#we are approaching shark-jumping territory

[greatmuldini]

The original “substrate” - the bottom layer - provides the plane and the body of Rex Reason, which must be joined up with the head of Nelson Brenner as he would have looked “15 years ago” (i.e. in 1960). The picture chosen to represent the facial features of the younger Brenner (though not his hair) is a 1965 portrait of the actor Patrick McGoohan, as he appeared in an episode of Danger Man (Loyalty Always Pays). Aside from the incorrect age gap, the new head is too large for its adopted body and sits uncomfortably on Rex Reason’s shoulders at an anatomically impossible angle (with barely a neck to speak of).

The contortions do not end there, however, as the youthful image of Nelson Brenner must clearly display his receding hairline – the third layer to be added to the composition. For the “enlarged” close-up that Columbo presents as “evidence” in the final “gotcha” scene, the hairline was completely redrawn with a new left-sided parting, and the entire image inexplicably rasterized. No changes were made to the face itself, its size or its angle in relation to the rest of the body.

For the fifth and final transformation, Columbo’s “photo guys” went to work on the close-up and added features from the description that their witness gave them of the mysterious “operative” (code)named Steinmetz – and young Nelson Brenner, already follicly challenged, becomes an elderly gentleman, bearded and bespectacled, who is peering at the onlooker from underneath a set of bushy white eyebrows topped by the shiny expanse of his formidable forehead. (3/4)

[irlactualhuman]

good morning! (or whatever time it is where you are) i'm trying to be more active reaching out to folks, so: hello, friendly moot. how are things going for you? are you actively working on a creative thing rn? are the muses (or preferred source of creativity) treating you kindly? my excessive question marks and i are dying to know.

Howdy!

Yeah it's morning. A nice, wet, overcast, drizzly sort of morning conducive to creative endeavors.

Yeh! I am! Thank you for asking!

Im currently working on both my minecraft builds, and rectifying plot holes cause by a temporal displacement my players caused in my irl ongoing tabletop game.

Basically they have a time wizard they asked for a favor, but the favor in its praxis essentially shunted them to an alternate timeline. Which... was not really prepared for, but was fucking cool in the moment. (I improvise the majority of my sessions.)

Anyway. They're about to crash a lecture on robotics and automation given by an alternate version of their BBEG on Sunday and I'm trying to prepare contingencies and stuff to go with the lore and revalations I dropped last session. I feel as though we are rapidly approaching Shark Jumping territory and I aim to distract from that with lots of complications. Lol.

Also. Yes. The muses have my heart in a vice. I've done more crying and writing and creative things in the past month than I have the past year. It's quite nice.

Uno reverse card.

How you doin? Reframe your previous questions to target yourself. I, likewise, am dying to know.

[starseedfxofficial]

Introduction: The Secret Weapon in Your Forex Arsenal Think of trading the Euro to Canadian Dollar (EUR/CAD) pair on a 15-minute timeframe like speed-dating the Forex world—you need quick thinking, a sharp eye, and the willingness to walk away if it doesn't look right. Many traders overlook the incredible opportunities on this timeframe, which is great news for you. Why? Because fewer traders mean fewer sharks in the water. And what does that mean for us? We get to swim freely, find some hidden treasure, and laugh like a pirate who just hit the jackpot. Today, I’ll show you how to transform EUR/CAD trades on a 15-minute timeframe into a tactical advantage using humor, underground strategies, and next-level Forex tricks—the kind that makes you say, "Why didn’t I think of that before?" Why Most Traders Get It Wrong (And How You Can Avoid It) Let's start with a reality check: EUR/CAD can be as moody as your old roommate who drank all your coffee but never did the dishes. If you approach this pair without respect for its erratic nature on the shorter timeframes, you might as well just hand over your pips to the market gods. Most traders forget one key thing: EUR/CAD is affected by two different economies that rarely sync up. On a 15-minute timeframe, news from Europe or Canada can lead to unexpected and sharp movements. That's why keeping an eye on the economic calendar is non-negotiable. If you’re trying to make moves while Canada releases employment data or Europe talks about its growth figures, your trading day could go from "buying a latte" to "wondering if I can afford instant coffee." Spoiler alert: that's not the type of volatility you want. Hidden Patterns That Drive the Market Now, let’s talk about patterns. We’re not discussing basic, kindergarten-level head-and-shoulders here—we're talking advanced stuff, like recognizing micro-trends within those first 15 minutes that make all the difference. Have you ever heard of the "Triple Twist Fade"? No? That’s because I made that name up—but the concept is real. It involves watching for three minor reversals within the first hour of the London session to spot when EUR/CAD is about to make a bigger breakout. Most traders see a reversal and think, "Cool, time to jump in." But by the third twist, the market has fooled them twice already. That’s when smart traders step in—taking advantage of their impatience. How to Predict Market Moves with Precision Want another trick that will make your trading buddy's jaw drop? The "PMI Double Tap." No, it's not an action movie stunt—it's about paying attention to the Eurozone Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) numbers. If the PMI is looking strong, EUR tends to flex its muscles—but the real ninja move here is checking when Canada's PMI comes out later that day. It’s like that couple that can't seem to figure things out—if the Eurozone PMI is bullish but Canada’s PMI surprises on the upside, EUR/CAD can shift dramatically in a 15-minute window. Watch for the initial jump, then the pullback that follows, which usually hits around 15 minutes later, creating a prime entry. It's one of those rare moments where two PMIs create a dance, and you can slip into rhythm for some quick pips. The Forgotten Strategy That Outsmarted the Pros Imagine you're at a poker table, and you notice everyone’s bluffing. What do you do? You fold until it’s time to take everything they've got. The same approach applies to EUR/CAD on a 15-minute timeframe. Most traders chase momentum—buying when they see green candles without realizing they’re the ones driving up the price for a big player looking to sell. The trick? Use something called a "Liquidity Trap Strategy." Wait for that second wave—those frantic buys—then use an oscillator like RSI set at a faster 7-period rather than the standard 14. If it crosses into overbought territory quickly, it’s time to take the opposite position. Basically, you're selling that metaphorical pair of shoes to the guy who thinks they'll never go out of style. Spoiler: They will. Underground Trends and Ninja Techniques The Forex market loves repeating itself—kind of like your friend who keeps telling the same joke at parties (but without the funny punchline). One sneaky trend in EUR/CAD? The "Canadian Curve" trick. It happens when oil prices move unexpectedly, usually when data hits late in the U.S. session. Oil and CAD are like an old married couple—they argue, they move together, and they affect each other constantly. When oil takes a sharp dive, CAD weakens, pushing EUR/CAD up. The real ninja move? Preempt that move during the Asian session while everyone's asleep. Get in early, set tight stops, and let it ride before London gets involved. It’s a contrarian play that has worked time and time again for those willing to get up a little earlier. How to Keep a Steady Mind in the Madness Okay, I get it. It’s easy to read about all these tactics and think, "Wow, I am SO ready for this." But here’s where the empathy kicks in: trading a 15-minute chart is emotionally exhausting if you’re not prepared. There’s nothing worse than seeing a setup form, only to doubt yourself and then miss it. Picture this—you spot a perfect reversal signal, but your hand hesitates. Why? Fear of getting burned like the last time. Here’s the truth: EUR/CAD on a 15-minute chart is all about trusting the work you’ve put in. If you’re logging your trades in a journal, analyzing every setup, and refining your approach—you’re already ahead of 90% of traders who keep repeating the same mistakes. To help with this, use a trading plan. I recommend StarseedFX’s Free Trading Plan—it’s like having a checklist before going on a first date. It covers everything from risk management to how much caffeine you've had today. Trust me—keeping your mind calm and collected means you won't find yourself accidentally hitting "sell" instead of "buy" and ending up with a sitcom plot twist. Wrap-Up: Your Move, Trader There you have it—a behind-the-scenes look at some elite tactics for trading the EUR/CAD on a 15-minute timeframe. We've covered hidden patterns, market rhythms, the emotional side of things, and even a few ninja techniques that aren’t in the usual textbooks. The next time you fire up that chart, think about those economic indicators, watch for the "Triple Twist Fade," and keep an eye on that oil-driven Canadian Curve. These tricks can make you the shark in a pool of traders who are just trying to stay afloat. Want more insights like this? Check out our Forex Education at StarseedFX or join our community for exclusive analysis and insider tips. The market can be tough—but you don’t have to navigate it alone. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated Read the full article

[darling-i-read-it]

Colonel Flag

Rick Flag x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: pure smut, unprotected smut, jealousy, suicide squad spoilers, let me know if there are more

Author’s Note: what i would do for this to be real what i would DO

Requested: by anon, Just give me more jealous Rick flag I’m begging - with smut

Summary: pure jealous smut

Genre: smut

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

You leaned against the wall, a studying look on your face. You didn’t have notes out like Peacemaker, you figured you could remember everything Waller was saying. And hey, if you didn’t you could ask any of your team.

You were leading the team that Rick wasn’t. Technically they were all part of Task Force X just on different sides of the island. You had the better team. Rick had some weasels and other shitty characters. He did have Harley though, you hadn’t been able to bargain for her. You had a shark who walked and talked, rather poorly at that.

“How come we got pretty lady to lead us and not Rick Flag? I thought he usually did this type of thing.” Your ears perked up at the sound of Rick’s name and the insinuation toward you. It had been Bloodsport who spoke, rather roughly.

“Flag is busy for the time being.” You and Bloodsport exchanged a quick look. “And Y/L/N is as good as they come. Don’t dwell too much on it.”

Waller wrapped up the conversation and started to round up the guards. You were able to talk to each of your team individually. You were leaving later that evening but you still had time to kill. You wanted to find Rick, talk to him before he headed out with his team too.

“Are you sure you’re ready to handle this?” Peacemaker asked. You scoffed and nodded stiffly.

“I’ve done worse.” Bloodsport approached you. He was a little taller than Rick was, you noted. You had heard all about his daughter and why he was here in the first place. “Bloodsport. I hear you’re gonna lead them in the event of my untimely demise.”

“Just don’t die.” You laughed gently.

“I will try my best. You’ll have your daughter back even if I die. Plus, I imagine Rick will get to you somehow too.”

“Flag,” Bloodsport mused. “You work together before?”

“You could say that.”

You and Rick had been dating for ages, since the original Suicide Squad had formed. You had seen him and Harley Quinn for that matter, through every rendition of their lives since then. You ran your hand through your hair and took out some papers from your bag.

“Just be sure you memorize these. Or at least give it a once over,” you said. He took it from you and both of you looked it over. You got rather close but that was in the territory.

Rick walked into the theater room, searching for you in the small crowd of criminals. He found you easily. You were the only one in actual tactical gear. He was about to call your name when he noted how close you were to Bloodsport. He strayed back for a moment, unable to hear what you were speaking about. You laughed a bit. He could hear that. He knew that laugh anywhere.

A tinge of jealousy formed in his chest. He stood up straight. Bloodsport was a handsome man. You had always been known to try and get in with the criminals you worked with just to gain their trust and have a friendship but Rick always wondered if it was something more. He used to tease that you had a thing for bad boys but ended up with the only good one in the bunch.

You turned your head and he saw your side profile. You spoke quietly to Polka Dot Man, a small kind smile on your face. You put your hand on his shoulder and Bloodsport grabbed your arm rather aggressively causing you to turn around again and rejoin the conversation. Polka Dot got closer to you and you were huddled between two of the men on your team.

Rick knew how to be realistic and he knew that they and you meant nothing by it. But still, he felt the strain in his chest.

He walked up behind you and put his hand on your shoulder. You jumped slightly before turning around to meet his gaze. Your eyes softened at the mere sight of him.

“Boys this is Rick Flag.” He gave them each a professional nod.

“I need to speak to you,” Rick said. You noticed the small tinge in his voice. You wondered if it was serious. You nodded stiffly and turned to Bloodsport.

“Look over that. I don’t care.” You turned to Polka Dot Man. “You...just rest up,” you said offhandedly and followed Rick out. He grabbed your arm, practically dragging you away from your team. “Is something wrong? What is this about?”

Rick was silent. You decided it was probably best not to say anything. You just let him drag you through the many halls of base until you came to a mostly empty hallway. He turned to face you.

“You were getting real cozy with Bloodsport,” he said in his professional military man voice. It turned you on immediately. You were taken aback though.

“I was showing him the plans,” you said. “It wasn’t anything.”

“Yeah?” His jaw set. He looked up and down the hallway, opened the door to one of the large storage spaces and shoved you inside. He locked the door behind him with his key and shoved you against the shelving, knocking a few things over.

“Rick?” He kissed you harshly instead of answering you, grabbing your leg and bringing it up around his waist. You breathed in his oxygen, arching your back at his urgency. You loved it when Rick got jealous. Sometimes you did it on purpose, though today was not one of those times.

He kissed down your jaw, breathing hot air against your skin. You felt him leaving marks in visible places but was panting too loud to really argue. You ran your hands through his hair as he knelt down in front of you, his hands trailing down your waist feverily.

“Who do you belong to?” he asked in a low whisper.

“You,” you whispered.

“What was that?”

“You. I belong to you,” you promised, feeling the pool grow in your panties. You threw your head back against the shelving and cupped his face, forcing him to stand and kiss you. He kissed you sloppily, messily getting your cheeks wet as well with his quick lips. You made a mental note to thank Bloodsport for this.

His hand was wandering. It had passed your boobs and went straight down to your lower half, covered by your tactical gear. He knew how to get that off without even looking. He unhooked it and tossed it aside before sticking his hand in your pants. His cold fingers met your warm cunt. You breathed in sharply, unable to even look at him. He didn’t go slow. Not today. He delved a finger in your warmth and looked you in the face. He had a hand above you, holding him steady, his arm flexing in your face.

“Look at me,” he purred. You brought your face down dreamily, alright nearing your first orgasm. You tried not to look as desperate as you felt but you seemed to be failing because a small smile graced his features.

“Rick Imma...imma..”

“It’s Colonel Flag,” he said. You smiled weakly.

“Colonel Flag,” you breathed as you came all over his fingers. He slowed down after riding out your orgasm and then brought his hand out of your pants. He stepped back and you could see the large bulge in his pants. You could practically feel him inside of you and he could tell that you were imagining it. He could tell as you stared at him, lust in his eyes, that you wanted nothing more than for him to take you right there.

But he waited. Just for a moment. He looked you over, the mess you were with weak legs.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked and there wasn’t a hint of anything but his work voice. You dipped your head.

“I want you to fuck me Colonel Flag.” He took a step toward you and grabbed your chin.

“Louder.”

“I want you to fuck me Colonel Flag,” you practially begged. He couldn’t wait any longer. His cock was starting to hurt. He grabbed the hem of your pants and shoved everything down. You waited as he pulled down his own pants and boxers, revealing that large cock of his. You practically salivated at the sight of it. If you didn’t need him to fuck you so bad you would have gotten on your knees and sucked the life out of him.

You put your hands on his shoulders and he wrapped his hand under your ass, lifting you up. You wrapped your legs around his waist and he wasted no time. He filled you up quickly, not waiting for you to adjust. He usually would but he was in a blind jealous rage. You gasped, burying your face in his shoulder.

He pumped into you, holding you up with his own strength against the shelves. You clawed at his shirt and eventually got it so bunched up that you could feel his skin. You scratched at it, leaving your mark on his body. You moaned loudly and whined in spurts as he pumped in and out of you relentlessly.

“Are you gonna come?” he whispered darkly. All you could do was hum out a yes. “Come for me,” he said. “Come for me.” You nodded and your legs shook under his grasp as you came even harder this time. He was still going and not soon after his own legs started to weaken underneath him but he held you us he pumped his cum into you. You could barely breathe.

When he put you down you could feel the soreness in your legs. It hadn’t even been that long but you would likely feel a light soreness tomorrow. Wonderful. You leaned your head back against the shelving and breathed. He pulled his pants back up.

“Get dressed. Lights up in thirty.” You laughed dryly.

“Rick?”

“Hmm?”

“I fucking love you.”

“I know darlin.”

[joontopia]

Oncoming Storm | KSJ

pairing: Human!Seokjin x Mermaid!reader

genre: smut, slight angst,  fluff, basically porn with a dollop of plot

au: fantasy au, strangers to lovers

rating: explicit, nsfw, 18+

word count: 5.6k (WILDLY UNEDITED)

warnings: slight angst, some pining, some mentions of blood, mentions of injuries, sharks, unprotected sex, biting, breast play,  fingering, oral (f. recieving), multiple orgasms, cream pie, subtle mentions of religion

a/n: so here it is! and im so mad at myself because i’m posting it so late. i accidentally took a nap that turned into actual sleep. I changed the plot to this fic so many times, i was happy when i landed on a plot that i liked. please keep in mind that this fic is currently un-beta’d and un-edited. I’m still in the process of moving homes. so once I am done, I will go back and edit this fic. I really hope you enjoy this fic!

part of The Last Splash Collab hosted by @kimtaehyunq​ Maggie thank you so much for letting me join and putting up my shenanigans in our DMs. I love you!

The storm is close. You can feel it in the air. Sense it in the restless calm that has overtaken the ocean water around you. You know what this means, the whispers in the sea breeze only confirming your suspicions with each passing wind as you swim up to your lover’s boat. It’s time to migrate.

You had a feeling this time was coming soon. The last time a migration happened was two years ago. You remember it quite vividly. It was the very day you met the first friendly human you’ve ever come into contact with. The very handsome Kim Seokjin. 

It was at the beginning of the last migration. Your tribe of merpeople had just entered into your new territory, having followed the strong storm current until the flow started to calm. The usual indication that your tribe has reached whatever new home the God of the Sea has called you to. Everything was going fine, the heavy storms had kept the waters clear of any boats to help prevent any humans from witnessing pods of merpeople in the water. It wasn’t until your pod had reached the end of the current tunnel when trouble had struck. 

A group of rogue sharks were there to greet your people. Circling and dividing your clan, trying to weed out the weak swimmers from the strong. Many of your people were able to swim away, the warriors of the group fought off the sharks with no major injuries or casualties, managing to make the attackers flee the area. All but one. In the midst of all the chaos, one of the sharks had successfully rounded up two young mermaids who had gotten separated from the pack, circling them as if playing with them. Feeding off the sense of their fear before striking to kill. It wasn’t until you noticed the dark, hungry eyes of the deadly hunter focused on you that you realized what you had done. The blood from the cut on your arm won it’s attention, allowing the two younglings to scurry away to safety. 

You hadn’t even noticed you had done it. Instincts kicking in, causing you to grab one of the sharp shells on your necklace. Your body moving quickly on its own to create the mark, knowing the blood hungry beast wouldn’t be able to help itself. You turned the opposite way from where the younglings escaped and swam away as fast as you could, the shark following closely behind you. You looked around you, hoping to find a cave or possibly one of your fellow mer-warriors to help you with your escape. You don’t know how far or how long you swam, dodging each attack the shark attempted on you. You could feel your body growing tired, your tail not able to keep you at the same speed as before. You sense the shift in the water, your attacker positioning himself for another strike. You use the last of your strength to dodge once again, barely evading the shark’s bite as a few of his teeth clip your side. Traces of your blood dissipate into the water as you once again start to swim away, the pain of your new injury destroying the rest of your energy. You start to think you’re finally done for until you’re suddenly dragged up and out of the water. The sudden rush of fresh air invading your lungs as you look around you in a panic, gripping at the netted rope that you found yourself ensnared in.

With night time in its full glory in the sky, you try to use the light of the moon to check your surroundings. It’s not until you feel yourself moving around in the air that your eyes finally see the fishing boat your entrapment is attached to. Panic takes over as the predicament of your situation starts to settle in. In the midst of escaping one of your kinds’ greatest threats, you managed to get yourself caught by the next worst thing. Humans. 

You reach for one of the shells on your necklace, yanking it free and trying to make quick work on the ropes holding you captive. You nearly make a hole big enough for you to slip out and back into the water when you feel the net dropping, your body slamming hard on the deck of the boat. You scramble to get yourself free of the net before your captor has a chance to make an appearance. Your tail thrashes around wildly, making you feel like the quite literal fish out of water that you are. You silently pray the thrashing and the sea breeze is enough to quickly dry your scales, allowing your lower body to take on a human form. Your wish goes unanswered, replaced by the grace of the net being freed from around you. You flip to your stomach, adrenaline coursing through you as you try to scoot yourself to the edge of the boat. Your blood pumps so loudly in your ears, deafening you to the heavy footsteps coming up from behind. You’re nearly to the back of the boat when you feel hands clasp your arm, your fight or flight reflex causing you to flip back over, slapping your newest attacker across the face with your tail. Successful knocking them away and on their ass. You go to turn back to make your escape when you hear the voice of your attacker. His choice of words halts you from jumping back into your home.

“Wait! The shark is still there!” He exclaims, pure panic and genuine concern laced in his vocals. You keep your eyes on the water, breathing heavily as you peer into the dark abyss in front of you, trying to see if the shark was still indeed awaiting for your return into it’s hunting ground. Thinking your fate is sealed either way, you consider risking it before once again being interrupted by his voice.

“Please, I’m not going to hurt you. I was trying to help-- Holy hell…” The stranger's words die out as you turn to look at him, his eyes on your body as you follow his gaze down to your dissipating tail. The usual bluish purple of your scales slowly shed from you. The now smooth appendage slowly forms into the shape of human legs, having dried enough to allow the transformation. The remaining scales of your tail cling to your flesh in patches, glinting in the moonlight as you move to curl into yourself and put distance in between you and the strange man before you.

“You’re actually real. Mermaids are actually real,” the man speaks softly, as if to himself. His eyes locked on the fallen scales scattered across the floor. You take in a few deep breaths, watching him carefully as you build up the courage to speak.

“Please…” you gasp. The man’s eyes flicking up to yours, his features softening as he notices the fear in your eyes. “Please just let me go.”

The man scans your body quickly one last time, shock taking over his gaze as he scrambles to his feet, removing the weather jacket from around his shoulders and approaches you slowly. You flinch in fear, the man halting and holding his hands up as he takes a small step back. 

“No, no. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. Please, just take this. I don’t want you to get cold.” He slowly hands the jacket in your direction. You eye it carefully before looking back up at his face, trying to find any trace of deceit in his demeanor. You find nothing but softness, allowing yourself to accept his offer, taking the jacket from his hands and wrapping it around you. 

“Thank you,” you mutter, clutching the jacket closer to you as you continue to watch your unexpected savior. 

“Here, let me help. We should get your wounds patched up,” He says to you as he slowly approaches you again, his hand still held out towards you. This time looking to help you to your feet. You cautiously take his hand, allowing him to pull you upright. You let go of him prematurely, not anticipating how shaky your lower body would be. You try to take a step forward, following him to a nearby bench only for your newly formed legs to give way causing you to start to fall forward and straight into the man’s arms. “Woah, easy there. Hold on tight, okay?”

You nod your head meekly, blushing as you hold on to his arm as he walks you to the bench and sits you down. Your hand slides down his arm as you let him go, allowing you to feel the firmness of his muscles as he pulls away. He kneels down beside you, opening a small door under the bench and pulls out a small red case. You watch him as he moves, eyes falling on to the wide expanse of his shoulders as he opens up the case, pulling out various bandages and ointments. He looks back up at you and you quickly look away. Your blush deepening from being caught staring at him. You notice his smirk out of the corner of your eye as he holds out his hand, gesturing towards the injuries on your side. ��May I?” he asks you, the gentleness in his tone chipping away at your resolve. You nod once again, moving the jacket just enough to expose your injuries to the man.

He quickly goes to work, silence falling between the two of you as he starts cleaning your wounds. You watch him as he works, admiring the determination in his eyes. You observe his face, tracing the slight dip of his nose and observing the pink plushness of his lips. Finding it cute how he has them slightly parted as he focuses on your scratches. As if he feels you watching him, his eyes flicker up to meet your gaze for only a second before looking back down at his current task and clearing his throat. 

“So what's your uh… Or do you have a name? What can I call you?” He asks you, a blush creeping up on his face as he starts to feel self conscious over his question.

You giggle at the cuteness, knowing this has to be a new social experience for the two of you. This being the first time you’ve ever interacted so closely with a human and, considering his reaction earlier, this would be his first interaction with someone of your kind as well. You clear your throat as well, hoping your shyness has subsided enough for you to be able to speak clearly. 

“I do. It’s Y/N. Thank you for saving me. I would have never expected this type of kindness from a human.” You smile down at him as he chuckles at your words. He places the last of the bandages on your wounds, packing up the small case and placing it back in its spot beneath the bench.

He looks up at you, blessing you with a breathtaking smile that knocks the air from your lungs. The sight of the simple gesture melting away the rest of the protective guard you held up and seeping straight into your heart, wanting nothing more than to stay this close to him. You feel the warmth radiating from his hand that’s resting on your exposed knee, finding comfort in the closeness from this complete stranger. You don’t notice how out of tune with reality you become until you see his lips start to move, the honey sweet baritone of his voice bringing you back to the moment. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N. My name is Seokjin.”

He let you stay on the boat that night, allowing you to take the bed as he slept up on the couch in the cabin. Giving you somewhere safe to stay as you waited for morning, in hopes that it will allow you a safe return into the ocean to reunite with your tribe. You had thought you would never see him again, but fate had a different plan. It was only two short weeks later that you found yourself venturing upon his boat. You had stayed a safe distance away, wondering just how many boats with purple stripes down the side existed on this side of the water. It wasn’t until you saw the enscripted boat name “Epiphany” on the side shortly before the handsome, wide shouldered captain made his appearance. The moment he noticed you approach his vessel, he gave you the warmest smile, helping you onboard and offering you a blanket to cover your transforming body. 

Since that day, the both of you made these little visits a weekly tradition. Spending the whole day learning about each other, swapping stories about each other's worlds. Growing closer and more intimate in your interactions the more time you spend with each other. The hellos and goodbyes were combined with hugs. Casual conversations were enhanced by subtle touches and soft grazes of each other's skin. Then one night during a full moon, the first of which you two were able to enjoy together, Seokjin found the courage to pull you close, asking you if it was okay to give you a kiss. 

You remember being taken back by the softness of his plush lips, how your body melted into his from the tenderness of his touch. It wasn’t long before you began staying the night with Seokjin, sharing his bed while exploring each other’s bodies. You had never been touched by a man before. Had expressed that concern with him only to be comforted with the knowledge that he wouldn’t pressure you to do anything you didn’t want.  

