#whatever the fuck that squirrel key does

[effyoukeyhouse]

It forever fucks with me how Dodge's defeat happened not once, but twice, due to the LACK OF A FUCKING CHINSTRAP

[badasmuse]

“Drunk and Possessive”

Bada Lee x Reader

Warnings: 18+(MDNI), language, drunk!bada, possessive!bada, lowercase intended, violence, suggestive if you squint, name calling (from outsiders), no relationship (yet)

Summary: bada takes you to a party and man she’s never been more angry.

A request so no song

bada has had a crush on you for so long. she’s your best friend and has been since you met on the playground after some little asshole was bullying you so she kicked sand in her face. even tho there’s six years between you two, you don’t let it bother you. you’re still besties for the resties.

but despite being able to read her like a book, you’re completely oblivious to her so disgustingly obvious crush. she’d do anything for you. literally anything. she proved that when one time you were walking in the park and thought it would be funny to go, “i bet you won’t grab that squirrel.” big mistake on your end cause the mf went and grabbed the squirrel and it bit her.

“you’re a fucking idiot why would you grab the squirrel?” you said driving her to the hospital.

“you told me to.” she said pouting, holding her bleeding hand close to her chest.

you’ve also had a crush on bada for awhile but you hide it from everyone. you didn’t think you were her type. you weren’t a dancer, you don’t have any real talent, you’re an art major but you don’t even think you can draw that well. (even tho you’re absolutely amazing to anyone else. especially bada.)

speaking of bada and art, you just left ceramics class, your last class of the day, and guess who’s outside with your favorite biggby drink and a soft pretzel.

“hey.” bada says softly as you approach her.

“you don’t understand how bad i needed this.” you say throwing your bag in the backseat and hugging bada tight, planting a light kiss on her cheek before taking the coffee and pretzel.

bada blushes and opens the door for you, grabbing your arm to help you in. “i don’t understand how you wear those heels.” she mumbles before closing the door and getting in the driver’s seat.

“i wear them to match your height. you’re too tall.”

she chuckles and starts driving. “you wanna come to a party with me tonight?”

“what i tell you about this last minute shit bada?” you say rolling your eyes.

“i know i know a week in advance. but like.. you’re not doing anything. might as well come.” she says pinching your cheek.

“i guess so.” you groan. “fine i’ll go. what time? what should i wear?”

“whatever you want.” bada pulls into the lot of your shared apartment and obviously goes around to open the door for you grabbing your hand to help you out.

“bada you’re such a gentleman.” you giggle going to grab your bag but she beats you to it.

“come on, angel.” she says walking behind you with a hand on your back. like she always does.

a few hours later, you’re out the shower and standing in front of the mirror wondering what to wear. you have two options and you don’t want to ask bada cause man- that woman is no help. none at all.

you settle on the short black dress and pair it with ankle boots, obviously heeled. you do a quick smokey eye look to match the dress and finally put it on pouting as you reach for the zipper but it’s just out of reach, barely touching your fingertips.

“bada~” you call out, the pout evident in your voice.

“yes?” she walks in fully dressed looking like a tall glass of water and all of a sudden, you’re thirsty.

but you’d never say that.

“can you zip this for me?” you give her doe eyes knowing she wouldn’t say no in the first place but they add character.

she walks behind you and gently pulls the zipper up and man the electricity that went through you when her long fingers brushed against your back.

“you look good.” bada comments looking at you through the mirror.

“thanks i’m hoping to find someone tonight. hopefully a relationship but a hookup is just as good.”

bada’s jaw clenches and she clears her throat, “let’s go.” she mumbles walking downstairs to get her shoes and keys.

you follow her grabbing your shoes and blushing when bada kneels to put them on for you and zip them up.

like girl how can you not see she in love with you???

———

once you arrive at the party, bada immediately goes to get a drink. you follow and pull her down so she can hear you, “don’t drink too much bada.” you whisper and she just nods.

you get yourself a drink and leave to find someone to dance with. you find yourself in the middle dancing with a group of people.

bada watches, standing next to lusher and tatter with a pout on her face.

“you know,” lusher starts, “if you just told her you love her she wouldn’t be all over them she’d be all over you.”

“if she feels the same way.” tatter added which she immediately regretted cause if looks could kill… yeah.

time passes and bada has had way too many. she can barely stand up straight and her speech is beyond slurred, she’s practically incoherent. not to mention her vision is incredibly blurry.

despite all that, she does see the guy that approaches you and starts dancing with you. you’re having a great time and bada is pissed.

she pushes herself off the wall and stumbles over to you and the guy. “hey.” she slurs separating you two.

“bada what are you doing?” you ask holding onto her as she slings her arm around you.

“she’s my girlfriend. back.. back off.” she says pushing the guy back.

“she’s been dancing with everyone in here.”

“mhm and i’m putting a stop to it. she’s mine. fuck off.”

“go ahead keep her. but in my opinion, if she’s gonna act like a whore i’d just pass her off.” he shrugs.

that sobered bada right up.

she runs a hand down her face, cocks her arm back, and swings. hitting the man full force in the face, knocking him to the ground.

“BADA!” you yell, barely able to hold her anymore. you quickly drag her outside and make her sit down on the curb. “what is your problem?” you ask, inspecting her hand.

“my problem? you. you’re my problem. you’re so fucking… oblivious. i’m in love with you and you’re constantly flirting with other people and sleeping with other people. you’re mine. i don’t want anyone else touching you the way i should be touching you!” bada grabs your hand and drags you towards her car.

“what are you doing?” you whispered.

“showing you that you’re mine.”

part 2 maybe?

[dearcat1]

(Carelessness)

Part 5 of Sass and Squirrels

Xanxus comes back to the ruckus of his brother screaming his lungs out. He sighs, fishing out his keys. It's a good thing that he took over the new school too; otherwise Nana's forgetfulness would have Xanxus spending far too much time in that building. As it is, he's got a feeling that whatever he finds inside is going to piss him the fuck off. He's so sure of it, in fact, that he's already a little pissed, in preparation. The door opens to reveal nothing. The living room looks like it should, as does the kitchen. Xanxus hoists his backpack, fingers tight around the rough fabric. "Mama?"

There is no way.

Almost reluctantly Xanxus walks up the stairs and to his brother's room. Tsunayoshi is screaming so hard it looks like he might throw up, hands clenched into fists and face scrunched up with the effort. Xanxus drops his bag by the wall. "MAMA?"

He leaves his brother where he is, rushing down the stairs because something had to had happened. There is no way. Nana is a little scatterbrained, not the best mother around by any means but she isn't this careless. And yet, almost mockingly, the answer stares back at him. There's an innocent-looking small note stuck to the fridge, Nana's writing cheerfully signed with her name and a drawn heart. Went out for tea, it says. Like it's an acceptable thing to do. Like she didn't leave a baby all by himself for who knows how long. For the first time since Xanxus woke up in this new life, fury consumes him. He doesn't care about the scorch marks he leaves on the counter, his fingertips melted into the fridge. No, he stalks back upstairs, barges into his mother's room and starts breaking anything he can get his hands on.

There's something incredibly satisfying about hearing shit break and yet something heartbreaking about finally stopping, fingers bleeding sluggishly and tears falling down his cheeks, surrounded by the destruction. He breathes harshly, chest raising and falling in sharp, jerky movements. Xanxus thinks he might hate her, but he hates more that the thought hurts. At least her room looks as it should now, he thinks, drawing himself up. Tsunayoshi is still crying, so Xanxus turns around, closing the door behind him.

The way back to Tsunayoshi's room is both purposeful and a little too mechanical. Xanxus forces his mind to stay where it needs to be, this he can fix. The rest can come later.

"Come on," Xanxus grunts, grabbing his brother out of his bassinet. Unlike Nana's room, this one is still pristine. A few reddish marks where Xanxus's bloody fingers grabbed at something but otherwise just fine. "Come on," he repeats, not bothered by Tsunayoshi screaming in his ear. He's just being loud for both of them, after all. "Diaper change," he decides because Tsunayoshi stinks. "And then food."

Afterwards, they can hug on the couch and cry a little bit. Just a little.

"You're miserable," Xanxus hums, "I'm miserable." Misery all around.

Never again.

It'll probably strain his tenuous control of the school a little but… Fuck it. Whoever Sawada used to be, he's Xanxus's little brother now. And he doesn't deserve to be left behind just like that. Abandoned so that their mother can go out and enjoy the weather or something. If he thinks too much about it he'll get mad again so he pushes that thought away, focusing on the warm weight in his arms. "We've got this, fuck Nana." He stops, fingers tight on the bathroom's knob. "You can say it too," he allows. "I won't be mad."

Tsunayoshi gurgles something back.

Xanxus assumes it's appropriately demeaning. "Exactly."

"Who needs mothers anyway?" Xanxus announces, both of them are more relaxed after the bath.

His little brother smiles at him instead of answering, bright eyes peeking up at him from under the hooded towel.

This time Xanxus's flames didn't come out of impotence and fury, fear and a desperate need to stay alive. This time, his flames came out of indignation, out of worry for a brother who wasn't his before but is his now.

When Nana comes back, she assumes some sort of freak fire accident happened in her room. Xanxus doesn't tell her otherwise and grits his teeth while she lectures him about being more careful. He doesn't pull his hands away when she cares for his wounds, doesn't even protest the stupid little nickname or the kiss on his brow. But he doesn't stop frowning either. And if a part of him wonders if this is why past Sawada didn't even bother speaking up? Well, that's only for him to know.

[larabiatasstuff]

Part three🖤

" Well you get bonus points for trying again but I have a little advice for you. You shouldn't use heavy parfumed stuff if you want to sneak on someone. I smelled you as soon as I stepped in the room. What is it lilac? Or wait..." he smelled my hair. "Oh no it's lavender, if fits perfectly." his deep, soothing voice had a huge effect on me and I felt myself blush. Fuck I didn't even think about that. Mostly I was doing jobs for food or weapons but sometimes I also got some soaps or parfumes. "Let me go!" I said almost growling at him and he just laughed in my face. "Did someone tell you that you look adorable when you're angry?" that was it with all my strength I kicked him in the knee and as soon as he let go of me I jumped on top of a nearby billard table, the knife held up but unfortunately I tripped over one of the balls, fell off the table and we both landed on the floor, me lying on top of him our noses almost touching. "We should get dinner together before we get so close." he said giving me a wink. "Alright, that's it. I... I can't do that. Fuck Stone and fuck this job."

I got up dusting my pants off. "Stone? As in Agent Stone?" he asked getting up from the floor. "Yeah he gave me job to kill you but seriously if I had known..." but I couldn't finish. Sweet Tooth was taking a step towards me "Did he tell you why he wants me dead?" "No, a job is a job for me. I never ask questions." "Let me guess scavenger?" "Mercenary." he nodded "Yeah that makes sense. Well little squirrel I can tell you why he wants that, we have... a complicated relationship." "You know Sweet Tooth I don't care about that. He wanted a dead clown I wanted to kill a clown it's that simple." he looked at me again a seriousness in his eyes. "And if it wasn't me if it we're random people would you do that too? Without asking questions?" "That's my job." "Alright little squirrel let's make a deal. I'll show you something and if you still want to do the job. Well I let you try to kill me again.Deal?" he asked holding his hand out. I was curious at that point so I agreed. "Perfect...let's go. Follow me." he said smacking my butt. "Did you just... Could you at least try to keep your hands where I can see them?" "Yeah yeah whatever!" he said and got into the rusty pink ice cream truck in front of us. "Need a hand?" he asked opening the passenger door holding his arm out. "No, thanks I'm good." I jumped in and he started the engine.

We drove for approximately thirty minutes when we came to a large junkyard. "Do you know where we are?" Sweet Tooth asked. "Yeah that's the border we'll it was before... How many cars are there?" "Too many, what do you think happened to their owners?" "I... I don't know.... Oh god please don't tell me..." I said looking at him because in between all the abandoned and wrecked cars were also dirty plushies and bloody little shoes. "This is what Stone does, everyone approaching the border dies and it doesn't matter to him if child or adult. Have you seen something like that in my home? No because the only people I kill are the ones that are messing with people like me. I would never lay a hand on a child. What do you think little squirrel?" I needed a moment to process all that, tears were welling in my eyes and I couldn't speak. I thought it would be good not to know anything about the people who were giving me jobs. And it needed a killerclown to show me how wrong I was." You wanna go? " I nodded he turned the key.

Part four🖤

[negative-speedforce]

uncommon questions for Siv, Jay, Esme, Cassandra, and E-2002 Eobard #s 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20, 22, 24, 27, 43 and B, D, I, and J (sorry it's so many lol)

1: What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

Siv: Depends on their mood. If they're zoned out, they can just sit there staring into space for 20+ minutes. However, most of the time, Siv's ADHD ass can't sit still for more than 2 or 3 minutes.

Jay: He has the attention span of a squirrel on cocaine, so probably like 5 minutes or so.

Esme: After about 5 minutes, she'll start fidgeting and singing to herself.

Cassandra: About 10 minutes, then she gets bored and goes and finds something to do.

Eobard: He can sit completely still for hours and it is creepy. Siv, as a kid, has mistaken him for dead because he just sat there, completely still, staring into nothing for like, an hour.

2: How easy is it for your character to laugh?

Siv: Usually, her laughs are ironic, so if you hear Siv laugh when you've done something to piss them off, RUN. However, a genuine laugh is not impossible, although much more unlikely (show her a picture of Delilah being silly and she'll 100% laugh)

Jay: It's pretty easy to make him laugh. Just say/do something funny and you'll probably get at least a chuckle or a snort out of him.

Esme: Depends on how drunk she is. If she's sober, it has to be actually really funny, however, Drunk!Esme will laugh at just about anything.

Cassandra: Good luck, unless your name is Jay.

Eobard: Good luck. It's not happening.

3: How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

Siv: falls asleep scrolling through their phone

Jay falls asleep snuggling Cassandra.

Cassandra: reads to fall asleep

Esme: falls asleep with headphones on

Eobard: falls asleep on a dime, usually with one or both eyes partially open.

8: What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Siv: Stop fighting and cursing at the other children.

Jay: Get off his computer

Esme: Do her homework

Cassandra: Stop trying to boss around and micromanage her siblings

Eobard: Stop falling asleep sitting up with his eyes open (please stop, it's very creepy)

9: Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

Siv swears like a sailor, and Eobard hasn't been able to stop them ever since they first learned the "no-no words".

Jay doesn't swear much, and he didn't start swearing until high school.

Esme swears a lot (not quite as much as her sister), and her first swear word was when she was 4, Tess dropped her keys in a puddle and said "Oh-" and Esme finished with "Shit!"

Eobard doesn't swear much except for the occasional "fuck!" when something goes really wrong, and he barely remembers his childhood due to having changed the timeline so many times.

10: What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

Siv: I'm nothing like him

Jay: I'd never compromise what I believe in

Cassandra: Dark magic isn't dangerous

Esme: I got a 1340 on my SAT

Eobard: I love you

11: How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

Siv: Pretends she understands

Jay: Pretends to understand, asks Cassandra later

Cassandra: Pretends to understand, asks Jay later

Ember: Asks for clarification

Eobard: Depends on which one will manipulate you into giving him what he wants.

13: How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

Siv: ignores it until it goes away

Jay: Asks Cassandra to take care of it

Cassandra: Asks Jay to take care of it

Esme: Turns any nearby object into an impromptu back scratcher

Eobard: VERY CAREFULLY phases through himself so he can reach the spot on the other side.

15: How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

Siv: Has no brain to mouth filter whatsoever, whatever you hear is what just went through their mind.

Jay: Thinks before he speaks

Cassandra: Retools what she's going to say repeatedly until she knows it'll have the right effect.

Esme: Depends on how drunk she is. Sober Esme thinks before speaking, Drunk Esme does not.

Eobard: Is the king of thinking before speaking. Will rehearse something until he knows he can manipulate someone with it.

19: What is their favorite number?

Siv: 666

Jay: 69

Esme: 420

Cassandra: 21 (the age she met Jay)

Eobard: 129 (police code for 'requesting back up' which is quite often any one who defies him's last words)

22: How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

Siv pulls away from people when she's jealous. They don't like being reminded of what they can't have.

Jay attempts to stay calm and compartmentalize when he's jealous, until he can talk to his therapist.

Cassandra gets a little bit possessive, but she manages to keep this trait in check.

Esme pretends to not feel jealousy, but inside, she seethes towards the person she's jealous of.

Eobard "Possesive Petty Bitch" Thawne gets so possessive over people that he's willing to kill for it. Literally.

24:  Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

Siv: They're very open about their sex life, mainly because she's a gremlin and it makes people uncomfortable. However, she's also very private about the nitty gritty details, and will only share that with their current partner.

Jay: He'll talk nasty with Cassandra and no one but Cassandra.

Cassandra: Nope. Not going to happen. (unless you're Jay)

Esme: Is very open about her sex life and enjoys letting her friends know what she likes so they can have better sex.

Eobard: Sweetie, he doesn't even speak about it with himself.

27: What causes them to feel dread? 

Siv: Bad memories repeating.

Jay: The threat of losing someone.

Cassandra: Failing everyone.

Esme: Being tied down to one place/person.

Eobard: His plans failing.

43: If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

Siv: "Girls. Boobs. Women Pretty."

Jay: "Technically, I'm Pan, but I like to say I'm Cassandra-sexual."

Esme: "Spicy straight"

Cassandra: "I'm heterosexual aromantic. Now get back to work."

Eobard: "I don't talk about that." (he's very repressed and gay)

B: What inspired you to create them?

