#what was he supposed to do after seeing the dude kill his brother and men

[odysseus-crewmate-number38]

its 2024 i shouldn’t still be in the trenches defending hector of troy on pinterest

[gassydumbjocks]

Virilite 1:

Boys will be boys

Ever since I spiked my nephew Liam's beer with a strange pill I found online when he and my brother came to watch a football match, that boy has been acting like a man, as he should.

You see, my brother Noah had a son who, don't get me wrong, I love this boy with all my soul, but god damn he had to grow up and start acting like what he was, a dude, always wearing those girly crop tops and tight-fitting jeans with bright colors because "that's who he was", I admit that I was clearly upset when he revealed to the family that he was gay, but even so I couldn't do anything and neither could Noah, so we decided to accept him as he was, until I found a way to... make him act as he should.

While looking at online articles I found this article online that was supposed to be some pills that could have an effect on the behavior and actions of the person that took them, yes, I know, very science fiction-like, still, what caught my attention was the name and objective of the pill, "Virilite" was its name, and it promised to also have an effect on the levels of testosterone produced in men, which ended up convincing me to buy it.

The instructions were simple, put them in the drink or food that said man was going to consume, once ingested the guy would enter an immediate state of trance, able to only follow the orders that another person suggested in his mind, there were even images of test subjects boys who I assume took the pill, they all had a relaxed yet funny expression, eyes crossed and some even with tongues sticking out like dogs, I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Liam looking like that.

Just as i was now, immediatly after i got Liam to drink it after offering him a beer, he letted out an involuntary loud and guttural deep belch, which from what i knew and readed online was a sign that the pill already took effect, i had Liam in front of me with a dumb smile and an eye-crossed, glazed over look, like that huge burp just took away all his thoughts and personality.

After the first 5 minutes of calling his name and getting no response, i actually started to worry, he couldn't stay as a brainless zombie-like dumbass all his life, and Noah would find out and kill me for it, i tried to remember, i took the pill's container and readed again the instructions.

"Ohh, so i have to, uh, kinda program him?" i said and then i thought of things i could make him do, i certainly bought those pills to make the kid more like a man... So, hell, what a man i would mold out of him.

I heard him let out a dumb chuckle still with that goofy smile from before, i smirked and approached "Liam, buddy, you hear me champ, you hear uncle Dave?" i asked to make sure he could indeed hear me, he slowly nodded and let out some hiccups "great, cuz we got a lot of work to do on you, and im sure you'll love it" i say.

I think of the first command to give him, they suggest to use short and simple commands, there are plenty of manly things he needs to learn, but i think i can cover up basic stuff, i remember Noah and me asking him to join us in our protein farting contests when we relaxed in our man cave watching our team, while Liam just grimaced and waved his hand, saying it was immature and gross, i would make him change his opinion, so it was obvious what would be the command "Liam...fart, loudly and proudly, c'mon" i literally order him to fart, i just wanted to test the effectiveness of the command obeying.

Without hesitation, he lifts his right leg as high as he can, leaving his butt in the air, before a barrage of gas goes out his butt.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTT!!!!

Its so strong, big and beefy, even for me, i have to wave the smell and open a window nearby "good lord boy! Where in the hell did you got all that gas from!?" i ask impressed, and try to recover before continuing "ok ok lets keep up!, umm, belch, a nice deep man belch" i say, waiting for it.

I didn't even have to wait when he was already patting his chest and squinting an eye to help the gas release.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRPPP!!!

And holy fuck, if Liam was concious, he'd know that beast burp would have easily beat his old man and me in our oftens belch offs, the pill was clearly making a miracle on him.

I was admitidly having fun on my nephew making all the stuff he found "gross" and "immature" under a pill's control, i gave him another command, just to get a good laugh "Liam, do some armpit farts, but in the last one, you'll ask me to pull your finger, you'll let out a monster fart, got it?" i asked and he nodded again, he then started with the manly symphony, he took a hand down one of his pits and started to produce the nasty sounds.

PPPPPRRRRTTT

PPPPPPRRRRRRTTT

PPPPPPRRRRRTT

PPPPPPPRRRRRTT

I saw him stop and put hand on his gut, then he talked goofily "uncle, pull my finger" he asked dumbly before laughing and extend his hand at me, i gladly accepted "oh of course kiddo, let me help you with that" i smirked and pulled it hard, unleashing the beast gas he had stuck in his rump.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!

An ABSOLUTELY disgusting deep-ass and loud, nasty fart erupted from him, Liam never losing the crossed look on his face, as he hiked exaggerately his leg to force the fart out, i was shocked, but in the end, finally proud of him, i couldn't wait for Noah to see what he could do! We would think on more funny stuff to do at our just guys nights! After all, boys will be boys, right?

[aegor-bamfsteel]

from what I remember. quick summary

In the battle of the mill we see 2 boys (OC of the series) with each one their group of people, Aeron Bracken shows off his sword with his friends, then Davos Blackwood comes to complain about the issue of the limits and accuses him of moving the stones of this one. They try to intimidate Davos telling him that he is the false king that his house supports, Aeron says that his side is a baby killer (because of Jaehaerys and his public funeral accusing Rhaenyra that Otto did) so they are going to face each other and both die (fight off camera)

So far so good. but the council comments that the Bracken attacked the Blackwoods (?

Then Daemon goes to Harrenhal and among the people who meet is Willian (the Blackwood child from the first season) who says he is loyal to Rhaenyra and asks for the land that the Bracken took from him

when Daemon goes to threaten the Bracken with his dragon and William (on a random hill) tells him to change sides or they will face the dragon and Amos Bracken says: we choose fire, turning around on horseback with the others while Caraxes prepares to attack (in a great shot I must say) and then Daemon defeated saying admiring that they did not let themselves be intimidated by a dragon and when William tells him to finish them off for that, Daemon says that men like that (like the Bracken) he needs in his army, and tells William that there are other ways to convince him, an implicit suggestion

Then in Harrenhal Daemon receives the news that Bracken have surrendered but because the Blackwoods attacked their lands, looting their food, septs, abusing women and killing children, which makes the houses of the rivers go to claim him horrified by what William is doing under a flag of Rhaenyra and that they are not going to do led by a tyrant

Then in the last chapter Oscar who is already lord of the trident after the death of his grandfather (they removed Kermit and killed Elmo) tells him that they will honor their oath no matter how unpleasant their leader is (Daemon) but that a damage and an affront to the land of the rivers must be repaired, William says that the Bracken have already surrendered and that is their purpose, but Oscar manipulating makes Daemon behead William for his crimes or he does not give him the army of the rivers

…That’s it?

From the way fandom talked about it, you’d think they had the Brackens, provoked by the Blackwoods (including their lord and his sister Alysanne, since they were in the raiding party Amos chased before getting surprised at the Burning Mill) defeat the Blackwoods in honorable combat (which incidentally happened in the book twice between Amos Bracken and Samwell Blackwood, both of whom are pretty unrecognizable here) and only surrendered because Daemon forced their hand by threatening the lives of their kids. I heard that the writers were supposed to be biased against the Brackens, instead of the Blackwoods committing war-crimes (also in the book) just…being acknowledged as terrible in-universe and apparently facing consequences for it?

From what you’ve written, the Brackens only “”look”” better because of what they didn’t include:

No Brackens being victim to the most obvious chevauchée ploy ever. It’s completely ridiculous in F&B that Amos Bracken would’ve taken too many men to chase away a raiding party so his own castle (and he couldn’t rely on the other Greens for support) got invaded and taken over by the time he (or rather his brother Raylon Rivers) got back. I’m not great at military tactics, but even I know GRRM made the Brackens get plot induced stupidity to make the Blackwoods look better

No Aly Sue Blackwood allegedly killing Amos Bracken with a magic arrow to the eye slit in his helmet after Amos killed her war criminal brother in single combat. Amos gets to live (and he’s not a bad dude, but the pettiness isn’t book canon at all) so at least no glorification of Blackwoods there.

No Daemon storming Stone Hedge and taking the Brackens hostage means we don’t hear about how his “third wife and baseborn paramour” were also captured, which is a cheap ripoff of Jonos Bracken in ADWD and an unnecessary detail to show how “eevil misogynists” the Bracken men are. No Raylon Rivers also contributes, as his existence implies Humfrey Bracken was siring illegitimate children decades back

No Daemon taking Brackens hostage also means the Brackens surrendered so as to not see their smallfolk come to further harm from the Blackwoods, rather than Raylon Rivers kneeling to not see the rest of his family (RIP Amos) get slaughtered. At least someone cares about civilian casualties Hess insists “don’t count”. But it also makes Daemon look better by not having him openly threaten innocent women and children

The only thing I liked that they added (other than the Blackwoods committing war crimes on Bracken lands actually acknowledged and had consequences) was the Brackens actually have a reason to support Aegon II other than “well the Blackwoods went for Rhaenyra and we don’t like them”: they think Rhaenyra had something to do with Jaehaerys’ murder (which…she did, considering Daemon had men paid to kill a “son for a son”) and are disgusted

But then the Blackwoods end up looking better because:

Apparently in the show the Brackens started the fight? Because the Blackwoods accuse them of moving rocks? When in the book it’s the Blackwoods who draw first blood when: “In the riverlands, raiders out of Raventree, flying Rhaenyra's banners, crossed into the lands of House Bracken, burning crops, driving off sheep and cattle, sacking villages, and despoiling every sept they came on (the Blackwoods were one of the last houses south of the Neck who still followed the old gods).” which, as I’ve said many times before, are war crimes even in universe. The Brackens only fought back after the fact, as was their right. This is another example of the show inventing petty actions for the Greens so the Blacks look more justified

Daemon seems (it’s implied) like he gives Willem the idea to abuse Bracken smallfolk in order to get the Brackens to surrender, rather than the Blackwoods coming up with the idea themselves because they hate the Brackens and those who live on their lands. This again undermines how awful the Blackwoods were, because the chevauchee wasn’t to force a surrender, it was to punish the Brackens so they could draw them out to kill them and give Daemon enough time to take Stone Hedge by force. Once again, Daemon’s cruelty (just like with Blood and Cheese, and his reaction to Baelon’s death) is left unsaid and his participation in the coordinated attack on Stone Hedge seems to be negligible

The Bracken men are weak fighters in the show. Amos Bracken beat Samwell Blackwood twice in the book, once over a duel for Rhaenyra and the other during the Burning Mill battle. In Season 1, Willam fights Jerrell (ofc Jerrell provokes him 🙄 ) and stabs him to death nonsensically (sure a dude with a knife is going to win against a dude with a sword. Wth); in Season 2, Davos fights Aeron (again apparently the Brackens are the aggressors) and they kill each other. Blackwoods win or draw in duels in the show, Brackens sweep in the book. This is contradictory for the show because wouldn’t the better fighters be the ones to attack? But you can’t have that, because the Blackwoods need to be the wronged party and only escalate because the Brackens are stubborn

Basically, the changes the show made to the Bracken/Blackwood conflict aren’t “Bracken bias”, but more of a mixed bag that makes both families look better or worse, because the show doesn’t really care about them; they care about Daemon Targaryen (who in the book only shows up at the end of the conflict) and how he acts and reacts to his Blackwood Allies and Bracken opponents. Amos’ refusal to surrender to Daemon (never happened in the book; his half brother Raylon agreed to surrender after Daemon threatened to hurt his family) wasn’t about the Brackens being brave but how Daemon would respond to an outnumbered enemy who would rather be burned alive with his men (I hope he asked them if they agreed beforehand) than surrender to him. Him admiring their bravery and saying they were worthy soldiers is more about softening his character, since in the books neither he nor the other Targs care about the Brackens (although the Brackens later fight the Green army led by Borros Baratheon, so maybe this is show foreshadowing for why). As this is Daemon, his reaction is to do something underhanded by insinuating Willem commit atrocities against Bracken smallfolk (although clearly he was eager to do it and wasn’t sorry at all) to force their hand…but then consequences come for him…or at least Willem, who he’s forced to execute because the Riverlords are disgusted by the atrocities done under Rhaenyra’s banner. But as stated, this conflict is made about Daemon, so Willem’s death is pretty inconsequential, and it’s just another crime to taunt him about in Harrenhal I guess, as well as to make the Blacks look better (war crimes are not sanctioned and we execute the perpetrators I promise!). I did find Daemon apparently coming to admire the enemy Brackens while having to punish the Blackwood Allies an amusing inversion of Jaime’s interactions with them in ADWD, though.

tl;dr I still don’t have nearly enough time to watch this show due to a personal emergency. It sounds like the show acknowledged that the Blackwoods committed atrocities against people on Bracken lands, and had one Blackwood be executed for it; however, I believe that’s more to make the Blacks look better than to denigrate the Blackwoods, who initially are made out to be the “wronged party” and superior fighters against the Brackens anyway. What happened doesn’t seem to be “Bracken bias”, but to highlight contradictions in Daemon’s character at admiring an enemy’s courage but also being willing to sign off on unjust violence to bring them down (I guess there’s that “blend of light and dark” the Rogue Prince keeps blathering about, even though no such lightness was seen in the book).

You’ve made it to the end; Horse House appreciates your patience.

[nikimisery]

Season 1 Episode 6 - Skin

“Darius looked around the club, taking in the teeming, half-naked bodies on the dance floor. Screamer’s was packed tonight, full of women wearing leather and men who looked like they had advanced degrees in violent crime.

Darius and his companion fit right in.

Except they actually were killers.

“So you’re really going to do this?” Tohrment asked him.

Darius glanced across the shallow table. The other vampire’s eyes met his own. “Yeah. I am.”

Tohrment nursed his Scotch and smiled grimly. Only the very tips of his fangs showed. “You’re crazy, D.”

“You should know.”

“Alright, I figure we’d hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south, hit Bisbee by midnight.” Dean’s voice called from outside the car. Because of the case with Mary Worthington, I hadn’t been able to finish my book, so I was busy reading that while he got gas. “Sam wears women’s underwear.”  

“I’ve been listening, I’m just busy.” Sam responded. 

“Busy doing what?” 

“Reading e-mails.” Sam replies, holding up his phone to show Dean. 

“E-mails from who?” 

“From my friends at Stanford.” 

“You’re kidding. You still keep in touch with your college buddies?” Dean asked him, his tone was all disbelief. 

“Why not?” 

“Well, what exactly do you tell them?” He asked. “You know, about where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing?” 

“I tell them I’m on a road trip with my big brother and his girlfriend.” His words made my cheeks hot as I hid my face further in my book. “I tell them I needed some time off after Jess.” 

“Oh, so you lie to them.” 

“No, I just don’t tell them… everything.” 

“Yeah, that’s called lying.” Dean stated. “I mean, hey, man, I get it. Telling the truth is far worse.” 

“So, what am I supposed to do, just cut everybody out of my life?” Sam asked, but Dean just shrugged his shoulders, electing not to answer him. “You’re serious?” 

“Look, it sucks, but in a job like this, you can’t get close to people, period.” Dean explained to him. My heart dropped when he spoke. Did that mean we couldn’t be close? We’re we close? 

“You’re kind of anti-social, you know that?” Sam asked him. “And what about Freya? We’re close to her.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” He replied. “She’s with us, it’s different.” Right…

“God…” Sam trailed off, reading another e-mail on his phone. 

“What?” I asked, sitting my book aside. 

“In this e-mail from this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine.” 

“Is she hot?” Dean and I both asked at the same time, causing Sam to roll his eyes, but he ignored us. 

“I went to school with her and her brother, Zack. She says Zack’s been charged with murder. He’s been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says he didn’t do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case.” 

“Dude, what kind of people are you hanging out with?” Dean asked.

“No, man, I know Zack. He’s no killer.” 

“Well, maybe you know Zack as well as he knows you.” I leaned out of the window where I could see Dean. 

“Be nice to your brother.” I told him, but he just made a face at me. 

“They’re in St. Louis. We’re going.” Sam said, making Dean chuckle a little. 

“Look, sorry about your buddy, okay? But this does not sound like our kind of problem.” 

“It is our problem. They’re my friends.” Sam argued. 

“St. Louis is four hundred miles behind us, Sam.” Dean tried, but I cut him off. 

“Dean, just get in the damn car. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? You get to tell Sam you were right?” I asked, but instead of answering me, he just huffed, getting back into the drivers seat and pulling back out onto the road. 

                “Oh my God, Sam!” I heard a peppy voice call from the front door we had just walked up to.

             “Well, if it isn’t little Becky.” Sam said.

             “You know what you can do with that little Becky crap.” She responded. Oh, I like her.

             “I got your e-mail.” Sam told her, pulling back from a hug.

             “I didn’t think that you would come here.” She said, just a Dean stepped forward, extending his hand.

             “Dean. Older brother.” He said. She shook his hand before speaking.

             “Hi.”

             “Hi.” He responded, smiling. Stepping up, I ‘accidently’ bumped into his shoulder as I did.

             “Freya.” I said as I shook her hand.

             “Oh, you must be the girlfriend.” She said with a smile. I was confused for a second before I remember what Sam had said he told his friends.

             “That’s me.” I said, smiling back at her.

             “We’re here to help. Whatever we can do.” Sam told her.

             “Come in.” She said, opening the door wider for us to enter.

             “Nice place.” Dean commented from his place beside me, looking around the house.  

             “It’s my parents’. I was just crashing here for the long weekend when everything happened. I decided to take the semester off. I’m gonna stay until Zack’s free.” She told us.

             “Where are your folks?” Sam asked.

             “They live in Paris for half the year.” She began. Of course they do. Must be nice. “So they’re on their way home now for the trial. Do you want a beer or something?” She asked as we followed her into the kitchen.

             “Hey –“ Dean began, obviously about to accept her offer but Sam cut him off.

             “No, thanks.” He said, earning a bitch face from Dean. “So, tell us what happened.”

             “Well, um…” She began. It was clear she was uncomfortable discussing what happened, but she pushed her way through it. “Zack came home, and he found Emily tied to a chair. And she was beaten up and bloody, and she wasn’t breathing.” She paused, tears forming in her eyes. “So, he called 911, and the police—they showed up, and they arrested him. But, the thing is, the only way that Zack could’ve killed Emily is if he was in two places at the same time. The police—they have a video. It’s from the security tape from across the street. And it shows Zack coming home at 10:30. Now, Emily was killed just after that, but I swear, he was here with me, having a few beers until at least after midnight.”

         “You know,” Sam began. Every time he starts a sentence out like that, one of us ends up getting shot at… This is gonna be good. “Maybe we could see the crime scene. Zack’s house.”

         “We could?” Dean asked.

         “Why? I mean, what could you do?” Rebecca asked.

         “Well, me, not much. But Dean’s a cop.” Sam responded. There it is. There’s that pesky little catch. Oh I love this already.

         “Detective, actually.” Dean said, a grin on his face.

         ‘He’s loving this.’ I told Val.

         ‘Yeah, but he’s cute though.’

         ‘Hush, you.’

         “Really?” She asked him, making him nod. “Where?” OHHHHHH what’s he gonna say?

         “Bisbee, Arizona.” He told her. “But I’m off-duty now.”

         “You guys, it’s so nice to offer, but I just – I don’t know.”

         “Bec, look. I know Zack didn’t do this. Now, we have to find a way to prove that he’s innocent.” Sam explained.

         “Okay. I’m gonna go get the keys.” She said, turning and walking away down the hallway.

         “Oh, yeah, man. You’re a real straight shooter with your friends.” Dean snarked at him as soon as she was out of earshot. I lightly smacked him in the chest, but he just grabbed my hand, holding it to his chest as he rolled his eyes.  

         “Look, Zack and Becky need our help.”

         “I just don’t think this is our kind of problem.”

         “Two places at once? We’ve looked into less.” Sam said.

         “It’s true, sugar.” I piped up.

         “You’re supposed to be on my side.” He said, turning to me with his puppy dog eyes and a pout.

         “You’re so cute.” I told him, patting his cheek, but he just scoffed at me, kissing the back of my hand before dropping it and ushering us out the door after Rebecca. 

                “You’re sure this is okay?” Rebecca asked Dean for what had to have been the hundredth time.

             “Yeah. I am an officer of the law.” He responded, stepping into the house and taking a look around. The smell of blood assaulted me the moment the door was open. It was so strong, everywhere around me.

             “Bec, you wanna wait outside?” Sam asked, gently.

             “No. I wanna help.” She said, ducking under the police tape and entering the house. Dean could see my hesitation as he watched me from his spot inside.

             “Princess?”

             “I’m good, I’m good. Just strong.” I said, tapping my nose. I didn’t want to say too much in front of Rebecca, but he understood what I was saying.

             “Maybe breathe through your mouth?” I just nodded at him as I stepped in, following his eyes as we took in the room. I was right, there was blood everywhere, all over the walls and the furniture. There was so much.

             “Tell us what the police said.” Sam said.

             “Well,” She began, eyes tearing up again. “There’s no sign of a break-in. They say that Emily let her attacker in. The lawyers – they’re already talking about a plea bargain.” Looking around the room, she let the tears fall. “Oh god…”

             “Look, Bec, if Zack didn’t do this, it means someone else did. Any idea who?” Sam prodded.