You smile at the memory of your shared nights together, not realizing you had made it to the Epiphany until you hear Seokjin’s voice cutting into your thoughts.

“Arms too tired to pull yourself up?” He teases you as he looks over the side of the boat, smiling as he watches you wading in the water.

You stick your tongue out, mocking his laughter as he reaches for you, helping you onto the deck. “ Ha ha. You’re quite the comedian, Jinnie,” you tease back, savoring each sound of his addictive laugh as it rings through your ears. Oh, how you’re going to miss that laugh. 

The reminder of the oncoming storm brings your mood back down. The sudden shift in your demeanor doesn’t slip past Seokjin. His brows furrow in concern as he watches you, handing you the towel and one of his t-shirts he had waiting for you. You start to pat your scales dry, refusing to look at him as you’re not quite ready to break the news. Much to your dismay, Seokjin was not on the same page as you.

“What’s wrong, love?” His voice addresses you softly. His genuine concern for you wraps you in a warm embrace, causing unwanted tears to begin to pool at your waterline. You still don’t look up at him. Your gaze trained on your shedding scales as you dry off your upper body before pulling his t-shirt over you. As the fabric passes your nostrils, you breathe in deeply, taking in every note of his scent and committing it to your memory. Your heart begins to ache with every breath you take. You finally look up at him once your legs finish transitioning, standing from your spot on the deck. He reaches out to help steady you, a reaction you know he did without even thinking. The ache in your heart deepens as you grab onto his forearms to balance.

You take a deep breath as you prepare yourself for what you’re about to say. “I have to leave, Jin.” 

His features contort in confusion, his hands still on your waist as he questions your words. “So soon? But you just got here,” he responds, the gravity of your statement completely lost on him.

“No,” you say as you shake your head. Tears threaten to spill over as your voice begins to shake. “I have to leave. The storm, Jin. It’s coming.”

Jin continues to look at you in confusion. It takes a full minute before he realizes what you mean, his eyes growing wide with panic indicating to you that he’s caught on.

“Are you sure?” he asks. “It could be just a terrible storm. Just like before.” 

The hopefulness in his voice nearly breaks you. You wished he was right. Wished this was just a false alarm. It was almost a year ago from this day when you thought the storm for the migration was starting. There were only small indicators that the brewing weather was going to be it, but enough indicators that had you convinced it was going to happen. It was also the first night you gave yourself completely to Seokjin, wanting your last night with him to be a memorable one. When you had learned in the following days that the threatening storm had passed, you were ecstatic, wasting no time to race back to Seokjin and into your rightful place beside him. You spent every night with him in his arms ever since. But now the omens of what's to come are back again. And this time they are very much real.

You shake your head at him once again, stepping into him and leaning your head onto his chest as he wraps his arms around you. Holding you tightly as if you were going to disappear right there. “I’m sure of it, Jinnie. The tribe’s elders confirmed it this morning. The storm will be here in three days.”

Silence grows between you two as you stand there holding each other. You have no idea what to say at this moment. No idea what either of you could say, but you just want to hear his voice. Just want to hear it as much as possible before your inevitable departure. As you fail to search for something to say, you feel the vibrations in his chest from him starting to talk and you're grateful that it’s only one of you that's at a loss of words. It’s not until you hear what he asks that you wish the two of you sat in silence just a little longer.

“What if you don’t leave? You can stay with me. Live by the shore, somewhere remote where you’ll be safe.” 

Your tears begin to fall freely as you pull away from him. His arms only loosen around you slightly, giving you just enough space to lean back and look up at him. “Bad things happen to mermaids who get separated from their pack. The loneliness will eat away my soul, changing me into something dangerous. I would no longer be myself.”

“Then I’ll come with you,” Jin states confidently, looking down at you with determination in his eyes. Your tears fall faster as you shake your head again.

“It’s too dangerous, Jin. The storm will kill you. The Gods created this specifically to keep us safe as we travel in masses.”

Jin closes his eyes, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he leans his forehead against yours. His breathing becomes ragged as he continues to hold you closely. “Then stay with me until you need to leave. Only if you can,” he whispers to you, the slight tremble in his tone crushing your heart.

“I can do that,” you respond, leaning up on tiptoes as you place a soft kiss on his plush lips.

The two of you spend the rest of your day talking, Jin asking every possible question he can think of, trying to find a way to decipher where this storm may take you. You answer him the best you can with the limited information that you have. Tribal Elders have tried their best to determine a pattern in the way your new homes were chosen, but never find anything concrete. It is a decision truly left up to the Gods. 

As night falls upon you, you feel the exhaustion come over you. Slowly leading Seokjin to the bed, you curl up into him the moment you both settle onto the mattress, clinging on to him with all your might. Not wanting to part from him until you absolutely have to. He places soft kisses on your head as he holds you just as close, humming to you in his sweet voice as he starts to rock the two of you to sleep.

Not wanting to sleep just yet, you readjust yourself slightly, allowing yourself enough space to move closer to Jin’s lips, kissing them as soon as you reach them. He kisses you back and you waste no time to deepen the connection, licking his bottom lip with your tongue as a wordless request to enter. He reciprocates, the both of you parting your lips, your appendages dancing around each other in a fiery passion. 

You run your hand down his bare body, slowly making your way to the hem of his pants. Seokjin stops you, grabbing your hand into his own.

“We don’t have to do this,” Jin whispers to you, trailing kisses along your face. “Being here with you is enough.”

“I want to, Jin. Please, make love to me.” Your voice shakes in your response, your lips trembling from the sob building in your chest. Jin stops it with his own lips, capturing yours into another deep kiss. 

Releasing your hand, Jin helps you undress himself before pulling your lone shirt from over your body. He lays you back against the bed, placing more soft kisses across your face before trailing his lips down your body. He stops at your breast, taking a moment to circle your pert nipples with his tongue. He gives each a small suck, the sensation causing you to arch your back, shoving your breast further into his face. Before releasing the last bud, Jin gives it a soft nibble, chuckling at the light gasp that escapes from you before continuing to lower himself down your body.

As he makes it to your core, he places your legs on his shoulders, rubbing your thighs as he looks up at you. “I’ll take care of you, my love. I’ll make sure you never forget tonight,” he coos at you as he places two fingers on your lips, forming a V with them to spread you apart. You feel him lick a strip right up your center. A delicious shiver crawls up your spine at the satisfying feeling. He gives you another lick, making a point to flick his tongue against your clit once he reaches the top. You feel your arousal leaking from your heat as Jin repeats his movements. You let out a groan with each stroke, your legs beginning to shake on top of his shoulders from the subtle teasing. 

You feel him gather your wetness on two fingers, slowly slipping both inside of you at once. You arch your back again at the pressure, trying your best not to squirm with each pump of his hands. Jin holds you down by the waist with his other hand to keep you in place as he picks up his speed, scissoring his fingers every few pumps to spread you apart. The moment you feel your walls begin to quiver, the pressure against them growing from the third finger Seokjin adds into your hole. He begins to move even faster, adding a curl to his fingers with each passing stroke. It’s not long before you feel a knot form inside of you, your toes curling at pleasure coursing through your body. You quickly feel yourself approaching the edge of your orgasm, the growing volume of your moans giving Jin a good indication of how close you really are. You think you hit a stall in your pleasure when Jin surprises you, wrapping his lips around your clit and sucking hard. It’s not until he gives your swollen nub a quick flick with his tongue that the knot releases, your body shaking as you cum around his fingers. 

Jin continues to finger you through your orgasm, slowing his speed as he helps ease you down. The euphoric feeling takes over your body, too busy riding the high to notice Jin removing himself from your core. You’re barely down from your high when you feel Seokjin hover above you, slowly lining himself up to your pulsing entrance. He rubs the head of his cock around your slick hole, gathering us as much of your juices as he watches you, waiting to see if you’re okay with what’s to come next. 

“Do you want to keep going, my love?” he asks you so sweetly. The tenderness in his tone sings to your heart, the need for him growing with each passing moment.

“Yes, Jinnie. Please. Need you,” You whimper as you slowly push down onto him, your body begging to feel him where you want him the most. 

“I’m all yours, darling,” he assures you, pushing into you at the same time. 

You both groan in unison at the sensation. Jin slowly pumps in and out of you, sinking into you deeper with each motion as he patiently waits for your walls to adjust to him. As he buries himself inside of you, he watches your face for any signs of pain only to be met with your features contorting in pleasure. He pauses his movements, waiting for you to give him a sign that you're ready to continue. You try to answer him by grinding down your hips, only resorting to a verbal response once you notice he didn’t pick up on the action.

“Move, Jinnie. Please,” you whine as you wrap your hands around his shoulders, bringing him into you for a kiss. Jin starts his pace off slow, matching it with the speed of your shared kiss. Your walls continue to pulse around him with each slow drag, the tip of his length hitting that small bundle of nerves deep inside of you every time he buries himself to the hilt. You shamelessly whine for more, Jin wasting no time to answer the call. He speeds up his pace, pumping inside of you relentlessly. The familiar knot grows inside you quickly once again as each thrust pushes you closer to another release. You can sense Jin’s release coming closer as well by the way his thrusts become shorter and sloppier. He breaks your lips apart, leaning his forehead against yours as you both pant in pleasure.

“Cum with me, darling,” he groans as he moves one of his hands in between your bodies, placing his thumb on your swollen clit and rubbing it in circles. The added sensation is enough to send you back over the edge, your walls clamping down on Jin’s shaft with each pulse of your release as you call out his name. His own release overcomes him as he slams inside of you, filling you with his warm seed as he joins you, groaning out your name. He braces his arms beside your head, trying his best to keep himself from crushing you under his body weight, leaning down to capture your lips in another kiss.

The next two days were spent exactly like this. The two of you never leaving the safety of the cabin, pretending like the outside world no longer existed. It was just the two of you in this bed, sharing the love you have for each other in every way possible.

By the dawn of the third day, the slight rocking of the boat from the restless waves wakes you, warning you that the migrating storm has begun. Jin stirs beside you, feeling your movements as you start to climb out of the bed. He sits up next to you, grabbing your arm before you are able to fully climb off the mattress and pulls you into him, hugging you to his body as he whispers into your ear, “Please, not yet. Just give me a few more minutes.”

You don’t argue or try to move. Knowing good and well you’d regret not taking these last few minutes when you have the chance. You hold each other in silence for just a few more minutes before Jin cups your chin gently, angling your face to kiss you deeply. You return it, the two of you pouring every once of love you have for each other into the kiss. After another moment, you force yourself to pull away, standing from the bed as you face the man before you. The boat now rocking more heavily as the winds begin to pick up.

“You have to leave now, Jin. You’re running out of time before it becomes unsafe.” 

He slowly nods his head as he begins to move, quickly dressing himself as soon as he gets up from the bed. You reach out your hand, watching as he takes it willingly, interlocking your fingers together as he starts to pull you towards the stairs leading to the deck. You walk in silence to the back of the boat, not finding the courage to release his hand, silently wishing to the Gods that you didn't have to leave.

You turn to him, looking up at him as he smiles sadly down at you. “Please don’t forget me,” you whisper softly, tears once again falling down your cheeks.

Jin reaches up with his free hand, wiping away the droplets as his own tears begin to streak his face. “I’ll never forget you. We’ll see each other again. This is not how we end.” 

The confidence in his tone stabs at your heart. Filling you with a hopefulness that you know will only crush you in the end. “How are you so sure?” you croak as your tears fall harder. “The world is big, and I have no idea where I’ll go and when.”

“The sea brought us together before, it will help us find each other again.” Jin leans down to kiss you one last time, as if to seal his uncertain promise. After a moment, he backs away, releasing your held hands at the same time. “Now go, before it's too late. I will find you. I promise. I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, Seokjin.” 

You give each other one last look before you turn around. You take a deep breath before diving into the water, the scales of your tail forming quickly from the moisture. You swim yourself a ways towards the direction of your tribe, wanting to put as much distance between yourself and the man you love before resurfacing. Fearing that your resolve would not be strong enough to keep you from returning back to him. Once you feel like you made it far enough, you swim towards the surface, turning around immediately as you break out of the water. Your heart rips into tiny pieces as you watch the image of the Epiphany disappearing into the distance.

It’s been five months now in your new home. The beauty of the ocean and surrounding islands are just as captivating as all your previous homes, but something is keeping you from being able to enjoy your new slice of paradise. Something that you miss dearly every single day since you migrated. You feel the need to clear your mind, no longer wanting to dwell in your own sadness. You venture out into your new territory, swimming out further than you have before. You’re not sure why you do it, wandering this far out from the safety of your tribe being a completely reckless choice to make. Your only reasoning being that you’re just allowing the sea to take you wear you need to go, trusting in the Water Gods to keep you safe as you free float along the surface of the water. You happen upon a small island cove, hiding behind the tall rocks protruding from the water to provide you shelter from the heat of the sun. You close your eyes, losing yourself in the ambience of the ocean as the subtle song of waves breaking starts to lull you into a dream.

Your mind wanders to your lost love, your heart aching for him as you imagine what he could be doing at this very moment. You picture him on his boat, leaning over the edge with a fishing pole in hand. The image in your mind being drawn from pieces of your memories. The vision feels so real, so detailed in your mind, you feel like you can practically hear the soft rumble of his boat engines. 

Suddenly, you feel a displaced vibration in the water, the very rumbles you were just imagining now sounding a lot louder and much closer than your distant memory. You lean up from your free float, looking around you for whatever may be causing the disruption to your day dreaming. Peering out into the horizon, you faintly see a small vessel approach you. You quickly duck behind the nearest rock, hoping whoever is approaching hasn’t noticed you. You start to slowly sink under the surface, preparing yourself to make your escape when a sudden pull in your heart begs you to stop.

You peer out from your cover, watching the small boat carefully as it moves closer. The boat turns ever so slightly, allowing the purple stripes along the side to become visible. Your eyes grow large, a wide smile spreading across your face as you jump from around the secrecy of the rock and swim closer to the approaching vessel, the silhouette of it’s wide shouldered captain becoming more visible with each passing stroke.

[trulivin]

All I Want

A/N: Surprise surprise! I actually finished another request yay! So here you all are my JJ people. I would like to say this is a little deep I’d say. There is mentions of rape which was a little hard to write, and it’s centered around anxiety. 

Both of those topics are serious matters of discussion and if anyone is in need of help speak up. It’s best to be heard and get help with whatever situation you find yourself in. 

AND y’all I do NOT hate Drew whatsoever. He played a great Rafe. Honestly, love that man as much as Rudy (ok maybe not that much), but just wanted to point that out. It’s just the character so don’t give me shit about hating on Drew for all you Rafe fans out there lmao. 

To the nonny who requested, I hope this is what you were looking for! As always please send feedback! Comment, like, etc. I’ll get another request done at some point so keep baring with me please.

JJ x Reader, Outer Banks

Warnings: mentions of rape and anxiety

*Credits go to original owner!*

It was a particularly warm day on the Cut when Y/N, JJ, and Pope were going to make a grocery delivery to the Figure Eight. Kie was off with John B and Sarah doing something probably more fun than delivering groceries, but Y/N had been kind enough to offer Pope some help, dragging her boyfriend along. JJ complained the entire way to Heyward’s. 

“I don’t see why we have to help,” he whined as Y/N dragged him along. “It’s a perfect day to go surfing.” “Which we can do afterwards,” she said, tugging him along by his hand. JJ groaned, but ran into Y/N as she stopped. The tan girl turned to face him, placed both hands on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, and looked up at him through her long lashes, a hint of mischief in her eyes. 

“If you would stop complaining, we can do more than just surf later,” she drawled, standing on her toes to whisper in his ear. JJ practically melted as he felt her lips brush his ear and trace his skin. He leaned down trying to steal a kiss, but Y/N slipped out of his arms and ran down the dock with a giggle. “Seriously?” JJ called after her, jogging to catch up.

Y/N and JJ had been together for a solid two years. John B never would have thought his best friend would be able to hold down a relationship for that long, but alas, the blond proved him otherwise. Of course the crew had the no-Pogue-on-Pogue macking rule, but did it really apply to Y/N and JJ? They had been friends long before he met John B and the rest of the crew. 

Kie knew the moment Y/N’s feelings changed from friendship to romantic, and John B knew he’d never seen JJ so smitten with someone, so the rest was history. 

“Hey, what did we say about PDA?” Pope groaned as Y/N and JJ approached the boat. “That it’s perfectly okay as long as we aren’t groping each other?” Y/N offered with a smirk. Pope rolled his eyes and JJ let out a hearty laugh as the two climbed on board. 

“As long as it doesn’t stop you from making these deliveries,” Heyward commented. 

The four worked as a team, loading all the groceries on board. Finally, they got everything packed in and were off to the other side of the island. Y/N watched the homes roll by and slowly transform into huge mansions. She wrung her hands a bit at the thought of entering Kook territory, but pushed her nervousness aside. 

“You’ll be okay,” JJ said, coming up beside his girlfriend. He knew she struggled with a bit of anxiety, and it didn’t help when Kooks would mess with her. 

Y/N shot him a small smile as he wrapped an arm around her. She leaned in a bit and listened to his steady breathing, matching her breath with his. A wave of relief washed over her and she felt herself back to normal. 

Y/N absolutely hated this about herself. No matter how many times JJ would tell her that’s what made her who she is and how much he loves her because of it, Y/N would still find herself shying away from help. Of course she let JJ help whenever she was in one of her spells, but she had always been reluctant. Her anxiety made her feel weak, and the Kooks could practically smell it on her. 

That wasn’t to say she couldn’t throw a punch and handle herself in a fight. She was a Pogue after all. But, Y/N had never been a fan of small spaces and seemed to be nervous over small things such as social interactions. Somehow, some of the Kooks figured out she was never good when she was cornered either. 

The Pogues were always careful not to leave her alone when any Kooks were around despite her protests. That just made her feel even weaker when she had personal bodyguards, but they still wouldn’t listen. JJ was the most concerned. She knew he meant well, but he would lose his shit if anyone laid a hand on his girl. Especially now that he had the gun. 

Y/N really did appreciate her friends’ efforts to keep her safe, but it still annoyed her a bit. Yet, what could she do? Her friends were the closest thing to a normal family. 

Sighing a bit, Y/N and JJ went over to help Pope dock the boat. “So most of this stuff is going to the club house so Y/N can come with me,” Pope said sorting through the bags. JJ gave him a skeptical look, grabbing a few of the resident’s orders. 

“I’ll be fine JJ,” Y/N said. Pope shot the pair a glance, deciding it would be best to let the couple work out the situation. “What if we made two trips and you can go with me?” JJ suggested, failing miserably at hiding his concern. Y/N rolled her eyes, “Seriously, I can take care of myself. Besides I haven’t had an anxiety attack in like years so I’m fine.” 

“I just think it would be better if you were with me,” JJ shrugged. “Quality couple time.” 

“As if you two don’t already spend every waking moment with each other,” Pope muttered under his breath. JJ shot him a glare. 

“Pope is right,” Y/N said, starting to get irritated. “It doesn’t make sense to make two trips when there are three of us. The club is kind of far too.” JJ studied her for a moment realizing she was genuinely annoyed with him, so he let up. “Fine,” he muttered, situating the bags on his arms and hopping off the boat. “See you ladies later!” JJ called over his shoulder, his voice returned to its normal goofiness. 

Y/N grabbed the rest of the bags and followed Pope off the boat as well. “You know we are just trying to look out for you,” Pope started. Y/N rolled her eyes a bit. “Look I get it, but I’m not weak. I can take care of myself. Pogue-style, baby,” Y/N replied. 

Pope laughed a bit and nodded in agreement. “You sure can throw a punch,” he said causing the girl to smile. “And you rival JJ in the craziness a bit.” “I do not!” Y/N laughed, playfully shoving him. The two went on like this bickering back and forth as they made their way past one of the tee boxes. 

Unbeknownst to them, two Kooks watched as the Pogues made their way across their golf course. “Hey, hey,” Rafe said, smacking Topper’s chest and pointing to Y/N and Pope. “Shiiit,” Topper said watching the girl and boy. “Yo, when did Y/N get hot?” Topper commented. “Bro she’s always been pretty hot for a Pogue,” Rafe responded as he started walking towards the pair. 

“Hey!” he and Topper called. Y/N’s face paled immediately as she heard the sound of the infamous Kooks. Pope sucked in a breath and said, “It’ll be fine.” “Yeah after they caved your face in last time you were here,” Y/N hissed, turning to face the boys coming towards them. 

“What’d I say about coming back on our side of the island?” Rafe snarled, reaching Pope. “Oh so you want to go pick up your own groceries then?” Y/N stepped up in front of Pope. She may have anxiety, but she sure as hell wouldn’t let any Kooks walk all over her friends. Topper smirked and stepped forward too. 

Y/N did her best not to suck back as two Kooks towered over her, but Rafe caught her flinch a bit, a wicked smile curving up on his lips. “Where’s blondie, Y/N?” he smirked. “Not here to protect you?” 

Pope shoved him back away from Y/N who now seemed to be at a loss for words. No she told herself. “Get your nasty Pogue hands off me,” Rafe snapped, lunging at Pope. All the groceries were spilled as Y/N was knocked out of the way. She hit the ground feeling the side of her face scrape on the gravel.

Y/N groaned in pain, but pushed herself off the ground to see Rafe and Topper shoving Pope around. “Get off of him Topper!” she screamed, jumping on his back. The Kook easily shoved her off as he and Rafe kept messing with her friend. His nose was bleeding and he was covered in a can of beer that Topper thought it would be funny to dump on him. 

“Stop!” Y/N screamed again. “What, he your boyfriend now?” Topper mocked. “No wonder Sarah dumped you! Jackass,” Y/N snarled, shoving him away from Pope. Rafe stopped punching Pope in the face and stood up. Pope lay on the ground groaning in pain. 

Topper’s face went dark. “Don’t you dare,” he hissed. “When did you get a mouth on you?” Rafe smirked again slowly approaching Y/N. “It’s kinda hot.”

Y/N gulped and felt her legs subconsciously back away. She felt the walls begin to close in as the two boys stalked towards her. “Please, don’t,” her voice cracked, giving her fear away. It was like a feeding frenzy for sharks. Y/N turned to run, but Topper caught her before she could get anywhere. 

“Get off!” Y/N yelped, as she struggled with her back pressed against his chest. “You’ll pay. You Pogue’s took one of us, so we’ll just take you for an even trade. Seems fair? Right Rafe?” Topper said. “No,” Pope tried getting up but Rafe punched him in the face again before turning back to Y/N.

“That’s right Topper,” Rafe grinned, “I’m sure your boyfriend wouldn’t mind.” Y/N was still flailing as she felt the walls begin to close in every step Rafe took. 

“Please! Just let me go!” she felt tears burn in her eyes. “Now now, don’t cry,” Rafe cooed, brushing a stray tear from her face. The wall was right in front of her now, sucking her air out. Y/N began gasping.

“I haven’t got laid in awhile,” Rafe said. Y/N’s stomach dropped to the ground. Even Topper seemed to release his grip a bit. “Wait, bro--” Topper started. “Might I remind you Topper,” Rafe cut in, “Her idiotic boyfriend put a gun to your head, and that long-haired surfer friend of hers stole your girlfriend.”

Y/N let out a choked sob. “Please,” she flailed again, but Topper still didn’t let go. Y/N literally screamed as Rafe grabbed her hips, allowing her to shirt to ride up a bit, his hands grazing over her exposed skin. “Stop!” Pope jumped up, but was shoved off by Rafe. “Dude seriously. This isn’t cool,” Topper cut in, releasing Y/N. Rafe ignored him, pulling Y/N up off the ground and digging his hands into her waist. 

“Pretty hot for a Pogue,” he whispered in her ear. Y/N’s eyes were watering as she took shallow breaths. Y/N let out a blood-curdling scream as Rafe placed a chaste kiss on her neck. She fought, scratched, kicked, flailed, trying to get out of his grasp. Her lungs burned and she felt like she was being crushed. 

As she tried to let out another scream, Rafe clamped a hand over her mouth and she felt like she was drowning. “Dude!” Y/N faintly heard Topper. “Rafe, c’mon man! Let her go!” Pope yelled, struggling to get up. 

In a matter of seconds, though, Rafe was ripped off Y/N. “Get the fuck off!” a familiar voice shouted. But, it wasn’t the voice she was looking for. “Rafe, what the fuck?” a girl’s voice shouted. Sarah. Y/N was sobbing and trying to take in air, but she couldn’t stop trembling. 

“Hey hey it’s okay,” someone’s hand was on her back. Kie. 

“Bro! Bro!” there was a lot of shouting. 

“John B! Get off, you made your point man!” 

“Let’s go!” 

Y/N saw two blurred shapes running away from them. A familiar figure approached her. “JJ?” she gasped. “No, no, it’s me, John B,” he said. Y/N flinched away and started crying harder. She just wanted JJ. 

“No hey hey you’re okay,” Kie’s voice rang out in her ear. Sarah knelt down on her other side and helped her up. Y/N’s lungs were on fire and she still found herself being suffocated by the walls. “Where’s…” Y/N gasped, more sobs coming out. “I--I don’t know, but we should get back to the boat. He may be there waiting,” Sarah said rubbing her arm gently. 

Y/N cried harder, collapsing into Kie. John B went to help but the girl shot him a look telling him to stay back.

“All...” gasp. “I want…” gasp. “JJ…”

With the help from Sarah, the girls managed to get Y/N back to the boat with John B and Pope trailing after them. JJ was not back yet. 

Y/N collapsed onto the ground in a corner, jumping away from all of her friends who were trying to help. As they tried approaching her slowly, all the girl felt were the walls getting tighter. Sadly, none of the Pogues really knew how to help her besides JJ. They had never seen her in this particular state.

At this point, Y/N was struggling for air as if she were drowning and was on the verge of passing out. “Guys, guys, back up,” Kie said. “We’re making it worse.” 

“But how are we supposed to get her to stop?” John B snapped, running a hand through his hair. “Where the hell is JJ?” Sarah said looking around. 

The group all tried reassuring Y/N from a safe distance, but nothing seemed to work. 