Siv was created because of an assignment my therapist gave me- journalling to process my own trauma and my complicated feelings towards my mother.

Jay was created because I needed a "Sam" to Siv's "Frodo". Someone pure of heart that could pull her back from the darkness.

Cassandra was originally just "Jay's Girlfriend", but now she's one of my most important characters lol.

Esme is a narrative foul to Siv. She's free-spirited and extroverted, where Siv is reclusive and cranky.

Eobard's just... Eobard. He's an asshole, he's a terrible dad, he needs a reality check, etc.

D: Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

Siv and Cassandra (version 1)

Current version:

Jay, Esme, and Eobard have always looked fairly the same.

I: Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

Absolutely, though I do have a Vampire AU that I'm writing (sexy lesbian vampires? why not?)

J: Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

I play somewhat fast and loose with canon, and though I try to stay as close as possible to the canon timeline, if there's something I don't like or I think is stupid (e.g. the Lightning Lightsabers) I'll throw that out.

[call-me-jennn]

in the throes

My apartment doesn’t have in unit laundry. The laundry building is just a short walk away, especially when you cut through the pool. All you need is a key fob to get in. The fucking key fob. 

It’s simple. You gather your laundry in the basket, the detergent pod, the key fob and the payment card and walk to the laundry building to wash your clothes. Then in 45 minutes, you go back to put the clothes in the dryer. Then after an hour, you pick up your clothes, bring it back to the apartment, and fold / put your clothes away. Couldn’t be simpler. But every week it’s a battle. Jenn vs the key fob. 

I don’t know what it is, I just always lose the key fob. It had a dedicated hook where it was supposed to be hung, but then the lanyard fell off. Now I have a dedicated marble dish, and I just can’t manage to put it back there when I’m done. 

It starts with preparing to do laundry that I realize that it’s not where it’s supposed to be. I can’t find it and I start to have a meltdown. I can’t do laundry without it. I get overwhelmed with all these emotions of frustration and disappointment in myself for not putting it back to its proper place. I try not to cry. Where is it? I search all the flat top surfaces of the apartment, my fanny pack, and the pockets of all my clothes. I always eventually find it somewhere. This past time it was under a stack of mail, inches away from the marble dish. I guess I had tried to put it back in its place, but still managed to fail, by inches. I’m get so frustrated at myself.

Then I wash the clothes. After 45 minutes it’s time to put the clothes in the dryer. Where is the key fob? It’s really a toss up where it might be. It’s a 30 second walk to the laundry building, how could I misplace it in that walk? Sometimes it’s in the dish. Other times it could be anywhere. My pockets or my fanny pack. One time I couldn’t find it and it ended up being under the bed. Another time I found it on the sidewalk outside, dropped during a detour when I got distracted by the lights and sounds of police sirens, similar to the way a dog gets distracted by a squirrel.

I can usually find the fob when the clothes are finished drying. But the process of picking up the clothes and bringing them back to the apartment to fold and put away has me focused on completing those steps. So focused that I forget that there’s another step I need to complete. Putting the key fob back. And that’s how the key fob ends up staying in whatever pocket, or on the desk, or on the dining table, or wherever instead of where it’s supposed to be. Then the next week comes and I realize I don’t know where the key fob is.

Are you fucking stupid Jenn? Honestly, I wish I was. I think I’d be so much happier if it was just stupidity. If I were just stupid, I think maybe I wouldn’t be aware that there’s even a problem. Or maybe I wouldn’t be able to figure out a solution. But it’s not stupidity, it’s just brain dysfunction. I’m painfully aware of the problem and fully know what the solution is. I just can’t do it.

I swear I’m not just stupid. If you saw me at work, or at the hospital or at school, you’d think I’m smart. I can do so many things, I can solve problems and I can come up with creative solutions. My brain is a Ferrari. How can I be defeated weekly by a stupid key fob? My brain is a tricycle. Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I’m insane. This key fob destroys my self esteem every week. I’m reminded every week how useless I am. I have a good memory. I don’t take any notes in school because I remember everything. But I can’t remember to put back the key fob.

During this past weekend’s meltdown, he, as he does every single time, hugs and gently consoles me. It’s not a big deal, he says. It’s okay if the fob gets lost, we can always order another one. But why don’t you put the key fob on your set of keys, he suggests for the thousandth time. My keys, which has an Airtag on them, the Airtag that he put on them. Finally, after years of struggle, I put the key fob on my keys. And just like that, problem solved.

And that’s me medicated. Unmedicated, it was this, but with everything. Forgot to pay a bill, forgot to submit my resume, forgot to take my exam. Can’t find my keys, can’t find my debit card, can’t find my glasses. Each little thing accumulates into a dozen failures constantly. And you feel horrible because with each one there was a simple solution that could’ve prevented it from happening. If only you had the brain power. For a long time I thought it was just laziness. But it’s not that I don’t want to do these things. I didn’t just choose not to. You think I wanted to be like this? I don’t know how else to describe it other than that it’s just hard. Everything was just hard, all the time. Now some things are just hard some of the time. Things are so much better now.

After years of weekly losses, I’ve finally defeated the key fob. On to the next battle.

(I know I don’t write as much anymore but this ADHD medication unfortunately makes me feel less creative. Today’s inspiration struck because I forgot to take my medication hehe.)

[trickstump]

OFFER YOUR THROAT / STARVE WITHOUT ME

CHAPTER ONE // (read it HERE on AO3)

At first, it’s just squirrels.

Well. Saying it’s just squirrels is like saying in a thunderstorm, what’s coming down is just water: it’s not the substance that’s remarkable, it’s the amount.

So, then: at first, it’s a lot of squirrels.

Steve only notices them because he loses a spirited nine round contest of rock, paper, scissors with Robin and has to be the one to take the trash out after Family Video closes. It’s dark and creepy, out by the dumpsters, and Steve’s faced down a lot of shit, but he still can’t rid himself of that childhood fear of the dark. Or, maybe, it’s because he’s faced down a lot of shit, a lot of shadows, that he can’t quite stomach the idea of walking out into them alone.

Still. Robin won rock, paper, scissors, fair and square, so he sucks it up and shoulders the bags. How does a video rental place generate so much garbage in a day?

As soon as he opens the door, the smell hits him.

It reeks of rot, and the stink hits the back of his throat as he opens his mouth to take an inopportune inhale. He gags, drops one of the bags so that he can cover his mouth and not blow chunks right in the threshold. It’s a pull door; he’d just rake it inside when he closed it and have to mop up his own vomit, and that’d just make him want to vomit again. He only has to take a few stumbling steps towards the dumpster to find the origin of the smell, but he has to spend far too long close to it to figure out what the hell the red-brown mass was.

The red was dried blood.

The brown was the squirrels.

The brown was what was left of the squirrels, and when Steve processes that, he gives up all pretense of being a guy that can hold his shit together, and lunges for the dumpster instead before he puked all over his shoes.

At least he doesn’t have to scrub that.

He tiptoes around the pile to toss the garbage bags, just so he can say he got done what he needed to. Pile, that’s what got him about it; it was a neat fucking pile of dead sqiurrels. Steve didn’t even know Hawkins had that many squirrels. Maybe someone, something, had just decimated the entire population in one fell swoop.

It’d only been about half a year since the last time spooky shit went down. When were they going to catch a fucking break?

He doesn’t really let himself consider whether there was a chance it wasn’t spooky shit, at this point. If it ended up being a false alarm, he could take the reputation hit and get laughed at by a score of fourteen year olds and his ex-girlfriend, but there have been enough false alarms that turned out later to in fact have been clues pointing at a bigger, scarier picture that he figures it’s better safe than sorry.

“There’s a pile of dead squirrels outside,” he says when he gets back to the front of the store. Robin was just in the process of grabbing the keys to lock up, and she looks at him with a mix of disgust and exasperation. Steve knows it’s not actually for him; it’s her seriously, why us? face. He’s really good at figuring out Robin’s faces.

He was never good at figuring out Tommy’s faces.

It’s fun, having a real best friend.

“Come on, man,” she says, and this one might be a little for him; he can’t tell if she’s aiming it in his direction, or in general, towards the cosmos or whatever bearded sky fuck might be presiding over them with his sick sense of humor. “It’s almost Halloween.”

“Which means it’s on theme?” Steve offers, as if that helps the scenario, that the stars are aligning to be creepy at just the right time.

Robin shoots him a look that he can clearly read as you’re not helping, Steve , and he shrugs and shoots her one back that does its best to communicate look, weird shit’s going to happen to us anyway; it’s Hawkins, and the fact that we’ve had this long of a dry spell is a miracle in the first place. Might as well hop back on the trail and deal with this as soon as we can, see if we can’t manage to still be alive by Christmas. See if we can’t make it to Christmas without losing anyone.

That seemed to be a tall order, nowadays.

He’d seen Wayne Munson around town the other day. A man who’d probably be spending Christmas alone.

He kicks the thought away with malice, because there was a more pressing issue right now than the hot-cold-complicated tangled mess of feelings that came with thinking about Eddie Munson for too long. “Should probably go check it out.”

“It’s a pile of dead squirrels,” Robin groans. She’s still following Steve, though, as he moves back towards the back door.

“You’re gonna wanna plug your nose,” Steve says as he yanks the door open. He hears Robin gag a second later, and knows she hadn’t in time. “Told you so.”

“Oh my god,” she says. Steve gestures around the corner with the hand he wasn’t currently using to plug his nose, and takes shallow breaths. “I’m gonna throw up.”

“It’s, like, neat, right?” he says, and quickly clarifies: “I mean, like, it looks like someone put it together. There’s… chunks out of them and shit, but something put the bodies all in one place.”

“So whatever did it is at least not feral enough to clean up after itself, a little,” Robin says, always quick to catch on.

Steve nodded. “But didn’t have good enough manners to move, like, ten feet over and put them in the dumpster.”

Robin snorts. “C’mon, man. How many polite monsters have we met, so far?”

“Fair point.” They fall into silence then, for a long moment, because- really, it was just a pile of dead squirrels. No trail to follow, nothing. That’s another thing Steve always hates about the early days of these puzzles he always seems to find himself in the middle of; at this point, it’s just a waiting game until the next creepy incident pops up, and they can maybe, maybe start putting things together.

“If anyone asks, we didn’t see this, so we don’t have to clean it up?” Robin offers, eventually.

Steve holds out his fist for her to bump. “Deal.”

It doesn’t just stay in the back lot of Family Video.

It’s front page news, pretty much all the town can talk about when the squirrel pile shows up in the park near the middle school a few days later. Satanic ritual gets thrown about as an explanation in hushed whispers, while the official statement of the city of Hawkins seems to be that it was just a prank by some rowdy kids to kick off the Halloween season. Steve bristles at the whispers; hadn’t throwing around shit about Satan and rituals and dark, scary magic gotten enough people killed, in this town?

Not that the people of Hawkins really knew that, did they? They didn’t know that their pitchforks had run an innocent person right into the arms of a nightmare. They didn’t know shit, after all these years of being surrounded by it, still.

On his angrier days, Steve wants to just start telling people. Ruin their days. He knows, though, that that was a good way to end up in a nice, quiet, white room somewhere more than it is an efficient path to revenge, so he just sucks his teeth and bites his tongue any time he has to hear a mother telling her kid off for wanting to rent The Exorcist, talking about how really, we don’t need any more of that sort of thing around here.

“This is definitely something new,” Dustin says. He spends several afternoons a week now loitering at the counter of the store after school while Steve and Robin work. More than he used to.

There’s no Hellfire Club, anymore. No one else felt quite like running it. Wasn’t right, Dustin had said, and Steve thinks he also meant isn’t safe. No telling where the pitchforks of Hawkins end up next.

“Best case scenario, I’m thinking just... fucked up rabid dog,” Steve says. He doesn’t think about how fucked up it is that he’s hoping for a rabies outbreak.

“It’s not, like, eating them, though, that’s the thing,” Robin says, a row over, reorganizing the romcoms. “It’s just…”

“Draining them,” Dustin supplements, stabbing a finger into the gruesome front page of the Hawkins Post. “There’s chunks missing from the bodies, sure, but no- meat , really. No organs, nothing, just… blood.”

“Like a vampire,” Robin and Steve say in a chorus, her like a revelation and him like a question, brow furrowed.

“Absolutely the fuck not.” Steve puts his head in his hands, covering his face. “Absolutely the fuck not. Vampires cannot be a thing.”

“Maybe not, like, your traditional Nosferatu,” Dustin hums, thoughtful. “But- we’ve seen stuff sort of like this before, right? Like, Nancy and Mike said that thing about all the Flayed eating fertilizer and chemicals and stuff. Maybe this thing just needs blood?”

“Vampire’s definitely our best working theory,” Robin says, coming back over and leaning next to Steve on the counter. She nudges him until he picks his head up out of his hands. “At least we’ve got something. And, like… vampires are easy to fight, right? They’ve got a billion weaknesses.”

“Fire, holy water, churches, stakes through the heart, cutting their heads off, sunlight,” Dustin lists off on his fingers. “Some of that’s got to work.”

“I think a stake through the heart and cutting its head off kills most things,” Steve points out, but the nerds rattle right on past him.

“We’ve just gotta figure out how to draw it out,” Dustin says. “Or, its hunting patterns. If it moved on from hiding out in, like, woods and parking lots to hunting in the park, it’s escalating. Getting desperate for food.”

“But why’s it just eating squirrels, then?” Robin asks. “Why not… bigger things? Cats, dogs. People.”

“Maybe it’s tiny?” Steve suggests. “Maybe we’re dealing with a squirrel sized vampire.”

“Been there,” Dustin mumbles. “Tiny monsters can still do a lot of damage.”

“There’s only so many squirrels in Hawkins,” Robin says. “So, it’s gotta run out of those soon. Maybe it moves onto… birds, or something, but. It’ll keep escalating, or maybe it’s… growing, and needs more food. Either way-”

“Either way, we’ve gotta stop it,” Steve says, and it’s obvious, but saying it aloud makes it a pact. The other two nod, and Steve pinches his nose, counts to ten, heaves a sigh- and, finally, stands up straight, slapping his hands on the counter. Robin and Dustin jump, and a few of the remaining Family Video patrons shoot him a look for a moment before going back to reading the backs of their VHSes. “Right. So- are we gonna do patrols? Wait a little, see if we can’t figure out some kind of pattern, or just sweep the whole town and hope we run into it?”

“I’ve got school,” Dustin says with a frown. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to swing doing patrols on a Wednesday night.”

“I… will have to move some plans around, if we’re gonna be patrolling,” Robin says, and when Steve cuts his gaze to her, she’s a little flushed.

“Hot date?” he says, half tease, half hopeful, and when she nods, he punches the air. “Yes, Robin! Fuck, god- okay. I’ll patrol by myself.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Dustin says immediately, and Robin looks inclined to agree. Steve waves the both of them off.

“I’ll grab a radio or something and keep you updated if anything major happens,” he says. “It won’t be a big deal; we’ve fought bigger shit than some lame ass vampire that goes around killing squirrels.”

“It’s a lot of squirrels,” Robin points out, but doesn’t protest further.

Dustin frowns. “If you don’t radio in every twenty minutes and then tell me when you get home, dude, I’m gonna go berserk.”

“I’m gonna be fine, mom.” Steve rolls his eyes- but, he knows why Dustin’s worried, knows why he doesn’t like the idea of Steve going off on his own.

Knows that he still thinks a lot about Eddie, alone, in the Upside Down. Gone.

“Every twenty minutes,” he promises, because he’s not heartless, and not that stupid, either. He knows he should have back-up on this, just in case, but- Dustin deserves at least an attempt at a good night’s sleep, and Robin deserves to go on her date and not have to worry about any vampire bullshit. “And I’ll report back on everything tomorrow. Deal?”

“Deal,” Dustin says, and then, after a dip: “Do you guys think we can get holy water from anywhere around here?”

Steve, sometimes, yearns for the nights he used to have better shit to do.

It’s a Wednesday, and it’s not like he used to party on Wednesdays - he wasn’t that much of a party animal- but, he used to have shit to do. He’d hang out with Tommy, or go on a date, or see a movie, or have a basketball game. He doesn’t really miss who he was back then but, god, does he miss being surrounded by people. He loves his friends, now- loves Robin, loves the kids, loves Nancy, when they talk (in an all new way than how he used to love Nancy; it’s weird, opening the friends door after the dating door. Realizing who she is in fullness, rather than through rose colored glasses)- but he misses the times when he didn’t have to beat off boredom or loneliness with a stick. Misses the times when shit was simple.

Misses the times he wasn’t wasting gas, driving methodical lines down every street in Hawkins, looking for a vampire.

It’s nearing one am, and he’s got work in the morning, so he’s thinking about radioing in to Dustin that he’s gonna give up the ghost and go home. Before he can do more than pick up the radio, though, he sees it- sees something, a flash of a shadow darker than the rest of the night, moving fast across his vision.

He’s got the car in park in the middle of the street before he knows what he’s doing.

He snags the first thing his hands can scrounge for out of the backseat for a weapon, a heavy duty flashlight he’d tossed in there before he’d left home for this very occasion, and takes off in the direction of the shape at a sprint; it’s gone, now, long gone, but he’d seen where it was heading, and he’s a runner. He’ll catch up. He has to catch up.

He slows as he nears a darkened alley, heartbeat pounding in his ears like a Quiet Riot drum beat. This was a bad idea. This was a horrendous idea. He’d left his radio in the car.

When he approaches the head of the alley, he sees it.

