#tip 1 to getting me interested in a series I guess: Give me a blond man

[wayfinderships]

Alright I gotta stop looking at characters from different games I plan to watch and/or play-I keep getting small crushes!!

[doubleleoenergy]

IV; BLUE BAYOU SERIES

Oh that boy of mine, by my side. The silver moon and the evening tide.

Series Masterlist

Pairing: TFAWS!Sam Wilson x fem!Reader

Summary: Sam and y/n build furniture and decorate his home now that y/n has moved in.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY; oral (male receiving), face-fucking, Daddy kink, spanking, LOTS of dirty talk, basically plot at the beggining section and PORN at the end.

Word Count: 4553

Author’s Notes: This just proves that 1) Sam and Bucky are the bestest of friends, 2) Bucky has got someone on the brain, and 3) I am a whore for Daddy Sam.

Two weeks after their bedroom escapade y/n tugs nervously on the end of her cream-colored cardigan, biting her lip. She’s finally finished getting ready in Sam’s bedroom, having tried on multiple outfits for him to choose between before settling on the pale blue floral print fit and flare dress, cream cardigan, and white strappy wedges. Her curls lay tousled down her back, her face fresh with a light coating of mascara and her favorite coconut flavored Chapstick upon her lips.

Today was very important, well, at least SHE felt it was important. Sam and y/n were going out to lunch to meet Bucky, his best friend and work partner. She’d heard plenty of stories about the ‘white wolf’ as Sam teasingly referred to him, had been briefed on his vibranium arm and to not be worried if he looks like he’s constantly pissed off, it was just his RESTING face.

“You look beautiful.” Sam came up behind her as y/n put her gold hoops in her ears, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the exposed skin at her collarbone. “If Bucky wasn’t such a stickler on meeting at noon, I’d strip you down…do those things with my tongue that drive you WILD…” A moan slips from y/n’s lips, turning around in his grip to wrap her arms around his neck.

“Well maybe if I don’t embarrass myself in front of Bucky, we can do all of that when we get back.” She plants a quick kiss to his lips, moving over to the bed to grab her crossbody brown purse.

“You’re not going to EMBARRASS yourself. Bucky is cool, and he’ll love you.” Well, he was cool NOW. Ever since their mission in New York and the cookout back in Louisiana that Sam invited Bucky to things had been MUCH better. Sam moved to the dresser to grab his wallet and his keys, stepping back over to grab y/n’s hand with his free one.

“I mean it, don’t worry. Besides, I didn’t even particularly LIKE Bucky until a few months ago, you’ve got no need to feel any pressure to impress him.” He plants one more kiss to her lips, tugging her towards the front door to get into his truck.

When they arrived at their favorite diner Bucky was already inside, sitting down at their usual booth in the back corner. He had tossed aside his leather jacket next to him, his eyes scanning over the menu as if he didn’t already know what to order.

The door to the diner chimed as they walked through, Bucky turning around with a smile when he noticed Sam. “You’re a minute LATE.” He announced, holding up his phone to show him the time. Technology was sweet now that he had it at his fingertips. Sam rolled his eyes, walking forward and embracing Bucky in a hug, patting his back as he did so.

“A minute is NOTHING, but I guess I should know better than to keep an old man waiting.” The two laughed together, letting go of the embrace before Sam motions for y/n to move next to him. “Bucky, this is my girlfriend, y/n. Y/N this is Bucky.”

Y/N watches as Bucky sticks out his hand for her to shake, the non-vibranium hand that is. She takes it in her small one, giving it a good motion up and down. “It’s nice to meet you, Sam has told me so much about you.” She chirps, finally taking in his features. His eyes were a DAZZLING blue, his smile wide, and his brows thick. He wore a grey t-shirt that looked a little too tight, showing off his muscular frame through the thin fabric. His vibranium arm, the one that Sam mentioned, was completely exposed but seemed to fit in with the rest of his appearance.

“Likewise, sometimes I have to tell Sam to shut the HELL up so we can actually get some work done.” He teased, letting go of her hand.

Bucky motions for them to sit, sliding back into his side of the booth with Sam and y/n sliding in across from him. As soon as they did a PERKY blonde waitress walked over, flashing a bright smile at all of them before settling her gaze on Bucky. It was clear she thought he was attractive, keeping her eyes on him as she pulled out her pad of paper.

“Hello, my name is MARISSA.” She gushed, tilting forward ever so slightly to expose her chest to Bucky. He paid no attention though, his eyes typing away at his phone.

“Black coffee, short stack of pancakes, side of bacon please.” He slid his menu towards her direction and she quickly jotted it down, a blush appearing on her cheeks. Bucky kept his eyes still on his phone.

“R-right, okay and uh, and what can I get ya’ll?” She finally looks at them and y/n can see a twinge of embarrassment on her face for having been ignored by the chiseled man. 

“I’ll have the breakfast burrito with an extra side of sausage and a coffee with vanilla creamer please.” Sam responds, plopping his menu on top of Bucky’s. Y/N scans the menu once more, turning her attention to the waitress. “I’ll have the Belgian waffle with strawberries please, and a glass of water.”

Marissa finishes jotting down their order, grabbing the menus and then looking once more at Bucky, a slight frown on her face, before walking away. Bucky finishes up whatever he was doing on his phone, setting it upside down on the table and moving his attention back to the pair in front of him.

“So, y/n, I heard you moved from Colorado. How are you liking it here during the summer heat?” Y/n tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, placing her hands in her lap. “It’s been great so far, it’s an interesting little town. PLUS, I have this guy by my side.” She playfully nudges Sam, eliciting a laugh from his lips.

He moves his hand to hers, gripping it under the table. “Sam says you two have a lot of fun together on your missions, do you have a uniform like him?” Bucky laughs, making his nose scrunch up on his face. “No, that’s BIRD-BRAIN’S thing.” He teases. “I’m what they call a super soldier, that makes me SO much cooler than Sam.” Another joke. Y/N seems to think this is a good sign. “But yeah, we do have a lot of fun on our missions. Some are harder than others of course, but we haven’t died so far.”

Marissa comes back with the men’s coffee and y/n’s water, eyes flickering towards Bucky again. He finally acknowledges her presence, eyes finding her nametag against her shirt. “Thank you, Marissa.” He affirmed. She walked away, giddy that Bucky said her name, as both men take a sip from their mugs.

“Well, whatever you do I’m sure it’s very important. Sam sounds lucky to have you.” She quipped. They seemed like a natural pair, their personalities seemed to mesh, ESPECIALLY their sarcasm. 

“Y/N is pretty impressive too; she’s got her PhD in sociology and teaches at Northwood.” Sam adds, a proud smile on his face. Being with her made him look BETTER and FEEL better, and he loved being able to show her and all her accomplishments off. A deep blush creeps over her cheeks at his words, squeezing his hand under the table. 

“Well that IS impressive, congratulations. Sociology seems like an interesting topic to teach. Are you a harsh professor?” Bucky questioned, raising a thick eyebrow in her direction. Y/N shakes her head, she DEFINITELY wasn’t a stickler like some of her colleagues.

“No, not harsh at all. I believe it’s important to get students PASSIONATE about what they learn in order bring awareness and CHANGE. I teach three different courses: Social Inequality, Racism and Inequality, and Toolkit for Activism and Advocacy. We have our required midterm and final, but most of the time is filled with lectures, documentaries, and discussions on the topics we cover.” Her eyes light up with passion as she talks, and it makes Sam’s heart flutter. Even Bucky seems to be enthralled listening to her.

“Well, if I were a student, I’d take one of your classes for SURE.” Their conversation is interrupted briefly by Marissa dropping off their plates, trying to get Bucky to notice her again but with no success. They start to chow down on their food, the sounds of forks and knives moving, and mugs being picked up and put down being the only sounds at their table. Eventually as their stomachs start to fill the silence ends, talking about some of Sam and Bucky’s favorite missions, what y/n’s favorite books were, and even their shared connection to the armed forces.

They finally finish devouring their brunch and Bucky sits back against his booth, arms spreading out over the back of it. Marissa finally drops off their checks, trying ONE last time to get Bucky’s attention but he’s distracted in conversation with Sam about their next meeting with Torres. Sam INSISTS on paying for y/n’s meal along with his own, and y/n decides not to protest this time. She’d get the next one.

Bucky pulls a wad of bills from his wallet, setting down enough to pay for the food and a tip before he stands up, pulling his leather jacket on over his tight grey shirt. They all thank Marissa on their way passed her to move out the door, the familiar chime going off as they step outside into the bright sunshine. Sam turns to face Bucky once more to give him a final hug.

“I’ll see you next week, noon on the DOT.” Bucky mumbles, and Sam can’t help but laugh, stepping back so that y/n can say her goodbye to him as well. Before y/n can decide whether it would be awkward to shake hands again or just nod in his direction, Bucky pulls her into his side for a hug, using his vibranium arm.

“It was great to meet you, y/n. I hope that Sam doesn’t keep you to himself forever, I’d love for us all to go out to a bar or something next time.” Bucky lets go of her side and y/n takes a step back, grabbing Sam’s hand in hers. “It was GREAT to meet you too. And sounds good, first rounds on me when we do.” She agreed.

Bucky turns with a quick wave of his hand, the couple turning in the opposite direction to head to Sam’s truck. The walk is short, and Sam moves instinctively to open y/n’s door before hopping in the driver’s side and starting it up.

“Well that wasn’t so bad was it?” He asked, his hand settling to grip her thigh as he drove. 

“No, not at all. He seems like an awesome guy. I’m sure it’s nice to work with someone you’re close with.” Her eyes turn to look up at him, head resting back on her seat. God, she’s so smitten with him and it’s only been two weeks. He checked every box, even checking boxes she didn’t even know NEEDED to be checked.

He squeezes her thigh, teasing her slightly. He cannot WAIT to get home and tear off that short little dress of hers. “Yeah it is nice, although, did you notice how HARD that waitress was trying to get his attention? I mean, usually Bucky is all sorts of flirty but today there was nothing.”

They both laughed, y/n moving her hand to turn the volume up on Sam’s Marvin Gaye CD. She had taken quite a liking to his taste in music since they started seeing each other.

“It was SUPER obvious. I wonder why he didn’t flirt back.”

The past two weeks were a blur, Sam having gone on another mission and y/n finishing up with midterms for her summer classes. In their spare time, y/n INSISTED that Sam needed to make his place more of a HOME. 

When Sam decided to move back to Louisiana, he had managed to buy a small two-bedroom, two-bathroom house a few miles down the road from Sarah’s place. After years in the service and moving back to civilian life, Sam still struggled with really making his place feel like home. Now that y/n was spending the night more often, enjoying the quiet that his house brought over the loud family that lived above her apartment, they felt it was time to UPGRADE.

Last week had been spent picking between paint swatches and painting the different rooms in Sam’s house, stopping frequently for some HOT sex on the hardwood floor. Sam had his bedroom furniture but was still missing living room furniture, kitchen furniture, and décor to tie it all together. At least, that’s how y/n put it.

They had just finished up their shopping adventure at IKEA, Home Goods, and Target, truck bed loaded with STUFF. Probably more stuff than they needed but y/n would make sure to return what they didn’t want.

“You know I’ll have to put together that kitchen table, chairs, AND the coffee table when we get back right? And the couch from Home Goods won’t even be delivered until Sunday.” Y/N smiles, rolling down the window and sticking her hand out, feeling the hot sun and the cool breeze on her skin.

“That’s fine, you can put that all together while I decorate everything.” She was excited, Sam was totally fine with letting her have control of the colors and patterns, really EVERYTHING.

Within a few minutes they had pulled up to the front of the house, Sam opening the bed of the truck so he can start grabbing the items. Y/N grabs a few of the bags, Sam shaking his head at her. “I told you, you don’t need to carry anything in, I got this.” Her brows furrow, setting the bags in her hands down in the empty space of the living room and following Sam back out the door for another load. “I’m COMPLETELY capable of carrying some of these. Besides, I have to catch up to YOUR physicality still.”

Sam laughs, tugging her against his waist and kissing her passionately. “You don’t need to catch up, your body is already HEAVENLY as it is.” He should have used the word SINFUL instead, the things she did to him. He shakes his head to get the thought out of his mind, grabbing the box with the parts to the table and carrying it over his shoulder.

Once they finished unloading the truck Sam got to work putting together the coffee table while y/n emptied the items from the bags, sorting them on the floor for the areas they would go in. She took the different canvas pictures they had picked, holding them against the wall of the living room to decide where she wanted to hang them. Once deciding on the perfect spots, y/n grabbed the step stool, nails, and hammer and got to work. The canvas pictures they chose for the living room were an ombre style of blues that would pop well against the cream-colored wall.

After they were hung, she stood back, closing one eye and then the next to check on their levels. “What do you think?” She asked, turning to Sam for approval. He had made quick work of the coffee table, screwing in the last few spots and jiggling it to check its sturdiness. “The table’s done.” Sam stood up and eyed the paintings, nodding his head. “Those look PERFECT there. I’m going to move on to the kitchen table and chairs while you work in here.” He placed a quick kiss to her cheek before moving into the space of the kitchen, opening the box and laying out all his parts.

With the coffee table done, y/n moved all the items purchased to the far side of the room, giving her plenty of space to roll out the new navy colored rug for the area. She made sure it was flattened properly before dragging over the coffee table, carefully setting it on top. Once she’s finished, she fans the coasters they had purchased on the table before moving to look through the other décor pieces they’d chosen.

Y/N was having so much fun letting her creativity out. It wasn’t long before she was moving all over the rooms, placing a framed picture of his nephews here and another framed picture of him and y/n there. It was all coming together, throw pillows added to the bed with a few others set aside for when the couch would arrive, more picture frames with photos Sam had chosen of family and friends scattered throughout the house. New rugs, shower curtains, and towels in both bathrooms.

While Sam finished up the last chair for the dining set y/n put together a floor lamp for the living room, moving the other side lamp to the bedroom before walking around each space and making sure everything was in its proper place. There were a few items she had chosen for the space that didn’t quite work once she finished including another colorful canvas, a fake potted plant, and some extra throw pillows that she didn’t end up liking for the bedroom. Those were put away in a bag by the door waiting to be returned.

“Babe, what do you think?” She turns her head in Sam’s direction, calling for him to look at what she’s done while he busy was putting the furniture together. Sam brushes off his hands, standing up and walking from room to room inspecting her work. He had to admit, the place looked MUCH better. The best touch was all the framed photos y/n had printed and scattered throughout the house. With the changes she had made it really DID feel like a home.

Sam moved last into the living room where y/n stood, taking in the rest of the décor. “I…” He cleared his throat, hand nervously scratching at the back of his neck. He hadn’t felt this before, this PERMANANCE. The house was the first step, the roots that were grounding him here, and now everything seemed right. Even his old place that he’d been in when Steve and Natasha first visited him hadn’t made him feel like this, feel this HAPPY to be in his space.

“I love it, I can’t thank you enough for all of this.” She can tell he’s holding back tears as he speaks and she shushes him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

“Hey, it’s OKAY. I’m just happy you like it. I know how hard it is to make a place feel like home.” Growing up after her dad passed NOTHING really felt like home. Colorado was the closest she came to that, but it still wasn’t the same feelings she had when she was little and her father was still alive.

Sam wrapped his arms around her waist, bending his head down to nuzzle against her neck. “Of course I like it, I love everything you do. I love…” He trails off, moving his head back up to meet her gaze.

“Baby I…I LOVE you. And I don’t want to be afraid to say it. I want you to know that and I want you to know that this is your space too.” Y/N’s cheeks hurt from how big she was smiling at his words. “I love you TOO. So much Sam.”

He clears his throat, a hand coming up to rest on her cheek. “Which is why I was hoping that maybe you would be interested in getting out of your lease a bit early to…move in with me?” He doesn’t know what the point would be of setting up the house to be a HOME without her in it. He wanted it to be their home, together.

“I-Of course I want to move in. I mean, yes, I will.” She laughs, pulling him in for a kiss. His hands move under her ass, scooping her up in his arms. He was so HAPPY, their lips dancing along each other’s as they continued to kiss, his teeth jutting out to bite down on her bottom lip, eliciting a moan from her.

“How about we make sure that kitchen table is STURDY?” He asks, moving his lips to pepper kisses down her neck. He walks towards the table, y/n still in his arms, setting her ass down on the top he had just built. The table stays still under here weight, her fingers moving down to the hem of his shirt to pull it off. She trails her nails down his chest, marking the skin gently and watching as the marks faded.

“Baby, you always do so much for me, want to make you feel GOOD.” She scoots back against the table, looking at him with lustful eyes. “Strip for me please.” Sam does as he’s told, tugging down his jeans and boxers and kicking them across the floor.

“You always make me feel good.” He responds, licking his lips. He watches her as she slips out of her tiny jean shorts and panties, tugging her coral tank top over her head. She slowly unhooks her bra, tossing it aside, leaving her naked on the table, THEIR table.

“I know, but I want to thank you for how well you treat me, want to show you how much I LOVE you.” It felt good to say it, as she had been wanting to since meeting Bucky two weeks ago. His eyes rake over her body as she moves her back flat against the table, her head moving to hang off the side towards. “Want you to use me, Daddy.” She purred, her voice dripping with desire saying the nickname he LOVED in bed. “Please come fuck my face Daddy.”

Sam groans, his cock twitching and erect against his chest. She was splayed out on the table, head back and ready for him to FUCK. He moves closer to her, stroking his cock until it was inches from her face. “Open your mouth baby.” She does as she’s told opening wide as she feels his cock sliding in inch by inch. Her head is throbbing a bit from hanging upside down, but she didn’t CARE. His sliding inward stops when he hears her gag around him, moving out so just the tip rested on her lips.

“Shh, baby, relax your throat, let Daddy all the way in.” Y/N takes a deep breath, opening her mouth wider for him to push inside, enveloping him with her lips. SLOWLY, continuing to breathe, she feels him bottom out at the back of her throat, a groan of approval leaving his mouth.

He picks up a slow rhythm at first, pulling back so just the tip is in her mouth before shoving his cock all the way in the back of her throat, watching how he looked all the way down her throat. “Fuck baby, that mouth is PHENOMENAL.” Sam picks up his pace again, his balls slapping on her nose as her saliva drips out of her mouth and onto the floor.

“Put your hands on your pussy baby, want you to play with yourself while I USE you.” She moans around his cock, her hand moving down to her core, rubbing her fingers against that perfect bundle of nerves. Sam watches her, slowing his motions slightly. “Fuck yourself on your fingers baby, want you to warm yourself up for Daddy’s cock.”

Her fingers move between her lips, pushing inside the wetness. She adjusts to them before pumping them in and out, continuing to lap at Sam’s cock that is now hanging above her mouth. Sam watches for a few moments, loving the way she’s splayed out for him on their new kitchen table.

“Fuck, you’re so fucking pretty, I can hear how wet you are while you’re fucking yourself.” He moves his cock straight down her throat one last time, causing her to cough before he pulls completely out and steps back. “Get up and turn AROUND, put your ass in the air on the edge of the table.”

Y/N rolls her body over, saliva dripping down her face and neck as she did. She turns around, backing up until her ass is high in the air, feet hanging just slightly over the edge. “Yes Daddy.”

Sam moves forward, gripping her ass in his hand before giving the tanned skin a spank, y/n letting out a small whine at the pain. “Look at that pussy, so wet. Do you want my COCK inside you baby?” He teases his cock against her folds, a shiver of pleasure running down her spine.

“Fuck, yes Daddy please, want you to fill me FULL of your cock.” Sam smirks, one hand resting on her back, the other guiding his cock inside of her until he bottoms out. A groan escapes his lips, pulling his cock out of her pussy before slamming back into her again.

He continues to fuck her, a slew of cuss words and thank you leaving her slips. Sam moves one hand up her back, fingers gripping a fistful of her hair and pulling her head back and her face up off the table. “Oh my god.” She cries out, eyes rolling back into her head. He’s pushing in and pulling out of her core, tugging her head back with each thrust.

“That’s it baby, you look so PRETTY on my cock, god I love you so much.” She whines again and he pulls her hair harder with another TUG. “Fucking you stupid huh? Are you becoming stupid on my cock, can’t even speak?” He pulls her head back, lips inches from her ear. “You’re Daddy’s dumb baby, aren’t you?” That familiar feeling inside her chest is building up, her breathing ragged. “Yes, Daddy, I’m your dumb baby, please let me cum. PLEASE.”

He lets go of her hair, letting her body fall back onto the table. “Yes, baby cum for me. Show Daddy HOW much you love him.” Within seconds her orgasm is ripping through her body, walls clenching tight onto his cock and she comes undone. “Yes, thank you Daddy!” He fucks her until her body calms down from her orgasm, pulling out and spanking her ass once more.

“Get down on your knees for me baby, want to cum inside that pretty MOUTH.” Y/N moves down off of the table, getting onto her knees in front of him and opening her mouth wide, sticking out her tongue. Sam moves right above her, stroking himself until he comes, coating her mouth and tongue with his stickiness. “Fuck, you can swallow baby.” She shuts her mouth, swallowing down the salty cum before he pulls on her chin, instructing her to get up.

When she does Sam immediately wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. “You’re SO sexy. I love YOU.” He proclaims, fingers running through her hair. She curls into him, letting out a breathy laugh. “I love you too.” She looks back at the table then back up at him with a smile on her face.

“Guess the table’s sturdy enough.”

[soyouthinkucanwrite]

Chapter 1 - intentions, a Tom Holland series

The name of the series is super random, don't mind me. No warnings. Reader is a postgraduate student at NYU, made a docuseries on her research and the show got picked up by Netflix. She goes on press tour and meets Tom on a ‘chat show’. This could be an amazing few days or more? It’s been interesting writing how they’ll deal with distance and tight schedules once ‘honeymoon’ is over...

(y/f/n) = your first name

(y/l/n) = your last name

(y/n) = your name, complete or not

1.8k words

Chapter 1 - A new city

Chapter 2 - Show time

Chapter 3 - Unexpected texts

Your docu-series was doing better than anybody expected, well, anybody but you, it was a project that you really believed in. You sold the first season to Netflix with its 10 episodes shot all in NYC and they premiered with almost no press or promotion. But still, the wholesome moments and captivating stories had already become viral and people were so impressed by you. The text was amazing, and your improvisation and good mood lifted the spirit of the whole thing, making it the new feel-good show everybody was binging and talking about.

Better late than never, Netflix decided to promote the show and so they sent you to give interviews and go on talk shows. You still didn’t have an agent, something that you were in desperate need of, because your phone was blowing up all the time with offers for publicity deals, new interviews, and even some job offers. You couldn’t think about that now, you had to focus on making this “press tour” the best possible so, in the next meeting with the Netflix executives, you could close at least two more seasons for your show (and maybe score some other deal for yourself). With all this, you still had to worry about grad school (you still had at least one more year ahead of you until you get your PhD, if you managed to get time to write the dissertation)! You’d have lost your mind for sure, if it wasn’t for your producer and partner in business, David. He was helping you schedule everything and organizing talking points for the promotion tour, but ultimately you were the face of the operation. Fair is fair, that’s why you got to find an agent ASAP.

Currently, you and David were in London for the last bit of the trip, after tomorrow, you guys were going back home to NYC. One thing at a time, you thought to yourself while he talked on the phone with his fiancé outside of the coffee shop you guys were grabbing a bite at lunchtime.

You looked outside the windows, this was your first time in London and you couldn’t stop thinking about how it looked exactly like everything you ever imagined but so much more at the same time. Just like NYC, in that sense. You smiled thinking about maybe shooting a season here someday.

“Hey! Did you order something?” David snapped his fingers and to get you out of your trance.

“Huh?” you looked up.

“Earth to (y/n)? I thought you were hungry?” He laughed at you.

“Sorry, but common, look at this city! You can’t blame me for getting hypnotized.” You answered while he went straight to the counter to order some food and beverages for you guys.

“Yeah, it's beautiful. But this weather, how can someone function with this much moisture all around? Is like the air is heavier.” He said sitting back.

“The air is heavier because of the pollution, probably.” You joked back. You always loved big cities, but that didn’t mean you’d close your eyes for their problems, you just had a better tolerance for this kind of stuff. “How’s Lukas anyway? Everything alright back home?” You asked.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. He’s just touring wedding venues. He was really happy with the sudden budget increase.” He answered.

“Well, if he waits long enough, his budget might get even bigger. Speaking of which, we got to talk to some layer about that meeting next week. I think we’d be smart to go in there with our terms very well thought about.” You said.

“Right. I’m looking into it. You worry about finding that agent. One thing is the show, the other is your image. And something tells me the more you’re valued in, the more we can negotiate for the show.” He reasoned while the waitress walked towards the table with two plates.

“Own! Is so sweet to have a friend looking out for me!” You joked and threw a napkin at him.

“I am! You’ll see that when your huge face it's on Times Square and you’re closing the deal on some penthouse at 5th.” He laughed.

You shook your head and rolled your eyes at him. David was sweet, but he wanted nothing to do with the celebrity part of this project of yours and you knew he said this kind of stuff in a condescending kind of way. He wasn’t wrong, but you also couldn’t say you didn’t enjoy the attention you were getting because of the show. Maybe he didn’t felt like that because he had Lukas, but you were more than ok to take a few selfies with strangers and doing some photoshoots here and there. You liked the attention, but as long as you were concerned, penthouses and money deals weren’t included in your idea of happiness. Regardless, everything was so new and fun. Thrilling, if you didn’t spend too much time thinking about it.

“Is everything ok for later? Is just this one today, right? Then Radio One tomorrow morning?” You asked him before taking a bite of your sandwich.

“Yes. Yes. And yes. Mary sent your clothes straight there and someone from the show will make your hair and makeup. I think we should go right after here? We’ll have some time to kill there, but I think we can hang out backstage.” He answered.

“Oh, I don’t know. I was thinking maybe we could walk around. Get to know the city? Maybe visit-”

“Excuse me?” You were interrupted by two girls, apparently close to your own age.

“Hi!” You answered happily, but you could see David recoil in his seat (probably already expecting to be asked to snap the picture).

“You’re (y/f/n) (y/l/n)? From that Netflix show?” One of them asked the blonde one.

“Yeah…its (y/l/n), actually, but that’s fine!” You laughed and tried to be friendly.

“Oh! Sorry! We thought the show was so cool and you’re so beautiful!” The other friend said, the one with black roots and blueish tips.