“Yo! You will not believe how well these old guys tipped!” the voice they were all waiting for yelled on the dock. 

“They gave me like--whoa what happened? When did you guys get--” JJ stopped in his tracks at the sight of all of his friends circled around his beat-up girlfriend. What the hell? Why’s her pretty face damaged? He started fuming. 

JJ immediately shoved past Pope and Kie towards the girl in the corner. 

“Hey! Hey! It’s me,” he said, not hesitating as Y/N tried backing away. As if something in her mind clicked, her body went limp as JJ pulled her into his chest, leaning himself back on the wall. Her breaths were still straggled and she was still trembling but she quit fighting. 

“Hey, Y/N,” JJ said softly. “H-hey,” she tried taking a breath, but it caught in her throat. “Shhhh,” he held on to her tighter, wrapping his arm around her head and putting her ear to his chest. “Listen to my heart, and breath with me.”

The Pogues watched silently in awe as Y/N began breathing normally. 

“Good, keep going,” JJ encouraged kindly. John B had never seen JJ this way, but he really saw how close the two actually were. He pulled Sarah tight to his side. 

“You wanna tell the group what we’re gonna do when we go full Kook?” JJ asked, glancing down at Y/N before looking up at their friends. He felt Y/N flinch after he said the word Kook. His gut turned at the thought this was brought on by a Kook. 

“Never mind,” he said quickly. “Tell them about that dream you had of us. Off the island.” He knew his friends were studying him closely. They’d never really seen this side of him. He was always coping with his own problems in his own way, but this was how Y/N got to see him. JJ let his guard down with her the most. And while he loved to joke around, get stoned, wasted, and all that, he was still human. 

Y/N slowly nodded, her breaths becoming more even. “I--I had this dream,” she started with a shaky voice, “JJ and I were in a uh little house, away from here.” 

Sarah clung to John B as tears welled in her eyes as she watched the girl in JJ’s arms. She always saw Y/N as this tough Pogue who wouldn’t take shit from anyone regardless of her own problems. She never knew Y/N struggled like this, and it broke Sarah’s heart. 

Kie had a faint idea of what Y/N was really struggling with but she had never seen her friend in this state. The sight of her, curled in JJ’s arms, trying to talk about something that was for certain extremely personal between the couple, made her heart break as well. 

“W-we had a little house, and two blond headed boys running circles around us,” Y/N cracked a weak smile as the group let out a light laugh, the tension finally breaking. “And you,” she raised a more steady hand pointing at John B and Sarah, “you two would come over for dinner with your girls and we’d watch Kie and Pope on the news being superstars.” 

“That sounds wonderful,” Sarah smiled. 

Y/N, at last, took a deep strong breath. Color was already returning to her face as she slowly regained her composure. John B and Pope went to untie the boat and soon enough, they were on their way back to their side of the island. 

JJ didn’t release Y/N, but looked to Pope for answers. 

“What happened?” he tried holding in his anger for Y/N’s sake. 

“We were taking the stuff up to the club and Topper and Rafe came up,” Pope said slowly. JJ felt Y/N tense under his arms and he gave her a reassuring squeeze. 

No one dared speak a word as to what happened next. 

JJ got the hint, though. “Then?” he pressed. 

“R-Rafe,” Y/N started, and he was shocked to hear her talking about it. “No, no, you don’t…” the words died in JJ’s mouth. “He, he tried--” 

JJ knew immediately. Y/N felt his body go rigid and didn’t say the words. She didn’t even want to think about it. “I’ll kill him,” JJ hissed. 

“John B about did,” Kie said. Sarah seemed to be looking away from them. Y/N knew what she was thinking. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Y/N said softly. Sarah turned to her with a sad look on her face. “But he’s my brother,” she whispered. Y/N shook her head, “He’s not you Sarah. Stop beating yourself up.”

“Y/N…”

“This is how it is for us Pogues. We’re all a little broken somehow. Well maybe except Kie,” Y/N chuckled a bit, leaning back on JJ who was still seething. Sarah gave her a small smile and sat down by John B’s legs. “Anyways,” John B continued, “Kie, Sarah, and I were getting ice cream by the course, and heard Y/N scream so we came and helped.” 

JJ stood up completely knocking Y/N over. She shot him a glare rather than going back to hyperventilating. “Pope! Turn around! I’m going to rip his face off,” JJ snarled. “No,” Y/N said, standing up facing him. “Just forget it. Don’t give him the satisfaction.” 

JJ stared at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?” he was trying not to yell at Y/N. However, the girl just stared at him with a raised brow. JJ stared back. 

“What is going on?” Sarah asked. 

“Shh, they do this all the time,” John B replied. 

Soon enough JJ broke his gaze and sat down pulling Y/N back into his arms. Y/N had a triumphant look in her eyes as they continued on. “Oh my god,” Sarah laughed. 

“Shut up,” JJ mumbled resting his head on Y/N’s shoulder. 

Later that night, in the Chateau, Y/N and JJ were curled together in the small bed of the guest room. “Are you okay?” JJ finally asked after hours. Moments like these were saved for behind closed doors and just the two of them. 

Y/N thought for a moment and then nodded. “I am now,” she said in the darkness. His arms gave her a little squeeze. “But, how,” JJ hesitated, “how can you let me hold you like this after what happened?” he asked shyly. Y/N rolled over to look at him in the darkness. 

JJ’s eyes were swimming with concern. She pressed her lips to his, savoring his warm breath and body before pulling away. His kisses were always soft and sexy at the same time. 

“Because you’re you,” Y/N answered, resting her forehead on his. “I’m still a guy,” JJ muttered. Y/N let out a laugh. “You don’t get it. You’re the only one I want. You’re the guy who knows me the best. You know how to deal with my problems. You’ve known me since we were literally babies. Sure, we’ve known John B for a long time, but he doesn’t know me like you,” Y/N said. 

“But--” JJ started but was cut off. 

“JJ, you’re the one I’m in love with and have been since as long as I can remember. I trust you with my life. Yeah, you baby me sometimes, but I’ve accepted that’s how it comes being with you.” 

“I love you too,” he whispered.

It was JJ’s turn to place a kiss on her lips. She sighed, content at how soft his were. Their lips molded together like two puzzle pieces as he pressed his body closer to hers. She let her mouth open as he ran his tongue over her lips resulting in a low moan. His hands tugged her waist and pulled her on top of him just as they did plenty of times before. 

This time, though, it wasn’t like they were going to have sex. It was more of a tender kiss. A declaration of their love for one another as cheesy as it sounds. 

Eventually, they both turned up for air, and Y/N fell back next to JJ. He wrapped his arm around her again as she rested her head on his chest. “We’ll get out of here one day,” JJ said with a promise in his voice. “I won’t doubt that,” she smiled. “But I’ll kill Rafe first,” he said. Y/N laughed a bit again. 

“No you won’t. Then you’ll go to prison, and I don’t want you to go to prison. Besides, Rafe is always tweaked. Everyone knows that,” Y/N snorted. “Well I’m always smoking weed,” JJ offered. 

“Aren’t all the Pogues though? There’s a difference between weed and cocaine too.”

JJ groaned causing Y/N to let out another laugh. “You’re always so optimistic.” 

“Yes yes I know,” Y/N giggled. “But I know you love it cause otherwise you would’ve dumped me a long time ago.” “I would never dump you. You’re too good for this place, Y/N” JJ mumbled squeezing her again. 

Slowly but surely, the couple then fell asleep, content and safe from everything the cruel world would throw at them, in each other’s arms.

_______________________________________________

Not really sure I like the ending but it is what it is I suppose. It’s more about the story in the middle. Plus I really don’t think I’m good at writing endings so yea. Enjoy m’dears!

xoxo

[ladykissingfish]

Under the Mistletoe with the Akatsuki // Part Nine // Pein (Nagato)

Leader. Never in a million years did Nagato Uzumaki believe he had it in him for be a leader, and especially not one of a group of S-ranked criminals like the ones that comprised his Akatsuki. But perhaps he really wasn’t; after all, save for Konan, none of them had even met him before. All they knew about him was Pein, the body that he animated and controlled through his chakra. Yet despite all he and his group have accomplished, the nagging feeling never leaves him ... that Yahiko would have done a much better job than Nagato. It’s one of the main reasons that Nagato fashioned his main Pein-body after his old friend; to try and infuse some of Yahiko’s wisdom and charisma into his own leadership style. One of the things Yahiko often stressed was the importance of having people around you that you could trust, and depend on. In short - friends. Aside from Konan, Nagato doesn’t truly consider anyone in this organization to be his ‘friend’ ... rather, he’s come to think of the group as a whole of being his family. And apparently families played games with each other, hence why he (as Pein) agrees to this mistletoe game now.

Kisame

“Good evening, Leader.” Kisame was by far one of the more desirable members that Nagato had strived to bring into his group. Mature, experienced with battle and ninjutsu, and one of the fabled Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. In any given situation, in any conflict between members of the group, Kisame will most often be the voice of reason. Nagato chose to pair him with the young but mature beyond his years Itachi, believing they’d have much to learn from one another, and he was correct. Out of all the duos, theirs was probably the most stable (and certainly the least problematic). Despite being both tall and intimidating, the half-shark had a surprisingly gentle, almost shy nature to him when one caught him in a one on one situation, as was the case now. Kisame walks up to Pein but seems unable to take the initiative, so Pein does so himself. He puts one hand on Kisame’s shoulder, leans up slightly, and kisses his cheek. Kisame blushes and grins, before going back to his room for the evening.

Sasori

Unbeknownst to the others, aside from Konan, Sasori is the only member of the Akatsuki that knows that Pein isn’t who (or what) he presents himself to be. After all, spending years hidden inside a puppet body gave one a little leeway into seeing into (or perhaps seeing past) others’ true selves. But Sasori understands Nagato’s need to conceal his real body; in fact, he’s even helped him a few times. He’s travelled with Konan before to meet the actual Nagato, when the latter came down with an illness that Konan wasn’t sure how to treat. Sasori used his extensive knowledge of medical procedures to help Nagato, and since then, the two had become good friends. He also gave him valuable advice (again from his own experience of using chakra to control multiple puppets at once) to Nagato in how to more effectively maneuver his Six Paths of Pein bodies during battle, even helping Nagato to tweak them to better control their movements. Sasori shows Nagato (and ultimately, Pein) the same respect that he would a fellow master puppeteer. He approaches Pein now, in his own body. Pein leans down and kisses his cheek, and the two nod at each other before Sasori returns to his own room.

Itachi

“He murdered his entire clan in one evening.” “Are you sure?” “Well, all but his younger brother. But I’m sure if he ever got the chance —“ Nagato still remembers the conversation he had with Konan, the day before they brought Itachi into the Akatsuki. Nagato had been against it at first, believing that one who could commit such callous atrocities against his own clan and family would no doubt have trouble turning against a group of people that were strangers to him. But Itachi pleasantly surprised Nagato, with how calm, and quiet, and kind he was. He often forgets how young Itachi is, considering he speaks and acts like a man decades older. But still ... there was a sadness that could be felt whenever Itachi was in the room, tangible even to someone who’s “real” body was quite far away, like Nagato’s was. When Itachi comes to him, the Pein body reaches out and pulls the boy into a hug. Itachi seems surprised, but whether out of respect to the leader or because he truly needed it, he lets the embrace happen. The two stand there for longer than seems feasible, until Pein breaks it by gently kissing Itachi’s forehead. Itachi steps back, gives Pein a smile (which turns back the clock even more and makes Itachi seem like a child) and goes back to his room.

Deidara

Nagato felt real, valid concern when bringing the 15 year old Deidara into his group. Besides being the youngest, besides having that volatile temper and wanton pleasure in causing chaos and destruction ... the kid was beautiful. An odd word for a male, perhaps, but it was the most fitting term for him. In the Akatsuki it was more or less made clear that Konan was off-limits in terms of things like that, but Deidara ... with his long silky hair, big blue eyes, soft skin ... what was to stop one (or possibly ALL) of these older (and likely stronger) members from attempting to — but Nagato was lucky, in that everyone exhibited more self-control than he gave them credit for. And pairing him first with the older Sasori and then with the wily Tobi had seemed to be good choices, as well. One taught him maturity, and the other, patience. Although sometimes — “Oi, Leader ... can you talk to Kakuzu for me?” “For what?” “He won’t let me have an advance on my pay, because he says I’m just going to waste it on ‘my stupid clay’, hm!” “I do not interfere with the financial decisions of my treasurer, Deidara.” “But —“ Pein kisses his forehead and says, quietly, “Learn to exercise restraint when it comes to your artistic endeavors, Deidara.” Deidara grumbles as he walks away, and Pein smiles and shakes his head as he watches him go.

Kakuzu

“Pein. No matter what Deidara said to you, you won’t convince me to give him an advance on his pay. That boy is already three weeks into his money, and our budget simply won’t allow —“ “Do not fear, Kakuzu. I don’t intend to step on your toes regarding our finances.” Never in Nagato’s life has he met anybody quite so concerned with money as Kakuzu. He was strict not only with his own money, but every other member’s, as well. While Nagato found this to be a character flaw at first, now, he saw Kakuzu’s thriftiness and frugal tendencies as being a God-send. It was only because of him that they were able to move from hideout to hideout, to put food on the table, to buy clothes and weapons and any number of things that the group needed to survive. But his finance-savvy ways weren’t even the most impressive thing about him; it was the fact that he dealt with Hidan, day in and day out, and had not been driven to madness. The older man walks up to Pein now, lowers his mask, and delivers a light kiss to the cheek. Pein nods and watches as he leaves, noting, as he often did, his cold Kakuzu’s skin is. Nagato can feel it through Pein’s sensors; standing close to Kakuzu is much like standing in front of an open grave. He often felt that he should suggest redesigning Kakuzu’s Akatsuki robe to make it warmer, but Nagato knows that this suggestion would be rapidly rejected.

Zetsu

On the day that it is Pein’s turn under the mistletoe, Zetsu is nowhere to be found. Nagato knows where he is, of course; traveling through the earth at the speed of sound, going to scout out an enemy territory before the Akatsuki makes a move on it. Zetsu and his infiltration skills have helped Nagato countless times in the past, providing valuable intel on targets and mapping out the most problem-free routes for the rest of the group to take on missions. Still, though; there’s something about the plant-man that gave Nagato the slighter touch of unease. Being near Zetsu, even through the barrier of Pein, gave Nagato the feeling of being inches away from a wild animal. Hearing him speak was like listening to a dog that suddenly begins speaking in a human tongue. Nagato is very glad that Pein does not have to kiss this individual, and in fact hopes that his turn will end before Zetsu makes his inevitable return.

Tobi

Tobi, Tobi, Tobi ... such a confusing young man. Such a surprising young man. Many months ago, the Pein-body walked into Tobi’s room to retrieve him for something, and happened to catch him sleeping. Nagato was curious and made his artificial body approach the side of the bed that Tobi’s face was on ... but all Nagato was met with was darkness. A solid, blurred-out black where the boy’s face should have been. Nagato thought that perhaps something was malfunctioning in the Pein body’s ocular region ... but everything else was clear as a bell. Did Tobi have some kind of exterior defense mechanism set into place that would bar Pein, specifically Pein, from seeing his actual face? And if that was the case, then WHY? What exactly was he hiding?? It made Nagato nervous, but he never let this on to Tobi. “Pein-sama, Pein-sama! Is it Tobi’s turn for a kissy?!” Pein nods and Tobi approaches him, slides his mask halfway off ... and again all Pein can make out is blackness. He can feel his cheek being kissed, but his vision doesn’t return to 100% until Tobi’s mask is fully back in place. “Thanks, Pein-sama!”, Tobi says; and is it Nagato’s imagination or is there a touch of smugness to his voice? Well, regardless, the kid is leaving, and a Nagato can put him out of his mind once more.

Hidan

“I’ve had to kiss every single one of you fucks, including the old geezer and the orange idiot. Now I’ve gotta slobber with the boss too?? What’s next; are we are jumping into bed and having a group fuck?!” Nagato hadn’t rolled his eyes in many years (and rolling Pein’s eyes would have been an unbecoming gesture for a leader), but hearing Hidan speak always made Nagato want to break this self-imposed rule. With his additional bodies, his Rinnegan, his seemingly unlimited chakra and his fabled Uzumaki clan endurance, Nagato considers himself to be an earthbound God. But then this kid, this foul-mouthed violent crusader, comes into the group speaking about HIS God, Lord Jashin, and flaunting his (admittedly enviable) gift of immortality. From the very beginning, Hidan made it clear that offering sacrifices to his God was his main priority; and the kid wasn’t lying. It’s always been Pein’s (Nagato’s) mandate that as long as one completed their assigned mission, then they would be free to do as the my liked in their spare time. But Hidan’s preferred “hobby” left even someone as war-weary and hardened as Nagato feeling a bit queasy, in the pit of his stomach. “Come, Hidan.” Hidan visibly balks at being given an order; but he’s never love hesitated to obey the Leader. He goes to Pein and, after Pein studies his face, receives a kiss on the nose. The gesture is so light and whimsical that it leaves Hidan blushing and flustered, as evidenced by his leaving without uttering a single swear word.

Konan

The kiss between Konan and Pein is ... disappointingly short. Surprising, considering how close the two of them are, and how much Pein seems to care about her. But it’s a very quick forehead peck, and then both Pein and Konan retire to their rooms. The Pein-body shuts down in his own room, but Konan is getting dressed. It’s a somewhat lengthy journey, especially for this time of night, but one Konan is very familiar with. She comes every single day, after all, after everyone else is asleep or preoccupied for the evening. The old cave is so far into the woods, and from the outside seems abandoned, but ... “Nagato? I’m here.” Nagato turns his head and, although he’s happy to see her, can’t help but sigh. “You’re soaking wet.” Konan uses her cloak to wipe her face, telling him it’s not a big deal, just a little drizzle outside... but it is to Nagato. Trapped like this, a prisoner of his body and his hatred and pain ... anybody else would have walked out and left him years ago. But Konan, no matter what, she stayed by his side, and showed him more caring and comfort than Nagato felt he deserved. “I brought you some beef and curry rice tonight,” Konan said, now uncovering a small bowl. “It’s still warm.” She moves into position to feed him, and as she does, she quietly tells him little tidbits about her day. It’s solely through Konan that Nagato has any sense of the outside world at all, or any REAL idea about what the members of the Akatsuki are actually like. And he’s grateful to her. He’s grateful to her for so many — “Konan?” She looks up from where she’d been tidying up. “Yes?” “I’m so sorry.” She stops and looks at him, head tilted. “Sorry? What are you sorry about?” “I’m sorry that you’re not married, I’m sorry that you don’t have children, or a family, I’m sorry that you go from hideout to hideout and village to village and all you see is the same pain we saw when we were kids. And I’m sorry that things are only this way because of me. I couldn’t save Yahiko, and I’m destroying you, and any chance at happiness you could have had. I never meant for things to be this way. I’m —“ but Konan’s arms are around him before he can finish his sentence. “You’re a goddamn idiot,” she mumbles, her voice slightly shaky. “Yahiko dying wasn’t your fault, and my life — my life is full, and despite what you may believe, I’m happy, Nagato. This Akatsuki you’ve created; you’ve done two things. You’re fulfilling Yahiko’s dream, and you’ve given me, US, a family. So stop with this nonsense, okay?” “But I —“, and Konan interrupts him again, this time with a soft kiss on the cheek. Her lips breathe warmth and comfort into his chilled skin. “You’re the most important person on this earth to me, and I love you,” she murmurs as she pulls away, a smile on her face. “But I swear if you don’t cheer up, you’re not getting any of this dessert I made.” A pause, and then, with a smirk reminiscent of the shy boy he once was, “I’ll only cheer up if it’s something I like.” “Strawberry pie.” Nagato gives Konan an even bigger smile, to which she replies “That’s better”; and the two laugh. He feels like a weight has been lifted off of his heart. After dessert, he tries to mentally prepare himself for her leaving again ...but to his surprise she pulls a blanket from her satchel spreading it out neatly along the ground. “You’re staying tonight?” “I’m staying.” “Good. I love you, too, by the way.” “I know.” Before bed she spends a good deal of time gently brushing out his hair, telling him jokes and stories, the same that she used to do with him and Yahiko when they were all children, during those many long, cold nights when hunger or anxiety kept them awake. Neither is present now, but the goodness of the feeling remains the same. After awhile they both fall asleep, and for once their dreams are calm and peaceful.

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

Welcome to Faerieland (Fan Fic) - Chapter 8 - The Battle

This is Chapter 8 of “Welcome to Faerieland”, a sequel to my Kitty Fan Fic "To never being parted" although it can be read as a standalone story.

AO3 Link to the full story here.

*****

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Tiberius jerked his head toward the fey who was grasping frantically at the arrow stuck in his neck. “If it has hit a carotid artery as I suspect, you will bleed out in a matter of minutes, if not seconds, if you take it out.”

He turned to the prince then.

“I believe you were looking for me?”

The coldness in Tiberius’ voice sent chills down Jaime’s spine. The faerie knights remained deadly silent.

The prince tried to hold himself together, but Jaime could see that even he was affected by the uncanny sight. His voice was slightly shaking as he finally answered.

“We were. Since, as usual, you have been poking your nose in others’ business.”

The huge bird perched on Tiberius’ shoulder tipped its head toward him and Ty petted it gently with his free hand.

“You are one to talk,” he replied. “May I remind you that we are on Unseelie territory and that King Kieran is still - to date - the ruler of these lands? What led you to believe you could carry out a sentence without his knowledge?”

“I guess this will be our little secret.”

“Too late for that. The Unseelie King has been warned and soon, his army will be swarming this place.”

The prince laughed but it sounded fake.

“You are lying, Nephilim. You are all liars. When could you have done that? The King and his knights are miles away, and modern means of communication are all failing this evening.”

Ty’s pet finally spoke in a screeching, almost ear-splitting, voice.

“How dare you speak to him in this manner? You stand before the illustrious founder of IL PADRINO! Show him the respect he is owed!”

“The founder of what ?” The faerie prince was taken aback.

“IL PADRINO! The International League for the Protection and Assistance of Downworld’s Rare, Innocent, Neglected and Overlooked species.”

The faerie knights broke into a roaring, collective laughter. Some of them actually wiped tears from their eyes.

Ty turned his head toward the winged creature and whispered something. The beast nodded and glared at the faerie prince one last time before it flew away above the forest. It was fast . Faster than any bird Jaime had ever seen.

“I didn’t use modern means of communication. I have just asked baby Josephine to join her parents, who have flown ahead to warn King Kieran.”

Josephine ? That flying creature was called Josephine ? And it was a baby ? What did its parents look like? Jaime wondered.

The prince’s face fell.

“You have absolutely no idea what forces you are dealing with.”

As if on cue, the ground started to shake, the treetops began to shiver, and a swarm of demons suddenly erupted from the forest, flooding the sky in a tunnel of darkness.

They landed on the ground and scattered, surrounding the party. The faerie knights stood stunned for a few seconds, all good humour gone, before they drew their weapons and marched towards the incoming threat. They were facing danger with bravery, Jaime had to give them that.

He startled as he heard Ty’s voice whispering a single word in his ear. “Weapons!”

Jaime turned to where Dru was already retrieving an axe and several seraph blades on the floor. He moved to join her, and only realized then that he was no longer magically bound to the ground.

He grabbed a sword just in time to slice the head of a Devrak demon that had lunged at him. He heard Ty and Dru cry at the same time “Adriel” and “Muriel”, their seraph blades bursting into light and illuminating their determined faces.

The battle was on, and it was chaos.

The fey, who were not used to fighting demons seemed overwhelmed and completely disorganized. Several of them edged closer to the Shadowhunters, as if their presence and the light of their glowing blades reassured them.

Jaime realized that he had never fought alongside the Blackthorn siblings. He could not help but notice how very different their fighting styles were, even though they were brother and sister.

Tiberius had his headphones on, his expression focused, though not as if he were in combat, but rather as if he were deciding on his next move on a chess board. Every swipe of his seraph blade was calculated for maximum efficiency, sparing his muscles’ efforts. Almost every blow was a lethal one. Not a single move he made was unnecessary or redundant. He was - as Jaime suspected - a restless killing machine.

Dru, on the other hand… Dru was a show. She had torn the material of her azur dress on both sides, revealing bare legs all the way down from her upper thighs. Her movements eased, she twirled and twisted like a ballerina, cutting randomly everything that approached her. Arms, legs, claws, tentacles, horns, heads…

As she jumped on a Hydra demon’s back and used the momentum to neatly sever two of its three heads from its body in a single slicing arc of her seraph blade, Jaime saw her grin widely, showing perfect white teeth that stood out in the darkness. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself as she detached the remaining head in a sawing motion, as if she were a lumberjack cutting wood.

Next, he saw her slide under a Raum demon, slicing both its legs in half as she did.

As the demon lay injured on the ground, she straddled it and, after having swiftly cut off its tentacles, struck its torso repeatedly with her seraph blade, as if she was pummeling plastic ducks at a fair. Ichor splattered her dress, but she didn’t seem to mind. She still had a huge grin plastered on her face.

Ugh. Jaime wasn’t sure which one was the scariest. Dru or the demons?

He turned in time to cut an Oni demon’s horned head off with a swipe of his sword, just as it was about to devour a faerie’s leg. The demon disappeared and the disgruntled faerie spluttered a thanks but Jaime had already moved on to plunge his sword through a facemelter’s chest, while silently thanking his Sure-Strike rune. He liked his face the way it was, thank you very much.

Jaime whirled toward the Blackthorns and startled as he recognized a tall blond figure huddled close to Tiberius. Somehow, during the battle, the prince had scurried for cover behind the Centurion’s back, after having decided that he was the best protector around, even more so than his own guards. Ty was generous enough to carry on as if he hadn’t noticed.

What a shameless coward, Jaime muttered under his breath.

After a little while, Dru was the commander of a little army of faerie knights. It had started with a few pieces of advice “It’s a Ravener, start by cutting off its tail… Beware of the teeth, they are poisonous!” Then, she started barking out orders “You! Your demon only has one eye! Blind it already!”

Eventually, a little crowd gathered around her and listened to the sixteen-year old Shadowhunter’s directions and orders.

