost sad. What the hell happened between them to make him like this?

* You want to ask, but you feel like now isn’t the best time. Not when Jessica and Bella are a mere five feet away arguing about whether to see the jellyfish or penguins first

* So you do the only thing you can: You reach out and hold his hand, squeezing it slightly. Edward doesn’t say anything, he just squeezes back

* It’s a pretty nice day, Bella’s dad bought her a digital camera so you take a bunch of cheesy pictures around the aquarium

* “Oh try to get one like a shark is eating us! Like I’m in Jaws!”

* “You know they’re an endangered species and that stupid movie doesn’t help right?” 

* “There is no ethical consumption under capitalism Bella”

* Edward just makes a pained expression as he holds up the camera. All he wanted to do was go on a date with his significant other

* “Girls am I right?” Jacob asks, extending his bag of popcorn

* For a second you think Edward might hate him, but instead a smile arch’s onto his face

* “You have no idea.” He smiles, taking a few kernels.

* Aw, it’s Edward’s first human friend 💖

* You kinda wish you were the one with a camera now, or at least a smart phone

* Instead you settle for a grainy picture on your flip phone. They both look at you like confused puppy's when the shutter clicks 

* “Aw that’s a cute one” Jessica coo’s

* “You even got a shark in the back” Bella says pointing to a blurry gray blob in the background

* It’s a good day 

* You’re almost sad when you have to part at the end 

* “You sure you guys don’t want to come with us? Jessica’s dad is letting us have his reservation at the revolving restaurant in the space needle”

* You and Edward exchange a look

* “Nah it’s fine, I’m pretty sure Esme is wondering when we’re coming home” 

* “She’ll be pissed if we eat there without here.” You add for good measure 

* “Well alright we’ll see you at school tomorrow” Jessica says with a wave, and you smile

* “See you tomorrow”

* Looks like things are back to normal

* Edward drives on the way back

* You hold the plush sea turtle close to your chest as you watch him

* He really is handsome, chiseled cheekbones and full rosy lips. To add he has that mane of auburn hair, and that irresistible splatter of freckles across his nose 

* The prettiest boy you’ve ever seen

* “I can feel you staring” he says with a smile twitching onto his lips. Oh god you want to kiss that stupid smile right off his mouth

* “What went wrong with you and Tanya?”

* Way to kill the vibe

* “I’m sure Tanya told you all about it.” He shrugs. There’s that sad look again

* “I want to hear about it from you though” 

* And Edward might have denied you if your hand hadn’t found his, resting on top of it 

* He grins

* You don’t play fair, do you?

* He sighs, squeezing your hand while keeping his eyes on the road

* “I just...didn’t like the way she thought about me”

* “Like you were a piece of meat?” 

* He laughs

* “Like I was some charity case besides-“ he stops abruptly, looking at you before swallowing hard. “Never mind”

* “No tell me!” You lean forward cradling your hand intertwined with his against your chest and he chuckles, you really don’t play fair

* “ I didn’t-I don’t feel attraction to people unless-“

* He looks into your eyes, and you feel his fingers squirm against yours 

* “Unless we’re friends first” 

* Oh, he’s asexual. 

*Or  demisexual. 

* Somewhere on the spectrum for sure

* Is he coming out to you right now? 

* You give his hand a squeeze 

* “I get that.”

* You want to smack yourself. 

* The boy you love just came out to you about his sexuality and all you can say is ‘I get that’ 

* You feel so useless

* But Edward doesn’t let you feel useless for too long, he squeezes back looking at you with such warm eyes

* And again you can’t help but think that even though his heart doesn’t beat anymore, he looks so human

* He’s just pulled into the driveway at the house, the car parked. He’s about to say something when you cut him off, tugging him closer to you and placing your lips on his

* If he’s surprised he doesn’t show it, placing his free hand on your shoulder and leaning a bit closer to you 

* He’s so careful and gentle...and dazzling 

* He’s barely touching you but you can feel yourself seeing stars

* That thing he does with his tongue-it’s indescribable 

* Are you sure he’s a virgin?!?

* You can’t help the sigh that passes your lips when he pulls away. You’re still in a daze when he pulls you into his lap, one leg straddled on each side 

* His head is tilted back, an easy smile on his mouth. 

* You suddenly feel shy, that look in his eyes should be illegal 

* “So-“ you lean back a bit “do you-um-do you have feelings like that for me?”

* He tilts his head to the side in confusion and you gulp

* “Y’know sexually speaking” 

* He actually laughs at you

* Right there, when you’re only a handful of inches away from his face

* But you’re not annoyed, instead all you can feel is a rush of affection

* His eyes crinkle at the ends, his pearly white fangs sparkling as he grins. Your hands cup his face as he looks up at you with adoration 

* You can imagine the rosy blush that would light his face so clearly, the deep emerald green of his eyes. You’re almost starving for the image you see in your mind to be real

* He pulls you out of the image with a simple touch. His arms wrapping around your waist to pull you closer

* “I - like the rest of the entire student population at Forks High School- find you absolutely bewitching” 

* The way he says it makes you shiver, and Edward’s hand trails up your back. 

*He sits a little straighter, bouncing you slightly in his lap as he does, so you’re looking straight into his eyes

* “I find it hard to believe you don’t know that I have been dying inside everyday watching you walk around in those short shorts you love so much,” he whispers in your ear. 

*“That I haven’t been dying to absolutely ravish you .”

* You gulp.

* It’s all you can do when he’s looking at you like that

* If you thought Garrett’s bedroom eyes were intense, then Edward is on an entire different level

* You feel your heart stutter, butterflies erupting in your stomach...and something else

* A certain heat you haven’t felt in a long time

* You’ve never seen him look at anything like that, like he’s hungry- 

* Starving even 

* His lips brush against your neck, trailing down to your collar bone and you sigh

* He really knows everything about you doesn’t he? All your sweet spots, all your stories, every one of your secrets.

* Your hand trails up his chest, entangling in his hair and a low gasp tumbles from his lips

* And then your phone rings

* You hear him groan, and you shake your head

* “Ignore it” you mumble, your mouth meeting his once more 

* And you continue on for a few moments, until his phone rings

*He pulls away from you with a groan

* “Rosalie’s calling me a long list of profanities right now” he mumbles, you sigh pulling away to lean against the steering wheel 

* It’s probably for the best, no point in getting too turned on when you knew he was going to say ‘you should wait until marriage’

* Like honestly, he died, and you died, and now you live an alternative lifestyle where literally nothing matters anymore 

* But you’ll respect his wishes 

* “Guess we should go inside” You sigh, you move to get off of him

* But just as your about to crawl off, he tugs you to face him once more

* His thumb brushes over your cheek, and those deep gold eyes bore at you with that same intensity as before 

* He pulls you in for one last kiss, before getting out of the car and closing the door behind him

* “We’ll pick up where we left off later.” 

* (Y/N).exe is broken

* You walk to the house slowly, like humans do 

* “Are you ready?” He asks, holding out his hand

* You smile, placing your hand in his and nodding

* “Ready”

* So imagine your surprise when you and Edward get inside, hand in hand, to find the entire coven is laughing in the living room. 