It is a crouched form, inky black from head to toe. Steve thinks, for a second, that it's made of shadows entirely, but when his eyes adjust, he can see that it’s just that they’re dressed in all black. They; the form looks human, insofar as he can tell. There’s a curtain of dark hair falling across what he can only presume is their face, and they’re crouched over something.

He hears a wet sound and thinks, stomach roiling, god, I hope it’s just a squirrel.

And then, because he’s himself, he does the stupid thing, and speaks. “Hey, Dracula. You’re gonna wanna pack your shit and head back to Transylvania.”

The figure doesn’t move and for a split second, Steve thinks they didn’t hear him. Then, all at once, the figure snaps to their feet, turns, and lunges.

Steve has only a moment to think I fucking know that face before he hits the ground.

The figure- creature, vampire, what ever is going straight for his throat. They’re stronger than they look, rail thin but able to hold Steve down, and he thrashes in their grip, barely able to wrestle an arm free. I fucking know that face, his mind keeps repeating in between flashes of fear, because he does. He does. He knows that face so well.

He brings the flashlight up, and bashes it into the vampire’s head once, twice, until it stops moving, and he can roll it off of him and finally, finally, get a good look. He flicks the light on, and it flickers for a moment before it illuminates the person- man, because Steve can see him now, fully, and oh god, of course he knows that face.

On the ground in front of him lies Eddie Munson, even paler than he was in life, his mouth ringed with blood.

Steve thinks he’s going to throw up.

[viking-raider]

Southern Generation - Part V

Summary: The morning after Lily and Sy’s night in the barn, the magic doesn’t last as long as they both hope, but neither does the darkness that falls over the farm.

Pairing: Syverson/OFC

Word Count: 8,274

Warnings: M - Language, Violence, Attempted Kidnapping, Blood, Protective!Sy, Mentions and Light Smut, Fluff, Angst, Flu/Cold, Soft!Sy, Trypanophobia

Inspiration: I always wanted to write a Sy story.

Author’s Note: Thank you to @wondersofdreaming​ for all the love and support.

A harsh and wet sounding cough filled the bedroom, making Lily curl up on herself, shivering, and groaning as her body throbbed under the mound of blankets Sy had covered her up with, when her first round of coughs woke him, mid-morning.

“I'm here.” Sy called, coming into the room with a cup of steaming hot tea and a small saucer of dry toast for her. “Here.” He whispered, setting the cup and plate on the nightstand and fished Lily out of her blankets, then fluffed some pillows behind her back so she was comfortable, when she sat up.

“Thanks.” Lily replied, her voice weak and raspy.

“You're welcome.” He replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she nibbled on the toast. “Do you have any cold medicine?” He asked, going into the master bathroom, to open the medicine cabinet.

“I don't think so.” She answered, hoarsely.

Sy frowned into the open cabinet, drumming his fingers against the door and tapping his foot on the worn, black and white penny tile floor, trying to make a decision and calculation, before making up his mind and swung the cabinet door closed.

“All right, I'm gonna shoot over to store and pick up some cold medicine for you, maybe a bag of cough lozenges too. I know your throat must be killing you by how raspy your voice is.” He said, standing beside the bed and gently pressed his palm to her flushed and sweaty forehead. “Yeah.” He nodded, pressing his lips together.

“Do you need anything before I leave?” He asked, staring down at her, tenderly.

Shaking her head, Lily rubbed her goose-bumped and shivering arms. Frowning a bit more, Sy moved around to his side of the bed, nicking his hoodie off the back of a chair, and held it out to her with a gentle smile. Letting out a soft huff through her nose and smiling back, Lily took the black garment from him and slipped it on. Sy kissed the top of her head and went downstairs, grabbing his keys off the small table by the door in the entryway and left for the store, fifteen minutes away.

Lily nibbled on the last bland triangle of toast and was about to wash it down with the few remaining sips of her warm tea, when Aika started barking downstairs, making Lily sigh. It was a common occurrence, Aika loved lounging on the window seat in the living room and would go ballistic when she saw a squirrel, even more so, when the door was closed and she couldn't blow out of the screen door and chase after the poor, puff-tailed critter. She had told Sy, countless times, that he should just put a doggy door in either the front door or in both the front and the back doors for Aika, solving the issue of the German Shepherd barking and clawing at the door until it was opened for her.

But, even then, she would rush out onto the porch, scan for the squirrel, see it had disappeared and whine at her and Sy about it for the rest of the day, or until the next squirrel or chipmunk showed its plump face.

Throat far too sore and voice too weak, for Lily to yell out to Aika, she set her teacup aside and got out of bed, a strong shiver racing through her as her bare feet hit the cold floorboards. She had just made it out of her bedroom and into the hallway, when she heard distant whimper and Aika go eerily silent. Frowning, she slowly went down the stairs leading from the top floor into the kitchen, jumping in her skin and Sy's hoodie at a deafening slam that filled the otherwise quiet house.

The kitchen floor gently creaked under her feet as she slowly crossed it, to peek around the corner into the living room and entryway. Hugging herself against the wall, she didn't see anything. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the feel in the air was anything, but ordinary. Aika was nowhere in sight, and Lily didn't hear a peep from her. She knew it wasn't Sy either. He couldn't be back from the store yet, even if he was, Sy was a mountain of a man, his footfalls were always heavy as he bumped around the house, and he would have called out to her, announcing he was back home.

None of that was happening in the dead silent house.

Her hands started to shake and she felt lightheaded, gripping the wall to keep herself steady, tears blurring her eyes, as nausea filled her stomach. She knew what this silence was, it was a silence she had feared for almost ten years, a fear she had been slowly learning to forget, but had started to build around her again.

Lily climbed the two flights of stairs up to her and Jak's second floor apartment, lugging her heavy shoulder bag with her. She was returning from an early afternoon class, already tired and wishing she didn't have one more class later that afternoon as she slipped her key into the deadbolt and opened the door. She froze in the open door, taking a moment to figure out what was wrong. When she realized that the tv she had left on when she left that morning for her first class was off.

A cold shiver raced down her back with a shuddered breath as the apartment door slowly closed behind her. The apartment was silent without the tv going in the living room, which was never a good sign. Usually, when Lily returned from her early afternoon classes, the tv was still on the news or whatever channel she had left it on when she left that morning.

On the days the tv was off, when she got home?

“Where've you been, Bunny?” Jak's voice asked as he entered the living room, arms crossed over his chest and looking cross.

“Hey there, Bunny.” A familiar voice chuckled behind her.

Lily yelped and spun around, pressing her back against the wall. “Jak.” She whimpered, looking up at him.

Jak was different from the last time she had seen him in Richmond, four years prior. He was still tall and lean, eight-ish centimeters shorter and nearly twenty kg lighter than Sy was. His ash blonde hair was pulled up into a bun and the sides of his head were shaved, his cheeks stubbly and his bottle-green eyes boring into her, like a power drill. The last time Lily had seen him, he had the traditional boy cut and his face was smooth, the camouflage of a good, church going boy.

But, there wasn't a trace of that boy now, that façade had broken away to the true monster residing inside the man, Jakson Abernathy, had turned into.

“I've missed you so much, Bunny.” He said soft, reaching out and gently brushed the knuckle of his forefinger against her flushed and feverish cheek, then brought it to his lips, licking off the tear he had collected.

Lily gulped, the agony of her sore throat forgotten in her panicked fright, facing him. “Please, Jak.” She pleaded with him, her voice a soft and raspy whine. “Just go. We don't have to do this. You don't have to do this.” She told him, hands twisting up in the pouch of Sy's hoodie.

“Move on.”

Jak snapped forward in a burst of rage, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her to the wall, the back of her head thumping against it with a hard smack. “Move on!” He roared, spittle flying from his lips and hitting her face. “Move on! I've been looking for your ungrateful ass for five years and the only thing you have to say to me is, move on.”

Lily's lips started to change color as the pressure of his hand around her throat increased, her arms shot out and gripped his arm, digging and scratching at his forearm and struggling against him, black and bright spots flashing in her eyes.

“I'll move on, when we get back home.” Jak told her, his thumb moving out to wipe across her lips.

“No, I'm n-not going w-with yo-u.” She choked, struggling to breath.

“Yes, you are.” He growled, nails breaking the skin of her neck. “You belong to me, since the day I met you, you've been mine. You think that fucking caveman loves you?” He taunted her. “You think him fucking your little cunt means he loves you, you're a fucking idiot. He's just fuckin' you for room and board, once he gets his fill and bored of you, he'll skip out.”

“But, me?” He brought his face closer to hers, their lips brushing. “I will always love you, Bunny. I will always come and find you, take you back home, where you belong. I'm the only one for you.”

Lily tried jerking her head sideways, away from his lips, but only earned a punch to the gut, knocking the teeny bit of air left in her body out.

“You always make shit so complicated.” Jak grunted, between gritted teeth. “Some things never change.” He berated her, shaking his head and about to strike her again, when the crackle and pop of tires on the driveway up to the house reached them.

“Fuck.” He hissed, hearing a car door slam, knowing Sy had returned from town.

Sy searched the cold and flu aisle of the small Celina store, trying to figure out which one would be best for her. “Why do you need eighty products that do the same thing?” He mumbled to himself, looking between the liquid and the pill form of the medicines. “Liquid would be easier for her to swallow, though, with her sore throat.” He reasoned, finally picking a product, then grabbed a bag of cough lozenges, even stopping to grab a bottle of her favorite juice, before heading for the check out line.

He sighed, impatiently shifting foot to foot, as the long line slowly progressed. He glanced at the other two open cashier lines, but they were even longer than his, making him growl, wanting to get back home to Lily already, before he froze, realizing what he was feeling. Lily and her place had become home to him. A real home. More of a home to him than his apartment in Austin or the place where he grew up with his parents. He felt like he belonged there with her and Aika, as if the three of them had created their own little family on the rag-tag farm.

So, when he finally got through the line and paid for his items, he rushed back home to her.

Quickly searching the kitchen, Jak grabbed a knife from the knife block on the kitchen counter beside them, then changed his hand from her throat to the back of her hair, turning her around and pressing her back against his chest. They stood in the kitchen, the tip of the knife pressed into Lily's throat, while they heard the screen door open and Sy's cautious footfalls step into the entryway.

“Lily?” Sy called out, his body tensing. “Aika!” He slowly set the grocery bag down on the floor, his nerve endings coming to life. “Hello?” He barked, his jaw tight, instinct telling him something was deeply off.

Jak pushed Lily forward, moving with her to stand in the entryway of the kitchen and living room, his and Sy's eyes meeting. Both men looked each other over, squaring each other off, trying to find their weaknesses and strengths, whether they could successfully take each other on; and win. Sy was purely confident he could take Jak out, but what he wasn't sure of, was if he could get to Jak before he hurt Lily with that knife he was gripping.

“So, you're him.” Sy said, his eyes hard and locked onto Jak, his blood was pumping and his hands were clenched into such tight fists, his knuckles were white.

“I am.”

Sy nodded, pressing his lips together. “If I were you, I'd let her go.”

“And if I were you, I would take yourself back out to your truck and leave this place.” Jak replied, motioning out the living room window to Sy's truck. “She's mine, caveman.”

Sy chuckled. “I don't think so, boy.” He grinned, taking a step forward.

“Ah!” Jak barked, taking a step back and pressing the tip of the knife harder into Lily's neck, a bead of blood trickled down and disappeared into the neck of Sy's hoodie. “Unless you want both of us to lose her, you'll back off.”

“I'm no-”

“Just listen to him, Sy.” Lily cried, gulping and whimpering.

“Lily.” Sy shook his head at her, trying to keep a handle on himself, for her safety.

“Please, Austin.” She begged him, a wash of tears streaming down her face and neck. “Please, just go.”

“I'm not leaving you with this prick.” Sy barked, not believing the words coming out of her mouth.

“You are, so just leave.” Lily told him. “I love him.” She sniffled, reaching back to grab Jak's shirt.

“Lily.” He barked, shocked.

“Don't worry about him, Bunny.” Jak cooed into her ear, but was grinning victoriously at Sy. “We're leaving here.” He said, slowly backing them into the kitchen and out the door.

Sy stood in the entryway breathing heavily and rocking on his heels as rage and confusion coursed through his body, but his breathing quicken and his mind became laser focused, causing him to snap into action. Going into a drawer in the living room, he pulled out the safety case the gun was in, opened it, and ran out the back door after them. Sy made it out the back door in time to see Jak dragging Lily towards an abandoned field to the right side of her property.

Running in that direction, he hopped over the porch rail to cut down time on reach them.

Making it a couple yards behind them, Sy could see where Jak had been hiding out while he'd been tormenting Lily. There was an old barn in the field from a bygone farm on the property beside Lily's. So, he slowed down, watching as Jak dragged Lily towards the decapitated barn by the wrist, the kitchen knife was in his other hand. Biting his lip, Sy stopped and pulled back the slide on the Taurus, taking very careful aim, he took several deep breaths, calming and slowing his breathing and heart rate, before squeezing the trigger. A loud pop rang out in the air and the bullet clipped Jak in the thigh, causing him to let go of Lily and the knife and drop to the ground.

Surprised, Lily looked back and saw Sy standing there, dropping the arm he was holding the weapon with and motioned to her with the other. Without hesitation, Lily broke out into a run, sprinting straight towards Sy, all but colliding with him and knocking them both to the ground. Sy hugged her, pressing his lips to her forehead, then pushed her behind him, as Jak struggled on the ground, cursing and swearing.

“You son of a whore!” Jak spat, rolling over, and pressing a hand to the seeping red patch on his jeans. “I'll fucking kill both of you!”

Sy's body, tight as a piano wire, suddenly relaxed and he took a step forward, but Lily clutched at his shirt. He looked back at her, giving her a reassuring expression, before approaching Jak, who continued to writhe in pain.

“Listen carefully.” Sy growled at him.

“No!” Jak roared, pointing a bloody finger at Sy, his face pale and angry. “You fuckin' listen! I'm going to make your lives hell! I'm going to fucking—whoa!!” He shrieked as Sy let off another round into the dirt beside him, getting his full attention.

“As I was saying.” Sy barked, his body stiff again. “Listen carefully.” He hissed, teeth gritted together. “I have a lot of friends in very high places, that if I kill you, they will help me erase your weaselly little fucking existence off the face of this god damned planet.” He told him, heatedly.

“She's mine. My girl.” He said, pointing back at Lily.

“So, if you're don't to get your ass out of this town, out of this state, and if you ever look for her again, let alone think about her, I will hunt you down and finish you off.” Sy told him, towering above the other man, and lowering his head to keep his eyes on Jak's.

“Do we understand each other?”

Jak gulped, looking up at Sy, like a tiny mouse cornered by a Cougar, then glanced around him to Lily, who stood watching the two men, terrified and exhausted, unconsciously wiping her runny nose on the cuff of Sy's hoodie, but her eyes were on Sy. It was in that moment that Jak realized that as fearful as Lily was, it wouldn't override her knowledge that Sy would protect her with his life, making his use of it to manipulate her, null and void. His grip on her was gone, he was nothing but a ghost, fading and being replaced.

His eyes shifted back to Sy. “Yeah.”

“Good.” Sy snapped. “Now, I don't care if you have to crawl, hop or limp, but I want you gone.”

Struggling for a moment, Jak managed to pull himself up, carefully balancing on his feet for a moment, before turning on his good leg, then limping and shuffling away from them, towards the dilapidated barn, where his car was hidden. Sy didn't move from his spot or relax, even as the 2013 Honda left the structure, tires kicking up dirt and dust as he tore down the neglected drive, blowing out of the gateless driveway onto the road with a loud screech. It was only when the car and its sound disappeared that Sy relaxed, flicking on the gun's safety with his thumb and pushed it into the waistband of his jeans, then turned towards Lily. Taking two steps to close the gap between them and collecting her in his arms, Sy scooped Lily up and head back towards their house, only stopping once they were back inside the living room and dropped onto the couch, with her in his lap.

Lily let out a weak breath into his chest, tears dripping down her face and arms locked around his neck. Sy pressed his cheek to her hair, his own chest tight with emotions, and squeezed his eyes shut, tears dripping from his dark lashes.

“Aika.” Lily whimpered, pulling back, wiping away her and Sy's tears.

“Oh shit.” Sy panted back, glancing side to side, alarmed, letting Lily get up and stood. “Aika!” He called out.

Both of them paused, listening quietly, then looked at each other, hearing pitiful whines and whimpers coming from the entryway. Having heard a door slam after Jak had entered the house and not seeing Aika, but clearly hearing her whines, Lily knew there could only be one place for the German Shepherd to be and rushed to the coat closet in the hallway, yanking the door open.

“Oh, good lord.” She gasped, finding the dog inside the closet, front and back paws were taped together, as was her muzzle. “My poor baby.” She cooed, dropping to her hands and knees, gingerly peeling the tape from around Aika's mouth.

“That fuck.” Sy barked, standing behind Lily, and seeing what Jak had done to his beloved Aika, hating him even more for hurting his girls. “Here.” He said, kneeling down beside Lily, and removing a small, folding knife that was clipped to his belt, then carefully cut the tape wrapped around Aika's legs.

Lily removed the tape from around her paws the best she could without causing Aika anymore discomfort and pain. “Oh, I know, such a sweet girl.” Lily murmured, as Aika got up, licking at her and Sy's faces, her shaggy tail beating against the walls of the closet. “I'll give you the entire container of treats, promise.”

Sy chuckled softly, gently petting Aika, relieved that both Lily and the German Shepherd were safe and sound again, and for the most part, unharmed. “Let me see your neck.” He said, cupping her chin between his fingers and turning her head to look at the nick and line of dry blood on her neck. “It's nothing too bad, but I should clean it up.” He told her, standing, then helped her up to her feet.