Tiberius seemed oblivious, listening to his music while dispatching demon after demon at an incredible rate, the faerie prince tailing him everywhere. However, Jaime had noted Ty’s regular glances in his and Dru’s direction, probably keeping an eye on them in case they needed help.

Even though things looked a little better than when it had begun, the flow of demons was continuous and Jaime was starting to wonder if and how it would finally end. Would there be anyone left when it did? Already, he had to pay attention to avoid slipping on blood and stumbling on bodies of faeries that had started piling on the ground.

As if the situation wasn’t desperate enough, gigantic winged creatures suddenly engulfed the sky, swallowing the stars and plunging the battle scene into complete darkness. Most of them were Shinigami demons, with jaws like a white shark’s and huge black wings.

The light of the seraph blades was now the only source of light.

“Look up! They’re coming from the sky. From everywhere!” Jaime shouted.

“You know what my philosophy is, in this type of situation? It’s a demon? You have a seraph blade? Kill it.” Dru replied in an irritated voice.

Ty said nothing, but pulled out his witchlight and retrieved his crossbow. Next, he whistled and little dots of light appeared in the foliage of the surrounding trees, illuminating the plain. Were these fireflies? Jaime wondered.

He could now clearly see as several faerie knights were hauled off their feet by the giant demons, and thrown from a great height, their bodies crashing on the floor. Jaime swiftly moved to avoid a human body part - he didn’t pause to check which one - that fell exactly where he had been standing a second before. He almost gagged when he saw a Shinigami demon crush the skull of a faerie that had been running a few feet away, with its large talons.

“Why is this happening, I don’t understand. I don’t understand,” the fey prince mumbled behind Ty’s back for what seemed like the thousandth time.

“Keep quiet,” Ty replied, acknowledging him for the first time.

As he heard inhuman shrieks coming from above, Jaime whipped his head up, just in time to see a white and gold shape shoot through the sky like a cannonball, a bolt of light in the darkness.

The figure halted a few feet above them, spun and spread its gold-tipped wings wide. That’s when Jaime saw that it was wielding two glowing seraph blades. So that’s what an angel must look like, he thought, as a mixture of awe and relief washed over him. Kit. Kit had come for them. Jaime was stunned, almost blinded by the sight.

He wasn’t the only one to notice the newcomer. The flying demons turned their attention to him at once, closing in as one big cloud of swarming giant insects, creating an apocalyptic scenery. But Kit wasn’t paying attention to them. His blazing gaze was scanning the battlefield, looking for something, someone, and didn’t even pause when it passed over Jaime. His mouth was set, and there was a coldness in his face that almost didn’t look human. When Kit’s eyes finally caught what he was looking for, his shoulders relaxed visibly, and even from a distance, Jaime could see his features had rearranged into an expression of pure love as he was staring at Ty.

Ty was gazing back, and for a moment, it looked as if the two of them were having a private and silent conversation, lost in their own world, unaware they were in the middle of a battlefield. Then, the demons caught up to Kit, and he almost disappeared in a wave of black wings, talons and claws. Soon, all Jaime could see were flashes of seraph blades and of white feathers flapping furiously in an ocean of beasts.

“Jaime, look out!” Dru shouted, and Jaime whirled in time to cut the claws of a Mantid demon that was aiming at his throat.

Jaime looked up again, and saw that the flying demons that were closest to the ground were being dispatched by bolts flying from… Ty’s crossbow. Noticing the attack from the ground, three Shinigami demons separated from the others and flew toward Ty.

Ty dispatched one of them with a bolt, and Jaime grabbed an axe from the floor to throw it at another. The third one was almost on Ty, but it didn’t look like the Centurion planned to fight it. Jaime gasped as he saw Tiberius duck a talon’s swipe and haul himself on top of the beast, just as it soared up.

“What the hell , Ty! You! Give me this! before you poke someone’s eye out!” It was Dru’s voice. Jaime turned to see her confiscate a faerie knight’s bow and pull an arrow from his quiver. As she aimed at Ty’s new ride, her hair - which had escaped from her bun - and her dress rose in a gust of wind, and Jaime thought she had never looked more beautiful. A true warrior goddess.

She hesitated and Jaime understood why. The flying creature was already too high above the ground and harming it would not help Ty, who was already busy balancing himself on the beast’s back while shooting more demons in the sky with his crossbow.

Dru let out a high and desperate cry of frustration that resounded across the field, and redirected her bow toward a Vetis demon, which had caught the struggling faerie prince in its long serpentine arms. The arrow flew and lodged itself in the demon’s head. It disappeared in the blink of an eye, releasing its prey. Dru muttered “asshole” and grabbed the faerie knight’s quiver in search of more arrows.

Jaime ran among the fallen faeries in search of a range weapon to use himself. He picked up three javelins and as he gazed up, saw Ty slip from the back of his Shinigami ride and catch one of its talons, at the last minute, to keep from falling. The demon tried to shake him off and swipe at him with its other talon, but Ty was twisting and kicking. As high as they were, a fall would surely kill him. It did not look good at all.

An explosion of light suddenly illuminated the battlefield and Kit appeared out of nowhere to swipe at the Shinigami demon with one of his seraph blades. The beast recoiled and Kit caught Ty in his arms just as the latter released his grip and was about to fall to the ground. He flew toward the edge of the clearing, but was followed by a mass of flying creatures clawing at him. One of them grabbed his leg and Kit cried out in pain, but seemed to hold on to Ty even tighter, wrapping his wings closer around them.

Two enormous eagles appeared then, and attacked the demons with their gigantic beaks and claws, allowing Kit to free himself. Jaime had read about this type of fey legendary creatures originating from the Middle East, rocs or rukk in arabic, but he thought they were extinct. He had no idea what they were doing here, and least of all, why they were protecting Kit and Ty so fiercely.

****

As they landed on the ground, at the edge of the forest, Kit immediately propped Ty against a tree, checking for injuries.

“Kit, I am fine,” Ty said.

Relief speared through Kit. Ty was alright. Kit had found him and there he was, bruised and battered, his headphones askew, his clothes drenched in ichor, but alive and otherwise unharmed. He wanted to throw his arms around him and kiss him until they had to break away for breath.

Ty started coughing.

“Ty, are you sure you are okay? What’s this? Why are you coughing?”

“Nothing, just the stench of ichor. I am fine, Kit. We have to go back… Dru…”

Kit opened his mouth to answer, when he saw Ty’s face turn utterly pale, frozen in a mask of shock and horror, his gaze fixed at a point above Kit’s shoulder. He whipped his head around to see that Dru had been caught in the claws of a flying demon as well. She was twirling, struggling to free herself, although she was being held at a dangerous - deadly - height above ground. As Kit watched, she plunged her seraph blade in the demon, just as it clawed at her leg, leaving a deep - and probably poisoned - gash. It disappeared from one moment to the next, leaving Dru’s now unconscious form to fall toward the ground at great speed. Kit didn’t pause to think, he kicked on his legs with all the strength he could muster and flapped his wings as hard as he could, soaring through the sky like a shooting star, but realizing just as he did that she was too far.

He tried to swallow his terror and desperation as he flew toward her, trying to focus on anything but gaining as much speed as he could. He could not give up, even if it seemed impossible to get to Dru on time.

Another winged creature suddenly appeared out of nowhere and caught her, just a few feet from the ground. It hurtled upwards, carrying Dru gingerly, not like her previous captor had. Kit squinted and realized with a shock that it was not another demon, but a human with angel wings, just like him, although his feathers were black as night, an eerie contrast to his white blond hair. As he edged closer, he could see Marks swirling up his bare arms and torso. He had pointy ears, and Kit briefly wondered if it was Mark Blackthorn, but no. It was not the same shade of blond or even the same figure. Relief washed over him, mixed with uneasiness. Who the hell was this guy? And where was he taking Dru?

As one, the demons turned toward the newcomer and rushed to claw at his dark wings and unprotected back. He couldn’t defend himself because he was embracing Dru tightly, as if his life depended on it, protecting only her and exposing himself to the demons’ attacks. Just as Kit had done with Ty.

Kit watched in horror as the demons shrouded him, and he could no longer see past the giant big cloud made of their swarming forms. The mass hurtled toward the ground and now rose like a deadly mountain.

Kit had to do something. Dru was in the middle of that thing, with her strange protector.

He landed on the grass, folded his wings and stretched out his hands toward the horde, focusing hard on channeling the force he had used in the battle of the Imperishable Fields, when he had made the horses of the Riders of Mannan disappear. He thought about Dru. He thought about the Blackthorns at Livvy’s funeral. They could not bury another one of them.

He sensed a rush of power coming out of his chest, through his arms and toward his aim. He was blinded and surrounded by white light, and thrown back by the force of a silent explosion. He landed on his back, sliding across the ground. Oush. His back felt like grated cheese.

Kit lifted himself on his elbows and looked over the spot where the herd of demons had been a moment ago.

They had all disappeared. All that was left was a mound - or rather what looked like a small dome - made of black feathers. It was clear that the wings had been used as a shield against the demons’ onslaught. There were scratches everywhere and the dark plumage was streaked with blood.

Slowly, as if sensing the coast was clear, the giant battered wings unfolded to reveal the two figures that hurdled underneath. The blond faerie was crouched over Dru, covering her limp body with his own. He whipped his face toward Kit, who startled. Kit didn’t know what he had expected. The stony face of an angel? He looked like an ordinary boy, with strikingly sharp features and bright green eyes… and he was glowering at Kit.

He mouthed three words to Kit, before he swiftly turned his scowling face away and shot up in the air, tracing a beautiful arc in the sky, still holding Dru. He fled the battle scene at an incredible speed, disappearing behind the tree tops at the east of the clearing.

Although Kit felt utterly drained, he needed to go after him.

He was about to unfold his wings when he heard a cry of pain behind him. He whirled and found the blond faerie prince that he had met at the Pandemonium only days before standing behind him, frozen in the motion of lifting his sword, his eyes widened in surprise. From one moment to the next, he crumpled to the ground and lay there unconscious. Jaime was standing behind, holding a javelin. Kit realized it was probably the weapon he had used to knock out the prince.

“Are you okay?” Jaime asked. He seemed out of breath, and he was looking at Kit as if he was a strange creature. “That was some crazy power you just displayed.”

There was a trace of ichor on Jaime's cheek, and Kit absently wiped it with a stroke of his fingers. Jaime sucked in a breath and his cheeks flushed crimson.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“You had demon blood on your cheek.”

Jaime nodded, but he was still red in the face. What the hell was that about?

The horn of the Wild Hunt resounded across the plain, followed by the thundering sound of hooves.

Kit and Jaime both jerked their heads up to see the beautiful spectacle of Hunters tearing through the night sky like a comet.

Gwyn was leading the group, Diana straddling a glossy red bike, next to him.

Right behind them, King Kieran was riding Windspear. Mark was on the same horse, standing at the rear, and kept shooting arrows from his bow, as still and graceful as if he were on an unmoving platform. Mark looked so formidable in warrior mode, that Kit could not help but feel a bit awed.

Cristina was riding sidesaddle on another steed, throwing butterfly knives at the demons.

Thanks to Kit, there were not many demons left to dispatch and the Hunt and the King’s knights were doing it with astounding efficiency.

Kit’s gaze automatically searched for Ty, until he saw him running in their direction.

“Ty,” Kit trotted across the field toward him, drawn like a magnet, and opened his arms to embrace him.

But Ty wasn’t even looking at him, his gaze was fixed somewhere above Kit’s shoulder, over the treetops.

“We have to go after Dru. Where do you think he took her? What does he want from her?” He looked utterly panicked.

Kit swallowed hard as he stared guiltily into his boyfriend’s wide gray eyes. “I…”

That’s when the three words that the strange half-Shadowhunter half-faerie had mouthed moments before finally sunk in. Kit felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered them.

She is mine, he had said.

****

Tagging @gabtapia although you'vre already read it

[crimson-ace]

The Shark and the Surfer Chapter 2: The Aft-ermath

Archive of Our Own link

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Chlolix tags on AO3...

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Alix noticed it was getting dark, so she swam home as fast as she could and made it to her family’s undersea cave, where her father, Alim, was waiting for her.

“Alix, are you alright? Do you have any parasites on you?” Alim said as he swam around his daughter. He was part pilot fish, so he had a habit of worrying about his shark daughter (who took more after her great white birth mother) and making sure there weren’t any remoras mooching off her.

Alix groaned and pushed her father aside. “Daaaaaaad! I’m not a pup anymore!” She said a little more whiny than she intended. “I just ran into some traffic on my way home, that’s all. Can we eat now?”

Alim nodded and swam over to the dining room with Alix, where his other son, Jalil, was waiting at the table with the prepared food. Well, except for Alix’s plate. Alix took her squid raw.

So while Alix started digging into her squid, she talked about her day with her family, leaving out who she helped today. It was pretty standard stuff, like how Alim mentioned his archeology team at the museum had found evidence of a possible missing link between mermaids and their selkie ancestors or how Jalil had found some more human treasures like a stretchy torture device made of six rings one of his turtle friends gave him.

As Alix washed her squid down with the ink of another, she realized that her brother had some knowledge about humans. “Hey, Jalil? Dad? What exactly do you guys know about humans?” She asked, causing both of them to freeze in place.

“Wh-Why are you asking that? What happened?” Alim asked, worried his daughter’s curiosity (or appetite) would get the better of her.

“Nothing happened! I-I-I-I just wanted to… learn more about them, that’s all. What’s wrong with that?” Alix worried she had said too much.

Alim put a hand on Alix’s shoulder. “Alix, humans are too dangerous. We know nothing about them except that they come from beyond the sea.”

“Well, that, and they can’t live underwater, so they create huge masses of land just to invade our territory and steal our belongings. Thankfully, we got some of their own treasures they just threw away, like this magic box with some humans trapped inside” Jalil chimed in as he took out a blue rectangular object with the label “Canon” on the side.

“Maybe we just need to learn more about humans.” Alix suggested, earning a glare from her father.

“The surface world is inhospitable to our kind, and you could die if you went up there.” Alix flinched in response to Alim’s statement, as she remembered how hard it was for her to simply go a few feet on the surface away from the water. It made Alix wonder how she could ever learn more about the human she saved if she couldn’t get farther than the beach.

“Can I just… Can I go to my room? I want to be alone right now.” Alix mumbled.

“You may, just no thinking about humans.” Alim said as he watched Alix swim away to her room in the cave.

Alix laid down on her bed and thought about the day’s events. She didn’t really get to know the human, but she was still curious about her. Maybe she could try and see if the human was exploring the ocean tomorrow and possibly see her again. But what if that was too much? What if it was a trap? Alix really needed to talk to someone about this the next day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe walked back to her place, still thinking about her broken surfboard and what could have saved her. She was really worried about how she would explain what happened to her family. They were already nervous about her hobby as a surfing influencer on social media, so finding out their daughter hit a rock and almost bled out at sea and then came back with a bite taken out of her surfboard would cause them to freak out and make sure she couldn’t even go for a dip in the kiddie pool at the resort they owned. Granted, Chloe’s parents always seemed to be busy with something these days, with her mother designing clothes in Paris like a bikini with glitter and her father running one of the most expensive beach resorts in Saint-Tropez, but Chloe was sure at least one of them would show concern for her safety.

Chloe snuck back into her room where her sister Zoe was hanging out. “Hey, you’re back late. What happened?” She asked, making Chloe sigh.

“Please don’t tell Mom and Dad, but I kind of had a little wipeout.” Chloe showed Zoe the seaweed wrapping around her wetsuit.

Zoe gasped in horror. “Oh my God, are you okay?” She pressed her hand against the seaweed-covered area, causing Chloe to wince a little.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. It was only a little bleeding, and it’s mostly stopped.” Chloe replied while unwrapping the seaweed, exposing a minor laceration against her side that thankfully wasn’t too deep and could easily be treated at home. She grumbled a little at seeing a tear in one of her favorite wetsuits.

“You need to let me treat that.” Zoe helped Chloe out of her wetsuit, ignoring her sister’s protests. There were times where it seemed like Zoe was more of a parent to Chloe despite them both being around the same age. She took Chloe to the private bathroom in their room and sat her down on the toilet before taking out a first aid kit.

Zoe got out a washcloth and ran it under some cold water. “So how did it happen this time?” She asked while Chloe let her sister clean the area around the wound.

“It’s hard to say. I remember scratching myself on a rock and bleeding a little bit, but then...”

“Then what?” Zoe asked, taking out some antiseptic cream to apply to the cut.

Chloe was at a loss for words for describing what happened next. “You’d think it’s weird.”

“Says the girl whose wound I’m currently cleaning while she sits on the toilet wearing nothing but a bikini.” Zoe retorted with an argument that Chloe didn’t really have a rebuttal towards.

Chloe figured she should just come out and say it, no matter how weird it sounded. “I think I was saved by a mermaid.” She blurted out.

Zoe stared at Chloe like she had a colony of bees in her hair. “A mermaid? Seriously?"

“That's what I saw!” Chloe protested. “I think she helped me get back to the shore and then I saw her jumping back into the water.”

Zoe scoffed in response as she took out the gauze and some bandages. “Oh, okay then. What kind of mermaid was it? Are we talking Ariel mermaid, Ponyo mermaid, or H2O: Just Add Water mermaid?” She asked sarcastically.

“Actually, I think she was a shark mermaid or something like that.” Chloe said, recalling the features of her mysterious savior.

“You were saved… by a shark mermaid?” Zoe asked incredulously.

“I don’t know! I want to learn more about her!” Chloe raised her arms for Zoe to apply the gauze to her wound and bandage it up. “Come on, don’t you want to at least see if this is real and not something I hallucinated?”

Zoe sighed. “Chloe, maybe take a day or two to rest before going back into the ocean again.” She started to put away the first aid kid. “Either that, or ask someone about mermaids or something like that.”

Chloe got up and changed into something comfortable for the night, thinking about maybe talking to a friend of hers tomorrow

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“YOU SAW A HUMAN?!”

“Shh! I don’t want the entire ocean to know!” Alix hissed to shut up Alya.

“Then why are you telling us in the first place? This is huge!” Alya couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“And you saved her just like a prince saving a princess. It’s so romantic!” Rose chimed in with the same cheery view of everything she heard about.

“I didn’t mean it like that! She needed help, so I helped her.” Alix retorted. “I mean yeah, I guess she was kinda pretty, but that’s not the point here! I want some advice on how to approach this.”

“I mean, if you want to see her again, why not just drag her underwater?” Juleka asked bluntly.

“Juleka, she can’t breathe underwater!” Alix snapped.

“Why don’t you ask Master Fu? Maybe he knows.” Mylene suggested. “What does he know about humans, Marinette?” She asked her friend who was currently working as a healing apprentice for Master Fu.

“Uh, he hasn’t really told me much.” Marinette replied, making Alix sigh.

“And my family isn’t much help either.” She said as she ran her hands through her head in frustration. “I really don’t know what to do here! I really want to learn more about this human. I want to know more about the human world in general and their awful-tasting fish.” The others looked at Alix in confusion after they heard that last bit.

“Okay, here’s an idea: Swim up to the shore and then see if the human comes back or not. If she actually saw you, she’ll obviously want to investigate like you do.” Marinette suggested.

Alix thought about what Marinette said for a moment. “You know what? You’re right. Maybe she’s looking for me right now!” And with that, Alix dashed off, leaving a trail of bubbles in her wake as her friends tried to get her to stop.

Alix remembered where she went to the surface yesterday and swam to a small rock formation where she surfaced and looked up to see if the same human saw her, making sure to conceal her shark half just in case.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You saw a mermaid?”

“Yeah, I get it’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Can you just hear me out?” Chloe asked Sabrina, fully aware of how weird her question was.

“You know when I signed up to be a lifeguard, I wasn’t trained to look for mermaids.” Sabrina said as she got out of her lifeguard’s chair and switched out with another lifeguard so she could talk to Chloe more while the two walked down the beach.

“Well what about sharks? I think the mermaid was part shark.”

Sabrina sighed. “You of all people should know shark sightings are rare here, and even then, they rarely attack humans unless they’re confused.”

“Well I think this shark is different.” Chloe said, fully aware of how weird her statement was.

“I guess I’ll tell the other lifeguards to watch out for any shark people.” Sabrina said before leaving.

Chloe sighed. She knew this was a ridiculous story nobody would believe. She was going to walk back, but then she saw a flash of pink hair by the rocks. Chloe carefully walked across some of the rocks that weren’t submerged in the water until she was face to face with the pink haired girl, who was looking nervously at her.

“Uh… hi. Do you remember me?” The girl asked nervously, giving a toothy grin with her sharp teeth.

“I… I think I do. This is kind of a strange question, but are you a...” Chloe was going to ask, but her curiosity got the better of her and looked over the rocks and saw a shark fin on the girl’s back. “Nevermind.”

Chloe was now 100% sure she was saved by a mermaid yesterday, and was now face to face with the same mermaid again.

[thequeenb]

Hey! Can I request poppy x mc where poppy finds out ab what happened between mc and ina at the bar and gets jealous and tells ina to back off? You can end it however you’d like ty 💕💕

Poppy x MC

If there is one thing everyone knows in this university is that you don't mess with Poppy Min-Sinclair. The woman who can make your life heaven or a living hell. She is the Queen of the school but this ice cold Majesty has her eyes on the price even though she will never admit it.

It was all over her text messages. The moment she read that phrase was the one where her blood was basically boiling. I didn't knew Miss perfect was the jealous type

Bea DID slept with Miss Kingsley, i am coming there ASAP

Who knew a text message could have so much effect on the Queen herself? Veronica was the one delivering the news but she did as Poppy said and kept it a secret for now. Would she use it as a weapon against Hughes or..who am i kidding of course she will

Bea has been around only a month and her success is extremely massive. She is top 15 on the rankings and everyone just seem to be drawn to her. Even though she wont admit it Poppy caught herself thinking about her more than she should

After half an hour of pacing around the room with a glass of wine and a face mask she decided to pay a little visit. Oh no

Her heels clicked on the marble floor as she approached Miss Kingsley's office. The door was wide open and welcoming so she casually walked in without knocking.

Miss Kingsley looks up at her in confusion as she gestures at her to sit down and she does so

"That is unexpected, what can i do for you?" Miss Kingsley smile but Poppy is not having it

"Oh nothing professor i am just here for a negotiation"

Her eyebrow raise as she takes her glasses off crossing her arms. Ina has been here for quite sometime and oh does she know about the Queen Bee

"If you aren't in my class I don't think there is anything more we can discuss thank you'

Poppy chuckles then sits straighter on the leather chair. They lock and for a moment, her anger is about to slip out

"Are you familiar with Bea Hughes?"

Ina nods, concern written all over her features

"I know when you make eachother's acquaintance that it isn't very pleasant"

"Correct. But i am here to discuss about you two" her smile can cut diamonds. Inside her she just want to give Bea a taste of revenge but her feelings come onto the surface and her tone is filled with jealousy

"I don't understand what you are implying" Miss Kingsley says, slightly trembling

"Oh? Aren't you two close? How sad"

Ina studies Poppy's features to search for answers. But all she can see is an ice cold smile. She can't quite figure out what is happening but her patience is running out today

"I--" ina tries to speak but she stops when Poppy holds her hand out on her direction

"You listen here and you listen carefully, do i look stupid? I run this place and you Ina are on my bad side"

There was a challenge on her voice, a power radiating from her body. Why was she even bothered to confront Miss Kingsley? Her and Bea were enemies right?..Right??!!

Ina's posture remained the same as her voice slipped into a more dangerous tone now

"I am very busy, if you came here to have a pointless conversation you can leave"

Poppy chuckled. How cute Professor but she has the upper hand now and it just needs one small simple phrase to make your whole world crumble

"I know you slept with her"

The tension in this room is insane but Ina's face is calm, composed but how long can she keep this act? Her foot starts jiggling and her heartbeat quickens, trying her best to dismiss this accusations

"Min-Sinclair this is highly inappropriate! Its absurd to think a woman in my position would abuse the power she has"

Aw i think you made her nervous, good job Pops. In response Poppy stands up, leaning against the desk looking deep into her eyes. Trust me its a scary glare

"Don't play coy with me because whoever play games with me end up getting burned" She now reach her ear whispering "you were incredible"

Ina jerks away in total shock, she cant contain it any longer, her eyes widen as her breath is increasing rapidly "What do you want?"

Oh nothing much just to leave my girlfriend to be alone. Oopsie maybe i do expose Queen Bee after all. She doesn't want much she just marks her territory

"What i want you to do is to leave Bea alone, better yet make her quit her TA position and don't try anything funny Professor, i have eyes everywhere"

Her blood was now boiling. Everytime she imagine Bea screaming another woman's name is driving her crazy. Her hand slams on the hard wood desk and Ina jumps surprised

"I have ten lawyers ready to destroy your whole career Kingsley" Poppy now walks towards her, every step more angry than the last, her expensive heels making deadly sounds

Miss Kingsley backs away, trying desperately to hold on to the last piece of her composure

"And trust they can take everything away from you. What about your lovely job?"

Her smile is sharper than a knife. At this point she stopped questioning why she was even here showing openly her jealousy, all she could focused on was destroying what's left of this affair

"What about this very fascinating research of yours?" Ina is backing more and more away but her back hit the bookshelf and she is now swimming in a sea full of sharks.

Poppy smirked enjoying how helpless she looks, how guilty "My advice is to play by my rules, otherwise i can destroy your whole life"

Ina swallows hard avoiding any eye contact. Her chest is tight, filled with regret and shame "Everything will go your way, is that what you want to hear?"

Ha! Hilarious Professor you got me too. Of course you have to play by the Queen's rules, she is the one who gives commands here, the one who can start a war or bring peace, its her choice

"Did i shutter darling?" She now took a step back adjusting her perfect clothes. Her posture as powerful as ever as she takes one last glance over Ina who is on the verge of tears, shock written all over her features

"Right then thank you so much for negotiating with me Professor, i will see you around"

Just then Bea knocks at the door "Can i come in pro--" but she stops her tracks when she notices Poppy and Miss Kingsley close

"Am i interrupting?"