* From where you’re standing you can only see Carlisle 

* “Ah your home! Come, I want you both to meet someone-“ 

* You move forward but Edward stays rooted to the spot

* Three people come into view, a woman with flaming red hair, a man -no older than 25- with rich mahogany skin, and a dazzling young man with hair the color of the sun.

* “Meet our new friends, Victoria, James and Laurent” 

* You turn to look at Edward, his mouth pinched into a frown

* Well F*ck 

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[honeymooneyy]

Valentine’s Day

context: Remus has been out since the beginning of the year, Sirius realized he likes Remus over winter break, it’s now valentine’s day 

James knew it was silly to be upset that Lily had a date for Valentine’s day. 

They weren’t dating - they were barely even friends. But watching Benjy Fenwick give Lily a box of pink chocolates during breakfast pulled at his heartstrings and he couldn’t help but sigh. Remus glanced at him before following his gaze towards Lily who was now laughing at something Benjy said. 

“Lily didn’t say anything to me about liking Benjy, it might just be a date because it’s Valentine’s day,” Remus comforted, bumping his shoulder against James’. “I can ask her about it later?” 

James smiled weakly, “It doesn’t matter, she wouldn’t like me either way.” 

“She’s warming up to you!” Peter weighed in from across the table. “She’s your partner in Potions.” 

“That was in the beginning of the year, not much has happened since.” 

“Maybe next year, mate.” Sirius just shrugged, glancing back at Benjy once more. “I thought he way gay.” 

“Sirius!” Remus hissed, glancing around to see if anyone heard. “You can’t just say that!” 

Sirius turned to him with wide eyes, “But I thought he was! ‘S not a bad thing, I didn’t know he wasn’t.” 

James snorted at their exchange, thankful for their antics as it improved his mood just a touch. Though he had been kidding around, Sirius caught James’ eye in a silent question and he offered him a smile in return. 

And though he tried to convince himself he doesn’t really care that much, James couldn’t help but watch as Lily left the Great Hall, her long red hair swishing with every step she took. Benjy was still next to her, and they seemed to be in some sort of intense conversation, but James decided to ignore him, instead focusing on her bright smile. As long as she was happy. 

Thankfully, Valentine’s day had fallen on a Saturday this year - so James could go to his dorm and not sulk instead of watching couples make out in every class. Deep down, he was glad none of his friends had dates, they could all be lonely together. 

Even though Sirius and Remus had been hopelessly pining, he knew they wouldn’t resort to making out in the dorm, so he was safe. And Peter, he knew he could always count on Peter to be mindful about stuff like that, even if he had no one to kiss. 

He had totally not been moping on his bed after dinner when Peter plopped down on the foot of his bed with a grin. 

When Peter didn’t say anything he asked, “What’s up, Pete?” 

“I know you’re sad, or not sad, or whatever. But that doesn’t mean we have to do nothing today! Remus had an idea, wanna hear it?” Peter asked hopefully, blue eyes twinkling. 

James couldn’t say no to him. “What is it?” 

“So you know that passageway that leads to Honeydukes? We were thinking of sneaking out and getting some fun stuff!” Peter waggled his eyebrows. “Like firewhiskey fun?” 

James brightened at the idea, “I like the direction this is going in. We going now?” 

Peter shrugged, “It only really takes two of us to make the trip. It’s easy for me to sneak in and get what we need, and someone to help carry it back. Remus volunteered.” 

James narrowed his eyes at this, leaning back to rest on his palms. “Why are you even asking me, sounds like you’ve got it all figured out?” 

“We knew you’d agree,” Peter assured, patting his shoulder and scrambling off the bed. “I think Sirius is heading back, we’ll be back soon!” 

True to his word, as Peter left the dorm, Sirius slipped in. In his arms were various different snacks for the night, and James smiled at the sight of his favorites. He helped Sirius lay them out on the floor, almost like a little picnic, sorting them out by each item. 

“Is this all because Lily has a date with someone else? I promise I’m not that hung up over it, we’re barely friends and it’s just a silly crush.” 

Sirius just laughed, tossing his dark hair over his shoulder. “Nah, we wanted to have some fun. Who knows what we’ll be doing for Valentine’s day next year. We ought to spend it with each other while we still can.” 

“And?” 

“Okay, and you looked downright miserable. Merlin, you’re whipped for Lily,” Sirius caved in despite the smile playing at his lips. He went back to arranging the snacks, shaking the hair out of his eyes. 

“Says you,” James prodded back at him. “Oh Moony, I love your vinyls, of course I’ll sing to you.” 

Sirius cheeks burned red at his words, “I thought you were asleep, you wanker. He was sad and tired and in pain, I was being a good friend.” 

“Right, because I sing to you in French when you’re sad?” 

“Why are we talking about me, what happened to Lily? You never had a problem talking about her for hours and hours and hours before.” 

“Exactly, we’ve heard enough about Lily. Anything new about Remus?” James propped up his face on his palm, watching Sirius. 

“I dunno. He’s still gay, I think that’s good,” Sirius started, obviously uncomfortable with where the conversation was going. “He’s not hanging out with a guy for Valentine’s day.” 

“You are so bad at this,” James groans at the lack of juicy information.  

“I’m sorry I don’t want to talk to you about boys!” Sirius exclaims. “Can’t exactly tell you about his looks and stuff.” 

“I have eyes. Remus is attractive,” James nods motivatingly. “C’mon, just tell me, I wanna know.” 

“Fine.” Sirius pauses, collecting his thoughts before chewing on his lower lip. “This is weird, but he’s gotten a lot more attractive since I realized I liked him. Like, he’s always been hot, ugh it’s so weird to say that out loud, but I dunno it’s different now. Maybe he’s always been like this and I just didn’t think about it?” 

“Mmhm.” 

“I noticed he blushes a lot nowadays. I can’t tell if it’s because of me or if it’s just something he always used to do and I didn’t realize,” Sirius murmured before mirroring James and leaning his face against his palms. “It’s really cute though.” 

“He doesn’t blush around me,” James smiled suggestively. “Maybe it’s something he only does around you.” 

Sirius didn’t really know what to say to that and kind of just stared at him before shrugging. “Blushing doesn’t mean he likes me. I mean, in the end, he’s my best friend. Anything I look into could be normal. I mean, you and I sleep in the same bed a lot, so what’s different about Remus and I doing it.” 

“I don’t sing to you in french, and he doesn’t read to me when I can’t sleep,” James reminds him with a pointed stare. 

“Oh my god, back at it with the singing? He said he liked it and it was after the moon, it wasn’t like that.” 

“You were in his bed with him and were singing to him.” James enunciates every word. “Are you blind?” 

Sirius swiped at his glasses, effectively knocking them off his head. “Says you!” 

Huffing, James grabs for his glasses and puts them back on, pushing back his dark hair. “Not fair. That was dirty.” 

“Oh hush, you drama queen.” Sirius rolls his eyes but it’s all in good fun. “Okay, I talked about Remus, now you tell me whatever it is about Lily that’s bugging you.” 