Grabbing the bag that had been discarded and forgotten on the entryway floor, Sy went upstairs with Lily, Aika close behind them. Setting the bag down on the bed and taking her into the bathroom, he easily moved about the small space. Sy had become familiar with the master bathroom in the few weeks he had started sleeping with Lily in her room, as she helped him combat his nightmares. He grabbed a bottle of antiseptic from the medicine cabinet and squeezed some of it on a fluffy, white cotton ball, then turned his careful attention onto her. Gently lifting her chin and dabbing at the cut, making Lily hiss and bite her lip, he gave her a sweet and sympathetic look, cleaning away the dry and flaky blood.

“There, all better.” He smiled, tossing the bloody cotton ball into the bin.

“Thank you.” Lily smiled, before subsiding into a coughing fit.

Sy snapped back into the reality before Jak rocked their usually peaceful life, recalling why he had left the house in the first place, going to grab the bag off the bed and brought it back to her, taking out the bottle of cold and flu medicine. Tearing the safety seal off, Sy poured the nasty looking green syrup into the clear, plastic measuring cup and held it out to her. Lily's face twisted with disgusted, shivering, but she took it from him and quickly downed it.

“Ew, that is so nasty.” She laughed, nervously, setting the cup down.

“As long as it works.” Sy replied, closing the bottle.

“I thought you were going to kill him.” Lily whispered as she sat down on the bed.

Sy stopped in the doorway of the bathroom, biting his lip and pushing his jaw forward, slowly nodding his head as he thought about it. He thought he was going to end up killing Jak too. He had thought a lot about what he would do if, and when, he met Jak in person, ever since he answered his call and Lily told him about their history, over a week ago. He had pictured beating him to a pulp, killing him and just giving him a good talking too; making a point that Lily was no longer his.

But, even Sy knew, you don't know how you'll react to a situation until it happens.

“I thought I would kill him too.” He admitted out loud, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed, beside her. “Part of me wanted too.” He added with a soft sigh.

“But, then he would have taken you from me.”

Sy reached out and took her hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb over her wrist. “My life would be an equal trade for your safety, Lily.”

“But, not for my happiness.” She countered, lifting a brow at him.

Their eyes met and Sy smiled at her, leaning forward to gently kiss her.

“Rest.” He whispered against her lips. “It's all over now.”

Lily sighed softly, then chuckled, feeling Sy's heavy palm press down on her belly. “So vain.” She giggled, splaying her legs open and resting her ankles on his calves.

“Am I?” He chuckled back, feeling himself moving inside of her.

“You're always pressing your hand to my abdomen, when we have sex. Always enjoying the feel of that fat cock inside of me.” She told him, locking her dainty hand around his thick wrist as his hand stayed on her stomach. “I don't know who takes more pleasure in it, me or you.”

“Both of us.” Sy laughed, leaning over and gently kissed her.

Sy wiped his sweaty forehead on the sleeve of his painting coveralls and took a step back, lowering the long handled paint roller into the roller pan, that was filled with moth gray paint that he and Lily had picked out to paint the house with, accented by slate blue shutters, dark stained porch support posts and a white door.

“It's looking good, Bear.” Lily said, stepping out onto the porch, carrying a glass of iced tea.

“Thanks, Angel.” Sy smiled, carefully setting the roller down and took the glass from her. “Hopefully, I'll be done soon, and I'll start putting up the roofing.” He told her, between sips. “Do you want to see it?” He asked her, setting the cool glass on the porch rail.

“Sure.” Lily nodded, pressing her lips together and gulping down a sudden nauseous ump in her throat, before following Sy around the other side of the house and off the porch, towards the barn, where the roofing material was stored.

Sy pushed open the barn door, smiling as it glided on its rollers, he had replaced and greased the track, so when the roofing material was delivered it would be easier for him and the delivery men to get in and out of the structure with the heavy boxes. Entering the barn, Sy opened one of the cardboard flaps to the roofing materials and showed Lily what was inside.

“I thought the black would accent well with all the other colors we have going with the house.” He started to explain to her.

“Is it metal?” She asked, reaching out and touching it, finding it cool under her fingertips.

“They are.” Sy nodded, smiling at her. “They last longer than asphalt shingles, you know, the shingles that normally go on houses. But, they're lighter than tile or slate. I also know you love the sound of the rain and hail on the barn's roof, and it's metal, so, I thought you'd enjoy it in the house too.” He told her, proud of his methods. “I'll insulate the roofing a bit. so it won't be so loud, when we get a really bad storm.”

Lily smiled, incredibly touched by Sy's thoughtfulness, as she often was. “Thank you.” She replied, moving over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight for a moment, until the strong smell of the paint on his coveralls hit her nose and went straight to her stomach. “Oh god.” She gasped, whining, and tore away from him.

Racing out the barn door and skidding around the corner, Lily doubled over and spilled her guts, puking and wrenching into the tall grass and weeds growing alongside the barn wall. Sy's hot hand pressed to the small of her back, concerned, as she continued to dry heave for several more moments.

“You all right?” He asked, rubbing her back and making sure her hair wasn't in her face.

“Yeah.” She nodded, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and stood up. “I just think all the paint fumes are getting to me.”

Nodding and letting out a slow breath, Sy walked back into the house with her and brought the portable fan into the living room, hoping to reduce the strength of the paint smell in the room for her, seeing how pale she was.

“Are you going to be okay?” He asked, bringing her a glass of water.

“Yeah, I'll be fine, Bear.” She replied, slowly sipping the water.

“Okay.” Sy nodded, chewing on the corner of his lip. “I'm going to try and finish this side of the house by the end of the day. If you need anything, just call. All right?”

Lily smiled up at him. “All right, Sy.”

Smiling back at her, Sy kissed her temple and went back out onto the porch. Lily sat on the couch for a little while longer, pressing her hands to her face, tired and her stomach still acting up, the smell of paint wasn't as strong with the windows open and the fan blowing, but it was still lingering. So, she went upstairs to the master bedroom, where the air was clear. She dropped on the bed and picked up her phone, figuring the hormonal change from her upcoming period was causing her to be nauseous, and opened a period tracking app she used.

“Oh, fuck.” She gasped, seeing the date on the tracker, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, foot tapping with nervous and antsy energy. “Fuck it.” She snapped, jumping to her feet and went back downstairs, swiping her keys off their hook.

“Where's the fire?” Sy asked, as Lily breezed out the front door.

“I'm just going into town.” She replied, biting her lip.

“All right.” Sy answered, turning back to the section he was painting. “Wait.” He froze, just processing what she said to him. “What?” He squeaked, turning back towards her.

Lily's mouth worked for a moment, flustered. “I'm...going into town.” She repeated, slowly.

Sy set down the paint roller. “Do you want me to go with you?” He asked, eyes scanning her, he could tell something had her distressed, but couldn't put his paint covered finger on it.

“No.” She shook her head, and took a deep breath. “I know you want to finish this, and I think I can do it.” She told him, feeling a slow confidence wrap around her anxiety of going into town by herself for the first time since she came to Celina, nearly five years before.

“As long as you're sure.” Sy replied, regarding her, a soft light of pride in her glowing in his blue eyes.

��I am.” Lily nodded, smiling at him, even more fortified by his pride. “I'm no longer afraid of what's out there, like I used to be.”

“I'm proud of you, Angel.” Sy cooed, beaming at her.

“Thanks, Bear.” Lily blushed, shyly brushing her hair behind her ears.

“Hey, since you're heading out that way, could you get me another roller?” He asked, looking down at the one he had been using.

“Sure, do you need a specific kind?”

“Yeah, a roller with a three-fourths nap.”

“Three-fourths nap, noted.” Lily replied, committing it to memory. “Anything else?”

“Nope.” He shook his head, giving her a quick kiss, before she stepped off the porch and got into her usually unused car.

Lily let out a deep breath as she pulled off her property, her heart thundered in her chest as she approached the small town, nervous about why she was going out there to start with and what the residences would say when they saw her out and about on her own, she knew they would whisper and talk, especially when they saw the items she bought. Lily contemplated going over to the next town of Prosper to get the items, not wanting the gossip to be running rampant around Celina by morning, but shrugged it off.

“Let them talk.” She said, pulling into the parking lot. “It won't change anything.”

Going into the hardware store first, Lily got the paint roller Sy had asked her to get and dropped it in the car, before going into the grocery store for what she had gone out for.

“Hey, Ms. Lily!”

“Hey, Travis.” Lily smiled at the teen.

“You're out and about!” He grinned at her, abandoning his spot at the end of a cash register, where he was supposed to be helping bag groceries, to walk with her.

“I am.” She chuckled at him, biting her lip and blushing.

“Are you trying to overcome your fear or something?” He inquired, tilting his head at her.

“Something like that.” She replied, offering him a sweet smile.

“I'm glad.” Travis smiled back at her, really looking proud of her. “You really deserve to live life to the fullest.” He told her, with a sweet earnest.

“Thank you, Travis.” Lily chuckled, gently touching his arm.

“Marlowe!” A voice barked, startling them both into looking behind them. “Bags.” A heavy set man in a creased pair of slacks and white polo shirt snapped, pointing at the checkout stand Travis had walked away from.

“Sorry, Mr. Gillis.” Travis replied, sheepishly. “I was just giving Ms. Lily aisle directions. The Tylenol is on aisle seven.” He said, looking back at Lily.

“Thanks, Travis. You're a lifesaver.” Lily replied, going along with it.

Travis winked at her and went back to his job and Lily went on her way, weaving around until she found the aisle she was looking for, finding three different types of the product she was looking for and was unsure which would be the best to use. So, she grabbed one of each and started for check out, but back tracked and grabbed a bottle of Tylenol, before going to pay for her items. Thankfully, Travis wasn't upfront, when she got up there, causing her heart to slow down, greatly, in her chest. Even though, the cashier gave her a knowing glance as she rang Lily up, but Lily pretended to not see it, staring at the headline of a magazine beside the register.

Returning home, Lily crammed the three boxes into her bag, before getting out of the car, and Sy was still working on the porch. He turned his attention to her, smiling as she stepped up onto the porch with him, holding out the new roller brush to him.

“Thanks.” He said, taking it from her. “How'd it go?” He asked.

“It went really well.” Lily smiled, her anxiety level starting to go down again, but was still anxious. “I ran into Travis.” She chuckled.

“Oh, how did that go?” Sy laughed back.

“He got in trouble with his boss, but he's a good kid.” She smiled, jiggling her bag of Tylenol.

“Is that what you went for?” Sy asked, lifting a brow at the bag.

“More or less.”

“Hm.” He hummed, pressing his lips together. “Well, I'm glad you did it, I knew you could.”

“Thanks, Bear.” Lily smiled, pushing up on her toes and kissed him on the lips. “I'll get dinner started soon.”

“Good, I'm starved.” He replied against her mouth.

“Always and forever.” Lily teased him, giggling, then went inside.

With Sy still distracted with the porch, Lily went upstairs and closed herself inside the master bathroom, dumping the three boxes onto the sink counter and letting out a shaky breath, glancing at herself in the mirror.

“Here goes nothing.” She sighed, tearing open the boxes and read their instructions. “Seems easy enough.” She talked to herself, trying to keep her nerves under control, pausing when she heard whining outside the bathroom door. “Come on, quick.” She whispered, opening the door for Aika, then closed it behind her.

“You wanna take this for me?” Lily quipped, holding up one of the test sticks. “I didn't think so.” She huffed, when Aika just stared up at her. “It was worth the ask.” She babbled, nervously, before working up the nerve to take two of them.

She nervously paced the bathroom, chewing on her lip or on her fingernails, trying to figure out a way to tell Sy if either of them came out positive. If they didn't, it was easy not to tell him, there wouldn't be a need to, it was just her own silly paranoia. Maybe her tracker was just off, she was bad at remembering to update the thing after her periods ended and things had been crazy around that time, dealing with Jak. But, what if her tracker was right, what if she was really a week late. Ever since their first time in the barn during the storm, Lily and Sy enjoyed having sex with each other every chance they got, for God's sake, they had sex up against the kitchen table the night before, while they were supposed to be making dinner, only to end up burning it and having to call out of pizza instead.

There were so many moments in the last month that could have ended up with Lily being at this point, that it was nearly impossible to say which one it was.

The five minute timer on Lily's phone started to ring and she tapped it off, but still didn't have the courage to look at the two sticks balanced on the sink's edge. Pressing a hand over her eyes and stepping up to the counter, Lily counted to five under her breath, then yanked her hand away from her eyes, quickly looking down before her spur of the moment courage failed her again and felt her stomach drop.

“Oh fucking shit.” She snapped, despite the grin on her face.

Staring at the tests for a moment longer, Lily opened the bathroom door and walked down the hall, to the main staircase, that was closest to the front door, but froze. A chill of fright filling her, what if Sy wasn't happy about the results, what if he freaked out and left or worse.

“No.” Lily shook her head, pushing that fear down. “Not my Bear.” She said, gulping. “Austin.” She called down the stairs to him.

There was a quiet moment, before the screen door opened and slammed shut again.

“Yeah?” Sy called back up the stairs to her.

“I need you to come up here.” Lily replied, biting her lip and taking a calming breath.

Sy's heavy footsteps came up the stairs, then he appeared before her, brows lifted in question. “What's up, Sugar butt?”

Lily motioned down the hall with her head, then moved back into the bedroom. Sy smirked, his step picking up a bit, figuring she was in a mood, and was more than happy to oblige her. But, he frowned at her, when she stopped beside the bathroom door and pointed inside of it, her eyes meeting his. Blinking once at her, Sy stepped into the bathroom, figuring now, that something had broken and she needed him to fix it, but what he found wasn't anything that was broken.

Far from it.

Sy's eyes instantly found the two used pregnancy tests on the bathroom counter, one of them showing two noticeable blue lines and the other one with the clear word, pregnant, in their indication windows. His mouth fell open and his eyes grew wide with surprise and shock, his brain going blank for a moment, unable to compute anything more than those two positive tests, before looking at Lily.

“You're sure?”

“I took two for a reason.” She replied, stared back at him, just as wide eyed. “I have a third, but I didn't think there would be a need for it, if the first two were the same result.” She explained, licking her lips.

Sy turned on his heels and strode over Lily, who spooked slightly, taking a step back from him, unsure how he was reacting, despite trying to reassure herself he wouldn't be angry about it. But, Sy caught her up in his arms and picked her up clean off her feet, nearly crushing her in his thick arms and against his chest, spinning her in a circle and burying his face into her neck, smiling and laughing, overjoyed, beyond belief.

“So, you're not angry?” Lily asked, holding onto him.

“Are you kidding me?” Sy laughed, pulling back and looking her in the face, beaming with tears in his eyes. “How could I ever be angry?” He asked her, like it was the most absurd thing in the world. “I love you, Lily, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He said, setting her back down on her feet and brushed his fingers through her hair, tenderly.

“I, sure as hell, want to have kids with you.” He told her, sincerely, cupping her face in his hands.

“I do too.” She whispered back, overcome with relief and joy, and grasped his wrists.

With the two pregnancy tests reading positive, Lily called the closest OBGYN in the area, which was twenty minutes away in the town of McKinney, and made an appointment with them for the earliest availability, which was three days later.

“I was thinking.” Sy said, drumming his thumbs on the steering wheel as he drove them to the appointment.

“Oh?” Lily replied, looking up from the ultra-soft, dove colored, yarn in her lap.

“I want to give up my apartment in Austin, and permanently stay out here with you and the baby.” He told her, glancing at her for a moment, smiling at the baby blanket she had started to crochet the night before.

“I already thought you were here permanently?” Lily chuckled, eyes sparkling at him. “Place in Austin or not.” She said, eyes turning back to her needlework.

Sy reached across the center console and gently took her hand in his. “You have no idea, how much you have made that farm a home for me. How much you've become home to me.”

Lily gripped his hand tighter, feeling the deep emotion of the moment. “I feel the same, Austin.” She whispered back, tears filling her eyes and spilling over, dripping onto the yarn. “So much, the same.”

They made it to the building Lily's new doctor worked out of and signed in for their appointment, filling out paperwork, while they waited for their turn to go back. Both of them were nervous and excited about the appointment, to find out more about the baby and what life would be like from here on out. Sy wanted to know what the gender was, but knew that wouldn’t happen for several more weeks, while Lily just hoped she wouldn't have any major complications during the pregnancy, her nausea was already starting to get more frequent, having been woken up early that morning to rush into the bathroom to throw up.

“Ms. Moore?” A nurse called out.

Lily and Sy stood up and the nurse showed them into the back, pausing for a moment to hold out a small urine sample cup to Lily.

“There's a bathroom two doors down, on the left, fill it to the line, and when you're done, leave it on the little counter in there, then I'll show you both to the exam room.” She explained to Lily.

“Okay.”

Lily nodded, a slight shake in her hand as she took the cup from her and went down to the bathroom, doing as she was told. It took Lily a moment to get going, her excitement and nerves taking up so much of her attention. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a shaky breath, her mind flashing back and forth between every conceivable scenario between her, Sy and the baby. Her belly growing rounder than a ripe watermelon in summer, Sy finished up the house and working on a nursery, while she crocheted the blanket. The patter of feet in the house, the sound of laughs and barks in the yard as the baby and Aika played together.

But, also the fear of Sy suddenly deciding he didn't want a life with her and going back to Austin, leaving her to raise the baby on her own, or the absolute worst, losing the baby all together.

“Not going to happen.” She chanted under her breath. “He loves me.”