"O-oh no Bea, me and Poppy were discussing about her rejoining my class" she turns back to her normal professional self fixing her hair

Poppy gives her one last knowing look before walking towards the door. Bea rolls her eyes as she watches her exit "See you soon loser"

Aw i think she likes you Bea. I mean you already have a nickname don't you? You should have seen how she went all mad and jealous lately

"Is everything ok Professor?" Bea now approach closer "Did she really come here to harass you? she is unbelievable"

Ina sighs as she gestures at her to take a sit. Her eyes are filled with pain mixed with anger, not towards Bea but her own self.

"We need to talk about your position Bea" she says crossing her arms. Poppy's words repeat themselves inside her mind and she wince thinking about the consequences. Only if you knew.

Taking a deep breath she starts talking as professionally as she can and just then with the corner of her eye she catches a glimpse of Poppy outside of the office smiling victoriously. No one touches what's hers, and Professor Kingsley learnt that the hard way.

Tag list: @lolimugly @origmansello @greatestflirt-hero @mvalentine @otakufangirl-12 @sugarplumpnhoneybun @princessstellaris @coldbatfriendroad @indecisive-choices @i-loveeveryone @kiara-36 @ognenniyvolk @somewillwin @it-lives-in-braidwood-manor @ghalind @jayrnada @sergeant-pepper-loves-choices @dibberdipper @justastranger-passing

[cryptidofthekeys]

Siren!Marvin x Sailor!Jackie - My Jolly Sailor Bold

Yes, there is a reference to that song both in title and in the story, here’s a lil somethin for MerMay also I really just thought of what if, Marvin but s i r e n and my head went wRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN- anyway I hope y’all enjoy? Its killin  me not editin the dialogue text like I usually do BUT i just dont have time so r.i.p

Jackie was gathering his equipment up and then placing it in the boat, as he finished that up, his friends had come up to him, one of them shaking their heads “Jackie… I’m worried about this… You’re going to one of the most dangerous spots out there!” Another friend spoke up “Yeah… There’s talk of a siren that owns those parts!” Jackie tilted his head “A siren? One of those old folklore tales?” He grinned “Hah! I don’t believe in such fairy tales!” Another friend shook their head “J-Jackie… Sirens are serious business! They aren’t just folklore or fairy tales, sirens are REAL and they are evil, horrible creatures! Haven’t you heard?” The other friend interrupted “About the mysterious disappearances of many sailors out there?! People have even been nicknaming that place The Siren’s Sea!” Jackie rolled his eyes “Look, guys, I appreciate you trying to look out for me but I promise, I’ll be fine! If anything tries to come after me, well… I’ve got some pretty powerful equipment, I can take care of myself!” And then Jackie was climbing aboard his boat, double checking to make sure everything was all there and ready to set sails!

His friends pleaded and begged, one stepped forward and gave Jackie a hug “Jackie… We can’t stop you from doing this but please… I fear as though you’ll ne’er return again if you head to The Siren’s Sea…” Jackie sighed and hugged his friend back, pulling the rest of them into a group hug “Guys, I promise… I’ll be fine, I WILL return to you, I swear… I’m the best sailor around and I know I can handle myself out there! I’ve made a vow to explore every part of the sea I can, and this place is no exception! I’ll be back soon!” His friends sighed and waved Jackie off as he set sail across the seas, heading out to this infamous place in question, he didn’t really believe in such things as that, he was just going out there because he was curious about the area, he had never really been out that far but truth be told he had heard it had a beautiful cave hidden around the place, and he was determined to find that cave!

Eventually after what felt like ages of sailing, he finally made it to the place nicknamed ‘The Siren’s Sea’ He looked so relieved to have finally made it, sure, it did take a good bit to get to most places out on the seas but this felt like an eternity! The air around this infamous place where sailors had gone missing was thick, almost deathly thick… It did give Jackie a chill running up his spine but nonetheless, he looked off into the distance and noticed a cave, perhaps that was the one! Although, it was strange… That wasn’t very hidden… Either way he’d go check it out, he began sailing over to the cave in the distance and midway he suddenly got a feeling, a bad feeling, that someone was watching him… He looked around as he sailed, however he saw no one in particular, he also saw no sharks around either so he took a deep breath and chuckled “Them stories my friends told me must be messin’ with me… Yeah, that’s it…” He then continued onward and once he made it to the cave he looked around it, it wasn’t the one he thought it was but it was still pretty nonetheless! It seemed to go deeper than he thought it did as well, he squinted as he looked ahead, his boat could definitely fit through the cave so long as he was careful enough!

He eased his boat into the cavern and pressed forward, this was a big cave, bigger than most! Maybe this was the right cave! It looked almost endless as he sailed through it, this cavern was very beautiful even if Jackie didn’t find the hidden area, this would do him fine, as he continued sailing he decided to sing a tune to keep himself from getting bored, it was anything in particular really, just a little tune he had made up in his head, however unbeknownst to Jackie… A creature was swimming along the cavern, it’s head perking up as it heard the tune echo throughout it’s cavern “What a… Gorgeous melody…” It muttered to itself, and while the creature usually knew who sang each song, whose voice was whose, this voice in particular however, it was unfamiliar with… The creature was curious, it needed to find out who was singing this wonderful tune! It swam ahead, trying to locate the source of the noise, of course the creature was careful to keep its distance or stay hidden, because not all creatures, not even of its own kind would be friendly toward strangers… And or of course, it didn’t want to risk scaring the other off! Once the creature had managed to find the sound, it let out a soft gasp, this was no creature…! This was a… A damn sailor! Trespassing in it’s cavern no less!

However… The creature would not deny, the human had such a beautiful voice… To be a sailor no less… No matter, the creature did not take kindly to trespassers, especially not sailors… It slowly sank underneath the water, deep enough to where the sailor wouldn’t see it right off the bat and proceeded to follow the ship, meanwhile… Jackie continued sailing along, looking around as the cavern seemed to get more and more sparkly, he finally sailed into a big open area of the cavern, sparkles from one end to the other and there were even a few spots out of the water to stand on, some crystals strewn about on the ground, once he got in the middle of the area he stopped his boat and looked out, he was curious as he jumped off and into the water, swimming to one of the spots he could actually stand on in the cave, he pulled himself up onto the rocks and grabbed one of the crystals he found “Wow… Such a beautiful place…” The creature stayed under the water, listening intently to the sailor, well… At least the sailor could appreciate the beauty of his territory, he wouldn’t reveal himself just yet however… Meanwhile Jackie was picking up some crystals and bringing them back to his boat, he was going to take a few with him just because they were so pretty… And then he continued onward, man the cave was HUGE! Eventually, he came across an even larger opening with three tunnels ahead of him…

He had no idea which one to go through so he parked his boat in the middle and then sat down and sighed, beginning to hum another melody much to the creature’s delight below him… After a few moments it decided to join the sailor in singing a tune, this made the sailor’s eyes widen as he got up and slowly approached the side of his boat to look down into the water, he saw something… It was coming up! Annnnd… Whatever it was had splashed water in his face upon coming up to the surface, great, he had to take a moment to wipe the water away and once his vision cleared, his eyes widened at what he saw… There, resting on the side of his boat, was another man…  His green hair tied up in a man bun, his eyes as blue as ironically enough, the Ocean… That’s really the only thing he could see underneath his cat mask (y’all know what that looks like, sometimes a writer can get lazy and or tired with descriptions and that’s okay)

He looked like a normal man actually, a grin was splayed across his face, revealing needle sharp fangs which Jackie had to admit unnerved him a bit “Ah, hello there darling~! You are the one who sings, yes?” ...And he could talk like a normal human apparently too and that’s when Jackie saw the other’s tail swaying behind him, it was a mixture of various greens and blues and honestly… It looked so beautiful, and then it hit him… “A...Are you a Siren…?” He asked rather bluntly, to which the creature tutted at “Well how rude of you… Ignoring my question like that, however unlike y o u… I WILL answer a question… Why yes, yes I am dear~” Jackie also saw his hands, they were webbed and the other had claws “Woah… So my friends WEREN’T lying?!” He looked… Surprised but not scared, more so in awe than anything “Of course not! Why would they lie or make up such a thing? We aren’t just folklore, fairy tales, no no, none of that! We are quite real… Now, would you be so kind as to answer my question from earlier?” Jackie nodded “Oh yeah, sorry… I was the one who was singing, yeah! My name’s Jackie!” The Siren smiled at this “Ah, Jackie… What a lovely name~! My name is Marvin, it’s nice to meet you… Which is not something I say often about sailors you know…”

Jackie blinked in surprise before realizing “Oh uh yeah… Other sailors probably try to capture creatures like yourself, yeah?” Marvin only rolled his eyes, an irritated expression now on his face “Oh it’s S O much more than just mere capturing… Your kind has tortured mine for so long now… I suppose us sirens can fetch a high price but is that really any excuse for all the damage that has been dealt?” Jackie shook his head “Not at all… I uh… I really hope you don’t think I’m here to do that, I promise…! I was just passing through here, if you really need me to though I can just turn back” While he really didn’t want to turn back, if Marvin wanted him to he would do so, he wasn’t going to break any rules or trespass where he wasn’t wanted! And then he realized, his eyes widened as he looked back to the crystals “Oh shit… Uh, if these are yours by the way, I’ll also give 'em back, I don’t want any trouble here” Marvin clicked his tongue and smirked, resting his head in his hand, he wouldn’t deny, despite this man being a sailor he was MUCH more polite than all the others that had ever came through here… Nonetheless, a sailor is still a sailor... “Mm… You can keep those, they aren’t of any importance to me…” He paused for a moment.

Then Marvin got an idea “Actually, I would love it if you did one teensy little thing for me, darling…” Jackie tilted his head “Oh? What’d that be?” The Siren paused to clear his throat before staring straight into Jackie’s eyes, and Jackie swore that very stare had just pierced his soul “Well… I would l o v e it if you’d sing a little melody with me... After you sing with me, you can be on your way, I p r o m i s e…” Marvin was lying right through his teeth, the only place this sailor would be going was down below, but he wouldn’t deny, the thought of bringing Jackie down below and drowning him was triggering something within him, something he had never experienced before… No matter, this was still a sailor, sure enough if he ever tried to trust him, he’d be captured, tortured, or killed! He couldn’t risk this… He had to focus! Jackie could swear the other’s eyes were glowing now but he didn’t really know… His mind was starting to feel fuzzy, something was wrong here… “Upon one summer’s morning…” Marvin began, looking at Jackie expectantly who instantly followed up “I carefully did stray…” (dont worry im not going to type all the lyrics i s w e a r) Marvin seemed pleased with such a quick response.

“Down by the Walls of Wapping… Where I met a sailor gay…” Well… Jackie wouldn’t deny that last part at least “Conversing with a young lass…” Jackie continued, not wanting to keep Marvin waiting, absentmindedly getting closer to the edge of the boat and toward The Siren himself who seemed pleased with this so far “Who seemed to be in pain... Saying, Jackie, when you go, I fear you’ll ne’er return again…” And then simultaneously both Jackie and Marvin began to sing, Jackie coming closer when Marvin motioned for him “My heart is pierced by Cupid… I disdain all glittering gold… There is nothing can console me but My Jolly Sailor Bold…” As Jackie got closer Marvin began slowly dipping back down into the water, and Jackie knew something was wrong, despite not being able to stop singing along with Marvin and not being able to take his eyes off the other, deep down he knew this wasn’t right! This was what his friends were trying to warn him about wasn’t it! He desperately tried to pull himself out of whatever trance The Siren had put him under but it seemed to be no use as his body slowly began following Marvin under the water, he was beginning to panic internally now at this as he tried to hold his breath.

Now it was only Marvin continuing along the song as he gently placed a hand on Jackie’s cheek, he could sense the panic in the other and that seemed to strike a nerve in him, why was he feeling so odd?! This wasn’t anything new, he used his powers to gain control over the sailors, he dragged them down below to drown and then eat them! It wasn’t anything he hasn’t done before so why this particular sailor was he feeling… Sympathy for? He tried to continue downward but the farther he went the more Jackie began to panic, some of the panic had become external and Marvin saw the bubbles, shit… This just… Ugh! He quickly grabbed Jackie and headed back to the top, he carefully tossed Jackie back into the boat and then gave up his control, the other coughed and spluttered a little bit, grasping at his chest as he heaved in some breaths, his body was now beginning to tremble and he swore he felt tears prick at his eyes, meanwhile Marvin only sighed “I just can’t do it, not to you…” Jackie looked confused but he didn’t even dare look at the other as he spoke “I-I yo...you… What the f u c k…? Wha-What were you trying to do…?!” Marvin glanced toward the sailor, it pained him to see the other in such a panic, and because of him no less, he spoke not a word as he quickly dove back below, maybe at least now he wouldn’t have to worry about the sailor coming back.

Jackie gasped “Wa-Wait!” He called out and quickly made his way back to the side of the boat and looked below, he couldn’t see the siren anymore and he only sighed “What was that all about…!?” He muttered to himself, still feeling shaken he decided to turn back and call it a day, no way he was going to continue forward after that! He quickly managed to turn his boat back around and head out of the cave, not aware of the siren in the distance watching him leave… Marvin sighed “...Why couldn’t I do something so simple…? It’s in my n a t u r e…! I’ve done this for so long now…” He mumbled to himself, watching as the boat finally disappeared, he cursed himself mentally for letting the sailor go, he should have just continued, there was no way he had… ...No, he wasn’t even going to dare think that, he retreated back to the deeper parts of the cave so he could do some thinking… Meanwhile Jackie despite still being shaken up, he was still curious, he wanted answers ...And he knew what he’d have to do if he wanted to get them, but damn he wasn’t ready nor prepared for that ...Not yet anyways.

A few weeks had passed, Marvin was just swimming around in his cave, the waters were awfully quiet around the place and that sailor hadn’t come back yet, maybe Marvin really had frightened him off, it was for the best, no way things would end well if they got too close… It was a shame really, because that was the first sailor who had ever been nice to Marvin and showed him kindness… ...He had been thinking about what happened almost every day now and the more he thought about it the more he regretted it, the more he regretted scaring Jackie like that ...He still wouldn’t admit he was growing fond of the sailor, no way but he at least hoped that maybe… Just maybe he’d get his chance to apologize… He jumped upon hearing a boat in the distance, he glanced over and squinted, there was no way… No way that was him, he was just secretly hoping, after a few moments The Siren’s eyes widened as the boat got close enough for him to see, that… That WAS Jackie’s boat! Shit! He quickly dove down and began swimming to the furthest part of his cave, sure, he wanted to apologize but that sailor was probably angry with him, he could have brought weapons with him! Maybe that’s why Jackie was back, to seek revenge for what happened which wouldn’t surprise Marvin really.

And then sure enough, there was Jackie… He was coming upon that same cave, the one where he almost… Jackie shook that thought away, all he wanted was some answers… He did bring a harpoon just in case but he really didn’t want to use that, he didn’t want to hurt Marvin or any other creatures really, it was just for a last resort… As he pulled into the cave he took a deep breath and stopped the boat when he deemed it was far enough in, he then put on some of his equipment, sure, he had brought this last time… He could have followed Marvin then but he was just too scared at that moment, too shaky, but now… He finally felt he was ready to confront The Siren, if he’d even answer his questions, for all he knew Marvin could just easily attack him, and like it or not… Despite their previous encounter, Jackie did still have some interest in Marvin, he was still curious, once he got everything set up he finally took a dive below and began swimming further into the cave, he wondered if Marvin would even still be here, for all he knew that Siren could have moved locations by now, he didn’t necessarily know if they stayed in one place all the time like a home of sorts but he supposed if he got the chance maybe he’d find out today.

This cave was much prettier than he originally thought the deeper he went, he noticed that even if he wanted, there was no way his boat would fit through this spot, it was far too small, he also noticed there were MANY more crystals and shiny objects this far ahead, he didn’t dare touch anything though, he didn’t care about the treasure at this rate, that was the last thing on his mind, right now his only focus was trying to find Marvin! And eventually after a long while he managed to come to what was presumably the end of the cave, he stifled a gasp as he saw Marvin, laying down on one of the flat rocks and looking… Sad? He was messing around with some rocks, gently tossing them to the side… Jackie slowly swam forward, trying not to make much of a sound but Marvin only sighed “Why did you come back?” Jackie seemed startled at that question, even more so when Marvin turned around… The Siren’s eyes instantly shot over to the harpoon in Jackie’s hand and then his gaze shifted back to Jackie’s “Ah… Revenge, is that what you seek? Because, I won’t deny… Heh… I probably do deserve it BUT I still will NOT go down without a fight…” Marvin slowly rose from his spot and fully turned toward Jackie.

Jackie shook his head “I… I don’t want to fight… I didn’t come here for revenge, can we please just… Talk…?” To Marvin’s surprise Jackie slowly released the harpoon and he watched it float up to the surface “...I… You… You do understand how easy it would be for me to devour you right now, yes? And you just… Let that weapon go… The ONLY thing you had to defend yourself with? ...Darling, I admire your bravery but that was oh so stupid…” Jackie flinched as Marvin began swimming toward him “Like I said, I don’t want to fight you…! I just… I just want answers…” That made Marvin stop and raise a brow “...Go on…” Jackie paused for a moment to adjust some of his equipment before continuing “I just wanted to know… What were you planning to do with me?” Marvin sighed “...Like all sailors really, I had just planned on drowning you and then eating you… There, I’ve answered your question, you may leave my home now” Marvin turned away, heading back to lay on his rock but then froze instantly upon Jackie’s next question “...Why…?” The Siren turned back around, a confused expression on his face “...What do you mean ‘why’...?” Jackie instantly followed up and swam a bit closer “...Why didn’t you?” The Siren’s eyes widened a bit at that “...I… I just wasn’t feeling hungry, that was all, what is it to you anyways?”

Jackie shrugged “I just wanted to know, after all, I heard you say you just couldn’t do it, not to me… That doesn’t sound like you just weren’t hungry to me… You acted like I was, I don’t wanna say special, but I’m just another sailor, so why was it so hard for you to just… Kill me?” Marvin looked a little… Well, Jackie didn’t know how to describe his expression, he flinched a little as Marvin suddenly swam up to him “Good because trust me, you shouldn’t flatter yourself… You are not special to me, you are just another sailor like all the rest, I could end you right now if I so desired!” Marvin bellowed, he knew damn well however that what he just said was a complete lie, but he was determined not to let Jackie find that out, he went stiff upon hearing Jackie’s next words… “Wh...Wh-Wha...What did you just say…?” He wanted to be sure he heard that correctly, there was… No way, he surely misheard that! And then Jackie looked him dead in the eyes and spread his arms “...Then do it” Externally, Jackie was as calm as could be, he tried to keep himself calm internally because right now he was poking the bear or in this case The Siren… Marvin looked taken aback, he was shocked at what just came out of the other’s mouth.

“...Do you… Have some form of death wish? Is THAT the true reason that you came back…? Or are you just dumb…? Taunting a Siren like this, you have no IDEA what we are truly capable of do you?” Jackie shook his head “Not at all, honestly, I had no idea beings like you even existed originally, the things I’ve heard about your kind, people depict you as cold blooded killing machines essentially, but if I’m being honest… You don’t seem all that bad, you seem nice actually” Marvin blinked in surprise before he shook his head and got closer to Jackie “...Well I’m n o t… You’ve signed your own death warrant by coming back here, s a i l o r…” He hissed through his teeth, and Jackie wouldn’t deny seeing those razor sharp canines were not… Pleasant but he had to keep his confidence, but mentally he couldn’t help but curse himself for being THIS risky with a literal Siren! 

Marvin raised a clawed hand, letting out a hiss as he glared at Jackie, who didn’t even break his gaze with the other, the more Marvin stared at the other the shakier his hand got, eventually he sighed and lowered it “...Just get out of here already, I have asked so many times yet you STILL persist and stay, don’t you realize that you have overstayed your welcome…?”

Jackie practically beamed and internally he was sighing in absolute relief, he grinned “I knew it…! So I was right!” Marvin wouldn’t and honestly really couldn’t deny that, that did get him to smile a bit, the sailor was… Awfully cute when he was happy or excited ...Ah hell… Marvin really was falling for a sailor wasn’t he…? Of all things, a Siren falling for a sailor… “You are such a strange individual, you know that Jackie? You come back to the very place you could have died, you confront the exact same Siren who could have caused said demise, and then you even go as far as to offer yourself to me like some sort of… Sacrifice… I must admit, that is very flattering…~” Marvin grinned “...I would hope however, that you know not to do that to just… ANY Siren of course…” Jackie nodded “Don’t worry, you’re the only one I uh, I guess I trust to do that? I didn’t believe you’d hurt me anyways” Marvin chuckled “How charming… I have to admit, you are one of the nicest sailors I have ever had the pleasure of meeting” Jackie’s face turned a slight shade of red at that “O-Oh… Really?” Marvin nodded “Yes actually~ I mean, most sailors would have come back for revenge, which I suppose would be fair... Yet you came back here just for answers and then did, well, t h a t… Honestly, it’s a nice change of pace to see a sailor as different as yourself”

Jackie nodded “Oh uh, yeah it… I don’t think I could hurt you, even if I wanted to ...W-Which I don’t, don’t g-get me wro-” Marvin held up a hand “Darling, relax, I understand what you meant” Jackie seemed relieved about that “Uh, y-yeah… So like, I… That’s really the only reason I came down here, was for answers… I can leave now if you want me to?” Marvin paused for a few moments before shrugged “Eh… It isn’t like I’ve got anything better to do today so, you may stay for a little while… Although are you s u r e it was ONLY you wanting answers… Or perhaps… Were you still curious about me?” Jackie’s face flushed a little red and that made Marvin chuckle “Aww darling~ Admit it, you ALSO wanted to see lil ol’ me as well didn’t you~?” Jackie shook his head “I… N-No… It wasn’t anything like that…! I just…” And then he trailed off, shit… How could he make a comeback here…? Meanwhile Marvin only had that shit eating grin on his face “Well? I’m waiting~” Jackie just shook his head and crossed his arms “...Just.. Sh-Shut up…” He pouted a little and that made Marvin laugh, that was a genuine laugh and that definitely caught Jackie’s attention as Marvin stared at him “Oh darling… You are quite adorable… That little pout on your face… Although, I can’t say I blame you, I mean… Who wouldn’t want to see such a magnificent creature as myself~?”

Jackie only rolled his eyes “...A narcissistic creature at that…” Marvin merely chuckled “Narcissism or just purely confident in myself~?” Jackie gave him a look but refrained from saying anything else, he watched as Marvin then swam around and looked him over “You know… I am curious, what is all that equipment you have on you? I am… Not familiar with a lot of things that humans have” Jackie smiled “Well uh, the thing on my back is my oxygen tank, it’s why I can be down here for so long actually!” He then cleared his throat before continuing on.

“Next the mask here protects my eyes so I can well, ya know, actually see down here… And the suit helps me keep warm because honestly, this cave isn’t too heated eheh… And the flippers, it helps me swim a bit faster honestly” Marvin nodded “I see… How interesting… Well, I suppose it’s fair… Given how humans differ from creatures like me…” Jackie nodded “Yeah, you’ve got gills to breathe under the water forever, you’ve even got claws and teeth to defend yourself with just like that! You’ve also got a beautiful tail and…” And then the sailor trailed off as he realized what he said “I mean… uh-” Marvin seemed to perk up at this “Oh? You think my tail is beautiful~?” Jackie sighed “Yeah I mean… The u-uh… The scales are… Very beautiful honestly…” Marvin hummed at that, he wouldn’t deny, that made a blush appear on HIS face which was impressive, no one had ever been able to make him blush before “Mm… Thank you dear… Of course someone such as yourself can appreciate true beauty when he sees it~” ...Okay, Jackie didn’t know how to really respond to that so he simply nodded and then something beeped, he pulled out a strange device and his eyes widened to which Marvin raised a brow at “Something the matter Jackie…?”

The sailor looked over at the other and shook his head “Sh...Shit… This oxygen tank won’t, uh,  last MUCH longer… I gotta get back to the surface…!” Marvin frowned “Ah… Such a shame but… Do what you must, after all, I don’t want you to drown… No no, you’re FAR too lovely for such a cruel fate as that…~” Now it was Jackie’s turn to blush “A-Ah… Uh… Th-Thank you…? I’ll come back and visit if you really want me too! I have plenty of oxygen tanks back at home…!” Marvin hummed for a second before nodding “Yes, I would like that very much…~” And then Jackie was waving Marvin off as he began swimming away, once the sailor was out of sight Marvin only sighed and smiled “...I cannot deny it… I am falling for him… Heh… How quaint…” And then Marvin looked down at his tail, he noticed a greenish blue scale was coming off and that gave him a brilliant idea… He gently took hold and pulled it off (don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt him, sometimes a scale or two will fall from him) He then swam down toward the bottom and gathered up some other materials and various crystals, he knew what he would make for that sailor… He quickly got to work and began crafting the item, meanwhile…

Jackie was swimming back up to the top, he wasn’t… TOO terribly worried, he felt like he had plenty of time to get back to the surface and he wouldn’t deny, he couldn’t get that siren off his mind… Now usually a siren can play many tricks on a human but he didn’t feel as though this was trickery, in fact, the things Marvin had said about him seemed so… Genuine… ...Maybe Jackie was just hoping for that though, he had definitely felt things about the siren, he just shook his head, he shouldn’t get his hopes up though, there’s no way Marvin ACTUALLY likes him back, why would a siren, especially one like Marvin love a simple sailor like him? ...And then suddenly, Jackie heard some gentle humming that startled him, he quickly spun around and saw three sirens coming out of the shadows “Ooh… Lookie here~! We’ve got another f i l t h y sailor who’s dived down here and decided to steal all the treasures for himself~!” Jackie’s eyes widened and he put his hands up in defense “N-Now hold on… I didn’t come for tre-” The siren only swam over and hissed right in Jackie’s face and before the sailor could even t r y to get away the other two sirens came over and held him by his arms, he tried desperately to struggle against them but to no avail, they were strong, far stronger than he was.