             “Um…” She trails off, shaking her head as she thought. “There was something, about a week before. Somebody broke in here and stole some clothes – Zack’s clothes. The police – they didn’t think it’s anything. I mean, we’re not that far from downtown. Sometimes people get robbed.” Sam had started to walk away as Dean and I walked over towards the windows. There was a dog barking outside which had caught Dean’s attention and I joined him at the window, looking out. “You know, that used to be the sweetest dog.” Rebecca remarked from behind us.

             “What happened?” Dean asked her.

             “He just changed.”

             “Do you remember when he changed?”

             “I guess around the time of the murder.” I shared a look with Dean as she finished talking, both of us thinking the same thing. At that, we turned and found our way back to Sam, who was stopped in the hallway, looking at a picture of himself, Zack and Rebecca that was framed and hanging on the wall.

             “So, the neighbor’s dog went psycho right around the time Zack’s girlfriend was killed.” Dean began.

             “Animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal.” Sam answered.

             “Yeah, maybe Fido saw something.”

             “So, you think maybe this is our kind of problem?”

             “No. Probably not.” He began. “But we should look at the security tape, you know, just to make sure.”

             “Yeah.” Sam said, smirking at his brother.

             “Yeah…” Dean trailed off as Rebecca rejoined us. “So, the tape. The security footage – you think maybe your lawyers could get their hands on it?” He asked. “Cause I just don’t have that kind of jurisdiction." I giggled a little to myself as he spoke, causing him to poke me in my side, making me jump.

             “I’ve already got it. I didn’t wanna say something in front of the cop.” She said, making Dean laugh a little. “I stole it off the lawyer’s desk. I just had to see it for myself.”

             “All right.” He said grabbing me, pulling me after him out of the house.  

                We were back at Rebecca’s house playing the security tape. Dean was sitting on the couch, I was on the arm rest next to him, his arm resting around my hips and Sam was sitting in the arm chair across from us.

             “Here he comes.” Rebecca said, pointing to the TV. The tape was showing Zack going into the house.

             “22:04, that’s just after ten.” Dean started. “You said time of death was about 10:30.”

             “Our lawyers hired some kind of video expert. He says the tape’s authentic. It wasn’t tampered with.” She told him. I had been intently watching the tape when I noticed his eyes. Sam must have noticed it too because he spoke up.

             “Hey, Bec? Can we take those beers now?”

             “Oh, sure.”

             “Hey.” He said, getting her attention. “Maybe some sandwiches, too?”

             “What do you think this is, Hooters?” She sassed at Sam before leaving the room.

             “I wish.” Dean said. I smacked him in the back of the head as we got up to walk over to Sam. He retaliated by pinching my ass, causing me to glare at him. Of course, he just shrugged. “What is it?”

             “Check this out.” He said, rewinding the tape to show Dean what we had caught.

             “Watch his eyes.” I said as Sam hit play.

             “Well, maybe it’s just a camera flare.” Dean said.

             “That’s not like any camera flare I’ve ever seen.” Sam said. “You know, a lot of cultures believe that a photograph can catch a glimpse of the soul.”

             “Right.”

             “Remember that dog that was freakin’ out? Maybe he saw this thing. Maybe this is some kind of dark double of Zack’s, something that looks like him, but isn’t him.”

             “Like a Doppleganger.”

             “Yeah. It’d explain how he was in two places at once.” Sam said just as Rebecca brought us the beers. We left shortly after that, Sam telling her we needed to get some sleep, mull over what we had learned. We were in the car, driving to the motel when Dean spoke up.

             “Princess, can you talk to dogs?”

             “Ummm… what?” I asked.

             “Dogs, can you talk to them?”

             “The hell do you come up with these questions, Winchester?”

             “Just answer the damn question.” He said, rolling his eyes at me.

             “No?” I said. “Why are you asking?”

             “Well, you know…” He started “You got claws and fangs, Valkyrie said she’s your wolf, you get all growly…” He trailed off. “You know, just forget I said anything.”

             “Yeah… sure.” I said as we pulled up to the motel.

             “I’ll go get us a room.” He mumbled as he all but ran out of the car.

             “Dude, I think you embarrassed him.” Sam chuckled.

             “He did it to himself.” I defended. “No one told him to ask me that.”

             “He likes you, you know.”

             “What makes you say that.”

             “He’s different with you.” Was all Sam was able to get out before Dean rejoined us, pulling the car over to a parking spot in front of one of the doors. He got out of the car and opened my door, before walking to the trunk to get our bags.

             “Only two beds, no couch. Looks like you’re stuck with me again, Princess.” He didn’t look at me when he said it, but I could still hear Sam’s words ringing in my ears.

             “Whatever will I do?” I said dramatically, hand on my chest. “Sam, save me!”

             “Alright, that’s enough.” Dean cut me off as Sam laughed at us, walking into the room. I just rolled my eyes at him as I turned to walk away, but he stopped me, a hand on my arm, pulling me back to him.

             “Did you just roll your eyes at me?” He asked, pushing me back against the car, caging me between his arms.

             “Maybe I did.” I said, looking up at him through my lashes.

             “What did I say about that, baby girl?” His voice was low, gravelly, as he spoke to me.

             “That I would regret it.” His hand had slid from the car, down to my hip where he pulled me into him, roughly. I could feel every single inch of him against me. He moved to nestle his head into my neck, leaving little nips with his teeth as he moved.

             “Did you think I was kidding?” He whispered against my skin. My breath caught in my throat as my hands tangled themselves in his hair.

             “Dean…” I whispered, arching my back into him. I could feel the smirk on his face when he felt me move.

             “You guys coming?” Sam’s voice called out from the motel room, causing me to jerk against Dean. He let out a groan, letting his forehead fall against my shoulder.

             “Yeah, Sammy.” He yelled back. He raised his head from my shoulder before leaning it against mine. He took a deep breath before backing up, picking up the bags and walking into the room. I had to take a minute, my legs were shaky and I needed to steady my breathing before I could even think of moving.

             ‘The hell was that?’

             ‘That was your bond with the older Winchester. It will only grow stronger.’

             ‘What kind of bond. What are you talking about?’ She didn’t answer me as I finally gathered myself enough to follow him into the room. I didn’t bother with a shower, just went into the bathroom and changed into Dean’s flannel before falling into bed. Sam was already snoring away and Dean was laid down by the time I got done and crawled into bed myself. When I got under the covers, Dean wasted no time in grabbing me, pulling me into him. I turned to face him, my head resting on his chest when his hand came up, lifting my chin to look at him.

             “Good night, Princess.” He said, lowering his face to me, lips grazing mine. I don’t know what came over me at that moment, but I couldn’t handle just a small, chaste kiss, so before he could pull away, I reached up and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him closer to me, pouring emotions I didn’t even know I was feeling into that kiss. He gripped my neck, deepening the kiss causing me to let out a small moan in the back of my throat. His hand slipped down my neck, fingers grazing my skin till they came to rest on my thigh, pulling on it till it laid across his waist. His grip was tightening the longer he kissed me, pulling me into him. There was nothing quite like kissing Dean Winchester. He pulled his head back, lips moving across my cheek and down to my neck, nipping and sucking at the skin there, pulling more sounds from my throat. I couldn’t help the roll of my hips when it happened, but he didn’t seem to mind, pulling me into him even more.

             “Baby girl, we gotta stop.” He said, making me whine. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, but I am not going to have your first time with Sam 4 feet away from us.” He whispered against my lips.

             “That would be great.” Sam’s voice piped up, causing me to jump in Dean’s arms.

             “Holy shit, Sam, I thought you were asleep.”

             “Surprise!” He said sarcastically. “Now shut the fuck up and go to sleep.”

             “Sorry!” I squeaked out, hiding my face in Dean’s chest. He was just laughing throughout the whole thing. Placing a kiss to my forehead, he settled down and pulled me to lay on his chest. My eyes drifted closed. I’ve always had a hard time falling asleep, but here, in the arms of Dean Winchester, I had never felt more safe, more content… I fell asleep before my thoughts even finished. 

                “All right, so what are we doing’ here at 5:30 in the morning?” Dean asked, annoyance dripping from every syllable he spoke.

             “I realized something.” Sam said, walking away from us towards the house we were parked behind. “The videotape shows the killer going in, but not coming out.”

             “So, he came out the back door?” Dean asked him, coming up to lean against the hood of the Impala where I was. He had his jacket in his hand, wrapping it around my shoulders before settling next to me.

             “Right. So, there should be a trail to follow. A trail the police would never pursue.”

             “Cause they think the killer never left.” Dean started, picking up Sam’s trail of thought. He handed me a Chai, though I must have really been out of it, because I don’t even remember stopping to get it, but I smiled up at him gratefully, nonetheless. “And they caught your friend Zack inside. I still don’t know what we’re doing out here at 5:30 in the morning.”

             “I was comfortable.” I grumbled, leaning into Dean’s warmth.

             “Blood.” Sam said. He had been looking around, checking the outside walls and surroundings for any sign that our target had come this way. “Somebody came this way.” He continued, pointing at the telephone pole, blood smeared on it.

             “Yeah, but the trail ends. I don’t see anything over here.” Dean told him, looking at the ground around the Impala. An ambulance drove by at that moment, the loud siren splitting into my head causing me to whine against Dean’s shoulder. “You okay, Princess?”

             “That was just really loud.” I told him, nodding my head to let him know I was okay.

             “Has it always been that way?” He asked me, ushering me up to follow his brother, who had walked off to investigate where the ambulance had gone.

             “It’s been getting worse, but I’ve always had really sensitive hearing.”

             “Worse, how?”

             “Everything is more intense.”

             “We’ll have to see if we can figure something out for that.” He said before we reached where Sam was standing, observing the scene. “What happened?” Dean leaned up and asked the woman standing in front of in the ever growing crowd.

             “He tried to kill his wife.” She answered him. “Tied her up and beat her.”

             “Really?” Sam asked.

             “I used to see him going to work in the morning. He’d wave, say hello. He seemed like such a nice guy.” She said, watching the guy get loaded into the back of a police car. Sam just shook his head before he put his hand on my back, guiding me away from the crowd, Dean right behind us.

             “Hey, I’ll be right back.” Dean said over his shoulder as he walked away, towards the cops surrounding the house.

             “You two seemed…” Sam began, trailing off. “Awfully cozy last night and this morning.” I couldn’t help the blush that hit my cheeks.

             “He kissed me…” I told him, hiding my face in the cup Dean had gotten for me.

             “I know… I heard… though I REALLY wish I hadn’t.” He said, voice colored in annoyance, but his eyes were teasing.

             “No, before that.”

             “Oh?”

             “The night we finished up the Bloody Mary case? Remember that?”

             “Yeah…” He said. “Oh wait, when he told me to wait in the car?”

             “That would be it.”

             “And?”

             “Do you really want me to talk to you about my romantic feelings towards your brother, Sasquatch?" I asked incredulously.

             “Hey, you’re my best friend. He’s my brother. And while the two of you together, literally makes my head hurt, I couldn’t be any happier for either of you.” He said, all hints of teasing were gone. “All we have is each other. I remember, when I was still with Jess…” he began to say, pain evident in his tone. “Sometimes I needed to talk to someone about it. The good, the bad, the completely unimportant little things…”

             “I don’t know what we are. He kissed me. We made out last night, but I don’t KNOW anything.”

             “Have you asked him?”

             “Really, Sammy? Asking Dean to talk about feelings? That’s gonna go over well.” I answered him sarcastically.

             “I think…” He began, seeing Dean jogging back towards us. “You’d be surprised what you could get out of him, if you just asked.”

             “Hey.” Dean’s voice called out, effectively ending the conversation. “Remember when I said this wasn’t our kind of problem?” He asked us.

             “Yeah.” Sam and I both answered at the same time.

             “Definitely our kind of problem.”

             “Ohhhhhh Sasquatch, he’s saying he was wrong!!!” I said, swatting him in the arm, earning a glare from the older Winchester.

             “Hush, you.” He said, putting his hand over my mouth. I giggled, but didn’t say anything else as I listened to them talk.       

             “What’d you find out?” Sam asked him, amusement in his eyes as he watched us. Dean still had his hand over my mouth, so I stuck my tongue out and licked his palm. What I’m not going to tell you is how the taste of his skin on my tongue made my brain short circuit. Pulling his hand back, he made a disgusted face, but then a smirk pulled at his lips.

             “Brat.” He said, stepping closer to me, crowding me against the Impala before he turned, leaning against it as he spoke to Sam, his arm around my waist, holding me against him. His fingers had found their way under the hem of my shirt, slowly stroking the skin on my hip bone. Very distracting, if I do say so myself. “Well, I just talked to the patrolman who was first on the scene, heard this guy, Alex’s story. Apparently the dude was driving home from a business trip when his wife was attacked.”

             “So, he was two places at once.”

             “Exactly. Then he sees himself in the house, police think he’s a nutjob.”

             “Two dark doubles attacking loved ones in exactly the same way.”

             “Could be the same thing doin’ it, too.” Dean said. I looked up between the brothers, Sam deep in thought, before I spoke up.

             “Shapeshifter?” I asked, Dean shrugged, but Sam looked up to meet my gaze.

             “Something that can make itself look like anyone?” He asked me.

             “Every culture in the world has shapeshifter lore.” Dean said.

             “You know, legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men.” I finished.

             “Right, skinwalkers, werewolves.” Sam said, listing a couple of the creatures we knew of for certain.

             “We’ve got two attacks within blocks of each other. I’m guessing we’ve got a shapeshifter prowlin’ the neighborhood.” Dean said.

             “Let me ask you this…” Sam began. “In all this shapeshifter lore, can any of them fly?”

             “Not that I know of.”

             “I picked up the trail here.” He said, gesturing to the back of the house. “Someone ran out of the back of this building and headed off this way.”

             “Just like your friend’s house.”

             “Yeah. And, just like at Zack’s house, the trail suddenly ends. I mean, whatever it is just disappeared.”

             “Not necessarily.” I said. Both boys turned to look at me when I spoke. “When I was on my own, sometimes I would sleep underground to get away from the elements.” I explained.

             “Well, there’s one way to go down.” Dean said, pointing to the manhole not too far away from us.

             “Great….” I began, trailing off. “You guys are gonna love this.” I watched the brothers struggling to get the manhole cover off before I intervened. “Move, move.” I said, reaching down and with one hand, pulled it up and tossed it aside over by the building.

             “You couldn’t have done that earlier?” Sam sassed at me.

             “You guys were doing so well…” I giggled. Sammy Winchester’s bitch face was in full effect, causing me to laugh even harder, but Dean came up behind me, grabbing me, pulling me into him.

             “Real cute, princess.”

             “I thought it was.” I said, stepping away from him as Sam started down into the manhole. When it was my turn, I started down the ladder as Dean spoke up.

             “Eyes up, Princess. Focus.” He said.

             “Yes, sir.” I told him, looking up at him from where I standing on the ladder. He bit his lip at that, but didn’t say anything. His eyes had darkened as he nodded at me. I reached the bottom and looked around, waiting for Dean to join us. Sam had his flashlight out, pointing it in every direction he could, before accidently shining it right in my eyes. “Fuck, Sasquatch!” I said, holding my hand up to my face. It had burned my eyes and now I was having to adjust to the sudden, bright intrusion.

             “Hey, your eyes…” he said.

             “What about her eyes?” Dean asked, having just joined us.

             “They flashed when the light hit them. Like an animal.”

             “Let me see.” Dean demanded. I knew it wasn’t going to be fun, but I would let him see regardless, so I lowered my hand and looked at them as Sam directed the flashlight beam at me again. “Holy shit, they do.” He said. Sam hadn’t shoved the light directly into my eyes that time, so the adjustment wasn’t as bad.

             “What’s wrong?” I asked, seeing the worry clouding Dean’s face.

             “It’s nothing…” He said trailing off, but when I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me, he sighed. “They just reminded me of the video from last night.” I dropped his arm quickly as he spoke, backing up a little. That video was of a creature who was running around, brutally murdering people… I couldn’t be like that, right?

             “Hey, hey.” Sam said, grabbing both of my arms, making me face him. “You’re not like this thing, okay? Having a similar feature doesn’t mean you’re going to go around killing people, okay?” He had hit that one right on the head, I thought to myself.

             “How do you know for sure?” I asked quietly. I tried to reach out to Val, but she was suspiciously quiet right now.

             “Look at me, Princess.” Dean said, coming to stand beside us. I turned my face to look up at him. “You are nothing like this thing.” He began, bringing his hand up to my back, running his fingers up and down my spine. “You’re a pain in my ass, but you are good. You are so good.” He encouraged.

             “You are kind and you do everything you can to help someone.” Sam continued. “That thought alone makes you one of the good guys, regardless of what you are.”

             “Promise?” I asked, looking down at the ground. Sam pulled me into a tight hug, like he was trying to shield me.

             “We both promise.” Dean’s voice came from behind us, his hand still on my back. Closing my eyes, I nodded my head, fighting the tears before I pulled away, running a hand over my face.

             “Fuck…” I said, pulling away from Sam. “I’m sorry. We have a murderer to catch.” Chuckling a little as I looked around, my eyes flashing so I could see better.

             “I bet this runs right by Zack’s house, too.” Sam said after a brief pause. He cleared his throat before continuing. “The shapeshifter could be using the sewer system to get around.”

             “I think you’re right.” Dean said. He had walked a little ways away from us exploring, and was now knelt down on the ground. "Look at this.” He was pointing at a small gooey pile of what looked like blood and pieces of skin.

             “Is that from his victims?” Sam asked, watching Dean take his pocketknife out of his pocket and lift up a piece out of the pile.

             “You know, I just had a sick thought. When a shapeshifter changes shape – maybe it sheds.”

             “That is sick.” Sam said as I scrunched my nose at the thought.

             “Let’s get out of here.” I said to the boys, leading them back to the ladder and out of the sewers.

             “Well, one thing I learned from Dad, is that no matter what kind of shapeshifter it is, there’s one sure way to kill it.” Dean said, opening up the trunk and propping open the special compartment with that shotgun.

             “Silver bullet to the heart.” Sam answered him.

             “That’s right.” Sam’s phone ringing cut off the conversation as he pulled it out, answering it.

             “This is Sam.” He said, turning to walk away from the car.

             “Who is it?” Dean asked me.

             “Rebecca. And she doesn’t sound happy.” I told him.

             “What’s she saying?”

             “She’s yelling at him for lying to her. She talked to the lawyer, found out you weren’t actually a cop.”

             “Bec –“ Sam started but she cut him off again.

             “Damn…” I trailed off looking at Dean. “She is big mad at him.” Dean chuckled a little as Sam hung up the phone and rejoined us by the car.

             “I hate to say it, but that’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Dean began. “You lie to your friends because if they knew the real you, they’d be freaked. It’s just – it’d be easier if –“

             “If I was like you, two.” Sam cut him off.

             “Hey, don’t bring me into this.” I said.

             “Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people.” Dean told him, ignoring me. “But I’ll tell you one thing. This whole gig – it ain’t without perks.” He said, holding out a gun for Sam, handing me one as well before putting his Colt in his jeans, closing the trunk and walking back towards the sewer. Once we were back down in the sewers Sam took up the lead, heading further down the tunnel.

             “I think we’re close to its lair.” Dean quipped.

             “Why do you say that?” Sam asked him.

             “Because there’s another puke-inducing pile next to your face.” He said, pointing with his flashlight to the pipe running right next to Sam’s head.

             “Oh, God.” Sam said, completely disgusted. He jumped back a little when he saw it, causing me to giggle a little.

             “Hush, shortcake, or I’ll pick you up and rub your face in it.”

             “You wouldn’t…” I trailed off, backing up away from him a little.

             “Looks like it’s lived here for a while.” Dean cut in.

             “Who knows how many murders he’s gotten away with?” Sam said. I smelled him before I saw him. Dirt, blood and something tangy, wild and overall unpleasant. “Dean!” Sam yelled out causing both Dean and I to spin around finding the shapeshifter there, still looking like the dude that had gotten arrested earlier, standing behind Dean. I started moving before I even realized what I was doing, but the shapeshifter punched Dean, right in the side of the head, causing him to crumple, before I reached him. Sam pulled his gun out, shooting after him, but I wasn’t watching to see if anything connected. As soon as I reached Dean, I dropped to the ground next to him, pulling him up to a sitting position, wincing as my hand touched his shoulder, Sam right behind me.

             “Get the son of a bitch!” Dean growled out, pushing me away as he stood up. He was pissed. We raced over to the ladder, heading up and out of the sewers in pursuit, but when we got topside, we didn’t see him anywhere. I tried following his scent, but there were so many people around and we were right next to a park, I couldn’t pick it up.

             “All right, let’s split up.” Sam spoke up.

             “All right, I’ll meet you around the other side.” Dean said, turning and taking off before I could say anything.

             “I’ll head into the park, look there. Meet you at the car?” I asked Sam, watching him nod at me, then turn and walk the opposite direction his brother took. I jogged over to the small park, trying to pick up the scent, find a trace of his face, anything to help with locating him, but came up empty. After several minutes, I made my way back to the car, beating the boys. I was leaning against the drivers side when I caught sight of Sam, Dean appearing a few seconds later.