Taking several deep breaths, Lily managed to fill the cup to the line, secured the lid on it and set it down on the small shelf screwed into the wall across from the toilet, before washing her hands and going back out into the hall to join Sy and the nurse.

The nurse smiled at her and showed her and Sy into a sweet little exam room, where Lily took a seat on the table, letting the nurse take her vitals.

“The doctor will be right with you, Ms. Moore.”

“Thanks.” Lily smiled at her, legs gently swinging and hands clasped in her lap.

Sy stood in front of Lily, untangling her hands and held them in his, squeezing them as he felt them shake. “It'll be all right, Angel.” He cooed at her, pressing their hands to his chest and stood between her legs. “You're doing so good, my sweet thang.” He chuckled, starting to tease her a little bit, knowing it would lighten her mood.

Sy tried to cover his own worry and fear, wanting to look and be strong for Lily, knowing she was just as terrified as he was. He had wanted a family, a kid, for a long time, but not just a kid to have a kid for the sake of it, to have someone to carry on the bloodline and legacy. He wanted to have a kid with someone he loved, to have a life. To be someone more than Captain Austin Syverson of the U.S Army. To be, Austin Syverson, Father, Dad and husband, maybe even grandpa one day.

That had been Austin's dream.

And here was Lily, his beautiful, sweet Angel, who had saved him. He loved Lily with his entire soul, he would live for her and he would die for her, and now, she was carrying his daughter or son, proving him wrong, when he thought he couldn't love her anymore. Giving Sy one more thing on his bucket list. She gave him a purpose, she gave him a place to belong, and she gave him unconditional love and support. Lily made Sy feel wanted and complete. He couldn't think of anything more he wanted, but he had a feeling that Lily might give him more than what he expected.

“Snookums.” He laughed aloud.

“Oh god.” Lily laughed back, shaking her head at him, starting to feel better. “Watch yourself, Pooh Bear.” She teased him back, pressing her palms to his chest.

Sy rolled his eyes at her, leaning slightly forward and gently rubbed noses with her, with a soft knock on the room door and it opened, a short lady with smooth caramel skin and a white doctor's coat stepped into the room, smiling sweetly at both Lily and Sy.

“Hello.” She greeted them, extending her hand. “I'm Dr. Evers.”

“Hi.” Lily greeted her back and shook her hand. “Lily.” She smiled.

“Sy.” He replied, shaking her hand next.

“So, you're expecting?” Dr. Evers beamed at Lily, genuinely happy for them.

“Yeah.” Lily grinned, excited and shy. “I've been nauseous, which usually happens on my period.” She began to explain. “So, I was checking when my period was due to start, on a tracker I have on my phone, only to realize, I was nearly a week late.” She said, glancing over at Sy.

“I took two pregnancy tests and they both came back positive.”

“Great.” Evers nodded. “The urine test you took came back positive as well, but I'll also want to take a UPT test as well, to be extra sure.” She explained to Lily, just as the door opened again and the nurse came back in, pushing a small metal cart with two plastic tubes with rubber caps and a needle inside a sterile package.

Lily's hand instantly shot out for Sy's hand, eyes wild, gulping and paling slightly. Sy let her squeeze his hand as hard she wanted, while rubbing her back with his free hand, leaning in and pressing his lips to her temple. Lily, reluctantly, held her arm out to the nurse, who gently sterilized the inside bend of her elbow and took out the needle, that had a thin tube and cap-like object attached to it, that she slotted one of the test tubes into, before skillfully inserting the needle into Lily's arm.

“See, not so bad.” Sy smiled at Lily's soft hiss, watching her rich blood fill up the tube, and gently pet her hair. “Proud of you.” He added, softly.

The nurse filled both tubes, removed the needle and covered the injection site, smiling sweetly at Lily, then left the room with the blood samples.

“So, the test results will take two-= to three days to come in.” Evers explained to them, once the door closed. “The office will give you a call with the results. Until then, I want you to rest and take it easy. I'll prescribe you a prenatal vitamin and something for your nausea. Once we get your results and they’re positive, we'll set up another appointment and go from there.”

“Sounds great, Doc.” Sy grinned, giddy as a school-boy about being a dad.

“That it does.” Lily agreed, ecstatic as well.

-- Part VI --

[thismaydestroyme]

Little Did I Know

Summary: In this short story Harry is famous, and he moved into a town during the summer to relax and potentially write some new songs for his upcoming album. I’m not sure if I’ll include some song lyrics, but if I do, I will take a piece of a lyric from a different song and pretend it’s his. 

Word Count: 2,272

“Sweetie, can you walk Cosmo?” Y/N hears her mom shouting from downstairs. 

“Yes, mom!” She says.  

Y/N is on her bed with her headphones on due to having a neighbor who’s living across her street who just moved in. For the past weeks there’s been a lot of moving trunks and ruckus because there’s a musician living among them. 

Y/N is a 21 year old girl who wants to be part of the music industry, but she doesn’t know shit. All she knows is that she loves music, and music is part of her. It was her dad that introduced her to music, like music that was before her time. Like Billie Holiday, Frank Sintra, The Rolling Stone, Queen, Otis Redding, Nirvana, The Knack, Elton John, The Doors, The Clash and so many more. That’s all she knew and all she wanted was to find a way to have that without having to know how to play the instruments, knowing how to sing. She simply just wants to go wherever the music takes her. 

She finally drags herself out of bed and starts putting on her sneaker and throwing on an oversized hoodie. She swaps her earbuds to her airpods and off to walk her dog. 

She walks down the stairs heavily which alerts her mother, and before she gets to the last step her mother hands her Cosmo’s leash. 

“Ugh. Couldn't you do - sorry mom.” She reaches for the leash that’s in her mom’s hand. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, darling.” She says giving her daughter a peck on her left cheek. 

Y/N bends over to put the leash on Cosmo’s neck, which Cosmo gives her a lick on her face. Y/N loves this dog of hers. He provides her safety and security, which she needs because let’s just say she has a breakdown every couple of days. 

Y/N stands back up and gives Cosmo a nice tug so he knows he’s ready for his next adventure. By adventure it means walking around the block she’s been doing for the past three years since Y/N got him. 

It’s around 3 o’clock which means the summer heat is hitting hard right about now. But it’s too hot to harm Cosmo in any way. Cosmo is the love of Y/N life. 

Cosmo and Y/N went on their typical route which they go past their new neighbor's house. Y/N realizes the new neighbor door is a jar, and she can smell bacon, which isn’t good for Cosmo because he’ll tend to escape and run towards the delicious smell he knows so much about. To Y/N not so surprise Cosmo started tugging on his leash that has Y/N being yanked and pulled. 

“Cosmo. Stop it right now!” Y/N shouts to Cosmo which she knows that wouldn’t help a damn thing. When he has something in mind there’s no stopping him. Cosmo has to be on something because it’s like he’s on some x game mode. Y/N starts tripping on her own feet and losing her own balance. 

They were running in the middle of streets when they received some honks and screams at fellow drivers on the road. Which Y/N give them a nice finger and simple “fuck off.” Y/N let’s go Cosmo leash because she isn’t in the mood to eat shit, so when she felt safe nothing could happen to Cosmo she let him go.

Cosmo went straight towards the slight jar front door, which I had to pick up my steps. Before Y/N could even be on the same street as the house, the new neighbor came out his house, holding Cosmo’s leash quite aggressively which had Y/N switch her mode to attack mode. 

“Hey, what the fuck? you didn’t have to pull him like that?” Y/N says aggressively while walking towards the house, when she gets in a hand reach, she pulls the leash so the neighbor doesn’t have his grubby hand on the leash. 

Oh you want to know Y/N neighbor? It happily to be Harry Styles. Forgot to include that in, sorry. 

“Are you getting mad at me? your dog happened to be in my house without any guardian. Your dog jumped on my couch, which I’m not too fond of. So anyone here who should be a little bit bitchy, it should be me.” Harry says hostile. He’s wearing a wife beater shirt that has his arms tattoos on display. For his lower part he’s wearing a nice black booty short which shows off that magnificent tiger tattoo. “Are you just going to stand there?” He snaps back. 

Y/N brought her eyes back to him which Y/N doesn’t approve of his tone. Y/N scuffs and rolls her eyes to the back of her head. “Sorry for your inconvenience. Enjoy the rest of your day.” Y/N plants a fake smile on her face. “C’mon Cosmo, let’s go, but this time I'm walking you.“ Y/N whispers to Cosmo while turning around to continue their walk with a small intermission they encountered. After a couple of steps Y/N turned her head around and when she did Harry was still standing there with annoyance on his face, which Y/N turned her head back around. 

“He’s going to be fun.” 

***

It took Y/N twenty minutes to walk her dog today. She wanted Cosmo to enjoy himself which he did because he saw a lot of squirrels today, and on top of that she didn’t want to ‘run’ into Harry again. Y/N should be excited to have a big celebrity living among them, and hopefully she could get reinspired about her future, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Probably Harry is just having a bad day, and last year and the beginning of this year he had a lot of things going on. He’s officially a grammy winner, he filmed two movies, his latest album Fine Line has been doing phenomenally well, he was the first male to have appeared solo on Vogue magazine,  he was announced Hitmaker of the year, and so many more. So maybe he just needed to get his energy back, which Y/N understood. But man, it really had to be their first impression. 

When Y/N and Cosmo took a turn to walk to their front door, Y/N couldn’t help but to look across the street to see if Harry was there or not. Surprisingly he was, and he’s looking right at her. Y/N looked at his lips while he blew out a smoke. Fuck, he smokes?! 

Y/N doesn’t understand why he’s looking at her, but she doesn’t give a shit because the way he’s looking at her was his way of trying to figure her out. Whatever that fucking means. 

She broke eye contact and flipped her head around to her front door. She starts digging her hand in her pocket to fetch her keys out. Cosmo starts barking because the keys jiggles so he thought it was a new toy. “Oh you hash it.” She got the keys and shove it in the lock. Thank god, her mother didn’t lock the top of the door. 

The door finally releases and Cosmo immediately runs through, probably heading to his water bowl. “Thanks sweetie for walking Cosmo for me.” Y/N hears her mom in the kitchen probably smothering Cosmo. “Yep. I would say anytime, but I would be lying.” She says while walking up the stairs to head to her room. “Fuck off.” Her mother giggles. “I love you too.” That was the last thing Y/N said before she shut her door.

Y/N takes off her beat up vans and soon after plops on her unmade bed. Y/N stared at the few holes on the ceiling due to having a young Leonardo DiCaprio poster on her ceiling when she was younger. Young Leo hits different. 

Y/N couldn’t help it, but her brain went back to her small and rough interaction with Harry. She wished she met him on a  better note, but fuck it. But how could she move on from him? She’s a fan of his music and his viewpoint on the world. He’s a man of few word, but when he does talk, it’s fucking loud and impactful. He’s the main reason she took a few steps back off of social media. She’s barely on it, but when she does go on it, she isn’t on there for long like she used to. 

An hour went by and her mother started knocking on her door and then she came in. “You know mother, the purpose of knocking is to see if you're welcome to enter the space.” Y/N says nonchalantly sitting up to see her mother, but at the same time trying to hold in her laugh. 

“Well, if you want to contribute to paying the bills, I’ll happily reconsider waiting to be called on.” Her mother threw back. “Nope. You’re good.” Y/N says shaking her head. 

“Mmmmhh. Well, I’m going to hang out with the girls from work. Do you want me to make you something before I go?” That’s one thing Y/N loves about her mother, she is so selfless and she always makes sure I’m good before she wants to do something for herself. 

“I’m good. Enjoy your night.” Y/N gave her mom a smile to know she’ll be alright. “If you’re sure, then I’m off,” Her mom says all happily. “If you need anything just text me. Okay?” 

“Okay,” Y/N got up to give her mom a nice, strong hug. “love you.” Y/N whispers. “Love you more beautiful.” We pull back and she’s off to the race. 

Y/N walks to her window to pull the blind. She sometimes likes looking out her window and just stares off into space. Something about watching people live their life comforts her. She loves people watching. 

Y/N found herself mumbling some words, while people watching, but she couldn’t help but stop her little rampage. Y/N feels heavy and she’s unable to even grasp the concept, so when she starts feeling that way she tends to start saying random things. It could be something she could use in the future. To make sure she doesn’t forget she whip out her phone to go to the notes app where she has a folder filled with random words and sentences. There are things in there that could potentially be useful like, “More or less a painful experience. Only ever real if you're delirious. the summer before you,” “I think you're gonna be my biggest fan.” So on and so forth. That’s what the folder is filled with fragments and potentially some song lyrics. 

Y/N tossed her phone to her bed, and left her phone to bother Cosmo downstairs. Y/N loves that sucker. Before Y/N could even smother him with love, he’s currently sleeping on his bed in the corner of the living room. 

Fucking great. 

Y/N just wanted something to do, and her damn dog couldn’t give her that. She looks at the clock on the wall in the living room and it’s currently 6 almost to be seven. Y/N could go upstairs and ask one of her friends to hangout, but she doesn’t want that. The best alternative could be taking a walk and seeing where her feet take her. She likes that option better, so she quietly went upstairs so she doesn’t wake up Cosmo.

Y/N changes her attire to ripped oversized mom jeans, an oversized graphic tee she bought on Depop and once again her infamous black and white vans. She grabs her airpods, and her keys. She’s finally ready for the evening. 

Y/N went back downstairs to check on Cosmo and make sure he has food and water ready for him just in case he wakes up while she’s still gone. When she felt everything was in order she ended straight to the door. 

The weather feels astronomically better than before which had Y/N feel much better with her decision. Y/N isn’t sure if she should take the right or left. If she decides on taking a right she’ll pass Harry’s house, but if she does decide to take a left she wouldn’t. Y/N starts going back and forth, but she decides on going left. 

There was a nice breeze in the summer air, and she’s listening to “I’m a Slave 4 U” by the one and only Britney fucking Spears. “What's practical is logical. What the hell who cares. All I know is I'm so happy. When you're dancing there. I'm a slave 4 U.” Y/N finds herself singing to herself. She’s been walking around aimlessly and rocking out to her songs for about thirty minutes. She’s aware she’s probably creating attention to herself, but she couldn’t find herself to care. Y/N is enjoying herself. 

“I’m a SLAVE FOR YOU!” Y/N shouts out with her eyes pinch shut, when she finally opens them she finds herself in front of Harry’s house. The worst part wasn't that she was walking in a circle. It wasn’t that she belted out to her songs. It wasn’t she was flinging her body around like she was the balloon thingy at the cars dealership shop. Nope. None of those. 

The worst fucking part is, Harry Fucking Styles is currently outside watching her. Fucking watching her. Once again fucking smoking. Again.

[00gangfriend00]

heyyy bitch you should write a little drivey fic pls 🚙 vroom vroom vibes only

hi babe. vroom vroom! I am at work Not Working so here is your drivey fic.

It's not that he is having trouble sleeping. He can't sleep. Don't matter how many times he tosses and turns, it won't come.

It's been goin on for a week or so now, and he can't pinpoint any real reason why. Rosa tellin' him it's stress, is always going on about stress. Rhea's tellin' him its old age.

Whatever it is, it's fuckin with his mind.

Surrendering momentarily and sitting upright, he flicks on the bedside lamp. Marcus isn't here tonight, which always makes the nights more insufferable. That little squirrel snore across the hall does wonders in quietin' his mind.

He looks around at the warmly lit room. His stuff. Used to dream of this.

Used to dream of having bullshit modern art on his walls. Of walking into one of those fancy ass, white-ass art stores, not even askin' for the price.

Of taking the elevator all the way to the top. Penthouse. Dope shoes. New whip.

Now he's got it. He's at the top.

Still can't fuckin sleep.

So he grabs his keys, tired of staring at the walls, and does what he always does.

It's just going for a drive. Don't matter that the destination's always the same - it's the drive. That's what mellows him enough to finally shut his eyes.

Never mind that it'll l be the third time this week he's shown up outside her house in the middle of the night. There's just somethin' bout the rhythmic suburban sprinkler systems, the twisting parade of manicured lawns, the quiet sigh of each darkened window.

Yah, he knows it makes him look like a fucking stalker, he knows.

Hates it too, its just that he..

"Can't sleep?"

Her voice startles him, he didn't hear the tap on the window, but there she is - shivering outside the car door.

It's cold out, fuck. She's in her little slippers and some thin cotton thing that he's not not thinkin' about.

The window rolls down between them.

"I was in the area."

She grins like each and every one of the 22 minutes it takes to get out here from downtown is personally amusing to her.

"Get in."

'What?"

"You gonna freeze, Elizabeth."

"I was just checking to see if -" She catches herself mid-excuse. He'd been up thinkin' about her and she'd been up thinkin' about him. They're predictable like that. He's not about to deny it, at least. "Okay."

"You look tired". She whispers into the streetlight-lit interior. The light flashes in alternating beats across her face as they pull off the street and onto the highway.

"Gee, thanks." He lolls his head, taking her in and smiling briefly.

She smiles back, something nostalgic and a little forlorn. Her cheeks are wet, he can see the dampness catching blue dashboard light. She notices him noticing and -

"Take me for a drive." She perks upright. Sniffling and buckling her seatbelt with dramatics.

"You got it, boss."

They pull out onto the empty highway, goin' about 20 over. Her hands out the window, bobbing up and down. All that freezing cold air blastin' through the passenger side but - he ain't about to say anything. It's nice, actually, this.

He slows to pull off the next exit. She turns in silent question.

"You hungry?"

"Now?!"

"Yah, now."

"I guess..."

"Nothin' ever easy with you is it?"

He can hear her silent O of accusation without even takin' his off the road.