“That’s sweet! Thank you for telling me! David helped me produce it, did you know?” You pointed to the guy extremely uncomfortable in front of you. You loved messing with him.

“Hi.” He said uncomfortably. There was an awkward silence.

“Anyway, would you mind taking a picture with us?” The girl with blue hair asked you.

“Sure! No problem!” You answered quickly and got up to pose.

After you guys took some selfies and David took some pictures of the three of you, you insisted he was in the shot too and the girls agreed politely. He wanted to kill you, but you didn’t care, you were only messing with him. How often you had the chance anyway?

“Thank you so much! Bye!” They said as they left you two to finish your meal.

“If only every teenage with a phone was this civilized,” David said grumpily.

“You complain too much. They were sweet! And they liked our show! That’s awesome!” You seated back.

“I guess that’s pretty great.” He smiled at you. But his smile died once he looked at his clock.

“Anyway, finish eating. I don’t think we’ll have time to even hang around backstage. They told me we’d have to be there at 3” and its already 2’30!” He told you while signaling the waitress for the check.

When you got to the studio, which was in central London luckily and not far from where you guys had lunch, there was a corridor with some doors and your name was in one of them. The Graham Norton Show was super fun and guests sat together on the same couch while being interviewed at the same time. You hadn’t even thought about who the other guests would be yet, but you had to put on the outfit that Mary, the Netflix stylist, had prepared for you and get your hair and makeup done.

“Hey! Can you find out who the other guests are while I change?” You asked David.

“Sure! I’ll be right back!” He answered opening the door and letting a small middle-aged woman inside.

“Hi!” She greeted him. “I’m Rosie. Here for makeup and hair.” She announced.

“Hi! I’m (y/n)! I’ll just change real quick, do you have a cape we can put over the outfit so it doesn’t get dirty?” You asked already undressing in front of her, David was long gone by now.

“Sure, sure. We have to be quick though darling, you’re going on in 30 minutes.” She said opening the little suitcase on the counter under the mirror.

You put the dress on and sat on the chair in front of the mirror.

“You can keep it simple, all the way. I get more nervous if the hair and makeup are too pretty, afraid of ruining it with my movements and sweat. Which of course, only makes me move and sweat more!” You laughed, trying to make conversation and relax.

“Relax, you’re already beautiful! We can just make some curls and after I’m done with your skin, a good eyeliner and pink lips?” She asked. You were glad she was nice and chill about it.

“Sounds perfect! Do you know who the other guests are? We were kind of squeezed in today.” You laughed again.

“Oh! Yeah! Its -” She started to say but was interrupted but David coming abruptly inside.

“Ok! Don’t freak out!” He said.

“I already am! Why would you come in like that? What is it?” You asked already freaking very much out.

“Its Tom Hanks. And -” He said.

“WHAT? Are you serious? What the hell man?” You tried to move but Rosie pushed you back on your seat.

“Yeah. And Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland. And Stormzy is singing later. They’re promoting Spider-man and Hanks is here for the new Toy Story.” He explained.

“I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m going to die.” You mumbled.

“Well, which one it is darling? I’ll just add some more blush anyway.” She laughed at your reaction.

“Fuck David, they must really be betting on us. Why else would they put us on the same couch as Tom Hanks and those guys? Super-hero guys!” You reasoned with him.

“I was thinking the same thing…” He started to talk but he noticed your expression.

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Relax! You’ll be great! You’ll do great! They were really excited to meet you actually! They love the show!” He told you trying to calm you down.

“Oh, man! What? They’re out there? And they want to meet me? And I’m in here? Oh boy, they must think I’m so rude!” You thought out loud.

“No! No! I told them we were late and you had to get ready. Yes, I chatted with Spider-man and Bumble Boy.” He gloated.

“Bumble boy?” You laughed at him but thanked him with your eyes because you knew he was just trying to distract you. There was a knock on the door and a stage assistant pecked inside.

“Hi! Is Miss (y/l/n) ready? We’re starting in 5 minutes.” She said.

“All ready!” Rosie answered.

“Oh lord. Thank you Rosie.” You were freaking out but didn’t want to forget to thank her.

“Oh! I forgot to mention. Gwyneth Paltrow is here too.” David said before running out of the room.

“WHAT?” You wanted to chase him but were scared to fall from low blood pressure.

[wulfrann]

A wingman winged (Palmetto by the Sea part 1)

All for the game

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationship: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten & Allison Reynolds, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (side)

Additional Tags: AU - Modern Setting, AU - No Exy, First Meeting, Eden’s Twilight, Neil ‘Best Wingman’ Josten

[Part 1 of the Palmetto by the Sea series - Chapter 1/1 - 3k words - Published 2020-12-10]

Summary :

It's a Saturday night at Eden's, and Allison needs Neil's help to approach the object of her long-suffering crush - that is to say, she needs him to distract the girl's intimidating friend long enough that she's able to approach in the first place.

(TW: alcohol, sexual harassment (short-lived), brief display of violence, smoking)

[Read on Ao3]

*

A wingman winged

The music thumps the ground in rhythm, low and deep like a pulse as it throbs through the club and reverberates into the bodies twisting as one on the dance floor. Eden’s Twilight isn’t really Neil’s scene, but the dark aesthetic and ever-shifting neon lighting make it easy to blend in. The shadows bend and stretch over his scars, reducing them to odd tattoos at first glance - and he makes sure he never gets a second. The clothes he’s wearing are nice enough and all black, but neither form-fitting nor revealing. Standing next to Allison’s brand of tastefully flashy clubwear, he’s no more than a foil. Seduction is her domain, and she thrives on it.

Which is what makes the fact that she’s asking him for help absolutely baffling.

“I’ve seen you wrap more than half this crowd around your little finger like it was nothing. Why can’t you just do the same with her?”

“You don’t understand,” Allison repeats for the third time that night. She has her chin in her hand and is leaning over her drink, swirling the expensive cocktail around with her straw. “I’ve tried everything, and the most I’ve gotten is for her to look at me. She hasn’t even tried to buy me a drink.”

“Have you tried talking to her?”

Allison scoffs. “I don’t set myself up for failure. She’s given me no sign that she’s interested. Besides, that little troll of a man she keeps around would probably bite me if I tried.”

Neil snorts at that. He’s seen the man in question glare people away, from both himself and his friend, all evening - on one occasion, he’s almost certain that the man even pulled out a knife. There’s no mistaking the way that the light glinted off of the blade, not even from across a crowded nightclub. Neil would recognise that brief flash anywhere.

His friend though, she looks friendly enough. White hair dyed rainbow at the tips, a silver cross, a few piercings. She’s wearing a black dress that wouldn’t look out of place in daylight and a soft smile that Neil is tempted to believe is fake just because of how earnest it looks. She’s also got the muscle structure of an athlete, a fact which Allison has reminded him of enough times that he’ll probably never be able to forget.

“Couldn’t you just accept your defeat and move on?” Neil tries, but he’s known Allison long enough that his heart isn’t in it. She’s never been one to give up.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Have you seen the arms on her? I’m getting her in my bed whether her little bodyguard likes it or not.”

“What if she’s straight?”

Allison shakes her head at him in that way that means he’s failed at some kind of social task and starts to count her points off her fingers. “Neil, the woman is ripped, has an undercut, rainbow hair, and armpit hair.”

“How do you know-”

“I have eyes. Besides, that blond troll she always comes here with is definitely gay, and everyone knows queer people travel in group.”

Neil throws a skeptical glance towards the unlikely duo, but doesn’t argue. None of what Allison listed strikes him as particularly telling, but he’s been told that his ‘gaydar’ is ‘absolutely abysmal’ on numerous occasions by about everyone he knows except Kevin, who's just as bad as him if Allison can be trusted.

Neil might as well accept his fate. “What do you want me to do?”

Allison grins at him. “I knew you’d see it my way.”

*

Locating the two of them isn’t as easy when he’s not sitting on the upper level but standing right here in the crowd, surrounded by people and blinded by the rapidly changing lights. Years of hyper-vigilance end up paying off once he’s gotten his bearings right, however, and he starts making his roundabout way towards the section of wall they’re leaning on. The man is sipping on some kind of drink and staring blankly into the distance while the woman does most of the talking, though she does glance in Allison’s general direction more than once in the amount of time it takes Neil to reach them. He doesn’t blame her - even he has to admit that Allison’s dancing is a thing of beauty.

Neil, on the other hand, only ever pretends to dance. He’s gone out with his friends often enough that he’s picked up a few generic moves and can blend in, but it just - doesn’t appeal to him. Still, what little grasp he has on it is enough to get to his target unnoticed.

One falsely awkward step later and he’s got a glassful of whiskey and coke soaking into the man’s black tank top and dripping down his pants.

The hand wrapped around his arm, steadying him, is an unexpected addition. Neil’s previous drink messed his balance at the last minute and he’s pretty sure he’d have fallen to the floor if he hadn’t been caught. The man’s grip is undeniable strong, but it’s the eyes that really hold Neil down to his spot. He can’t quite tell the color because of the many strobing lights and colored neons flashing around, but he thinks they might be brown.

“Oops,” Neil says, straightening himself up with exaggerated movements. The man’s eyes flicker down his drenched top before sliding back up to Neil’s eyes without so much as a frown. “Sorry for your muscle shirt,” Neil adds as an after-thought, digging the word out of an afternoon spent (unwillingly) shopping with Allison.

The man arcs a single eyebrow. “You’re drunk,” he says, with one of the flattest voices Neil has ever heard.

Neil smiles widely, swaying a little on his feet. He still has the man’s hand wrapped around his bicep. “No,” he retorts, slurring the words a bit, “I’m Neil.”

The eyebrow arcs up even higher. Neil’s smile widens. He’s about to say something else, whatever sentence he can think of that would maintain the man’s attention on him, when someone else’s voice cuts in.

“Andrew, you’re soaked!”

Neil turns towards the woman, spying Allison making her way over from behind her, and raises his now empty glass. “My fault. I wasn’t looking.”

She smiles. From close up, it looks even softer than Neil thought. “That’s okay, it happens,” she says, then glances down where the man’s hands - Andrew’s? - is still holding on to him. “Are you okay? Can you stand?”

“Yeah, I just tripped,” Neil reassures her, then looks over at Andrew, whose eyes haven’t left his face. He’s… staring, with an intensity that catches Neil off-guard. And then he’s not, because Allison is coming over and calling his name. The hand drops from his arm like it was burned.

“Neil! There you are.” She puts a hand on his shoulder, then turns, falsely confused, towards Andrew and his friend. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” the woman says, looking a little stunned.

“Your friend spilled his drink on me,” Andrew states, throwing a look at his own friend.

“I was just going to ask the barman for paper towels,” the object of Allison's scheming adds, already half-turning away.

Allison doesn’t hesitate one second before following suit, offering her help. When the woman starts to protest, she takes hold of her arm and all but drags her to the bar. Neil watches the interaction without holding back his smile.

When he turns back towards Andrew, the man is staring at him with a frown.

“Sorry again for your shirt,” Neil offers, though he forgets to make himself sound like he means it. “You should probably take it off.”

The arched eyebrow comes back, and Neil realizes what he just said with a choked laugh. “I didn’t mean it like that. But it would dry faster,” he adds, feeling stupid. Andrew doesn’t look convinced, though, so he feels compelled to add, “I don’t swing.”

“I don’t watch baseball,” Andrew deadpans.

“I’m not talking about baseball,” Neil says, grimacing in disgust. “It’s not even a real sport.”

The look Andrew gives him is the blankest one yet. Neil looks down into his empty glass, then at Andrew’s tank top.

“You really should rinse it down, at least,” he ends up saying. “Otherwise it’s going to stick.”

Andrew stares at him a little longer, then downs his glass and starts to move in the direction of the bathroom. For some reason, Neil follows.

The bathroom is painted mostly black, like just about everything in Eden’s. Only the large sink is white. Neil leans back against it and watches as Andrew grabs a few paper towels from the dispenser and soaks them with water, then starts to wipe at his shirt. He thinks about helping, but remembers the way Andrew avoided touching anyone on his way to the bathroom and figures that there’s not much he could do, anyway.

“You’re not drunk,” Andrew states after a while.

Neil debates lying as Andrew throws the wet ball of paper away and walks to the dispenser to get more, but decides against it. “No, I’m not. I don’t like it.”

Andrew barely glances at him. “You play drunk well for someone who doesn’t like it.”

“S’not hard,” Neil says, shrugging, then figures he might as well come clean and adds: “Allison needed an excuse to talk to your friend.”

Andrew meets his eyes then, eyebrow arched up. “Did she try buying her a drink?”

“That’s what I said.” Neil smiles, then shrugs again. “Apparently she’s been trying to get your friend’s attention for weeks, but nothing’s worked.”

Andrew lets a sharp breath out of his nose, which Neil guesses is the equivalent of a laugh, if the lack of facial expression he's shown so far is anything to go by. “If that’s what she thinks, then your friend’s blind.”

Neil grins. “I’m glad. I thought I’d caught her staring a few times, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Renee likes to think she’s subtle.”

“Well, at least they’re talking now. I don’t think you’re getting those paper towels though,” Neil adds, watching Andrew wash his hands with a distracted kind of fascination. Somehow, the dark armbands encasing both of Andrew’s forearms make his hands stand out. Broad, and worn, with an odd elegance in the way they move. Neil would bet a lot of money on Andrew having some kind of manual career, at the very least a hobby. Something meticulous.

It’s only after Andrew’s wiped his hands and thrown away one last paper towel that Neil realizes he’s been staring, and he moves his eyes to Andrew’s face instead. He finds him with his head tipped slightly to the side, looking at him with the faintest hint of curiosity on his face.

Neil is about to say something - he's not sure what - when some guy he’d barely registered on his radar suddenly steps into his space.

"Hey there, pretty face,” the guy slurs, exhaling cheap booze right into Neil’s face. “Were you waiting for me?"

Neil looks up at the guy's face and begrudgingly resists the urge to bash an elbow into his nose. "Obviously not," he spits.

Hoping that it's enough for the guy to take his hint and leave, Neil starts to turn back towards Andrew. He is immediately jostled back towards the guy as a large hand grabs his chin and twists. "Hey, I was talking to you, Scarface."

"Wow, I've never heard that one before," Neil retorts, rolling his eyes. "You know, you should really make up your mind, asshole. Either I'm pretty or I'm not. Now get lost," Neil says, and is about to jam his knee into the guy's crotch when something tears the asshole away from him. Neil's balance is shaken by the movement, but he manages to stay upright by gripping the sink.

"You don't touch people without their permission. Hasn't anyone ever told you that?" Andrew says, pressing down upon the hold he has on the guy's arm, which he's twisted behind his back with one hand. He has a knife pressed to the guy's throat with the other. His voice is flat enough to cut. "If I see you again, I'll gut you. Understood?"

The guy nods and Andrew sends him sprawling onto the floor. He scrambles quickly to his feet and promptly runs out the door. Light glints off the small knife’s blade, clutched so tightly Andrew’s knuckles look white.

"Thanks," Neil says in the silence. "But I could have handled it."

"I don't care," Andrew snarls back.

Neil looks at the tension oozing out of Andrew's every cell and decides to keep silent. It's the right decision, judging by the way Andrew closes his eyes and starts packing up the tension, folding it back inside little by little. Neil knows the feeling.

The knife vanishes from his hand (and into one of the sheaths Neil suspects are sewn into the armbands), and Neil follows Andrew out of the bathroom. They stand by the door for a bit while Neil watches Andrew scanning the crowd with a clenched jaw. The tension is still there, even packed up, even pressed down tight under the surface of his skin. It needs more space than that to leave.

"Let's get out of here," Neil offers.

Andrew glances at him, then nods. Neil takes a hold of the hem of Andrew's shirt and leads the way out of the club.

*

The night's chill is a welcome change of pace after the density of the packed club's air. Neil inhales a gallon of it as soon as they've stepped outside, and hears Andrew do the same. It smells of cigarette butts and wet asphalt. He had no idea it'd rained.

A faint click on his right - Andrew lights a cigarette and offers him another one. Neil takes it and watches the smoke spill out of Andrew’s mouth like magic, grabbing hold of the lighter only as an afterthought. The metal is smooth under his touch and slightly warm over the imprint of Andrew’s hand. Neil brings the cigarette to his lips and takes a drag, closing his eyes to focus on the burning air flow rushing down his windpipe. He blows it out smiling, eyes trailing after the faint grey cloud. Andrew’s eyes are on him.

“Thanks,” he tells him, raising his cigarette in the air.

They smoke in silence. Neil lets the little circle of fire eat away at his cigarette without taking another drag, content just to breathe and to watch as the tension coiled so tight in Andrew’s chest unwinds, seeping out, one exhalation at a time, into the quiet night.

The quiet can’t last forever, however, especially not on a Saturday night at Eden’s doorsteps, and so the peace is brutally broken a few minutes later as a group of inebriated twenty-somethings spill out over the sidewalk laughing loudly and singing songs. Andrew adroitly sidesteps one of them as he staggers to the side before getting dragged back by his friend, brushing shoulders with Neil. They got their stuff back from the cloakroom when they stepped out and Andrew’s wearing a leather jacket over his muscle shirt, black as the rest of his clothes.

Andrew looks at the group staggering its way down the street until they’re far enough they can barely hear them. “Are you hungry?”

Neil shrugs. “Kinda. Why? Are you asking me to dinner?” Neil asks, smile tugging at his lips. “I doubt we’ll find anything open.”

Andrew smothers the butt of his cigarette on the wall and tosses it into the trashcan Eden’s staff left by the door, then gestures at Neil to follow. It goes against about every instinct Neil has cultivated along the years, but he does.

He doesn’t know why. Andrew’s back is broad and he walks at a steady pace, with an assurance that doesn’t look learned and yet still probably is. Neil remembers the way Andrew looked when he bent the asshole’s arm behind his back, like what he really wanted was to break it in half but knew that he had to hold back. His voice hadn’t faltered then, either. Neil wonders if it ever does.

They stop in front of a motor bike parked some way off of the club, street lights glinting off of the metal and black bodywork. Andrew gets a helmet from some kind of locked compartment and hands it over to Neil, who takes it by reflex.

“Where are we going?” he asks, turning the helmet around in his hands. He’s starting to wonder whether Andrew’s even aware that there are other colors outside of black.

Andrew grabs a pair of gloves out of the compartment and slips them on. “A kebab joint,” he says without looking at Neil. “It’s open until 3.”

 Neil considers the bike, then the helmet in his hands. “I’ve never ridden on a bike before.”

“Don’t get on before I tell you to. Don’t make me lose my balance. When the bike leans into turns, lean with it,” he drones out. “If you do that and hold on, you’ll be fine.”

Neil considers Andrew. The solid stance of him. Once he climbs on the bike, he’ll have no control until they stop.

“Okay.”

There’s a buzzing beneath his kin.

*

The kebab joint is a tiny square of neon light squeezed in-between two higher-end shops, and the only open place to sell food for miles around. There are no tables and no interior, just a counter with a window display that reminds Neil of ice-cream shops, filled with meat fillings, some kind of fried rolls, and a handful of sad-looking pastries. The items are listed above and to the sides - hamburgers, kebabs, paninis, all with various meats and side dishes and an array of sauces Neil’s never heard of before. He has no idea where to start, and so asks for the same thing Andrew ordered.

They pack the smell of cheap food and fat in plastic bags and leave the shop front to sit by the pier. The kebab is greasy and would have made Kevin scream, but the meat is tasty and the sauce is good, and it’s somehow the perfect thing to eat right now.

Through the cloud of their food wafts the sharp smell of iodine. They claimed a spot of the pier to sit, legs dangling through the railing, and the wood too smells of salt, is so ingrained with it that it sticks slightly to the skin and leaves imprints of tiny crystals on their clothes.

They eat in silence; the wash and backwash of the sea beneath the pier is a rolling whisper, swishing quietly past the piles and back again, a dark rippling sky in movement. There is no agitation around them, yet still it seems as though the sea swallows all sounds, pillows the silence with its mass, shaping a quietude with depth. It’s a quality of peace Neil has never felt before.

He’s just about finished with his food when his phone buzzes.

[From: Allison] where r u??

Neil snorts. Andrew raises a quizzical eyebrow at him, but he just shakes his head.

[To: Allison] I left 30 minutes ago, but thank you for noticing.

[From: Allison] was busy :-*

[From: Allison] u haven’t been kidnapped right? did u go home?

[To: Allison] No and no. I’m at the pier with Andrew.

[From: Allison] ?????

[From: Allison] was that a joke???

Neil huffs out a laugh, enjoying the confusion, and puts his phone on silent as more texts keep coming in. Andrew’s phone buzzes once, but he doesn’t check it - just grabs a cigarette and his lighter, replacing the smell of their meal with another. The smoke drifts up and disperses, yielding to the handful of stars valiantly fighting against the electrical constellations of city lights. The moon is gibbous amongst them and fractal upon the sea; Neil distractedly notices that it’s waning, as the curve makes a d and Jean’s trick somehow never left his mind, despite his lack of interest in the conversation at the time.

It makes Andrew look even paler, this lighting. His hair is made of silver and the volumes of his face either stand out or cave, stark and almost unreal.

Andrew’s eyes flick to his.

“Staring.”

Neil smiles. He takes the cigarette from Andrew’s hand and takes a drag, blowing memories up, up, up until they’re gone.

“What do you do?” he asks when he hands the cigarette back. “For a living, I mean.”

Andrew doesn't answer. He just looks at Neil and pulls on his cigarette. A bit of wind blows the smoke sideways, across his cheek and back to land.

"If you won't tell me, I'll guess," Neil says when it's clear he's not getting an answer, and pretends to study Andrew's appearance for clues. "You could be an artist. You look like one." He grins at the unimpressed look on Andrew's face. "Bit of a cursed poet vibe, with the piercings and all that black. Strong aesthetic. I guess you could be a musician, too."

The corner of Andrew's mouth twitches. "Shallow."

Neil shrugs. Appearances tell a lot more than people think, but he's pretty sure he got it wrong. He doesn't actually know how artists are supposed to look like - that's not really the kind of things he learned to watch out for - but it's as good a guess as anything. "It's either that or undertaker."

Andrew blows smoke out through his nose. "Sorry to disappoint, but I just serve drinks."

Neil hums. "Full time?"

"No. I also cook."

"You're a chef, and you still eat food like this?" Neil asks, waving at the plastic bag sitting between them.

"Aide," Andrew corrects. "Anas' is the only decent place still open. I don't see you complaining."

"It was pretty good," Neil grants, then adds, because it's only fair: "I'm a student."

"Late calling?"

Neil smiles. "Something like it."

An eyebrow shaped like a question. Neil ignores it in favor of the sea, but the weight of Andrew's gaze stays fixed on him like an anchor. He wonders if Andrew's trying to guess what something like it may hide; wonders how far away from reality he's wandering, trying to find something reasonable; wonders, even, how he'd react if Neil told him the truth. Whether he'd balk at the scars that prove it or stare at them the same way he's staring at the ones across his face now, blank and unwavering, on the upside of bored.

*

Riding on Andrew's bike the second time is just as exhilarating as the first. The city flies by in a blur - the docks, the bars, the empty streets, they blend together and melt together until there's nothing really left but them, passing. Alone. A figment caught between two worlds.

When Andrew drops him off, the ground still moves beneath his feet. Neil shoves his hand into his pockets and grins, feeling absurdly carefree.

"Thank you. For the ride and for the food - it was amazing."

He means it. Andrew is looking at him like he's trying to figure out if he does. He holds out his hand, and Neil frowns.

He looks to the sky and sighs. "Your phone."

"Oh," Neil says. He puts his phone in Andrew's palm.

Andrew takes one glove off and puts his number in quickly. He tosses his phone back to Neil and brings two fingers up to his temple in salute.

The bike roars to life, the noise filling the street until it's gone. Neil looks down at the brand new contact in his phone, carefully prodding at the little bit of warmth beneath his sternum.

Matt, Dan, Wymack, Allison, Abby, Kevin, his therapist, his dentist and his doctor. Andrew's number brings the staggering total amount of contacts into his phone to a very satisfying 10.

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

Family - TDC Post-Canon series 1

Ok so this originally was a post canon one-shot but then I really liked the idea so I’m going to do more of these focussing on Arsinoe from TDC to old age likely and all of the things that entails. 

Also, I couldn’t let go of the idea that Billy has more siblings, so I made them! Enjoy!

And then he leans close and kisses her tenderly, as the rooster clucks happily between them (fdf).

Arsinoe feels warmth flood through her, from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes as Billy’s gentle but firm hands hold her close at the waist. She missed him, missed him like he was a part of her that she lost. In a way, she guesses, he is. Finally they hear a throat clear behind them and she wants to scowl at Jules. She pulls away to glare at her friend only to realise it was actually a passing lady in a ghastly dress who obviously didn’t approve of her and the man she loves kissing on the street. She sticks her tongue out and the woman looks even more scandalised. Billy chuckles and buries his smiling face in the hair sitting against her collar, his hand fisting in her vest.

“We should probably go inside before those pants give someone a heart attack,” Billy says and takes her hand, leading her up the path. Right before they get to the door, he pauses and finally seems to remember that she still has a chicken in her vest. He gestures with his hand and she passes him the chicken. He darts around the side of the house and after a minute, he’s back empty-handed. She tilts her head slightly and he shrugs.

“There may be a semi-chicken coop in the backyard,” Arsinoe smiles and ignores the way Jules mouths ‘semi?’ to no one in particular as they finally make it in the door, where the sounds of ladies conversation drifts from the main room. But Arsinoe doesn’t tense up like she used to. She’d been to war now, which means the thought of society ladies was only slightly less daunting. Only by a little bit. Billy looks horrified though and pauses just inside the door.

“I just remembered that my mother has been ambushing me with ladies with the hopes of marrying me off,” he pressed a kiss to her hair. “Thank God you’re here again to save me,” Arsinoe squeezed his hand before holding an arm out, gesturing for him to lead them into the room. 

Ruth Chatworth looks exactly like Arsinoe remembered, obviously not a fan of change, but Arsinoe had to admit she now understood why the woman never wore black. It definitely did not suit her pale complexion. However, her calm smile and light shoulders gave away no mourning, like she actually only wore black and closed the windows for show. Arsinoe likes her a hell of a lot more for it.

Christine Hollen sits on the loveseat facing away from the doorway but turns when Ruth sees Arsinoe and stops speaking mid sentence. Christine seems just as surprised as Ruth does.