             “Hey.” Dean called out, causing Sam to turn to face him. “Anything?”

             “No. He’s gone.”

             “All right, let’s get back to the car.” Dean spoke up, pausing to let a car pass, before he crossed the street.

             “You think he found another way underground?” Sam asked.

             “Yeah, probably. You got the keys?” Dean asked, Sam stopped walking and looked at me before turning to his brother. I could feel the uncertainty and tension rolling off Sam, but I couldn’t place why.

             “Hey, didn’t Dad once face a shapeshifter in San Antonio?” Sam asked him.

             “Oh, that was Austin.” He said. I remembered reading about that in John’s journal. “It turned out not to be a shapeshifter, it was a thought form. A psychic projection, remember?”

             “Oh, right. Here ya go.” Sam responded, tossing the keys to Dean. When he threw his hand up to catch the keys, it hit me. The smell of dirt and blood and that wild spice I couldn’t place. Not leather and pine. This was NOT Dean. “Don’t move!” Sam yelled, turning back around and raising his gun. “What have you done with him?”

             “Dude, chill. It’s me, all right?”

             “No, I don’t think so. Where’s my brother?”

             “You’re about to shoot him. Sam, calm down.” He said, turning to me next. “Nik, tell him.”

             “You aren’t Dean. Sam calls me by my middle name, not you. You’ve never once in the whole time we’ve known each other called me Nik.”

             “You caught those keys with your left.” Sam said, cutting me off and drawing the attention back to himself. “Your shoulder was hurt.”

             “Yeah, it’s better. What do you want me to do, cry?” Okay, so that was something Dean would say, but the smell, coupled with the nickname… I was convinced this wasn’t Dean.

             “You’re not my brother.”

             “Why don’t you pull the trigger, then? Hm?” ‘Dean’ said, goading Sam on. “Cause you’re not sure. Dude, you know me.”

             “Don’t.” Sam said as ‘Dean’ took a step towards him. I was silently watching, trying to figure out what was going on when he hit Sam with a crowbar, knocking him out before turning on me.

             “Come on, doll. It’s your turn.” He said, walking towards me. I could do this, It’s just Dean’s face, not actually Dean. He lunged at me, swinging the crowbar towards my face, but I caught it before it connected with my head, pushing him back against the car. He recovered fast, bending, then swinging his leg in a wide arch, knocking my feet out from under me. I landed on my back, head cracking against the pavement, causing everything to lose focus for a moment, but a moment was all it took. He was on top of me, straddling me. He was stronger than I was expecting and caught off guard, he got my arms gathered in one hand and trapped against my chest.

             “Sorry, doll. This will only hurt for a moment.” He said, then everything went black. 

                When I woke up, I could feel my arms tied up above my head, chains wrapped around my body where I was sat on the ground, secured to a metal beam. There was no give, so I couldn’t wiggle around to get any leverage and I could barely breathe.

             “Where is he?” I heard Sam’s voice breaking through the silence, but he sounded far away. “Where’s Dean?”

             “I wouldn’t worry about him.” Came Dean’s voice, the shapeshifter. “I’d worry about you.”

             “Where is he? Where’s Freya?”

             “You don’t really wanna know.” He said, laughing to himself. “I swear, the more I learn about you and your family – I thought I came from a bad background.”

             “What do you mean, learn?” Sam asked, a groan coming from the shapeshifter after a second.

             “He’s sure got issues with you. You got to go to college. He had to stay home. I mean, I had to stay home. With dad.” He corrected himself. “You don’t think I had dreams of my own? But dad needed me. Where the hell were you?”

             “Where is my brother and Freya?”

             “I am your brother. Don’t worry about pretty little Freya, I have plans for her.” He said, pausing for a second. “See, deep down, I’m just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I’m a freak. And sooner or later, everybody’s gonna leave me.” I heard shuffling and what sounded like footsteps before Sam spoke up.

             “What are you talking about?” I could hear the confusion in his voice.

             “You left. Hell, I did everything dad asked me to, and he ditched me too. No explanation, nothing, just poof. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this life? It’s not without it’s perks.” He laughed. “I meet the nicest people. Like Freya. You know, you don’t know half of the deep, dark, depraved things he thinks about her. If it wasn’t for her, Dean would bang little Becky if he had the chance. Let’s see what happens.” I heard more shuffling and then more footsteps before the shapeshifter came into my view.

             “Oh good, you’re awake.” He said, stopping next to me. He knelt down, lifting his hand to run the back of his fingers against my check. “You’re skin is so soft. You should hear the thoughts he has about you.” He said, his hand had slid down from my face, tracing the vein in my neck before skimming down my chest. He then gripped my shirt in his hands, yanking it open causing the buttons to fly everywhere, exposing my bra to his disgustingly greedy eyes. “The things he wants to do to you, what I want to do to you, how I want to mark your skin up, make you feel me for days…” He trailed off.

             “Please…” I said, tears springing to my eyes. “Stop.”

             “You don’t really want that, do you, doll?” He asked, rough hands cupping my breasts tightly, causing pain to shoot through me. I tried to kick my legs out at him, get him away from me, but he moved to sit on them, pinning them down. I couldn’t move any part of my body and the panic was starting to sit in. My eyes were glowing, I could tell that much, and I could finally feel Val in the back of my head again.

             ‘Let me in. Relax and let me handle this.’ She whispered in my head. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, but I let my instinct guide me and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, in the same moment, he had ripped my bra in half, completely exposing me to the air. Next thing I know, it was like I was riding backseat in my own body. I could see everything, hear everything, feel everything, but I wasn’t in control. Valkyrie took over my body.

             “Get off of me.” She spoke, a deep growl coming from my chest, causing him to pause. His eyes widened as he lifted his head to look at me. She lifted my legs, causing him to fall backwards before she kicked out, sending him flying back. When he stood, I swear he almost looked scared before his face hardened again, eyes sharp as he took me in.

             “I’ve got business to attend to, but when I get back. You’re going to regret that.” He threatened as he stomped out, leaving me tied to the pole, my shirt hanging open and limply on either side of me. She gave me back control as soon as he was gone. I have no idea how long I sat there, trying so hard to get out of the chains before I heard Sam curse from the other room.

             “Damn it.”

             “That better be you, Sam, and not that freak of nature.” I hear Dean’s voice speak up, immediately causing me to tense up again.

             “Yeah, it’s me.” Sam laughed. I could hear more rustling before I heard footsteps. “He went to Rebecca’s, looking like you.”

             “Well, he’s not stupid. He picked the handsome one.” Dean’s voice spoke up again. What he said was funny, I won’t lie, but I couldn’t get past the way the shapeshifter spoke using his voice. I could hear the sound of ropes and more rustling.

             “Yeah, that’s the thing. He didn’t just look like you, he was you. Or he was becoming you.”

             “What do you mean?”

             “You mean, like the Vulcan mind meld?” And he calls Sam and I nerds…

             “Yeah, something like that. I mean, maybe that’s why he doesn’t just kill us.”

             “Maybe he needs to keep us alive. Psychic connection.” Dean said. I could hear the ropes fall and Dean helping Sam up. “Where’s Freya, she’s not in here, she wasn’t back there.”

             “I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me. He said he had plans for her.”

             “That fucking thing better not have touched her. I’ll kill him.”

             “Dean, I’m sure she’s fine. She’s stronger than both of us combined and smarter too.”

             “I’ll skin it alive if he hurt her.” Dean growled out.

             ‘You need to tell them you’re in here.’

             ‘I can’t…’ I whimpered in my head.

             ‘Then I will.’ She said as another deep growl released from my chest.

             “Did you hear that?” Dean said. “It came from in here.” I could only hear the sound of their footsteps before the brothers came into view. Sam noticed me first, the color draining from his face as he got Dean’s attention. When his eyes locked on my frame, the fury I could feel radiating off him was almost suffocating. “I’m going to rip the skin off his bones.” He said, making his way over to me. The moment he reached me, he picked up the pieces of my shirt, trying to cover me, but not completely succeeding. “Are you hurt?” He asked, looking over the chains, trying to figure out how to get me out.

             “No…” I whispered. He paused at that, eyes searching my face as he noticed my hesitation to interact with him. He started to back away, his hands held out in front of me like a peace offering, before he spoke again.

             “Sam, I’m gonna look for a key. See if you can find another way to get her out of those.” He said, eyes still on mine. I tried so hard to hold his gaze, but I was having a really hard time right then. When he reached the door frame, he turned and headed out into the rest of the sewer.

             “Are you okay?” Sam asked softly.

             “I’m fine.” I answered.

             “Freya, are you okay?” He asked again. This time, I just looked up at him trying to fight the tears in my eyes.

             “I will be.” He didn’t say anything else, just walked around behind me, tugging on the chains.

             “There’s a lock up here, securing the chains to the top of the poll.” He explained. Dean reappeared a few seconds later with a large pipe wrench in his hands.

             “I couldn’t find a key, but this should break the lock.” He handed it over to Sam, ensuring he stayed where I could see him at all times. The loud clanking of metal against metal rang in my ears making me flinch every time Sam swung at the lock, until I finally heard a thud where it fell to the floor, the chains loosening around me and my arms falling to my sides. “Can I help you, princess? Please let me help you.” He all but begged, but still he didn’t come any closer to me until I nodded. “Sam, your shirt.” He said. Sam pulled off one of his shirts, handing it to Dean without question, as they both worked to get the chains off me. I kept my eyes glued to Dean the entire time. Logically, I knew that this was the real Dean. My Dean. Not the monster who had touched me, who had hurt me, but my mind just wouldn’t make the connection. I couldn’t help the flinch every time he moved and I could see the hurt in his eyes, but he never said anything about it. When the chains were finally gone off of me, he helped me sit up further, pulling the scraps of my shirt and bra off of me, Sam turning his back, before he helped me slide into the shirt his brother had handed him. “Can you walk?” He asked.

             “Yeah.” I whispered, moving my eyes to the floor.

             “Don’t do that.” He whispered back. “Don’t ever be afraid to look at me, please.” He said, his fingers grazing my chin before he seemed to remember himself and dropped his hand.

             “I’m sorry.”

             “Do not apologize.” He said sternly, slightly pushing me towards Sam. “Let’s get you out of here.” Sam wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we followed Dean, trying to locate the exit. He found a small window at the top of the wall, leading out into the street, turning and pointing it out to us. “Here.” Sam let go of me long enough to push open the window and pull himself out. He turned back around to me, reaching out his hands for me to hold onto as he helped me out of the window, Dean following right after.

             “Come on. We gotta find a phone, call the police.” Sam said, arm wrapped back around me.

             “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re gonna put an APB out on me?” Dean asked, but Sam just shrugged.

             “Sorry.” He said as Dean walked past us, looking back and forth down the alley before heading left.

             “This way.” He led us down the alley and out into the street, in front of a few stores before the news caught my attention. I tugged on the back of Sam’s jacket to get his attention, his eyes settling on mine in confusion before I nodded towards the TV in the window.

             “Man! That’s not even a good picture.” Dean complained, noticing what we were looking at.

             “It’s good enough.” Sam responded, pulling me along with him away from the news.

             “Man!” Dean exclaimed, following behind us and into another alley.

             “Come on.” He said. “They said attempted murder. At least we know –“ Sam trailed off.

             “I didn’t kill her.” Dean finished for him, my stomach dropping at his words. It wasn’t him.

             “We’ll check in with Rebecca in the morning, see if she’s all right.”

             “All right, but first, I wanna find that handsome devil and kick the holy crap out of him.”

             “We have no weapons. No silver bullets.” I spoke up for the first time, causing both brothers to stop walking.

             “The guy’s walkin’ around with my face, okay?” He said to me, a little harshly, but I knew it wasn’t directed at me. “It’s a little personal, I wanna find him. He hurt you.” His words caused me to look at the ground again, hearing a sigh leave him.

             “Okay, where do we look?” Sam asked.

             “Well, we could start with the sewers?” I tensed under Sam’s arm at those words.

             “We have no weapons. He stole our guns, we need more.” Sam said, reiterating my words.

             “The car?” I asked quietly.

             “I’m betting he drove over to Rebecca’s.” Dean answered, less venom in his voice, his eyes softening when he looked at me.

             “The news said he fled on foot. I bet it’s still parked there.” Sam spoke up.

             “The thought of him driving my car…” Dean trailed off, getting worked up again.

             “All right, come on.” Sam said, tugging me with him.

             “It’s killing me!” Dean called from behind us and despite everything, I felt myself giggle a little, causing a soft smile to grace Dean’s lips for a moment.

             “Let it go.” Sam told him as we continued making our way to Rebecca’s house. 

                We were running down an ally lined with garage doors as we rounded the corner, finally finding what we had been searching for.

             “Oh, there she is! Finally, something went right tonight.” Dean spoke, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, a police car pulled into sight on the other side of Baby. “Oh, crap.” He said, turning around to head back in the direction we came from, but another one was pulling onto the end of that street as well. He paused, spinning in a circle trying to find us a way out. “This way, this way.” He said, moving towards the fence on the opposite side of us.

             “You go. I’ll hold them off.” Sam said, pushing me towards Dean, making me trip and fall, right into Dean’s arms.

             “What are you talking about? They’ll catch you.” Dean said.

             “Look, they can’t hold me. Just go, keep out of sight. Meet me at Rebecca’s.” He said, motioning for us to move. Dean had ushered me over to the fence, his hands on my waist, lifting me up to get over the fence. “Stay out of the sewers.” Dean was up and coming over the fence now, hand on my arm to guide me away. “I mean it. Take care of her.”

             “Yeah, yeah!” Dean yelled back, pushing me ahead of him and out of the backyard we had climbed into. I could hear the police cornering Sam back behind us.

             “Don’t move! Keep your hands where I can see them!”

             “Come on, Princess. Let’s find somewhere to lay low for the night.” He said, guiding me down the road and to a motel we had seen a few blocks down. He led me into the lobby, leading me to a chair in the corner. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” I nodded at him, but didn’t speak. He just sighed before walking off to get us a room. I took in the lobby of the motel I was sitting in, pale red walls, pink plastic chairs, a yellow phone sitting on the desk. Soon enough, Dean was coming back to get me. “They only had one room left, a single. I’ll sleep on the floor.” He said, helping me stand up, but again I didn’t say anything. He led me out of the motel and down the row of doors till we reached our room, unlocking it, then holding the door open for me to go in first.

             The first thing I noticed was, like he said, the single bed, sat right in the middle of the room, up against the wall. The second thing was the small fridge, sitting right on top of a very suspicious looking stain on the carpet. Dean brushed past me, walking up to the small round table and sitting down at one of the two chairs in the corner.

             “You probably want a shower.” He said. “I can run down the road and grab you some clean clothes while you’re in there, if you want.” He was trying, so hard, I could tell, but I just couldn’t make myself respond to him.

             ‘You’re closing yourself off to him.’

             ‘I don’t mean to. I’m trying.’

             ‘Breathe.’ She said to me.

             ‘I am.’

             ‘No, Freya, darling, breathe him in. Take in his scent. Smell him. It will help.’ Her words confused me, but I didn’t question what she was saying.

             “What?” Dean asked, he could tell I had been talking to her again. Instead of answering him, I made my way, slowly, across the room to stand in front of him, closing my eyes tightly. “Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

             “Don’t move.” I told him. With that, I leaned closer to him and took a deep breath. At first, all I could smell was the gross, damp motel room and the sweat on our skin, but slowly, leather and pine started to make it’s way into the air. Dean. It really was him, sitting here in front of me. I couldn’t stop myself as soon as his scent hit my nose. I crawled into his lap, burying my head in his neck, my arms wrapping around him and I just let go. Sobs tore through my body as his arms came up to hold me close to him. He didn’t say anything, he just held me as I cried, running his hand up and down my back, pressing kisses to my hair. I don’t know how long we stayed like that before I was able to get my crying under control, but he was patient with me.

             “Can you tell me what happened?” He asked me, causing me to tense again. “Please. I need to understand what happened.” He begged me. I couldn’t deny him that. I needed to tell him.

             “He was stronger than I expected. We fought for a minute, but he ended up knocking me out. When I woke up, he had me chained up to that pole. I…” I trailed off, tears stinging my eyes again. “When I first woke up, he was with Sam. I could hear them talking… then he came into the room I was in, talking about you and what you think about me… then he…” I paused, my breath catching in my throat.

             “Shhhh… you’re safe now, you’re safe.” He whispered, running his hand down my hair. “What did he do?”

             “He… ummm.. He ripped my shirt open… and then he… he touched me… He squeezed me… he hurt me…” I said, tears escaping my eyes again. “I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t make him stop…” I cried out, willing my body to stop shaking. I could feel the anger in Dean’s body as I spoke, but he kept himself in check.

             “Did he do anything else?”

             “No, he didn’t get a chance to. Valkyrie made him quit.” I told him.

             “What do you mean?”

             “I don’t know how, but she took over, like she was controlling me and I was just along for the ride.” He pulled back and looked into my eyes at that, worry clouding his features.

             “Can she do it whenever she wants?”

             ‘No. Only when you let me, or when you and yours are in grave danger.’ She whispered in my mind, so I relayed the message to him.

             ‘Can I speak to him?’

             “She wants to talk to you.” I could see the hesitation in his eyes, but he nodded his head, regardless. I lowered my head, closing my eyes before I let her take control, just like I had in the sewers.

             “Hello, Dean.”

             “Val.”

             “You don’t need to fear me. I wouldn’t ever hurt our mate.”

             “It’s not me, I’m concerned about.” He replied.

             “Let me explain. Freya and I, we are the same. Two souls combined in one body. Her needs and wants are my needs and wants and vise versa. If she dies, I die. If I burn, she burns. We are one. But that is not why I wanted to speak to you.”

             “What is it?” I felt him sit up a little straighter.

             “The shapeshifter, he really scared her. But it’s your scent that calms her. Your likeness may have been what caused her pain and distress, but only you can get her through this. Be patient with her. She needs you now more than ever.”

             “My scent?”

             “She can explain. Promise me you’ll take care of her.” He nodded at her words. “Use your words. Promise me.” She said, a little more harshly to him.

             “I promise. I will take care of her.” His voice was hard, determined. With a nod, my head dropped and Val moved to the back of my mind again. It was almost like I could see her curling up in my head, like a puppy getting ready for sleep.

             “I’m so sorry.” I told him, lifting my head back up to look at him. I was almost afraid of what I would see there.

             “Don’t be sorry, Princess.” He began. “She’s just worried about you, same as I am.” He shifted beneath me. “How about that shower?” He asked. Nodding, I stood up off of his lap. He stood up as well, going to head to the door.

             “Where are you going?” I asked him.

             “Just to get us something clean to wear. I’ll be right back. 10 minutes.”

             “Yeah, okay.” I said, sitting down on the bed.  

             “Why don’t you head to the shower while I’m out?”

             “No. No, I’ll wait for you.” I told him. He looked, tilting his head a little before he nodded, slipping out of the door and closing it behind him. I sat there, stuck in my head while I waited for him to come back. It’s crazy how something simple as your sense of smell can change everything for you. I wasn’t scared of Dean. No, I knew he would do anything to keep me safe, but I was scared of what would have happened if Val hadn’t of taken over like she did. I was mad at myself for letting me get caught in that situation in the first place. One thing is for sure, I needed to get better at hand to hand combat. I needed to ask the boys to train me. Help me understand how to defend myself better. Claws, fangs and brute strength could only get me so far, as tonight proved. I was still in the same position when he got back, my instincts driving me as I lunged, knocking him into the door, my arm braced across his throat.

             “It’s me, Freya. It’s me.” He said. His scent hit me as soon as he finished talking and I jerked back, dropping him in place.

             “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I repeated over and over to him, falling back against the bed and onto the floor. I pulled my knees into my chest, wrapping my arms around myself.

             “Princess, it’s okay. I’m okay. Look.” He said, taking my hand, placing it over his heart on his chest. I could feel the warmth seeping into my palm and I could feel his heart beating into my hand.

             “I’m sorry.”

             “It’s okay, everything is okay.” He said, standing up and pulling me up with him. “Let’s get you in that shower now.” He told me, guiding me to the bathroom. He sat me down on the toilet before turning the water on, getting it hot enough before turning to leave. My hand shot out, bragging him by the wrist before he could leave, but as soon as I touched him, I dropped his hand again.

             “I’m sorry.” I whispered.

             “What do you need, princess? Tell me.”

             “Don’t leave me…” I whispered back. He paused for a moment before he nodded. He seemed to know exactly what I needed as he reached down to pull Sam’s shirt up and over my head, before he knelt down on the floor in front of me. He reached up, unbuttoning my jeans before pulling them down my legs. His eyes stayed on mine the whole time, being respectful of my boundaries, but also making sure he was being attentive. He opened the curtain and helped me into the shower before closing it behind me. I made a move to stop him, but he spoke up, cutting me off.