James finally gave in to his best friend. “Okay fine. I thought things were going okay, y’know? Like, she wanted to be my Potions partner at the beginning of the year. And I tried not to be overbearing or anything and I dunno, I thought we were kinda friends? And then she kind of just stopped?”

“Stopped?” 

“Like, she doesn’t ignore me. But she doesn’t seem much interested anymore. In being friends, I gave up on the whole dating thing for now. And then Benjy just comes in and they hit it off like right away. Kind of hurt, I dunno.” 

Sirius ponders what he said, nodding a bit. “I’m not sure, honestly, girls are kind of confusing. Moony’s really good with it, Peter too, his advice is the best. Maybe you can ask them when they’re back? There’s gotta be a reason, I don’t think she’d just shut you out for no reason.” 

“I guess,” James agrees, but he doubts they can say anything to make this situation better. Either way she doesn’t want to be his friend. 

Remus and Peter worked fast, because soon enough they were back with armfuls of drinks. Not all of them were alcohol, and James spotted a couple butterbeers in the mix. The weirdest though was this bright pink bottle Remus had tucked in the fold of his arm. 

“Did you get a love potion?” Sirius questioned, jumping to his feet to inspect the bottle. 

“No, it’s just a normal drink.” 

“But it’s pink!” Peter chipped in, enthusiastically. “Isn’t the bottle cool?” 

James smiled at his excitement, “Yeah, it’s cool, Pete.” 

Soon enough they had all sorted out the drinks and food and were lounging about the floor. A game of truth or dare had started up only to be shot down because there wasn’t much the boys wanted to know about one another for the truths. This time, there was more than one bottle of firewhiskey so the boys each had one, and it was working wonders. 

Peter had been telling some story when he ended up mentioning Lily, before turning to James with a sheepish smile, “Sorry, mate.” 

“You guys are horrible,” James groaned. “Acting like we just got divorced or something. I’m fine!” 

Remus shrugged, “It’s okay not to be fine. You’ve liked her forever, it hurts.” 

James felt as if he wasn’t just talking about Lily but didn’t say much about it. Instead he spilled the thought that’s nagging at him for the past couple days. 

“Do you think it’s because I’m-” James gestured to his face. 

The boys exchanged looks, ones filled with clear confusion. 

“You’re not ugly,” Peter finally spoke up, though his statement sounded more like a question.” 

“No, I know I’m not ugly,” James blew a breath out, dropping his head back against the footboard of the bed he was leaning against. “I meant that I’m not white.” 

A hush fell over the group at his words.

“I’m not saying she’s racist, or something,” James rushed to add in. “But I dunno, sometimes I think she’d give me a chance if I wasn’t brown.” 

“I don’t think it’s your race, more you being a prat,” Remus assured him. “I don’t think Lily cares about that sort of stuff.” 

James’ voice seemed small when he spoke, “Every guy she’s ever liked or been with was white. It doesn’t matter how attractive I am.” 

Sirius had scooted over next to him and threw an arm over his shoulder, squeezing his arm. “I think you’re overthinking this a bit. I mean, Mary’s black and they’re friends!” 

“Yeah, well she’s not going to date Mary, is she?” James shrugged off Sirius’ arm. “I’m not overthinking this. Tons of people don’t like people like me, it’s just a fact. I can’t ignore it.” 

Peter who had been quiet this whole time finally spoke up. “If she doesn’t like you because of your skin color, then you’re not missing out. Lily’s awesome, but she doesn’t deserve you, if that’s why.”

“See! Peter always has good advice about stuff like this!” Sirius points out, bumping his shoulder against James’. 

“I guess.” James just shrugged, eager to change the subject. “Anything new with you, Peter?” 

He began another story about something he overheard some fourth years talking about, and while James tried his hardest to listen, the alcohol and time weren’t on his side. At first, he decided that lying down and listening to Peter might make it easier, but it did the opposite. WIthin minutes his eyes had slid shut, face nestled in the crook of his arm. 

“Did he just fall asleep in the middle of my story?” Peter asked, thoroughly baffled. He leaned forward and was about to prod his forehead when Remus smacked his hand away. 

“Let him be. He’s having his own problems, let him sleep.” 

Peter agreed wordlessly, and Sirius scooted further away to not wake him up while talking. 

“Remus, you got an eye on anyone?” Peter asked, turning his attention towards him. “I haven’t heard you mention anyone.” 

Remus just shrugged wordlessly, and Sirius scanned his face for any signs of him lying. 

“No one?” Sirius questioned, his eyes zeroing in on the way Remus was fidgeting with the edge of his sweater. 

“Nah, no one. I promise,” Remus assured, raising his eyes to Sirius’. Sirius didn’t pull his away, silently challenging him. They stared for a solid thirty seconds before Remus broke it off, instead glancing at Peter. 

“What about you Peter? How’s your love life going?” 

Sirius tried his best to look at Peter but everytime he closed his eyes he could envision Remus’ warm eyes boring into his one, an eyebrow raised challengingly. Drunk Remus had a lot more confidence than sober Remus. As Peter began talking, Remus shimmied around before ending up lying on the floor with an arm behind his head, eyes trained on Peter. 

“Sometimes, I think I’ll never get my first kiss,” Peter sighed, pursing his lips. “It’s already fifth year, and I’ve never kissed anyone. I feel like it’s even more embarrassing the longer I go without it.” 

“James didn’t kiss anyone till Halloween,” Sirius supplied, trying to comfort him but it had no effect. “I don’t think it matters.” 

“But he kissed someone! What if I never kiss anyone, ever?” Peter covered his face with his hands with a groan. “I’m going to be seventy and still waiting for my first kiss.” 

“I’ll kiss you,” Remus offered nonchalantly, sitting up. “I’m good at kissing.” 

Peter’s eyes widened and he shook his head furiously, “N-no. Gay people are cool and all, but I’m not gay. No offense.” 

Remus snorted at the fact that he was apologizing for being straight. “Kissing a boy doesn’t make you gay. Think of it as practice so you don’t embarrass yourself when you kiss a girl you like.” 

Sirius looked between the two of them incredulously, “Peter, you’re not actually considering this are you?” 

Peter chewed on his bottom lip, contemplating it. “Er, I mean, it would be fast right? And no one would really know…” 

“That’s the spirit!” Remus grinned, seeming way too happy to help. He sat up properly, shifting around to perch on his heels. 

“No tongue, okay?” Peter looked awfully scared, but he crawled closer to Remus. “And do it really fast.” 

“Quit acting like you’re getting a shot,” Remus rolled his eyes before leaning in to place his lips on Peter’s. 

Remus didn’t touch Peter’s face or anything, but he did put a hand on his shoulder to keep him steady. He didn’t use tongue, but it definitely wasn’t a quick kiss. Sirius hated the way he couldn’t look away from the two of them, and honestly wasn’t quite sure what to feel - on one hand, it was the hottest thing he’s ever seen, on the other hand, he wished it was him who Remus was kissing. 

When Remus pulled away, he was smirking, looking very proud of himself. Peter was bright red and he leaned back with wide eyes, before returning back to his spot on the floor. He rubbed his lips against each other before shooting Remus a scared look again.