What he presumed to be their leader grinned maliciously and chuckled “Hmm… You know if you weren’t a sailor I’d actually consider you cute~ But no matter… You should be running out of oxygen soon~” The siren gave a look to the others and they tore his oxygen tank clear off, casting it to the side which made him panic internally, shit… He wasn’t prepared for that at all! He continued to struggle, trying desperately to fight at them and kick at them even if they were stronger than he was, he STILL wasn’t going down without a fight until… The leader came closer, gently cupping his face and locking eyes with him, they began singing a soft melody and slowly but surely Jackie stopped resisting, his eyes growing slightly cloudy as he listened and swayed his head from side to side “There we go… Good boy~ Just relax now and listen to our wonderful melody~” The other two sirens giggled and joined in with their leader, making sure Jackie’s struggling and fighting ceased, he could feel his body going slightly limp but he wasn’t passing out, he just… He was beginning not to feel the need to fight back anymore, deep down however was that terror that was slowly building, despite his mind feeling fuzzy, he still knew if he didn’t get back up to the surface soon he’d run out of oxygen.

He tried his hardest to gain back control of himself, to try and continue fighting but their song was just… So powerful, who knew a song could hold such power? Granted… There had to be something more to a siren’s power than just an ability to sing, either way… After another few moments had passed, he could definitely tell needed to come up for air and f a s t! He still couldn’t struggle as the leader opened their mouth, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth that were ready and eager to devour him, his eyes widened slightly as he heard them all hiss, this was it, this was going to be his demise wasn’t it…? He couldn’t even close his eyes to avoid looking at the maw that was staring him straight in the face… Before the sirens could all begin to feast, suddenly they were all blown away by what Jackie had thought was a strong current originally… However he quickly snapped out of his trance as they had stopped singing and he looked to the much larger siren in front of him now, it was Marvin! And he heard Marvin snarling at the other sirens “I will only give you all o n e warning and one warning only… Stay. The. FUCK… Away. From. Jackie… He’s m i n e and mine alone… I should kill the three of you right now for your pathetic insolence anyway!” He hollered and the three other sirens cowered, huddling together “Ohhh!” The leader got another glance at Jackie only to look back at Marvin after he put a hand out.

“This sailor is YOUR prey?! O… Oh, we are so terribly sorry oh great one…! We had no idea that he was your pr-” Marvin hissed “He is NOT prey… Let me make this very clear, the three of you are to warn ANY other sirens out there that this sailor is NOT to be harmed, if I find one singular h a i r harmed on him, I will not HESITATE to end anyone who d a r e s to touch something that belongs to me…” Marvin heard some bubbles from behind him and he quickly held up a hand, suddenly, a bubble was forming around Jackie’s entire body and he gasped in some fresh air. This was strange but nonetheless he wasn’t complaining in the slightest, he could breathe and he felt safe and secure in this,  he heard the leader of the sirens apologize profusely “This will NEVER happen again sire…! We cannot express how terribly sorry for this!” The other sirens nodded and Marvin only hissed, baring his fangs “Enough with your apologies… I have heard enough, get out of here and don’t e v e r come near him again…”

And that was enough to send the others swimming away for their lives and Marvin then sighed, calming himself down and turning back to Jackie who was still breathing heavily, mostly trying to calm himself down from everything that just happened “...Come now darling… Let’s get you back to the surface…” And just like that, Marvin was swimming upward, the bubble slowly and carefully following behind him and Jackie could tell he was on edge, the siren kept looking around and behind himself to make sure the ones that had swam away wasn’t trying to attack him from behind, he seemed relaxed again whenever he saw the only thing behind him was Jackie and eventually he made it up to the surface, the bubble popping just as soon as Jackie got onto his boat, the sailor could feel his body absolutely trembling… Marvin leaned against the side of his boat “Are you okay, Jackie? Did those disgusting wretches hurt you at all?” Jackie shook his head much to Marvin’s relief “I… If yo… If…” He was a bit too panicked to try and get out what he was saying… Marvin noticed this and beckoned him over which Jackie slowly followed, carefully… The siren took ahold of Jackie’s hand “Shh… It’s okay now… Just breathe my darling… They cannot and will not hurt you ever again… I promise, I will let no harm come to you…”

Jackie took some deep breaths and focused on Marvin’s face, looking into the siren’s eyes was so calming and relaxing… He trusted Marvin after all so far “Just breathe in and out with me dear…” After a while of doing the breathing exercises, Jackie seemed to calm down finally “O...Okay… I… I’m good now… Thank you, so much Marvin… I-If you hadn’t shown up wh-when you did th… Then I…” Marvin lifted a finger and shushed him “There’s no need to worry any more about them… They wouldn’t dare defy the likes of me… They along with any other sirens out there will never bother you again” Jackie nodded and then he realized he and Marvin were still holding hands, he didn’t pull away however, his face only turned slightly red but he was… Grateful and honestly glad to see Marvin right now “I was originally coming to give you something but then I sensed you were in trouble, I should have swam back with you in the first place, I knew there were other sirens that populated this area… I’m so sorry Jackie…” The sailor blinked and gently took his other hand and placed it on Marvin’s cheek “H-Hey… C’mon Marv… Don’t beat yourself up over that…! I mean… How could you have known that those three would even be here, sure, ya might have sensed me in danger but that doesn’t mean you can predict what or when danger is coming… I promise… I’m fine… Besides, you did STILL come and save me!”

Jackie grinned and pulled Marvin into a sudden hug, being very mindful not to pull the siren fully out of the water “I’m very thankful you got there when ya did…!” That made Marvin sigh and carefully he placed his arms over Jackie as well “...I know but still… I should have not been that careless, next time, I will be here waiting to escort you around, and I will accompany you through this area…” Jackie smiled “...I appreciate that… I really do…” And then they both pulled away and out of the hug and then Marvin noticed, he chuckled slightly “...Isn’t this a familiar sight?” Jackie raised a brow “What do you mean?” Marvin gestured to the positions they were now in “Just like when we first met out here, when I first… ...Well um… A-Anyways, speaking of, I want to apologize… For… That…” Jackie blinked in surprise but merely shrugged “It’s okay Marv… It’s crazy though, it feels like years since that day, then again a lot HAS happened…”

Marvin nodded “Yes, I suppose things have been… Hectic as of recently, I can assure you, things should calm down now ...I would hope anyways, for our sakes” Jackie nodded “Yeah for sure…” Jackie looked out toward the entrance of the cave and saw the sun setting in the distance “Wow… That’s… Really pretty…” Marvin looked to where Jackie was and smiled, for a while, they sat in silence as they watched the sun go down before the sailor then realized “Hey wait… You said you had something to give me, didn’t you?” Marvin’s eyes widened “Oh! I almost forgot!” Marvin snapped his fingers and suddenly Jackie felt something around his neck, he looked down and gasped at what he saw, he took it off to get a better look at the item… It was a necklace, the pendants were all various crystals of different sizes and colors and in the middle of them was a bluish green scale and if Jackie’s eyes could they would sparkle right now “...Yo...You made this for me…?” He looked over to Marvin who smiled and nodded “...Yes, Jackie… I have something I wish to tell you… I hope this is not too sudden… But, from the very first day we met, granted, I DID unfortunately try to eat you… I felt something deep down that I have never felt for anyone else ever, not my own kind and certainly not a sailor…”

Marvin cleared his throat and Jackie could tell he was nervous which seemed extremely out of character for someone as confident as Marvin “As much as I tried, as much as I so desperately wanted to deny it… You were and are still very special to me… I, ahah… You probably are going to think this is ridiculous given the kind of being I am but Jackie… The truth of the matter is…” And that’s when Marvin hesitated, he could feel his heart beating more rapidly, he was never the type to really be nervous but this time… It was different, much different, deep down he was terrified of being rejected but at the same time he wouldn’t necessarily blame Jackie for rejecting him given what he tried to do upon the first meeting but… Marvin also knew, it was now or never “...Jackie… I… I… lo… l-lo… I love you….” He finally stuttered out and waited for what he thought would be rejection and heartbreak, to his surprise though Jackie smiled so brightly and after quickly placing the necklace back around his neck he leaned in and gave Marvin a kiss on the lips, this took the siren off guard and his eyes went wide, slowly but surely however, his eyes had fluttered shut and he kissed back, the kiss lasted for as long as they could manage before Jackie had to pull back to take a breather “...I love you too Marvin…” And then that made the siren’s heart flutter, his tail gently swaying behind him, and then he gave Jackie a genuine smile.

This was pleasant… He would make sure no harm ever came to this sailor, even if he had to tear down entire ships or the ocean itself to make sure of that, he would never let anyone try to take him away either, this sailor was his and his alone! He didn’t quite register Jackie’s question until the sailor snapped his fingers and that made Marvin snap out of his thoughts “Hm? What is it dear?” Jackie looked curious “So… Those sirens back there, why did they call you sire?” And that made Marvin sigh, only giving a slight smile “Oh my love… That’s such a long story, and one for another time… For now, how about we enjoy some peace and quiet under the full moon tonight, hm?” Jackie sighed, he was curious but he wouldn’t push on it, he only smiled and gave a thumbs up “Okay Marv, okay… ...Love you…” Marvin hummed as he gently intertwined his hand with Jackie’s “...And I love you as well, my jolly little sailor~”

(If y’all really want, i’ll talk bout the sire ordeal just shoot me an ask if your curious about all that anyhoo- im actually proud of this one)

[nickrobinsondaily]

Nick Robinson Was Done Playing High School, Until He Met A Teacher

The actor opened up about voicing his opinions online, his celebrity crush, and shooting sex scenes with Kate Mara. By Isabel Jones

You could be forgiven for assuming Nick Robinson is years younger than his true age of 25. The actor has been playing high school students for a full decade, beginning with a four-season run on ABC Family sitcom Melissa & Joey and concluding (or so he hopes) with FX on Hulu miniseries A Teacher. 

In fact, Robinson vowed to end his journey as a perpetual teen after playing the eponymous Simon Spier in coming-of-age film Love, Simon. “I’ve graduated, hopefully,” he told Ellen DeGeneres in a 2018 interview, “and won’t be going back.”

Well, it wasn’t long before A Teacher nullified Robinson’s promise, returning him to the world of pep rallies and study sessions. 

“I hoped that no one would watch that interview where I said that I would never play high school again,” he tells me over Zoom with a laugh, looking rugged and definitely over-18 in an unpretentious 66˚North beanie and flannel shirt. “I'd made that ultimatum, and then I read the scripts for the series, and I met with [creator Hannah Fidell] and Kate [Mara], and I kind of went, ‘Shit, one more.’”

Robinson joins our call from British Columbia, where he’s currently filming miniseries Maid opposite Margaret Qualley. We delay the interview for 15 minutes so he can get a COVID-19 test — a process he must undergo three times a week while in production. He tells me he had a mild case of the virus earlier this year, back when he was living in Williamsburg and “doing a play.”

That ever-so-casually-noted “play” happens to be Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, aka the “highest-grossing American play ever.” Judging by our 40 minutes together, 2,500 miles and a computer screen apart, Robinson doesn’t strike me as the type of actor who eagerly name-drops his prestigious projects or A-list co-stars. He greets me by name when he comes on screen — a simple act of courtesy that feels largely forgotten in a year marked by hate crimes and awkward interactions made from beneath face coverings. From his unfussy style to his nearly-dormant Instagram account, Robinson seems like an actor committed to just that: acting (and also maybe being a pleasant and approachable person). He takes questions and answers seriously (even when they’re about bagel toppings), pausing to find the perfect articulation for the words in his head. The celebrity of it all doesn’t appear to be on his radar.

On the rare occasions when he has updated his 1.5 million Instagram followers over the past few months, it’s been to encourage them to vote. 

“If there's a time to say something, it's now,” he tells me, his passion for the topic evident in the minutes-long monologue of sorts that follows. “To be honest, I feel like I should be doing more. There have been a million times where my finger has kind of hovered over ‘post’ or ‘share’ and not done it because there is this thing where people would be like, ‘Oh, just stick to acting, we don't need to hear your opinions,’ but fuck that.” 

With A Teacher, Robinson is able to participate in a project that not only highlights his acting skill, but furthers a conversation. He plays Eric, a high school student who has an affair with his teacher, Claire (Mara). Unlike many of the predecessors who have tread this same cinematic territory, the series is as dedicated to drawing the viewer into the illicit relationship as it is to immersing them in the brutal and enduring aftermath.

“The show does a little bit of a bait-and-switch on the audience, which is intentional,” Robinson explains. “It makes them complicit in Eric and Claire's relationship.” 

Ultimately, though, A Teacher’s stance on its subject matter is clear. “Everyone involved in this production took this story very seriously. It wasn't to make light of these kinds of relationships. It wasn't to glorify them. It really was to make a character study on what happens to these people after the headlines,” he says. “There are a lot of headlines, a lot of clickbait, and there’s not a lot of follow-up.” 

The role of Eric wasn’t an easy one to play, and the emotional toll was heavy. “That's something that I'm trying to get better at,” Robinson said of shrugging his character off at the end of the day. But this particular journey compelled him.  

“I was really interested in exploring how male survivors internalized this kind of trauma,” he says. “And oftentimes it's really suppressed for years.”

“The relationship is often used as a kind of social currency for the survivors. They're given high-fives and told ‘you're the man’ and all that. So, the push and pull of that, of wanting that to be true, but also dealing with some very complicated emotions internally, I think was what a lot of the second half of the show is about: Eric grappling with the reaction of his peers versus what he's actually feeling inside.” 

That said, Robinson’s research would be for naught if he and Mara didn’t have chemistry. Luckily, their connection was instant. 

Robinson extolled Mara’s “wicked sense of humor,” which came in handy during some of their more “intimate” scenes.

“You kind of have to laugh at some of those scenes when you're doing it,” he told me. “If you did a macro view it would just be two people with a bunch of burly grips around and camera operators and lights on you. So it's not actually an intimate experience.” 

Though Robinson’s still playing high school, the rules have changed. The laugh-tracks have fallen away and the happy endings once found at, say, the top of a ferris wheel, are just out of reach. His performance in A Teacher is a departure from a body of work that tends to skew “teen,” but it’s a defining one. 

Read on below as Robinson tells us his favorite “long and bad” joke, recounts his first kiss, and names his favorite Robert. 

What's the last thing you do before you fall asleep? 

Honestly, especially recently, the last thing before I do before I fall asleep is check the news and check social media. Probably not healthy. 

If nothing else, can we please just end this to change the news cycle? Because it's crazy-making. The whole thing is just, it's constant turnovers. I'd just like some peace and quiet.

The plotline of 2020 is really insane and implausible. It jumped the shark a long time ago.

Who’s your favorite villain?

Don Draper.

You see him as a villain?

I do. But that's the best part — most of the really good villains have some humanity and are maybe slightly ambiguous, but I think ultimately, yeah, he's a villain.

What was the first album you ever owned?

“Who Let the Dogs Out” is one of the first songs I really remember having playing, in like kindergarten, so I didn't buy it. But I had a portable CD player, which was really cool. And I had a Roy Orbison Greatest Hits CD that I liked a lot.

Do you still listen to that?

Sometimes. Yeah. I was also a big Elvis fan growing up. A lot of the oldies. And I do still listen to that, but there are  newer folks now that I prefer, I guess.

What's your favorite cheesy pickup line?

Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?

A classic.

It's a classic. It's really the first one that popped into my head.

I'm going to assume you've never used it in real life?

Never.

If you ran for office, what would your slogan be?

I don't think I would ever run for office. It's not something that appeals to me, but I did see a good hat the other day that said “Make Orwell Fiction Again,” that I thought was kind of funny.

Name one place you've never been but have always wanted to go.

Vietnam, I would say, or Thailand. Southeast Asia generally. Egypt ... I'd like to go to North Africa as well sometime. A friend of mine shot a movie in Vietnam and fell in love with the country and it's been on my to-do list for a while.

Read the rest of the interview on Instyle

[skinsharpenedteeth]

Truth or Dare - Halloween fic

Hey there! Here’s a Kinktober prompt fill and the prequel to a College AU 5+1 I’m planning. I guess it’s a little unkind to Maria? I don’t know. I don’t hate Maria, but I could live without her character. No body is dating anyone in this, so it’s not that kind of Maria unkind. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it! Definite smut after the cut. 

Kinktober prompts filled: Nipples/petting, Costumes, Getting Caught, Body Modification Words Count: 7.5k AO3

               It was nearly midnight on Halloween and Alex was *over* frat/sorority mating rituals. The first half of the party had been drunker-by-the-minute sorority girls offering to help him experiment with his sexuality in case he ‘wasn’t sure’ that he was really, really gay and the second half had been bro’s approaching him after their girls had whispered about him to test if he was really, really gay. Once the herd had been assured he was super duper gay and not willing to perform party tricks to prove it, he’d been left blissfully alone. Well, sort of blissfully. Alex was bored out of his skull. He’d been leaning against a hallway wall for the better half of an hour sipping rum and coke and people watching.

Maria had drug him here under the false pretense of introducing him to someone from her Algebra class only to have them mysteriously not show up. Now she was holed up in a corner dressed like a vintage playboy bunny and talking to some curly haired dude bro dressed as a caveman while Alex drank alone and stared lasers through them. He could be working on homework or picking up a shift at the 24/7 diner right now…or sleeping! The dude bro would catch his eye every so often and give him frank, curious up-and-downs, until finally he seemed to say something to Maria about it because she turned and looked at Alex, rolling her eyes. Oh, hell no. A few minutes more of close conversation between them and with a put-upon sigh, Alex watched Maria make her way over to him.

              “You’re being creepy,” she announced, sipping her drink casually as she mirrored his position and leaned against the wall to face him. Alex rolled his eyes and proceeded to scowl at her.

              “Well, it is a Halloween party,” he deflected, sipping his own drink and cringing inwardly at the idea that Curly Caveman might think he was a Creepy Gay.

              “Yeah, but you’re a pirate on the look out for some booty, not a ghoul. Go find someone to talk to or to not talk to. I should have this,” she indicated Curly Caveman with a backward jerk of her head, “finished within an hour or two and then we can go back to the dorm.”

              Curly Caveman was walking over to them and Alex tried to ignore how little the animal print loin cloth covered of him. Alex tried not to memorize every inch of him, but his brain was not cooperating. Maria, while being self-centered and completely unreliable, had excellent taste in boy toys. Curly Caveman slid up next to them and eyed them both with a cautious smile. He turned to Alex and gave his costume a good once over.

              “Dread Pirate Roberts?” Curly asked, smiling appreciatively.

              “At your service,” Alex flirted. He couldn’t help it. Technically Maria had called dibs, but she could literally fuck anyone at this garbage fire of a party and he wanted to have a little fun too.

              “Alex, this is Michael. He belongs to Alpha Alpha Beta. We have Composition together. Michael, this is Alex, my best friend since junior high,” Maria introduced them. They did the head nod acknowledgment thing at each other and then awkward silence descended on the group.

             “Hey, why don’t we go upstairs? Michael has a room here. Maybe we could play a game or something? It’s just so loud down here and I’d love to be able to get to know you better” Maria suggested, a mischievous glint in her eye as trailed a finger down Curly’s naked torso. Curly Caveman—Michael‐‐ looked consideringly at the crowd around them and nodded.

             “Lead the way,” Alex commanded, waving them towards the stairs across the room.  He thought he saw Michael look between himself and Maria and take a bolstering inhalation before turning and starting for the stairs. Alex had an excellent view of his ass and thighs as he started climbing the stairs ahead of him. What he could do with those wrapped around his waist….

             “Ow!” Alex exclaimed after a sharp elbow found a soft spot on his ribs. He looked sharply at Maria who was glaring at him.

             “I see that look in your eye! He’s mine, Alex. He’s obviously straight. We’re going to drink a little, play a game or something and then you’re going to excuse yourself for twenty minutes so I can get to know him better alone. Deal?” Maria whispered insistently.  Alex gave her a sharp look in return.

             “Maybe. Maybe you should excuse yourself in twenty minutes and I’ll get to know him better. You owe me for dragging me to this God forsaken hetero garbage fire so if you’re not laid in the next half hour, you’re taking me back to the dorm and then you can come back or whatever on your own. Tonight was not cool of you,” Alex retorted. They’d stopped at the top of the stairs and now Michael was at the end of the hall standing in front of an open doorway watching at them curiously.

             “Like you would’ve done anything else with your night, Mr. Responsible. You’re twenty and in college, this is what you’re supposed to do with your weekends in case you forgot!” Maria whisper yelled at him even as she smiled charmingly at Michael down the hallway.

             “You guys still want to hang up here?” he asked, looking uncertainly between them. Alex watched Maria put back on her flirty girl face and saunter over to him. Alex rolled his eyes as he saw the extra hip she put in her walk as she approached Michael’s room. He wanted to cut her bunny tail off and stuff it down her throat for putting him through this. Sighing, he followed and nearly jumped out of his skin as Michael put a hand on his lower back to help usher him into the bedroom. He caught Michael’s eye over his shoulder and nearly died at the shy little smile and wink he gave him.

             “Come on in, darlin’. Hope the floor is okay? My roommate is pretty territorial about his bed and stuff,” Michael explained, not breaking eye contact with Alex for a long moment before turning back to Maria. Well, well, well…

             They gathered in a circle on the carpet with their drinks. Alex reached up and pulled off his mask and head scarf, throwing it next to himself before taking a long swig of his drink. Then he went ahead and took off his leather gloves. Michael was watching him from across the circle and he pointed to his boots in clear question on if it’d be okay for him to take them off. Alex figured he might as well get comfortable. The rum and coke, though barely making him feel floaty and buzzed, had definitely made him feel hot in the close confines of the party downstairs and he was enjoying being able to shed some of his costume to help cool down.

             “You guys want to play truth or dare?” Maria suggested, sitting on her hip with her body angled so if Michael wanted, he could get a very thorough view of her cleavage in the costume. Michael looked at her and smiled, glancing over her and then back to Alex. Alex swallowed at the heat in his eyes, but he wasn’t sure yet if it was for Maria or for him that the heat was there. The bedroom was lit only by a weak lamp on top of a desk by the window. It smelled like sweat and old laundry and cheap detergent…and rain. Not like mildew or wet cloth, but the smell of the air minutes before a deluge started. Alex took a deep breath and hummed an easy agreement to Maria’s plan, noting that Michael had waited on him before doing the same.

             “So Michael….truth or dare?” Maria started, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes. Michael smiled and his eyelids lowered as he flirted back.

             “Truth,” Michael answered, glancing between the two of them. Alex smirked back at him for his answer and Maria looked slightly disappointed but shrugged it off.

             “Okay. I’ll start off easy. How old were you when you lost your virginity?” she asked, sipping her drink and looking at him thoughtfully. He looked a little taken aback at the question and Alex jumped in quickly to save him.

             “Wait, what are the rules? If we refuse a dare or truth or whatever, what are the consequences?” Alex interjected before Michael could answer.  That stalled them for a moment and Michael gave him a grateful look as he took a nervous sip from his red Solo cup.  

             “Hm… How about if you refuse to answer a truth you have to do a shot? If you refuse a dare, you have to take off a piece of clothing?” Maria suggested, looking at Michael like a shark stalking a fish. Michael laughed and looked down at himself.

             “I guess I better not refuse any dares for awhile then,” Michael replied with a smirk.  She seemed to take that as a challenge and Alex groaned inwardly. Michael obviously didn’t know Maria very well if he thought she’d let him get away with that.  

             “So then… do we have anything with which to do shots?” Alex asked, looking around the room as if a bottle of liquor was just sitting conveniently on a shelf ready to go.

             “Uh…” Michael stuttered for a second, looking blank before reaching under his bed and pulling out a mostly empty bottle of jalapeno vodka and looking sheepish as he offered it to them.

             “Uhm, no. No, no, no. My mom owns a bar and absolutely not,” Maria said, waving her arms and shaking her head for emphasis.

             “It’s not that bad,” Michael protested, laughing at her.

             “Yeah, I’d be happy to drink it and I don’t plan on backing down from a challenge. If you don’t like it, you could go grab something from downstairs?” Alex suggested, trying to look innocently over at her while also thinking about having Michael to himself for a few minutes.

             “Ugh, fine. We’ll finish this off and then maybe get something else,” she conceded, grabbing the bottle and putting it in the middle of their circle. “So Michael, as you were saying….”

             “Uh, what was the question again?” he asked, leaning back onto his hands and looking much more relaxed than earlier. He wasn’t a super hairy guy, but Alex wanted to run his fingers through the dark hair on his chest and stomach. Leaning back put his body at a very good angle for ogling.

              “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” Maria prompted, looking expectant.

              “13,” he answered shortly, not seeming to want to elaborate. Alex wondered what the story was there.

              “Very precocious,” Maria commented, smirking and looking over Michael’s body lasciviously. He gave her a somewhat brittle smile in return.

              “Okay. Alex,” Michael said, switching his attention from Maria’s eye-fucking stare to look at Alex directly. Alex hummed in acknowledgement and set down his drink. “Truth or dare?”

              “I dare you to French kiss Maria.”

              “Gross,” Alex replied tonelessly to which Maria let out an indignant yelp. “Sorry, Maria. I love you, but I’ve got a lot of clothes to go before I have to start giving in to stuff I don’t want to do.”

              Alex immediately lifted his black, blousy pirate shirt up and off his body, tossing it next to him where he’d thrown his mask, head kerchief, and gloves. Michael was watching him, an appreciative grin on his face as he looked over Alex’s bare torso. Alex wasn’t as buff as Michael, but he’d spent too long living in a military household and competing on the swim team to be considered scrawny,so he knew he didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about.

              “Oh wow, you have your nipples pierced?” Michael exclaimed, leaning forward on his hands and knees so he could look closer at Alex’s chest. Alex grinned knowingly over at Maria as he leaned forward and stuck out his chest to let Michael look at the silver bar bells through his nipples. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, mouthing the words “he’s straight!” at him over Michael’s shoulder. Alex mouthed a sardonic “O-K” at her before turning his attention back at Michael whose hand was hovering inches from his chest.

              “Can I touch one?” Michael asked, a little breathless and obviously fascinated. He hadn’t seemed to notice the silent conversation Alex and Maria had conducted over his head.

              “Sure, you can,” Alex all but purred. Michael pressed his hand to Alex’s chest, the space between his thumb and forefinger framing one of Alex’s nipples. Slowly, he slid his thumb under the bar, not quite touching it, but gauging Alex’s reaction. Alex bit his lip, holding it between his teeth as he stared at Michael’s inspection of his body modification. Then he was pulling his fingers together, pinching the end of the bar and pulling the bar gently away from Alex’s body. Alex sucked in a breath, but held down any other sound, teeth pressing harder into the soft flesh of his bottom lip. Michael let the bar go and fall back against Alex’s chest before dragging his thumb down over the center of his nipple. Alex had to shift at that because this was starting to feel way too good to stay innocent.