"I just don't typically eat at 3 o'clock in the morning."

He's grinning as he pulls into a White Castle.

"No time like the present."

--

She's sprawled across him, speak-yelling out the window into the drive-thru speaker.

"I will have a double cheeseburger slider special with the, umm, the loaded fries and.... a chocolate shake."

"Damn."

"Go big or go home, right?" Her shark-tooth grin glistens.

It's hard not to smile back, her nose blushed red from the wind, eyes sparkling. So he does. Like an idiot.

Their haul arrives, and they settle up. (He paid, only cause she didn't bring no wallet, and apparently doesn't appreciate bein' called out on it.)

"No eating in this car, though."

Her french-fry pace doesn't slow.

"Elizabeth, I'm serious."

"Are you kidding me? I am not standing outside."

"We'll eat inside then."

"I am in my pajamas."

"Aint nobody in there."

"This was your idea!"

"You're the one ordering cheese-covered shit, not me."

"I can't go in there." Her arms are crossed like a petulant little child.

He sighs.

"My pajamas are see-through."

"Yah mama, I know." His mouth slips into a smirk as he looks her slowly up and down, and she playfully hits him on the arm.

So they end up in yellow-plastic seats across from one another, with their backs to a ball-pit play area.

It's fuckin weird. It's nice.

Fun, even.

Under the harsh flourescent light, she's even more exposed than before. He's no better in his sweatpants and tee-shirt. No one's around, and with the way she's laughing, the way his body feels relaxed like it hasn't in weeks, it makes him think that very little would shake them from this moment. The whole damn city could come through those swinging doors, and he might not even notice.

Ah, damn.

The sky is grey in anticipation of daylight by the time he pulls back up to her door. They'd been quiet on the way back, yawning from time to time. She'd been humming a simple tune.

They sit like that for a beat in the driveway. Peaceful. Content.

"Dean took the kids."

"When?!"

"This evening. Well, yesterday evening I guess. Last night."

He scrubs his hand over his face, unsure how to play this, scared to expose the way he's feelin'. Been feelin'.

Scared something in his eyes might give away how many nights he's spent sittin' on this very street, pretending she ain't the reason why.

"Shit, Elizabeth. I'm -"

"No. It's okay. I had a really good night." She turns to him now. A shy smile hesitating on her lips.

He nods.

"Get some sleep okay?"

"You sound like my -" But the car door shuts.

She's walking up the driveway and into the sunrise.

He knows he'll sleep the moment his head hits the pillow.

Shit.

[sparetimeimagines]

Patience

Tsukishima Kei x Reader

Part 2 of Habits

Tags; soft core, smut, fluff, Soft Tsuki

Masterlist

“Go home, Tsukishima.”

It had been weeks since you’ve seen him.

No text messages.

No phone calls.

Nothing.

You felt yourself being played.

He finally got what he wanted, for you to confess to him once again that he was right.

Condescending asshole.

Why does this keep happening to me? You thought as though this time around things were supposed to change.

However, this time it felt different. This time, you felt him picking at the stitches he swore he wasn’t going to play with.

And now you feel stupid.

You feel stupid for driving all the way up there at two in the morning.

You feel stupid for believing he meant what he said and falling for every word of it.

“I broke my phone. I swear. I swear I wasn’t blowing you off. I had exams and my phone was broken. I didn’t have time to come down and see you. I promise you I wasn’t going to fuck this up again. God, you have to believe me.”

“Go home, Tsukishima.”

“No. Not until you let me explain.”

He shows up with flowers and you slam the door in his face.

“Baby, please.” You hear him through the door. “Open up.”

“No fuck you, Tsukishima.”

“Don’t be like that, Y/n.”

He had to manipulate you. You thought as long as you cut off everyone else, everything would work out right.

Some fool you are.

He can’t stay out there for long. Eventually he’ll have to go away, go home and leave you alone.

You open the door hours later to walk your dog; the same one he bought you for your birthday a year ago.

“I figured you’d still be here.” Unamused, you stare at the blond who waits with his elbows resting on his knees.

“Just let me explain.”

You sigh, letting him tag along.

“You can walk with us. She needs to go out.”

“What about the flowers?”

“Hold them. Toss them. I don’t care.”

He holds them the entire walk, them wilting in the process.

“She’s gotten big.”

“Yep.”

“I can’t believe you still have her.” He watches the fluffy black dog sniff around a tree.

“Her dad fucked up. Not her.”

“I know.” He frowns pushing his glasses up by the bridge. “I’m doing that a lot lately.”

You pay attention to him from the corner of your eye with nothing to counter him with, so you remain silent.

“You should have called.” Ten minutes have passed and he’s like a kid waiting to be lectured; quiet and focusing on anything to keep his attention. In this case, it’s the rocks he kicks from under his shoe.

“How could I have called if I didn’t know your number?”

“Find a way!” Your outburst catches you by surprise as you turn to him. “You could have found a way.” You turn away from him hiding your face. You didn’t mean to get emotional. It was supposed be quiet.

“Y/n.” He sighs, the tips of his ears growing red. “I had no way of getting to you. It was finals. What was I supposed to do?”

You had no intentions of letting him know how badly he hurt you.

You thought better of him.

You thought he knew that.

“I don’t know. You could have tried.” You sniffle trying to hold back tears, looking at the sky.

Are you crying because you’re sensitive? Are your feelings hurt? Are you upset with him? Why now? Why not earlier when he was locked outside of your apartment.

“I did try.”

“How?”

You turn to him with a stray falling from your eye. “I trusted you, Kei. You made me feel safe. Then you tarnished that.”

You focus on his face, red like yours.

“Do you know how that made me feel, Tsuki? Of course not. Because you only think about yourself.”

You point your finger at him, he remaining silent. Simultaneously, the four legged creature decided to run after a squirrel. The leash splits from your hand and instantly Kei starts chasing her.

You follow after them, he much faster than you. Following the duo on unstable ground, you step in a dip rolling your ankle.

Beside you, you welcome the bouquet of flowers Tsuki dropped chasing after your dog.

Minutes later he comes back with your dog on the leash and you sitting on the ground with an ankle starting to bruise.

“You’ve always been clumsy.” He chuckles looking over your ankle. “Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t walk on it. Here let me help you.” He extends his hand to you but you whisk it away instead.

“I got it, Tsuki.”

You attempt to collect your ground, instantly failing when it came to applying any pressure to your ankle.

“See. Bad liar.” He scoffs.

“Shut up, Tsuki.”

He extends his hand once more, those long fingers wrapping around your wrist. “Just let me help you.”

“Fine. Fine.” You give up. “Don’t you dare drop me.”

He hands you the dog leash, scooping you into his arms.

“You’re making it really hard not to.”

Inside the home, he lays you on the couch letting the dog free.

“I try to make things right and you end up hurting yourself.” He groans giving you the side eye.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Well it’s your fault.”

“Whatever Tsuki. You’re so full of shit.” You roll your eyes throwing an arm over your face.

“Aww she’s sorry.”

You look out from your arm seeing Kei laughing at your pup dropping toys on your stomach.

“Yeah acts just like her dad.” You throw the ball with slight frustration while he watches amused.

He loves her. Always had. She always listened better to him too.

The pup brings her toy to Tsuki this time, begging for someone to play with her. He leaves out of your sight and returns with something frozen wrapped in a towel. He lifts your leg with ease and sets it in his lap.

“Now. Since there was so much to talk about. You know, from you ghosting me after I confessed to you, again, to how you rejected me, again. Explain yourself. And it better be good because I’m hurting really bad right now.”

He presses the cold compress hard against your skin making you jump, hissing in reaction.

“Tsukiiii.... shit.” You hiss throwing your head back.

“Mmm that’s not the first time I heard that.” He smirks watching you. “Besides woman, how many times do I need to explain this to you. I. BROKE. MY. PHONE.” He glares running his hand along your leg. “Take it or leave it. That’s my story.”

You return his glare and sigh.

“I hate you, Tsukishima Kei.” You groan with your eyes sealing shut.

“That’s not what you said last time.” His deadpan eyes were audible.

“Well, I take it back.” You allow your ears to guide you, his touch secondary to your hearing.

“You can’t just that it back.”

“Watch me.” You fold your arms across your chest, not bothering to look at him. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this position right now.”

“So it’s my fault.” He scoffs as you feel his eyes watching you.

“Yes, its your fault.” You sigh scooting closer to him.

“So I see.” He says. “How’s your ankle feeling?”

“I’m hurting so bad right now.”

He lifts the ice pack exposing your purple ankle.

“It’s going to hurt a lot more when you have my kids.”

That caught you off guard. Not that you haven’t mentioned having a family more than once in the time you dated...

“Your kids?” You sit up on your elbows watching him watch you.

It’s just been awhile.

“I’m six feet tall. Did you think they were going to be bite size like you?”

“There’s a chance. Besides, who said I’m still having your kids? Maybe I want someone else’s.”

Tsukishima bursts out laughing. “There’s no one in this world who’s going to put up with you. You’re whiney.”

“And you’re an ass.”

“And yet you sound surprised.”

“I’d kick you right now.” You roll your hips further in the couch, simultaneously closer to Tsuki. “You’re a jerk and I hate you.”

“Again with the catch phrase. News flash. You don’t mean it.” He sighs running a hand over your foot.

“Does that hurt?”

“Yes.”

“How about here?”

“Yes.”

He’s trying to massage your ankle, kisses on it, working up to your core.

“Here?”

“No. Tsuki, what are you doing?”

“Good. I think I should inspect this area a little longer.” He completely ignores your question. “You know, just to be on the safe side.”

His long fingers brush against the edge of your shorts, him receiving a moan as his lips touch your skin.

“Tsuki no, I’m hurting.” You moan, your mouth disagreeing with your body.

“I’ll be gentle.” His voice, soft and reassuring, matches the look in his eyes, those caramel irises rolling to you in a daze. He takes his glasses off placing them on the coffee table nearby. His fingers trace up your leg, delicate gestures along the curve of your body, feeling the tension building from the inside.

Those eyes reconnect with yours, he crawling on top of you with a leg on each side, straddling your waist but it’s obvious he’s holding back. His fingers trace along your jawline, guiding your lips into his.

This toxic, mesmerizing affect he has on you leaves you obedient and purring.

“Will you forgive me?” He hums into your neck leaving soft kisses in trail to your breast where he takes your shirt off.

“I’ve always loved your body.” He runs the back of his hand across your skin. “You’re so beautiful.”

His lips pepper you to your nipples, one hand caressing your skin in circles, the other massaging the free breast.

“Maybe this will distract you some. You know. From the pain.” He moans between the light bites.

The separate hand travels south to your navel, the backside painfully slow until he meets your shorts.

“Is this ok? I’m not hurting you right?” He stops, eyeing you as you exhale with a long relaxed moan. “I just want to make you feel good.”

You nod generously, your eyes closing ready to relax.

He slides your shorts off your hips.

“I never get tired of seeing this.” He moans leaving open mouth kisses on your hip bones. “You’re beautiful.”

His cold fingers trace along the exterior of your lips watching how you react. His hot breath teases your heat as he slides down into his stomach, wrapping an arm around your thigh pulling you closer.

“Mmm Kei.”

“Yeah? Baby girl you like this?”

“You said you were going to be nice.”

“No, no I said gentle. Purr for me.” He smirks exposing his teeth in glee.

“Tsukiii.” You pout arching your hips into him.

“Patience Baby.” He runs his index along your slit. “We have no where to be.”

“Kei, you know I’m impatient.”

“Yes, Baby Girl.” He slides the finger along the outside. “But I also know you’ve been neglected, and I need to fix that.” He spreads your lips. “And I am truly sorry.”

He slides his tongue over your clit, watching your eyes roll back in your head. Your body trembles preparing for him.

He brings the same finger from earlier to your entrance slowly stretching your needy hole.

“Fuck Tsuki.”

“Shhh Shh. Baby Girl.” He counters your long exaggerated moan. “I just want you to feel good.” Kei releases his finger from your core, watching your eyes open in distaste.

“Relax. I’m just tasting you.” Sliding his finger in his mouth, he keeps your eyes locked, sliding it back inside your ravishing flower. “You taste so good.” He moans feeling himself grow hard. “So damn good.”

Pumping your core, he slides a second finger into you adding more tension.

“I love you so much.” He mumbles, his insecurities exposing him.

You smile running your fingers through his curls as he lean in closer, licking your folds.

His left hand finally releases your breast, sliding to your adjacent thigh, barricade himself into your core.

He laps your slit too many times to count, the ecstasy overwhelming you as you buck your hips against his hold.

“Tsuki.” You moan while he pins your hips down.

“Patience Baby. This is all for you.”

“I need you. You have this control over me. And I hate it.” You pant with needy eyes. He stops what he’s doing, pulling out of your lubed heat, leaning over your body.

Chest to chest, nose to nose.

You grab his neck pulling him into you. Your taste on his lips, your tongue attacking his with needy lust.

Your fingers trace his face, cupping a cheek and you moan into his mouth.

“You drive me crazy.”

You break, turning to his neck licking the sweat from his skin.

“Can I have you?” You shutter, your words caught in your throat.

“Baby Girl, you can have whatever you want.” He hums kissing your lips tenderly.

“I want to feel you inside me.”

“Baby... you’re hurt.”

“I just want to feel you. Tsuki please. I want this.” He sighs and sits up.

“Somewhere else. I don’t have enough room on this couch. I’ll hurt you.” He eyes your bedroom door and back to you.

“Please, Kei.” You moan rolling your hips against his clothed bottoms.

He relocates you to the bedroom taking off his shirt. You stop to admire his chiseled body from volleyball, releasing a painful moan, sliding your fingers over your clit.

“Fuck... baby girl that’s my job.” He dives down in between your legs clasping his hands over yours, pinning them to the side, continuing laps from before.

“You feel so good Tsuki.” You moan as he sits up.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

“You’re saying this like it’s my first time.” You smirk with a giggle.

“Look, Baby Girl. I really don’t want to hurt you. I can get... distracted.”

“I’m fine Kei. I promise you I’ll let you know if it’s too much, ok?”

He leans over your body, kissing your lips, your breast, your core and sits up, losing his bottoms.

“Promise?”

“I promise Kei.” You smile feeling him line up with you.

It was different this time. The lust was different. His touch is sensitive. He runs his hand along your thigh as he presses into you.

“Oh, Baby Girl.” He moans with his head thrown back. “You’re perfect.” You feel your breath hitch inside you with the new found pressure. He leans forward, slowly rolling his hips into yours again. His runs his fingers in your hair as he begins thrusting slowly.

Open mouth kisses, he hears your breath getting caught in your throat.

“Are you ok? Is this fine?” He asks and you nod.

“You’re just big. Give me time.” You adjust your hips and he slows his pace. “No... Kei. Keep going.”

He bottoms inside you scraping your cervix and causing you to gasp.

“Oh my.” You catch yourself and he pulls himself out halfway.

“Are you ok?” He watches your eyes and you nod with an embarrassed giggle.

“Oh my goodness, Kei. Just go. I’m fine.” You laugh frustrated while he smirks.

“Ok ok.” He kisses you and sets a steady tempo.

Are you ready to trust him again? Your heart races in your ears as thousands of things run through your head.

He’s feels amazing.

I want to trust him again.

I love you. I love you. I love you.

But can you trust him?

He leans into your neck leaving kisses too many to count.

“I’ve missed you.” His groan, so low you could have ignored it, sends chills down your spine. Your core tightens and he notices.

The cocky blond leans down and places his lips to yours. His thrusts are clean and he pulls you in. “I don’t ever want to be without you again.” He’s breathy and his body gives under pressure, collapsing as he finishes inside you.

His broad shoulders cover your body while he leaves kisses across your skin to your lips.

“Then don’t leave, Kei.” You bury your head into his chest as he kisses your forehead.

“I’m not going anywhere, Baby Girl.”

Tag List:

@kellyisalone

@girlyluke

Hopefully it’s something you will enjoy ☺️

[nocluewhatsupg]

Michael, Brahms, Jason, and Billy being dragged on a hiking trip

Michael Myers

What

Wack

Mildly amused by whatever he finds along the trail

Does not complain, somehow keeps that creepy speed-walk for the entire trip

You’ve got no clue how he feels, but you’re certain he’d rather be anywhere else

Might push you into the lake if he’s bored (and you’re around one)

Might try to trip you by suddenly walking both ahead of you and over you (he’s more important).

Doesn’t want to leave his signature jumpsuit no matter how much you nag, instantly regrets his decision once he’s covered in sweat and his clothes are scratched and covered in scrapes from thorns he wandered into. Won’t admit it, though.

Wears the fucking mask. You may be able to wrestle him into a short sleeved shirt and sweatpants with a lot of careful persuasion, but the mask is non negotiable. He also pours water from your bottle directly onto the mask. Maybe he drinks from the eye holes, who knows. You have no clue how it’s in such good condition.

Speaking of wandering into thorns, he’ll wander off the trail. No need to go after him or worry, he’s a real survivalist , and he’ll either find his way back to your car, or you’ll hear of a recent massacre in a nearby town...

Glares at anyone you may encounter, standing behind you menacingly. Funny, people are so rude to just hurry past you, and not greet you...

Drinks from the lake too, despite your protests. Should’ve brought him some fucking fruit juice or something.

Will find a squirrel, or whatever animal he can choke the life out of, and promptly place it in your hands.

Take him home now or you’re next.

The trip ends there, and went just as bad as you expected.