             “I’m just getting undressed. I’m not going anywhere.” He assured me. I could hear his clothes hitting the ground before the curtain opened back up and he joined me. He ushered me forward under the water, stepping right up behind me. His arms came around my waist, pulling me back against his chest. I could feel myself relaxing into him the longer we stood there. He eventually pulled away, reaching up to grab the shampoo, squeezing out enough before putting it back. His hands made their way up, massaging the shampoo into my hair, kneading his fingers into my scalp. When he was done, he gently turned me around, tilting my head back so he could wash the shampoo out. Next he grabbed the soap, palming it in his hand before he began to lather my skin. When he reached my chest, though, I couldn’t help but freeze, remembering the pain that the shapeshifter inflicted on me.

             “I’m not going to hurt you.” He whispered.

             “Dean…” I started, trailing off. I was having a hard time telling him what I needed. What I needed from him.

             “What is it, Princess.”

             “I need you to do something for me.”

             “Anything.” And I could tell that he meant it. In that moment, he truly meant it. If I wanted him to go out, right now, and rip the spine out of that shapeshifter, he would find a way to do it. If I asked him to get on his knees and wash my feet, he’d do it. He’d do it for me.

             “I need you to erase his memory.”

             “What do you mean?”

             “What he did…” I trailed off. “I need you to replace it. I need to know your hands, not his. I need to know how you feel, not him.” I said, tears stinging my eyes again. He turned me around to face him cupping my face before he leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. This kiss was different than the others we had shared. It wasn't hot or demanding or needy, it was sweet and caring. It was gentle. 

                        “Show me what you need.” he said, pulling back from the kiss. I nodded, leaning up to kiss him again as I gripped his wrist, moving his hand down my neck and over my collar bone. I broke the kiss is his hand reached my chest. 

                        “Here,” I told him, holding his hand across my breast. “He squeezed so hard, it hurt so bad…” I trailed off. He didn't say anything, not at first, just stared down at me in quiet contemplation for a moment before he spoke.

                         “Do you trust me?” 

                         “Completely.” I answered him. He nodded his head before he reached around me to turn off the water, pulling the curtain back and guiding me to get out of the shower. He grabbed one of the towels, wrapping it around my body before drying himself off, leaving his towel in the bathroom. He guided me into the room, pushing me towards the bed.

“Lay down for me.” He said, his hands only leaving me to help up on the bed, following me before settling above me once I reached the pillows. “If you want to stop, for any reason, at all, you say the word and this ends.” he told me, pushing my hair back from my face. I nodded at him, lifting my hands to cup his face and bring him down to me. His weight was comfortable, safe, as he laid on top of me, his scent surrounding me, calming my broken mind. His kisses were still sweet as he moved his lips against mine, never taking more than I would give him. Pulling away, he trailed his lips across my cheek and down my neck, nipping and sucking at the soft flesh below my ear. It shot heat straight through my body, making me arch against him. Once again, his hand found my body, starting at the top of the towel, where it was tied together. Pulling back, he looked at me, hand resting on the towel, waiting for me to say yes or no before he moved.  

“I’m okay.” I whispered, moving my own hands up to help me undo the towel. It fell away from my body, falling open against the bed under us.  

“Beautiful...” He whispered against the skin of my neck, his tongue darting out to lick up a drop of water left over from the shower. His hand found it’s way to my hip, fingers trailing fire along my skin as he moved higher. When he reached his destination, he pulled back. “Here?” He asked, palming my breast in his large, calloused palm. I nodded my head as he started to move, his hand gently kneading the skin, thumb brushing over my nipple. He was so gentle in his actions that I almost started crying again. He pulled back from my neck to look at me again. “Okay?”  

“Okay.” I whispered back, arching against him again when his thumb swept over me again. He bent down, attaching his lips to my throat, before moving lower, leaving kisses and nips across my collarbones until he reached the valley between my breasts. He left open-mouthed kisses, trailing the skin with his tongue before he made his way to my right nipple, swirling his tongue around the bud before sucking it into his mouth. I couldn’t keep in the sounds that made their way out of my mouth, my back once again arching into him, seeking everything he was willing to give me. His thigh moved between my legs, pressing up against my core as he continued his ministrations.  

“So sensitive...” he said, pulling back to move to the other side, not wanting to neglect it. “I wonder if I can make you cum, just from this?” He wondered out loud to himself. When he sucked my other nipple into his mouth, causing my back to arch again, it made me grind down on his thigh, shooting pleasure through my entire body. I let out a moan at that, my body deciding to repeat the motion before I could even comprehend what was happening. “There you go, good girl.” He whispered, gripping my hip with his free hand, guiding me to move along his thigh. “Take what you need.” I found his lips on mine again as I kissed him, but this time, I let my desperation leak into it. His tongue made it’s way into my mouth, licking deep as it caressed mine. I didn’t know if I was doing it right, but when I sucked on his tongue, the deep groan it pulled from his chest fueled my actions. I could feel the tension building in my lower stomach, the knot was tightening and I was so close to coming undone when he pulled away. “You’re doing so good for me.” He whispered, his mouth finding my nipple again right as that band snapped. Sounds I never knew I could make had left me, my hands gripping his shoulders as I saw stars. I’ve had orgasms before, but never one given to me by someone else. I couldn’t even begin to explain how intense the moment was as he helped guide me through my high. When I slumped back limply against the mattress, he leaned down, kissed me softly before brushing the hair away from my face. “That was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” He said to me before helping me get the towel out from under me, cleaning me up and raising to get the clothes he had picked up for us. He helped me get dressed, sliding my shirt over my arms, pulling my underwear up my legs before he threw on a pair of boxers. I pulled back the covers, motioning him to join me, and as we settled I turned to him.  

“What about you?” I asked him, concerned that I had gotten off, but he was left unsatisfied.  

“What about me?”  

“You didn’t... you know.” I gestured down to his legs but he understood what I meant.  

“This wasn’t about me. I’m perfectly fine.”  

“Are you sure?”  

“Sleep, princess.” He said with a kiss to my hair. I swear, I don’t know what it is about this man, but it was like my whole body heard his command and was just like, sure, okay, yeah. I fell asleep before I even fully settled against him. 

The next morning, I woke up, reaching out for Dean, but the bed was cold. Raising my head, I found a note on the bedside table, written in Dean’s messy handwriting. 

‘Princess, I know Sam told me not too, and you’re probably going to be really mad at me for it, but I went back to the sewers to find this son of a bitch. I didn’t want to wake you or make you go back down there with me after everything that happened. You don’t need that kind of shit. I got this. I’ll be back before you know it.’ 

‘I’m gonna kill him.’ 

‘He’s doing what he thinks he needs to, to protect you.’ 

‘I’m still gonna kill him.’ I jumped up, throwing on the clothes he had left and rushed out the door, following his scent that still lingered in the air.  I really need to get myself a cell phone... I followed his scent until it led me to the same manhole cover I had pulled up yesterday, but just as I was about to go down it, I heard voices coming up from inside.  

“Rebecca?” Dean’s voice called out. “What happened?” I could hear her crying and the rustling of what sounded like rope coming up through the opening. 

“I was walking home, and everything just went white. Someone hit me over the head, and I wound up here just in time to see that thing turn into me. I don’t know, how is that even possible?” She asked him.  

“Okay, okay. It’s okay.” Dean told her, the sound of ropes hitting the ground reached my ears. “Come on. Can you walk?” There was a pause before he spoke again. “Okay, we’ve gotta hurry. Sam went to see you.” The sound of their foot steps got louder as the reached the opening of the manhole. Rebecca was up first, noticing me as I offered her my hand to help her out.  

“Are you okay?” I asked her, hoping he didn’t do to her, what he did to me.  

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She answered me.  

“Did he...” I trailed off, having a hard time finding the right words. Dean was up out of the manhole and watching our interaction.  

“Did he touch you?” Dean finished for me. I shot him a grateful look before turning back to her.  

“No, no he didn’t touch me.” I let out a sigh of relief as she spoke. Good.  

“We need to move.” I spoke up, turning back to Rebecca. “How far to your house?” I asked her.

Reaching Rebecca’s house, I could hear the shapeshifter speaking to Sam in the house, taking off running, leaving Dean and Rebecca outside.  

“I must say, I will be sorry to lose this skin. Your brother’s got a lot of good qualities. You should really appreciate him more than you do.” I heard him pause as I snuck into the room. “Cheers.” I could hear a scuffle break out in the house, signaling a fight. “Oh, you son of a bitch. Not bad little brother.”  

“You’re not him.” Sam’s voice echoed out.  

“Even when we were kids, I always kicked your ass.” the Shapeshifter said. I decided to make my presence known then, stepping into the room. “Well would you look at that.” He said with a grin, turning towards me. “Just couldn’t stay away, could you?” His arrogant tone completely contradicting any tone that Dean had ever spoken to me with.  

“You know where you made your mistake?” I asked him, keeping his attention on me as Dean snuck into the room behind him.  

“What’s that, doll?” He asked, stepping over an almost unconscious Sam, making his way towards me. 

“You touched me.” I growled out, flashing my eyes as Dean stood up behind him. 

“Hey!” He yells out, causing the Shapeshifter to turn around. Before he could even make a move, Dean had sunk two shots straight into his chest, knocking him back into the wall and onto the floor. 

“Sam!” Rebecca yelled, rushing over to him, cradling his head in her lap. Dean made his way over to me, cradling my head in his hands turning it back and forth for a second, before nodding to himself before he walked over to the dead shapeshifter, looking down at him. I joined him, noticing the necklace he had taken from Dean. I reached down, yanking it from around his neck before going to check on Sam.  

“Sasquatch?” I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder. “You alive?”  

“Fuck you, shortcake.” He wheezed out with a laugh.  

“Fuck me? That’s not very nice, Samuel.” I told him, relieved he was okay enough to joke with me. It was over, at least for now, and we all made it out alive. Grabbing his arm, I hauled him up, bracing him against my shoulder. “Jesus Christ you’re heavy.” I joked with him. He really wasn’t heavy, at all, and I had no problem hauling him outside to the Impala, but his small laugh followed by a groan of pain was totally worth it.  

“Are you calling me fat, Freya? Now who’s not being very nice?”  

“Can it, Winchester.” I said, helping him out of the house and down the steps, Dean and Rebecca right on our trail.  

“Are they always like this?” She asked Dean.  

“Worse.” He joked, laughing a little when I flipped him off over my shoulder.  

“Can I ask you a question?”  

“What is it?”  

“Is she...” She began. “Is she like him?” I heard her ask him. She must have been talking about the shapeshifter.  

“She’s nothing like him.” Dean all but growled out at her.  

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean be offensive, she just... her eyes.”  

“She’s not a monster, Rebecca. She’s special. She has such a beautiful soul, you have no idea.”  

“If she has someone like you, defending her like this, I think I can kind of grasp the idea.” She said as we reached the Impala.  

“I’m going to put you in the backseat, Sasquatch, so you can lay down, okay?” He nodded as Dean opened the door for me to lay him down. Once I got him situated, Dean opened the passenger door for me to slide in. He said something else to Rebecca, but I was too focused on Sam to listen in. Once he got in, he started the car and drove us back to the motel we stayed at last night. We got Sam in and on the bed, housekeeping thankfully had come in and changed the sheets while we were gone.  

“Can you get the first aid kit?” I asked Dean as I got Sam’s shirt off, heading into the bathroom to get a towel and washrag to clean him up. One thing the boys didn’t know about me, is that I had studied nursing before I was homeless. I never because a certified nurse, but I knew my way around the medical field well enough. Dean brought in the first aid kit from the car, opening it and laying it on the bed next to me.  

“What can I do to help?” He asked me.  

“Take this,” I said, handing him the damp cloth. “Clean the blood off of his face. I need to see how bad those cuts on his eyebrow and lip are.” I told him. He didn’t question me, like I expected him to, just got straight to work. Sam had passed out on the bed, exhausted by the day's events as we worked, but the sting of the alcohol pads I used woke him up with a hiss. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m almost done.” I told him, pushing him back down onto the mattress. He stayed awake the rest of the time, idly chatting with Dean as I worked. I wasn’t paying attention to them, focused on the job in front of me. He ended up needing 2 stitches in his eyebrow, but his lip would be fine.  

“Okay, all done.” I told him, clipping the last stitch.  

“Where did you learn how to do all of this?” Sam asked.  

“I studied nursing at Duke for a little bit before everything.” He seemed shocked at my words.  

“Before...” He said, pausing and thinking to himself. “How did you get into Duke before you turned 18?” Dean had perked up at that, intently listening to our conversation now.  

“I graduated high school at 15, got into Duke at 16, and then when everything happened when I turned 18, I couldn’t stay in school anymore.” I explained.  

“Oh, so you’re like... smart, smart.” Sam said, chuckling to himself.  

“Shut up, Mr. I got a 174 of my LSAT at Stanford.” I joked back.  

“Nerds.” Came Dean’s voice, making both Sam and I laugh.  

“You’re calling us nerds?” I asked him, disbelief coloring my tone. “You’re the one who compared the connection between you and Mr. Dead dude to a Vulcan Mind Meld.” Sam started laughing when Dean’s face turned red at my words.�� 

“What else was I supposed to call it?” He asked with a scoff. Glaring at us, but there was nothing but amusement in his eyes.  

“I don’t know, but calling us nerds after that...” I trailed off, joking with him, but he just lunged at me, pulling me into him and tickling me. “Get the fuck off me, you fucking neanderthal!” I yelled at him, scrambling away from his fingers, laughing so hard I was almost crying at that point. “Sam! Help me!” I cried, my pleas going ignored.  

“You’re on your own, shortcake.” He laughed out. “I’m injured.”  

“Assholes!” I laughed as Dean finally ceased his assault, kissing me on the forehead before he rolled off me, where we had fallen onto the floor.  

“Time for bed, kids.” Dean said, getting up, pulling me with him.  

“Kids?” I scoffed at him. “I’m like 2 years younger than you, and I’m older than the living tree, lying on our bed.” It didn’t even register to me what I had said as he raised an eyebrow at me.  

“Our bed, huh?” He joked, making my cheeks heat up as I dropped my head.  

“Oh god.... What did you guys do? Fuck you, I’m not sleeping here. Give me the fucking keys. You guys are gross.”  

“Nothing happened, Sammy, calm down.” Dean told him.  

“It’s too cold for you to sleep outside, Sam, lay your ass back down. You need to rest.”  

“You take the other side, Princess, I’ll lay here.” He said, pointing to the floor right next to where he wanted me to lay.  

“Are you sure?” I asked, I was more than okay with sleeping on the floor, but he just nodding, shushing me up with a kiss.  

“I’m sure.”   

“So, this is what you do?” Rebecca asked. We were at her house the next morning, getting ready to head out. “You and your brother, his girlfriend – you hunt down these kinds of things?” No one bothered to correct her and tell her I wasn’t his girlfriend.  

“Yeah, pretty much.”  

“I can’t believe it. I mean, I saw it with my own eyes. And, I mean, does everybody at school – Nobody knows that you do this?”  

“No.”  

“Did Jessica know?” She asked him. I could feel the sadness coming off him at that question, but he kept his expression light.  

“No, she didn’t.” He answered her.  

“Must be lonely.”  

“Oh, no. No, it’s not so bad.” He said, turning to glance back at us before turning back to her. “Anyway, what can I do? It’s my family.” She laughed at his words, but they made something warm wrap around my heart and settle in my chest.  

“Well, you know, Zack and me, and everybody at school – we really miss you.” She said, reaching up to pull him into a hug.  

“Yeah, me too.” He said, pulling away from her. 

“Well, will you call sometime?” She asked.  

“It might not be for a little while.” He told her. She nodded, waving to Dean and I. We both waved back at her as Sam joined us back at the car, walking around to the passenger side. 

“So, what about your friend, Zack?” Dean asked.  

“Cops are blaming this Dean Winchester guy for Emily’s murder.” He said, leaning his elbows against the roof of the car. “They found the murder weapon in the guy’s lair, Zack’s clothes stained with her blood. Now they’re thinking maybe the surveillance tape was tampered with. Yeah, Becca says Zack will be released soon.” He smiled at us before getting in the car. Dean winked at me as he opened my door for me before settling in the front seat, starting up the car and driving away. We had reached the outskirts of town before Dean spoke up again.  

“Sorry, man.”  

“About what?” Sam asked. 

“I really wish things could be different, you know? I wish you could just be... Joe College.”  

“No, that’s okay. You know, the truth is, even at Stanford, deep down, I never really fit in.”  

“Well, that’s cause you’re a freak.” Dean said with a smirk.  

“Yeah, thanks.” Sam said sarcastically.  

“Well, I’m a freak too. I’m right there with you, all the way.” He said, making Sam laugh.  

“Yeah, I know you are.”  

“Freya is definitely a freak.” He said laughing a little.  

“You wish...” I trailed off, winking at him in the rearview mirror, causing him to smirk at me.  

“You know, I gotta say – I'm sorry I’m gonna miss it.”  

“Miss what?”  

“How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?” He said flashing a smile at Sam.  

“Fucking weirdo.” I mumbled with a small smile, just loud enough for him to hear, barking out a laugh as he pushed his foot down on the accelerator. 

[scoobydoodean]

Reading all your posts and analysis really change some concepts about how I see these characters

I was rewatching 10x9 and 10 in this weekend, the whole thing about Sam and Cas judging Dean for killing those men who tried to harass Claire is hypocritical

Especially coming from the same man that almost made a dude had his soul burning in hell for eternity for the crossroad deal and his own agenda

To be fair about 10.09, I do think the real scary part is supposed to be that Dean blacked out and wasn't in control of his actions. He was getting angry, he got smacked in the head, everything went dark, and when he came back to awareness, all those men were dead. He had prophetic dreams about the incident prior as well (one for the psychic!dean folder jsdfjhsbdf). I'll certainly laugh and say they deserve it, but Dean's worries about it (and to an extent, Sam's and Cas's) aren't completely illegitimate.

But yeah season 10 is all about Sam's hypocrisy and the fallout of how he's treated Dean the last two seasons, and family chains, and how Sam is kind of a disturbing person actually despite the outwardly "scary" person being Dean. Dean may have a murder curse, but Sam, under no Supernatural influence, is getting people killed left and right all in his brother's name and directly against Dean's wishes... all after two seasons of behaving, for the most part, as if Dean was beneath him and a worse person than him who would go to lengths Sam would not (when the exact opposite is true).

We establish that Sam the real disturbing person here despite outward appearances immediately in the opening of 10.01 when we get this dialogue:

I heard the rumors. I said "no, that can't be." A Winchester, one of us? But it's true, isn't it? Whatever soul you had; whatever boy scout code you cuddled up to at night; it's all gone. Leaving what? Look at you!

The camera focuses on the demon only when she says this, not showing us who she's talking to at first. They want to misdirect us into thinking she's talking to Dean, whose eyes we just saw turn black at the end of 9.23. But she's actually talking to Sam.

[imagionationstation]

I HEARD YOU TAKE UNHINGED HEADCANON RANTS AND THIS GAYASS FISH HAS RUINED MY LIFE

I have a 2012 rewrite au, and I fell down a rabbit hole solely based on the hc that Xever saw shredder as a vague father figure, and then like all of his interactions with Karai are always “Do you want me to call dad?” “I will kill you?!” “Alright..”

THEY ARE SIBLINGS AND YOU CANT TELL ME IM WRONG

Also there’s enough problematic men in the foot, so I just… hit him w the “I’m not a creep!” ray and he’s just some dude

This is a theatre kid, this man is a professional yapper. Shredder’s mad at him? Turn the conversation around to how sad shredders life is and that he shouldn’t have to be forced to commit atrocities because of Hamato Yoshi. He’s a pr girlie

Also, WHYS HE SO ZESTY????

“I HEARD YOU TAKE UNHINGED HEADCANON RANTS”

Okay, firstly, what grape vine is talking about me and why?

Secondly-

Can you headcanon your own AU?? Is that possible?? Is that a thing people do?? All the potential to say “I think this would be a neat canon” but isn’t not actually canon- this sounded better with every word that came out of my mouth. I am doing this.

AU HEADCANONS, BABY.

I AM THE AU COLLECTOR AND COMMENTER

(Evidently. I’m not sure how that happened, tbh-)

GIMME EVERY AU CONCEPT YOU GOT SO I MAY FEAST

Fair warning to all- when I am invested in a idea, I don’t know how to shut up. So. If you give me an ask, you’re agreeing to everything that comes after. I am not liable for incoming rants.

Xever is all kind of zesty (in AU and canon) because it makes him notable and fun!

I love so many interactions with him and Raphael in canon. There was no better character for him to “understand” than Xever, mkay, I absolutely loved how Baxter's Gambit was handled. They would have been SUCH a duo had they not chosen different sides to fight on and HECK YEAH with the Shredder father figure AU.

In the canon, I wondered about a few things a lot- like, Shredder hunted this man down and broke him out of jail to join his crime syndicate. And for someone who’s supposed to be the best of the best, that man is no match for the turtles. Got to wonder why Shredder wasted his time on Xever or bothered keeping him around after he got mutated when he was such a hassle as a fishy…

He even went as far as keeping a kidnapped scientist to build working legs and breathable air suit for the guy. Like, in all seriousness, for a big evil crime lord who threatens to off them every day, he sure is intent on keeping his lackies around.