“Hello Arsinoe,” Ruth says, standing and approaching her, obviously appraising her pants, vest and longer hair. She then seems to spot Jules behind Arsinoe and seems affronted at the clothes and the cougar at her side. “Who is your friend and why is there a large animal in my house?” Arsinoe almost wants to laugh.

“Hi Ruth. This is my best friend and the Queen Crowned of Fennbirn, Jules Milone. The big cat is Camden, her familiar,” Ruth pursed her lips at Camden but seemed unwilling to enter into a debate about it. Arsinoe sidled past her and sat down next to Christine with a smile. The Governor’s daughter looked lovely (as usual) in a sky blue dress, her blonde curls tied back in an elegant chignon. “How are you, Christine?” She looks affronted but quickly catches herself.

“I’m well, Arsinoe. Are you going to be sticking around this time?” She says, sipping her tea demurely. Arsinoe smiles gently and leans over to make her own tea. 

“I will actually Christine. My business on Fennbirn is over and I have no interest to go back,” she said, picking up a sugar cube. Christine hummed.

“And your sister?” Arsinoe’s hand froze halfway to her cup before pursing her lips and considering. She didn’t have to be a member of polite society to know that telling Christine how Mirabella died was too heavy for afternoon tea. It was too heavy for any time of day really, but sunny afternoon tea especially.

“She died in the war,” Arsinoe settled on, finally dropping the sugar cube into her teacup. Christine went quiet for a beat.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Arsinoe. I know you and her loved each other immensely” the socialite says gently and Arsinoe nods in recognition, taking a sip of her tea.

“Thank you, Christine,” the conversation was interrupted by Billy, Jules, Jane and Ruth coming to sit with them. Billy sat right next to her and put a hand on her knee, a movement not missed by Christine, but she didn’t comment

“So, Arsinoe, what business bought you back to New Estra?” Ruth said and Arsinoe knew exactly what she meant by that. 

Arsinoe sipped her tea and sighed. 

“Well, Ruth…”

~ 6 Months ~

Arsinoe didn’t have a whole lot of experience with children. She liked children and was pretty sure that they didn’t outright hate her back, but she had never really spent extended periods of time around them, Finn excluded. Which is why she was viscerally surprised to wake up to one crawling over her.

“Uncle Billy, don’t you know girls have cooties?” The child said and Arsinoe turned, slightly offended and ready to assert, rather childishly she must admit, that she did not, in fact, have “cooties.” The red-headed child (that she only recognised from photos on the mantle in Ruth’s drawing room) wasn’t paying attention to her though, instead waiting for an answer from Billy, who was groaning.

“John, she doesn’t have cooties. What are doing in here?” Billy says, sitting up so that he was at eye-level with the child.

“Mumma told me to come get you up. She wants to meet Ar-“ he seems to stumble over her name and instead points to her.

“Arsinoe,” Billy and Arsinoe say at the same time and John nods before climbing over Arsinoe, his knee going straight in her gut, and jumping down. 

“Sorry,” John says.

“All good, kid,” she says, waving him off and he runs back out again. Arsinoe turns to Billy, confused. “Who exactly was that?” Billy kisses her cheek to say good morning before leaning his forehead against her shoulder.

“My nephew,” he says and she raises an eyebrow, “my oldest sister’s kid. She lives in Bevellet and John wasn’t a great traveller when he was younger so I don’t get to see her very often. But if Viv’s here then so is Henri and her husband so be prepared,” Arsinoe clicks her tongue in acknowledgement and rolls out of bed. From her side of the wardrobe she pulls a pretty forest green jumpsuit (something she had designed and sewed herself, much to Ruth’s shock and vague horror) and the ribbon that went with it to go in her hair before going into the ensuite to change.

When she comes out, Billy is buttoning his shirt up and Arsinoe grabs a necktie. She wraps it around his collar and uses it to pull him in for a quick kiss. 

“Compared to your mother, how scared should I be of your sisters?” Billy smiles.

“You’ll be fine,” he says, taking the tie from her hands and tying it before offering his hand and leading her out the door.

The kitchen was loud when they got downstairs and the sound only escalates when the people in the room notice the pair. Billy lets go of his hand to go hug two women who she gathers must be his older sisters and two men approach her, smiling.

“And you must be the newest addition to the family,” one of them says. He’s just taller than her (though that was saying a lot) and broad in the shoulders, with red hair and a truly impressive moustache. He’d be intimidating if he didn’t have such clear laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. “I’m John Moore Sr, Viv’s husband, and this is Edward Allen, Henrietta’s husband,” Edward was shorter than both of the two and lanky, with clear blue eyes and brown-gold hair. He seemed quieter than his brother-in-law but his presence wasn’t uncomfortable by any means. She stuck out her hand to them and shook with a smile.

“Arsinoe Queen, it’s a pleasure to meet you gentleman. I believe I met your son already John. He’s lovely, even if he may have bruised my ribs,” she says with a smile and John tilts his head.

“I’ll make sure he apologises for that, miss Queen, we wouldn’t want to scare off the only woman willing to keep Chatworth, after all,” Arsinoe’s eyebrows raised in surprise before she chuckled.

“Eh, he’s not so bad,” she says, making John laugh and turn to the rest of the group. 

“Chatworth, look after this one, she’s a gem,” he calls and Billy smiles and winks at Arsinoe before both have their attentions drawn by a kind feminine voice sitting at the table.

“Well, don’t keep her sequestered, let us meet her,” John nodded and gestured for Arsinoe to move past the two men, where she finally got a glimpse at the two people she hadn’t yet met. Both were women in their twenties who shared Billy’s warm features and she smiled at them, sitting on the chair Jane had vacated.

“Hi Arsinoe,” one of them said, taking her hand to shake. “I’m Henrietta, but most people just call me Henri or Hen,” she smiled with a grin she recognised on Billy’s face and she can’t help but smile back, matching her energy. 

“Hen, don’t try anything until she’s met all of us,” the woman sitting next to them says and Arsinoe turns to meet her. She leans forward to shake but is hindered but a very pregnant stomach. Arsinoe leans forward to meet her in the middle. “ I’m Viviana, Viv if you will. I think you met my son in the last half hour. Ignore any schemes himself or my sister try to drag you into,” Arsinoe laughs slightly.

“I only involve myself in schemes when I can’t be caught, don’t worry,” she hears Billy snort from behind her, “Billy may attest differently but ignore that,” Viviana smiles and pats her hands, letting them go in favour of continuing to eat her breakfast.

~ 3 years ~

“Welcome to this month’s meeting of The Chatworth Spouse Club,” John says, smiling as they clink their beer glasses together. Edward smiles.

“This month we finally can officially add a new member to the Club,” he says, turning to Arsinoe, who was tapping her new wedding band on her glass. “Welcome Arisnoe, to the best kept secret in the family,” he said, loud pride in his usually subdued voice.

“Thanks gents. Is this Club only for official spouses or will we be inviting Penworth into the fold soon,” she smiled with joy as they scoffed in unison.

“He wouldn’t be invited even if Jane was unfortunate enough to marry that wet sock,” John said, making his companions cough but not disagree. “Let’s just admit now that Penworth would spoil our nights away from spouses and children by being his usual self,” Arsinoe tilts her head in agreement. 

“I’m surprised how happy you are at the thought of being away from home, John,” Arsinoe says, sipping her drink.

“Oh no home is great,” Joh says with his usual wide smile, “It’s just with the new baby on the way and three already… well, here, it’s nice to talk to adults every now and then. Edward would agree, right, Ed?” John says and Edward nods.

“Yeah, Henri and the twins are handfuls all the time so breaks are important. But also I can’t wait to be home with them whenever I leave. Why didn’t either of you warn me how much you miss your kids when you’re away,” he sighs lovingly and Arsinoe raises her hands. 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t have children to speak on. Blame John,” Edward smiles at her before turning his smart eyes on John.

“When are you gonna get to doing that by the way, missy?” John deflects back to her and she shrugs with a smile.

“It’ll happen when it happens and besides, I’m never gonna complain that I don’t enjoy just Billy and me. Not that we haven’t had fun trying,” she admits with a small blush and John whistles with a laugh.

“Well, drink up folks so I can kick your asses at darts,” he says and Arsinoe drinks her beer, trying not to laugh. Neither of them had ever beaten Edward at darts. They probably never would if they were being honest with themselves, but she still had a blast trying.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF THESE/SEE SOMETHING SPECIFIC/BE TAGGED TAG LIST: @poisonerrose @alwaysbored005

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD Preview Show

Hey everyone! So, on Sunday, we had the TWD preview show, which covered TWD, FTWD, and TWB. I watched it, hoping to pick up some TD tidbits. First off, I’ll say that there was nothing huge. There were a few minor comments that I side-eyed, and they’re worth mentioning, but nothing huge (or obviously I would have posted it right away. ;D)

But, as usual, some of my theorists picked up stuff I didn’t. Check out our observations and conversations below.

@wdway​: One of the things I did go away with is there will be more characters along with Daryl and Carol in the spinoff, they're just not willing to tell us yet. I know people are always complaining and I've already heard the thing about, well we know Carol and Daryl come out of the series alive, thanks for ruining that for us. Like anyone thought they would actually die in the series.

The letters from Scott were a bit interesting especially the second one. There's going to be some very personal character stories end the 6 episodes it sounds like, that part wasn't really a shocker but it's nice to hear it.

@twdmusicboxmystery​:

I only wrote down a handful of things. And they weren’t really the “main” things being discussed. More like side or afterthoughts that the various people said.

1) Did you catch what Lenny James said about where he was when he heard the news about TWD ending? He said he was in Atlanta with Pollyanna and the guy that played Jared. Now, Jared is deceased, so if he were filming anything, it would have to be a flashback or dream sequence. But given how big a part of Morgan’s our key was, that doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility to me. But it was interesting that he said he was with Pollyanna. If Lenny and Pollyanna were filming together, that suggests that Morgan and Jadis will come face-to-face at some point. The helicopter group?

And no, he didn’t actually say they were filming. But he said they were “doing a thing,“ and he obviously didn’t want to see what it was. I mean, if they were just having dinner together as friends, why wouldn’t he just say that. So it seem to me, like maybe they were filming or doing some sort of project he couldn’t talk about.

2) When Lenny James said that he almost revealed a spoiler, Chris Hardwick said something along the lines of, “it’s always on the tip of your brain. Like, don’t see the spoiler, don’t see the spoiler.”

It just jumped out at me because Chris Hardwick likes to say he doesn’t know any spoilers. That kind of proves that he does.

3) The show Runner for TWB has been a writer on the show since season four and is close with Angela Kang. I thought that was interesting, given how much she’s worked on Bethyl episodes and that Bethyl really, for all intents and purposes, began in season four. He talked about Jade us, the three ring symbol, and a helicopter people. He also said that what happens in the world beyond will be tied heavily to the mythology of the main show. Now, first and foremost, I think that means the helicopters, which we know I’ve been around in the background since season one. But that could be a tie to Beth and Grady as well.

4) they also said the anthology spinoff or feature both old characters and new ones. Not sure what to make of that, but I wonder if “new“ stories might tie into the helicopter group and Beth in some way.

5) Some suspicious things Lauren said. They were joking around she said what if Maggie returns, and she doesn’t like kids or dogs, doesn’t speak anymore, or has no face. I get that they were making a joke, but she managed to reference dogs, Whisperers, and “speak no evil” all in the same sentence. No idea if I should be reading into that but it jumped out at me.

6) Finally, they said that the Carol and Daryl spinoff will be about discovery. Naturally, my TD brain went, “discovery about where Beth is?” 😝

So yeah, that’s all I got.

@wdway

The showrunner for The World Beyond, has written quite a few episodes, co-written some I'm wanting to say Beth kind of hints, I'll try to check that out tomorrow. Years ago I had made a list of episodes and their writers directors it's in one of my folders. Do you think Scott's comment is the new title of the spin-off I believe it was, The Walking Dead Lives. When I heard it that's the thought I had.

I haven't really re-watched yet, I wanted to give you a list of some of the episodes that are definitely full of Beth feels that were written by Matthew Negrete.

Inmates- cowritten with Channing Powell.

Slabtown- also cowritten with Channing Powell.

Consumed- cowritten with Corey Reed.

Knots Untie- cowritten with Channing Powell.

Twice as Far- no cowriter. This is the episode where Denise is killed.

The Well- no cowriter. This one of course is the introduction of the king and the kingdom, there is an awful lot of Beth feels in it, like the little drawing on the wall of a blonde girl with a ponytail running.

Hearts Still Beating- cowritten with Channing Powell. This episode is the one worh the houseboat. So many Beth feels. Of course we first see the hint of the hipsters/junkyard group.

These are not all the episodes Matthew Neggrete has written for TWD, these highlight the ones I feel are very Beth oriented. And I guess what I'm saying is it's obvious that The World Beyond, showrunner is very in the know about the storyline regarding Beth. If by some chance tptb plan on hunting at or revealing Beth through this series than they are definitely in good Bethyl hands.

(This is probably the Big Cheese takeaway!)

@wdway 

The World Beyond hasn't even premiered yet and they have already put in the rule book what makes a good head shot. The Walking Dead universe now has a diagram visual where to place a bullet or the area of the head to aim for in order that a person would not come back as a Walker. 

Follow the (yellow) lines to the center showing where your gun shot target would be. I love this little piece of information. This is a still shot from last night's Premiere preview. There was no live action preview for this scene, this is just the still shot obviously from the series. Note, no little yellow line goes to the top forehead in this diagram. A person with a shot that was at the forehead would not come back as a walker someone like Beth.

Yeah, I totally missed that while watching, and that’s super-awesome. Probably my favorite thing about this special.

So yeah. That’s what we found. I hope you found it encouraging! ;D

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

Chapter 2 (Winter’s Gem) (B.Barnes AU)

CHAPTER 1

Characters: Gigolo!Bucky Barnes x You (AU)

Summary: Bucky Barnes has been scouted by your boss in Felicity Night, you were just a mere young, cleaner in Felicity night and have been living in the basement of the club for all your life. He's the most wanted Gigolo in the city, and taking him away from eager, thirsty women seemed to be impossible especially if he chose to be a Gigolo as his way of living.

Warning: Profanities. Profanities. Inappropriate words.

Words: 5,507.

A/N: This chapter is long as heck. I'm sorry? XD (We shall twerk because this was a long chapter! *twerks*) Sorry for the typos and wrong grammars if there is. :) HELLO WINTER ;) 

Disclaimer: PNG's, pictures and GIFs aren't mine. However, the whole series, one shots and edits are from moi.

TAGLISTS: @yn-the-reader​

Another day, another laborious night in the club. The difference today was that it was the holiday and there was even more people than the usual. You were glad you've taken the spot in the men's bathroom because there were lesser people who come in often more than the women's bathroom.

Plus, the men's bathroom was filthier because it has been days that you haven't gotten the chance to clean it.

You were cleaning the mirrors with a cloth and a can of glass cleaner. Spots of dirt and a mixture of dried toothpaste was drawn, scouring them off the mirror with your cloth.

"Nice set last night, Stevie." You lightly teased, scrubbing the dirt away. The joke sent at the handsome, brawny blonde man taking a piss in one of the black cubicles. You told him it was fine to take a piss using the urinals since it didn't matter but he refused to, mumbling about how modest he was which you didn't bother listening about.

You heard him spoke from the cubicle, hearing the sound of a zipper and running water. He was taking a piss alright, "I was forced to strip last night! I never wanted to!" Steve exclaimed, voice raising a pitch higher as it echoed around the bathroom. You were now scrubbing the sinks with detergent and a mix of Clorox. The salty drop of sweat fell on your forehead and you were quick to swipe it off with your arm.

"You looked like you were having fun, though." You huffed with a smile, scrubbing the sink with a sponge. Your nose getting a whiff of the strong, acidic smell from the Clorox, but your face never once scrunched because you were already used to the foul smell.

"I was not! Stripping in front of people is outrageous! If it weren't for the tips and the double pay that you guys have been telling me, I wouldn't take the slot!"

"But, I wanna know something..." You dragged on, a hint of playfulness in the tip of your tongue plus a small smirk to add to your reply, "Was the spandex comfortable to wear, Captain Rogers? Doesn't it look a little too tight?" You laughed when you heard him groan, the sound of the toilet flushing came with it, giving you a sign that he was finished pissing.

After watering a small plant of Aloe Vera, you tidied everything up. Hearing the cubicle door creak slightly, you glanced back to see Steve without his coat on, baby blue eyes that looked gorgeous with his ears slightly turning red from the realization that you have seen him strip in his star spangled suit.

"Hey, Kid..Aren't you a little young to watch me..strip?" He strolled beside you, turning the tap open, washing his hands. His ears became redder than the usual and you couldn't help the laugh that escaped your lips.

"I'm 21! Not 15! Don't act like I've never known you since the last three years!"

Steve's ears was now redder as the conversation continued, like a kid who have been embarrassed by seeing his mother and dad having sex, that kind of embarrassment. The blonde man placed his hands below the air dryer, hearing a quiet click before it began blowing hot air for his hands to dry. He spoke through the loud whush, "Kids like you should still be studying, Y/N." His hands were now dry, he leaned his hip on the sink in front of you, gorgeous blue eyes fixated on yours, empathy itching his heart. He knew how you felt about not finishing your degree, not even having the chance to study in your first year. Steve was your friend, and he knew every last detail of your life. He couldn't stop the tempting frown etching to let show. "You shouldn't be working in a club full of..Gigolos and strippers. You deserve to have a future and not get locked up in this..this damn hell house,"

You smiled indifferently, "Language, Rogers." Steve gave you a sympathetic smile, bringing his hand up your shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Think about what I've said, Y/N. You know i'm willing to help," His baby blue eyes locked on yours, and you were the first to look away..You've thought about his help, but you were still hesitant and you didn't want to accept his offer of paying your tuition fees especially that he was just a friend of yours.

What would you mother even think about that? Olivia/Luscia would be livid to find out that Steve was helping you be what you wanted to be. The news will spread around so fast, people would think he was your sugar daddy or something..

Even so, you didn't want Steve to have that responsibility because it was your mother's. She was working for so long, so that meant she could afford to help pay your tuition fees.

"I'll..think about it, Steve. Thank you," You uttered quietly, gazing up at his bright, baby blues. He shook his head, sending you a gorgeous smile of his that everyone loved. "For what?"

You beamed, completely pleased by his loving attitude towards you. Y/N took a cautious step forward, weakly wrapping her feeble arms around him. "For being such a great friend..Thank you, Steve." Steve gladly took her arms in, gently shoving her head in his chest, giving her back warm, comforting pats.

It wasn't long for you to hear a silent creak of the door, immediately you began unwrapping your arms around Steve once you heard the person come in. The club's sound faintly sliding in the men's bathroom. You heard the gentle clicks on this particular person's shoe tapping on the black granite floor, slowly getting louder, walking towards where you and Steve were. You felt the warm presence of the man towering behind you.

That precious smile on your face hadn't wash off yet, you guessed it was Sam or Clint who disrupted your conversation with Steve and the smile on your face grew wider at the thought of Clint. He owed you ten bucks because he lost on a bet that involved Steve, betting that he wouldn't take the Stripper slot. You voted that he would since you were already sure he would strip that night because he have talked to you about it..

"Jerk," Steve grinned at the man behind you, "Punk," The man rasped, his voice entirely indistinguishable.It sounded deep and velvety. He surely doesn't sound like Sam or Clint. But, you could tell by his voice that this unknown man was smiling by the mention of his endearment for Steve that came out of his lips.

You couldn't help but tilt your head at one side, figuring out who he was. Brows slightly furrowed, trying hard to familiarize whose voice it came from. You couldn't get an idea.."A blonde dame's looking for you, Pal. Did you take a shit or what?" The man chuckled deeply, sounding like the angels sang from up above. You didn't know why your heart skipped a beat when you heard him chortled so velvety, so alluring..

Even without looking at him, your guessed he was attractive as hell. Maybe he was someone new? Well, he needed a warm welcome then.

You plastered your best smile for the anonymous man, loudly clearing your throat, your palms flattening the wrinkles of your uniform. "Remember Y/N? The young girl that I was telling you about who was working here? Olivia's/Luscia's only daughter? One of my closest friends here in Felicity Night?"

You enthusiastically turned the heels of your foot to welcome the man who sounded attractive. Maybe welcoming new people wasn't really a good idea? when you spun around, you felt your breath hitch as it got caught in your throat. All you saw was a pair of gorgeous Steele blue eyes that made your mouth turn agape. They were the most beautiful out of all the sea of blues you've ever seen. You were completely stupefied when you slowly process everything in, "Bucky, This is Y/N Y/L/N, The hardest worker of all time, she's been cleaning all her years in this club and I'm proud of how strong this kid have been," Steve paused and you felt him cup your shoulder, proudly introducing you to his best pal. "Y/N. This is Bucky. Bucky Barnes. My brother from another mother. I think you've already heard all the intriguing gossips about this punk," Pause. "--Women call him 'Winter', but his close friends of him don't,"

Winter. You mentally gasped. He was the 'Winter' that Stan told you about. God, you were completely speechless. Stan was right all along. He was one charming, gorgeous, handsome fucker.

Thump. Your heartbeat seemed unnaturally loud in your ears. You could feel the overwhelming warmth seep through you once you completely planted your E/C eyes at Bucky's stunning blue eyes. Your words seem to get stuck in your throat.

You blinked and swore that you saw something flash behind those eyes of his, showing deep interest towards you. He initially smiled, a picturesque, cheeky smile lifted for you to see and engrave in your mind forever.

You felt as if you were drowning in his sea, feeling like you couldn't breath because of how beautiful he looked. Bucky had his brunette hair in a bun, you guessed he had long hair that could reach his jaw because his bangs that were parted in the middle have fallen and cascaded on either side of his face. It simply accentuated the marvelous structures of his face, bringing out the best of his apple-like cheekbones.

Oh, were his cleft chin so perfect that you wanted nothing but to touch and press them together, showing how you can appreciate how handsome he looked with it.

Not to mention his plump, beet red lips that seemed to be moisturized all the time. Shit, you're definitely digging your own grave by liking a Gigolo. The newest recruited gigolo if you were going to be specific.

Your abusive, brusque mother warned you, cursing at the heavens that she would have to lock you away if ever you had a relationship with one of them. You didn't know the reason why but she seemed to hate the idea, even though you were a daughter that came from a stripper. Your father have been one and now he was nowhere to be found because he left you both to marry a very wealthy old woman in replacement of your mother, Olivia/Luscia.

"You can call me Bucky," He uttered with a low voice that could be considered sexy and hot. You wanted to pinch yourself, and you actually did secretively. Bucky could see the flash of awareness in your eyes, an awareness that seemed to held the same feeling as his. Yet, those awareness that made him confident was now lost in just a blink, replaced with a polite reserve.

Bucky thought he was imagining things, but the way you fluttered your eyelashes up at him, giving him those heart eyes and a blush that climbed up your cheeks corrected his disappointed theory.

"Good evening...Bucky," You stuttered quietly, gnawing on your trembling lips. His presence was making you conscious and insecure because he was too gorgeous for your own good.

This was dangerous. He was dangerous.

'when you get your heart involved,' You remembered what your old friend, Stan said. As if you would even get your heart involved..

That was a question that seem shaky and untruthful. This was bad. Your breath shook when you gave out a sigh.

The both of you heard a clap that distracted your reverie, "Ooookay!" Steve piped in rather enthusiastically. Weirdly eyeing the both of you. "Introduction's done now. It's up to you if you wanna be friends or maybe get to know each other more. I'm off! A dame needs my patriotic presence," Steve bid goodbye, never forgetting to slap a hand on Bucky's back, making the latter chuckle and send him a wave of his hand. Your blonde friend waving a friendly hand at you as he trotted towards the exit.

That was interesting.

Bucky and you were left in the bathroom. The awkward, heavy silence trapping you both. Your heart was running a mile, and your mind was trying to think of a conversation that would spike up the current cloud that you were in. You could still feel his eyes on you, probably starting to bore holes in your face. You kept looking anywhere else besides his handsome features, doing it seems impossible because his face was satisfying to stare at.

However, you tried hard. Your toes curled inside your shoes, feeling all the heat come at your face. You needed to get out of here, you mentally thought. You needed to take a breather, you needed to come up in that sea you were drowning in.

Bucky mindlessly licked his lips out of habit, and it wasn't a movement that didn't go unnoticed by you. "So.." He slowly dragged on, gathering his thoughts and wording it all out, thinking about words that could sound good to hear, "How old are ya', Doll?"

Doll. That sounded so sweet. You couldn't help but curl your toes further, totally stuck up in your place. "21," Even though, it was meant to be ignored. You saw Bucky sigh after that, pursing his lips before a cheeky smile was replaced. "How about you, Bucky?"

A tiny voice was cheering at the back of your head. Loudly screaming '25! 25! 25! 25!' But those voices were ceased when you felt his finger lift your head up to meet with his Steele blue eyes that shifted from intense to soft and tender.

You could feel your insides melting so bad.

"Your eyes are pretty, Doll. I want them on me whenever we have a conversation," The man was definitely a charmer with his words too. That made everything difficult for you to process. Bucky wanted nothing more than to see how your heart worked, he wanted to see the real you. A thought inside his brain, secretly hoping that you weren't like one of the women he'd been with. Women who had paid for him, women who had rotten hearts, and only cared for what they feel. Not his. "The words coming out of your mouth seems fake when I don't get to see your beautiful E/C eyes,"

He abruptly dropped his finger beneath your chin like he was burned. It was too early. Too damn early to get involved with a woman who was nearly half his age. Fuck. He cursed inside his mind, giving himself a punishment by biting his tongue as he continued his next words. "35," Yet, Bucky didn't seem to mind the age-gap. He was mesmerized by how big your heart was. You seemed to stand-out in his eyes and he couldn't grasp why, it was frustrating him.

You weakly nodded in understanding while Bucky felt a tiny dismay because of your reaction. Were you disappointed? Why was he even thinking about it when you just literally met him today?

Get your shit together, Barnes. You're being a creep. He mentally thought, chewing on his bottom lip.

There was a flash of glitter in your eyes as you thought about question that has been bugging you and your old friend, Stan. Since you wanted to get to know more about Bucky better, you needed to make some efforts in doing so. You gave him a sweet smile that he immediately saw, wanting those precious smile of yours to be remembered since he knew you didn't smile a lot for the past few months. "Can I ask you a question, Bucky?"