If there’s a visitor’s office, he’ll be fascinated by the trinkets for sale. He doesn’t want one, and might strangle you if you point out a magnet or key chain with his name on it. If you’re immortal, you might buy one just to fuck with him later. He shoplifts some food, mainly dried jerky, while making direct eye contact with the poor cashier (who is currently wondering if their job is really worth it).

Stares at the taxidermy animals stuffed on the walls. Idly wonders if he can get you stuffed when you eventually die. If he’s in a good mood, he’ll point to the morbid work of art, then to you until you get the point. He doesn’t want your opinion. He just wants you to know he’ll think about doing it. How sweet of him.

There are some cheap stamps on a table, meant for small passports you can buy to track where you’ve been (if it’s a large, government funded park). Michael will allow you to stamp (and maybe thirst over) his hand, but only after you’ve stamped your own hand first. Just in case. Mildly panicked when he couldn’t rub it off. There was obviously no emotional reaction, but his sharp blue eyes betrayed his fear. You quickly reassured him it would come off, and he relaxed. Looked very dead inside, and you would be dead on the outside and in if you mentioned it.

Next time, you hike by yourself, and find that he’s lurking in the shadows. How he got there before you is beyond you, but he’s there. Mission passed?

(Secretly enjoyed the outdoors, just doesn’t want to do what you tell him)

Brahms Heelshire

Props on you for getting him out of his mansion. You’re most likely walking around the estate’s vast property, the most you could convince him to go.

He is whining, tugging on your sleeve, begging to go back inside.

He is not tired, or sore, or uncomfortable. Going out was never part of the rules. There was no need to do so.

Brahms grows more and more irritated as you continue, and you realize why you never saw parents with small children on the trails.

Snap at him and he’ll snap right back, picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder. He takes you, screaming and kicking, back inside. You yell at him for a good long while, and by the time child-Brahms is back and begging for your forgiveness, you’ve lost the mood to hike. With a sigh, you leave him in the kitchen, and turn to lock yourself away in your room. He isn’t far, however..

Assuming you bit your tongue and stayed silent (as you did with many of his strange mannerisms), he just might shut up long enough for you to begin to enjoy the thick British forest. Mossy stones and vine covered trees, all much older than you could begin to imagine.

You might have a better chance at hiking in peace if you tie it into the schedule, opting to tell a fantasy story about goblins or fairies as you both walk through the very land the story could just take place in. Distracted, he’ll become enthralled in your story, and throwing you over his shoulder, taking you where he wants to be, will slowly slip out of his mind. You aren’t safe, though.

The sun dips below the trees, and you realized just how long you’ve been wandering around. There was still no sight of the fences that close the land off.

At the suggestion (or command, really. You are the one in charge. Maybe.) Brahms stands very still. The porcelain mask tilts upwards, to the multicolored sky, and he asks to sleep under the stars. The novel the two of you read back in the mansion had just been through a chapter where the characters slept outside, and it was only natural he wanted to experience it too.

You sigh. There aren’t any proper materials to really camp, but you didn’t want to let him down. So, you compromise. You’d start a small fire, and you’d both sit around it until it grew too cold and the flames weren’t enough. There was no sleeping on the ground, but it would be a curious idea to do in the summer.

Brahms lost interest in the fire faster than you thought. He stared at it for a good ten minutes, then began to pester you. He realized it was nothing special, it was just like the ones inside. Plus, he’s spent far too much time outside and a chill was beginning to crawl down his spine, shown to you when he’d swirl his head around to stare at the pitch black forest.

Whispering, as if to not wake the world around you, you urge him to sit still and enjoy. He doesn’t. It’s too cold. When he sits closer to the fire, it’s too hot. You throw another stick of wood into the orange flames and tell him to go inside. That won’t work either, because he wants you to go in with him.

Without a word, you place your face sharply into your palms. Your hot exhales warmed your hands, and accurately expressed the sparking embers of frustration inside your stomach. Brahms shuffles nervously, not wanting you to act out of normal, but also not wanting to do anything about it. He’s real complex, isn’t he?

Eventually, you agree to go inside. You always have to do what he wants in the end. You’re too tired to shout at him when he sheepishly asks you to sleep with him. You kiss the porcelain begrudgingly, and shuffle off to your room.

He watches you a little longer, from the walls. Just to make sure you’ve got no plans to leave.

Then maybe sneaks into your bed. What? Why are you upset? You looked cold. He’s doing you a favor. Thank him. No he won’t leave, you’ll freeze to death.

Billy Lenz

Actually having a good time.

He’s nervous, as always, but he was far too distracted by the sudden change in surroundings to care.

Of course he’d been outside before, gone to parks in his childhood just as everyone had, but they weren’t trips he could enjoy.

Here, it’s just you, him, and the great outdoors.

Things start off well, with him stopping occasionally to touch a weird plant, or to point out a bug that scuttled behind a tree.

He walked oddly, hands in his back pockets and he was rather hunched over his own figure. He seemed rather awkward, and when you’d remind him he was fine, he’d stand up straighter and give you an unsure smile. Most annoyingly, he’d swing his elbows with each step. They often smacked into yours, and you never earned an apology.

You told him he’d get tired like that, and all he did was shout “Hogwash!” at you in an accent you couldn’t quite put your finger on, and continue. He swung harder just because he could, nearly twisting himself around with intensity, and you earned a bruise or two when he’d lean closer to you.

Predictably, he grew tired, and complained.

Congrats, you’re walking with a human radio that never turns off.

Offers to take your water bottle, and drinks it all while you’re distracted by the scenery.

Speaking of scenery, he doesn’t care. Billy might point out how a mountain off in the distance looks like a certain shot in a movie he watched years ago, or suddenly begin rambling about a plot of another film whose setting reminded himself of where he walked now. It’s interesting to listen to, sure, but he goes on for hours. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to care if you don’t pay attention.

He will hiss and snarl at anyone you may encounter on the trail, either mocking them if they greet him (or you), or mock your response (or theirs). Please hope you don’t run into anyone with an accent, because he’ll speak in a poor reenactment of it for the rest of the trip.

Is incredibly hypocritical and will become upset if you cross paths with a group of loud hikers. Will scream how it’s rude to ruin the peace. Once the group silences, he will unconsciously begin to mumble or talk to you. Prepare for nasty stares.

Will stop to pee at least three times, both going and coming back. How many times he actually needed to was beyond you, but he did take an awful long time each stop. You do know for certain he flat out spat on the ground one time, then stood still for four minutes.

Secretly wants to go into the lake, but doesn’t say anything about it. You eventually pick up on the look in his wild eyes, and when you gesture to the deep blue water, he wastes no time jumping in. Will slip on a rock, misjudging just how slippery the lake bottom becomes, and is now completely drenched from head to toe. Billy refuses to get undressed, and becomes very uncomfortable if you do when/if you join him. That basically ends that if you are female, he’ll frown and carry a snarl in his words, mumbling something about appeal and trickery. He doesn’t discriminate either, the reaction is similar if you are male, although he doesn’t become nearly as upset. If you don’t go in (the best choice, really), sitting on the sandy shore and keeping your feet into the cool lake, he’ll throw water on you anyway. Rest in peace, your dry clothes. Refusing to surrender to your local attic rat, a playful fight ensues, and for that moment, you almost forget what a monster he is. Maybe it’s best you keep that locked away.

You win, and he bites your shoulder in bitter defeat. It’s not even in a sexy way or anything. He just fucking bites you. You’re lucky it doesn’t bleed much, the wound rather shallow, but it still hurt.

>:(

In his mind, he won, and that’s final. Will brag about his victory the entire ride home.

(shitpost: you cry about your wound, and get him to gingerly reach an arm out to touch it. You take this distraction to bite his wrist. Billy screams so loud all the windows in every car shatters instantly. He pulls away from you, clutching his injured wrist, and shouts every profanity he could think of. You both are not so kindly asked to never return to the park ever again.)

Jason Voorhees

Walking through Crystal Lake? No. You can’t do that. No, y/n, that’s his cursed campground. Go find your own.

You are, however, allowed to walk around the lake. Outside the parameters of the camp, he’s still a little on edge that you’re alive, but he’ll let you. Don’t say he never did anything for you.

He doesn’t make a single sound as he follows you from a slight distance, through bushes and low hanging branches, he’s silent. You turn around and see him standing there, machete in hand, watching.

A chill is constantly going down your spine, and no matter how much you trust him, your brain absolutely does not agree. About fifteen minutes into your hike, you swore you could hear a faint “ch ch ah ah” whispered through the trees.

If you call him out on it, he’ll simply shrug his broad shoulders, then turn his mask slowly to look ahead. He urges you to continue, so he can return to patrolling his beloved camp and slaughtering everything that breaths.

He isn’t being malicious, he cares about you, in some odd fashion. It is only natural for humans to long for companionship, and he is desperate for anything that returns him to a time when he was afraid of a hunter’s gun. You however, in all your beauty, are simply not enough to tear him away from his supernatural duty. Nothing is.

Returning home from the awkward hike, you invite him inside your house, a small two story cabin nestled just outside the camp grounds.

He agrees, shuffles into your living room, and stands there.

Jason parks himself just next to the small television, a spot he’d been to so often there was an outline of eternal mud and grime in the shape of perfect (and large) boots. 

He stares at you as you go through your daily routine, as you cook dinner and eat it. As you watch some television, or read a book, or catch up on your favorite hobby. Jason is aware he’s free to leave whenever he wants, do whatever he pleases, but he doesn’t want to. He’s perfectly content with just standing there, far too nervous to actually interact with you.

The sky gets darker, and the crickets begin to chirp loudly. You tell him goodnight, get no response, and head upstairs. He waits a few moments, turns off your living room lights, and vanishes back into the thick, New Jersey woods. Duty calls.

[blametheeditor]

Inktober Day 27: Spark

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of trapping someone, mentions of using someone or something for profit

Spark: to flash or fall like sparks

Two for two finally starting an AU that’s been sitting about for a few years!

____________________

David isn’t attracted to shiny things. When it comes to money, shiny usually describes coins, and he’d much rather have dollar bills than a pile of useless change. He also doesn’t have the mind of a squirrel like Eggs, and anything casting light around isn’t immediately chased after to collect.

But this is the one time he’ll actively search for something flickering like a dying lightbulb. Not because he has the urge to, and not because he’s curious. He just needs to find out what the hell hovering in his office.

The business man rubs his eyes, thinking the latest cup of coffee he drank just hasn’t pushed off the fatigue threatening to creep on him yet. He pulled an all-nighter, and although hallucinations have never hit him before, he can always blame it on the dumbasses he works with tainting him.

He just needs to take a nap. Nothing to worry about.

...goddamn it it’s still there.

David growls at the spark making frantic patterns in the air, not knowing it’s being watched. He wishes he wasn’t watching. He does not want to deal with this bullshit.

But of course it’s taken over his office. He’s not letting it ruin his computer and paperwork. Whatever the fuck it is.

David hesitates before slowly approaching the half-closed door of his home office. He’s never been quiet, and he’s never wanted to be nor should he have to, but he does remember the days of eavesdropping on his brother’s conversations. Writing down notes about things that could incriminate the asshole.

Well, he would’ve written notes if there were any to make. Connor being perfect at everything...

He stops just outside the door, staring in disbelief at a glowing ball of light flying through the air. It disappears out of sight a couple times, moving toward the side of the room hidden from where he stands. But just as he’s believing it’s his eyes playing tricks on him, it zooms right back into view.

David doesn’t know what to do. The thing is definitely real. The papers flutter when it races by and even a few keys on his keyboard are typed before it becomes too restless.

Let him think his over. At first glance, all he can think about is insect. Some bug that hit with a can of raid and absolutely refuses to die, so the frenzy on display is the result. It doesn’t look like it can do anything more than rustle paper and press down on keys. He can’t see anything past the blinding light, but it’s a safe bet it’s not poisonous. Hopefully.

He nods, quickly running into the kitchen to grab a jar because like hell he’d murder something he could money off selling for people to just look at, and before he can think about how catching it might be a bad idea, he slips into his office with the door kicked shut behind him.

The little spark immediately freezes in midair.

“Don’t worry,” David coos, smirking up at the stupid thing just begging to make him a millionaire. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

He takes a step forward before quickly stepping back as it starts vibrating in place. Before he can think about going outside before trying again, it rockets itself toward his head.

“FUCK!”

The ball of light seems to understand what panic is, darting back as it frets around him in a far enough reach for the jar to not be a threat. David couldn’t care about his plan, though. Not with the fact the lightbulb on a fritz will apparently attack him if it’s so needed.

“Alright, I’m not going to trap you. Just stay here and don’t move and-”

The business man tenses at the nonsensical spins. Not wanting to say a single word unless it triggers the attack mode again. No one better find out about him being terrified of a bug on six cups of coffee after getting electrocuted.

A few minutes of the light doing whatever the hell it pleases, and finally it stops. Hovers a few feet away from David’s face. When he doesn’t even breathe, it slowly, haltingly as if asking permission it can continue, begins to fly closer to the desk. All the way until it stands on the surface completely dwarfing it.

...not it. He. David recognizes the red hair even with a slight glow surrounding the teenager’s features.

”FRITZ?”

The light- Fritz winces like he always does whenever he’s getting lectured. Holy shit the glowing and insane insect is his charge.

“What the hell!”

The redhead starts making gestures, his mouth clearly moving but with no words coming out, and if he doesn’t start explaining David is going to loose his mind. At least the dumbass realizes it, quickly running toward the computer, and that’s when he realizes Fritz is miniscule.

He knew that, he was watching him fly like a spark gone rogue for a solid ten minutes and had a plan of catching him in a jar. But seeing the teenager who only supposed to be a foot shorter than him being loomed over by a monitor. Watching him use his entire weight in order to press the enter key.

Right, he wants an explanation.

David slowly walks around the desk, a scowl aimed toward Fritz the entire time, daring his charge to start buzzing around his head again. The softly glowing figure doesn’t move to try and escape grounding. Looks nervous as he stares at his feet.

The business man looks at the screen. He’ll admit, the numerous started sentences that were never completed does not explain anything.

Mr. Harrison, I’m going to be gone for a week

I don’t know how to explain

Typing takes forever

So, I might be a mythical creature

David sighs. Fritz waits patiently.

“We’re going to Mike’s restaurant tonight to have a meeting about this,” he finally announces, watching the teenager’s skin grow pale. “Until then, I’m taking a well deserved nap, and you’re not leaving my side.”

Fritz makes a few gestures before nodding a few times. And even though there’s still no sound, he can practically hear the shrill ‘MR. HARRISON’ as he picks up the teenager, keeping a fist securely around the dumbass to make sure he doesn’t fly away.

David feels a smile tugging at his lips at the immediate struggles that accomplish nothing before his charge finally slumps in defeat. “I mean it. You’re staying with me.”

He pretends to be pissed off at Fritz making a show of trying to repeat his words back mockingly, plopping the tiny thing into his suit pocket. At least he knows he’s not traumatizing the teenager.

Yet.

[blue--cup]

Well Done Sweetface!

Ian had always tried to look out for Liam.

 

In fact, all of his eldest siblings did. With Liam being the baby of the family it was only natural they all took on more of a parental role with him.

When he was an actual baby, Fiona took the lead. She was the one who fed him his formula at odd hours of the night, took care of him at work when everyone else was at school, got him to an urgent care when he had a fever that just wouldn’t seem to break, and many many other tasks that weren’t, and shouldn’t have been her responsibility. Yes, Monica had been his mother biologically, but Fiona was his mum in every other way that mattered, just like she was to all her siblings in some way or another.

 

Lip always tried to look out for everybody . He, along with Ian, was for decades Fiona’s rock, he took Ian’s beating from Mickey when they were still all kids, he tried his best to not let Carl and Debbie get their hopes up that one time Frank seemingly got sober, and when Fiona went to jail he stepped up for Liam more than he ever had before. Lip cared a lot about his siblings, and he had done things for them most of the eldest brothers at his old college never would have dreamt of.

 

Now though, now things felt different.

 

Now Fiona was gone, finally, and deservedly living her life free from the chains of forced obligation to her family, finally living the life her parents had stolen from her at fourteen. He missed her, they all did, but Ian had meant it when he told her to never look back because for all the times he woke up in the morning craving her eggs, or thought about how every Gallagher blow-out felt just a little bit incomplete without her laughter filling the air, he was happy for her.

 

Now Lip had a kid and a house of his own. Yeah, they still saw him most days, but it wasn’t the same as when Ian was fifteen. For now, if asked to hang out instead of thinking about whatever scheme he had planned to help add to the squirrel fund, or whether or not Fiona would be home from in time to look after the youngest Gallaghers, Lip thought about Tammy and Fred. He still tried to look out for everyone, he still loved his siblings, but his kid came first, and that was okay.

 

Ian’s relationship with Liam had always felt unique to his relationships with the rest of his siblings. With Fiona and Lip he was their little brother, their best friend, their emotional support. Yeah, he’s protected them, cared for them, but he’s not parental towards him in the same way they are slightly towards him. Carl on the other hand is his little brother. He roughhouses with him, takes the piss out of him, let’s him do shit he knows Fiona would at least shoot a disapproving glare at if not prohibit entirely. And with Debbie, that’s his baby sister, even if she hasn’t acted like it in a long-ass while.

 

Liam though? Well, he’s not Ian’s kid , but he’s not fully just his little brother either. When Carl started smoking Ian barely batted an eye because what was he going to do? Tell Carl to stop while his own pack burned a hole in his pocket? Fuck no, but if Liam lit a fag on their way to school Ian knows he wouldn’t think twice before plucking it out of his hand, much in the same way Lip would if it was Freddie, or Debbie if it was Franny.