BUT ANWAYS-

In regards to your AU, THANK YOU for taking away his creep act because that’s the main reason that he’s not a top fave for me. I don’t know why they reversed the “I’m not a creep” ray for canon, but I guess it was an experiment that they took way too far and couldn’t bring themselves to back out of.

As Karai is an expert manipulator, I’d like to know if she gets her skills from him or if he does from her- or if they adapt from each other. He feeds into the dad’s drama while Karai could not be more fed up with it. The clash over this topic so often. I can see it.

I think it would be ironic for Karai to have an older brother figure who eventually gets brought into the found family because Leo would have to adapt to having MORE older relatives. I like the idea of Xever being a “cousin”, because that would technically make her a cousin too, and Karai sure acts like she’s more of a bossy cousin than an older sister. So it works out.

NO WAIT

Xever has a villain name, right? 😱

Mikey has to villain name a villain mutant- it’s like, 2012TMNT law.

BEING AN AU IS NO EXCUSE /jk

(Completely messing with you. Do as you want.)

[narcolini]

trapped

ezekial ‘ez’ reyes x gn!reader, whump, happy ending, 2627 words

warnings for claustrophobia(?) 

for day 11 of whumpril : ‘i’m right here.’

a/n: i always knew this day would come... the solo EZ fic finally beckoned, and i answered. and i promise next time i write him he wont be in mortal danger LMAO

tagging: @drabbles-mc @cositapreciosa @hausofmamadas (let me know if u want to be in any taglists ofc)

Gilly’s barely got the truck in park before you’re flying from the passenger side, door left open behind you. He’d driven far too slow for your liking, so you’re running now, toward the orange-lit yard and the house EZ has passed through a thousand times—with no issue. Until today, of course. And still, Gilly showed no hurry in bringing you here, despite the situation. The very time conscious situation. You’d think, after trying to hide it from you, and then trying to stop you from coming to help, that he’d drive with a bit more pep under his pedals. Use that guilt he’s harbouring, to make amends and get you there fucking faster than the speed limit.

If he did, you’d have time to consider the situation properly. To assess the risk, the likelihood of EZ being in real, serious trouble. As is, you don’t, and your sneakers can’t hit the ground fast enough.

Coco’s the only one you can see, standing by the open garage. Standing, yes, fidgeting, smoking, and doing nothing—like he can afford to do nothing. Like his brother isn’t buried beneath the concrete he’s killing time on.

‘Where is it?’ you blurt, pausing long enough to show him your face. Let him see that it’s you, you’re serious, and stressed out of your mind, so it would be very fucking smart for him to answer without argument. ‘The tunnel?’

‘The fuck…’ His arm falls to his side, cigarette smoke curling back up the length of it. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

‘Hm, I don’t know.’ You line the sarcasm with enough venom to sting. ‘Something about my boyfriend being trapped in a collapsed smuggler’s run?’

He tuts sharply, looking past you to Gilly. ‘You were supposed to keep this shit quiet, bro.’

‘I couldn’t—’

You cut Gilly off, snapping your own voice over his reply, ‘The real question is, why the fuck are you out here and not in there, digging him out?’

It’s behind him, you realise, the opening. A small square cut from the concrete, with a ladder set over the edge it. You don’t have time to debate it, though you could chew Coco out until the sun came up, so you burst past him instead.

‘Keeping watch—hey!’ he shouts after you, sounding as annoyed at you, as you are at him. ‘There’s no fucking space for you, dude. You’re just gonna get in the way.’

It doesn’t matter. If EZ’s stuck in there, you’ll make space. You’ll pick the walls apart with your own hands if you have to.

You take the ladder facing forward, which is a mistake, but you’re too committed to it to turn around now. Your hands grapple at the metal rungs behind, heels slipping every other step. It looked like a bigger height from the top, but the clambering, clumsy approach you’ve taken, makes it feel like two or three foot, max. Gone in a blink, and then you’re underground, at the end of the tunnel with the destruction sitting right there in front of you. And God, it’s as bad as your anxiety had told you it would be.

The air is choked with dust, disturbed dirt from the collapse, you assume, and it’s thick enough to make you cough. To irritate your throat as soon as you take that first breath. It’s even making it hard to see, putting a cloudy filter over the narrow alleyway that you have to squint through. Your arm goes up, forearm shielding your eyes, like that’ll be any help at all.

‘EZ?’

There are figures ahead, that you can make out, two men swinging at the wall where the ceiling caved in. As you get closer, toes catching on the gaps between the plywood walkway, it’s obvious who it is, Angel and Creeper, both working away at the rubble. Creeper’s topless, Angel's sweating through his A-tank, and both have been working long enough to look sick with it. Tired and lagging.

‘Get out the way,’ you bark, pushing between the two. You have to get to him, you have to get close enough to the landslide of mud to see for yourself, to know. To know that he’s…

‘The fuck?’ Angel stumbles back, shovel swinging free from the dent he’s made. ‘No, nah, you can’t be here.’

You flick your gaze back to him, hand flapping behind you. ‘Give me the.’ You swallow, airborne dust drying your tongue and words with it. ‘The thing, the fucking. Give it me.’

‘Are you kidding me?’

Creeper’s still working, chipping away at the dirt with the end of his shotgun. It isn’t efficient, by any means, but it must be all he has. All you have, now. Two dudes with a shotgun and a shovel. One big fucking wall of collapsed earth, with no sign of life on the opposite side.

‘EZ?’ You turn to it, desperate. ‘Ezekiel?’ Your palms smack against it, but all you make is a shallow pathetic slap that has no hope of carrying through. ‘I’m right here,’ you shout, before turning your head to put your ear to the cold of it. ‘Can you hear me?’

Angel answers in his brothers place, ‘You really shouldn’t be in here.’

‘Shut up.’

‘This shit isn’t stable, it could collapse again any fucking—’

‘I said shut up,’ you snap, ‘I’m trying to listen.’

It hums, almost, the dirt against your ear. Echoes like you’ve held a shell to it, and not pounds and pounds of ancient soil.

‘EZ?’

Creeper stops when you call for him this time, giving you the momentary silence you need, because—there, yes—there it is, faint as anything: your name said back to you, muffled but clear enough to be real. EZ, alive, conscious, and talking back. Hope jumps into your chest, right behind the heart. It’s not over yet. He’s in a pocket, somewhere, a gap big enough to survive in.

‘Give me the shovel, Angel.’

You look back when he ignores you, just in time to catch him and Creeper exchanging a look, a pair of expressions that you know to take as a no. Loco, they’re thinking. You’re in over your head.  

They set to work again, and you let them, staggering back a couple yards to give them space to swing. You can’t dig any faster or better than they can, determination or not. Even love can’t manage that.

‘Hold on, EZ,’ you tell him, though you’re probably too far away now, and the shirt you’re holding over your mouth, to block the rising dust, is muffling the words. ‘Just, hold on.’

A little longer, and he’ll be out. Just a little longer.

They’re making progress, you can tell, the wall is concave and crumbling now. In fact, your arrival seems to have only made them quicker, more thorough, the dirt coming off in chunks, splitting and shattering by their feet. If they aren’t careful, they might get through so fast that they’re a danger to him. Shovel to the head, shotgun nose to the outstretched arm. He could be anywhere within the collapse, hearing them get closer and closer, unable to speak loud enough to stop them.

You can’t think about that. You can’t think of him in there, under the weight of it all. Chest tight, restricted. Mud in his eyes. Wires and plastic from the overhead lights, all wrapped up on top of him.

You chew your lip to stop it. Teeth through the skin, copper in your mouth. He’s alive and you’ll see him soon enough. He’s alive and you’ll see him—

‘I got something.’ It’s Creeper, loud and certain. ‘Help me clear this shit, man.’

Angel tosses his tool aside, just as Creeper has, choosing to use their hands instead. Dirty and desperate, their knees on the piles of earth they’ve already shifted. It only takes a moment before they’ve cleared enough away that you see it too: black, muddied leather. The white edge of writing.

It’s him.

You can’t give them space after that. You’re in there with them, shoulders bumping, six hands clawing away at the wall until more and more of EZ is revealed. His arm, the blue of his jeans. A bit longer, and you’ve found his head, found the bent metal strip-light that has shielded him from the worst of it. If it wasn’t for that, he’d have no pocket to breathe in, no eyes to blink up at you.

‘Hey,’ you whisper, bending down to put your face next to his. You had imagined saying something useful to him, something reassuring. But when you’re down to the moment of it, all that comes out is that, hey, soft and wavering.

He blinks again, pulling in a wheezing breath as he looks up at you—he hasn’t recognised you yet, you can tell, he’s still catching up on being alive. On having light on his face, and free air to breathe, dusty or not. He’s on his back, lengthways down the tunnel. Not out yet, but Creeper and Angel are working on that, pulling chunks off with clawing fingers.

‘EZ?’ you try, brushing the grit from his eyes, then the corners of his mouth, the angles of his beard. ‘We got you, okay? We’re getting you out.’

He croaks your name, makes the connection at last. Bleary eyes at bleary eyes.

‘Yeah,’ you sniff, fighting tears without realising it, ‘it’s me. I’m here.’

Your hands are shaking as you put your palms to his head—too far gone to try and still them now. What matters, is EZ. His comfort. You want flesh between him and the ground, warmth, not cold roughness, to cradle his head.

‘Just a little bit longer,’ you promise.

His eyes close, but he attempts a nod, moving his chin just enough to be noticeable. The next breath he takes is bookended with a cough, dry and filled with the crap you’re all breathing in.

‘You sure I’m not dead?’ he asks, only audible because your face is so close to his, your hair flopping down onto his forehead.

‘Yeah,’ you laugh, though it’s more of a sob, ‘I’m sure.’

‘Seems like heaven.’ He forces a dry swallow. ‘I see an angel.’

You sniff again, your nose threatening to leak, and brush over his face once more. Gentle, because you’re too scared to break him. ‘You’re choosing now to flirt with me?’ you joke, keeping your voice quiet. ‘You’re ridiculous, EZ.’

He smiles—or at least he tries to, one edge of his mouth twitching upwards.

‘I think that’s that’s good enough,’ Angel says, sitting back on his boots. ‘Think we can pull him out now.’

You nod, shuffling back yourself, though it’s the last thing you want to do. His legs are free enough to wiggle him out without threatening the structure of it all—without crushing the rest of you in the process. So if you have to leave him to do that, let his head sit back in the dirt, just for now, then okay. ‘Okay,’ you tell them. ‘Where should I…?’

Angel’s taking your place at the head of him, forcing his hands beneath EZ’s shoulders. Creeper grabs the leg they’ve dug entirely free, hooking his elbow around his thigh and, well, there isn’t room for you to help at all. So you step back, again, stumbling to your feet so they have space to manoeuvre him.

‘You ready, lil bro?’ Angel asks, panting still, a thick sweat over his brow. ‘In three.’

Creeper nods, and then they pull without waiting for three at all. Probably because they’re just as desperate as you are, now, just as keen to see EZ out and safe again. They’ve been digging so long that there can’t be much energy left in their reserves. It’s now, or never. One tug, two grunts, a catch in the dirt, a tear of EZ’s shirt sleeve, and then it gives. It all gives.

They pull him out of the landslide using their bodies as the counterweight, EZ tugging free and over their laps as they fall backwards from the effort of it. You’re only watching and it’s made your breath heavy, matching the rise and fall of their own chests. They did it. He’s out. Sprawled and painted with dirt, red spotting up his arms from the scratches and nicks he’s collected, but alive. Scooping breaths in like water.

‘God,’ Angel rushes, slapping a palm to EZ’s shoulder, ‘you need to cut some weight, bro.’

‘Yeah,’ Creeper laughs, ‘like moving a fucking bear.’

And then they’re all laughing, even EZ, as weak as it is, panting for air and laughing with the relief of it. Shit, even you’re smiling, and the lump of worry in your throat is still set there like concrete. It’ll stick until you’ve seen him up and walking again.

But they need to catch their breath first, and you can’t carry him alone.

‘D’you think you can stand?’ you ask, looking down at EZ laying over their legs. If he can’t, you’re all in for a struggle, trying to get him up that ladder and through the gap smaller than his shoulders will be near impossible.

EZ nods, taking a finally deep breath before pulling himself upright. He nearly manages it alone, but Angel helps him in the last minute, with a palm to his back, and then once he’s got the momentum of it, he’s up. Wincing and limping as he turns, but up.

You’re crying again. Or, your eyes are, and you’re just letting them. Wet down your cheeks.

‘I thought you were…’ You can’t manage to say it. The words become a whimper that you try to hide by clearing your throat. Before, you had enough of a mission to ignore the fear of it, the sinking what if behind your eyes. Now, it’s pouring out like gasoline. So thick, you can hardly breathe.

He struggles over to you; from the clench of his jaw, you can tell he’s hiding what it costs him, how much it hurts, to protect you. To save you from worrying even further. One foot in front of the other, between where the two men sit, and then he’s in front of you. Upright, and alive, and breathing hot, dry breath over you.

‘I’m sorry,’ he says, pulling you into a hug with the arm he seems to be favouring.

You press your face to his chest and lock your hands behind the back of him. ‘For what?’ you mutter, glad of his clothes to muffle the catch in your voice.

‘Scaring you all the time.’ He puts a kiss to your head, against the hair, holds you tighter than you dared to hold him. ‘Must be the worst boyfriend in the world.’

You scoff, puffing it at the skin by his neck. ‘You think I’d dig through this shit to get you, if you were?’

You’d dig through three times the amount if it meant seeing him safe. If it meant having him, like this, on the other side.

He squeezes you again, before pulling back and shifting so he can lay his arm over your shoulder. There’s a thank-you in the way he looks at you, a level of relief, and love, that neither of you need to articulate. It’s enough to make you sniff away the last of your tears, to take an edge off the lingering concern.

‘Can we get out of here?’ he asks, wincing, and hissing a breath as he tries to walk again. ‘Always fucking hated these tunnels.’

‘Yeah,’ you scoff, ‘me too.’

If only it made a difference. If only that would stop him walking through one again.

[evansbby]

I just finished watching LOST and here are my thoughts… (spoilers obv)

The finale actually wasn’t difficult to understand at all? Idk why this show is known for having a confusing finale bc I understood it completely? And when I looked up a Reddit explanation, I was like yeah I got all that. It was good. I liked it. Basically Jack dies how they show it, and some die before him (Sayid, Sun, Jin, Locke and more) and some die after him (the ones who escaped the island in the end die later in life when they’re supposed to) and then they all meet in the afterlife. It was cute. I got it. It’s fine. Poor Hurley had to be the caretaker of the island though. Like… I hate that he got no choice and he just HAS to do it lmao. But oh well.

Of course, a LOT of plots were just kinda dropped?? Like Libby’s whole backstory, the lore about the Others including why they kidnapped children, their brainwashing experiments like what they were doing to Karl, Ben’s obsession with Juliet, Ben’s obsession with that girl from his childhood, the time travel stuff — I know they still did time travel but they did seem to drop a lot of stuff that they were hyping up a lot at first. I understand there was a writer’s strike in 2007 but like still… I can understand why a lot of people were dissatisfied with the finale as a lot of questions that the show raised were left unanswered.

I was like super confused and sad that they sidelined the main eye candy of the show aka Desmond Hume so much after his amazing time travel episode bc I thought he would be so much more important as a character after it was consolidated that he could time travel??? But once I finished the show and googled it… turns out the actor has SA allegations against him which is prob why they sidelined his character and he was missing for so long. Which is like… wtf. Why are men like this. WHY CAN’T THEY JUST LIKE… NOT SA PEOPLE??? Desmond is like my fav character in the show too 🥲🥲🥲

Also with the whole Jacob/man in black origins storyline… I cannot be the only one who actually understood where the man in black was coming from??? I mean the poor guy got kidnapped as a child and his mother murdered by some crazy woman who then raised him and kept him prisoner on this crazy island and gaslit him into believing nothing else existed beyond that?? IF I WAS HIM I WOULD WANT TO LEAVE TOO??? Jacob himself was so meh, his twin brother was much more compelling and relatable and we’re supposed to hate him and not root for him??? WHY? Also why was his name never revealed???

Also Jacob was so LAME like we’ve been building up to this dude for seasons and then he just… dies??? Like… okay??? I also don’t understand how the twin (man in black) wasn’t even a bad guy and then he gets pushed into the light by Jacob and suddenly becomes black smoke monster and now we’re meant to hate him and all this man wants is to leave the island??? Why would I hate him??? Jacob literally holding him hostage fr. When it was showing the flashback of their childhood, I kept waiting for a twist which showed that the boy wearing white was evil and the boy in black was good but nope… it was exactly how they showed it.

I really liked Richard Alpert’s backstory episode, bc he was someone I was wondering about for ages like for seasons and seasons I’d be like “omg this dude does NOT age” but I really liked his backstory and found it so satisfying! I really kinda wanted to see what happened with him later on in life like this dude FINALLY escaped the island after a gazillion years… how is he gonna adapt to modern times now??? We literally never saw him or the pilot Frank again after they flew off the island??? Why were they not in the afterlife scene at the end? (Or were they and I just missed it?) also side note but Richard’s eyelashes are INSANE. Like was this man wearing kohl or were his lashes (top and bottom) soooo damn thick that it was distracting??

I HATEDDDD the fact that they killed off John Locke! Like he was one of my fav characters. He was so intense and compelling and the actor was incredible! I hated that they killed him off, like he lived such a sad life and then it’s like he died for nothing. And when I say killed him off I mean in season 5 when Ben killed the real John Locke. It was shocking af.

Speaking of Ben Linus, he was such a pleasure to watch bc that actor is just INCREDIBLE. Best actor on the show in my opinion. Him, John Locke and Desmond Hume were the best actors on the show in my opinion. Ben was just so fun to watch, his whole “no feelings” thing and the way he delivered his lines was just so great. I also loved ben’s backstory and all the stuff with his dad and the dharma initiative. I did want to know more on the whole “no feelings” thing though, bc when the others said they’d “fix” Ben when he was shot by Sayid, they said he wouldn’t be the same again and would lack feelings. Then the same thing happens to Sayid and he loses his feelings too (but then he kinda regains them bc he sacrifices himself with the bomb??? ) idk but an expansion on that would’ve been great.

Okay now onto the couples. I didn’t care much for the love triangle with Jack/Kate/Sawyer although I did prefer Kate with Sawyer at first only because they had really great chemistry. Although I think sawyer loved Kate but Kate didn’t love sawyer. She kinda used him a lot at the beginning and sawyer knew it. I really loved Sawyer with Juliet though!!! I thought they were so sweet. I didn’t care about Jack/Kate but good for them they sort of ended up together before Jack died lol. I also loved Jin/Sun, they were sooooo cute together!!

I LOVED Desmond and Penny!!! They were so so cute and their chemistry was off the charts! I love Penny’s accent, I’m from England too but I barely hear that accent anywhere anymore. Like it’s so posh! But yeah I actually tore up a bit when Desmond and Penny reunited at the end of season 4! And they had little baby Charlie and it was so cute and just… AHHHH loved them!!!

I didn’t care about Charlie and Claire or Hugo and Libby. I think I would’ve liked Hugo and Libby but it was left so incomplete and such a wasted potential. I also didn’t care about Daniel/Redhead girl whose name I don’t remember. No wait it was Charlotte I just remembered lol.

A couple I was really confused about and really disliked was Sayid and Shannon??? Like they were so random??? Bc let’s look at this logically… why would an Iraqi republican guard torturer who has been through so much be interested in a vapid and shallow twenty year old girl?? Like WHAT could they possibly talk about??? Their romance was so random I mean they bonded over the fact she could read french… it was so unrealistic like I cannot even begin to explain how dumb this was. And I don’t hate Shannon at all! It’s just that most 20 year old spoilt rich girls are usually some form of shallow… HOW DID THEY RELATE TO EACH OTHER??? Sayid loved Nadia, his whole purpose was Nadia so why WHY WHY in the afterlife did he reconnect with Shannon??? Like,.. what?!? This was so random to me and I just don’t get it. Also I’m really not trying to hate on Shannon. I feel like she could’ve been so compelling bc her backstory about her dad dying and her stepmom keeping all his money, it was all interesting but then they killed her off before her character could mature and have her arc??? Confusing af bc why bother…

Now about some popular characters I didn’t like. So I didn’t like Charlie and honestly didn’t care when he died. He would always get so weirdly jealous when anyone else spoke to Claire and he was just way too much sometimes like bro chill… you are not Aaron’s father. Also side note but the pronunciation of Aaron’s name by the English/australian/non American characters was weird bc why were they pronouncing his name like “Erin” in the American way??? Just a small detail I found weird and annoying lol.

