#yeah - my teenage years were quite lonely

[mindmelter]

Felix The Perfect Toy

Felix was the hottest jock in my school. Everyone knew who he was and everyone wanted to be his friend.

And I was no different; I was obsessed with his good-looking face, his fit athletic body, and his loud yet charismatic personality, and he had this casual, effortless way of carrying himself like he didn’t even realize how perfect he was.

But it’s not just the looks. Felix is different. While the other popular guys are absolute douchebags, Felix is kind, even to people like me. He could have anyone he wanted—everyone wants to be around him—but he never treats anyone like they’re beneath him. That’s what makes him even more attractive: he’s not just the best-looking guy in school, he’s actually good. It’s maddening how perfect he is.

I dreamed of having him all for myself, but I could barely approach him without having a full-blown panic attack. I knew someone like him would never pay attention to someone like me.

He was the captain of the school's swim team which gave him a fit athletic body to fantasize and drool all about.

Every time I watched him swimming, my mind would wander, fantasizing about licking the water on his body, tasting his hairy armpits, or finally seeing what he hides under those speedos. Unfortunately, that was all he was to me; a fantasy.

When my parents died when I was twelve, I moved in with my very wealthy grandfather. At first, he seemed like a frightening and enigmatic figure—an imposing man of few words, as people would say. But as the years passed, I gradually grew accustomed to his unique personality.

I never knew what he worked for, how he became so rich, or why he was always traveling, which consequently would leave the mansion all to myself. It was lonely, I will admit, I had no one else to share that beautiful mansion with.

One day we were having breakfast together. He was wearing a black robe, flipping through the newspaper with his usual silence, rarely acknowledging me. I sat across from him, stirring my coffee absentmindedly, my mind wandering back to Felix, as it often did.

"You seem distracted," my grandfather said without looking up.

I froze, unsure how to respond. I never talked about my feelings, especially not around him. He didn’t seem like the kind of person who cared about teenage crushes.

"Just... thinking about school," I muttered.

He lowered the paper slowly, folding it neatly before setting it aside. His cold gaze fixed on me, making me shift uncomfortably in my seat. “You’re not a very good liar, boy. What’s on your mind?"

“It’s… this guy,” I finally admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. I could feel my face heating up.

He already knew I was gay, so that wasn't a surprise to him.

“A guy?” he repeated, almost as if testing the word. "Go on."

"Yeah, a guy from school," I said, avoiding eye contact with him, “Felix. He’s... I don’t know, he’s just... perfect. And completely out of my league.”

My grandfather remained silent, his eyes never leaving mine. I couldn’t tell if he was judging me or just waiting for me to keep going.

“I mean,” I continued, unable to stop myself now that I’d started, “he’s popular, everyone loves him. He’s the captain of the swim team, and… well, I like him. A lot. But there’s no way he’d ever notice me. I’m... no one compared to him.”

For a long moment, my grandfather just watched me, his expression unreadable. Then, he gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.

“I see,” he said slowly. “So you have feelings for this... Felix. You wish you could have him?"

I nodded, feeling embarrassed for even admitting it. "Yeah. But like I said, he’s way out of my league.”

There was a strange look in my grandfather’s eyes, a glint of something I couldn’t quite place. He stood up from the table, smoothing his robe as he moved toward the door.

“Enjoy your breakfast,” he said cryptically before disappearing into the hallway.

I didn’t think much of it at the time. I thought maybe he was just being his usual mysterious self.

A week later, it was my 18th birthday, but it could as well be any other day since I had no one to spend my birthday with, not even my grandfather, as he was still traveling.

That day at school, I noticed Felix had missed all his classes. That was odd since he had swimming practice that day. I was sad because I was eager to watch him getting all wet in the pool that day; it would be my birthday gift.

Later that day I came back home from school. The house was eerily quiet, as it often was.

When I opened the door to my room, the sight stopped me dead in my tracks. There, in the middle of my room, was a large and long box. Confused, I approached it cautiously, there was a red present lace on top of the box, I pulled it off and slowly opened the box, and inside I saw... I let out a scream and fell to the floor.

My breath caught in my throat.

Felix?

He was motionless with his eyes open, while he was wearing a white tank top and black shorts. He looked perfect, too perfect—like a doll.

I backed away, my heart thudding in my chest. "W-what the hell...?"