“I think some of his gay rubbed off on me,” Peter whispered, a blush still painting his cheeks. 

Even Sirius had to laugh at this. 

“What, was it that good?” Remus quirked an eyebrow, and his whole composure about it was so attractive - the way he had been so confident about his skills and how he had taken charge and, Merlin, the way he smirked afterward. Sirius couldn’t pull his eyes away, and then Remus was turning to look at him, catching his gaze. “You want one too?” 

Sirius immediately shook his head, cheeks heating up. “I’m good.” 

“Suit yourself. See, Pete, am I not a good kisser?” Remus turned his attention back to Peter who wasn’t quite as red anymore. 

“Well, I have nothing to compare it to,” Peter began but at Remus’ glare he shook his head, “Er, yeah. You are.” 

Remus grinned triumphantly, lying down on his back again with his hands crossed behind his head. The position flexed his arms and Sirius was once again staring. He knew he was being painfully obvious, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Remus was so attractive he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t do this. 

Peter broke the silence, “I think I’m going to bed. Should we just leave James there?” 

The three glanced at James who was sprawled on the floor snoring. 

“Yeah, I don’t wanna carry him into his bed,” Sirius decided, leaning over to pluck James’ glasses off his face. He folded them up and set them on the nearest table. 

“Cool, night guys,” Peter mumbled, stumbling over to his bed and shutting the curtains as the boys echoed him.

Remus made no move to get up so Sirius nudged his leg with his foot. When he didn’t reply, Sirius crawled over to his side, “Hellooo.” 

This time Remus just hummed sleepily so Sirius layed down onto the floor next to him, stretching out to stretch a bit. The plush carpet of the floor welcomed Sirius and he let out a content sigh at how comfortable the position was, no wonder Remus didn’t want to get up. Barely a minute passed before he grew bored, and turned on his side to face Remus, propping up his head on his hand. His dark hair fell into his eyes and he wrinkled his nose at it, as if it would help. 

“Stop staring at me,” Remus mumbled without opening an eye. 

Sirius scowled at this. “You can’t even see me. How do you know if I’m staring or not?” 

“Magic.” 

“Oh, shove off,” Sirius groaned, smacking Remus’ shoulder causing him to laugh. 

His laugh was soft as to not wake up the others, including James who was barely feet away from them, but was still joyful and it made Sirius smile. Remus’ face relaxed as he quieted down and he looked so utterly content that Sirius wished he could take a photo. It wasn’t often that he got to witness Remus so carefree and just simply existing, and Sirius reveled in it. 

“You’re still staring,” Remus reminded, a cocky smile pulling at his lips that made Sirius’ stomach flip. “Something on my face?” 

Sirius couldn’t be bothered to deny it, instead he brushed a finger against Remus’ cheekbone. “Freckles.” 

Usually Remus’ freckles faded as the cold crept in and would’ve been long gone by a normal February. Yet somehow, they had reappeared, lighter than in summer but still present, dusting his cheeks and nose. 

Remus hummed, “We took a trip to Spain over winter break and I found a spell to stop the fading.” 

At his words Sirius realized that he hadn’t been this close to Remus since long before winter break and that it had taken him a month and half to notice. Despite the fact that it took him so long, he loved them. Remus’ freckles were one of his favorite features about him, and to have them all year long made his smile grow. 

“They’re like constellations,” Sirius mused, letting his finger drift from Remus’ nose to his temple. Though the effects of the firewhiskey were fading, it still gave him a small confidence boost to even think of reaching out and touching Remus like that. He knew that Remus wouldn’t be so willing to be studied if it wasn’t for the alcohol. 

“See yourself?” Remus still had his eyes shut and the dull lighting of the room cast shadows of his eyelashes onto his cheekbones. 

Sirius squinted his eyes at the freckles, mentally going through every constellation he knew. He finally arrived at one and traced it out, “There’s Cepheus.” 

Remus didn’t flinch back but his eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Sirius, pupils blown out to adjust to the lack of light. Sirius realized with a start that his finger was absentmindedly tracing Remus’ face still and retracted his hand sheepishly. 

“Er, I should get to bed.” Sirius stood abruptly, turning towards his bed to avoid Remus’ eyes. “Night.” 

He had just sat down onto his bed and was about to pull the curtains shut when Remus called out his name, having stood up from the floor and hovering near his own bed. But when Sirius turned his questioning stare towards Remus he just swallowed. 

“Never mind. Goodnight.” 

The exchange was weird and Sirius wanted to ask what he was going to say but decided against it. Something about Remus’ gaze was unnerving, he seemed almost scared? 

What could Remus possibly be scared of?

[wisteria-lodge]

snake primary + slightly burnt snake secondary (some kind of built secondary model)

Hi hi hi!! Hope you’re well!! So tell me, is there a way to tell whether you’re a lion or a snake secondary beyond the actual “textbook” definitions? I think I’m pretty burnt, and I’m on my way to fixing that, but it would help to know where I’m supposed to be heading lol

(Btw, I’m a Sam coded Dean girl. I don’t think it’s relevant I just thought that system was both useful and hilarious and I’m so glad you posted that)

I also really liked how that turned out.

I’m pretty sure I’m an improv secondary. I think I’m bad at it, hence the burning, but it’s what comes naturally to me and what I would feel most proud of.

I end up planning for a bunch of things, and in some cases I don’t hate it.

Damning with faint praise.

Like if I’m giving a presentation, I open a word document and write down what I’m gonna say verbatim, even the language tics and pauses and hesitations and such, so it’s like I’m actually living it. Then I repeat the whole thing multiple times, amending it whenever I change something, until I feel like I’ve sort of gone through the experience already.

That is… the weirdest way of hacking an improvisational secondary. Because that’s what’s you’re doing. Improvisational secondaries need to be “in it,” so you get as close to that as possible in the prep work.

Then I scrap the whole thing and improvise when it’s actually happening – the result is often pretty different from the word doc

of course.

but I’m a bit more in my element because I’ve done it already and I know I can do it.

This is honestly a really good strategy to make yourself more comfortable with improvising? I can tell you’re unBurning, this feels very much like… training wheels, to me. Heck, I think I would recommend your method to another burnt Improvisational secondary.

I’m not sure, but I think that sort of thing is more built than improv?

Like, kind of? I’m autism spectum, and when I was younger I built a Bird model to help me feel more confident accessing my Courtier Badger. That’s what this feels like.

But I definitely feel like it’s a model I’ve developed to deal with social anxiety and my fear of failure lol. I didn’t do stuff like that before it got bad, and if I could deal with not doing it, I would.

I hear that.

In most other situations, though, I tend to jump right in and go with the flow. I really don’t think very far ahead. I guess I can if I try, when it’s just a matter of logic, but things like my life plans, my relationships, or even more short-term things like plans with friends or what I’m gonna eat or how I’m gonna deal with a task, I really can’t project into the future. I can’t really make decisions or see a situation clearly until I’m in it. Then I tend to make decisions very quickly, kind of on instinct, or whatever feels right in the moment.

You’re definitely an improvisational secondary.