              “Wow, are your nipples like super sensitive now or were they always sensitive?” Michael asked, looking up at him through his eyelashes. His thumb was still sweeping over Alex’s nipple and it was driving him a little bit insane. Michael definitely knew the effect he was having on Alex.

              “They, uh… they’re actually a little less sensitive now, but they’re still pretty sensitive in general,” Alex breathed, trying to keep from pushing into Michael’s touch with Maria staring daggers at him.  

              “Yeah, when Alex was in junior high his nips were so pointy. You’d always see them through his shirts and it became a thing that people would tweak his nipples in the halls between class. He would get so embarrassed,” Maria offered, obviously feeling ignored and malicious. Alex turned to her with a controlled blank expression and blinked at her, completely embarrassed she’d bring up that little bit of his personal history to someone he’d just met. He knew he was blushing but refused to acknowledge it and give her the satisfaction.

              “That must’ve sucked. I was fat in junior high. Kids that age are the fucking worst,” Michael offered, sitting back on his side of the circle, also blushing slightly. He gave Alex a small smile of understanding and Alex melted a little bit inside.

              “I did fine in junior high,” Maria replied, sipping her drink. Alex felt a flash of anger roll through him at her comment and decided it might be time to get a little petty. She had done ‘fine’ her whole life.

              “Truth or dare, Maria,” he asked, noting that his voice was a little tight.

              “Dare,” she replied, smiling like she knew he was going to try and embarrass her back if she chose truth.

              “I dare you to lick every doorknob out in the hallway. Every. Single. One,” he dared, watching her face scrunch up in disgust.

              “Ugh, gross,” she replied, looking over her shoulder at the doorway and considering it.

              “Feeling chicken?” Alex taunted, watching her over his drink which was starting to run a little low. He knew Maria couldn’t stand backing down to a challenge like that.

              “No! Fuck you. Michael, do you have mouthwash?” she asked even as she stood up, adjusting her bodysuit. Michael laughed and nodded before getting up himself. Alex followed after Michael offered him a hand and helped pull him up from the ground. They followed her to the doorway to watch her complete the dare. She stomped across the hall in her ridiculous black heals and immediately bent over to lick the doorknob. She shrieked in disgust and then went down to the next one. There were seven doors on one side of the house and six on the other. Alex felt Michael rumbling chuckle behind him as he pressed part of his chest against Alex’s back while they hung out the doorway watching. Alex felt a tentative hand press against his lower back and when he didn’t startle or remove it, he felt Michael’s hand smooth over to his hip and then up until his nimble fingers sedately started playing with his nipple piercing.

              “You’re playing with fire,” Alex warned him in a low voice that wouldn’t carry to Maria who was about halfway done with the doorknobs.

              “Am I?” Michael responded; lips close enough to Alex’s ear for him to feel the slight heat of his breath. “Maybe I like it hot?”

              Alex turned and gave him an accessing look, trying to figure out if he was serious or just being a cock tease. He decided to test the idea a little further and shifted his hip minutely, rubbing the swell of his ass over Michael’s loin cloth covered crotch.

              “Want me help your make the bed rock, Flintstone?” Alex ask coquettishly. Michael snorted, but let his hand drift to rest on Alex’s large leather belt.

              “Looting for some booty, Pirate?” Michael responded, bouncing his crotch off Alex’s ass playfully. Alex groaned at the joke but couldn’t deny that his stomach was tightening in response to their flirtations.

              “That was terrible,” Alex laughed softly, looking over his shoulder affectionately at Michael’s grinning face.

              “What was terrible?” Maria asked breathlessly as she tottered over to them from the last door to Michael’s. She looked a little unsteady after running around and bending over every few feet, but still cheerful.

              “We’re exchanging puns,” Alex explained blandly, even as he felt Michael’s hand drop away from him and his body shift to let Maria back into the room. Alex tried not to feel so disappointed at the loss of contact, but he knew it was necessary. That thought didn’t calm his racing heart though. Alex sucked in a breath and straightened his spine before he turned back to the room. He could see Maria in the rooms Jack and Jill en suite bathroom already swishing mouthwash like her life depended on it. Thinking about the habits of frat dudes, Alex surmised it just might.

              “We still playing or what?” he called from the door, shutting it behind him as he made his way back into the room. Maria held up a finger and spat the blue liquid from her mouth into the sink before coming back into the room and immediately picking up the jalapeno vodka and taking a large mouthful of it. Alex and Michael watched her with twin looks of impressed shock on their faces.

              “That was by far the grossest shit I’ve ever done, but no one can say I’m a bitch that doesn’t follow the fuck through,” Maria announced after she’d swallowed the vodka. She took another long pull before recapping the bottle with an expansive sigh of relief. She looked down at the bottle in her hand for a moment before looking back at Alex and Michael. “This shit really is pretty good.”

              “I told you!” Michael exclaimed, excited someone else agreed with him about the alcohol.

              “You guys are nuts,” Alex said laughing.

              “Alright, alright, alright. Settle in, let’s keep this going,” Maria announced, relatively elegantly slipping down into a cross legged sitting position on the floor while still holding the bottle in one hand. Michael and Alex followed suit and when they were settled Maria turned back to Alex.

              “Truth or motherfucking dare, Alexo,” she challenged, eyes squinting menacingly. Alex wasn’t falling for it.

              “Dare,” he chose, sitting back on his hands and watching her unfazed.

              “I dare you to finish this bottle,” she announced, shaking the jalapeno vodka at him. He eyed it warily but judged that it maybe had a double shot worth of liquor left.

              “Sure, hand it over. Does that mean you’re going to go get us another bottle of something else to finish the game with?” he asked, taking the bottle from her offered hand.

              “Sure, but I have to see you drink that first,” she said, narrowing her eyes. She knew he hated the taste of jalapenos. He liked other peppers just fine, but jalapenos made his lips curl.

              “Fine,” he agreed, unscrewing the top. He tilted his head back with the bottle and opened his throat, letting the liquid just slide down into him, barely touching his tongue before he was swallowing it. It was over in a second and he grimaced as he set down the bottle.

              “Yuck. You guys are lying liars. That shit is disgusting,” he remarked, looking around for the trashcan. Maria was giggling at his discomfort, but Michael was staring at him with eyes a little wider and pupils a little bigger than they had been a moment ago.

              “Your face is the best! Jesus, that was worth it,” Maria crowed next to Michael, laying her hand on his thigh in an ‘innocent’ attempt to steady herself after her fit of laughter. Michael grinned and laughed a little too, but his eyes didn’t leave Alex’s.

              “Okay. I’ll go grab some booze. Don’t get bored without me,” she commanded, standing up and wiggling her hips at Michael as she sashayed out of the room. The door shut behind her and left Alex and Michael in relative silence.

              “Michael, truth or dare,” Alex said quietly as soon as he was sure Maria wasn’t going to come right back. Michael stared at him with heat and knowing in his eyes, a smirk perking the corners of his mouth up.

              “Dare,” he challenged, still smirking.

              “Hm… I dare you to piss on your suitemate’s bed,” Alex dared, not really expecting Michael to do it. Michael full on smiled at him before standing up and taking a step closer to Alex. He ran his thumbs under the waist band on his loin cloth before pushing them down past his hips and letting them fall to his feet, leaving him gloriously nude and only a foot away rom Alex’s watering mouth. Alex looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and a small, knowing smile on his face.  

              “I don’t have a death wish,” Michael answered, cocky grin still in place. Alex shifted to his knees in front of him, his hands landing on Michael’s thighs and rubbing up and down them as he stared up at Michael with blatant hunger in his eyes. Michael was half hard in front of him and getting harder. Alex was really hoping he was about to become a notch on this guy’s bedpost.

              “Are you just fucking with me?” Alex asked softly when Michael grasped himself and started stroking his cock slowly right in front of Alex’s face. Alex almost went cross-eyed trying to watch his hand smoothing up and down over his thickening shaft.

              “What do you mean?” Michael asked, hand slowing as he looked down at Alex seriously.

              “This isn’t your gay experiment is it?” Did Alex really care if it was, he wondered? The way his pants were beginning to feel uncomfortably tight and the fact that he’d been unconsciously leaning closer to Michael’s naked body said ‘no’, but he wanted to know exactly what he was getting in to.

              “Hell no. I’m bisexual. Practicing bisexual. Experienced bisexual. I know what I want,” he finished, reaching out his unoccupied hand and curling his fingers under Alex’s chin. “Which is definitely you if you’re up for it.”

              “I’m up for it,” Alex agreed quickly, shuffling closer on his knees and shooing Michael’s hand away from his dick so Alex could grasp it, angling it towards his mouth where he immediately gave the underside of the shaft a long, thorough lick with his tongue before closing his lips around the head and sucking. He swirled his tongue around the crown, a full-body throb going through him at how turned on he was to be doing this.

              “Oh shit,” Michael groaning, hand immediately resting on Alex’s shoulder for balance. Alex hummed and set to work with his tongue and lips, trying every trick he knew in an effort to drive Michael up the fucking wall. He pushed himself, relaxing his throat and taking Michael in deep over and over again as he stroked and gently tugged at his balls. He let his hand creep further back, massaging Michael’s perineum, before stroking a dry, questioning finger over his asshole. The noise Michael made was shockingly desperate and his hips jerked forward choking Alex for a moment.

              “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Michael apologized above him as Alex came off him coughing and wiping at his eyes.

              “It’s fine. I surprised you. Have you ever…?” Alex asked, petting Michael’s hole gently while his other hand slowly stroked him, Alex’s spit smoothing the way.

              “Fuck, yes. Have you?” Michael asked, pushing back lightly against the pressure of Alex’s fingers.

              “Only a couple times…. Do you want to?” Alex asked, feeling a little shy at the question. Michael nodded enthusiastically and backed away, walking over to his bedside table and opening the top drawer. He pulled out a condom and some lube which he tossed on his bed before turning back to Alex with a grin.

              “Well, get up here!” he said, and Alex realized he’d been frozen in shock. This was not how he expected this night to turn out. Michael’s utter confidence and enthusiasm towards being fucked was… surprising. Hastily he stood up and approached Michael by the bed.

              “I know this is a little backwards, but…” Michael started before cradling Alex’s head in his hands and rushing forward to kiss him. Alex responded immediately and with enthusiasm. He opened his mouth and almost swooned as he felt Michael’s tongue sweep over his, inviting him to respond. He did, following Michael’s lead, and his hands started wandering over the expanse of Michael’s skin at his disposal. He found himself trying to pull Michael closer, over and over, hands on his waist, his back, his ass, just trying to keep him close. Michael, for his part, was trying to get Alex’s belt and pants off, but Alex’s insistence on keeping them pressed together kept hampering his progress. Finally, Michael had to break their kiss to talk.

              “If you don’t let me get your pants off, this isn’t going to end the way we want it to,” he said, breathlessly as Alex’s mouth simply moved from his mouth to his neck and was biting and sucking the flesh there. Alex came back to himself, nodding wordlessly and bringing his hips back far enough for Michael to finish the job of getting him naked. His mouth, however, he couldn’t convince to leave Michael’s skin. He felt his waist band loosen and the fabric of his pants and underwear drop to the ground. He kicked the offending garments backwards, not paying attention to where. Then Michael’s hands were sliding against his skin and pulling him back against his body.

              “Fuck, you’re distracting,” Michael commented as he backed up until he could sit on the edge of the bed. Alex planted a knee on the mattress to follow him but was stopped by Michael’s tongue smoothing over a nipple and quickly being covered by his mouth. He hissed in pleasure and pushed his hand into Michael’s curls, cradling the back of his head and holding him steady. Michael hummed in pleasure and palmed Alex’s ass as he teased the tightened flesh.

              “Bite it,” Alex gasped out, watching Michael’s mouth work on him. Michael met his eyes through his eye lashes and Alex saw the flash of white as his teeth grasped the flesh and pulled, letting the skin scrape achingly slowly as it was released. Alex cursed and his cock, which had been mostly ignored, gave a desperate throb at the pleasure-pain mix. Michael, spurred on by Alex’s reaction, immediately switched to the other nipple and gave it the same treatment. Alex grabbed himself and found he was leaking precome already from the attention. He smeared the sticky fluid around the head of his cock and stroked downward as Michael kept sucking and biting at his chest, making his nips puffy and swollen against his skin. He felt himself getting embarrassingly close to coming from just the feeling of Michael’s mouth on him.

              “We gotta stop, fuck,” Alex said desperately, tightening his hand in Michael’s hair but not pulling. Michael stopped and looked up at him, confused. “No, not all of it. But I’m going to come if you keep doing that and we didn’t get that lube out for nothing.”

              “You were about to come from just me playing with your nipples?” Michael asked in awe, looking like he’d like nothing but to dive back in and see that scenario play out.

              “Yes, you’re very, very good with your mouth,” Alex huffed out the compliment with a laugh as he put his hands on Michael’s shoulders and pushed him playfully to lay back on the bed. Michael pulled himself back until he was laying on the mattress and beckoned Alex to follow him, spreading his legs immediately to allow Alex in between them. Alex leaned down to kiss him, hands smoothing down the sides of Michael’s ribs and waist, just enjoying touching him for a minute. When he came up for air, he reached over and grabbed the lube from beside Michael’s pillow. “You still sure?”

              “Yes, fuck yes. Please and thank you,” Michael said with a grin. He flipped over and grabbed his pillow, jamming it under his hips before spreading his legs wider for Alex.

              “Jesus, yes you are,” Alex mumbled to himself, turned on at how into this Michael seemed to be. He grabbed the condom and rolled it on before slicking up his fingers. He started slowly by rubbing small circles around Michael’s hole to spread the lube. He leaned forward and trailed kisses over Michael’s shoulder and back. He pressed inward with a finger and then backed off, trying to slowly work him open.

              “Dude, I fingered myself in the shower like three hours ago. You can move a little faster than that,” Michael said over his shoulder. Alex’s brain stalled out on the image of Michael in the shower, wet and soapy with three fingers up his ass and his hand on his cock.

              “Jesus,” Alex whispered, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against Michael’s shoulder blade. He pushed a little harder with his finger and found that it did sink in quite easily. Michael gave out a soft moan at the feeling and Alex decided to press his luck. He withdrew his finger and came back with two, still pushing in easily but not so easily he wouldn’t need to stretch Michael a little more. “You can’t be real.”

              Alex pumped his fingers in and out of Michael, scissoring them and twisting his wrist slowly. He withdrew and added lube before starting to press back in with three. He took this more slowly and Michael seemed to appreciate it. He was moaning more loudly, his body pushing back against the pressure of Alex’s fingers, the muscles in his back flexing and relaxing as he tried to chase his own pleasure against the pillow beneath him.

              “You ready for me?” Alex asked after a particularly loud groan from Michael. Alex hoped so, he was still on edge from Michael’s mouth on his nipples and now the absolutely pornographic sound of Michael’s vocalizations as Alex pumped his fingers in and out of him.

              “Yes! Get in me!” Michael directed, sounding almost frantic. Alex chuckled a little and withdrew his fingers before he shuffled his body forward on the bed. He positioned himself, rubbing the head of his cock through the mess of lube at Michael’s hole, before beginning the push inward. He took it slow, pushing in and retreating several times before he was able to press his hips flush against Michael’s cheeks. Alex let out a heavy breath, panting slightly as he tried to get through the initial bliss of being so tightly wrapped in another person. He leaned forward and settled his weight on his hands to either side of Michael’s ribs. Before he could ask if Michael was ready, Michael took the lead from him and started shifting his weight below him. After the first couple of times, his movements became surer and Alex found himself watching as he started to fuck himself back on Alex’s cock in precise, fluid movements. When he squeezed his rim as he pulled away, Alex let out a gasp and one of his hands went to Michael’s hip to steady himself.

              “You’re just going to do all the work down there?” Alex asked breathlessly as he let Michael continue to work himself back and forth on Alex’s cock. Alex was utterly turned on by how desperate Michael seemed to get fucked, how ready he was to take what he wanted, and how fucking hot he looked doing it.

              “You didn’t seem like you were going to get to it, so I thought I’d start without you,” Michael teased through a pleasure filled groan. Alex bent down and bit his shoulder lightly, making him moan again at the sharp feeling.

              “Then I guess I’ll have to start doing my fair share,” he responded before drawing back onto his knees and grabbing Michael’s hips to pull him up as well. He started thrusting in a counter rhythm to Michael’s backward pushes, making their skin slap together loudly as he was buried over and over as deeply as possible. Michael was swearing softly under his breath, his hand under him working his cock to the feeling of Alex filling him so completely, his cock pushing over Michael’s prostate and winding him up.  

              “You feel so fucking good, Michael,” Alex groaned as he tried to stop himself from just rabbitting into the man below him. His body was a hot velvet clutch around Alex’s and he found himself getting lost in the heady feeling of it.

              “Fuck, you’re ruining me,” Michael moaned beneath him sounding impossibly turned on and needy. Alex privately agreed that Michael was ruining him also. They were getting close, moaning getting louder and more frantic as their bodies chased each other’s movements. Michael was back on his stomach with Alex’s gripping his shoulder as he made sharp, pointed thrusts that had Michael white knuckling the sheets in ecstasy. The door suddenly banged open and startled both of them into freezing, bodies pressed tightly together as they looked to see who had broken in.

              Maria was standing in the doorway with a bottle of rum and a mutinous expression on her pretty face. They stared at each for a long moment, Alex trying his damnedest not to move, but feeling like he’d probably start fucking Michael again soon if they didn’t end this stand-off. The feeling of Michael around him was almost too good to waste in a pointless conversation.

              “Goddamnit, Alex,” Maria started, walking further into the room and slamming the bottle onto the desk at the end of Michael’s bed. “You promised you wouldn’t do this again!”

              “Again?” Alex asked, wracking his brain, trying to remember to what she was referring. He was feeling a little dumb since most of the blood in his body was not centered in his upper half.

              “Again?!” Michael asked incredulously, looking over his shoulder towards Alex and then back at Maria. The movement shifted him away and back onto Alex’s dick. It was only an inch, but it made Alex’s stomach muscle clench in an effort to stay still. He squeezed Michael’s shoulder in warning, earning him a small squeeze of Michael’s rim in retaliation.

              “You remember Valenti?” Maria asked, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for his response.

              “Kyle was going through an experimental phase. I was helping a bro out. Besides, you had no claim on him!” Alex defended himself, a little affronted she would bring up something so far back in their history now.  That had been freshman year of high school and it was just a kiss.

              “You knew I had a crush on him!” Maria exclaimed, stamping her foot angrily.

              “Still not a claim. Besides, you ended up dating him like two weeks later and you thought he was boring! It’s not like you lost out in the long run,” Alex pointed out. Michael cleared his throat below him, the tightening of his abs doing wonderful things to the parts of him surrounding Alex.

              “While this is fascinating and I would love to explore your competitive hooking up history, I would like to point out that Alex is actually inside my body right now. Right this minute he is deep, deep within me. And as much as I’m enjoying the feeling of being high cock warmer, I’d also like to come sometime tonight, so…. Can we finish this in like ten or fifteen minutes?” Michael asked, seeming a little blasé about having Maria stare at them while they were connected and in such a compromising position. With less alcohol or maybe if it had been someone else, Alex was sure he’d be dying of embarrassment and probably be in the bathroom trying to figure out an escape route, but he couldn’t fathom pulling out of Michael at that moment just to save a little face.

              “More like twenty. Someone here took my head out of the game. It’s almost like I’m going to have to start over,” Alex joked, pushing his hips forward a little and earning himself a grunt and playful slap on the thigh from Michael.

              “Not til she’s gone,” he teased back, looking oddly soft as he stuck his tongue out at Alex over his shoulder.

              “Ugh, guys are the fucking worst. Alex, you’re the fucking worst. We’ll have words about this later and you can find another ride back to the dorms!” she yelled, grabbing the bottle of rum and storming out the door, furious that they’d started to ignore her.

              After the door slammed shut there was silence.

              “Well, that was awkward,” Alex commented. Michael pulled forward and off his dick, getting to his knees and turning around to face him. Alex held his breath waiting for his response. Was it too much? Had Michael decided the exchange was too awkward for them to keep going? God, Alex prayed not.

              “She’s the one who took forever getting the rum. She could’ve joined in if she’d gotten here earlier,” Michael joked, wrapping his arms around Alex and beginning to kiss his neck and jaw.

              “Gross. You may be bi, but I am super gay. I love her, but no. So much no,” Alex commented even as he tilted his head back to give Michael’s mouth more access on him.

              “So much no?” Michael asked, biting at the prominent cord in his neck and letting one of his hands pinch and tug at one of Alex’s nipples.

              “Fuck, yes. Yes to this,” Alex breathed, moaning and wrapping his arms around Michael, hand immediately going behind him to play with his stretched, slick hole. “But so much no to her.”

              “Lay back for me, then and we’ll get back to where we were. I don’t stop for pedestrians,” Michael whispered against his skin as he pushed Alex’s hands away from him. Alex laid back on the bed and Michael straddled him immediately. He reached behind himself to hold Alex’s cock and line it up with his hole before lowering himself down.

              “Fuck, you feel so fucking good. Your cock is perfect,” Michael moaned, tilting his hips in a shallow grind against Alex. Alex whined at how good it felt, his hips rocking up in counter point to Michael’s. Michael’s hands came to rest on his chest, catching Alex’s attention before he said breathlessly, “Hold on, darlin’.”

              Michael lifted his body and started a brutal pace with his hips. Alex almost couldn’t keep up, but he bent his knees to plant his feet so he could thrust up as best he could. He did hold on, his hands going to Michael’s hips and he bounced on Alex’s cock, his hand jacking himself over Alex with abandon. He looked so good chasing his own pleasure. He looked confident and lost in the sensations he was experiencing and Alex was mesmerized by the sight of it.

              “Fuck, just like that. I’m going come,” Michael bit out, a high pitched whine pushed out of him as his cock started to spurt onto Alex’s chest and stomach, his ass clenching over Alex’s cock and wrenching an orgasm out of him at the same time. That had never happened to Alex before and it was almost too much for him.

              When it was over, they collapsed against each other, breath heaving from their chests, bodies sweat soaked and sticky, ebbs of euphoria flowing through their muscles. Michael reached down while Alex was still recovering and, holding the condom, slipped his body off of Alex’s so he could lay down on the bed next to him, shoulders overlapping in the small twin.

              “We should do that again,” Michael commented once he’d gotten his breath back. The tingling feeling that had taken over Alex’s body made him feel come drunk and dopey.

              “Tonight?” Alex asked, wondering if he had the strength to have that good of sex for a second time in 24 hours. Weren’t there universal laws about that much pleasure in so short a time?

              “Well, sure. But like, some other time too. Maybe after dinner or a movie or something,” Michael suggested. Alex felt his body go cold. He didn’t date. He was too fucking busy to date. He was working every possible odd job on campus to pay for school since his dad had cut him off for not following the family legacy. So he didn’t date. He didn’t do parties. This was such an anomaly for him to even be out tonight. He cringed at the necessity of what he was about to say, knowing it was going to ruin the afterglow of their activities.

              “I can’t. I don’t date. This was fun, but it won’t happen again,” Alex explained, sitting up suddenly. He needed to go. He stripped the condom off and looked around the trash bin. Michael rolled to his side behind him and rubbed a hand over his back comfortingly.

              “Are you not out? Cause I can be ‘just bro’s with you if it’s—” Michael started, but Alex cut him off. He’d finally remembered where the trash can was and tossed the condom into it.

              “No, it’s not that. I’m absolutely out. Fuck closets. No, I just don’t have the time. It wouldn’t be fair. Look, it’s not a big thing. Maybe I’ll see you around campus sometime?” Alex said in a rush and tried to offer some unlikely run-in as a placation. He stood up and grabbed his pants from the floor, pulling on his underwear and then them quickly. He grabbed for his things off the floor without looking up at Michael. He could feel his silence like an oppressive weight on his skin and the judgement radiating from the bed didn’t help the claustrophobic feeling coming over him.

              “So that’s it? Fuck ‘em and forget ‘em?” Michael asked in an angry, hurt tone. Alex turned and looked at him, anger starting to rise in him in response.

              “Like you learned how to fuck like that being a monk? It’s a hook-up at a party, Michael! You don’t even know me,” Alex spat out, pulling his shirt out of the mass in his arms and pulling it on with angry jerky movements.

              “I just thought there was a connection there, but ya know, you’re probably right. I’m probably just a cock-slut with dependency issues. Shit, and they say frat bros are fuck boys,” Michael mumbled the last bit under his breath as he too got out of bed. He headed over to his dresser and yanked out a pair of boxers, shoving his legs into them and then up his hips before facing Alex again.  “Have a nice life, Alex.”

              “You too,” Alex bit back, turning and leaving the room. He had to stop on the stairs to put on his boots, but he didn’t stop after that. He walked right out of the frat house and towards the dorms. It would be a long walk, but he wasn’t too worried about it. The longer he walked, the worse he felt about what had happened with Michael. He should’ve handled that better. Ruefully, he stopped and looked over his shoulder back towards the house and swore he could see someone standing in Michael’s window. Sighing, he turned and started walking again. It might’ve been nice, but it wasn’t to be. Alex reminded himself for the next two miles that he didn’t have room in his life for anything more, no matter how good the sex was or how addictive the smell of rain against his skins seemed to be.

[upshuring]

❝ I cannot stress enough how uninterested I am in this. ❞

Adventure time | accepting

                 "Aww, I thought we were jus' becomin' friends!"

     It's not entirely clear if he's sounding highly amused or sarcastic, he masks it with a near innocent smile and a rather melodramatic pressing of his right hand against his chest, as if he was deeply hurt by the other's words. It doesn't really matter — he's aware he's taking a certain risk by going out of his way to approach the other unprompted on his own accord, and that this isn't just the same as someone 'normal' being annoyed. Always had a talent for pissing of dangerous people, and even more so to cut himself before jumping in the shark tank.

     Kept life entertaining, you know?