"Shoot. We're already playing the 20 questions game, Y/N."

Your smile reached up your eyes and it felt good to finally smile like the world wasn't pouring you rocks and gravels. "Why were you--"

Your heart skipped a beat, and it was not in a blushing way. You both heard the door harshly opened, the music of the club walking in and a very rough looking Olivia/Luscia welcoming you both in the doorway. It gave you a bad heart attack, or probably giving you a reason not to live after seeing how blank your mother's face was when she saw you with Bucky.

You couldn't see what was running inside her mind. It seemed unreadable and impossible to get into. "Y/N," She deadpanned, glowering at you. "Barnes," Her voice turned much more normal, but her face still looked stoic as her eyes settled at the man in front of you.

Bucky could feel the unwavering fright radiating off you. He knew it. He saw your hands tremble from fear as his eyes deliberately trailed towards your shaking hands.

You took a cautious step back away from Bucky, gulping the fear that erupted.. all the way down your throat. Glancing up a Bucky to mentally apologize for even talking to him and it made him wrinkle his forehead, furrowing his brows, looking like he was in deep thought. "Y/N, Rhodes needs you. Get your ass back in the kitchen!"

Your eyebrows instantly rose up in question, "W-What?" You thought you weren't needed anymore. You didn't even like staying in the kitchen because all of your arms were covered in scars. Basically from the kitchen accidents and scars that were kind of from all your mother's doing.

Olivia/Luscia could feel her anger boil up and it wasn't good because she was beginning to feel the inexorable itch in her hands. The God forsaken itch that Y/N was hoping to not be a repeated victim of. "What do you mean what, Y/N?"

"I-I've been covered in boils--" Before you could even stop your mouth, you had slapped a hand over it. Stopping yourself from even saying further that could put you in danger.

Bucky wanted nothing more than to shake you off your fear, he wanted nothing more than to stop those horrible scenes that was bound to happen because he knew what was about to happen next.

"What did I fucking tell you about talking back and complaining?!"

Your mother's calm demeanor was now changed into fury, and you know nothing but to quickly follow her. Thus, which is why you scrambled off your place in front of Bucky and felt your legs shake with each step you took away from the man who had made an impression.

You hurdled under Olivia/Luscia's arm, scurrying away. Gone in a hot second and Bucky was left alone.

Olivia/Luscia turned her back away from the door, not even bothering to give Bucky a second look once she saw you with him. He was a threat to you, definitely a threat.

As he began to hear the door creak, he couldn't stop the scowl on his face as he mentally threw knives at her back. Why the hostility?

It's because he knew everything.

Just like a sniper..He could see everything even though he was far.

The orders began to lessen one by one, you were tempted to hail hallelujah once the scorching heat began fading around the kitchen. You didn't even know why you were called when Sharon and an extra helper was there. A helper named Phil Coulson who was so industrious and nice.

You heard your stomach growl and damn were you hungry as hell. The last thing you ate was mashed potatoes with gravy and fresh pickles that were sneaked out of the kitchen, thanks to Steve.

They weren't the greatest thing to be paired together but it was better than having nothing like the most of your days.

"Eww, Stop being gross, Sharon!" Wanda chit-chatted with Sharon in front of the metal table laying in the middle of the huge maroon and white kitchen. People already had their food and it was the final batch that was given from the last ten minutes ago.

You were carrying a tray full of unfinished food, dropping them off with a clang beside the kitchen sink. Your arm was still hurting from the fresh wounds it held. Even though, Phil was around. Rhodes had still given you some time to 'cook those bitches' while he cuts whatever he was cutting.

An unfinished plate of Hushpuppies lay before you, there were five pieces left and you wanted to give that particular customer a karate chop on the head for wasting such a delicious meal.

The whole plate felt like it was a gift from God. You could see the golden swirls surrounding it, tempting you to just finish the damn thing and think how that was more cleaner than the other unfinished foods that laid in front of you. You cussed beneath your breath.

Growl, says your stomach.

Nobody wants a hungry stomach, yes? And so you feed it off to shut it up. You fit every Hushpuppies in your mouth, just like a squirrel protecting his nut. Your mouth looking hideously full.

"Doll," You jerked and slammed your hand on the metal sink when you heard a very familiar voice that could make your heart go gaga. Being lucky with food was probably in your genes because you didn't choke when Bucky had appear beside you like a genie in disguise.

Though, the tiny wrinkle of his nose hurt the dignity left in you. He looked disgusted. Wow, that was the best first impressions. You were such a hopeless and desperate woman.

Yeah, you'd rather hear people saying those kind of things to you, having a label that could hurt your dignity than die in hunger.

"Oh, girl. That was gross," Sharon commented with a cringe. Earning a same response from Wanda. She looked clearly disgusted at the food in your mouth. "Spit it out! Spit it out!"

Rhodes seem to have taken it lighter than those two because he found it quite entertaining after feeding hundreds of bitches. "You have the worst case of feeding your damn hunger, Y/N!"

Phil seemed the find it normal, giving you an apathetic response. He shrugged his shoulders and nodded to himself before he went back to cleaning.

On the other hand, Bucky left your side..walking in between Rhodes and Sharon till he stopped in front of a huge refrigerator. All eyes were fixated on the man who was fishing for something to eat. "Hmm," He quietly hummed, one hand inserted in his trousers. The muscles on his back appearing toned which you had only noticed until now, his hair untied as it gloriously and attractively fell on his broad shoulders. Adding another set of gorgeous facts that made your toes curl beneath you. After a minute of searching for something good, he finally brought out a frozen plum, with a simple spun of his heel, he turned around while he marched towards you, throwing the juicy fruit in the air for a couple of times, landing on his fairly large palms. "Barnes--" Rhodes spoke as Bucky glided through the kitchen. Passing in between him and Sharon.

"Bill that on me!" He walked in front of him and gave him a side-eye, sending Rhodes a cheeky wink. Strutting back in the direction from where you were. You were mindlessly digging crescent lines on your palms from the warm, giddy, overwhelming feeling that you were feeling inside. Why were you reacting that way?

Sure, he was attractive. Okay, maybe too damn attractive. Maybe a little too hot either? Why were you thinking about it now when he's currently strutting in front of you like a model or a sexy stripper who was about to give you a private show?

Did you really thought about that when you only met him hours ago?

"You're damn lucky you're one gorgeous motherfucker, Barnes." Rhodes hissed, fanning himself with his hands when Bucky gave him one of his famous winks. He gave a low chuckle, stopping beside you. Your fairly large height differences was obvious as he leaned his derrière on the metal sink. His warm hand sent sparks to your core once he wrapped his warm, calloused hand around yours. Oh, no. Stop. Taking your hand in his, he dropped the cold plum in your hand, enclosing your fingers with his around it. "I'd rather see you eating this than eat leftovers. We have no idea what you'll get infected with, Y/N."

"Alright. Let me just be the spokesperson for everyone," Wanda chimed, raking her hair in a makeshift ponytail. Using a rubber band as a tie, she parted her ponytail in half, tightening it to make sure it wouldn't fall. She eyed you and Bucky, pointing her nicely, manicured maroon nail at you. "Since when did you two become friends?"

"Uhm," You stuttered, pointing a finger on your chest, pertaining to yourself. The pressure crippling your anxiety bit by bit. Their scrutinizing stares boring holes in your body. "Me?" Sharon's face turned stoic, placing her hands on her perfectly wide hips. "No, not you. Rhodes. Of course, Y/N! You and Barnes?!" She exclaimed, making it sound extremely impossible.

What was wrong?

Bucky could sense the polarity in their minds. He obviously didn't find anything wrong, yet they seem to be complaining. "You guys make it sound like it's impossible for us to be friends,"

A creak of the door made everyone quiet, but after a second of realizing it was just Phil who went out to throw the garbage in the dumps. They continued their discussion.

Wanda raised her brows to prove her point, "Of course it is! Y/N has no friends!" She exclaimed, before an apologetic smile reached her lips. "No offense, Y/N."

You could only nod, their conversation was entertaining you but at the same time, it was throwing you a harsh brick on the face. Were you such a loner? Were you really an anti-social person? You counted your friends inside your head, and Bucky could see you completely out of focus. Mind going elsewhere as you counted how many were they. It made his heart all cozy. You just looked...innocent...and so adorable.

That's what he wanted to say, but he kept his lips sealed. He was probably just slugged from the tequila shots he took.

Sharon crossed her arms against her pliable breasts, a blush creeping towards her cheeks. Slowly making her looked flushed, "Besides Steve, of course. He's a sweetheart. Who isn't even friends with him?" Her voice sounded smaller than the usual and you were curious why she sounded shy all of a sudden. Wanda piped in her train of thoughts, "And Stan, obviously. I think he's her bestest friend out of all of us,"

In a vague corner of Bucky's mind, There was a question inside his head that he so wanted to ask them, a question as to why they sounded so incredulous when he gave Y/N a little bit of his help. "Aren't you guys her friends?"

Everybody went completely still. Phoebe Ryan's song named 'Dark Side' was hardly reaching their ears. That question totally shut them up. Y/N couldn't help but feel how heavy her heart turned out when nobody dared to answer one simple question that can be answered by pre-schoolers. Not even one single person could say 'yes'. She knew why she was left friendless. She knew who was the center of her life, the person who had controlled her life and everyone since birth, and she was scared that she'll soon turn out numb from all the pain that was inflicted towards her. Physically and emotionally.

Rhodes shut his mouth, Wanda began to zip her mouth and Sharon was left thinking about her next words. She opened her mouth to talk, "Even though we want to, her mother doesn't. We're forbidden to. Only the toughest people are friends with her,"

Bucky's eyebrows narrowed, a deep wrinkle forming in between his smooth forehead. Did those words seriously came out of her mouth? Were they seriously scared of her? He couldn't help but snort from their hooey reasons. "You're seriously scared of one woman?" He exclaimed skeptically, his hand reaching to tuck his hair behind his ears. "A woman who asks you to stop befriending one girl? Can you seriously hear yourselves right now?" He exasperated and waited for them to talk, yet nobody was tough enough to talk, he reclined away from the metal sink, absolutely aggravated by how they were fine for letting one woman control their decisions. Leaving an innocent woman alone and friendless just because 'her damn mother' doesn't want to. How can her mother be so immature? What was running inside her head when she asked these people to stay away from her daughter?

"If Steve gets to be her friend, then I can be her friend, Her mother doesn't scare me," Bucky uttered as a matter of fact. He chewed on his bottom lip before focusing on your disheartened form. You were awkwardly fiddling with the ends of your plain white shirt. Head bowed down in dismay, and a plum in your hand. Holding it for dear life. The man in front of you couldn't help but tuck his fingers beneath your chin. He couldn't blame you for acting this way especially that he knew you were physically abused by a person whom he thought will never even lay a finger on her own spawn.

You were met with dazzling Steele blue eyes that peered down at you with softness, "You wanna go eat somewhere, Y/N?" He spoke rather tenderly, a sincere smile lifting his lips that made your heart race a million miles.

This was bad. So bad. Stop. He should stop. You gulped the saliva trapped in your throat, didn't he have any..other woman to tend to? Doesn't he have someone to work on? Customers who needed him? Women who he needed to fuck? "Don't you have...work to do?" You hesitatingly asked. Wording everything much more proper and good to hear. He thought for a second, licking his red, plump lips that made some warmth go through your core. Oh. Damn. Bucky shook his head after, eyes adorably curving like crescent moons. "Nah, Doll. The ladies were all interested for America's flag stripper tonight," He lowly chuckled, "I needed some time off anyway,"

"Uhm," You hesitated on coming with him. If your mother finds you out and about with her best underling, she'll go loco. "I don't know, Bucky." The vexation came back in his head, he knew why you were reluctant. But, you needed to eat right even just for tonight. He had always seen you eating tons of shitty food. There was this urge that he wanted to make it different this time, he wanted you to take care of yourself. He wanted to...

--to take care of you. He discreetly cleared his throat from that. Pulling himself back from reality, "Come on, it's my treat." The comforting, familiar heat wrapped around your hand out of habit. He was holding your hand with his right hand again, gazing down at you with that beautiful blue eyes of his. If he doesn't stop then things will go worse. Things that would probably place your heart in a very vulnerable position.

He smiled very amiably and soft, "Say we continue our 20 questions game?" His voice sounded raspy and sanguine.

You couldn't help but get lost in those Steele blue eyes. Jumping in his sea of orbs that made you want to drown yourself over and over again and you gave zero fucks about it. He was clearly trying to heal your poisoned, wounded heart.

With no control over your emotions, you gave a weak nod. Completely out of your trance and with only one squeeze given to your hand....

You were a goner.

TAGLISTS ARE OPEN, TATER TOTS! Just send me an ask! 

XOXO, 

TATA (SEBASTIAN’S POTATO BITCH)

[musicmeisterandtheinbox]

Somebody Sure As Hell Messed UP (Part 1)

((Hey everyone, sorry about the long absence until now. This is an RP event with @darcimasonusb @askthetoyman @asktheonearmedbandit with Dennis being caught up in this stupid divorce drama. ugh. Mondays, am I right? Thanks for reading! Hopefully, Dennis doesn’t die. you know how that goes.))

Tonight was a night per usual in Gotham City. A frosted air brewed in for Winter was just around the bend. Two peculiar young people rode along in a calmer part of the city thanks to a moped in the shape of an 8th note, for they had quite an adventure planned. 

“You know what you’re doing, right?” Dennis muffled, covering his mouth with his lime green scarf. 

“Yes, I’ve done this before!” Darci chuckled. Her blonde hair caught bits of frost as she analyzed the series of closed stores. 

They stopped somewhere interesting and took a gander at the locks. “Just thought I’d ask cause-”

 "Cause what?“

 "Well, you’re so… normal. I don’t mean that in an insulting way either. It’s just, no powers, no backstory, you just showed up!”

 "If that’s your definition of normal then it wouldn’t be normal, would it?“ 

“I guess it isn’t… huh?”

As he lurked through the sewers beneath the street, the cowboy tried to place himself in the near pitch-black environment. A right turn, a hair left, straight for a couple hundred feet. Don’t fall in the water; it takes too damn long to clean that stuff out. ‘Nother right, and up the access ladder. It should let right out to the back alley. The businesses connected to it ain’t that fancy, but they’re easy pickins. But which to choose?

Maybe that Lil’ liquor shop? Eh, done those too many times to count… That bakery’s already closed; no fun in that… oh, now ain’t that a beaut? A Lil’ ol’ diner! Maybe a little slow, but just enough people. Oh, now ain’t this gonna be a hoot? The cowboy cops a squat in the alley to wait for his proverbial “high noon.”

Dennis and Darci had a long look at the locks and realized, there’s just too many people around to do a good robbery. “Do you wanna just wait it out a bit?” Darci asked 

“Yeah that sounds good” Dennis fixed his bright red hair a bit, “What do you wanna do in the meantime?” “Hm. I’m not particularly hungry but do you wanna grab something?”

Dennis crunched the numbers in his head, “I had some cantaloupe around 4… or was it honeydew? Either way, I could eat.” It was 10 PM.

“C'mon we can go down to that honky-tonk around the block, bet there’ll be something fun too.” And to the diner, they went. Dennis parked his stupid awful moped scooter near the entrance and both walked inside. Business there was slow but the atmosphere screamed the 1950’s. The checkboard floor, teal booth seats, and Crosley brand Jukebox were all dead ringers for this notion. A woman in around her mid 30’s called out to the two “Sit where ya like and staff will get right to ya!” And so, they did. A booth somewhere near the jukebox and a hall leading into the restrooms.

Reuben watched the customers coming in and out of the building. That music note scooter immediately drew his eye. He shifted over to get a better look as the riders dismounted. Dennis Prowell: “the Music Meister.”

“This really will be interestin’!” The second one, a woman, was partially obscured. Before he could get a better look, they had both moseyed in. A waitress came up to their table with two menus. “Hi! My name’s Jannette, I’ll give ya a minute, but first just wanna let you know that the soup for tonight is Chowda.” They thanked her in an awkward unison and flipped through the selection as she walked off to help another group of guests.

“Soooo.” Darci started.

“Hm?”

“How’d you end up the way you are?”

Dennis looked up in a bit of confusion, “What do you mean?”

“Like, how’d you become a villain?”

“Oh! Like a tragic backstory! Right. Yeah, my powers are genetic.” She looked up.

“…that’s it?”

“Yeah, had some bullies, dealt with that.. then I just went out and did crime. It was a primal urge… like arson!” They continued to chat, unknowing of what lied ahead.

Now seemed like a good as time as any! 

B L A M

A shot rings out, shattering the glass door. A boot busts the rest of the glass out. The cowboy steps in and tips his Stetson. “Alright folks. This is a stickup. Y'all know the drill! No quick movements. lay yer wallets and jewelry out on the table. Let’s make this short an’ sweet and no one’ll get hurt.” He sticks his six-shooter in the face of the waitress behind the counter. “And you. Empty the register into’ this sack.” He lowers his weapon and tosses her a bag, then poises for attack again.

Dennis whispered over to Darci “…Weird, but I got this.”

She knows he doesn’t got this.

Dennis got up and put his hands in the air, whistling to the tune of an old Western movie. …

Darci stood still, analyzing the scene, waiting for an apt time to act.

“Ah ah ah, don’t come another step closer, Mister. I’ve got you dead to rights. And what’s that tune? You deridin’ me?” Mocked the Bandit.

“…ohmygoditsnotworking.” He looked around in a panic. The people around him were frozen to his tune. Maybe I could? NO that’s a death wish you promised there’d be no body count. What if… Darci knew he’d be a dead man if she didn’t do something quick. Without thinking, she grabbed Dennis by the arm and started bolting down the hall to find an escape

“What in Sam Hill? Hey! Get back ‘ere! The both of ya!” He glanced around the diner at the spellbound customers. “DAMN IT!” He grabbed the sack and the register’s till and cautiously ran down the hall in pursuit.

They darted into the women’s bathroom and locked the door behind them.

Good news: The bandit can’t get in! Bad news: They can’t get out!

“Holy shit..” Dennis caught his breath, holding his scarf “Any clue who that is?!” Darci stared off into nothing, listening in on what the Bandit is doing outside. Dennis ruffled his fiery hair in an anxious scramble. “He wasn’t affected, he could be deaf.. but then he wouldn’t have heard…”

He slowed and held his hand over his holster. “I know y'all are back ‘ere!” He kicked the manager’s office door open. Not there. The storage room. Nope. He continued down the hall, spurs clicking against the linoleum.

Darci leaned in and listened to how he kicked the door open. That sound. The clang you get when you hit the wood with… no.  That’s can’t be it. It’s… It’s exactly what it looks like.  "Darci, over here,“ Dennis called her over pointing to a patriot hopper window.

Men’s room. No dice. Women’s? Locked. “Knock knock? Is this room occupied?” He blasted at the lock twice with the revolver. “Now, come on Mr. Prowell. I don’t wanna hurt you or yer lady friend.” He pushes the door open.

That plan didn’t go far. Dennis raised his hands up again. Darci stood her ground by holding Dennis’s waist and staring the Bandit down. “Oh great, he knows my name. Listen, … ‘cowboy’ you obviously got a lot to do. Loads of places to see, and I just want to say… You really have a…” Dennis went off on a slow and shaky tangent while the gun was pointed at him.

Taking a step into the room and looking at them both, the Bandit gasps and immediately staggers back. “Y-you, uh, y'all are lucky! I’m willing to, ehm, go easy on yah. Uhhh… Sorry, Ma'am.” He high tails it out the back door and silently down the manhole.

Dennis couldn’t exactly process what had gone on. “…What was that?” “Let’s get outta here.” Darci let go of him.  “That’s.. that’s a good idea.” They stepped out and walked out of the hallway, everything was deafeningly silent, whoever was left there was packing up their belongings. When going out, Dennis gave a sheepish wave and Darci continued to scan the area. Both of them got onto the scooter and went back to going about the city. “…so uh. Where to next?” “Somewhere far away from there.”

WHAT!? YOU SAW HER? WHY DIDN’T YOU CAPTURE HER? “I’m sorry, boss! She had someone else with ‘er! That “Music Meister” feller. And I was right in the middle of a stick-up! I couldn'ta just picked her up. It’s kinda hard when you only got one arm!“  Fine. Get to the safehouse and wire me the funds you got. I can take care of this. “Good luck, boss…”

The ride felt endless. A horrific feeling welled inside both of them.

“I knew it, god damn it. I knew it..” Darci’s hair flowed in the wind.

“You mean the cowboy?” Dennis had a tired look in his eyes.

“Who else?” she lied through her teeth.

“That guy was kind of an odd-ball.”

“He’s got some scheme brewing. We need to just get out of here before he comes back with some new weapon.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I believe that this cowboy’s looking for trouble, it’s just this guy’s got one arm and came in with just a revolver. Guys like that can’t just miraculously get the funds from a mob boss without a damn good reason.”

Darci wanted to tell him the truth, but that would just add on another layer of unwanted confusion. So she just nodded in agreement.

“You know, Gotham isn’t as Dog eat Dog as it seems to be,” Dennis started.  "It’s more like… Your connections prevent from getting lobotomized by a guy in a mask. You keep each other safe from a bigger present danger! If that makes sense…  Just know I got your back if you need it.“ "Same here..” She replied, chilled by his example.

“Maybe we should try again?” Darci asked, “like go around to another store. Not around there though..” She pointed in the direction they’d left from. “The nights still young..” Dennis didn’t want to quarrel with the cowboy again, but God he itched for this to turn into a fun night. “I don’t see why not!” he turned right, the businesses there were all closed at that point. It’s as if the stars aligned once again!

Dennis pulled in near a clothing store. “Where do you want to start?” Darci asked. “Well, you gotta start with the locks right?” Dennis replied. “And what if there are security cameras?” “I’ll just do what I always do.” he shrugged. “Well aren’t you a broken record.”

Darci got off the scooter and examined the lock. She took out a bobby pin from her hair and started fiddling it inside. Click! She gave a thumbs-up as the door creaked open.  They both walked inside, skulking around to see if anything was of interest or present danger. Dennis caught his eye on a necklace with a black quartz pendant. Selina would love that. So he stuffed it away into his pocket, humming a tune.

Meanwhile, Darci was grabbing a handful of chapsticks, shoving them into a white purse she grabbed nearby. “That’s-” “Chapsticks? Yes :)” Darci put on a funny sort of smile. “That’s a lot of chapsticks…Okay, it’s what your heart desires.” “My heart also desires… this!” she snatched a leather jacket from a clothing rack and promptly threw it over her shoulder.

Knock knock knock.

Their hearts dropped. Dennis pointed over to behind the cash register. The two hurried to crouch behind the counter.  Darci signaled to stay quiet, trying to keep some level of composure. But her mind was racing.  Maybe we should call the cops… No! Are you out of your mind, Darci?! The cops will just haul your shell to a junkyard and turn your code into Dopey-Doh in Arkham!

Knock knock knock.

Dennis murmured “H. How?” Darci collected the pieces together already, this was happening again! Why does he want to torment me?! “Let’s go out from the front..” They foxtrotted over to the entrance and creaked open the door. A quick and speedy escape was just around the corner!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

“Let’s get outta here..”

Darci hurried Dennis out the door. 

Uneasy silence as they step through the door. 

“T R I C K  O R  T R E A T !”

A heavily synthesized voice croaks. Laughter like something from a cheap Halloween decoration blast around them. A massive bowl sits in the middle of the street in front of the store.

They shook by the creature that stood in front of them like a hungry predator.  “RUN!” the two scattered back inside for cover.

Two rubbery green arms explode out from the inside and pick the bowl up like a grotesque pair of legs. It scuttles onto the top of the building and begins knocking so rapidly, the building shakes on its foundation.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!” Dennis shouted, shaking to the rhythm to the knocks. “I DON’T KNOW!” Darci yelled over the rumbling. The ceiling started to break apart. “JESUS, IT’S GONNA KILL US BEFORE WE GET OUTTA HERE!” “LIKE HELL I’LL GO TO HIM AGAIN!” Darci refused, but Dennis had already run outside in hopes to get hold of his getaway scooter. We gotta get outta here! “DENNIS YOU OAF!” Darci called out, trying to usher him back in.

The shaking stops. Another dreadful silence, occasionally broken by the drop ceiling panels falling from the commotion.

Dennis realized what this thing was after. It wants her. But why? “What are you doing?! Get back inside!” Darci called out again. “G E T. O U T.” Dennis mouthed to Darci. He stared at the creature, trying to decipher its next move. Dennis reached in his jacket pocket and started shuffling through…

The bowl sits atop the roof completely still. The arms appear to have receded back into the bowl and it has shut down for the time being.

Ah-ha! Now’s our chance! Dennis pulled out his keys and started up the scooter! “Darci. Let’s get outta here!” he shuddered in a whispery tone. “Please trust me on this.” She had to take this leap of faith. If the bowl didn’t catch her, the police surely would’ve. Darci darted outside, took the keys, and started up the scooter! Dennis joined her in a hurry.

As soon as the woman peeled out of the crumbling structure, the voice whined out again. “T A G,  Y O U ’ R E  I T !  H E H E H E H A H A H A H A H A ! ! !” The bowl hoisted itself back up and trotted towards them.  With one more cackle, a third rubber arm bursts from the inside of the bowl and snatches at the pair. “G O T C H A !” The bowl pulls the extra appendage back inside before tearing out of the way like a bat out of hell.

As Darci attempted to drive to safety, Dennis felt his body pulled away from the scooter. He screamed. Darci looked back only to see that the worst possibility was now her reality! Her loved ones were being taken from her once again by him! But fear overcame Darci that night. She drove out of sight of the bowl and behind a few cars; peering over and regretting her choice already.

The hand grasped around its prisoners until the moment it got into the bowl. Almost immediately after, the sounds of machinery began to whirl and plastic sheeting was being pulled up around Dennis. A heating element crimps the ends and seals the whole box up tight.

Darci looked on in horror, hastily hiding away from its line of sight. “WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo?” Her hands were shaking. “God! You can’t even protect your own friends! You’re! so! hopeless!” She reached for her phone in her left pocket. “Maybe I can- No! That’s an awful idea!” She tugged her hair. “I shouldn’t get people wrapped up in my business more than they already are! I don’t want to lose Edward either!” “Go out there and save him! You can’t keep living like this!” Tightening her hands into fists, Darci turned around to face the creature! … But. It had already fled.