I also didn’t love Kate… she was just so bland at times like I believe her writing was really bad?? Was it just me?? It’s like the writers didn’t know how to write her well?? The male characters all got such distinct personalities but Kate was so blah? And for a main character being that blah is just… idk… it’s like any time the writers tried to write a female character in a leader position, they’d just make her come across annoying or boring… THEY DID NOT KNOW HOW TO WRITE WOMEN!!! Also she flip flopped sooo much like girl why are you using Sawyer so unashamedly??? Like this woman had NO shame lmfaooo I also hated how she raised Aaron like idk it pissed me off like that’s not your baby!!! But I understood why she had to do it.

Onto what my fav seasons were. I LOVED the vibe of season one. I’m guessing it was quite groundbreaking for its time bc there was nothing else on TV like it. I also loved how fast paced season 4 was. 5-6 were great too! I didn’t love 2-3 that much, especially 3 but it did pick up towards the end. 4 was flawless though and “the constant” is one of the best episodes ever!!!

I wanna keep going and talk about all the characters but I’ll have to save it for a different post.. one more important thing I’ll talk about is MICHAEL. The show did him so dirty bc the moment he shot anna Lucia and libby, he was no longer part of the group. Like… I knew they’d NEVER let him back in, I knew he was unforgivable at that point which sucks bc I really liked his character??! And it’s so confusing what happened to him… they all met in the afterlife at the end but he’s stuck in purgatory??? SO THEN WHAT??? Also it was so unclear how he died? I mean yes the boat exploded but I never thought Michael actually died bc remember he just couldn’t die??? He tried to unalive himself before and couldn’t?? Like it just wouldn’t happen? SO THEN WHY AND HOW DID HE DIE??? It just seems unfair that he was an OG and he didn’t get to end the show with them. Same with Walt… he wasn’t there either. Nor was Vincent!

Anyways, overall great show. Clearly since I’ve got so much to say about it. Do tell me what you guys think!!! I wanna discuss it but I have no one to discuss it with!!!

[resizura]

i hate to talk about him but omfg the lost potential of leon becoming the most anti american dude in the franchise like...

first day on the police force he almost dies because of a pharma company playing god, he gets kidnapped and essentially blackmailed to work for the government because they need to cover up raccoon city... okay okay...

but now he

seems proud of his country enough to criticize his ex-whatever the hell krauser was for being angry the govt left him to die (something the govt did to leon)

he stops two people from revealing IMPORTANT DETAILS about the secretary of defense wanting to start a WAR with CHINA

he HELPS START A WHOLE NEW ORGANIZATION with the guy who blackmailed him in the first place, and at this point the girl he was protecting in the first place is an adult and works for the government herself!

he feels bad for killing the president despite him being infected and again, the guy who blackmailed him in the first place

seemingly lives out the rest of his days working for the dso and continuing this cycle

like my brother and i were talking about rewriting re4 and we both came up with the idea to kind of use what happened in OP javier and extend it to re4 cause, tbh i do not remember 100% what happens in the DSC OP javier BUT i like how in the remake its said that krauser and his men were left to die (i was confused on if leon was supposed to be in remake OP javier cause when he spoke to krauser about it, it sounded like leon didn't experience it with him but heard about it instead, but i digress). and like omfg its right there.

the government experimented on sherry anyway. empty promises that no matter the outcome, it would end up in their favor. they "blackmail" leon but they still can't ensure he won't talk about raccoon city, so they basically keep him in isolation, training him, trying to break him. then, they see an opportunity to take care of him. they send him, krauser, and a team on operation javier, where the govt knows the liklihood of them surviving is little to none.

leon and krauser make it out, krauser gets basically disgraced and ends up turning to wesker. leon isn't completely aware of the true purpose of the mission. despite being frustrated, the govt decides to feign ignorance. then, ashley gets kidnapped, and they have the opportunity again to take care of leon once and for all. this time, they send him alone. no team, no immediate backup, because its a 'stealthy rescue mission.' but soon into the mission, maybe after he finds ashley in the church and also after finding out both her and leon are infected, the government basically tells them that they can't extract them due to the parasite. especially since saddlers goal in the og was to send ashley back and infect the white house with the plaga. they're a liability now, and even president graham is sacrificing his own daughter and was the person who ordered their rescue to basically be cancelled.

now its about leon having to cure him and ashley of their parasites, avoid saddler and the cult, and find a way back to america. only this time, he realizes what krauser realized: that they were trying to kill him. he realizes that the govt still experimented on sherry, that they stole his life right after it began and tried to kill him twice. between these two events and the raccoon city police department, how can he work for these people anymore? he can't and he needs to get out of there and stop them from doing any more harm to others.

[the-cat-chat]

March 16, 2024

The Wonder (2022)

Set in The Irish Midlands in 1862, the story follows a young girl who stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O'Donnell.

Warning: Review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

JayBell: I have mixed feelings about this movie. The concept itself is rather promising. The tone is appropriately creepy and foreboding. The acting is nothing to complain about (my love for Florence Pugh continues).

Plus, the characters themselves get a good amount of depth. Florence Pugh's character is definitely strong-willed and determined and she has a beautiful mix of logical intelligence and empathy. I also like that newspaper dude isn't motivated only by his feelings for the new hot girl in town, but a deeper traumatizing past.

I really love a mystery in a movie. It's fun to guess along and try to figure the case out alongside the characters. The mystery is drawn out as long as it can in the movie, which I think influences the pacing and the timing of the big "reveal" and the conclusion. To me, the pacing felt a little off as a result. Furthermore, since the movie wants to keep the mystery as long as possible, the motivations of key characters like the mother don't get as much clarity.

After the big reveal, I still felt a bit confused as to who held certain beliefs and why the mother and daughter made certain decisions. Some of which I can assume, but ultimately, I would have liked to understand the mother's true feelings about her daughter, her son, and so on. I think this greater insight into their characters would shape how I feel about the conclusion.

Also, kind of confused at what the nun added to the movie. I wish she had more of an impact. And the council of men are ANNOYING for sure, but aren't they wondering why there are no bones or anything leftover from the fire?

But in the end, I'm glad for the "happy" ending, even though I'm not sure it may be the healthiest ending. I suppose mentally unhealthy is better than dead?

Rating: 6/10 cats 🐈

Anzie: I knew this movie was going to be crazy but in a “heheh this is really crazy,” way. And it totally was, bc remembering it I feel like I’m having a fever dream. Don’t get me wrong it was great- Florence Pugh could be in literally any genre, any time period, and she kills it. Like Florence Pugh is from 2024? Uhhh have you seen her in a 1800s dress?? Bc she’s totally from the 1800s. Anyway. The premise is interesting and trying to guess how the girl wasn’t eating/ was eating and all that- I do think it was such a great but odd choice to contrast that with how many times you see Florence Pugh’s character eat.

I hated the stoopid council of men and I will be speaking no more on them.

Towards the end I was getting so over the girl. Like stop and eat. Pllllsss. Especially when her tooth came out I got a knot in my stomach. And I feeellll bad for that bc of why she didn’t eat. And it was sick and twisted. And I get the whole identity and the stories we tell ourselves deal the movie is trying to convey. But part of it felt slow after everything we had seen - and weird bc although I did pick up on part of the reasoning regarding the brother (especially seeing the weird demon eyes painted over his painting even tho that’s a totallllly normal thing people used to do) I never got a bad vibe from her mother or any animosity towards the girl?? Too bc she was feeding her the “manna” which barfff. Also if you’re that sick and twisted in your logic and reasoning how can you just switch it off if people observing your child are there 24/7? But what do I know- surely not how to victim blame my 11 year old daughter into starving to “save” her dead perverted brother’s “soul,” if he had one.

Finallly- the ending is so not what I expected but I think it’s as close as a happy ending this movie could have. I think there are ethical situations since Anna became Nan?? And like if she could process her trauma without a new dissociated identity would she choose to leave her family to go be the nurse and reporter’s kid?? (Probs considering what happened??) And I really wanna know if Nan was the nurse’s baby’s name or did Anna just like it. Like is she replacing her?? Anyway I choose to ignore it and just accept the weirdness of them becoming a family. (Totally called the reporter and the nurse marrying even if it’s fake) It’s nice. 😅

I did like the narrative at the end and how there are so many children that are affected by issues like starvation or abuse every day that should be addressed rather than passively observed- like how the counsel of men did and wanted Lib to do too. I think using the actor that worked in the house- who was really only just there- and only really told us little tidbits like how Will’s family starved and locked themselves away while he was gone- to call back to the little flipping bird toy was also really great, making the audience think about if the Anna/Nan situation is freedom or a cage, and that like Will said - it depends on how you view it.

* I hate how easy it was to say when Anna died she was in such shock her dress caught the flame and that all the council has to say is she isn’t getting paid.

* I also hate that my brain made me dream of the reporter guy as a vampire that was in control of evil flying monkeys.

Rating: 7/10 Cats 🐈

[self-loathing-angel-of-thursday2]

Beautiful Spouse’s Rewatch Thoughts SPN 07x14 Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie

“That was like episode 7, right?” “They give it away when they do the flashback intros” “You’re fucked now. It’s always fkn clowns” “Happy Halloween” “What the fuck? What the fuck.” “His eyes moved. His fkn eyes moved. Maybe he scratched his eyeball like I did” “Vamptopus?” “CLEAVAGE” “We’re really sorry for your cleavage…I mean loss” “Why would it be impractical?” “If you could summon an octovamp, wouldn’t you?” “Well, it’s obviously true. This is Supernatural after all” “Gotta stuff as many men back into the closet as possible” 🎶who’s the monster🎶

“Couldn’t be 666? I guess it’d be too obvious.” “fuck kinda dream is this?” “It’s obviously going to gt you now” “Hell yeah brother” “That’s quite the unicorn” 🎶farting rainbows🎶

“That’s a lot of acid or something. I don’t know” “That horn’s a little bigger this time” “Grainy? Like ice crystals?” “what the fuck” “How is that not completely fucked up?” “Clowns aren’t even a thing anymore, are they? Hasn’t shit like this ruined clowns for everyone?” “Where’s the collection of truly evil shit?” made a weird noise that I don’t know how to translate

“What the fuck year is this?” “what the fuck? He was creeped out by the clown but not the creepy guy who works at the children’s place?” “It was so evil they couldn’t post it on the wall?” “obviously” “This tiki set is very…set” “This dude is just going to get fkn murdered” “Is that how they get the balls out for real? If so, that’s fkn awesome” “Yup. Getting your ass murdered” “That’s what happens when kids throw razor blades and shit in there” “Remember playing in those? That shit is so much fun” “It’s the fast shutter camera. He’s obviously going to die now” “oh hell yeah. THat’s some good strawberry jam. Kinda hungry” 🎶The car is made out of cheese and so is the stretcher🎶

🎶red yellow and blue🎶

“And plaid”

Laughter

“Seabiscuit the Impaler” “That kid is nothing but trouble. He’s a redhead” “Now we’re all fucked. Laser robot Godzilla” 🎶beats them within inches of their lives. Ahhhhhh” “Is that possible?” laughter

“Isn’t Dean supposed to be searching for shit but instead will be playing skeeball?” “the ball blaster” “Hard work and determination man” “I mean two semester of college. That’s all it takes” laughter

“Is Dean going to give the tickets to the kid, right?” “Or is he going to get the slinky?” “Off with his head” “Doesn’t he admit to doing a bunch of acid or something?” “Or is he the one selling drugs?” “of course they hit tires” laughter

“In the ball pit. With the shrooms” “Mr. Plum in the kitchen with a candle stick” “at least I’ll see it coming” “That’s good” “I don’t know how they ventilate all that fire. I mean on set, sure, but this isn’t a tv set, it’s real life” “In real life, I want to know how they ventilate that fkn fire pit” “Is it the creepy one?” “It’s always the creepy one” “It’s just a pea shooter. He can still kill you though” “Don’t hurt your pretty gun” “oh clowns, I see” “no normal clown would have teeth like that.” “glitter fucked” “You didn’t tell them with a gun, though” “Is it therapy moment?” “Clown therapy” “He shot his brother? What a fkn idiot. I know the kid drowned but still” laughter

“That had to be so much fun to shoot dude” “GLITTER FUCKED” “Why would he have seltzer in the flower? Oh to shake it up” “a juggalo? Because it’s a clown? Instead of a jiggalo” “Oh it’s the slinky. The wrapping paper makes it look weird” 🎶ketchup and mustard car🎶

“He didn’t like his gift”

[devildomwriter]

Obey Me As Tumblr #20

Diavolo: If it excites you and scared the crap out of you at the same time. You should probably do it.

Asmodeus: Time to fuck a blender

Diavolo: Wait no

•

Asmodeus: “Forgive me father for I have sinned” and “sorry daddy I’ve been bad” both mean very similar things but have wildly different connotations

Simeon: How do I delete someone else’s post

•

Mammon: Is masturbating while smoking weed called masturblazing

Satan: No it’s called highjacking

Belphegor: Guys no it’s weedwhacking

Raphael: No it’s called disappointing your father

•

Mammon: Imagine being stuck in a room with everyone you’ve ever had sex with

Leviathan: #empty chairs at empty tables

Satan: Imagine being stuck in a room surrounded by everyone you’ve ever thought about having sex with

MC: Oh god NO

Solomon: Oh god YES

Asmodeus: Imagine your cousin sitting there wondering what he has in common with these people

Simeon: What

Raphael: What

Lucifer: What

•

MC: I’ll speak French between you legs is the hottest thing I’ve ever been told

Asmodeus: I’m just picturing someone screaming “BONJOUR” at a penis

Mammon: #SACRE BLEU MADEMOISELLE VAGINA #HON HON HON TITTY CROISSANTS

Satan: TITTY CROISSANTS

Lucifer: None of you should ever be having sex

•

Mammon: If she’s even able to walk after sex you didn’t do it right

Diavolo: Yeah you’re supposed to cut her legs off

•

Mammon: Today in biology the teacher asked “why do chromosomes have to stick together” and I whispered “because they’re bromosomes” and the guy next to me just about died laughing

•

Beelzebub: If you spell skeletons backwards it still spells skeletons

Satan: Man I can’t wait for Halloween to see some snoteleks

•

Diavolo: When I die I want that cool thing done where you take your ashes and pressurize them enough to turn them into a precious gem. I then want that gem forged into a sword’s hilt so my heir can avenge me because I’m not dying unless I’m killed I can assure you

•

Mammon: I heard my brother say he was going to Dairy Queen so I snuck into his car and he has no idea I’m in here

Mammon: He asked his friend what he wanted and I popped up from the floor “I was thinking about a milkshake” I have never heard two grown men scream louder

•

Asmodeus: I like wearing oversized sweaters. Not because they’re extremely cuddly and comfy but because whenever the sleeves are really big I get to flop them around and smack people

Leviathan: I love sleeve smacking people

Like flippity flip you need to stop

Mammon: Whippity whap don’t talk crap

•

Satan: In fifth grade we were making little clay statues and mine came out shitty so I left a big air pocket in it so it would explode when the teacher put it in the kiln and it exploded so hard it destroyed ten other kids’ statues and they were all on the verge of tears I thought it was really funny I still do

Barbatos: So you basically planted a bomb

•

Asmodeus: People who wear pants last 7 are not the kind of people I associate with

Asmodeus: I’m getting hate over this because people are putting the word ‘size’ in there when that’s nit what I was saying

7:00 PM

AS IN THE FUCKING TIME

Simeon: I thought you meant past age 7 and I was rly confused

Diavolo: “Happy birthday son, since you’re eight now it’s time you learn about kilts”

•

Mammon: Shout out to girls who don’t mind being called dude and man casually

Asmodeus: Shout out to boys who don’t mind being called guuuurl

Mephistopheles: Shout out to humans who don’t mind being called dawg

Lucifer: Shout out to dogs who will let you call them anything so long as you say it in a happy, friendly tone

Satan: Shout out to Guinea Pigs which are neither pigs nor from Guinea

Last • Next

[deripmaver]

laurent is a good person - book 1 meta

one of the most amazing things about captive prince is how the reveals in book 3 recontextualize all of the scenes leading up to them, including about laurent himself. in book one, all we see is damen pov as he’s being abused and humiliated by this supposedly spoiled, vile ice prince. when the regent comes to damen and subtly (and not so subtly) insults laurent, calling him unfit to rule - well, why would he think anything different? laurent has insulted him, had him whipped within an inch of his life, and even attempted to (and later successfully lmfao) have him raped while drugged out of his mind. 

after book 3 we can reread most if not all of book 1 as a very traumatized boy who has finally been confronted with the man who killed his brother, leaving him alone with his abusive uncle, and who he clearly has made into a complete monster in his own mind. damen of course sees him as a complete bitch, but there’s textual/subtextual evidence that laurent is well liked, and that his behavior during book 1 was actually pretty out of character for him. i’d like to provide some examples of that now!!!!

“Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult. Damen’s view, half-truncated by the short chain at this neck, had been enough to see that. But Laurent’s expression had shuttered quickly.” Captive Prince, Chapter One

i couldn’t resist adding this one in hehe. laurent recognizes damen!! he’s come down, knowing his uncle has devised another truly horrendous and triggering “gift” and that he’ll lose support if he calls it our for what it truly is, only to find out that it’s fucking damianos of akielos sent to him as a sex slave. a jab at laurent’s trauma about auguste and also a jab at laurent’s frigid sexuality - which ofc is completely the regent’s fault. fuck that guy so much lmfao 

“‘It’s so rare to see you at these entertainments, Your Highness,’ said Vannes.” Captive Prince, Chapter Two.

this is right before the fight between govart and damen in the ring, of course. damen sees laurent as depraved and vile as the sexual sadism on display by the veretian court, and considers him to be a willing purveyor of it. this is wrong, of course, as said by vannes here. laurent has only shown up because he wants to humiliate damen lmfao.

“He did remember being supported by two of the guards, here, in this room, while Radel stared athis back in horror. ‘The Prince really . . . did this.’ ‘Who else?’ Damen said. Radel had stepped forward, and slapped Damen across the face; it was a hard slap, and the man wore three rings on each finger. ‘What did you do to him?’ Radel demanded.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

this scene, to me, was the most telling lmfao. it’s right after damen is whipped. you could argue that radel is just a servant in the employ of the royal household, so is of course going to be loyal to the prince, but he seems genuinely surprised of the prince’s cruelty towards damen. not only that, but he slaps him and immediately assumes damen must have done something. which - i mean, technically he did lmao. not necessarily enough to deserve having the skin flayed from his back, but you know. if laurent was in the habit of torturing pets and slaves, why would the overseer react this way?

“The men guarding him were the Prince’s Guard, and had no affiliation with the Regent whatsoever. It surprised Damen how loyal they were to their Prince, and how diligent in his service, airing none of the grudges and complaints that he might have expected, considering Laurent’s noxious personality. Laurent’s feud with his uncle they took up wholeheartedly; there were deep schisms and rivalries between the Prince’s Guard and the Regent’s Guard, apparently.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

laurents relationships with his guards are also some of the biggest indicators that he isn’t just a spoiled brat, but can insire a deep loyalty in his men. even if they do all want to fuck him. ah, sexual harassment. it’s also hilarious that damen immediately assumes they’re loyal to him because they want to fuck him - nice projection there, dude. we know a bit more about laurent and his guards thanks to green but for a season, but this little bit here is interesting.

“Laurent was indeed good at talking. He accepted sympathy gracefully. He put his position rationally. He stopped the flow of talk when it became dangerously critical of his uncle. He said nothing that could be taken as an open slight on the Regency. Yet no one who talked to him could have any doubt that his uncle was behaving at best misguidedly and at worst treasonously.”  Captive Prince, Chapter Five

idek what to say here. laurent my beloved <3333

“‘When someone doesn’t like you very much, it isn’t a good idea to let them know that you care about something,’ said Laurent. Damen felt himself turn ashen, as the threat sank in. ‘Would it hurt worse than a lashing for me to cut down someone you care for?’ said Laurent.” Captive Prince, Chapter Seven

this isn’t really relevant to my thesis lmfao i just love this exchange bc it gives SO MUCH information about laurent and his uncle in just three lines of dialogue. what has the regent done, who did he cut down just to hurt laurent? when and how did laurent learn that? p a i n 

“Laurent’s fussy horse began acting out again, and he leaned forward in the saddle, murmuring something as he stroked her neck in an uncharacteristically gentle gesture to quiet her.” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine. 