So while no, Liam wasn’t really Ian’s kid - he’d cringe if Liam ever called him ‘dad’, much like when Fiona used to grimace upon being called ‘mama’ - but he still kind of was in some respects, in a lot of the ways that mattered . Especially now, with things being different, because now Ian was the only eldest sibling left really. Or not left, but still able to give Liam the care he needs.

 

That’s why, Ian guessed, he and Mickey took Liam in.

 

After the house was sold and they got their fair share Ian and Mickey moved into a two-bedroom, middle floor flat, and barely discussed it before asking Liam to come with them. Ian had been so sure Mickey would protest because while he knew his husband loved the Gallaghers as his own taking on a kid barely a year into being newlyweds would’ve thrown anyone. Ian had been pleasantly surprised, however, because the night after the sale was finalised Mickey looked over at him from their bed and casually stated “so Liam’s coming with us, right?”

 

No “do we really have to?” No “can’t he just go to Fiona?” Just a statement of fact, and Ian’s still shocked neither of them chipped a tooth with how hard he kissed Mickey in gratitude and excitement.

 

“Hey, earth to Ian” came Mickey’s voice from his left, jarring him out of his thoughts. He looked over at his husband, who was resting the hand holding his beer on one knee while he waved his other in front of Ian’s face, a goofy smile plastering his own.

 

“Spaced out on me there” Mickey continued, resting the hand he had been waving on the backrest, grazing the back of Ian’s neck.

 

Ian shifted, and threw an easy smile back at Mickey “sorry, just thinking.”

 

“Yeah?” Mickey replied, and rustled the slightly overgrown hair at the back of Ian’s head - he’d have to ask Mick to cut it again soon - “what about?”

 

“Ah just, happy we ended up here, you know,” Ian answered, smiling when he saw Mickey’s teasing expression morph naturally into something softer, more adoring. He breathed a short laugh thinking about how much 15-year-old Ian would have killed to see the image before him, the one he gets to enjoy every single day.

 

“And-” Ian added, cutting himself off to shift closer to Mickey and pull his arm around Ian’s shoulders, “-I’m glad we’re able to give Liam the home he deserves.”

 

At that, Mickey’s smile widened, and turned full-on loving, before he ducked his head shyly. When he looked back up, he mumbled out a “god you’re soft,” before muffling Ian’s giggles with a kiss, humming when Ian’s hand automatically came up to cradle his face.

 

At that moment, the door swung open, and the sound of Liam’s backpack being carelessly dropped to the ground boomed through the small flat. Ian pulled back first and kissed Mickey’s cheek consolingly when he grumbled about it.

 

“Guys, guess what!” Liam called, as he came into view of the couple, a piece of paper with red ink at the top being waved about in his hand.

 

“What’s up buddy?” Mickey asked, hand dropping to Ian’s right shoulder after Ian turned around to face Liam.

 

“I said guess ” Liam retorted, grinning cheekily and pressing the paper to his chest, hiding it from view.

 

“Fuck off, this isn’t one of your pop quizzes, what are you holding?” Mickey complained, his grin undercutting the edge he tried to inject into his voice.

 

“Well,” Liam began, theatrically, dropping onto the couch next to Ian, who tried, unsuccessfully, to pry the apparently extremely important paper from Liam’s arms. “You know that paper I was up all night writing?”

 

“I think the one we spent all night sitting up waiting for you to finish” Ian laughed, throwing an arm around Liam and shaking him playfully.

 

“Please, you and Mickey were asleep on this couch for most of it” Liam shot back, shoving Ian’s thigh in revenge.

 

“Come on, come on, cut to the chase” Mickey groused, looking annoyed but Ian knew he was just as excited to hear what Liam had to say as Liam was to say it.

 

Liam just smiled, an air of self-confidence filling his small body, and silently presented the paper to the anticipating Ian and Mickey.

 

“An A+!” Ian half-shouted, before handing the paper to a stunned Mickey and getting on his feet so he could pick up Liam and spin him around.

 

“Well done Sweetface!” Ian cried out over Liam’s giggles, before stilling and giving him a quick kiss on the nose, causing Liam to scrunch his face up and beam.

 

“Thanks, my teacher said it’s my best yet” Liam bragged, clearly satisfied with himself.

 

“You hear that Mick? Says it’s his best yet” Ian boasts, bouncing Liam once before setting him back down.

 

He turned back to his husband, who was looking at the paper with the biggest look of pride Ian had ever seen. As if he could feel Ian’s eyes gazing down on him he snapped his head up, and announced “I think this deserves a spot on the fridge.”

 

“Fuck yes it does!” Ian agreed and turned back to Liam as Mickey hurried to the kitchen to hang it up, “I also think this deserves ice cream.”

 

“Fuck yeah!” Liam exclaimed, almost jumping into Ian’s arms for a tight hug. Ian squeezed back just as tight, ruffling his hair as he did.

 

When they parted Liam smirked and asked “do you guys really need to act like this every time I get a good grade? The fridge door is looking pretty full.”

 

“Well then we’ll get a bigger fridge,” Mickey said, coming back into the room and grabbing his keys from a bowl on the coffee table.

 

“And besides, I don’t see you complaining” Ian pointed out, pushing Liam gently towards the door. Liam wasn’t wrong, it was getting difficult to open the fridge door, but the happiness he felt seeing his baby brother’s achievements was just too much to give up for a little extra convenience.

 

“Yeah well, who would complain about ice cream?” Liam replied, half running towards the door he had just come through.

 

Ian felt a warm hand drop onto his shoulder, and he craned his neck slightly to look at Mickey, who just looked at him with that special look only Ian ever got to see and said “I get what you were saying, about being happy we ended up here, that Liam’s here too.”

 

Ian grinned so wide it hurt, and slid his arms around his husband’s neck, pulling him in for what was possibly the sweetest kiss of his life.

 

“Guys come on, you can make out later!” Liam called from the door, and now it was Ian’s turn to grumble at the interruption.

 

“Come on Sweetface,” Mickey said, kissing Ian’s nose in a sweet imitation of what Ian had done to Liam, “we’ve got ice cream to eat.”

[wherearemyglassesbro]

could you do those feral headcanon things for the face family? i feel like you've done something similar but not just headcanons. if you have and i just missed it, i apologize!

Sure thing pal!

Arthur:

Artie was naturally feral. When he popped out of the ground, he wandered aimlessly until his mother found him

“There you are” and she dragged him back to her camp where his brothers were

He didn’t know them so he bit them

His only socialization for awhile was his mom and brothers so he didn’t exactly get to meet humans right off the bat the way other nations did as kids!

He often had chipped teeth from biting rocks or bones. His mom thought it was cute

Arthur didn’t get along with the village kids cause he was...rabid and they were not. They had traditions and a langauge and stuff like that and Art (along with his brothers) didn’t understand it...aw

He grew up pretty wild too, his pirate years were definitely some of his craziest cause he got to pretty much do whatever without consequences

Sometimes he’d cut off a finger or toe of someone he fought and wear it on a necklace. It fucking REEKED and his crew would be like dude that’s nasty but he didn’t care

He also did a lot of drugs. As a treat. He often looks back on his actions and cringes but he had a lot of fun lmao

Alfred:

When Alfred first popped out of the ground the first thing he learned to do was run

He just...ran around, sprinting like a bat outta hell through the woods. Rocks and sticks stabbed into his feet and twigs slapped him him the face

And when he got hungry he tackled a squirrel and bit it oh god uhhhh

He popped up about 5 miles from a tribe of Natives who were like...scared of him at first. Cause when a bloody child emerges from the forest at 4am, that’s not exactly a good thing

They thought he was a monster or something but after they gave him some clothes and food, he settled down by the fire and calmed down a considerable amount so...they didn’t have the heart to kick him out

He got along great with everyone! He was naturally curious, always wandering between people to check out what they were doing. He helped with tasks here and there from skinning deer to braiding hair

They were surprised by how quick he picked up on things. After only two days of teaching, he could expertly braid hair. After living with them for a week, he could skin a deer the way they showed him

He knocked his teeth out a lot cause he’d fall out of trees or get kicked in the face by animals so he’d make beads out of his own teeth. Awesome :)

Francis:

Fran popped up in the woods so he has a very similar experience to Arthur where he tuned into his instincts, made animal sounds, hunted with his bare hands, that kind of stuff

His mother found him after awhile and took him to the village where she lived on the west coast, thats a key difference between him and Arthur: his early exposure to people

He became very social very early on though he was still a brat. He would fight other kids who were physically his age knowing damn well that he’d beat them I to the dirt

He spent his teenage years killing Arthur over and over again so he developed insane assassin skills. Swords, poison, darts, knives, he knows how to use it all literally because he and his bestie just wanted to keep killing eachother

When fighting humans he’d stab them in the neck and watch them bleed out while making fun of them ‘aww! Poor thing!’...bitch...wtf

He realizes that was messed up but he was a teen then so he didn’t really know better

He has always been tame in the drug field. He tends to shy away only because he was worried about his self image...but then he’d get obscenely drunk and run around paris at 3am...the duality of man

In the 80s though he was a mess. He’d do 6 lines of coke and show up to world meetings in a fur coat sweating profusely. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles babey

He’s fallen off the Eiffel Tower before. He also pushed Arthur off of it a year later

Matthew:

Mattie is a woods child but like Alfred, he was taken in kinda quick

Mattie is a brutal fighter, as I mentioned in an earlier post. He cuts off his opponents arms and legs and punts them away. He only did that to nation oponnents though

Matt is more subtle tbh

But he does have his moments. He’ll drink a bottle of whiskey and go outside and the next morning he’ll wake up with a new bench. He doesn’t remember making a bench. Or cutting down the tree to make the bench. But he made it.

He’s eaten nails, paper clips, magnets, bolts, lots of small metal things just to see what his body does to them cause even as a nation, he doesn’t know how his body works. Turns out he just has to painfully shit it out lmao

He has also fought a bear. Did he win? No. Did he enjoy it? Also no

He has wrangled a wild moose before and rode it. I wouldn’t reccomend it and neither would he.

Michelle:

Michelle is a younger nation when compared to the other guys so she doesn’t have the same ‘I lived in the woods for months’ background

But she did pop out of the sand one day in front of a bunch of people which was startling to say the least

She was still born with her ‘animal instincts’ where she wanted to bite off fish heads and roll in mud, which she did

Her people took her in very quick though and taught her their ways so she is more ‘domesticated’ but I don’t enjoy using that term for people...but that’s kinda how it was

[bigskydreaming]

Tarn the Uncaring and his Locus Vile remain creepy as fuck, but I can’t help but feel that this Hellions issue would be a lot more impactful if we had any clue whatsoever what Tarn and his ick squad’s powers actually are. Its the same gripe I have with the last Wolverine issue and that Arakki pirate guy......I feel like the writers are making all these new Arakki characters but aren’t bothering to figure out what they can even do beyond just make them look bad-ass or intimidating or whatever and just be vague as to their actual capabilities.

For the most part its not a big deal, but I do think sooner rather than later we do need an ACTUAL clue about what the hell Tarn and the rest of the Great Ring’s powers are, given that its been well established that the Arakki ONLY let omega level mutants sit on their ruling council, so like......I think they should have bothered figuring out what the Great Ring’s powersets are before introducing them at least, and I feel like a big reason for the vagueness is that so far....even the writers only have the vaguest idea about what most of them can do. I mean, the only ones we know for sure are Isca and Lactuna or whatever her name is....and we have a reasonable sense of what the fish dude’s powers are and they’re fairly epic....and Idyll’s powers obviously are precognition related, so....okay y’know what, I take it back. 

Of the Great Ring, the only ones we don’t really have a sense of are Tarn and the other random dude whose name I forget, and Tarn’s obviously have something to do with genetics/power manipulation.....but every time I see that giant caterpillar mutant, Xili or whatever his name is, I’m just like....okay we saw him in action but I still don’t get how his power works even a little bit.

Anyway, Hellions was an interesting issue, I enjoy seeing Sinister’s fuck-ups come back home to roost and all the Hellions finding out just how badly he screwed them on the Amenth mission, and I am intrigued by the mention of Chimera towards the end of the issue. I’m guessing all of this is building up to the reveal of Sinister’s first experiments in creating the triple-powered mutants we saw in Powers of X a hundred years in the future - and that series did mention that the first Chimera were ‘grown’ in the Vats of Mars, which is now Arakko, home of.....the people Sinister just admitted to stealing the DNA from to create these Chimera. So it all fits. 

What I’m curious about is how much of this is just leading up to the same events that already played out in Moira’s last failed lifetime, versus how much things are going differently this time around. Like, we’re finding out about the Chimera being created already, which would seem to suggest events so far aren’t playing out too differently from the last time around, given the references to them being made on Mars....BUT in Moira’s last lifetime in Powers of X, like, it was clearly referenced as MARS having been where the Chimera were first made.....while ever since the Hellfire Gala, the books have all been pushing really hard that the planet’s name is Arakko now. So what I’m wondering is if Moira’s last lifetime - where she was allied with Apocalypse for at least part of it as well - if Arakko and its mutants were ever successfully retrieved from Amenth....or if Mars was simply a Krakoan colony in that past lifetime, and the Chimera we saw a hundred years in its future were just the results of Sinister’s experiments with mutant/Krakoan DNA, with him never having had access to Arakki mutants or Tarn’s own experiments with mutation.

Because if the latter, then that would suggest that the key difference this time around, and the potential game changer for the future, is not actually Krakoa itself, but Arakko’s presence and the Krakoa/Arakko alliance, spread across two planets.

Hmmm. Must ponder more.

As for the new X-Men issue, it wasn’t bad but it was mostly meh. It felt like a lot of just action sequences with Duggan narrating how they all used their powers together to defeat the Annihilation Wave, and like....yawn? The mutant synergy idea is fine conceptually, but they are milking it WAY too hard, its like we get it, can you do something with the actual STORY rather than just being like look what happens when these two mutants use their powers at the same time? LOL. For what its worth, what story there IS in this issue is intriguing. I mean, the idea of Gameworld and its bets on the fate of Earth is pretty interesting, and Dr. Stasis is shaping up to be a dangerous threat, especially with him seeming to be on to the Krakoan resurrection capabilities (uh, not that they’ve been all that subtle about it, tbh), and allied with Orchis - thus them knowing about the great Krakoan resurrection engine as well, lmao. Like, they probably really should have put a bit more effort into keeping that under wraps awhile longer instead of just being like: 

"Oh Jumbo Carnation famously was murdered a few years ago with it all over the news and now we’re making a big deal about him designing all the outfits for our highly publicized Hellfire Gala, and you want to know how that could be possible, Mr. Reporter? Uh...look! A squirrel!”

Also, that plus the big fight between the Locus Vile and the Hellions on Krakoa after Ororo specifically WARNED Tarn that she was going to fuck his shit up if he tried to retaliate against Sinister - and that Isca and the rest of the Great Ring promised to back her on, lololol, its kinda funny that they all seem to hate Tarn as much as the rest of the Quiet Council all hate Sinister - anyway, all that has me wondering what the official policy on dead Arakki mutants is. I assume given that they’re mutants no fundamentally different from Krakoan mutants, that like, ever since they emerged from Otherworld, there’s no reason that Cerebro shouldn’t back up their consciousnesses as automatically as it does any other mutant’s....so is Krakoa sharing its resurrection technology with Arakko at all? Assuming of course that once they saw how Krakoans did it, they don’t have specific mutants of their own capable of matching the capabilities of the Five and doing the same for them. 

BUT then again, the idea of resurrection seems to fly pretty heavily in the face of Arakki culture, so I don’t imagine on the WHOLE they’re all that interested in it in the first place.....BUT BUT, that doesn’t mean that INDIVIDUAL Arakki mutants aren’t interested. And given that we know now that it was Solem who was pulling strings in Wolverine’s solo title and X-Force, and that he was behind stealing the Shi’ar logic diamonds, which are used in resurrection, and he seems to have aims towards stealing the Cerebro Sword from Mikhail in Russia......from what we do know of Solem, it would make perfect sense for him to be interested in resurrection, given how many of his own people want him dead (especially after how he fucked over War in X of Swords), and I can’t imagine Solem being all that interested in like, applying for Krakoan citizenship just for that perk if he felt he could finagle resurrection on his own terms instead.

Or that he thinks they’d even offer it to him at all at this point, given that Emma, a key figure on the Quiet Council, is personally gunning for him to get payback for what he did to Christian and the Marauder (yesssss, this is one Emma + Wolverine teamup I’m here for lololol). Course, I can’t help but think, you know who else would want payback for Christian, and who might be extremely helpful in going after a notoriously dangerous Arakki warrior with adamantium skin? Oh, idk, Christian’s boyfriend, the omega mutant capable of freezing anything so cold it can shatter with a touch....even vaunted adamantium. I’M JUST SAYING. We saw Bobby get his vengeful on after Kate was killed, and him applying that same energy towards going after someone as dangerous as Solem on Christian’s behalf, would be like....potentially the most interesting thing they’ve done with him in years.

Like, I know it won’t happen because it probably hasn’t even occurred to the writers, since most of them barely even acknowledge that Bobby and Christian are IN a relationship, but how fucking great would it be to have Solem smugly convinced that he’s a match for Logan only for him to be like “the useful thing about NOT being a loner loser like you and actually having friends and people who like me, is sometimes it pays to have a bigger gun than yourself on speed dial.” Cut to....Heeeeeere’s Bobby! You know, the dude who just singlehandedly gave your spiffy new homeplanet its ice caps. And whose boyfriend your pirate patsies tossed overboard and left for dead when stealing his ship.

Solem: Aww, fuck.