[samsm2mstories]

The Jacobs Labs. (Series)

The Jacobs Labs stories: The Body swap of Sam and Liam.

Please be aware this is a role play that I did with @liamstfstories and I edited it slightly to turn it into a joint story / roleplay style text. Enjoy! PS it’s my first story series I’ve ever written!

Part 1: The upcoming days to the trip to the life change

Main characters:

Sam was a typical British male aged 28 who was into his fitness and was toned but nothing major but the one major perk he had was his 10inch cock which was thick. Sam had a short buzzed dirty blond hair cut which you could relate to an army cut while having green eyes. He would of been a typical hot guy in the eyes of the British. You see Sam had a keen interest in travelling as he recently won a few thousands on the lottery but it wasn’t enough to retire from work. He went on a life changing trip to Australia where he used the money to get a new life started. He happens to meet his future boyfriend called Liam’

Liam is your typical Australian male aged 20, he had a skater style body which he had a six pack that could show through tight tees. He got brown eyes and brown hair which changes time to time as he follows the style trend in his town. You see Liam has this typical boyish personality which tends to make him act younger but you would call him a normal Australian. Full of energy and takes every challenge in a chilled manner. Liam met Sam at the coffee shop that he works for.

Their relationship went from a simple chat to Sam moving into Liam’s apartment within a week and it turns out that Sam with his mature attitude looked after Liam like his son. Sam loved how Liam personality was and always laughing at the silly things he does and say. Liam on the other hand loved Sam due to his large British cock and his smarts. Some reason these two were a perfect match for each other until Liam mentioned about a new company recently moved into Sydney that was based on advanced medical operations.

Jacobs Laboratories was a recently founded company based in Sydney that specialised in medical conditions and Mr Jacobs Williams was the founder. He had a special underground branch that was trialing operations that wasn’t approved by the government but because the company was respected by the city for it’s massive investments it got away with the hidden experiments.

Jacobs had a breakthrough with one it’s new machinery that can prevent any cells undamaged in an operation. This was managed by a breakthrough on a certain liquid that runs along side with human blood cells. Jacob needed to test trial some major operations when one day he went into the coffee shop where Liam works at. Jacobs saw Liam having a crazy conversation with Sam about their bodies and how amazing it is to experience each other from a different view. Jacob was indeed curious by these talks and took out a card with a message and number and left it in Liam’s jacket.

Later on that day Liam picked up the card and saw a message saying:

Dear Liam and Sam, I overheard your conversation earlier and heard you two was in need funds and was interested in exploring a new life. How does this sound? 100k for a successful swap of you two to swap bodies? If interested please call this number.

Liam was so excited by this and straight away he went home to speak to Sam and both of them was interested in this. Sam had a lot of doubts if this was true but decided to call Jacob's up to arrange a meeting in a few days time. Both Liam and Sam was joking about being each other in the upcoming days. Liam was so convinced he was going to have Sam’s body just to have his cock and smarts, he kept on winding Sam up about being the smart big cock guy in the apartment. Sam was thinking over about giving up everything he built up for a fresh start as Liam who not set himself out a career.

The day has finally come for them!

Liam was in bed just waking up after Sam’s phone alarm. Sam was already up in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

Liam got up and put on his white boxers and went into the kitchen to see Sam in some tight blue chino shorts making some smoothies for the day.

I turned around and saw Liam rubbing his eyes as he just woken up.

S: ‘Morning Liam I hope you are ready for today’ *looking at Liam’s golden tanned body knowing that will be me in a few hours

L: ‘Hey dude, I am totally ready to take that body of yours today’ *winking at Sam

S: ‘I made us some breakfast smoothies for today to keep us full, who knows what is going to happen today. *drinking my smoothie and Liam doing the same.

S: What are you going to wear today? *looking at your sexy body knowing that will be mine.

L: ‘uh i'm just wearing a red shirt and some black shorts’

S: ‘Typical you always putting on the clothes from the floor!’ *I put on some shorts, tee, snapback and black vans

L: ‘what now?’ *looking at Sam in a confused way

S: ‘You looking so damn sexy Liam! Sure you don't want to jerk off before we head to the labs?’ *sees Liam still not dealt with his morning wood

S: ‘Might be the last time you jerk that morning wood of yours!’ *chuckles knowing Liam can spew out a big load of cum every morning. Just amazes me that it soon could be me doing that!

L: Well if i did it now, u wouldnt have as great of a time when u take the body?’

S: Yeah true still you never will feel that cock again after we switch bodies!! Plus I be the one spewing that huge wood of yours! *smirks at Liam knowing I could be right on that!

Liam looked at me like he was using his brain cells for once. . .

L: ‘hmmmm’ *Looking at his morning wood giving it a rub

S: ‘I just want to make sure you don't regret it.’ *hoping he doesn’t actually come up with an idea as I want to have that for myself!

Liam smirked at me . . . What has he got to say I wonder??

L: Think u could give me one last blowjob? *smirking even bigger now

I stood there looking at him rubbing his cock knowing I have no option but to give him his final blowjob. I went towards him and gave it a rub and I could feel how bloody horny this guy was!

S: ‘Ok Liam since it the last time you going to experience that crazy wood of yours!’

I go on my knees right there looking up to my new body to be knowing I will be making Liam do this to me so he knows how much this annoys me sometimes.

Liam pulled down his boxers and said ‘Hell yeah!!!!’

I saw this decent sized cock pointing towards as I went to put my hands on it to give it a rub to get it pulsing before it goes into my mouth for a full on session. As I rubbed it, Liam moaned and smirking that he got me to give him his first blowjob in weeks. He was moaning more as I was rubbing his veins. I decided to pull down his foreskin to expose the red pulsing tip of his cock.

Liam was moaning like mad as I was giving him the best ever blowjob he had from me. All I heard was

‘MMMMM’

‘AGHHHHHHH’

‘MMMMMMMM’

L: ‘GODDDDDDD I might actually miss this body’

L ‘But oh well! Guess I still gonna be so good seeing it from the outside!’

He was saying this between his moans as I was sucking it real hard hitting at his prime spots

I was giving Liam the best ever sucking just to fully understand how his or soon to be mine new cock works. I can't believe how thick and big his cock is and how much cum he can spew from it. It tasted amazing with the shower gel he uses in it also. I just carrying on enjoying every moment of this blowjob knowing I soon be this handsome man!

A few minutes later:

I carried on sucking, just to hear Liam moans more and see his body gets all tensed up as he will about to release his loads.

L: ‘MMMM THIS FEELS SO GOOD’

Liam started to thrust his hips forward as he placed his hand on my head. He was thrusting more and more as his hands were on my head and they felt so soft!! I carry on sucking his cock like it's the last day on earth! My tongue touching the spots that sends Liam into a new deeper sexual level!

Suddenly Liam spoke!

L: ‘FUCK IM GONNA CUM!!!!!’

He pushes his hips further forwards as he grabbed my  hair as tightly as possible while moaning louder!

L: ‘MMMMMMMMMM HERE IT COMES SAMMMMMMM!’

Within that last second he released many thick loads down my throat as I swallowed every drop of his cum knowing soon he will be tasting that in his mouth later on today!

Liam shouted out FUCK DUDE!!!

Every single drop of this tasty Aussie cum went down my throat. God he must eat or drink some sweet stuff considering that actually tasted really nice. I pull out and lick my lips. Then I looked at him!

S:"Fuck Liam you tasted so delicious like sweet nutmeg! Did you eat some nutty health bars or something today?" *smiling as that did taste really nice!

L: “Haha nah dude i don't eat much nuts at all, I guess I just taste that good normally!” *he sighed as he laid back onto the kitchen side

L: “Dude that was so good! I’m so glad we were able to do this before I leave this body!”

He stood up and pull up his shorts and headed towards the bathroom to clean himself up so he looked presentable for today’s trip and his last outing as himself.

I walked to the kitchen sink to wash my face and take a cold drink to wash the cum down into my stomach. I can't believe how much I just swallowed from him. All that healthy proteins, luckily I had the pleasure of having it and not some other guy! Liam spent a few minutes cleaning himself up in the bathroom.

Liam: I walk back out of the bathroom, grab my shirt, put it on and walk up behind up to Sam  whilst he was at the sink. I press my bulge against ur ass as I leaned over u and grab myself some water. I rubbed my still hard cock on purpose and then said

“Lets go to this lab, I think I'm ready to swap”

S: I felt something pressed against my arse and god it was huge knowing it was Liam's after that blowjob. It still must of been really hard. I looked around and smiled when Liam said this but I went in for a last kiss! I turned to feel up Liam's body under his red top rubbing every part of him just to get one last feeling from it as an outsider. I was so lucky to have such a handsome friend like Liam who I cared for so much!.

Liam: *I started to blush and awkwardly smile at him and he continues to feel me up. He really knew how to turn me on even more by doing this!

“alright dude, im sure ur eager to get this stuff as your own, so let's go!”

I leant over Sam and grabbed his car keys

“ill drive today!”

Sam:

*I saw him grabbed the keys and was surprised by this as it was my car.

``you offered to drive for once, that is unbelievable from you Liam!" *laughs away as I put on my vans and grab the paperwork we signed before. I must admit I was feeling a bit nervous inside knowing everything will soon be new to me. Same time I was dead excited!

"Liam make sure you got the right keys!" *knowing he picked up the wrong keys as he always does!

I looked behind knowing soon that apartment will be mine and everything in there will belong to me as I will be coming home as a new man! I chuckled as I waiting to see Liam reaction when he has the wrong keys

Liam:

I was walking towards the car and soon realised that I had the wrong keys.

‘Oops I DID grab the wrong keys!”

I quickly drop them back down and proceeded to grab the right ones “every single time!” I mutted to myself. I laughed as I proceeded to check sam out and relish in the fact that soon i'll have his body!

S: I laughed loudly as Liam walked back towards the car after grabbing the right keys

L: ‘‘alright dude let's get out of here!” I started to walk out the door as sam follows, I turn back around to take in the apartment one last time, knowing I  would be back here soon but not as myself*

S: ‘‘I really hope I don't get that key habit of yours! I swear you do it on purpose sometimes just to check yourself in the mirror!" I looked at Liam and smiles nervously knowing that would be a bad habit to have!

"You looking abit nervous today Liam, what bothering you? I happy to talk stuff out first before we go in? I sure you got some questions going around in your mind?" I was holding Liam's hand to reassure him to be truthful. I looked deeply into his eyes waiting for a reply. . .

L: ah I don't really have any worries at all, I think I look nervous because it's just a very big decision, but I made my decision a long time ago didn't i!” looking at Sam in his eyes.

We both started to walk down the path to the car and we hopped in! I looked at Sam when he was strapping himself in.

“Alright let's do this! you excited?”

S: "Wait a minute Liam, you got something bothering you! I know that tone of voice when I hear it." *places my hand to stop you starting the engine up "Come on tell me Liam as I don't us to have any regrets now!"

S: "Is it because I am more on the twink build side of things? *lifts my top up to show you the secret I have been working on. You see Liam I have been building this six pack up for you, it's bloody tough but I am trying to make it easier for you! Remember you soon will be the smart one and be loaded up with my cash!"

L: “dude seriously i have no regrets or worries! it's gonna be so good! im so excited to do this! it's gonna be so fun!” *I pull ur hand off and start the car up* “do u know the address? I just realised I have no idea where im going” *I laugh*

“dude we’re seriously gonna be fine! im sure this experiment will go perfectly and we will live happily in our new bodies!”

S: "I hope you are 110% sure about this as I be so gutted if you did have doubts and I feel them as you!"

"Here give me a second!" *set up the sat nav on your phone. "Can you press your finger on it?" *waits for you to unlock it and I get it sorted for you

"You know I am excited about this swap as we have money to finally buy a bigger apartment and live an easier life! I wonder though what traits we will have as each other! I do not want that key trait of yours!!!" *chuckles away

L: *I grab the phone and unlock it and give it back

“dude this swap is going to be so fun! we’re gonna have a great life from now own! lets do this!”

S: "Fact we going to become each other will be so weird, just remember to take it easy Liam as you will be learning everything over again. No rushing into anything as we don't want to burn our brains!"

"Let's go Liam!"

L: “Alright!” *I start the car up and we start to drive to the labs* God this is going to be so good! I think to myself, ive always wanted to be sam and now it's HAPPENING!!!

S: "God I am going to be talking like an Aussie soon! That's going to be so bloody weird Liam!"

*laughs as I watch you drive!

"This makes a change of you driving for once Liam! You always try and bottle out of driving and get away with it!!"

*I can't actually believe we are on our way to the labs and soon will be living in each other's bodies. I am petrified at the thought of having Liam's little dumb moments but so damn excited about having his body and looks. He is so damn sexy!!!!

L: “well soon i'm gonna be you which means ill be driving way more! so i thought id get used to it now!” *I start to slow down and pull into the car park* *here it goes! in a couple more minutes, I am finally gonna be sam! we are going to swap lives!*

“alright sam, let's do this!”

*I smile at you as i get out of his, soon to be MY car*

S: "Let's go in and get this going Liam! In a few hours we are going to be with each other forever!" *feels a tent in my tight beige chino shorts

L: *I look down at my soon to be dick, smile, and place my hand on it* “someones a bit excited? shall I return the favour?”

Sam and Liam walks into The Jacobs Labs which has been recently refurbished to meet the standard level you see in the cities.

S: *I hold your hand tightly as we walk through the entrance of this newly refurbished skyscraper. As we walked through we saw a large white room with the polished white floor tiles that you could slightly see your reflection. The reception room had a very small humming tune playing in the background.

"Really Liam, I swear your are dumb as fuck sometimes" *chuckles

"Fuck I might have that trait also" *looks at you and does a dumb face!

*we walk towards the receptionist and she greeted us.

L: * she seemed nice and started to talk us through the procedure, I started to feel my dick get hard again! God, I think to myself, I better leave that to sam when he wakes up as me! he’d love that’*

Receptionist stands as (R)

R: Good Morning Liam and Sam. We were expecting you a little later but as it's quiet shall we start by checking your paperwork from the pre-agreement and your passports as idenity and protection reasons?

S: *I talk first*

"Good morning Kelly, thanks for the warm welcome and here are the paperwork and our passports" *looks at Liam who has the folder with him

R: "That a strong British accent you got there Sam?" *she blushes when she says that

L: “oh right! yes i have those!” *I quickly reach down and grab the folder out of my bag* “here it is kelly!”  *I hand her the folder*

“I hope this is all u need!”

“sam and I are very excited for this experiment and hope that everything goes well”

R: "Hey Liam!!! You seem really excited today and must I say you looking really good today!" *checks everything over and makes a call. "Doctor Jacobs will be waiting for you two. Take this tablet as it will lead you through the building and give you access to the lifts. Oh please be careful and good luck with the protein experiment. I hope those powders will become a huge hit on you two!"

S: "Thanks for that Kelly, I hope the protein shakes will give me more muscles! Liam shall we proceed to meeting Doctor Jacobs?"

*looks at you and hope you don't mention about the swapping*

L: *I take the tablet from her hands and thank her* “haha SAM u have plenty of muscles!” “but yup let's go meet this doctor!”

*i look down at the tablet and start following its directions* “come on!”

S: "Liam you nearly slipped up buddy! I can't believe this is happening!" *smiles

*As I walked along, I could sense the excitement between us about this swapping experience or procedure. Same time I qas praying to God that nothing will happen. We was walking down a corridor and it was like the reception with it blossomed while tiles. I looked at Liam and smiled. "Not long left now Liam!"

*I knew that will cause Liam's cock to tent in his black sporty shorts*

*we were only steps away from reaching Dr Jacobs offices.*

L: “Dude this is gonna be so cool!” I say excitedly as I look at you. *I notice u looking down at my dick and I smile* “this will be yours in a second!” I say as I patted my dick

S: "Yeah I know Liam, it's going to be an interesting moment!" *grabs your cock and squeezes it*

"How much longer Liam" *looking at the tablet

L: *I look down at the tablet, stop walking and smile at you* “alright! here we are sam! lets do this!” *I grab the door handle and smile at you before pushing it open*

*I gesture for u to enter the roomfirst*

S: *Knocks on the door and Dr Jacobs welcomes us

Doctor Jacobs stands as (DR)

DR: Ahhhh you both arrived! Pleased to meet you both! *offers his hand to Liam first

L: *I shake enthusiastically* “good to meet u too!*

DR: "So Liam you ready to become your best friend Sam here?"

*I shakes Sam's hand also*

S: "Nice to meet you Mr Jacobs and I think we are both ready to talk about the surgery and deal we have in place.

"I am nervous about the surgery as this is going to unknown to us both."

DR: "please both of you sit down so we can go over the formalities." *offers us two chairs at his desk

*we both go over and sit down in the chairs* L: “alright, so what's gonna happen here?” I ask as I hand over the tablet and our documents with our credentials

“how long will this take etc?”

DR: "The operation machinery is all ready to go and the surgery will take a few hours but you won't feel a thing. Our technology is that advanced that there will be no scarring at all but due to the nature of the stress of the transfer that this will be a one way transfer. If this all is successful you will have your money deposited and be allowed to live your new life, remember when you sign these paperwork nobody will ever know about this experiment.

DR: Here is three pieces of contracts you must sign each. *passes them to us

S: "Are you ready for this Liam?" *gives you the pen first*

L: “alright let's do this!” I say excitedly as i grab the pen from ur hands

*I quickly sign off the paper and pass it over to u*

“alright im all done and ready, what now?”

S: "Ohhh here it goes!" *signs the paperwork

DR: "Great please come with me to the two rooms!" *shows us two doors with our names on them but the rooms are connected to the main operation room

S: *Looks at Liam and hugs him tightly*

L: “alright Dr!” *I stand up out of the chair and walk over to my door*

S: "I hope to see you soon brother, if anything happens just remember that I am so thankful and loved every moment we had!"

*cuddles you more*

L: “dude stop we’ll totally be fine! don't even worry!” I say as I pat u on the back “this is gonna be totally fine! let's do this!”

S: "Let's do this!!!"

*opens my door to see a bed and a chair*

DR: please take off your clothes

L: “oh boy okay!”

While in the other room Sam just entered.

S: ‘’Knowing Liam he will just strip off and leave his clothes on the floor screwed up*

*I fold my clothes and possessions neatly

In the other room which DR Jacobs and Liam are in.

*I started to strip of my clothes, I pull of my red t-shirt, slipping down my black shorts, pull of my socks and shoes and throw them all to the corner of the room* “let's do this!” I say as I shake my hips teasingly

*goes onto my bed and lays down

Doctor Jacobs proceeds to the other room to see Sam waiting on the bed and deals with him first.

DR: breath this gas in slowly Sam *places the gas over my mouth and I fall asleep

Doctor Jacobs finishes the first part of the swap on Sam and he goes back to the other room to see Liam.

DR: "Liam please stop touching your penis and lay on the bed, Sam going to be so aroused by your typical Australian personality and traits"

L: *I sigh loudly and go lay down on the bed. the doctor comes over and puts the gas mask over my mouth as well. I fell asleep.

Sam and Liam have both fallen asleep now and we soon see what happens in Part 2 which is coming soon.

[artificialqueens]

You Better Werq, part 1 (Branjie) - Q-tip & TheDane

Welcome to this new series from Q-tip and I! It takes place in the same world as our other work, Cruising for a bruising, so please enjoy this Werq the World adventure, as we travel around Europe!

“Do you think it’ll cause problems?”

“What will?

“You being here together? If you haven’t seen each other much?”

“Well we almost broke up on a 10 day cruise.” Brooke smiles. “So what could possibly go wrong when we have 12 countries and 22 days?”

Brooke wasn’t really sure what he had expected when he had arrived in Barajas International Airport in Madrid. He had read his contract over well, knew exactly what was expected of him as he did his first tour with Werq the World abroad. WtW Europe 2020 would be his last public appearance as current reigning, and though Brooke was sad it was coming to an end, it was also a relief that his year was almost over.

What Brooke had forgotten however, was the footnote that WoW presents had commissioned a documentary of the tour, Voss Events agreeing to let a man join the almost 30 person crew for the 22 days the tour would take.

To have a camera showed in his face, the sun just rising, after he had spent 11 hours flying in from L.A, was not exactly at the top of the list of things he was interested in right now.

Brooke had rushed from appointment to appointment in L.A, flying from fitting to fitting on new costumes since he was actually home, touching base from his just finished Canada trip to make sure every loose end was tied up before he went to Europe. Brooke had juggled it all, on top of packing everything Vanjie had forgotten in their L.A home, barely cuddling the cats and Riley and making sure Courtney who had followed him from Canada had everything she needed to be their house sitter for the next month.

“So.” Brooke looked into the camera, a man who had introduced himself as Jasper Rischen, holding it up. He looked sweet, brown eyes, short hair, but he could also be anywhere between 15 and 35. “I didn’t expect this whole thing to start so soon.”

Jasper moved slightly, allowing Brooke to see his face. “Is it making you uncomfortable?”

“Oh, no! No.” Brooke held out his hand, his handler Liam already taking his suitcases away. “It was just a long flight.”

Brooke knew WOW had paid for a documentary, that Jasper would be following them around, even sleeping on their bus instead of the crewbus, but it still made him feel on edge.

“Are you going to be following me this entire time?”

Brooke wished he had done more with his hair, or at least not worn the workout pants Vanjie had tried to throw out several times telling him that they were basically trash, which Brooke knew very well. They were, however, also comfortable and lived in, and Brooke hadn’t exactly expected a camera to be shoved in his face the moment he landed.

“Follow all of you.” Jasper smiled.

“Well, we better get going then, huh?” Brooke grabbed his duffle, life on the road truly starting again.

///

Brooke sits in a car, backlight illuminating his blonde hair as it drives through the streets of Madrid.

“How I feel about this tour?” Brooke is turning his phone, flipping it back and forth between his fingers. “Excited. A little nervous.” Brooke laughs, his nose scrunching. “It’s going to be a lot.” He sits, looking out the window. “This is going to be a new experience for me. I like my independence, I like being my own boss, and if there is one thing that you are not while on tour, it’s the boss.”

Images of Brooke performing fly over the screen, Brooke truly coming alive under the stage lights, the crowd.

“Not that I ever am, when Jose is around.”

“How does it feel to know that you have to pass on your crown?

Brooke looks thoughtful. “Strange.” He pauses. “I’ve already done it once before, giving up a crown I mean, but Drag Race is a totally different experience from Miss Continental.” Brooke leaned back. “Of course it’s sad to say goodbye, but I have to admit I’m also excited at the thought of having time to sleep, see our pets and finally go on the vacation to Aruba I promised Jose on the show.” Brooke laughs, his face lighting up. “We haven’t seen each other much lately.”

“Do you think it’ll cause problems?”

“What will?

“You being here together? If you haven’t seen each other much?”

“Well we almost broke up on a 10 day cruise.” Brooke smiles. “So what could possibly go wrong when we have 12 countries and 22 days?”

///

“So we have to go left, then right?” Vanjie looked at Chancellor, their main choreographer, lifting a brow. “Or is it the other way around?”

“It’s left, left right.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” Vanjie grabbed his water, wiping his forehead, when he heard the best sound in the universe, Brooke’s warm voice yelling out a ‘hello hello hello’!

“Brock!!” Vanjie shot down from the stage, leaving both Detox, Asia and Kim Chi high and dry. He ran towards the door without a shred of shame, jumping directly into the arms of his boyfriend who had barely stepped inside the rehearsal space, Brooke surrounded by suitcases. “You’re here!”

“Hey boo.” Brooke laughed, holding Vanjie without a choice as he had thrown his legs around Brooke, clinging to him like a koala bear, hanging onto him as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. “Did you miss me?” Brooke’s eyes sparkled with mischief, the blue orbs watching every inch of Vanjies face. He hadn’t seen Brooke in 6 days, he and Asia doing a two day gig with Porn Idol London before they had both flown to Madrid earlier in the morning.

“Bitch you know I did.”

Vanjie grabbed Brooke’s hair, only briefly registering the camera that was hanging back, clearly filming everything, but he was a man with needs, and as long as he had heard no ho telling him to keep it PG-13, he was going to kiss his boo liked he deserved.

Kissing Brooke was wonderful, his lips soft and full, and Vanjie smiled into the kiss, the fresh taste of mint dancing on their tongues, Brooke without a doubt popping one in the taxi before throwing on new deodorant too, his prime canadian beef thoughtful like that. Vanjie was about to go in for a second filling, when a hand forced its way between their faces, Detox effectively cutting them apart. “Okay, that’s enough. This isn’t that kind of show.”

“Hey!”

Detox laughed, clearly not giving a fuck that Vanjie was yelling. Brooke transferred Vanjie to his hip, a surge of warmth rushing through Vanjie at how easily he was handled, Brooke carrying him as if he weighed nothing.

“You gotta share girl, can’t keep Brooke all to yourself.”

“I can keep him exactly where I want!”

Detox laughed, putting an arm around Brooke to get his own hug, nearly hitting Vanjie in the head, but Brooke just smiled, readily accepting the love from one of his closests drag friends.

“It’s not gonna be a problem.”

Detox snorted, clearly not believing Brooke’s low rumble. Jasper had lost interest, the man moving across the room and to the stage, filming away at Kim Chi who was getting a special lesson from Chancellor. The latinax paying intense attention to where Kim Chi’s feet where, and Vanjie knew it wasn’t without right, Kim falling almost as many times as Aquaria during last years Werq.

“If I know any of you whores right, it will be.”

“D, since when have you become such a prude?” Brooke smirked, his hand firmly planted under Vanjies tank top, spread out against his skin. It was hot in Madrid, Vanjie knowing he had to be damp from the rehearsals, Brandon Voss arranging this bootcamp for that exact reason. Madrid the perfect climate to get the queens into gear, on the same beat, force them to work in the heat that will be unavoidable, and to give them a chance to get to know their back up dancers before they hit the road. Vanjie had already run through his first number, a tongue in cheek performance of a Milkshakes remix, props and all, with the two dancers that were his primary ones.

“I’m merely saying that  while I have seen the goods.” Detox’s eyes ran over Brooke’s body, Brooke nearly choking on a laugh. “I’d like to keep all sucking noises, pussy poppins and van jams to a minimum.”

“Bitch when have you seen the goods?!”

“You know what they say.” Detox released Brooke, a big smile playing on his lips. “Sister dick will make you sick.” Detox slapped Vanjie’s thigh, turning around and walking back towards the stage.