(Actually maybe that’s a primary thing? I’m a snake primary, but I do have a very prominent lion model, and a bit of badger as well.)

Nah, that’s definitely an Improvisational secondary thing. I am curious about your primary though, because you say you don’t have too much in the way of life plans… and *that* is more where a primary would come in. You feel like a safe Snake to me (that is, a Snake whose people are safe) so there is a little bit of… what now? What is the Lion+Badger model you wear over the top interested in?

Point is, I prefer being spontaneous, even if it’s something important. Making plans and having to stick to them makes me feel trapped. I’m not the most constant person, and I like that about me. I want to have room to grow and change, even for the smallest things.

Completely, entirely fair.

Anyway, I feel like I’ve talked more about limitations and things I don’t want so far, but I guess that’s a burnt thing.

I mean, sure you’re a little underconfident, but you seem pretty far along to me.

I’ve seen you mention what’s really useful in determining a secondary is what you actually enjoy, so here goes. I like being in the moment, and I like being able to come up with ideas and solutions on the fly, by taking in the situation and using it to my advantage.

That’s very Snake secondary sounding language.

I think there’s a bit of a separation in my mind between “people things” and “being clever things.”

For “being clever things” (like… I don’t know, an escape room, a problem with an administration, a paper I have to write, video games, some kind of mystery…) I like to rely on being observant and quick-thinking, and if I can find loopholes or outsmart whoever I’m facing to win in an unexpected way, that’s even better (but really more for my ego than anything else, I guess finding the “normal” solution is okay, as long as you get there, it’s just less fun).

Hilarious. Yeah, you sound like a *confident* Snake secondary to me.

For “people things” (drama with family or friends, or if someone is being an ass, or if someone comes to me for advice on interpersonal things), I prioritize being straightforward and honest. If I have time to plan or if I’m giving advice, I might come up with something more sneaky and elaborate, but if I’m in the moment, I’m most likely to be really confrontational, stubborn and unyielding, even if it makes things more difficult for me.

Hmm. I am reading this as a Snake who likes being Neutral - especially those words “stubborn” and “unyielding.” There’s a reason Neutral Snakes are called “the unmovable object.”

If I catch myself, I try to avoid it, but that just means staying silent and removing myself from the situation – I can’t bring myself to make compromises if it feels like I’m betraying myself.

Okay, now that’s sounding more Lion.

To be clear, that’s almost exclusively with people I’m close to, or who are supposed to “know me”.

Oh okay. This is your secondary interacting with your primary. Actively lying to and misrepresenting yourself to Your People would be immoral to a Snake Primary.

With friends who aren’t in my inner circle, or acquaintances, or complete strangers, or authority figures, I might get upset internally if I’m perceiving a slight or injustice, but I can keep up the mask I need no problem. That being said, I don’t have a lot of patience for drama, so if whatever it is can’t be quickly resolved with a convenient lie or saying what works for me in a way they won’t mind hearing, I just stick to what I’m actually thinking and/or my neutral state (I’m not sure it’s accurate to use snake language here, but it feels like it and it’s convenient).

I think it’s highly appropriate and accurate. All that is reading very Snake.

I’ve seen a bunch of people say lion and snake secondaries are sort of at odds with each other, but I don’t really get the contradiction between them yet (as in, I don’t see why people can’t be both those “contradictory” things at the same time). I do mask a lot, and I enjoy it – I think it’s rewarding, and honestly it just makes sense – it’s what works best in that moment, and it feels natural to shift that way. I just don’t feel it’s a misrepresentation. The whole “it’s not cheating, it’s being clever” thing just feels a little too dishonest. Cheating is cheating, no need to be so smug about it. It’s not wrong, though, at least not always. If it’s hurting someone who doesn’t deserve it, then it’s wrong (might still do it if the alternative is worse, but that doesn’t mean it’s suddenly an ethical choice to make, it just means I’m okay with being immoral in that instance).

All that being said, I don’t think masking is being dishonest about yourself. I don’t think anything that comes out of my mind is “not me”, it just doesn’t work that way. The personas I have with different groups or people in my life are all genuine, it’s just that different sides of me are brought up. And if I’m acting in a way that’s actually not genuine, that mask is still my creation – if someone else were to come up with a mask for that same situation, it would be different, because their mind works differently. Everything you do is a reflection of yourself, and even if you were to try your best to be honest all the time, you’d never be able to show your true and complete self to someone else. You can’t even see that yourself.

Oh man. This is why I love writing these, and this is what I mean about Lion and Snake being so incomprehensible to each other. Because Lions fundamentally do not think this way, every word here is dripping with Snake.

It might be helpful to think of Lions as static. That’s how Shakespeare (who definitely seems like a Snake secondary…) writes about them, and he sees them as sort of tragic. Lions really do have a “core” persona that feels more true than all the others, and they really do exist in it as much as they possibly can. And feel good and moral about doing that.

And a mask’s point may be to deceive or to gain something, but being blunt and straightforward can be used in that way too.

You are literally thinking of “common Lion secondary presentation” as another useful mask, and it’s so Snake, and so fantastic.

I’m thinking this sounds more snake than anything else, so I’ll focus on why I thought I might be a lion too now. I guess the reason I’m on the fence is because these two are presented as “either you think the only way is through, or you’re looking for a way around it”, and I’m not comfortable saying I favor either.

That is *a* way to think about the two secondaries. But those are symptoms, not causes. The reason a Lion secondary feels that the only way out is though is because a Lion secondary must be themselves, or die.

My first thought was to say that I get more satisfaction from finding ways around a problem because it makes me feel cleverer and it’s more fun, but that’s because I’m zeroing in on certain types of situations (people giving me some intellectual challenge, debates, or video games). But there were also a lot of times where I stuck it out and kept going with pigheaded stubbornness, and got a lot more satisfaction out of that (physical challenges like obstacle courses, disagreements with my parents, winning over certain people).

Here’s where I think the confusion is. You’re a Snake secondary, and one of your masks looks very Lion. Note how you talk about using this “pigheadedness” with certain people, who you know will respond well to it.

In fact, I remember my father telling me one day “yeah, you’re never here to compromise, you just make decisions and inform us, and keep going while you wait for us to accept reality,“ and I actually can’t describe how proud and smug I was about that. Kind of insufferable, but I just get so euphoric when people see right through me and show they get me, even if it’s about the more annoying or bad parts of me.

I think that’s just a human thing. The mortifying ideal of being known is how you feel loved.

I remember a conversation I had with my ex after we broke up where she cut right through all my bullshit and discarded my whole mask to get right to my inner self and the core of certain issues, and even though I was still mad and upset, and kind of embarrassed that she could see me being vulnerable, I couldn’t help but be happy about it, because I felt known.

Yeah. <3

I don’t interact much with people outside of my inner circle, so I can’t tell if it’s entirely specific to them, but I really vibe with the “honesty is their strength” part of being a lion. That’s why my people trust me and rely on me so much, because even though they know how sneaky I can get and how fun I think tricking people is, they also know I default to telling the truth and saying what’s on my mind more often than not, because they’re my people.