                 "So 'm sure y'already know 'bout all this goin' down on your turf. I mean, sure, y'noticed someone is fuckin' with your territory, an' someone as you sure has five plans on how to take it out all at once. Was jus' checkin' on that. As a worried citizien."

     It's not that he's being nice by displaying the entire stack of notes of oddities and misalignments he dug out during the last weeks — and while he doesn't doubt the other knows about most of the things going on there, Miles is still fairly certain he has some other sources as well. Maybe not a lot, but enough that it should be interesting. After all, he's already displaying (and risking his neck) enough by the fact that there's so much detail about what he knows about Lance's little playgroup here.

     Sometimes you have to feed one shark to get away from another, is all.

[yinyanchan]

Off the Grid

This was a NSFW story I was making but lost interest in. Female Reader decides to go off grid away from humanity and goes to the “Haunted” Skeleton forest as it was declared public land but no one will go there after people and even search parties have disappeared. Has Classic, Underswap, Underfell, Swapfell, and Horrortale bros. I really liked readers first experience meeting a skeleton in this as it is a boistrous Black after he saves her from a raging river due to a storm. Classic Sans and Papyrus have been looking out for her but in the shadows as Reader sets up her home on their territory. Reader had never encountered a skeleton and had laughed off the idea that the place was haunted after living there a month. It might be something I come back to but until then I’m leaving the whole meeting under the cut... Be aware that this is slightly NSFW but I couldn’t resist publishing it as it pertains to Swapfell boys. Enjoy!

It took you forever to secure your campsite but you were more worried for the garden. It needed to be covered from the raging storm.

As you went to cross the stream, now a furious river, with your tarp... the current caught your leg in an awkward angle and down you went.

Regretting not having gotten around to making a bridge as you are swept downstream. Doing everything you can to survive as the water became white rapids from the excessive rain.

You were smacked awake. Jerking and shaking your head you were about to yell at whoever hit you... when before you was an average in height, but still taller than you, menacing skeleton. You were scared into a stupor as you watch its shark like teeth curl into a snarl. His black and red ensamble with matching eerie red eye lights locked right on you.

So... the skeleton forest had actual skeletons in it... guess those tall tales weren’t fiction afterall...

“HOW DARE YOU TRESPASS INTO MY TERRITORY HUMAN!!!” It screeched at you causing you to flinch.

Trembling from this spooky loud skeleton you try to take in your surroundings for a possible escape route.... and realize you are no where near the stream.

“Did...did you save me?” You ask curiously and the skeleton falters then seethes.

“I HAD TO FIND OUT WHY YOU’VE COME HERE! DID YOU COME ALONE, HUMAN?” He growls as you try to right yourself and stand up fully.

“...yes...” Honesty is the best policy right?

“WELL, THAT WAS STUPID OF YOU. I THE MALEVOLANT BLACK WILL SEE YOUR END!” He wrenches you up to him by the collar of your shirt.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was trespassing! I-I...” You are cut off as he makes a weird face and takes a deeper whiff of you. A skeleton can smell things?

“FEMALE? ARE YOU FEMALE HUMAN?” He demands an answer.

“Yes.” Not knowing why it made a difference. Honestly you still feel like this is a dream or you died in the river and this was your limbo.

“I SEE... IT WAS YOUR INTENT TO FIND ME ALL ALONG!!!” He lets your shirt collar go and you stumble back a bit in confusion.

You were about to question when another taller skeleton approaches. Tall and lanky with a fur trimmed hoodie. He somehow had a gold fang for being a skeleton in the woods with no dentist, but the crack in his jaw above made you wonder if that was how his tooth fell out or if was the gold one being shoved in.

“Whatcha got m’lord?” He eyes you curiously then smirks with a hint of mischief.

“MUTT! BEHOLD! A FEMALE HAS MADE HER WAY TO FIND ME!” The shorter one puffs his chest out proudly.

“I have?” Still not sure what the hell this is you are experiencing... still kinda hoping you swallowed to much river water and this is just a dream.

“OBVIOUSLY!!! YOU’VE HEARED OF MY SUPERIOR VIRILITY AND HAVE COME SEARCHING FOR YOUR MATE!” Posing pridefully as you gaped at him speechless.

You look to the other one for some sense at what is going on.

“Of course m’lord.” He smirks

well...shit... WING IT

“You know... perhaps I may have gotten carried away... As superior as you truly are... I... I’d hate to bog you down if I wasn’t at least an equal match.” Maybe by putting yourself down it might convince him to just let you go and forget all about this mating nonsense.

“HMMM... A VALID POINT...” He frowns and eyes you with scrutiny... the other however... his grin is positively shit eating.

“But M’lord... She’s braved coming this far. Perhaps it is to be. Such an adoring fan of yours should at least be bred if not taken for a lifemate.” You could punch that asshole as the smaller one seems to perk up.

“YES! YOUR HARD JOURNEY SHALL NOT HAVE BEEN IN VAIN! I ACCEPT YOUR COURAGE AND BRAVERY TO COME TO ME FOR YOUR BREEDING SEASON!” Your eyes widen as he approves almost instantly.You needed to think fast

“I may have jumped the gun a little early though! It’s not my season to be looking for a proper mate... Alas!” If you can pull this off you were sure he’d let you go... He wouldn’t murder someone that he was interested in right?

“BUT YOU SMELL SO FERTILE...” Well that threw you as he gives you a confused look.

“M’lord, Perhaps your presence made her cycle jump forward. You glare at the smirking skeleton that adds a wink to further your ire.

“AH HA! SO EAGER TO BE BRED BY ME MY SWEET? SO MUCH SO YOUR OWN BODY DEFIES IT’S NATURE!” Now he’s just preening but now you are curious... he’s a skeleton... how the hell was that supposed to work?

“...Since we’re talking about it.. How does it work?” Dream or not this was boggling your mind.

“WHAT?” the shorter one cocks a brow bone.

“You know... you being a skeleton and all...” You try to hint but it seems its lost on him.

“THE BLAZES ARE YOU ON ABOUT?” He had no clue.

“Darlin’ a virgin?” Oh you were going to cause physical harm to this skeleton that was obviously enjoying every moment of this torment.

“OH! I DIDN’T THINK I’D HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE BASICS BUT I WILL FOR YOU MY DEAR. I WILL PUT MY PENIS INTO YOUR VAGINA. MY GIRTH WILL SPLIT YOU OPEN FOR DEEP PENETRATION. MY KNOT KEEPING US TIED IN ECTASY AS I FORCE MY SEED DEEP INTO YOUR WAITING WOMB. ONLY AFTER YOU CLAMP DOWN AND CLIMAX ON ME IN PURE EUPHORIA.” What started as a sex ed lecture turned into a sensual and explicit turn on as he leaned and purred the rest of the speech in your ear.

You are a blushing mess.

“Somethin’ wrong darlin’?” the bigger one chuckles.

“I’m scare-roused?” This was maddening. You’ve never had anyone come onto you so aggressively. Unfortunately you seemed to have liked it and now this skeleton has you flustered.

“OF COURSE THAT IS ONLY THE FINALE... THERE ARE OTHER THINGS I WISH TO DO TO YOU BEFORE THEN.” You see a deep red glow seep out his mouth in the form of a tongue.. then is sensually sweeps across his shark like teeth.

Okay so this is happening... your finding something out about yourself as you allow him closer and that tongue graces your neck along with a few nips.

Whimpering as he places those love bites on such sinful spots that make your knees weak.

Suddenly you are yanked away.

“THIS IS OUR HUMAN, BLACK. WE’VE BEEN WORRIED SICK LOOKING FOR HER WHEN WE SAW SHE HADN’T RETURNED FROM THE CLEARING.” A sweet smiling fangless mutt? No this one had more energy and very chipper than the lazy asshole that had been goading you.

He looked to be in some makeshift armor and a long red scarf. As he holds you close to him another smaller skeleton approaches... in a blue hoodie and basketball shorts... and fuzzy pink slippers...

At this point you had to question yourself if this was still a dream... but the more you think on it the exhaustion from having to fight for your life down a raging stream is making your body scream at you.

“NO SHE IS NOT! SHE SOUGHT ME!” Black raged.

“Well she’s been living in our neck of the woods pal. Not really seeking you if she’s been in one spot for several weeks.” The blue hooded one snarks at him.

“YES! SHE HAS THE MOST AMAZING PUZZLE BOOKS!” So that’s where they’ve been disappearing to.

“Not nice to cock block classic.” Mutt squared off with the shorter one.

“I’m just thankful Red wasn’t the one that found her.” the one dubbed as Classic so far sighs.

“Yep, she’d have been fucked conscious then unconscious.” Mutt shrugged and the one holding you shuddered with a horrified look on his skull.

“IS THAT LANGUAGE AND SUBJECT MATTER ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!?” He exclaims

“SHE WAS CONSENTING TO BE BRED BY ME. I AM HER CHOSEN MATE!” Black is not about to let you go.

“More like between a rock and hard place there Black.” Classic growled making the other short one bristle.

“DO YOU WISH TO GO HOME?” The one holding you looks to you for what it is you want. You feel incredibly safe with him.

“Yes.” You simply answer feeling the weight of your exhaustion trying to pull you into the realm of sleep.

Black looks hurt at your response.

“It’s a lot to process Black but I will consider it. Just tired... you know... being dragged down a raging river... nearly dying?” He still looks a little preturbed that you didn’t want to stay with him.

“I SAVED YOU.” He states with a pout.

“You have my deepest thanks and here...” You pull out your still damp handkerchief to hand to him.

“You have my favor.” Black snatches it with a boost in his confidence.

“I shall treasure it my lady. My territory is open to you my future mate.” It should be a crime the way he looks at you.

END EXCERPT

[poisonedapples]

The Dark Side of Christmas

Summary: Christmas is known as the happiest, most welcoming time of year. But when you’re Roman, that’s not always the case.

TRIGGERS: Roman has PTSD but it’s not stated by name in the fic, fighting, swearing, mentions of past shootings, mention of a car accident/explosion, blood. panic, past death and grieving, mental health problems, anxiety, dissociation and flashbacks, Christmas, tell me if you notice any more, cause this one has a lot

Note: HAPPY LATE HOLIDAY! This was supposed to be done by Christmas, but this month has Sucked so I’m using that as my excuse. My friend @theultimatemomfriend was my secret santa for something I did in the Powerless server, so here is your gift mixed with my own self indulgence! Hope you like it <3

But also , thank you to @romansleftshoulderpad and @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 for saving me some time and editing it for me. I appreciate you two

He was driving in a car.

She was screaming at him at the top of her lungs, all about how he was a failure, couldn’t do simple things, is only a disappointment to everyone that’s ever known him. The screaming was like a concert speaker right next to his ear; loud, loud, loud.

He couldn’t steer in these conditions. Not with a rocky road that bent in so many directions, a skinny single lane on a cliff with traffic cones instead of a protective railing. His foot was all the way on the brake, yet the car was speeding down the road faster than he’s ever driven before. The tires were screeching. She was still yelling.

It’s so loud.

She jumped on top of him suddenly, grabbing a hold of his neck with her long nails digging into his throat. Everything burned, he couldn’t breathe, and no one was steering the car anymore.

It’s so loud.

High pitched screeching echoed from nowhere. She was still screaming in his ear while his neck fell asleep, desperately trying to pull away her hand in order to breathe.

You’re going to die.

The car fell down the cliff. Completely on its side, such a smooth yet loud fall, the car came crashing into the woods under it, fire consuming his sight and all of his brain, the loud crash coming to a complete, deafening silence after an overwhelming boom.

Roman’s body jerked awake.

He scrunched up his shoulders to immediately cover the tingling part of his neck where he was being strangled in his dream. His mind was foggy while his body felt ready to run a marathon, heart beating fast and every inch of his skin shaking violently. Roman curled into a ball trying to calm down in the pitch black room, to no avail.

Phone. Phone. Phone has light, where’s my phone-

Roman’s Rapunzel figure on his bedside table crashed to the floor from his lack of coordination, pretty stones meant for healing and love moving out of their places and into undusted territory. Roman dropped his phone on his chest once he grabbed it but was only grateful it didn’t hit the floor this time, turning on the bright screen and blinding his eyes.

It was better than the darkness.

5:48 AM, his clock said, the lock screen blurry-looking because of Roman’s unfocused eyes and the tears pricking out certainly not helping. But he could tell there were no notifications over the night.

It’s always weird when he has to delete the Instagram app. His phone doesn’t buzz nearly as much without it.

He unlocked his phone and opened up one of his word puzzle game apps. Although it pained him to admit that Logan was right, lighthearted thinking games helped him on nights like these. Where all he needed was to calm down, but no people were around to help him with that.

As the game loaded and he was wondering what words to make with the letters F, I, G, U, E, and R, Roman clung tightly to his giant stuffed animal Magic Bitch the Queen, a rainbow pegacorn that was perfect for squishing. The name only made it better. Weirdly more calming.

Things were calming down. He definitely won’t be able to go back to sleep tonight, but given the date it was a miracle he felt as calm as he did—

“Virgil, quiet down-”

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want!”

“Virgil!”

...Nevermind. 

Roman curled in on himself at the sound of the yelling. He hated fighting. He hated it with a burning passion, loud noises made him jump out of his skin and it was only worse when it was them yelling. They’re usually a lot more calm when Roman is around, but sometimes things just...got out of hand.

This was one of those times.

“This bitch thinks he can just walk in here and act like he owns the damn place! Well newsflash fucker, you’re not the only person who cares about Roman! Stop acting like you can fucking control him!”

“I’m not controlling him! Is it a crime for me to want to care about my own brother!? Last time I checked, you’re not family!”

“Remus-“

“Oh cram it, calculator watch!”

“Go fuck yourself, you walking STD!”

“Virgil Foster! If you end up waking Roman, I swear-”

Patton paused mid sentence when he saw the figure standing in the middle of the steps. Everyone looked over at Roman, his hand fiddling with the end of his sleeve and way too tired eyes. His posture a little too straight, smile so dead it was hardly a smile at all. “It’s alright, Pat. I was awake anyway.”

“I assume another nightmare?” Logan asked.

Roman went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. Filling it with milk until it was overflowing, Roman smiled. “You know me so well.”

Patton’s face grew concerned while he chugged some of the milk, Remus crossing his arms and glaring at Virgil. “You wouldn’t be having these problems if you’d stayed at my place instead of this dump.”

“This dump is our home, trash panda. Watch your fucking mouth.”

“Ironic.” Remus towered over Virgil with his hands on his hips when he stepped closer, Virgil hissing when he got too close. “All I’m saying is that isn’t it better for Roman to be with family who can help, instead of stuck in the same place that caused all this in the first place? With people who don’t even understand?”

“You know that I’m here, right? That I can hear you talking about me? Cause I can hear you talking about me.”

“Or maybe he needs to be around family that actually cares instead of being around the same deadbeat bastard who only comes visit to be the same pile of dog shit he makes everyone step in!”

Patton sighed. “Virgil, please stop. Can we please just go back to bed? Without all the fighting?”

The looks on Remus’ face was too taunting. Blood boiled in Virgil’s veins from three weeks of dirty glares at each other while he watched his best friend curl around him for comfort instead of anyone else. The cockiness of him trying to take Roman off to Florida for the holiday, like he was the only one who cared. He hated his stupid gross smile and how Roman snickered at his dirty jokes, he hated how he was genuinely helping and how useless their help was.

How threatening this bitch actually made him feel. But Virgil refused to lose.

“I’ll go to bed when this bitch stops acting like he can walk into my fucking house and act like he owns the fucking place! Eat my food, use my water, and steal my fucking friend because apparently this human embodiment of the feeling you get right before you fucking projectile vomit is the reincarnation of Christ!”

“Virgil!”

“And I’ll go to bed when this ‘Roman’s my best friend’ wannabe stops getting in between my family because his self esteem’s so low in the ground that sharks can have sex on it!”

“Fuck you!”

“JUST SHUT UP!”

Everyone paused when Roman screamed, his hand too weak to hold onto his glass and his hands shaking too hard to fiddle with the end of his sleeve anymore. His eyes were glassy and his chest felt like it was caving in on itself, with evil butterflies chewing apart his ribs and leaving hollow discomfort. Patton’s eyes went soft as he slowly approached Roman, keeping a loose grip on his hand and saying something to him that Roman wasn’t listening to in order to calm him down. But he was just tired. So tired. Tired of the yelling and the fear and the everything that he just wanted to get away.

So he did.

“Roman?” It was all he’d heard from Pat even after all his talking, but Roman still decided to ignore it. He quickly slipped on some shoes and grabbed his coat from the closet, opening the front door without another word.

Patton’s eyes widened when he realized what was happening. “Roman, wait-“

But just like that, the door had slammed behind him and he was making his way down the street.

He could already see his therapist’s “I don’t get paid enough for the shit you put me through” face when he eventually talks about this, but that was future Roman’s problem.

...He still had no clue where he was going.

That was always the worst part about Roman’s “run away from your problems” habit. He never had any plan. He could end up three towns over, he could end up across the street. In one of the first incidents, he ended up at a McDonald’s right on the outskirts of the state and fell asleep in the bathroom stall. When he called Logan and told him where he was, it was an hour drive to come get him since they didn’t trust him to drive back in his state. That’s why they first started looking for a therapist for him.

He wished he had his car this time. Walking around in freezing weather with pajama pants is cold.

Roman made his way down the hill where the house was to head downtown, where a good handful of stores were open at every time of day. He needed the heat.

“Eileen, you will pay for making me lose my beauty sleep.”

“You’ll be okay. It wasn’t working for you anyway.”

“...Hey!”

...And the distraction.

It was at 11:30 when Ellie woke him up. Dragging him out of bed and making him help her “sneak” out—if you could call going through the front door sneaking—, they ended up in a supermarket at around midnight on Christmas Eve. 

“I got Remus this giant ass octopus stuffed animal that was literally like ninety dollars, but I need a gag gift for him. Something completely and utterly stupid, and I need you to help me look for it. So I can go home sooner.”

“A giant octopus isn’t a gag gift to you?”

“He’ll love it and you know it.”

“...Touche. Maybe just get him toilet paper?”

“Too enjoyable. Too useful. He’ll set the rolls on fire in the backyard or something.”

“...Nevermind then!”

The first store Roman found with its lights still on was a small convenience store next to a gas station. His legs were starting to get slow from the cold, teeth chattering slightly with his arms tucked close to his body like a penguin.

Roman went inside.

“Oh my God, Roman, it’s perfect.”

“What is it?”

“‘Maybe you touched your balls’ hand sanitizer. I’m getting five.”

Roman tried not to laugh too hard, especially when the store was so quiet at this hour, but he couldn’t help it. With slight sleep deprivation and the look on his sister’s face, Roman burst out a laugh and gave Ellie a lazy push. Ellie took five of the hand sanitizers and piled them in her hands, making their way toward the checkout.

Alone in a store on the night of Christmas Eve.

Roman didn’t want to think about it, but then again, he never did. And every time he focused on one thing, half of his brain was still on his sister.

His throat felt weird.

“I’m dreaming of a white...christmas…”

Ellie was basically skipping on her way to the checkout. She loved old Christmas songs, and not being able to resist the temptation to perform must be another “Sanders Siblings” thing.

Roman was staring at the chip aisle when his chest started to expand, his hands growing weak and absolute fear taking over. Why was breathing so hard? What is it now?

His eyes became glassy again, his vision becoming more distant and distorted until he couldn’t tell what he was looking at. But his ears seemed to focus on something else. Something so distant but close at the same time, ringing in his ears while he felt like he was looking through a TV screen.

“And since we’ve no place to go...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…”

Fuck. Shit. Roman started fumbling in his pockets for earbuds, but in his haste to leave the house, they were forgotten in his room. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

He could hear the silence of the store, but in the back of his brain he could feel the sound of gunshots.

“He’s alive, but he’s been hit around five times. Get him in the ambulance.”

He knew there wasn’t hands on him. He knew there wasn’t any blood, his or otherwise, on the floor. But it sure as hell didn’t feel like it.

“Duck!”

There was no figure that caught Roman’s eye as they made their way to checkout. There was no moment of adrenaline as he tried to cover his sister, ducking for cover while people walking down the street also screamed. There was no glass breaking. There was no shots of pain as he realized the blood on the floor was his. There was no noise. No screaming. No sirens or commands being shouted or deafening silence that made Roman want to scream. It didn’t exist.

But it didn’t feel like it.

He didn’t know how to work his limbs, his body felt fake and his vision was just a TV screen looking at a world that felt anything but real. His ribs felt like they should be in pain for more than just his shaky breaths and his back should be cold from the hard floor instead of being supported by a cooler door.

What was the pattern again? Three things you can hear—wait, no, fuck, what was it? What was it?

There was blood going through his jacket and blood on his fingers. His thumb was cut from a piece of glass and he couldn’t move off the floor. As tight as he could, he kept a grip on his older sister. The hand sanitizers had sprawled out across the floor, the hands that were holding them now lied lifeless in Roman’s grip.

Roman heard something. More than the music, that stupid fucking music, but he could focus. He wanted to cough until he could breathe again, he wanted to be here, without a single doubt that history can't repeat itself. But trauma doesn’t work that way.

Shooting down on Taft Avenue. Four injured, one dead. 

“Roman, hey, it’s just me, it’s just Virgil—shit, hey, it’s alright, focus on me. Let me get you out of here, okay? God you’re heavy, okay-”

It’s Virgil. It’s just Virgil. No Ellie, Ellie’s dead, Ellie’s been dead, it’s just Virgil, he’s here. 

Thank God.

“Here, just listen to this for a bit. You’re the reason I have a Disney playlist, I hope you know that.”

They were in a car now. Roman could feel the pressure of Virgil’s bulky headphones on his ears, as well as the start up to Tiana’s “Almost There”, even if his hands he was staring at still didn’t feel like his own. The explosion in his chest lessened some, even if his breaths were still short and it was a miracle he wasn’t sobbing yet.

Virgil moved one of the ends of the headphones to the side. “Feeling a little better?”

Talking took so much energy, way too much energy, but he’d worried Virgil enough for one day. “...Yeah…”

“Do you need the volume turned down?”

“...Maybe.”

The music got a little quieter, and Roman felt his body relax a little more. He didn’t even realize it was overwhelming him.

“Alright...now, five things you can see?”

“Virge-“

“Five things you can see, fucker, let me help you.”

Roman let out a huff of a laugh, but looked around anyway. “Uh...you, carseat, wheel...um...the thing…”

“Thing?” Virgil looked around. “...You mean glove compartment?”

“...Yeah, that.”

“Okay, one more.”

“...Coat?”

“Alright, four things you can hear?”

“Music, heater, uh...I don’t know…”

“Can you hear me?”

“...Now I can.”

Virgil laughed. “That’s good enough, I’ll take three. Three things you can touch?”

“...Headphones, coat, seat.”

“Alright, good...two things to smell?”

Blood. “Pat’s air freshener, and the fact that you haven’t showered.”

Virgil lightly punched him in the arm, Roman letting out a small laugh through a shaky smile. “And I bet what you’re tasting is the fact that you haven’t brushed your teeth.”

“...I did not come here to get roasted.”

Virgil shook his head in amused disappointment at him, but started the car and put it in reverse. Roman sighed, looking out the window at the soft snowflakes and lights on houses that made his stomach curl. He hated this holiday. All it did was bring back bad memories, every corner surrounded in his triggers and nightmares increasing tenfold with the stress. He wanted to go home. He didn’t know where home was.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Roman looked over at Virgil, with his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel as he tapped nervously. Roman rubbed at his eyes. “Do you want to? I heard you and Remus.”

“This isn’t about me, it’s fine.”

“You’re my best friend and he’s my brother. It involves me too.”

Virgil didn’t answer. He kept his eyes on the road intently, and Roman wondered if he should just put the headphones back on his ear and let that be that. But he really didn’t want them to keep fighting, so it’s better to at least make an attempt, right?

Roman put the headphones around his neck. “We were buying his gift.”

“What?”

“The night Ellie died. Her and Remus had a little tradition of getting each other a gift and a gag gift. The older we got, the more inappropriate they became, which was very ‘them’, in all honesty. She had forgotten to get it earlier though, so she took me to the store at midnight on Christmas Eve so we could pick something out. And that’s when the shooting happened.

Virgil didn’t react, but Roman gave him a tired smile. “I’m fairly certain that’s why he gets so protective. He feels like he caused it somehow, so he tries to solve all my problems on his own. It’s sweet in its own way.”

Virgil hit the break roughly at a stop sign. “Well now I feel like an asshole.”

“...You were a little bit of a bitch. But I don’t blame you, since so was he.”

“I just wanna help you too, you know? I get it, he’s your brother and all that shit, but he’s not the only person who cares about you, so he can back the fuck off. Especially when he’s spending time in my fucking house.”

“You say that like three other people don’t pay rent.”

“It’s my house when it’s convienent to my argument, fuck off.”

Roman laughed, Virgil taking a turn to a stoplight and waiting. “I just want you two to work things out. We can talk once I go home, take my meds, and at least sleep for two hours.”

“Only two hours? You’re starting to become me, Princey.”

“It’s an anxiety disorder buddies thing.”

“Fuck yeah, anxiety disorder buddies. Who can’t wait for therapy to start up again.”

Roman pumped a fist up lazily. “Next thursday!”

“Next thursday mother fucker!”

They both started to laugh, the soft glow of the read light and the headlights of passing cars being strangely calming. Roman’s eyes felt so heavy, the glassy tears he still had sealing his eyelids together like glue. “Wake me up when we get there.” He mumbled.

“And if you have another nightmare?”

“We get there when we get there.”

Roman heard one last soft laugh before his body went still. He wasn’t completely peaceful, but at least he was sleeping. It would be enough for now.

Virgil didn’t wake him up when they got home. It took both him and Remus to be able to carry him inside, but they managed to do it without waking him up permanently. He moved, but at least he managed to sleep some.

When he wakes up, they’ll fuss at him for running away and Patton will hug him close for Roman’s comfort and his own. He’ll make Remus and Virgil talk peacefully about each other without too much complaining until they can at least stand to be in the same room as each other. Then when things are calm, the brothers will cry when they remember the date, and Patton will give them blankets and hugs while the other two stand around a little awkwardly until it’s lunch time. Neither of them will eat much, but leftovers exist for a reason. They’ll be taken care of.

But for now, Roman will sleep.