Brooke made a move to put Vanjie down, but Vanjie only clung to him further, throwing his arms around his neck.

“Nu-uh.” It had only been 6 days since they had last seen each other, but it somehow felt like a lifetime. They had dated for almost 2 years, Brooke inching into the last weeks of his reign. Vanjie could smell the warmth of the cologne he had gotten Brooke for Christmas, the ever so familiar scent of sweat and what was so uniquely Brooke just underneath. They had both been booked for the finale taping only 2 weeks after coming back, Brooke’s fittings with the designer he had chosen from the landslide in his inbox the only reason he had even touched down at home. It was infuriating that Brooke hadn’t told him anything about his finale look, hadn’t even shared what colors he was going for, but Brooke had laughingly told Vanjie that he would consider sharing something that big when he had seen Vanjie keep something as simple as a birthday present a secret, which he guessed was a fair enough reason.

“Did you bring my shoes?”

Brooke laughed, sitting down on one of the audience seats, grabbing the gym bag he was still carrying and opening it with one hand. “Here.”

Vanjie yelled in delight, Brooke handing him a pair of sneakers still in the box, everyone momentarily stopping on stage to make sure Vanjie was okay, all of them resuming when they saw Vanjie tearing into the wrapping.  

The sneakers were perfect, so crispy white they looked like new fallen snow.

“Biiiitch!” Vanjie immediately stood up, toeing off the Adidas he was wearing to pull on the brand new Nike’s he had ordered online while on the road. Online shopping was one of his favorite activities, favorite distractions, whenever he was spending long and often lonely nights in anonymous hotel rooms after club gigs that left his ears ringing from fan screams and the heavy bass.

“Look how fucking fresh I look!” Vanjie turned back and forth, parading his new kicks.

“Real fresh.” Brooke laughed, crooking an eyebrow at Vanjie’s antics.

“Thanks babe!”

“Next time, can you please have them delivered when you’re actually home? It was an absolute nightmare squishing pickup in.”

“They’re limited edition.” Vanjie said, though the look on Brooke’s face told him it apparently wasn’t enough of an explanation. “I didn’t want some lobby boy nicking them if I got them sent to a hotel. Besides,” Vanjie sat down in Brooke’s lap, taking his head in his hands. “Imma pay you real good for your Canadian Express delivery. Give you a real nice tip.”

“Mmh?”

“Yup.” Vanjie popped the p, pressing their lips together for another round of deep kisses, when they were interrupted by a call, Chancellor yelling for Brooke. His dancer was finally ready for rehearsals as Kim Chi had just finished. Brooke stood up, shedding his hoodie and throwing it on a seat, already halfway on the stage when Vanjie picked it up and threw it on, pulling it up the hood to watch his man practice on stage.

///

“Are you gonna snitch on me if I smoke?” Detox smiles, his eyes looking just left of the camera. “Good.” Detox lit up, his pink claws a natural part of his hand. Detox is in an alley, an orange shirt somewhat clashing with his hair. “Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“You better start.” Detox laughs. In the background, Kim Chi opens the stage door and slips out, a bottle of cola in hand. “We all need someway to escape this madness.”

“You think this tour is going to be madness?”

Kim Chi laughs, moves next to Detox, who throws an arm around him. “Let me give you my predictions.” Kim Chi holds up a finger. “Violet and Valentina is going to be late for every meet and greet.” Detox nods. “Detox is gonna be mad that Valentina is late for every meet and greet.”

“Hey!”

“Vanjie is gonna fight someone just cause.“ Kim Chi counts. “A’keria is gonna look amazing as always, Brooke will be utter perfection and the cause of at least one Vanjie related breakdown, and Shangela is gonna get lost at least twice.”

“Kim here is the unofficial employee of the month.” Detox laughs. “They all love her. Model citizen and all, but watch out. Her shade is deadlier than her farts.” Detox pushes Kim gently, and they both cackle. The door opens, and Chancellor calls them both back in.

“Hey, Detox?”

“Mmh?” Detox turns around.

“You were on the Atlantis cruise, right?”

“Look at you Mr. Journalist.” Detox smiles. “Seems like WOW has hired a clever little gayboy for this.”

“I’m 24.”

Detox huffs, the smile still playing in his eyes. “Yes, yes I was on the cruise.”

“Brooke said something about him and Vanjie almost breaking up, and now with Kim. They always seem so happy, so I was just wondering. I’ve never heard about that bef-“

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

The camera lowers, no longer capturing Detox face. “Oh, no. Of course not, I was just-“

“Brooke and Vanjie are… Well, they’re Brooke and Vanjie. Nauseatingly sweet and an absolute fucking mess. Brooke and I have been friends forever, and I love the dumb bitch with my entire heart, but if there is even an ounce of drama on this tour, I will have had it. Officially.”

///

“So, we have a lot of new girls with us this year.”

Brooke crossed his arms, slowly tapping his foot up and down. Brandon Voss had gathered them all for lunch, Jon, the tour manager, standing right by his side. Violet and Sharon had been the last to fly in, Violet coming in from Milano with a secretive smirk on her face, Sharon somewhat buzzed from flirting his way into several refills from the flight attendant who had turned out to be a race chaser.

“There are a few rules we want to go over.” Jon stepped forward, already flipped to the first side of his board.

A’keria leaned back in his seat, emptying his protein shake while Brandon droned on about bus schedules, sleeping arrangements and minibar use.

“We expect all of you to have your phones on you so we can reach you, if you’re not with your handler. Is everyone officially in the group chat?”

“Sounds almost kinky, huh? A handler?” A’keria whispered.

Brooke peaked out of the corner of his eye, A’keria wearing a shiteating grin that was only just hidden by his drink.

“Though I guess some of us brought those from home.”

“Bitch shut up.”

Brooke had to hide his own grin, Vanjie chiming in from A’keria’s other side in what could barely be considered a whisper, though it was low for Vanjie.

“If you miss transportation, it’s on you to get to the next location. Shangela, I’m looking at you.”

“Ah!” Shangela held up her arms. “You better believe you’re gonna regret those words Miss Jon. New tour, new me.”

“New trade in every town.”

Everyone laughed, Violet’s joke landing at the exact right time.

“We still need those last few files from some of you girls.” Brooke could feel Vanjie shrink two sizes even though they weren’t sitting next to each other, and he almost rolled his eyes. Brooke had turned his own music in on both email, USB and CD, the tech crew practically crying when they realised that every number had been marked, but that was what a background in pageantry did, Brooke knowing without a shadow of a doubt that A’keria had been just as prepared. Vanjie however? That was an entirely different story, Brooke sometimes believing that his boyfriend had never read a full contract in his life, Vanjie’s chaotic personality not always translating very well to the structure that was needed outside of single performances in clubs and at pride parades.

“Oh, and Brooke?”

“Mmh?” Brooke looked up, meeting Brandon Voss gaze.

“We’ve already cleared everything with VH1 and your management, so don’t worry about taping the final of Drag Race. We have everything under complete controle.”

[ladywinchester1967]

Shape of My Heart:

Chapter 1

Pairing: (eventually) Billionaire!Jensen Ackles x Allie Edwards (OFC) 

Warnings: None for this chapter, mostly swearing. 

A/N: This is the start of a BRAND NEW series!! I hope you guys enjoy! As always, unbeta’d, all mistakes are mine, pics are not. DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction and we’ll pretend Jensen is single okay? Okay? Cool.

“Thanks again,” the blonde, Sandy or was it Mandy, said as Jensen walked her to the door “if you ever want to hang out again.” She added and slipped a napkin into his pocket.

“Thanks.” He said with a grin as he held the door open for her. She stretched up to her tip toes, kissed his cheek and then left down the hallway. Jensen shut the door behind her and looked at the napkin she’d stashed in his pocket. It had her name, Andi, and her phone number written on it. Jensen let a half grin cross his face as he chucked the napkin into the trash and went back to his laptop.

His brother often gave him a hard time about how much he worked, but since he was seventeen, that’s all he’d known. Work, have a little fun on the side, work some more, occasionally sleep, drink good whiskey...what else could there possibly be? Sure, his brother had married his high school sweetheart and they had three kids together.

Jensen poured himself a glass of the whiskey beside him and took a few sips before clicking away on his laptop. Alone with his thoughts, he gave Andi a second thought. Sure, she was sweet, but kind of slow on the uptake and not particularly funny. The sex had been okay, nothing to really write home about. He sighed and downed the rest of the whiskey as his phone made a ping sound. He flipped it over and saw a notification for a dating website.

“The hell?” He asked as the gears in his head turned, since when was he on a dating website? The memory clicked into place, Jared, his best friend, had done it as a joke six months ago. He’d get the notifications every once in a while but he usually ignored them. Out of boredom, he read the notification.

You have a match! Come and see who is waiting to connect with you!

Jensen rolled his eyes, but swiped to see who this person was. Once the app opened up, he had a list of matches but at the top was his most recent one.

Allie Edwards, 88% match

He couldn’t see her picture very well, so he tapped her profile and a picture of a redhead wearing a grey top and black pants and smiling popped up. Jensen tapped the picture and a bigger version of it popped up. She had a round face, big blue eyes and a gorgeous smile. He went to the next picture and it looked like someone had caught her off guard. She was looking to the side, clearly engrossed at whatever she was watching and slightly smiling.

Jensen’s heart hammered in his chest as he looked at the other pictures and then read her profile.

Allie2040

Age: 30

Height: 5’3”

Currently Resides: Dripping Springs, TX

A little on the young side, he thought with a frown, but there was something about her that captivated him. Her eyes were as blue as sapphires with a hint of green in them and she had a hint of mischief in her smile. He sighed and put his phone to sleep and decided he would do what he always did before making a final decision; sleep on it and if he was still thinking about it in the morning, then he would make a move.

Two Months Earlier......

“Come on Allie,” Natalia said “it'll be fun!”

Allie Edwards was seriously doubting her friends idea of fun. What had started out as a girl's night in had turned into her best friends, Natalia and Trish, trying to talk her into online dating.

“I can get a date on my own if I really wanted one.” Allie reminded them as she sipped on her wine.

“It could be fun ya know,” Trish said “which I love you and all, but you’re seriously lacking. I’m making you a profile.”

“Trish, don’t you dare!” Allie exclaimed.

“Too bad, all ready done.” Trish said as she threw her long blonde hair up into a bun and started to type “You're what? Five two?”

“I'm five three, why is that relevant?” Allie asked.

“It asks for height,” Trish said “the rest of this I know, now we just have to figure out what you like in a man.”

“Tall, dark and handsome.” Natalia teased.

After about an hour, the girls had put together a profile for Allie along with a few pictures of herself. Allie rolled her eyes, there was no way that this was going to work. Since her last serious relationship, she didn't really date, guys her age only seemed to want to hook up, which was fine and dandy every once in a while, but being someone's permanent hook up wasn't on her list of ideal scenarios. Finding someone she liked and wanted to be with for more than a few dates seemed to be the challenge.

  Present Day

“No, one more bad date and I’m deleting my profile.” Allie said. After two months of being on the site, Cupid's Arrow, she'd gone on four dates and all of them hadn't panned out into anything she considered fun. Bachelor 1 couldn't keep his eyes off her chest, Bachelor 2 couldn't kiss worth a damn, Bachelor 3 seemed disinterested the second that they met and ended up leaving the bar with another woman, finally Bachelor 4 never showed.  

“What about this guy?” Trish asked “He sent you a message.”

Allie looked at her phone and saw the screen name JAustin78

Hey, how are you? Was all the message said

She clicked on his profile, which didn’t have a picture on it.

“What’s it say?” Natalia asked

“I’m reading his profile.” Allie said

JRAustin78

Age: 41

Height: 6’1”

Currently Resides: Austin, TX

“I’m answering for her,” Trish said as she began to type “because I know she won’t do it.”

“Give that back!” Allie said and snatched the phone back from Trish, who had all ready replied

I’m great, how are you?

“I hate you.” Allie told Trish.

Natalia made a grabbing hands motion and seized the phone from Trish and read over the guy's profile.

“He doesn't say much on here other than he's an entrepreneur.” She pointed out “Likes golf, baseball, brewing beer, sounds interesting.”

“He doesn't even have a profile picture,” Allie said, pulling a face “he's probably not even attractive.”

“He messaged back!” Natalia exclaimed.

“Let me see, let me see!” Trish said and she scrunched in close to Natalia and they both read the message.

“He says he's great too and, oh wow.” Trish said “he says he thinks you're beautiful.”

“He did not,” Allie said and snatched the phone from the girls “he probably said something benign like “how's your day going?” or some other bullshit.” She read over the message, which said

I'm great too, hope you're having a good day. I hope this isn't too forward, but I think you are a beautiful girl and I'd love to get to know you.

“He wants to get to know me?” she asked “Is that normal?”

“Well, how else do you decide if you like someone?” Trish asked “Read their mind?”

“If I could do that, I'd be living in a cave in the middle of the Rockies by myself.” Allie retorted, mulling the message over. Okay, so he found her attractive, nothing new on this site, but the message seemed polite enough. “What should I do?” she asked the girls.

“Well do you want to get to know him?” Natalia asked

“I mean I guess,” Allie told her “I wanna know what he looks like though.”

“He'll probably send you a picture.” Trish insisted “Reply to him!”

“What do I say?!” Allie asked

“Tell him what you just told us.” Natalia said.

Allie sighed and typed

Well, thank you, that's very sweet of you. I'd like to get to know you too but I feel like I'm talking to a ghost, why don't you have a picture?

She showed the message to her friends and Trish frowned

“Don't say it like that.” She said and grabbed the phone, editing the message. Natalia put her two cents in and then they showed Allie the edited reply.

Thank you, that's very sweet of you! I want to get to know you too; so you live in Austin? What do you like to do there?

“You're not gonna ask about his lack of profile picture?” Allie asked

“We'll get to that,” Trish said “but for right now, just ACTUALLY get to know him.”

Allie rolled her eyes and she watched as his reply came through

My friends and I are huge music fans, so we always got to Austin City Limits which is a music festival (if you've never heard of it), we also like to go on pub crawls and check out local artists. What about you? What do you do for fun?

Allie reported what he had said and Natalia answered

“Well, tell him what you do for fun.”

Allie typed her reply

Not much, I don't really have a lot of free time since I work all the time. But when I do have some time, I like to go to wine and beer tastings with my friends, and I teach a ballet class for little kids.

The messaging between them went on like this for hours, talking to him was actually interesting, he was quick witted, charming and genuinely funny. Allie couldn't remember the last time she had actually enjoyed talking to a guy this much. As her bedtime loomed closer, she yawned and typed

It's getting late and I'm gonna call it a night.

He was quick to reply, as he had been all night

Same here, I have an early tee time with my friends tomorrow. It was great talking to you.

Allie smiled and wrote back

Likewise, if you want, I'll give you my number and we can text instead of messaging on the app.

It took a second for him to reply, but when he did, the message came through.

Sure, I'd like that very much. Looking forward to talking to you again.

Allie quickly typed her phone number into the message app, and a few seconds later, a text came through.

Hey, the text read it's Jay.

Allie quickly made a contact for him in her phone and then replied.

Awesome, good luck on the golf course tomorrow.

She watched as the dots indicating that he was typing popped up, then his reply came through.

Thank you, can I call you when I'm done?

Allie's heart hammered, was she ready to have an actual voice on voice conversation with him? Her mind whirled with the possibilities, their texting banter had been great, hilarious at times. She bit her lip, her mind doubting it, but her heart was ready to burst in her chest.

I'd like that a lot actually, I'll just be running around doing errands, so you can call me whenever.

He replied and said

Looking forward to speaking with you, good night beautiful ;)

She grinned and wrote back

Good night to you too ;)

The next day, Allie was on pins and needles as she waited for Jay's phone call. She went about her business, getting some groceries and checking her phone more often than she normally did so as not to miss his call. She groaned at herself and shoved her phone back into her purse.

“God, I'm like a thirteen year old girl all over again.” she mumbled to herself.

Once she was back home and had unloaded her groceries and put them away, she started some laundry and had Game of Thrones on in the background when the phone finally did ring. Jay's name popped up on the caller ID as her mouth went dry and her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. She swallowed and swiped to answer.

“Hello?” she asked

“Allie? Hey, it's Jay.” a baritone voice answered.

Jesus H Christ, he even sounds attractive she thought

“Hey!” She greeted him cheerfully “How was your golf game?”

He groaned and said

“I sucked today honestly,” he said “played a hundred today.”

“Oh, so the higher the score the worse you play?” she asked

“Yes, that's correct, I normally play somewhere in the eighties.” he told her “What about you? Having a good day so far?”

“Yeah,” she said as she sat on the couch and paused her episode “ran a couple of errands and now I'm just doing some laundry and watching reruns of Game of Thrones.”

“Oh, you're a fan too huh?” he asked.

“Die hard fan,” she told him “my brother got me into it and I've been hooked ever since.”

He chuckled and said

“Me too, a friend got me into it and I binged watched the first two seasons.”

They talked about nothing in particular, just idle chatter, but Allie was actually enjoying it. He was even funnier on the phone than he had been via text.

“So, I have to ask,” she told him as she poured herself a glass of wine “why don't you have a profile picture?”

He groaned and said

“Because I didn't actually set up that profile, my friend Jared did it as a prank and I never checked it out until the other day when I got matched with you.”

“No shit, really?” she asked “Because I didn't set up my profile either, my best friends did it.”

“Well at least they included pictures,” he said “numb nuts Jared forgot and I never fixed it.”

Allie laughed, which had become Jensen's new favorite sound.

“They picked the pictures,” Allie told him “I had little to no input on my profile.”

“Even without it, they made a good one.” Jensen said.

Allie blushed and looked at the clock on her stove, they'd been talking for two hours without her noticing it.

“Wow, we've been on the phone for two hours!” she exclaimed

“Really?” Jensen asked “I can't remember the last time I was on the phone for two hours for something that didn't involve work.”

They both laughed and Allie asked

“So, what would be the chances of us meeting and, I don't know, having dinner or something?”

Jensen was immediately on board, he really, really liked this girl.

“I'd say one hundred percent,” he told her “I'd love to meet you and take you out.”

“I'm teaching my ballet class this Friday, but that ends at four, I'm free after that if you want to do something.” she told him.

“Hold on,” he said “I want to make sure I'm free before I agree.”

He put her on speaker phone and checked his schedule, the weekend she mentioned was open on his calendar. “I'm free,” he told her “I thought the conference I was going to was this weekend, but it's next weekend.”

“Conference huh?” she asked “Sounds official.”

“And boring,” he added “Very, very boring.”

“Well, at least you'll have something to look forward to this weekend before the boring stuff next week.” she reminded him.

“You're right,” he said “and I am looking forward to meeting you.”

“So Friday?” she asked “Say around six thirty or seven?”

“Sounds perfect,” he said “anywhere in particular you'd like to go?”

“We can pick a place when the date gets closer,” she told him “I can barely think about what I want to eat for dinner tonight, let alone a week in advance.”

He chuckled and said

“Okay, that sounds good. I'm about to eat dinner, but I'll talk to you later okay?”

“I'd like that,” she told him as she took another sip of wine “talk to you later Jay.”

“Bye for now Allie.” he said and they hung up.

Allie's stomach erupted with butterflies and a huge grin broke out across her face; she decided that at this point it didn't matter what Jay looked like, she already had a crush on him.

Jensen, meanwhile, was grinning from ear to ear. Their phone conversation had been enlightening and he realized that he liked this Allie girl a lot more than he had previously anticipated.

“I'm in trouble with this one.” he said as he walked down the stairs to his kitchen. He quickly pulled up her profile and looked at her pictures one more time, smiling again.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hope you guys enjoyed the first installment of this series, I’m not sure how long or short it will be, but if you want to be on the tag list for this (or even on my forevers) let me know! My boxes are always open!

​The Squad:

@waywardbaby​​​​​​​ @waywardnerd67​​​​​​​ @familybusinesswritingbro​​​​​​​ @ain-t-bovvered​​​​​​​ @mrswhozeewhatsis​​​​​​​ @unholyqu33n​​​​​​​ @dacleverfox​​​​​​​ @emoryhemsworth​​​​​​​ @bobasheebaby​​​​​​ @myinconnelly1​​​​​​​ @mogaruke​​​​​​​ @imma-winchester-addict​​​​​​​​ @purpleskiesandcherrypies​​​​​​​ @dean-winchesters-bacon​​​​​​​ @animerose96​​​​​​​​  @roonyxx​​​​​​​​ @snffbeebee​​​​​​​​ @ezilyamuzed​​​​​​​​ @srsllydunnodoncare​​​​​​​​ @latetothewinchesterparty​​​​​​​​ @emilyshurley​​​​​​​​ @atc74​​​​​​​​ @midnightsilverafterdark​​​​​​​​ @adoptdontshoppets​​​​​​​​ @biawol​​​​​​​​  @spaceystacey123​​​​​​​​ @bella-ca​​​​​​​​ @clo-heda​​​​​​​​ @closetspngirl​​​​​​​​ @thekatherinewinchester​​​​​​​​ @maddiepants​​​​​​​​ @idreamofplaid​​​​​​​ @love-those-boys-in-flannel​​​​​​ @flamencodiva​​​​​​ @blueberrykushlovexoxo-blog​​​​ @sandlee44​​​​ @tumbler-tidbits​​ @rainbowsinthestorm @deans-baby-momma​ @algud

Dean/ Jensen:

@spnbaby-67​​ @akshi8278​​ @deanscarlett​​​​​ 

[oadara]

My thoughts on Game of Thrones and ASOIAF

(to my friends on twitter - everything here applies so most of my tweets will be coming from Tumblr. I can control the chaos here better). 

Hey guys,

I know I haven’t been very acting on the blog but I just needed some time. I’m okay now. Of course, I’m sad that the show turned out this way, but now I’m just feeling blah about it since I’ve been “mourning” the show since the leaks for episode 8.04 came out. I was much more upset about it then, now I’m in the resignation stage of grief if you will. It is, what it is.

It is sad but mostly disappointing to see such a poor conclusion to a series we all love. I don’t say this just because my preferred ending didn’t come to pass, I say it because it was a poorly written conclusion to the series as a whole. I know some people liked it, and I’m glad for them, at least some are getting some satisfaction out of it. Clearly, I was wrong about how things would conclude. I admit it, I’m a harlequin (I hate clowns). 

One of the things that I found most disappointing about this season and really the series as a whole as we look at it as one completed work, was the lack of a cohesive theme or any theme at all, really. The way the season was set up, Daenerys was damned if she did (helping the North destroy the Night’s King and the Army of the Dead) and damned if hadn’t (had she not helped them and done what she had originally set up to do, she would have taken Cersei out easily and her dragons and friends would probably all still be alive but she would have been deemed as a power hungry “tyrant”). Or the fact that the xenophobic north was proven right when the army composed of POC turned out to be a bunch of savages. This isn’t even getting into the “women have to die for man-pain” trope, having two “mad queens” as the final villains before a group of men set everything straight again, or the fact that two men who murdered their lovers are the moral authorities by the end of the series. And this is just the tip of the iceberg for season 8′s issues. 

For the series itself, what was the point? That power corrupts, we figured that out in season 1 and that’. s a pretty well documented moral of a story. The good people can become corrupted if they have too much power, again, I guess, not really groundbreaking. Maybe the moral of the story should be women shouldn’t be in power, unless your family was screwed over at the beginning of the story, then you get your reward. If your family has it’s downfall before the story began (not because of anything you did) then you die. I’m sure some clever people will think up some clever morals to this story. I never thought that I’d utter the words I’m about to utter but I think I liked Dexter’s ending better because that one we saw coming for at least two seasons. After the Trinity Killer, phenomenal season, the show couldn’t hold it together. 

I still love Dany, of course, I think she’s a beautiful and complex character whose story could have been much more transcendent but who sadly ended on the show with a very stereotypical ending. I still love Jon too but I’m going to need some time to set aside what character he was in season 8 and see him as who he had before that. I don’t know who that overpaid extra was but he wasn’t Jon Snow. 

Do I think the books will end the same? George has said so, and if he doesn’t say otherwise, I have to take him at his words. I’m sure the development will be much better, however, I’m still not interested in that story either. I’d really like to see an ambitious woman get what she’s worked her ass for and not get killed so that a man can have it. We’ve had enough of that already.

To which end I will say I have an idea for something, not GoT or ASOIAF related but storytelling related. It’s a project I want to work on and it’s something I would like others who might be dissatisfied with how Dany’s story ended would consider working on it with me. I just came up with it the other day, so I need to gather my thoughts and write a cohesive post detailing what exactly I have in mind. I also want to give you al some time to mourn and grieve because I know some of you are still coming to terms with all of this. But I’m kind of excited about it. 

As for my blogging, I’m probably staying away from GoT/ASOIAF blogging for a bit, maybe I’ll have a few more things to say later on, but for now, I just want to focus on things I like. I think I’m going to do a rewatch of 12 Monkey, an excellent show from it’s first episode to it’s very last, with an amazing and very satisfying conclusion that is actually bittersweet. I think I’ll blog about each episode as I watch it, so if you want to join along, you are welcome to do so. I can even do it through rabbit, if you want to watch it with me. 

Speaking of rabbit, I just wanted to thank all those who joined me on Saturday for the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice and those who joined me yesterday for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. We had a great time. Today at 11:00 AM EDT we’ll be watching Legally Blonde. Next week we’ll be watching the 1995 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. I’ll make sure to post dates and times. 

Okay, I’ll leave you all for now. 

P.S. I deleted my entire ask box, I just can’t answer questions right now about GoT. If you want to ask me about 12 Monkeys or Reylo, you are most welcome to. 

[fathertaurus]

Kitten (part 1) - ⛈️

JAJDOSJDJSJSNZJD I’m so excited. So, if you don’t know, I originally wrote a sugar daddy! David smut and then a stripper!reader smut. I kept coming up with new ways to keep both stories going, and decided to keep going with the sugar daddy one because that one got more of a response, BUT then an idea for a scene of angst (not in this part) came to me with the reader being his sugar baby and a stripper and I decided to combine the two stories. This is the beginning, it’s very slow, nothing really happens except meeting most of the VS. as always, this is trash but I hope you guys enjoy. also s/o to that one anon that said Kitten as her stripper name cause I fuCKING CHOKED!!

“Babygirl!” Zane calls through your apartment, you hear that door slam close and footsteps coming through towards you’re living room. You pop your head around the corner seeing that Heath is with him too.