I think that, as a Snake primary who mostly only interacts with Your People, you’re in a kind of unusual position. I know that the presentation of a Snake who feels safe can be blunter, can be more Lion-y. My experience with Snakes is… yeah, sometimes I know I’m being manipulated, or having my buttons pushed in a specific way. But I’m fine with it, because I’m one of their people, and I know they would never hurt me. That’s where the certainty is coming from.

Then again, I also have a “it’s not lying unless they’re entitled to the truth” attitude with basically everyone else. I just don’t think some people deserve to know me that way.

snaaaake

(lions are going to take the truth and PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE with it, and if you can’t deal that’s YOUR PROBLEM)

And “ideally”, as in, if I didn’t have anxiety and a bunch of other issues, I still don’t think I’d just be neutral all the time. Sounds boring. And inconvenient.

Snake secondaries are great.

Ahhh, should I even post this? I feel like my whole thought process before this moment of introspection was “so I really vibe with snake, but I’m also hotheaded and a bit of a bitch, so I MUST be a lion, right” lmao. I just think I’m a straight up double snake at this point.

Yep.

Oof, a long way from my original lion bird sorting back when I first discovered SHC hahaha

Yeah, I used to think I was a Badger Bird.

(For the record, I’m writing this in a word doc, and it’s almost 2k now. I haven’t checked how long these normally are, so I’m really sorry if this is too long!!! I’m like physically incapable of being concise I’m so sorry)

Sometimes I edit or re-arrange these slightly for a cleaning reading experience, but I’m having fun. I was engaged all the way though.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for doing these!! They’re super interesting and I’m sure it helps people a lot, and also it’s really cool to see how different people think. I’m a socially-challenged writer, so it’s useful to have that bit of insight into other people’s minds. Love ya <3 <3 <3

[gaemkyuu]

So...Boyfriend? Boyfriend.

Warnings: death of a loved one and grief. There is one mention to drinking a bottle of wine but all characters in the story are above the age of 21. A/N: this is based off a post @ah2113​ made a little while ago! I liked the idea and decided to write a cute fluffy piece on it! Hope you like it! “Reader and Charlie are best friends and they met on JATP. Charlie and the reader are in love with each other but don’t know. The readers grandma passes away and she calls Charlie, who is in a completely different state/country, in tears about the situation. Charlie feels horrible and completely drops everything he’s doing and immediately flies out to the reader and surprises them. He is with them throughout the whole viewing and funeral and meets her entire family. Everybody mistakens him for the readers boyfriend because of how much he is doing to help and tells the reader that he is clearly in love with them.”  Disclaimer: This is a FICITONAL writing piece! In no way do I claim characters in this piece act this way in real life. 

Masterlist *now taking requests ;)

So...Boyfriend? Boyfriend.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Charlie was in the middle of an interview when his phone started vibrating. Normally he kept it on airplane mode, but today he forgot. He quickly reached for his phone and saw her name pop up on the screen, losing focus for a brief moment on the interview. 

“Pardon me? Could you repeat the question?” Charlie was trying so hard to focus on the interview at hand but knowing he was on the last question, made it all the more difficult to focus when he knew she was calling.

“Charlie, the fans want to know. Are you single?” he chuckled but since he was distracted, he didn’t give a really good answer.

“Kinda” he regretted it as soon as it left his mouth and the fact that he started blushing made the situation worse! Thankfully the interviewer didn’t press any further into the matter and made a casual joke about it. They quickly wrapped the interview knowing that Charlie had another one scheduled right afterwards, but he had a few minutes to make up a phone call.

Amelie had worked on set for season one of Julie as a hair and make up artist and shocked many at how talented she was for her age. She got along well with the cast and would often hang out with them on their days off, but for some reason she gravitated the most to Charlie. Everyone often teased them about the chemistry they had and how they would make a great couple but both of them would laugh at the comments and deny any feelings towards one another. They were simply nothing more but really good friends.

Or so they thought.

Amelie was head over heels for the brunette and Charlie for her. She loved his smile and enthusiasm for life. She admired his work ethic and passion for what he did. She would squash every thought about being with Charlie because he was too good for her. She liked the weirdest things and entertained people with the most random facts. She could spend hours in an art and fashion museum, when most people could only spend so much time. Amelie saw herself as weird and knew that Charlie saw her as nothing more than a friend.

The opposite was true. Charlie loved her quirkiness and nerdiness around the strangest things. He loved that she was always so modest and humble, even though she had all the right to brag at how amazing she was at her talents. He loved how she was always up for trying something new and that she had an eye for fashion, design and art, but he knew she didn’t see him as anything more than a friend. That still didn’t stop Charlie from always being there for her.

“Charlie?” her voice came out in a broken and quiet whisper. He could tell that she was crying and he instantly felt his stomach drop. A few sniffles came from the other line before the voice spoke again. “She’s gone Charlie... Grandmaman is gone...” he could hear her voice start to shake again.

“Say the word Amelie and I am there” Charlie glanced at his watch,8:55pm. He had five more minutes until the next interview with the pop culture podcast from Sydney. This meant that it was 5:00am in London, where Amelie was working on Netflix’s newest series. “Ams?”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you, I just didn’t know who else to talk to...” she sniffled quietly not sure what else to say.

“What time are you leaving to get to set?” 8:57pm, he was running out of time. He saw the notification that the next interviewer had signed on to their zoom meeting.

“I gotta be on set at 7:00am so the van will be here to pick me up at 6:30am. It’s my last day on set, so there’s that” she sniffled again, feeling herself calm down with Charlie on the other line. She desperately needed him, but she couldn’t ask him that. He was doing press for season 2 of Julie and the Phantoms and he needed to be available, not off consoling his friend who was madly in love with him. 

“Amelie, listen, I have to jump onto the next interview, but try to get a little more sleep and drink some water. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done. When are you flying back?” Charlie felt awful having to hang up on her when he knew she needed him.

“I’ll be on the next flight out to Vancouver. Hopefully there’s a flight this evening back to Canada. My mom’s really upset and my siblings are rushing to get home for her” Amelie took a deep breath and listened to the frustrated sigh on the other end. He was probably annoyed that she called him. “Thank you for picking up Char”

“Anything for you Ams... I’m really sorry but I have to go now... If you’re busy when I call, can you let me know when you’re at the airport?” Amelie agreed and hung up the phone, flopping on the bed and a silent stream of tears falling from her eyes again. Meanwhile, Charlie sat in his LA bedroom, head in hands frustrated that he couldn’t be there for her.

***

Amelie watched out the window as the plane landed in Vancouver. She felt an anxiousness to get off the plane and be with her mom, but she knew she had to go through security and baggage. She didn’t notice that her leg was restlessly bouncing until the nice old lady beside her placed a hand on her lap. 

“Excited are we?” she smiled at her kindly and Amelie blushed, a little embarrassed. “I was once in love too. I get the feeling”

“Actually, I’m just anxious to be with my mom... My grandmother passed away yesterday and I wanna be there for her” the old lady’s smile changed to an empathetic one and she patted her knee.