HORSEY NO- lmfao this scene just hurts so badly on the reread. especially later on, in book 3 i think, where laurent says something like “i provoked my uncle.” he’s really blaming himself for his uncle KILLING HIS HORSE, his horse that his murdered brother trained, one of the only living connections to auguste... all because his uncle could not let a single miniscule plan laurent had set go through without some kind of repercussion. literally all laurent did was do something to stop an innocent group of people from being abused, nothing to undermine his uncle’s rule, but because the regent is VILE he could not let laurent have even this. he’s so good with her, too. he must have known by this point and also known that there was no way to stop this. P A I N

“‘I know that you have somehow arranged this,’ said Erasmus. He was incapable of hiding what he felt, and just seemed to radiate embarrassed happiness. ‘You kept your promise. You and your master. I told you he was kind,’ Erasmus said. ‘You did,’ said Damen. He was pleased to see Erasmus happy. Whatever Erasmus believed about Laurent, Damen wasn’t going to dissuade him. ‘He’s even nicer in person. Did you know he came and talked to me?’ said Erasmus. ‘—He did?’ said Damen. It was something he couldn’t imagine. ‘He asked about . . . what happened in the gardens. Then he warned me. About last night.’ ‘He warned you,’ said Damen. ‘He said that Nicaise would make me perform before the court and it would be awful, but that if I was brave, something good might come at the end of it.’ Erasmus looked up at Damen curiously. ‘Why do you look surprised?’ ‘I don’t know. I shouldn’t be. He likes to plan things in advance,’ said Damen.” Captive Prince, Chapter 9.

this is the first in-text confirmation we have that laurent has a good heart beneath his layers and layers of trauma-induced lashing out. book one often skeeves people out because of its graphic and, honestly, yes, kind of sexualized depiction of rape, slavery, and depravity, but beneath it all you meet these two protagonists who are going to have all of their most deeply held views about each other challenged. laurent from very early on is shaken to his core when damen refuses to rape nicaise in the ring - it cracks the very foundations of the person he’d built up in his head as this horrible monster who killed his brother in cold blood. and damen keeps defying laurents expectations by being a good person through and through. on the other hand, laurent spends the first part of the book taking out years of anger on damen, but here for the first time we see him do something just because its the kind thing to do. yes, torveld is an ally against his uncle, but laurent has clearly been scheming with him for a while now, and he’s now overlooking his hatred of damen and working with him just because none of the slaves deserve whats happened to them. it’s such a sweet moment.

“One of the other men, eyeing them, approached a moment later. ‘Don’t mind Jean. He’s in a foul mood. He was the one had to stick a sword through the mare’s throat and put her down. The Prince tore strips off him for not doing it fast enough.’” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine.

HORSEY NO- pt 2. this is just another really sweet and sad detail - laurent being so upset that the horse’s death could have been more painless. it must have hurt so much to see her in pain, and to know that the only way for that pain to end was being put down as quickly as possible. i wuv him. im sad

that’s it, though there are still a few more chapters left in the book. this isn’t providing any new information, of course, the path of the three books is to show that laurent isnt the man we meet in book one, that he’s actually sweet, and earnest, and he’s been fighting his own battle practically alone against his abuser since he was fifteen years old. also, the reveal that laurent knew who damianos was from the start makes it clear imo that all of his violence in book 1 was supposed vengence, not... him being evil. he apologizes explicitly in-text, and also, all of the acts of violence he commits cause serious problems for him in terms of his future alliance which he then needs to fix. i just love how layered these books are, how there’s so much information in them that makes rereading almost more fun than reading them for the very first time!

[five-rivers]

@lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks came up with this op!Danny/Marvel AU!

BTW I need help naming this newest proof that I can't keep anything to a short little one-shot.

.

Loki was not, and never had been, a good man. For that matter, whether or not he’d ever been a good boy was debatable. His mother would argue that he had, but she would very likely be the only one. Well, except for Thor, perhaps, but that was because he was an idiot who could drown in three inches of nostalgia. Like he didn’t remember every time Loki had humiliated him. Maybe he didn’t, for all that he kept falling for the same trick over and over again.

It made Loki’s late nights studying the arts of illusion, misdirection, and lying seem redundant. Almost. Not everyone was as dense as his big brother.

No. Loki had never been a good man. He had, however, been a free man.

Free to run or hide. Free to explore the nooks and crannies of Asgard, to uncover her secrets in ways few cared to do. Free to walk hidden paths between the Nine Realms and even farther flung territories, where his people did not and had never ruled, to play games, make deals, have adventures, take risks. To be. To exist as his own creature.

He had been free. He had.

But on one of those little secret excursions, he had discovered something that had made even his flippant, slippery heart clench with fear. A ravening plague, spreading across the stars. The death of half of everything on the horizon.

Loki was not a good man. What cause did he have to care for all the sundry others in the universe? There were too many. It was too much to ask.

But Asgard—His home, even though the had long ago realized the blood in his veins originated on very different soil. That was different.

Asgard, he could help. Asgard could survive.

But it had to be strong. It had to have strong allies. None of this barely-held peace, this enemy eternally at their gates. It needed strong leadership. Not his brother’s simplistic view and longing for the glory of war.

Loki was not a good man. But he was one who could get things done.

Before he knew it, he had burned all his bridges behind him. In one case, a literal bridge that was literally broken.

And he fell.

And he fell.

And he fell right into the hands of the one he had feared enough to do this. Broken enough for poison to drip into the cracks. No one knew where he was, no one could know where he was, except, perhaps, Heimdal, and Loki sincerely doubted Heimdal cared. No one was coming for him. No one was looking for him. No rescue was forthcoming.

He was alone.

Asgardians were considered gods for a reason. Their bodies and minds were much more resilient than the average mortal’s. But Thanos’s people had been titans, and there was a reason for that, too.

Thanos enjoyed breaking him.

And Loki turned his lies on himself. A skilled master of games always had one gifted opponent, even alone. Hadn’t he wanted to rule? To command? To see a world, any world, prostrate at his feet? To be given the recognition and praise of which he was so worth?

To pull something, anything, out of the fire?

(If he had spent less time learning how to spin lies and more on how to see the truth, he might not have believed it. A better, wiser, man would have. But Loki was not a good man. And he was very skilled in his craft.)

So, his new master put a weapon in his hands, and he went off to conquer a world.

.

Danny was used to rude awakenings. He was used to those rude awakenings being full body chills and ghosts, not someone knocking on his door.

Blearily, he pulled himself out from under the blankets. Quasi-military government facility or not, the beds were comfortable. Maybe Mom or Dad had gotten themselves locked out of their room? Or Jazz—No, not Jazz, she hadn’t come with them. She was at college, not being flown places by Mom and Dad’s suspiciously generous new consulting job.

At least it wasn’t the GIW.

He stood on tiptoe (curse his perpetually short body) to peer out the peephole. His parents’ buff, one-eyed, and incredibly imposing new boss stood in front of the door, hands on his hips, slightly sweeping back his long dark coat. If Danny listened carefully, he could hear two other people near the door, and… was that an alarm? Yes. Faint, but present, was a warning klaxon.

Okay. Danny would bet his right arm that something had gone horribly wrong with whatever his parents were consulting on. Didn’t explain why the boss was in front of his door.

Unless they’d gotten the rooms mixed up, somehow?

Ugh. Danny wasn’t paid enough to deal with this.

He opened the door. “What-?”

“Phantom,” intoned eyepatch guy with great solemnity.

Danny immediately tried to close the door. The guy stuck his foot in the jamb, and, sure, Danny could have crushed it, but that would be a jerk move. He didn’t think this guy was going for a pirate look, after all.

“We need your help.”

.

“I’m not sure what you think I can help you with,” yelled Danny over the beating of the helicopter blades. He’d remained stubbornly in human form. “My parents are the scientists. This sounds like a science thing. Not a punching-people thing.”

“We spoke to them earlier,” said Fury, “and we have plenty of scientists working on the theories they brought up. You’re the one with practical experience.”

“Practical experience in what?”

“Interdimensional portals,” said the woman, who had yet to introduce herself.

As if this whole thing wasn’t already giving him a bad feeling. “My parents built an interdimensional portal. Again, you should be talking to them. They’re the ones you’re paying.”

“We could pay you, too,” said Fury, “but we assumed you would want to avoid letting your parents know about this, as you’re still a minor and they have control of your bank accounts.”

Danny stared flatly. “This is blackmail.”

“We aren’t threatening you,” pointed out the woman.

“Emotional blackmail,” said Danny, glaring, daring her to challenge him on whether or not he actually knew what blackmail was.

In the meantime, the helicopter landed. Danny unbuckled and hopped out, trailing slightly awkwardly behind Fury and the woman. He didn’t want to stand out, but he suspected that, being the only kid here and being in the general vicinity of Fury, who radiated authority, that was a lost cause.

“This is Agent Coulson. Coulson, this is Phantom.”

Danny’s mouth went dry(er) at how casual the introduction was. His eyes went nervously to all the other people running around the field. With all the noise, it was unlikely anyone had heard, but still…

“Can you not? Secret identity and all? Unless you’ve told everyone herealready, which, rude.”

Fury sighed. “How bad is it?” he asked Coulson.

“We’re not sure,” said Coulson. “That’s the problem. Big fan of your work, by the way,” he added as an aside to Danny. He glanced at the woman. “Agent Hill.”

“Background?” asked Fury as he led the way into the building.

“The first energy surge was four hours ago. Dr. Selvig’s equipment picked it up – He’s the head scientist on this project.”

“Dr. Selvig isn’t authorized to test,” said Fury. “We wanted to run his plans by the Fentons.”

“He wasn’t testing. He wasn’t even in the room. He called it ‘spontaneous advancement.’”

“It turned itself on?”

“What are the energy levels?” asked Fury before Hill’s question could be answered.

“Climbing,” said Coulson.

“Mr. Fenton,” said Fury, “any comments?”

“Look, I don’t even know what this thing that you built looks like or what it’s a door to.” Danny frowned as a thought occurred to him. “You’re not expecting me to fight whatever comes out of it, are you? Because, unless you’ve got a ghost portal down there, I can’t make guarantees.”

“It’s called the Tesseract,” said Coulson. “It’s supposed to be a connection to the other side of space. A source of unlimited energy. At least,” there was a note of humor in his voice despite the evacuation taking place around them, “that’s what the scientists say.”

“A door to space?” asked Danny, firmly shoving down his excitement at the prospect. “Like, a Stargate?” It was no good, he could practically feel himself sparkling. He took a firm grip of his core and reminded himself he might need to fight before the end of the day.

“Well, no,” said Coulson. “It’s this little… cube… thing.” He made a shape with his hands.

“Oh,” said Danny, mind still whirring. “You know, if it’s really a tesseract, it isn’t a cube in just three dimensions, so bigger things could come out of it than you’d think.” He’d seen some weird portals in the Ghost Zone.

“Well, right now, we’re just getting energy.” They entered a large room with an extremely sci-fi setup. It looked like they were planning to shoot some kind of laser across the room onto a platform surrounded by strange-looking panels. There were men with guns scattered around in what was probably a well thought out formation Danny couldn’t see. There was also a dude with a bow sitting up in the rafters. He frowned down at Danny as he noticed Danny noticing him.

“Dr. Selvig!”

“Director!”

“What do we know?”

Danny allowed himself to be distracted by the centerpiece of the room, a piece of machinery built around what was indeed a little cube thing. He tilted his head and approached, trying to get a better view of it around the people in lab coats and protective gear currently swarming it. He caught mention of radiation a grimaced.

It was unlikely to kill him, but, really, everyone here should probably be wearing more PPE. You never knew what was going to come out of an interdimensional portal, after all. Except trouble. Trouble was a pretty safe bet.

It was pretty. Blue. Reminded him a little of a blue raspberry ice pop. Part of him wanted to lick it. Which was stupid. He didn’t want to wind up half what-ever-lived-on-the-other-side on top of his regular ghost nonsense.

“Mr. Fenton?”

Danny jumped and turned, refocusing on the adults, who had multiplied while he’d been daydreaming. The guy with the bow had joined them.

“Mr. Fenton? Like the Doctors Fenton I spoke to earlier?” asked Selvig.

“Yeah, it’s—”

This, of course, was when everything decided to explode. Sort of.

The blue cube shot out a beam of energy that had more than a little in common with the Fenton Bazooka’s portal setting. The beam terminated on the platform, a portal rapidly forming.

Danny slid into a fighting stance, and barely even noticed as blue energy washed over the room, throwing many less-prepared people back.

Something shaped like a man stepped through the portal.

Danny did not break his stance. Still. “An alien,” he whispered, eyes wide. If they were friendly, maybe they’d answer his questions about space. If they weren’t friendly, maybe they’d answer his questions about space after Danny beat them up.

(Danny did not go ghost. Did not even think about going ghost. There were too many people here, and the space was too open.)

Fury attempted to negotiate. Danny approved. Not everything that came through an interdimensional portal was necessarily evil.

Except this guy apparently was. Go figure. He could also deflect bullets and was very good with throwing knives, which led to Danny having to pull several of the gun guys out of their own line of fire as well as the alien’s line of knife. Who would have thought an alien’s weapon of choice would be throwing knives? The energy-blasting spear was much more in line with his expectations.

The bow guy proved to be more competent than the gun guys. This didn’t really surprise Danny. Bow guy sort of had to be competent. Otherwise, no way would they let him go around with a bow. Like, seriously. A bow.

Even so, bow guy was fighting an alien and—

“You have heart,” said the alien, raising the spear.

Danny pushed bow guy out of the way, and his mind fuzzed out.

(The human part of it, anyway.)

.

Loki didn’t know what a child was doing here, and he didn’t particularly care. The boy would do for a hostage, at least. He had a mission he had to fulfil, or else…

Or else.

“Please don’t,” he said turning with a shadow of his usual lazy affect, vaguely insulted that the human thought he could be sneaker that him, “I still need that.”

The human went on and on, apparently burdened with the delusion that he was on the same level as Loki.

Loki was burdened with other things. A glorious purpose. Glad tidings. Freedom. What could be better than freedom?

“A world free from what?” asked the human.

“From freedom,” said Loki, and wasn’t that what he believed, now? Wasn’t that what he’d been shown? “Freedom is life’s great lie.” He would know. He was an excellent liar. “Once you accept that, in your heart—” He batted away an arrow and tsked. “Shield me, boy,” he demanded. Had Thanos misrepresented the scepter’s powers? Or was the boy merely—

A dome of green surrounded him and the boy, thrumming with magic the likes of which he had only seen once, in a tome thrice forbidden.

“Oh,” said Loki, almost purring. “You are interesting. What are you?”

“Half human, half ghost,” replied the boy, tersely.

Loki had never heard of such a creature. No matter. He’d be sure to make good use of him.

“Grab the scientist,” he said, nodding at the balding man who had been with his brother when he’d fought the Destroyer in the desert.

Loki wanted the archer. He seemed interesting. Useful.

.

Fenton was under thrall. Phantom knew what that felt like. A hundred feet under red water, trying not to drown, whispers everywhere. Pulling. Pushing. Prodding.

This was different, but the principle was the same.

Neither half of him could truly ‘fight’ the other. Fenton and Phantom were a single entity. Not two in lockstep. Even so.

Fenton grabbed onto Dr. Selvig, as ordered. Phantom made sure that was all they did.

“What are you doing, boy?” snapped Loki. “Follow me! Bring the scientist.”

And so, they followed.

.

Loki breathed. Acquiring Barton had been the right choice. The boy was powerful, but, perhaps because of his unique biology, did not have Barton’s presence of mind, and couldn’t have led him to such wonderful allies.

Allies.

These weren’t truly his allies. Nor were they subjects. They were…

Loki forced himself to breathe. He just had to follow the mission. Follow the mission, let Thanos’s army through. He’d been promised this world. He would have this world.

And then he could be… His mind stuttered over the next word, and he shook his head, trying to drive out the painful buzz of Thanos’s herald and mouthpiece trying to contact him.

He looked up at the drones bustling around, all according to his will. Except the boy, who stared at him, somehow managing to be both utterly blank and challenging at the same time.

He was alone, here.

He was alone.

But what did it matter? Bad men always wound up alone, and Loki… Loki could never be a good man.

[tteokggukk]

summer heat → jjk

–pairing: twin!jungkook x reader

–genre: fluff, mature (? but no smut), drabble, a minor attempt at humor, best friend’s twin brother type of thing

–words: 2.9k

–warnings: explicit language, sexual tension, tiny bit of humiliation, a hint of jungkook and reader having some sort of “history” if u squint hard enough

–summary: in an attempt to calm you down and prevent your mood from swinging due to the blazing heat, your best friend decides to go out and buy you some ice cream. you’re shocked, however, when he quickly returns and looks different, making you see him in an entirely new light and leaving you trying to resist the urge to give in to your raging hormones and just jump on him.

–a/n: i was thinking of this scenario in the shower but didn’t have the brain power to turn it into a full length story so i might just add this to a pile of drabbles that i may or may not develop heh + ive been in my jungkook feels too lately sigh + also this is unedited 

permanent taglist: @100percent-dum-dum  @mochisjoon​ @boraength @rageyoudamnednerd​ 

It was a scorching hot summer’s day. Sweat was beginning to trickle down your temples and your shirt was getting stuck to your skin, causing an irking feeling of discomfort. Looking around, you quickly grabbed an empty long folder from your best friend’s messy desk and began fanning yourself to cool down. The two of you were just there, sitting in his room in a not-so-comfortable silence.

You were currently plopped down onto a chair with your legs resting on the desk in front of you, too lazy to come up with ideas to kill your boredom.

It was a tradition for your family to travel every summer and visit a new country you hadn’t been to, but this year you had to pass the plane tickets and sight-seeing due to your best friend, Junghan, asking begging you to help him out with a month-long film project. You didn’t have the heart to decline, so you told your parents you’d stay behind and help him out which resulted in you having to stay over at Junghan’s place for the rest of the summer.

You had to admit though, a small part of you felt disinclined to stay because the project sounded like it would’ve been a tedious workload, but working with your best friend was so much more fun than you’d imagined and even the project itself turned out to be enjoyable. So far, your summer break has been spent filming and hanging out with Junghan—though hanging out usually meant staying in his room and watching romcoms all day while crying over fictional characters, ranting about how you two would never meet such perfect men in real life. It was great.

Until the air conditioner broke down.

You glanced over at Junghan, who seemed to be just as spiritless as you were while he sat in front of a fan, eyes looking empty and distant.

“I told you the air conditioner needed to be fixed,” You sighed and looked up at the ceiling, completely missing the harsh glare he sent you.

“I said I was gonna get it fixed,” He replies and turns back to the fan, his voice quieting down a little, “But the number for repair wouldn’t answer.”

“Right,” You muttered absent-mindedly, eyes staring at the ceiling while your mind was too busy trying to come up with suggestions to beat the heat, “We could go to the pool?”

“Closed,” Junghan grunts, “The mall?”

“As if we’d both drive in this state,” You rolled your eyes as you tried to get your shirt to stop sticking to your skin. Junghan glances over at you when he hears you grumbling, one of the many cues that you were beginning to feel peevish. Deciding that it was pointless to keep tugging on your shirt, you opt to take it off instead.

“You don’t mind do you?” You asked before completely removing your shirt, only leaving you in your bralette. Though you knew he never did because of the countless times he’s helped you change and pick out different outfits, you always asked out of politeness. Additionally, his zero interest in women made you feel much safer and comfortable enough to undress around him.

“I really don’t care,” He says and stands up. You hear him rumbling for a moment while you were neatly folding your shirt, and seconds later you recognize the jingling sound of keys.

“Where are you going?” You asked.

“The nearby grocery. You’re about to get grumpy and I am not going to listen to a rambling bitch for the rest of the day,” He says, rubbing his temples as he makes his way to the door.

“So you’re just gonna leave me here?” You asked, too exhausted to even glance at him. He probably wasn’t, you only asked for the dramatic effect.

“No, dumbass. I’m just gonna go and buy ice cream. See you in a bit.”

And with that Junghan leaves and closes the door shut. Only a few minutes later after the sound of the engine had gone did you decide to exert a little effort and move over to his previous spot to sit in front of the fan, the air immediately cooling your skin. You sighed in relief and grabbed a few tissues to wipe your temples dry before grabbing your phone and texting Junghan to buy some lemonade, followed by a second text telling him you’d pay him back once he returned.

You were surprised to hear, not even ten minutes later, that the car was already back and pulling up in the driveway. It couldn’t have been Junghan’s parents as they were out working, and it was only you and Junghan around—not like you two had many friends who would come and visit. Instead of rationalizing with yourself on how Junghan came back home in supersonic speed, you decide to drop it and wait for him to come up back to his room.

Someone knocks on the door, causing your brows to furrow in confusion. Since when did Junghan knock?

“Come... in?” You answer, though it came out more as a question. Your head turns at the sound of the door opening, and your eyes widen at seeing Junghan standing by the doorframe.

Looking oddly different.

“Dude,” You stood up from your place and stared him up and down, “Is that what you were really wearing when you went out?”

His eyebrows raise in shock and you catch his eyes taking a quick glimpse from your chest before quickly looking back at the perplexed look on your face, a small smirk forming on lips. You decide to ignore it.

“What a warm ‘welcome home’,” he chuckles.

“You didn’t answer me,” you replied, still oblivious to the difference in his tone.

He was wearing an all-black ensemble—a black cap, a black leather jacket, black pants that outlined his toned thighs (how have you never noticed?), and some chunky black boots—a huge contrast to his normally colorful and baggy clothing. You were genuinely curious because you hadn’t noticed what he looked like before he left the house as you were too tired and lazy to even look up and say goodbye.

“Uh, yeah. This is what I was wearing?” He narrows one of his eyes, looking confused, “Why?”

“I don’t know… since when did you wear all black?”

“Since way back then? I don’t know,” He replies, and you now noticed how his voice was unusually low. Junghan steps inside and averts his eyes from you, looking around in his room before scrimmaging through drawers as if in search for something.