“What’s up guys?” you ask. You had given them a key to your apartment for emergencies only, but they never really used it for that.

“Wanna go to a party with us tonight?” asks Heath.

“Ugh guys, I’ve worked all week and was technically supposed to work today-”

“But you aren’t and you’re not staying in! When was the last time you partied?” Zane interrupts.

“Yesterday, when I was working! My feet hurt and I’m tired guys, maybe next time.” you whine. Both boys shake their heads and look at each other and back to you.

“You’re going, that’s final.” says Heath. He turns to your bedroom and walks in Zane following after.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” you yell, shooting up from your spot to follow them through your door.

“Looking for something for you to wear!” Zane says. They go through your clothes deciding some pieces were too revealing or not revealing enough. Heath pulls out a sheer diamond studded top gasping.

“This! You’re wearing this honey!” he shouts.

“Oh my God that would go so good with those thigh high boots I bought last week! Oh and black jeans, I can wear a fur coat, or is that extra- wait I’m not going!” you ramble. They laugh at you and Zane throws a pair of dark black jeans at you.

“Yes you are. Now get ready, we have to be there in an hour.”

You spend the next hour doing your hair and makeup, making sure you looked good, your tiredness faded away and was replaced by excitedness. You didn’t get to go out often, only really partying at the club when you were working, and you were ready to have a night with your friends and meet new people. Zane opens the bathroom door as your finished putting in some diamond studs into your ear piercing.

“I gotta pee babe.” he says and goes to the toilet. “You look good, oh my! Were you being serious about the fur coat?”

You turn back to the mirror making sure you didn’t miss a hair or anything, “I don’t know, it’s my first time meeting your friends. I don’t want to overwhelm them or make them think I’m snobbish.”

“I think you should wear it. It’s apart of your personality, and honestly they’ll probably love it.” he says finishing up and flushing the toilet, he walks to the sink and washes his hands, “Plus, imagine the type of impression you’ll make? Dripping in diamonds and wear a fur coat? A queen.”

You giggle, “Yeah I guess. Black or white?”

“Heath! Black or white coat to go with miss thangs outfit?” Zane yells, grabbing your hand and dragging you out the bathroom.

“White, it’ll give you a sense of purity. And you can yell at someone for stepping on it and make it a bigger deal.” he says. You throw your head back laughing.

“If someone steps on my coat or my shoes I’m fighting, period.” you say still laughing. You go back to your room and grab a long white fur coat from your closet, then reach under your bed for your shoe box. You slide the boots up your thigh, zip the side, repeating the action to the other side, then slip on the coat. Looking on your full length mirror you think you look extra, a diamond studded sheer shirt, white fur coat, thigh highs, and diamond covered jewelry? It’s a little much, but that’s your personality. You go to your dresser sliding on a few rings and a heavy silver necklace with diamonds glittering everywhere and walk back to your living room where Zane and Heath wait.

“Damn bitch! You look like a real rich bitch!” Heath says, making you snort.

“Is the fur real?” he asks.

“God no, I would never.” you place your hand over your heart mocking offensive. He rolls his eyes at your dramatics.

“Okay, let’s go. We’re already running late!” Zane ushers us out of my apartment. We make our way to the garage and hop into Zane’s G-Wagon.

“You gotta let me drive GiGi one day, I kinda want one.” you say.

“Oh for sure, yeah.” he says.

“I thought you wanted a Tesla?” Heath questions.

“Yeah i still do but I want to test drive one first and I don’t know if they allow that at the dealership.”

“One if our friends has a Tesla, we could ask him to let you test it out.” he says.

“You know David isn’t going to let her drive his car, he doesn’t even let us.” Zane says laughing.

“That’s because we’re boys, she’s a pretty girl. He’ll probably let her do whatever she wants just for smiling.” he says while rolling down his window and blowing vape smoke out.

“I’d do a lot more than smile to test out his car.” you say. Zane lets out a loud laugh and Heath starts choking on smoke. You guys start talking about the club and how you’re getting more tips and they talk about vlogging and their friends.

“You should pick up a Vlog camera, y/n. People would probably be interested in the daily life of a LA stripper.” says Zane.

“Oh yeah”, you snort “waking up at 1pm, eating leftovers, showering and then getting all dolled up just to sweat it all off on a pole. Real interesting.”

“Then do beauty videos, show people how to do your dramatic ass looks. You’ll put Jeffree Star and James Charles to shame.” adds Heath.

“You just should put videos up, you have such an amazing personality and people would love you. Hell our fans love when you join coffee talk!” says Zane.

“Maybe, I just don’t know where I’d begin. And then if someone finds out what club I work at then what?”

“It’s not like they could get in, most of them would probably be under age.”

“Exactly, then I’d be considered a bad role model.”

Zane looks back to you through the rearview mirror “Are you ashamed of your job?”

“No, bu-”

“Then who gives a fuck? Do YouTube if you want, we both think you should. We’ll help you pick out equipment and set up and edit. It’ll be a bonding experience!” Heath says, turning in his seat to look back at you. You throw your head back and sigh.

“I’ll think about it.” they cheer from the front and start talking about the best cameras for you to use and you roll your eyes. Minutes later you’re pulling up to a mansion, Zane parks his car on the street lined up with cars. You hop out the backseat, closing the door and straighten out your clothes. You feel the vibrations of the music as you walk around the car standing in between the two.

“Okay, if for any reason you feel uncomfortable and want to go home, tell me and we’ll go home. Don’t take drinks from strangers, don’t go anywhere with someone you don’t know. If you feel like someone is getting a little to close just punch them, if you feel like something happened to your drink but you drank it already go to the nearest room and lock yourself in and text us. If you-”

“Jesus Zane! I’m 21, and work at a freaking strip club. I’ll be fine. Since when did you become daddy bear?” you laugh.

“Actually, we prefer brother bears but whatever.” says Heath. You guys start walking towards the house and he holds the door open for you. You’re immediately engulfed in the sound and smell of the party, beer cans and red cups littering the floor and smoke coming from all directions.

“Remember what I said!” Zane leans down and shouts in your ear, you nod your head. You feel Heath’s hand snake into yours and pull you along, reaching back you grab Zane’s and pull him too. Heath’s leading you out the back door to the backyard.

“Carly said they were back here, let’s go find them and introduce you to everyone.” he shouts over the music. You start to get nervous, Zane and Heath were your only real friends in LA, all others were fake or stopped hanging out with you once they found out that you strip, you were scared that their friends weren’t going to like you and that would be it.

“Heath! Zane!” a girl shouts, you look over and see a short girl with short red hair waving you guys over. You guys make you way, the boys hugging her when you reach her.

“Carly! How are you babe?” Zane asks, moving to stand on the side of you.

“I’m good, how about you guys?”

“We’re good. Oh! This is our friend that we’re always talking about, y/n” say Heath.

She smiles at you and opens her arms for a hug you step forward and are engulfed in her embrace. “It’s so good to finally meet you! We were beginning to think you didn’t exist.” she laughs.

“It’s nice to meet you too!” you say.

“Where’s everyone else?” asks Heath.

“Oh, some are sitting over here . Others are walking around filming bits . They can never just relax, always have to have a camera attached to their hand.” she says rolling her eyes. She starts walking back towards a few people sitting on some couches, a boy with blonde hair and a nose piercing and has his arm thrown over a girl with brown hair and a nose piercing. On the opposite couch there’s a boy with dark hair and a girl with blonde hair holding hands. There’s a few other people scattered about that you recognize.

“Alright! Introductions!” shouts Zane. He starts pointing at people and naming them. “Scotty Sire, and Kristen McAtee vlog squads only functioning couple.” he points blonde boy and his girlfriend, you wave and they wave back. “That’s Todd Smith and Corinna Kopf, our very own drama series.” he points to the opposite couch, the guy flips him off and the girl waves at you. “That over there is Erin Gilfoy, her and Carly are best friends. The guy standing next to her is Alex Ernst, you probably know him as the Doritos guy.”

“The one from the vine!?” you ask.

“The one and only.” you throw your head back laughing.

“You’re friends with Doritos guy and didn’t tell me, I would have came sooner.” the rest laugh along with you.

“I don’t know where everyone else is and I’m not chasing them down looking so this is your group for the night. I’m gonna go get a drink, stay here.” Zane says and drags Heath along with him. Kristen pats the open spot next to her.

“Sit here.” she says and moves over to give you more room. You sit and smile at her in thanks.

“So how do you know Zane and Heath?” Todd asks, leaning forward.

“Oh I’m used to live nextdoor to them, one night they were like, insanely drunk, and trying to open my apartment. I was terrified at first and didn’t want to open the door but when Heath started singing some country rap song I dragged them inside and let them sleep in my living room. Been friends ever since.” They all laugh at the story finding it hilarious.

“Yeah, that sounds like them.” he says.

“Are you a YouTuber?” asks Kristen.

“Nope, I’m a stripper.” you say casually. Scott laughs loudly while Todd chokes on his sip of beer.

“I knew you had to be a stripper, that fur coat is beautiful and extra.” says Corinna as she rubs his back trying to calm him down.

“It’s not real fur, is it?” asks Kristen.

“No, it’s not. And thanks, I was going for the extra vibe tonight, hence the whole outfit.” you gesture to your necklace and shirt.

“That’s good, where’d you get it?” asks Corinna.

“This one I believe I got in London from Jakke.”

“You’ve been to London?” Scott asks and you nod. “How was it?”

“Cold and rainy.” you say laughing “but really fun. I would love to go back.” For the next few minutes you sit talking about places you’ve been and where you want to go, you learn that they’re all YouTubers and that Scott makes music and is going on tour soon. Alex and Erin join in the conversation and Zane and Heath come back with bottles of beer and a handle of vodka.

“Let’s get fucking drunk!” they screamed. The next hour and a half is full of conversation and drinking, some people leaving to dance and others coming back after getting footage for their videos. You meet Durte Dom and BigNik,Dom already trying t o make a move on you but you quickly shut him down. You were now sitting down in between Zane and Heath as Zane talks, waving his hands about wildly telling a story. Your head is resting on Heath’s shoulder, and you’re falling asleep when a boy with all black, even a black baseball cap, on and a camera in his hand walks up.

“Heath, can you come film a bit with me really quick?” he asks.

“Uh I don’t know, I think y/n is sleeping on me.” you sit up and shake your head.

“Go ahead I’ll just fall asleep on Zane.” you say.

“Actually, you wanna come film it with us? I need a girl for it.” he asks. You look up at him taking him in, he’s cute, in a dorky way.

“Are you going to pay me?” you ask and Heath chuckles.

The boy looks you up and down and scoffs “I don’t think you need me to pay you, sweetheart.”

“I might not need it, but I want it.” you stare at him and he stares at you, quirking up an eyebrow at the very obvious double meaning. You don’t know where this random burst of confidence came from. Heath clears his throat interrupting the weird staring contest.

“Let’s go so we can get you home baby girl. I think you’ve had a little too much to drink tonight.” Heath reaches for you hand and pulls you up dragging you to the front the house. It takes a few minutes for you guys to understand what to do and then a few takes to get it right. By the time you’re done Zane is walking out calling for you guys to hurry up so you can go.

You turn back to the boy. “Well I hope you got the footage you need.”

“I did, thanks. My name’s David by the way.” he looks down messing with something on the camera.

“My friends call me y/n, but the special ones call me Kitten.” you say, suddenly confident again. His head shoots up and opens his mouth and closes it again thinking of something to say, but you’re already walking away.

“See you around, David.” you call over your shoulder. You get into Zane’s car, him and Heath already inside.

“What did you say to the poor boy?” asks Zane.

“My name. And my other name.” you say looking out the window at the boy still standing dumbfounded. They both start laughing loudly and the car pulls off as you join them.

[daniclaytcn]

crush 1/2

Hey, @high-seas-swan ! I was your secret santa! I’’m terribly sorry that this is so late and that I’m only posting one part of it. I suddenly took ill yesterday and I couldn’t get out of bed, let alone write. I hope you like the story! AUs are not my strong point but I did my best. I’ll try to post the next part as soon as possible.

If Killian is being honest, the whole reason he meets Emma Swan is all because of those damn Pop Tarts.

 He doesn’t normally get unholy cravings for junk food at strange hours, but there’s a first for everything, Killian supposes as he enters the grocery store at 9 pm, pulling his beanie down over his eyes self consciously, hoping desperately that he doesn’t get noticed. The last thing he needs is for a line of fans asking for his autograph. And Killian, soft hearted fool that he is, can never bring himself to deny them.

 He’s studiously browsing the selection of Pop Tarts like any normal, functioning adult, when someone steps beside him, saying, “I recommend the chocolate ones. They’re pretty damn awesome.”

 Killian freezes in place for a moment before turning to look at the owner of the voice. It’s a young woman who looks to be about his age. She’s bloody gorgeous, with her long golden curls and sparkling green eyes. Killian does his best not to stare, feeling heat creep up the back of his neck. She doesn’t seem to recognize who he is, thankfully.

 “The chocolate?” he manages to get out, hoping his blush isn’t too obvious. She nods.

 “They’re perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth.”

 Killian picks up the box and offers her a smile. “Well, thank you for your input, Miss…?”

 She smirks and he does his best to look innocent, knowing his attempt to find out her marital status wasn’t exactly subtle. She doesn’t seem offended though, so there’s that.

 “Swan. Emma Swan.”

 “It’s a pleasure to meet you then, Swan.”

 Emma grins at his use of her last name and tips her head in a nod, picking up her own box of Pop Tarts and walking away. Killian stares after her for a few moments, a dazed look on his face. He isn’t one to develop schoolboy crushes, especially not at his age but damn.

Emma Swan is truly the loveliest woman he’s met in a while and although he’s only talked to her for about thirty seconds, Killian can’t help but hope he’ll see her again.

 When he heads back home, Pop Tarts in tow and sits at his laptop, he can feel the writer’s block that had plagued him for the last couple of days slip away. Killian types away for the next couple of hours before he finally gets up, stretching his limbs, to gorge on the sugary snack that he definitely has no business eating.

 (It’s delicious.)

 “Henry, I got your snacks,” Emma calls out as she shuts the apartment door behind her. Her twelve year old son is curled up on the couch with a book, other novels of  the same series scattered around him. Emma grins when he doesn’t even lift his head, clearly engrossed in what he’s reading.

 She clears her throat. “Kid.”

 Henry looks up, then. “Oh, hey, mom,” he puts his book down and jumps off the couch to relieve her of the snacks. Emma glances around at the cluttered living room and sighs.

 “Let’s clear this mess up and then eat, kid.”

 Henry grumbles, but does as she says gathering up his books in his arms to put away. Emma picks up the one he missed, idly flicking open the cover and her jaw drops.

 The photo of the author, Killian Jones, is the cute guy she met in the grocery store.

 “Oh my god,” Emma mutters. Henry will never let her hear the end of it he gets to know that she ran into his favorite author and didn’t even get him an autograph. In Emma’s defense, he didn’t really look like a bestselling author. Sure, he was ridiculously hot, but in an adorable kind of way, with his rumpled hair sticking out from under his beanie and his bright, absurdly blue eyes. Of course, this explains the deer-in-headlights look on his face when she spoke to him. He was probably afraid of being recognized.

 Shaking her head, Emma puts the book down. Really, what were the chances that she ran into a famous author at a grocery store of all places? It sounds absurd and she’s sure that Henry would be skeptical if she told him.

 Well, there’s no use dwelling on it.

 It’s not like she’s ever going to see the guy ever again.

  Between working on his novel and attending fan conventions, Killian barely has any time to think about Emma Swan.

 But once everything has settled down and his only real responsibility is finishing the final draft of his book and taking care of himself (he’s incredibly bad at the latter, and he’s sure his brother would give him hell about it if he were here.), Killian finds himself visiting the store where he met Emma more and more, clinging on to a rather pathetic hope of seeing her. He feels like a bloody teenager with a crush and knows he should’ve asked for her number when he met her, but here he is.

 And a couple of weeks later, Killian actually does run into her.

 It’s not at the grocery store, but in a bookshop run by a dear friend of Killian’s, Belle French. He stops at the counter, chatting with her, when Emma Swan sweeps into the shop past him, her blonde hair swinging over her shoulder.

 Killian makes some kind of hasty excuse to Belle and ignoring her knowing smirk, he hurries after Emma.

 “Hello, Swan!” Her body stills and when she turns to face him, to Killian’s relief, she at least seems to remember him.

 “Oh, hey,” Emma gives him a kind of hesitant smile, fiddling with her bag. “Didn’t expect to run into you here.”

 “This happens to be one of my favorite haunts, Swan.”

 Emma laughs. “I guess it would be surprising if it weren’t, seeing as you’re a writer and all that.” At his stunned look, she smiles sheepishly. “I didn’t really who you were until I got home and saw my son buried in one of your books.”

“Ah, I see,” Killian chuckles. “It’s rather refreshing to not be recognized, I suppose. You have a son, you said? How old is the lad?”

 Emma smiles proudly. “Twelve. His name is Henry. He loves reading, and he loves your books even more. In fact-you’ve got to give me an autograph for him. He’ll be furious if he knows that I met you and I didn’t get him an autograph.”

 “Well, we can’t have that, now,” Killian pulls a notepad out of his pocket and grins at her incredulous look. “Writer, love.”

 Along with his autograph, Killian leaves a little message for Henry. After a bit of hesitation, he writes his number on another sheet and hands both pages to Emma. She raises a brow at it.

 “You’re subtle,” Emma says drily. Killian laughs nervously.

 “You can’t blame a man for trying, love.”

 “Look-“ Emma hesitates and Killian feels his heart sink. “I’m really not-I’m really not up for dating right now. You’re really sweet, but-“

 “That’s alright, love,” Killian interrupts. “I suppose I was too forward, anyhow.”

 “No, no,” she reassures him. “You weren’t, I’m just-not ready, I guess.”

 Killian nods. “I understand, Swan,” He really does. After he lost his wife, Milah in a car accident, he’d been in a terrible place and it had taken almost five years to even consider dating again. “I would, however, be honored to have the pleasure of your friendship.”

 Emma’s eyes widen and she looks rather suspicious. “Really?”

 “Really,” Killian confirms. “I may be a bestselling author, but I don’t exactly have a lot of friends, and I’d love to have you as one. I solemnly swear that I will not attempt to woo you-unless you wish for it, of course.” He waggles his eyebrows at her and she rolls her eyes.

 “Keep dreaming, buddy,” but she’s smiling, and clutches the papers a little tighter. “But, uh, thanks for the autograph. Henry will be over the moon. Speaking of which-“ she checks her watch. “I’d better pick up Henry’s book for him now if I don’t want to be late for work.”

 “Which book?”

 “One of yours, actually. The book which was released lately.”

 “Ah. Well, I hope he’ll enjoy it,” Killian says. “I must be off, myself. But I trust I’ll hear from you soon?”

 Emma laughs and shakes her head. “Sure thing.”

 Killian heads home and nothing can take the wide, goofy smile off his face for the rest of the day.

 He might not have gotten the right to court Emma yet, but he has gotten her friendship and that in itself is a true gift.

 “You met Killian Jones?!” Henry nearly screeches.

 Emma smiles at his excitement and holds out the autograph wordlessly. Henry takes it almost reverently, his mouth hanging open as he tries to process the news.

 “What was he like?” Henry asks breathlessly.

 Oh, you know. Hot, kind of adorable and he sort of asked me out. But none of those are appropriate answers. Emma shrugs in an attempt to be casual. “He was…interesting.”

 Henry is no longer listening, too absorbed in the autograph. Emma grins and leaves him to it, shutting herself in her room before she takes out the sheet of paper with Killian’s number on it.

 If she’s being honest, the idea of dating him is pretty appealing. He’s cute, funny and clearly interested in her. Emma knows that by societal standards, she’s crazy for saying no. But something about the way she feels drawn to this man and finds herself laughing and smiling in his presence a bit more than usual is dangerous. The last time Emma opened her heart to someone, it backfired in the worst way possible.

 She can’t take that risk again.

 Killian had taken her by surprise, though. Few of the men who have asked her out over the years were interested in nothing more than getting into her pants. But this man-he took her rejection gracefully and even asked for her friendship, to boot.

 Emma hesitates for just a few minutes longer before she messages him.

 Hey.

 It’s Emma, from the bookstore.

 It takes a few more minutes, but he responds.

 Hello, love. Good to hear from you.

 Emma grins widely at the reply, firmly ignoring the flutter in her chest at being called ‘love’ even over text.

 Henry was thrilled with the autograph.

 Killian replies immediately.

 Glad to hear it! How does he like the new book?

 He just started it, which probably means I won’t get a peep out of him till tomorrow morning.

 Well, that’s quite flattering. :)

 Emma snorts at the message, shaking her head.

 Someone’s got a big ego.

 Guilty as charged, love.

 They text for a while longer, but Emma has to cut the conversation short soon so she can see about getting Henry’s dinner ready. But long after, and through dinner, Killian lingers on her mind.

 It’s nice to have a friend. Emma doesn’t have all that many. If she thinks about it, she can only count David, her partner in the BPD and his wife, a sweet school teacher named Mary Margaret. They’re both perfectly lovely and are like the family Emma never had, but she never got along with them as quickly as she is with Killian.

 The thought should worry her, but it’s only friendship, so it’s going to be okay, right?

 (At least, Emma hopes so. She has a habit of screwing up all her relationships.)

 When she’s getting ready for bed, she receives another message from Killian.

 You mentioned a job, but I still don’t know what your chosen profession is, Swan.

 Emma stifles a laugh at his over-the-top way of asking about her work and replies.

 I’m a detective in the BPD.

 He sends her a shocked emoji in reply and Emma can’t hold back her laughter this time.

 That sounds exciting! Got any intense cop stories for me?

 That depends, are you going to be entirely unoriginal and use them in your books?

 I would never!

 Well then, there was this one time…

  When the phone rings, Killian looks up from his computer in interest, hoping it’s Emma and sinks a little in disappointment when he realizes it’s only his editor.

 He’s developed a fairly good friendship with Emma over the past week. Their constant texting might be distracting him from his work, but at least he’s finished the final draft of his book, right? They talk about every topic imaginable-from perks and cons of their jobs to their plans for the Christmas holidays-which are three months away. (She’ll be spending the holidays in Boston itself with Henry. Killian will have his brother, Liam and his wife, Elsa, visiting him.)

 It’s been a good week.

 “Good evening, Tink,” Killian greets his editor. She’s become a close friend over the years and her services as his editor have been invaluable. “Did you read the draft?”

 “I did,” Tink says. “And I noticed something pretty interesting.”

 Killian frowns and opens up the draft on his laptop. He doesn’t think there is anything particularly extraordinary in it. “What did you notice?”

 “It has a bit of an emotional tinge to it,” Tink observes. “Your stories tend to focus more on the plot and as such, but there’s more emphasis on the relationships, this time. Particularly the romantic ones.”

 Killian shifts uncomfortably. He has an inkling of why that happened. “Is that a problem?”

 “Oh no, not at all,” Tink assures him. “It’s just…did you meet someone recently?”

 Killian winces. He’d been dreading this. He loves Tink, he really does, but her love for match making can be…trying, at times.

 “Maybe,” He says evasively and then quickly, before she can question him further, “But how was the draft?”

 “Good,” Tink says briskly, all business now. “It needs plenty of tweaking, of course, but this has great potential, Killian. It could be your best book yet.”

 Killian sags in relief. “That’s good to hear.”

 “Mm. Well, I’ve gotta go. I’ll send you my thoughts on it later.”

 “Thanks, Tink.”

 “No problem.” She hangs up and Killian stares at his phone with a grin, feeling excitement bubble up in him. His best book yet…that certainly sounds promising.

 He messages Emma immediately.

 Swan!

 Her reply comes almost immediately. What?

 I have wonderful news. My next book is coming along pretty well.

 I’d be concerned if it didn’t. You are a professional writer, after all.

 Hush, Swan, why can’t you be as enthused as I am and congratulate me?

 And feed your ever growing ego? Perish the thought.

 Killian frowns, and calls her.

 “Must you be so heartless, Swan?”

 “Always,” comes the cheerful reply. “I’m sure you have thousands of fans building up that pride of yours…someone has to bring you back down to earth.”

 “I’m starting to rethink my offer of friendship, love.”

 Emma laughs and the sound makes his heart jump. “Too late, Jones. You’re already in way too deep.”

 “I suppose I am,” Killian mutters with a sigh.

 If knowing Emma for but a week already has him blushing like a schoolboy at her calls and having her on his mind all the time, then, he’s bloody well buggered, isn’t he?

 It would be so incredibly easy to fall in love with her.

 And Killian isn’t sure if he wants to stop himself from doing so.

  “Mom, who are you texting?”

 Emma freezes guiltily, fingers hovering over her phone. Henry, of course, still has no idea that she’s struck up an unlikely friendship with his favorite author. She knew she had to tell him at some point, but she just couldn’t figure out how.

 It seems he’s beat her to it.

 “Killian Jones,” she mumbles and Henry’s eyes go wide.

 “What?” Before Emma can protest, he snatches the phone out of her hands and stares at the chain of texts in amazement. “Mom! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

 Emma shrugs helplessly and holds out her hand for her phone. Henry gives it back before launching into an interrogation.

 “When did this start? Why are you guys texting anyway? Did he tell you anything about his new book?”

 Emma patiently answers all these questions as well as she can. At the end of her explanation, Henry’s eyes are shining with excitement and he’s practically bouncing in his seat.

 “Mom, you’ve got to invite him over for dinner.”

 Emma blinks in surprise. “Henry…” she begins. “He’s a busy man, I don’t think…”

 Henry waves his hand impatiently. “He can’t be all that busy if he finds the time to send you funny cat videos, Mom,” Emma blushes at that and Henry continues, oblivious to her embarrassment. “Mr. Jones is my favorite author. It’s not fair that you’re the only one getting to talk to him all the time!”

 Realizing that there’s no way Henry’s going to let up on this and having a feeling that Killian would be all too delighted to come over, Emma relents with a sigh. “Fine, kid. I’ll see what I can do.”

 “Yes!” Henry bounds off his chair and hugs her. “You’re the best, Mom!”

 Emma smiles and kisses his hair and begins to think that this may not be such a bad idea, after all.