“I’m sorry for your loss my dear... I lost my sister a year ago today. It is not an easy thing to grieve and I can tell that your soul feels heavy. You might want to think about sharing that load with someone” she smiled. A flight attendant interrupted their conversation letting them know that she had priority to leave the plane. The old woman then looked at Amelie and winked. “They’re letting us off the plane now honey. Thank you miss, but my daughter can grab my bags from the upper compartment, can’t she” baffled at the kindness of the old woman, Amelie dumbly nodded and stood to help her. As they made their way through the gate, an attendant was waiting for the old woman. “You can leave my bags with this gentle man” she smiled.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do that” the old woman took her hand. “Your mother is fortunate to have you as a daughter. Now go and be with her” Amelie smiled and gave the old woman a hug, and teared up a bit remembering her own grandmother. Wiping away a tear, Amelie said thank you again and headed off to get her bags. To no surprise, getting her suitcase was a gong show because they had to share a lane with another flight. By the time she got there, tons of people waited right by the carousel for their bags, making Amelie stand in the back and tippy toe to see a glimpse of her bag. She was fortunate that a man had helped her as she squeezed her way to the front, waiting for her bag. With a deep breath, she exited the doors and dialed her mother.

“Hello? Maman? What car are you in? Oh wait! I see it!” Amelie quickly rushed outside of the door at YVR to get to her mother’s vehicle. She was able to find a flight that evening and she left right away. The flight was long, but she was able to make it home to her mother’s side in 24 hours. She trotted over to her mother’s vehicle that pulled into the loading zone, flashing their hazards on, her mother getting out of the passenger side. Amelie stopped for a moment, confused that her mother wasn’t driving the car. Her mother quickly embraced her in her arms and both of them shared a tearful hug. “Who’s driving maman?”

Charlie stepped out of the driver’s seat and took Amelie’s suitcase from her, as she stood there with her mouth open. “Surprise?” she immediately felt a sudden wave of emotion wash over her and she jumped into Charlie’s waiting arms crying as he held her tight. She felt sadness and happiness while grieving over her Grandmother and feeling elated at the sudden presence of the boy.

“How?” she sniffled and pulled away, wiping her tears.

“Charlie knew how sad you were over Grandmaman, so he texted me late last night and flew in early this morning” her mother explained. Amelie’s mother knew of her crush on the boy and always encouraged her to pursue the relationship further, but she always insisted to her mother that they would be nothing more than friends. Her mother would roll her eyes at her daughter every time she said that, knowing that the chemistry and the feelings were there, but the two were just too stubborn to admit it.

“That’s what friends are for right?” 

Right. Friends.

***

After being picked up at the airport, they went straight to her mother’s house and helped her mom plan out things for the funeral. Naturally, Charlie became the chauffer, driving Amelie and her mom around the city to make various appointments with funeral directors and lawyers. Amelie’s grandmother gave birth to five children and never remarried after her husband passed away. Amelie had very little recollection of her grandfather as he passed away when she was quite young. Each of her mother’s siblings had at least three kids and each child had at least three kids, making their family huge. That didn’t include her mother’s cousins and their families, all of which would be flying in to attend the funeral in two days time.

Running around was an emotionally exhausting task, not to mention the exhaustion that came with grief. The two women were grateful that Charlie was around for them that day as Amelie’s siblings slowly started to get into town. He ordered pizza for everyone, knowing that all of her siblings would be in Vancouver in time for the funeral. Her grandmother was clear that she wanted the viewing and funeral to be combined into one day, not wanting to prolong her burial process, something that they honored. But with that request, it meant a lot had to be done.

Amelie had four siblings, all of which were older than her, making her the baby of the family. Her brother Benoit had moved to New Brunswick to live with the love of his life Maxime, and he was the second to arrive. He had work to take care of and unfortunately Maxime couldn’t get the time off. Benoit got along very well with Charlie, connecting over Dieppe and how it differed from Fredericton where Benoit lived with his partner. Her twin sisters Rachelle and Rene got into Vancouver right before dinner and actually carried the pizza inside while Charlie paid. Both sisters lived in Toronto, one training on the Olympic figure skating team and the other working in Parliament. Throughout the night, they joked about how cute Charlie was and how they were both single and didn’t mind dating someone younger. This annoyed Amelie but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone. Her third oldest brother, Theo, was the last to arrive, getting in way past dinner but before midnight. He lived in New York pursuing photography and had to finish a shoot before he could come home. Hearing this, Charlie asked him multiple questions about photography when they sat around their mother’s fireplace that night. It was nice to be able to gather as a family before the craziness of their relatives. French Canadian families were big, loud and full of personality, but Amelie knew Charlie understood this dynamic very well.

The next two days passed by in a blur with Charlie helping out wherever he could and sometimes locking himself in her mother’s office to do an interview or meeting here and there. Amelie was so grateful for him because every time she felt overwhelmed or that she was going to cry, he somehow made it to her side, comforting her and helping her be strong. Rachelle and Rene kept telling her to claim Charlie before they did, but Amelie would always insist that they were friends. But when her brothers got involved, Amelie couldn’t help but think that maybe her siblings were right. Maybe she should ask Charlie out, but how could she do that when her entire family was still dealing with the loss of her grandmother?

Just last night, Charlie sat up late into the evening comforting Amelie as she put the slideshow together on her Macbook. She could hardly look at the pictures or listen to the music without tearing up and having mini cry sessions on his shoulder, something he took in stride. It also didn’t help that she had consumed an entire bottle of wine...

In all honesty, Charlie couldn’t be more happy to be by her side at this moment. He knew how hard it was to lose a loved one, especially since he lost his grandmother before filming season one of Julie and the Phantoms. Being here for her was important to him and he wanted to show her that she could always come to him. When she passed out on his shoulder that night, he thought about how badly he wanted to be with her as he tucked her in bed. He loved how she snuggled into his shoulder as he finished up the slide show and he loved that she reached out for him and called his name in her sleep as he walked away. He kissed your forehead goodnight and hated the fact that he couldn’t just call you his.

A soft knock at the door interrupted Amelie’s day dream of her grandmother. She wiped the tears that have unexpectedly fallen from her eyes and took a deep breath. “Come in” her voice was shakier than she wanted it to be, but relief washed over her when Charlie walked in wearing a black dress shirt and tie. He smiled empathetically to her and approached her with open arms, something she gladly accepted. She inhaled his scent, burying her face in his chest, while he rested his head on top of hers. 

“You ready?” Charlie held her tight as he asked this question. This would be the first and last time Amelie would be seeing her deceased grandmother.

“I should be asking you that question” she softly giggled. Charlie would be meeting all of her relatives today, including her annoying cousin Madeleine. 

“You forget that I too have a big family. It’ll be fine. Plus, I’m here for you and not them” Amelie pulled away from the hug to stare him in the eyes, silently figuring whether now was a time to discuss her feelings or not. In the end, she decided against it and smiled softly at him, which he returned.

“Thank you for being here Char... It really means a lot” he chuckled and pulled her close for a second hug, something she would never tire hearing.

“Anything for you Ams. Anything.”