“What are you looking for?” You asked, folding your arms and following him around.

“A charger,” He replies, and a chill runs down your spine at the sound of his voice. You thought maybe you’d detect how he was just trying to change his manner of speaking, but it was effortlessly low; like he wasn’t faking it or anything. It was weird because Junghan normally sounded a little more high pitched. 

“What charger?”

“A laptop charger, mine broke,” He continues searching and not once does he meet your eyes.

“Oh okay, let me help you then,” You begin to look around and help him search, “Though I don’t know what it looks like, I’ll let you know if I see a charger.”

He looks up at you and smiles, but you don’t catch him watching you as you were already busy searching, “Thanks.”

The two of you continue searching in silence, though occasionally you’d look up and glance at Junghan. What exactly was he doing? Was this for his film? Is he supposed to be in character? This new look and manner of talking that he somehow adopted after a quick trip to the grocery store did things to you. Every time he grunted in annoyance after a failed search, something in your stomach would twist and you found yourself suddenly feeling drawn, or maybe even more than drawn, to your best friend. Your gay best friend.

You shook your head to get rid of those thoughts.

Only a few minutes later did you find something that looked like a charger hiding underneath a pile of unfolded clothes before presenting it to Junghan, “Is it this?”

“Yes! Exactly that,” He jumps up from crouching over one of the drawers at the bedside and walks over to you, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure. I don’t know why you took such a long time searching for something in your room, though,” You rolled your eyes.

“My room?” He smiles, voice a little deeper but with a hint of amusement.

God, you could just jump on him right now.

“Yeah?” You knit your brows, “And stop doing that!”

“Stop doing what?” He asks, sitting down on the edge of the bed so he was looking up at you. He leans back a bit a folds his arms, a smile still tugging on the corner of his mouth.

Maybe it was the summer heat doing things to your head and making you think about all these things that you never thought you’d ever want to do with your gay best friend, but he seemed so in character it was actually beginning to bother you. What store did he go to exactly? And where the hell is the ice cream?

“That! What’s up with your voice? And your outfit? You look so different, it’s weird,” You folded your arms as if to mirror him.

“Weird, huh?” He asks and looks at his clothing before looking back at you.

“Not in a bad way. It looks good, it’s just not you,” You squirmed slightly before shaking your head to snap out of it, “I don’t know what store you went to that made you look like this—and congrats I guess, if you’re trying to switch up your fashion, but you completely missed the ice cream, so good luck trying to handle this rambling bitch.”

He laughs at the words “rambling bitch” and oh god that is not what his laughter sounded like before. When did the sound of his laugh sound so deep and sultry? You subconsciously sucked on and bit your lip at the sound of his laughter, trying your best not to visibly drool in front of him. He catches your subtle action and his brow raises at the sight.

“Despite all the things you said, you think this looks good?” A playful smile rests on his face and your heart beats erratically at his expression.

“Y-yeah, I don’t know,” You mumbled. He shifts on the edge of the bed to move closer to you.

“And because there’s no ice cream, you’re going to turn into some rambling…” He reaches his hand out, the back of his fingers feeling the skin on your exposed waist before resting his hand on your back to pull you in closer.

“…person?” he continues, brows raised and eyes staring intently at yours, not using the vulgar word you had just used to describe yourself (or the word he had just called you before he left to go to the store).

“I...um, we’ll see,” you replied, and he only chuckles deeply. Your voice had transformed into a murmuring mess and it annoyed you, but you couldn’t really do anything about it, right now he reminded you so much of—

“I think you look good too, you know. Maybe I did miss you a lot more than I thought I did,” he whispers, pulling you in even more so you were now standing between his thighs.

Missed you? After an eight minute trip to the grocery store?

You didn’t question it. Your mind was blanking out, malfunctioning, even. Here was your best friend, your gay best friend (as you had to keep reminding yourself), placing his hands on your bare skin in a way that you knew wasn’t going to turn out to be so innocent. Right now you were extremely attracted and possibly even turned on by whatever the fuck he was doing, all you could do to save yourself was blame it on the heat. Was this absolutely weird? Hell yes. Did you want to stop him? Fuck no.

Were you now completely devoid of all reason and logic?

Definitely.

Softly, he tugs on your arm and pulls you into him so you were now sitting on his lap with your hand resting on his chest. One of his hands was still attached to your waist, the other was resting itself on the bed, gripping on a blanket.

Chills run down your spine for the second time now as his mouth moves closer to your ear, “Lucky for you I know the perfect way to handle rambling bitches.”

Your breath hitches for a moment and Junghan moves back to face you, his lips grazing your cheeks a little before you meet each other’s gaze. The summer heat was definitely nothing compared to this, but you didn’t mind. Your faces were only mere centimeters apart now and you could’ve sworn he was beginning to lean in by the look in his eyes, which were now fixated on your lips.

Seriously, you could just grab him by the collar right now and speed things up. He’s the one who pulled you in first, anyway, you just wanted to get things going. Though you haven’t exactly a clue as to where this would end, you wished he would hurry up a little to find out.

But for some strange reason, your senses were enveloped with the distinct smell of a signature fragrance that you knew did not belong to Junghan and it snapped you out of your thoughts. The scent was strong enough to flash some memories back in your mind, making you frown. Did he use this perfume on purpose? Or was your mind just playing tricks on you? In a flash, you could suddenly think straight and you couldn’t help it, the moral side of your brain had turned far stronger than your currently raging hormones (thank goodness). Something was definitely off.

“But, Junghan… aren’t you… gay?” You asked, your voice trailing off a little.

His eyes widen and he pulls back from you. He stares at you for a few seconds before it hits him, and he starts erupting in laughter. You narrowed your eyes at him and got off his lap, moving over to the side and sitting beside him instead.

“Junghan?” He stresses on the name. You’re staring at him blankly now, like you knew he was just messing with you. His laughter eventually dies down and he places a hand on your thigh, though it seemed much more innocent now, “I’m so sorry, ____, you’ve got the wrong person.”

With one hand, he quickly grabs the blanket off the bed. The back of his other free hand endearingly caresses your jaw, and you notice how he lingers for a while as he moves a bit lower down to your neck—before wrapping the fabric around you and covering your whole torso with it. Your face immediately turns pink as you clutched onto the blanket to further cover yourself, feeling slightly humiliated, though you were still confused.

“Wrong person? What do you mean?”

“I was wondering why you had no shirt on, I thought that was just a regular thing for you now. But it’s probably cause you’re more comfortable around my brother, huh?”

“Your brother…?”

“Has it really been that long?” He chuckles, and instantly your mind began connecting the pieces together. Could it actually be him? You haven’t seen him in years, and no one even bothered telling you he was coming back today. No way, surely this was Junghan playing a joke on you.

“I’m not Junghan. I’m his twin brother, Jungkook. Remember?”

You hastily stood up in defense, still clutching the blanket close to your chest, “Shut the fuck up, Junghan. No one said anything about Jungkook coming back today!”

Junghan Jungkook only laughs and stands up, the melodious sound filling the room, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching the wide open bedroom door. 

“What a shame, but it was a surprise. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming home today,” He folds his arms, “And if I am Junghan, then who is that?” He points at the doorframe and true enough, Junghan was standing there holding grocery bags in his arms wearing his usual oversized colorful jacket and khaki colored pants.

You and Junghan both looked at each other with mouths dropped down to the floor before you looked back at Jungkook, who had the same smirk tugged on his lips, clearly amused at the whole situation.

Jungkook bends forward and leans in to your face, his voice in a lower tone but still audible enough for his brother to hear, “Probably shouldn’t take your top off so leisurely around the house anymore, huh?” He grins and winks at you, causing you wince and force an awkward smile, internally cursing yourself at everything that just happened.

“Anyways, I should probably rest up in my room. See you around,” Jungkook flashes you a smile before placing a chaste kiss on your (now dry, because your body had frozen up) forehead before walking away from you, taking the charger and dangling it in his other hand. He taps his confused looking brother on the shoulder before turning his head back to take one last look at you before walking out, leaving you and Junghan staring at each other in shock.

Junghan walks in slowly and sets the bags of grocery on the floor, shutting the door behind him.

“What the fuck just happened?” He asks you, eyes wide in anticipation.

Your mind replays everything that had happened between you two. Was Jungkook really just about to kiss you minutes before? Heart racing, you clutch on your chest from underneath the blanket he had covered you with. No way was Jungkook back. No way is he back and looking even more attractive than he did the last time you saw him. Not when you had just gotten over your small crush on him a couple of years ago.

The heat returns to your body, but it mainly pools on your cheeks. You look back at your best friend, but no words of explanation come up. 

“Believe me, I’m asking myself the same thing.”

↣ all rights reserved © 2021 tteokggukk. please do not repost. translations/modifications are not allowed.

[fandom-imagines]

Sweet little darling~

Fandom: House of Wax (2005)

Pairing: Bo Sinclair X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Canon typical violence, domestic abuse (abusive relationship; not Bo) Kind of out-of-character Bo, depends on how you headcanon him for liking someone! Also not proofread yet.

Words: 2.55k 

Summary: Kindness can get you killed, but it can also get you out of a sticky situation.

Part Two!

To anybody that saw their relationship, it was evident that the feeling wasn’t mutual. Perhaps it once had been, but it no longer was, and for good reason.

“You fucking bitch!” The scream echoed throughout the building, one body looming over a small, cowering young woman.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, doing her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.  “Please don’t hurt m-“ her pleas were cut short as a tight hand grasped her arm and tugged her onto her feet, a harsh slap hitting her cheek shortly afterwards.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he cruelly laughed, mimicking her frightened and desperate tone. “How pathetic.”

“I’m sorry,”

With one final laugh, her boyfriend tossed her to the ground.

*

Laughter filled the truck the group of friends were currently seated in, music blaring through the speakers of a radio one of them had brought but their drunk selves were unable to remember who.

Four of the friends engaged in conversation about anything their clouded minds could think of, whilst the final friend lay against the side of the car, desperately avoiding the demanding gaze her boyfriend was giving her and had been giving her the entire night.

It was clear what he wanted.

Eyes fixated on the green of the grass beneath her, Y/N noticed an approaching truck. Choosing not to say anything, she silently waited for somebody else to notice the vehicle.

“Guys,” Lucy, a close friend of Y/N’s boyfriends, called. “Who is that?”

By now the headlights of the truck were focused on the gang who were circled around the campfire, narrowly avoiding Y/N’s figure.

“James, do something?” Y/N winced as she watched another of the girls grasp onto her boyfriends muscular arm, her blonde hair rubbing against his bare chest.

“Can we help you?” He yelled over the sound of the roaring engine, their music having been paused the second they had notice the driver. “Look dude, this isn’t funny. Just fuck off!”

James’s final sentence was one that made his girlfriend cringe, body remembering the way he had hurt her the night before using that exact same tone; it almost made her cry.

Deciding to stop him before this escalated any further, Y/N made her way towards James before placing a hand on his chest to signal him to back down. This seemed to only anger him further, something that was clear by the way his hands balled into fists. Nobody noticed, except one other person.

“Leave it,” she whispered into his ear, hand dropping from his body to hopefully ease his anger.

James’s hand reach out to her, grabbing his own with a bruising force and tugging her into him as he leaned down to her ear, ignoring the whistles from his friends who assumed he was saying something sexual.

“Just you wait till I get you alone,” James snarled in her ear, unaware of the way an unknown man glared at him before driving away.

*

“Are you fucking kidding me?” James spat, smashing his hand against the cars hood. “It’s busted, the fan belt is fucked.”

His anger seemed to put everybody on edge as they all fell into an uncomfortable silence, something that was uncommon for them.

“You needed a new one anyway,” Y/N mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Don’t you fucking start,” while his words were directed towards his girlfriend, the others assumed it was aimed at the car in sarcasm; ignorance is bliss after all.

“I can help y’all.” A seemingly kind voice yelled from behind them, having heard the entire conversation. “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear ya. There’s a town not to far from here. A guy, Bo, runs a gas stop, I’m sure he’d have some.”

Before James could rudely decline this man, Y/N decided to respond. “Do you know how to get there?”

“I’ll drive ya! Truck can only fit two of you though,”

“That’d be great!” She gave the unnamed man a gentle smile, one which he gladly returned. “When are you ready?”

“Now is good,”

She simply nodded, rushing towards the car without giving James a chance to say anything, only leaving him time to follow her, but not before a “fuck sake,” left his lips.

*

“Thank you so much, Lester!” She grinned once again as she hopped from his truck.

“It was no bother, pleasure to meet you Y/N,” he smiled back at her, ruffling her hair slightly before realising the angered look on James’s face. “And you of course,” he nodded awkwardly whilst his hand dropped back to his side. “You two take care now,” and with those words, he drove away.

“Fucking slutting yourself out to weird men, typical,” James spat as he tugged Y/N’s hand so that she was following him into the town, ignoring how she almost tripped in the process.

“I’m sorry, I was just being nice. He was helping us!” She all but yelled, silently praying for him to loosen his grip so that she doesn’t have to use all of her concealer hiding, yet another, mark from him.

“Sure he was. He didn’t just want to get into your pants or anything, huh?”

Ignoring his hurtful words, Y/N began to look around the town.

It was quiet, too quiet. But when she began to think, it was Sunday and there was a Church up ahead at the end of the road which would make more sense, especially considering how early in the morning it was.

“There’s the garage,” James said, dropping her hand to instead point at the small garage not far from them. “Let’s go,”

Y/N followed him, quickly striding to keep up with his large legs.

“There’s nobody here,” she sighed, watching as James just barged his way into the unoccupied garage. “You can’t just go in there! That’s rude.”

“Do I give a fuck? Wait out there for all I care,”

So she chose to do just that.

*

“Oh, hi!” A tall man in a suit gave Y/N a bright grin, accidentally startling her slightly. “You need something?”

“O-oh, hi! Uhm, my boyfriend is in there, I’m sorry I told him not too, he needs a fan belt? I have no idea what one of them is but I-“

The man chuckled, smiling once again as he put his arm around her waist to guide her inside. “Don’t worry, darling. I got ya,” his words were somewhat calming, as though he was offering to protect her from James, despite not knowing what was going on, or perhaps he did.

“You finally grew a p-“James’s words fell short as he turned to see a man, who was significantly taller than him, stood beside his girlfriend. “Hello?”

“Hi, names Bo,” Bo’s tone was a lot blunter than the charming one he had been using previously. “You need something?” He repeated his previous words, instead this time to James and less kind. “You are in my garage after all.”

Despite knowing that Bo could easily subdue him, James chose to get angry anyway. “You got a problem with me? Don’t leave it unlocked if you don’t want people coming in,”

“James leave it,” Y/N gently pushed herself between Bo and James as James began to try get into his face. “Just ask him for what you need and let’s go.”

“Fine, we need a fan belt. Fifteen inch.”

“I might be able to do that, but you’ve already had a look so let me know what I’ve got,” Bo smirked at the angered expression on the mans face at his words.

So maybe he did have a problem with James, a problem neither of the couple knew of.

“Not a fifteen,”

“Then they’re back at the house,”

“The house? Why would they be there?”

“Deliveries are delivered there, easier for everyone really.”

Y/N watched as the two men interacted, Bo incredibly calm whilst James was boiling with anger. Part of her was scared of how he would react, his threat about ‘waiting till they’re alone’ floating around in her mind, yet some strange part of her felt safe knowing that Bo was there. Perhaps it was the fact that he could fight him with ease, or maybe that James would, most likely, never harm her in front of another person.

“Let’s just go,” She pleaded, desperation swimming in her Y/E/C orbs.

“No, I’ll stay, you go.” James seemed pleased with this idea, smirking at the way his girlfriends body tensed; he enjoyed the fear he caused her.

“That’s fine with me,” Bo chimed in, offering Y/N a smile. “That fine with you?”

“Yeah, yeah that’s fine.”

“Let me just lock up,” Bo said, leading the visitors out into the street, much to James’s dismay, before locking up. “Let’s go then.” He gave James one last sarcastic smile before leading Y/N away from him.

*

“Do you live with anyone here?”

Y/N and Bo had been talking for a while now, having chosen to take a slow walk instead. He was nice, to her anyway. She felt as though he understood her, despite not knowing a thing about her.

“Nah, I live with my brother,” Came his response, winking at the girl as he ran a hand through his dark hair, enjoying the way she blushed under his gaze.

She knew it was wrong, finding him both attractive and sweet. But he was both of those, and James was neither, not to her at least. Maybe it was because he was the first person to be this kind to her in a long time, or maybe it was the feeling of safety she felt around him, but she was enjoying his company more than anyone else’s.

“Oh, that must be fun!”

Bo chuckled at her enthusiasm, “I suppose so,”

The pair walked up to Bo’s home, guilt filling the girl’s chest each time she let Bo’s hand brush against her own. She simply enjoyed the sparks flying throughout her body, forgetting about the pain she would receive later as a punishment.

“We’re here,” Bo’s words pulled Y/N from her thoughts, almost tripping over a rock as she came back to reality. “Easy there,” Bo shook his head whilst smiling as he caught her, sneakily pulling her body into his own without her realising it was not an accident.

“Thank you,” she blushed, unknowingly allowing herself to melt into his touch, feeling the need to savour every kind and gentle touch she was getting from a stranger.

“No problem, darling,” he smirked, once again enjoying the way she blushed at the nickname he had given her.

Hand still around her waist, Bo guided her into his home.

“Take a seat, I need to get out of this horrible suit.” His words caused a giggle to leave Y/N’s lips, her head nodding as she took a seat on the faded leather couch, watching Bo leave the room to go change.

*

“Sorry to keep ya waiting, Darl.” Bo’s voice startled Y/N, her body jolting in a way that made Bo feel slightly guilty, something that he rarely felt. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s okay. It was my fault,” she offered him a weak smile, twiddling with the hem of her short-sleeved t-shirt when he seated himself beside her.

“That looks painful,” his hands cautiously reached out to gently take her hand, fingers lightly running across a hand-shaped bruise that had began to form. “You shouldn’t let him treat you like that,” Bo’s spare hand reached up to her face, hand cupping one cheek which made her flinch, Bo frowning at the action.

“S-sorry,”  

Bo had no idea why she was apolgoising to him. It had been him that touched her, but it all made sense in his head.

“Does he hit you?”

Her lack of response was enough for him to understand to full situation.

“I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be, darling.” He sighed, hand moving from her cheek to her neck to pull her head towards his lips, planting a soft kiss on it, something that made her almost cry along with his sweet words.

“Thank you,” her own arms wrapped around his torso, grateful to be given affection without it feeling forced.

*

“You took your time,” James spat as Y/N walked towards him, Bo having quickly headed to the gas station for something that she couldn’t remember the name of. “Were you shagging him or something?”

“N-no,” the nervousness in her voice was something that caused Y/N to cringe, knowing that he wouldn’t believe her.

“Oh, you were.” James’s hands balled into fists as he stalked towards her, ready to attack.

“No, I had to get changed,” Bo’s deep voice startled both of them, James’s fists unclenching immediately.

“Sorry, man. Can’t be too careful with girls like these, can you?” He laughed, trying to play off his previous words as a joke.

“Can’t be too careful with men like yourself either, can you?” Bo’s words seemed innocent, despite having a deeper meaning.

“What?” James snapped. “You told him about us?” He yelled as he turned to face Y/N whose breathing was becoming laboured in fear. “You little bitch!”

As James began to march towards his girlfriend, a tight hand grabbed his fist, spinning him to face the holder only to not be able to see because of a hard punch hitting him in the jaw. The only thing he could hear was a gasp from Y/N and the ringing in his ears as he dropped to the ground.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Bo sniggered. “You can hit a woman but the second a man touches you, you’re out cold. Pathetic,”

Y/N stood frozen to the spot, unsure of how to react.

She hadn’t expected Bo to attack him. In fact, she hadn’t expected him to do anything at all to him or about her situation. Those who knew didn’t care, so why would a stranger?

“You fucking dick!” James screamed, climbing back onto his feet to throw a punch at Bo, one that he barely reacted to.

“Leave him alone!” Y/N yelled, darting between James and Bo, shoving James away from him to the best of her ability.

“You fucking whore. I should’ve known this is what would’ve happened. Actually, I guess I already did.” His words were fast, but his fist moved towards her faster.

Bo was quicker however, grabbing the man’s fist and twisting it behind his back before kicking his legs from beneath him, effectively knocking him to the ground again.

“Vincent!” Bo yelled. “Got one for ya,” both Y/N and James were confused at his words, fear filling them both as a masked man came running out into the street, knife in hand.

Bo took Y/N’s hand, pushing her behind his hand so that she couldn’t see the horror that Vincent was committing to her boyfriend in full glory.

“Y-you killed him…” Her words were quiet, watching from one eye as the man, who she assumed to be Vincent, tugged away the lifeless body. “Are you going to kill me too?”

“You’re safe here, Y/N.” Bo’s words were quiet, praying nobody else heard his true self speaking. “I’ll take care of you. Nobody will ever hurt you again, my sweet little darling.”