[marshmallow-phd]

My Soul to Burn

Part of the EXO Demon Series

Genre: Demon AU

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Minseok

Summary: Unknown to the mortals, the world was plunging into chaos. But Minseok couldn’t care less. He was still able to take assignments, able to continue in collecting souls of the gullible. As long as he could do his job, he didn’t care what the angels or his boss were up to. Out stalking his next target, he met you, someone who could see him even when he chose to be invisible. At first, he shrugged you off, not interest in the mystery. But after another chance encounter, Minseok was intrigued. As your abnormality could have a part to play in the war against the angels, he was reluctantly keeping you close. With you as warm as he was cold, he tried to stay the terrifying demon while being haunted by Kris’ last words…

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I Final

**

This couldn’t be happening. No. Not to you. Not to someone who worked so hard and never stepped out of line, never broke the law, and did really well at being a productive member of society. And certainly not to Mr. Kwon, whose main goal in life was to make people happy and comfortable.

And yet, here you were.

Thanks so some faulty wiring in the building next door, a fire had broken out and spread to your place of work, burning a new skylight into the roof and destroying a good portion of the inside. It would be months before the building was usable again.

Thankfully, Mr. Kwon had good insurance and he’d be able to open the shop back up, but what were you supposed to do in the mean time?

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Kwon,” you consoled softly. Standing out there on the sidewalk, watching the smoke drift up into the sky that was too blue and clear for the corresponding event happening in front of your eyes, you put a hand on your boss’s shoulder. You had to remind yourself for a moment to stop being selfish. He’d lost his livelihood as well.

He was amazingly stoic as he turned to look at you. “I’m more worried about you,” he admitted. “A building can be repaired. But will you do?”

You shrugged. “I’ll find something temporary. As soon as you’re back in business, I’ll be at your front door.”

The smile you gave him was strained, but you had hope. Hope that you could survive and find something so help you get by.

As soon as you walked into your apartment, you sat down at your table and flipped open your laptop that honestly needed replacing. The backing was starting to come detached from the screen and the letters on the keyboard were horribly faded.

Waiting for it to boot up completely, you stood up and poured yourself a glass of water and searched your cabinets for something to munch on. Nothing was jumping out at you saying “eat me” so you gave up and sat back down.

For hours, you searched the local job sites, submitting your pathetic yet prettied up resume and hoping for the best. You had a fair amount of work experience, surely you would get something.

You couldn’t have been more wrong.

A month went by and even after submitting applications day after day, all you received were rejections, rejections, and more rejections. You didn’t understand. It was like you’d been secretly blacklisted. One of them had to hire you. The sinking feeling in your stomach was only made worse when you learned that John, Hana, and Monica had all been able to find replacement jobs.

Frustration didn’t even begin to cover how you were feeling. You hated being anything but calm. The worst part about being frustrated is that your body had no other way to relieve it but through tears. And you hated crying the most. It made you feel weak, like you didn’t have control over your own life or situation. It wasn’t a freeing experience like everyone else seemed to take it as.

Slamming your laptop shut and shoving away the latest rejection email, you closed your eyes and took deep breaths.

You are not going to cry, you told yourself. This is just a setback. You still have time. You still have plenty of savings to last you. This will not break you.

With a groan you crossed your arms, laying them down on the table and burying your face to hide away from the world just for a minute or two. At least you were alone.

“I’d say this place is dingy and sad, but I guess that just means it fits you to a ‘T’.”

Your head snapped up. Leaning up against the wall right across form you was the blonde stranger from the shop. Shocked, you instinctively jumped to your feet, sending the chair crashing to the peeling tile floor underneath you.

“How the hell did you get in here?” you demanded.

The man smirked. “I’m someone of… many talents.” He pushed off the wall, stalking in your direction.

You shuffled back, nearly tripping over the chair. Too soon, your back hit the wall. Searching around frantically, your eyes settled on your knife block. Not even giving yourself a second to think it through, you hurled yourself at the counter, snatching up the biggest knife.

Before you could even blink, the man was by your side, whirling you around to face him. The edge of the counter was digging into your back. You were trapped. Taking the chance, you slashed at him. With impossible reflexes, he caught your wrist, slamming it down of the counter and forcing you to let go.

“You know,” he snickered, his sharp eyes conveying that he seemed to enjoy this little game of cat and mouse, “I’ve never had someone try to stab me before. A few missed punches, sure, but the knife is a new one.”

“What do you want?” Terrible scenarios ran through your head. Whatever sick thing he was into, you’d make sure to fight him the whole way.

“I actually came to offer you a deal.” Releasing your wrist, he snatched up the knife from the counter. He spun the sharp object around in his hands, the tip held in place by a single finger. “Things have been awfully rough here lately, haven’t they?”

You stared at him, your eyebrows pulled together tightly. How would he know? “What does that matter to you?”

Nonchalantly, his shoulders raised up and then dropped back down. “Let’s just say I can offer you a quicker route to the light at the end of the tunnel.”

That actually made you laugh as you crossed your arms. The fear was slowly dying out of you. He obviously wasn’t human with the way he could move and disappear. And you knew for a fact that you were the only one who could see him at the shop. “And what exactly what would this deal entail, Rumpelstiltskin?”

By the annoyed look on his face, he didn’t seem to care for your little nickname. It didn’t matter. You had no intentions of making any deals whatsoever.

“I’m not exactly something out of a fairytale,” he snarled. “More like your worst nightmare.”

You snorted. “Was that supposed to strike fear in me?”

That just pissed him off.

The lights around your apartment began to dim until you could barely see the man in front of you. Unfortunately, you could still see and you watched in horror as his eyes inked over into a pitch black darkness. You pressed further back into the counter, nowhere to run. The whole floor began to shake, throwing off your balance.

“You should be very frightened of me indeed,” he mocked. His voice came out like a chorus in perfect unison.

Just as quickly as the scare had come, it was gone. Your apartment was back to its normal brightness and the whites of the man’s eyes were once again visible.

“What the hell are you?” Your voice was breathy, hardly understandable your words yourself.

The man smirked. “I am the demon Minseok.”

Demon? They were real?

Your grandmother would tell you stories, but you always just assumed she enjoyed frightening you to point of being unable to sleep. She always insisted they would come after you, although she would never tell you why, simply saying one day you would find out. But you’d grown up since then. They weren’t supposed to exist.

“Get out.”

The self-important smirk slipped from his face. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” you snapped. Pointing to your front door behind you, you repeated, “Get out. I have no intentions of making any sort of deals with you.”

Minseok scoffed. “Do you understand what you’re throwing away? I can offer you anything. Endless wealth, a comfortable life, never have to work again. Famous just for being famous. You could live a life of luxury. Anything your heart desires, I can get it for you.”

“And what would you want in exchange?” You were sure you already knew the answer.

“Just your soul,” he replied as if your soul was simply your favorite pair of shoes or any other item of little consequence.

You shook your head. “Not worth it. I’m not sure where I’ll be headed after I die and, honestly, I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t need to be swimming in money. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, I think I can continue handling it on my own.”

That was not the answer he was looking for. While still in their normal state, his eyes were on fire with rage. “Do you not understand what you are letting slip through your hands!”

You made sure that every word came out clear. “I. Don’t. Care. This is one soul that you won’t trick into suffering for forever. If that’s my fate, then I rather earn it on my own.”

Although, you really hoped that wasn’t where you would end up. Overall, you tried to be a good person. You weren’t too sure about the rules that dictated your place in the afterlife, but you hoped you hadn’t done anything to cause too much damage.

Finally understanding that you wouldn’t be changing your mind, he shimmered away, leaving you alone as the knife fell to the floor with a clatter. Taking a deep breath, you slowly made your way over to the table, picking the chair up off the floor. And then you slapped yourself. Perhaps a little too hard. Your cheek stung, but confirmed what you were hoping wasn’t true. You were definitely awake.

That man – Minseok – being a demon, well it explained so much. And yet, you had too many questions. Had he been following you this whole time? But he didn’t seem to have any interest in you at all the two times you confronted him. His concentration had been on Mr. Thomas.

Your eyes widened at that conclusion. Was that how his luck seemed to magically turn around?

Shaking your head, you turned on your oven to get started on dinner. If that really was what happened to Mr. Thomas, then you felt especially sorry for him. Desperation and bad luck should not have to cost you your soul.

**

The very second Minseok was back at the mansion, he threw the folder across the front parlor, not getting any satisfaction or releasing any of his anger as the papers floated softly to the hardwood floor. Continuing his path of destruction, he flipped over the decorative table that was pushed up against the left wall, sending the vase of dying flowers crashing into the ground. Shards bounced off the floor, spreading across the room and creating a dangerous trap for anyone who might enter the room.

Never – never in over a thousand years had Minseok ever been turned down. Deal after deal, he’d closed every contract, taken every soul he’d been assigned. He reveled in the fact that his record was perfect. He’d never… lost before. And he didn’t understand how it could have happened.

The fire had been too easy to set up. A beautiful little spark, a little urging to jump next door, and your comfortable job was gone. He’d been successful at blocking your ever attempt to secure a new paycheck, messing with the system so the person reviewing your resume would see something they didn’t like.

Perhaps it’d been too easy. He thought he’d gotten you to the point of desperation, barely an ounce of effort needed on his part. His expectation had been that you would be begging at his feet to pull you out of the poverty you were slowly sinking into. Instead, you’d thrown him out of your apartment.

“Whoa.” Luhan, investigating the crash, stepped into the parlor form the hallway. “Minseok, are you okay?”

“No,” he roared in reply. His fists were curled at his side.

Noticing the papers scattered around, Luhan picked them up, careful to avoid the shards. They wouldn’t necessarily hurt him, but he still felt the need to be cautious. Looking over the now back together file, he frowned. “Do you not like your assignment? She reads like it might be easy.”

“I’ve already gone to see her.” Pissed that now someone knew of his failure, Minseok kicked at the upturned table, sending it crashing into the wall and splintering it into pieces. That noise was enough for several of the others to come rushing.

“What the hell was that?” Sehun gasped.

Luhan put up a hand to stop the younger demon from saying anything else. “Minseok, what do you mean you already went to see her? What’s wrong?”

“She wouldn’t take the deal!” Minseok shouted. The fire inside was only fueled by the jaws that dropped in front of him.

“W-what?” Jongdae gasped in disbelief. “You didn’t… close the deal?”

“No! I didn’t!”

Shame poured over Minseok. This couldn’t actually be happening. He never failed. Maybe– maybe he could try again. Yeah. He could get you more desperate, dig the hole deeper and then shove you in as you screamed for help. Then you would give in.

“Alright, guys. Show’s over,” Luhan barked, shoving the younger demons around. “Get back to your assignments.”

Grumbling, they all eventually dispersed, leaving Minseok to stand there, staring at the aftermath of his destruction. All except, Yixing, that is. The pompous ass was leaning his back against the wall, his hands in pockets as he stared at Minseok.

“You know,” Yixing mused. “That was Junmyeon’s favorite vase. Three hundred years old, I think. Maybe from Louis the sixteenth era?”

Minseok scowled at him. “I don’t give a shit about some pottery.”

Not wanting to stick around and hear what else Yixing had to say, Minseok stomped up the stairs and straight for his room.

The space was barely furnished, with a few chairs, a desk, and floor lamp; he didn’t spend much time here, preferring the study or to be out stalking his target.

Damn, you were infuriating. When you compared him to that ugly, German fairytale, he nearly gagged. What made you so special, huh? He’d met humans in better situations than you that still took his deals. Why couldn’t you just cooperate?

Still pent up with too much anger, Minseok swiped off the papers and books from his desk accompanied by a wordless yell. The universe must be really ticked at him. Was this seriously payback for the Kris situation? As demon, he didn’t believe in karma, but this was feeling dangerously close to it.

No. He would not apologize. Kris deserved that. Kris broke the law. If Minseok hadn’t turned him in, someone else would have. Everyone already disliked him, might has well have driven the knife in deeper.

A knock at his door made him straighten up, pulling down on his jacket to convey some sort of stability. Opening the door, Jongdae was standing out in the hallway, an empathetic look on his face. That just made Minseok scowl even deeper.

“What?”

Jongdae cleared his throat. “Junmyeon wants to see you.”

Huffing, Minseok stepped out of the bedroom and slammed the door behind him, making Jongdae flinch. A twinge of guilty tugged at Minseok, but he ignored it, heading down the stairs to the library where the head honcho was waiting for him.

Junmyeon was in his typical, overstuffed leather chair near the center of the room. He was facing the door, his hands in front of his face with the tips of his fingers pressed together.

“Minseok,” he greeted. He didn’t use Minseok’s official demon name.

Well, at least that meant he wasn’t in too much trouble for the vase.

“Junmyeon.” That damn smug look on his face….

“I heard your latest assignment didn’t go so well,” Junmyeon started. He nodded, obviously feigning sympathy. “That’s tough to hear, but everyone has them.”

“Not me,” Minseok growled. “I don’t lose.”

Junmyeon waved his hand. “But this time you did. And it’s perfectly fine. You’ll get the next one.”

Not going to happen. “I haven’t given up. I’ll get her to sign.”

“Actually, you can’t.” Junmyeon stood up, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Perhaps you don’t remember, since you’ve never needed to in the past, but once an offer is refused, that offer can never be approached again. We’re a one-time deal. You can’t go back and try again.”

Minseok could feel the skin stretching over his knuckles as he tightened hands into fists. Stupid fucking stipulations. “Technically, since we’re supposed to currently be at war with the angels, doesn’t that through the whole agreement out the window?”

“Not while I’m around.” Junmyeon turned away, staring out the window at the empty, lifeless field that rested behind the mansion. “You can go now. I’ll get you a new assignment soon enough.”

Resisting the urge to slam his fist into that pretty face, Minseok stormed out of the study, slamming the door hard enough to shake the walls on his way out.

[hovercraft79]

Winter Song

Ch 1: Let It Snow!

Chapters: 1/31 Word Count: 2,436 Fandom: The Worst Witch (TV 2017) Rating: Teen  Warnings:  mentions dealing with the aftermath of being drugged, relationship fears. Summary: Hecate struggles a bit in the aftermath of a personality changing potion, a love potion and the big freeze. Thanks to an unexpected snowfall, Pippa is there to help her find her way.

Notes: This story is part of the B-Sides: Stories from the world of Hecate’s Summer Playlist series. It is a prequel to that series. I really don’t know what I was thinking setting the fluff stories before the romantic relationship begins. 

The title of the overall story comes from the song by Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles. Chapter title is the holiday classic by Dean Martin.

As always, many thanks to Sparky for signing up again to proofread and edit for me. It was totally how she hoped to spend her holiday season. 

 Pippa made sure to cover her mouth as she watched Hecate study the board. It wouldn’t do for Hecate to catch the twitch of a grin that kept pulling at her lips. She had her. Pippa knew she had her – and she knew Hecate knew it as well. Hecate could study the board for the next hour – and she very well might – but she still wouldn’t be able to escape. Taking in the way the fire cast warm highlights into Hecate’s raven hair, Pippa almost hoped Hecate would study the board for another hour. All the better for observing the dark-haired witch as she concentrated on the board.

A loose wisp of hair had escaped Hecate’s bun. Pippa wanted nothing more than to reach out and tuck it behind Hecate’s ear, but… Sighing heavily, Hecate leaned back in her chair, tapping her nails against the edge of the chessboard. Eyes narrowing, she pinned her gaze on the blonde witch sitting across from her.

Pippa said nothing; instead she simply arched an eyebrow and held Hecate’s gaze.

“I believe I shall have to…concede defeat.” She tipped the ebony king onto its side with an elegant finger. “Congratulations, Pipsqueak. Well played.”  

“Thank you, darling. A rare treat for me, then.” Pippa leaned forward and began resetting her pieces so the board would be ready for their game next week. Next week, she thought, a bubble of happiness expanding in her chest. She had standing plans with Hecate every week – Thursday night chess games. Not that things were perfect – Pippa was still thankful that Hecate had agreed to keep the chessboard at Cackle’s instead of leaving it at Pippa’s. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Pippa still worried that Hecate would find some way to cancel their plans – especially if the plans were at Pentangle’s. “It’s come back to you quickly – pretty soon I’m going to have to start studying the game.”

Hecate smiled – tight but pleased. “I could loan you one of my strategy books.”

“A-HA! I knew it!” Pippa laughed and flicked a tiny stream of magic at Hecate, knocking over the line of pawns she’d just set up. “I will have to step up my game then.”

Hecate shot her a look that would have passed as a glare, if the twinkle in her eyes hadn’t ruined it. She waved her hand over the board and set all the pieces in place. “Do you need a refill?” she asked, reaching for Pippa’s glass. Hecate’s hand froze – mid-reach. Her head jerked up and her eyes darted around the room as though she’d just heard a fly buzz and was searching for it. Her hands were both in a defensive position, ready to cast whatever spell she needed.

Pippa couldn’t feel it at first, but then a faint prickle rushed across the back of her neck. “Are those—”

“The castle wards, yes.” Hecate closed her eyes, concentrating on what had been triggered. After a moment she sagged in relief, inadvertently knocking some of the chess pieces over as she dropped bonelessly into her chair. “Nothing to be alarmed about.” She forced her features into something resembling a smile.

“Hiccup?” Are you all right?” Absently, she magicked the pieces back and sent the chessboard back to its usual position beside the fireplace. “What is it?”

Hecate scrubbed a hand across her face, huffing out a gust of air. “I’m fine. It’s fine.”

Pippa frowned at what was clearly a lie. Hecate hadn’t been fine since… well. In truth, Hecate had never been fine. It was only when they were girls, after they’d become friends, that Hecate had come anywhere approaching fine. But this was different. She was different, lately. Pippa knew she didn’t know Hecate as well as she used to - thirty years was a chasm of time to cross. But Hecate felt different now than she did over the summer. Ever since Ursula Hallow had tried ousting Ada, Hecate had been on edge. Hecate hadn’t talked about it, but on her second visit to Cackle’s to play chess, Dimity had pulled her aside and told her about the personality changing potion and the love potion and more about what had gone on during the big freeze.  Pippa’s heart had broken as Dimity relayed details of ‘Miss Softbroom’ to her. She’d been mad as hell when she’d told her how the love potion had forced them all to pursue Mr. Rowan-Webb. Pippa may not know exactly where Hecate’s preferences lay, but she knew that forced romantic interest in an all-but-married male coworker was a violation of the deepest kind.

After Dimity filled her in, Pippa wondered how she hadn’t see it sooner. Hecate had always been tense, but the lines of her mouth and shoulders were almost brittle. She guarded her glass obsessively and waited until others ate before she took a bite of anything. Pippa didn’t blame her. She’d been drugged twice – once intentionally. That she’d been drugged because of her personality was the worst part of all, Pippa thought. She didn’t believe for a minute that Hecate had no recollection of the day. Maybe at first, she thought, but those memories wouldn’t stay buried forever. By now, Hecate would know damn well everything that had happened that day – no matter how much she might pretend she didn’t. And how was Hecate supposed to feel after that? After a lifetime of being scorned for a personality shaped by her father’s coldness, to know her own students wanted to drug her into someone else? Pippa had cried that night, once she’d returned to Pentangle’s -cried for Hecate who must have felt the same way she had as a girl. After all, much the same thing that had happened to her almost every day of her childhood, hadn’t it? People didn’t like who she was, so they were determined to change her or hurt her because of it.

Shaking her head slightly to clear away the memories, Pippa pulled her attention back to the present. “What is it, then?” She wanted to place her hand on Hecate’s knee, but she didn’t think it would be welcomed.

“Ada’s wards. Not for danger…the weather wards, but…” Hecate closed her eyes and cast out with her magic. After a moment her eyes popped open and she sat forward in the chair. “Oh!”

“What is it, Hiccup?” Pippa watched her get up and race to the window. She followed her to the window, stopping short when she got a glimpse of the swirling snow. “When did that start?”

Hecate flipped open her pocket watch. “It’s just after midnight, December first. Time for the first snowfall of winter. It wasn’t snowing when you arrived at eight, was it?” She snapped the watch closed.

“No… there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.” She stepped closer to Hecate, just close enough for their shoulders to brush together. Did Hecate lean in to her? It felt like it. “It’s beautiful, though, isn’t it? Look how big the flakes are.”

“It reminds me of the time we sneaked on to the roof to have our own Yule celebration.” Hecate glanced sideways at her. “You refused to go inside until we were soaked to the bone.”

“I refused? That’s not how I remember that night,” Pippa finally braved wrapping a hand around Hecate’s elbow. “I do remember that you, dear Hiccup, you nearly set your cloak on fire with a warming spell.” Hecate leaned closer in to her, she was sure of it this time. They stood there, side by side, watching the snow come down in big, wet flakes. They each spoke at the same time.

“I guess I’d better get home now.”

“I guess you can’t go home now.”

They looked at each other and Pippa giggled. She let her thumb rub back and forth just above Hecate’s elbow.

“Please, Pippa. I can’t…you can’t travel in this.” Hecate stared intently out the window before glancing shyly back at Pippa. “You… you should stay… at Cackle’s.”

Pippa opened her mouth to argue, but she caught herself before she snuffed out the tiny, shaky, flickering look of hope she saw in Hecate’s eyes. She squeezed Hecate’s arm tighter and leaned in. “If you don’t mind me crashing on your sofa, I’d love to stay. I doubt a warming spell would keep the chill away for that long.”

“I don’t mind,” Hecate said quickly, before flashing a brief, bright, full smile. “It’s no trouble at all.” She smile faltered. “You could stay in one of the guest rooms, if you’d rather. It would be more comfortable than my sofa. It probably isn’t appropriate to have the Headmistress of another school sleeping on my sofa, anyway.  I can let Ada know.”

Pippa shook her head. “It’s a good thing the only person here is your friend Pipsqueak then, isn’t it?” She smiled up at Hecate. “Really, darling, there’s no reason to go to all of that trouble – or to wake Ada. Besides,” she ran her hand down Hecate’s arm, giving her hand a squeeze before letting go and magicking the sofa longer and wider. “This certainly won’t be the first time Pipsqueak sneaked in to stay with her Hiccup without the Headmistress knowing about it.”

Hecate barked out a laugh, before covering her mouth with her hand. “I still don’t understand how you always managed to talk me into breaking so many rules.” She summoned a set of twin-sized bedlinens from the Academy’s storeroom.

“Far too easily,” Pippa said, winking. “Admit it, Hiccup, deep down you’ve always been just as much a rebel as I.” Taking one end of the sheets, she helped Hecate make up the sofa.

“Hardly,” she snorted. “You were just persuasive – and a terrible influence on an impressionable girl such as myself.”

Pippa chuckled, pleased that Hecate was comfortable enough to tease. “You didn’t think it was so terrible when we charmed the kitchen pots to fly to the basement every time cook wanted to make that hideous pea soup, did you? Now, if you would be so kind as to loan me a night dress or pajamas?”

Pippa followed Hecate into her bedroom and tried not to get caught being nosy while her friend rummaged through her cupboard. Hecate’s bedroom was just as stark as her living area. A small bookcase sat on one wall next to Hecate’s vanity, while the cupboard sat on the wall opposite. Hecate’s bed sat center of the third wall, flanked by two night tables. The furniture was all dark woods, mahogany, Pippa guessed, well-made but without much ornamentation.

The bed itself, though? Even from across the room Pippa could see that the bed was where Hecate splurged. She walked over to get a closer look. At first, she’d thought the bedding was black, but up close she saw it was midnight blue – and luxurious. She ran a hand over it; the feel was magnificent. Four plump pillows leaned against the headboard covered in a lighter blue, but equally luxurious cases.

Pippa smiled to herself. That, at least, had not changed about Hecate. Even as a girl, sleep had been a most precious commodity – easily lost to night terrors or replaying every perceived failure Hecate experienced in a day.

Glancing at the nightstand, Pippa found herself once again staring into her teenaged eyes. The framed photo of Hecate and her was still the only purely decorative thing in the room. She picked it up so she could see them more clearly. Her glasses were sitting on the coffee table.

Behind her, Hecate cleared her throat. “I think these will be most comfortable – and warmest.” She glanced down at the photograph in Pippa’s hands. “You duplicated that after we… after the Spelling Bee, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Pippa nodded. “I enlarged it, too. It’s hanging on the wall in my sitting room with the rest of my family photos.”

“I don’t really have photos for the wall.”

“You have this one,” Pippa said, holding up the photograph. “Family can mean a lot of different things, Hecate. I know you have to have photos of you and Ada, or Dimity or…”

“I see my coworkers every day, Pippa. I hardly think I need photographs of them on my wall.”

Pippa smiled as she set the photo back on the bedside table, wincing inside. She was pushing. Too much, too soon and Hecate was getting uncomfortable. “True enough,” she said, forcing a small chuckle to ease the tension. “Besides, if Dimity ever knew you even had a picture of her, much less displayed it, you’d never hear the end of it.”

“Quite right,” Hecate said, smiling again. “Pajamas?” She pressed the purple bundle into Pippa’s hands. Again, Pippa couldn’t help but notice the sinful softness of the material.

“Thank you, Hiccup.”

“Why don’t you take the bathroom first? If you look in the bottom drawer on the left, you’ll find a brand new toothbrush.”

“Thanks,” she took a few steps towards the bathroom before turning back. “And Hiccup? Thank you for asking me to stay. It feels a bit like old times, doesn’t it?”

Hecate nodded, looking pleased, but she didn’t say anything. Pippa didn’t really need her to speak.

“If you’d like, I’ll help you braid your hair for bed, just like when we were girls.” She giggled. “I’m a bit out of practice, though. No promises on the quality.”

“That… would be…acceptable.” Hecate winced even as she said it.

Pippa knew Hecate was feeling awkward again, so she simply smiled her brightest smile and said, “That would be acceptable to me as well, Hiccup,” before retreating to the bathroom.

Two hours, two glasses of wine, and three attempts at French-braiding Hecate’s hair later, Pippa lay curled on the sofa, breathing in Hecate’s scent from the pillow. Rosemary. Hecate always smelled faintly of rosemary and mint. Pippa made a note to snoop at her shampoo when she was in the bathroom next.

Staring at the blank wall, Pippa counted back to the Spelling Bee. It had been just over six months since they’d reconciled. A stormy six months – especially for Hecate – marked by episode after episode of what felt like ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ progress. But not tonight. Pippa smiled into the pillow. Tonight felt like maybe, just maybe, they might have turned a corner. Still smiling, Pippa rolled onto her back and watched the shadows from the fire dance across the ceiling until she began drifting off to sleep. Her last waking thought was to thank every god or goddess she could think of for unexpected snowfalls.