***

The funeral and mass went according to plan and soon enough they found themselves in the church basement with a slide show of her grandmother playing in the background, while guests visited the pastries and beverages being served. Amelie was occupied with the many questions her aunts and uncles had about her career and how she was doing, but she couldn’t help but worry about Charlie. Throughout her conversations with her relatives, she watched Charlie help out her mother with the pastries and beverages, stopping once in a while to entertain the younger cousins at the children’s table. She smiled at him gratefully for helping out so much, but grew a little nervous when her nosy aunts and uncles pulled him aside and started interviewing him. It seemed like he was handling himself fine, but Amelie felt even more confident when he made eye contact with her and winked. 

“Well if it isn’t the Hollywood superstar.” Amelie could feel herself cringe at the sound of the voice. It was Madeline, Amelie’s cousin. They were the same age and same stature, but they couldn’t be more opposite. Madeline pursued modeling at a young age and still continued to do it, but for some reason, she always felt that everything was a competition. Amelie wanted to simply be cousins, but Madeline would take every opportunity to upstage her or show off to their aunts and uncles. Amelie didn’t really care, but the more she didn’t the more vicious Madeleine became. At one point in their lives, Madeleine had moved to Vancouver for more opportunities and ended up living with her family. This caused a lot of drama between the two of them, including Madeleine dating several of her exes and bringing them to family events.

“Hey Mads. Long time no see” Amelie forced herself to be nice and polite, even though she felt her cousin didn’t deserve it. Her black dress was a little too tight and a little too revealing for a funeral, but she wasn’t about to bring that up. “How have you been?”

“Oh you know, living it up in Paris, traveling all over Europe for different modeling jobs. It’s exhausting, but I’m sure you know of it” anyone could hear the sarcasm and apprehension in her voice. Her aunts awkwardly moved away, making up some excuse about visiting other family members so that they could catch up. “How does it feel to be working on a children’s show?”

“I mean, I love what I do, so I can’t complain” Amelie bit her tongue before she could say anything rude. She never understood why her cousin always felt the need to announce how much better she was over her.

“So... optimistic. What’s it feel like to settle?” she felt the blood rush to her face, starting to lose control of her emotions. This was not the place or time to have this conversation, yet Madeline persisted. She took a deep breath trying to level herself and forced a smile on her face. As she opened her mouth to reply, she felt a warm hand hug her lower back and the slight smell of cologne fill the air.

“Everything alright babe?” she blushed at the name and gesture from Charlie, who kissed the top of her head. Madeline flushed and her eyes were as wide as saucers. “Oh hi, I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Charlie” he reached out his hand towards Madeline, keeping the other wrapped around Amelie. 

“Madeline. It’s nice to meet you Charlie. You’re an actor from the show that she worked on, right? What are you doing here?” Amelie could hear the faintest trace of annoyance in her voice, and shook his hand. Charlie and Amelie looked at each other, a cocky smile on Charlie’s face and slight confusion on Amelie’s. 

“I’m her boyfriend and I came to support her. I’m sure you’ve been dealing with the grief as well and I couldn’t let her go through this alone” part of what Charlie said was true, but Amelie couldn’t help but blush at the mention of boyfriend. No one had actually asked Charlie if they were dating, but a lot of relatives were beating around the bush. Apparently Charlie had said that rather loudly and some of the relatives started gossiping in a hushed voice. 

“Wow Amelie. I didn’t know you had such good taste in men based on your past partners” Charlie laughed at the comment, something Madeline didn’t suspect.

“I wouldn’t say I’m good taste, but Ams if definitely a catch” he gloated and kissed her cheek, causing Amelie to blush furiously. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I actually came over because your mom needs some help” if there was one thing Amelie could count on, it would be Charlie’s ability to read a situation and get her out of it. “Shall we, my love?” she nodded and walked away from Madeline flushed and confused, but also really excited. He moved his hand from her back to her hand, softly dragging her away from the conversation.

“Boyfriend?” Amelie whispered to him, inferring the comments he made to Madeline. 

“I know she ruffles your feathers, so why not ruffle hers?” Benoit interrupted Charlie, asking him if he could help put some of the tables from upstairs away. “You’re mom’s in the kitchenette, you can probably hide there for a bit. I got you a plate of pastries that I stashed in the back” she thanked him and watched him walk away with her brother. Before she could take another step, Rachelle and Rene linked arms with her on either side and rushed her into the kitchenette.

“So you’re dating now?!” Rene questioned and before Amelie could answer, Rachelle interrupted her. “When were you going to tell us this?!”

“About time” her mother scoffed, stirring another jug of fruit punch. “Okay you two, leave your sister alone to breathe for a second. Take these pitchers out to the table and find Theo. Make sure Tante Genevive hasn’t stolen him for a private photoshoot for Facebook” Amelie was grateful that her mother shooed the twins off and passed her the plate that Charlie put aside. 

“Thanks Maman” her mother smiled smugly at her, moving about the kitchenette. “Please don’t say I told you so” her mother made the motion to zip her lips as she giddily made her way around the kitchen.

***

That evening, Amelie’s family stumbled through the front door of her mother’s house, everyone retiring to their rooms for a short moment of relaxation while their mother ordered take out for a late dinner. They had stayed behind to clean up with a few other relatives and put away the church tables and chairs. Charlie didn’t complain a single time and rushed to do whatever he could to help everyone out. Charlie followed Amelie up the stairs to her old bedroom and shut the door behind him as she plopped onto the bed. Part of Amelie did this was because she was tired, but the other part of her did it hopefully to avoid the conversation they were about to have. Charlie quietly sat beside her on the bed and played with her hair, something she absolutely loved.

“So, about today...” this conversation was happening whether she wanted it to or not.

“It was really nice of you to stand up for me but you didn’t have to. I have no problem telling my family it was a small misunderstanding. It should stop them from blabbering to the media” She sat up and Charlie looked incredulously at Amelie confused at what she was saying.

“Ams, I don’t think you get it” again, she interrupted him before he could continue.

“No I do, I get it. You’re an amazing friend Char and you didn’t have to risk the rumours for-” she didn’t complete the thought because Charlie’s lips were suddenly on hers and she completely melted into them. It was like this tension that she never acknowledged left her shoulders, making her feel like she was floating.

“Do you understand now?” he searched her eyes for some sort of confirmation. “I really like you Amelie and I’ve liked you for a long time, but I’ve always thought you wanted to be friends”

“I wanted to be friends?! I thought you friend zoned me first!” he gave her a look for interrupting him. “Sorry”

“Regardless of what happened, being with you here and helping you and your family throughout all of this made me want to be a part of your life so much more. I want to be more than your friend. I know this is a bad time to say this, but I don’t think I can keep pretending that I don’t want to be with you” he held her hand in his and drew nearer to her again. “I really want to be with you if you’ll have me”

She closed the gap between the two of them and kissed him this time, something which Charlie gladly accepted. The two shared a simple but passionate kiss, as if they were confessing two years of secret feelings to each other. A bang at the door startled them.

“Put your pants on! Maman wants you guys to go pick up the take out!” Benoit yelled from behind the door. The two flushed at the comment and heard the snickers and giggles from the other siblings.

“So...boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend.”