This couldn't be Felix; it must be an identical replica of his body, I thought. There was only one way to find out. I slowly approached him and ran my hand on his face, and I felt his soft and warm skin. It was really him, but somehow... different. His eyes were empty, and his body was unnaturally stiff. I gently placed my hand on his chest and felt a heartbeat. It was very slow... actually, too slow for a person—one beat for every five seconds—but at least he had a heartbeat.

A low chuckle came from the doorway. I turned and saw my grandfather standing there with a grin on his face. He stepped inside the room, his cold eyes drifting between me and Felix.

"I see you’ve found your gift."

I swallowed hard, "What... what did you do to him?"

"Consider it your birthday present," he said, "I couldn't let my grandson put himself down over a dumb boy, now you have him."

I stared at him, speechless.

"You don’t have to be alone anymore. He will keep you company when I'm out traveling. He’s yours now, exactly how you wanted."

"But... he’s not... he’s not real, he can't be real!" I stammered.

My grandfather smiled. "Oh, he’s real. But let’s just say I’ve made some... modifications to his brain." He stepped closer, looking down at Felix with a clinical detachment. "You can do whatever you like with him. He won’t resist. He was programmed for obedience only. He sees himself now as a toy, and you as his ultimate owner. Isn’t that what you wanted?"

*Programmed for obedience?* The thought of it sent a shiver down my spine, but not in a bad way.

I glanced up at my grandfather, and for once, I didn’t feel like I had to hide my feelings. “You... did this for me?” My voice cracked. I could barely believe what I was seeing. Felix—*my* Felix—was lying right in front of me, his perfect body ready and waiting.

My grandfather nodded, his expression still cold, but there was something else in his eyes—satisfaction.

"Of course, the way you spoke about him, I know what it means to desire something so deeply, you feel powerless. So I decided to remove that powerlessness for you."

“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered, my eyes never leaving Felix’s perfectly still body inside the box, “I’ve... I’ve wanted this for so long, but I never thought...”

My grandfather chuckled, “No need for words, boy. Just enjoy your present, he’s been prepared for you.”

I stepped closer to the box, Felix's features were serene while he stared at nothing. He wasn’t just a fantasy anymore—he was real, and he was mine.

I reached out, my hand trembling as my fingertips brushed against his handsome face. Warm. Awake. And yet completely not.

“He won’t... fight me?” I asked, almost breathless.

“No,” my grandfather replied. “He’ll do exactly as you say. He’s been modified to please you, to follow your every command.”

I turned to my grandfather and smiled. “Thank you,” I said.

My grandfather gave a small nod. "I knew you'd understand. You're my blood, after all. Just remember to never let him out of the house. He's still missing as far as everyone knows. You're 18, so he's your responsibility now."

I looked down at Felix again, feeling a sense of ownership, of power, that I had never felt before. My fantasies were no longer just in my head—they were right here, ready to be made real.

As my grandfather turned to leave the room, he paused at the door, giving me one last glance over his shoulder. “Oh, and there's a manual in the box, enjoy your present."

Once he was out of my room, I locked the door for privacy. Then I picked Felix up from the box. His body was heavy, as expected, but after some hard effort, I managed to drag him to my bed.

Just for fun, I posed his right arm, making him flex.

He looked so serene, so peaceful like he was asleep. But his eyes, those beautiful eyes that I had dreamt about, stared into nothingness. They were the only indication that something was wrong—or right—with him.

I couldn't hold any more second and started to undress him, first taking off his white tank top, then I pulled down his shorts. I was surprised to see he was wearing his swimming speedos.

He probably was abducted after his swimming practice. His body was even more amazing from closer, and to think that for so long, I just watched him from afar...

The realization of having Felix lying on my bed made me start leaking.

I lifted both his arms into a flexing pose.

A smile crept onto my face as I buried my face into his armpits and took a deep sniff, but I was disappointed; he didn't smell like I was expecting to. I wanted to smell his sweaty, musky armpits, but instead, he smelled faintly like a factory or a lab.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I had to figure out how to make him more 'alive'; I needed him to produce the sweat I was so looking forward to sniffing and lick. I wanted him to act more like the real Felix.

That's when I remembered about the manual my grandfather talked about, the instructions were surprisingly detailed. It was like a manual for a very expensive, very human-like sex doll. But this wasn't a doll; this was Felix. After searching for a while, I found a section titled "Activation and Customization."

"To activate your toy, you must press a button installed in your toy's nape. This will initiate the awakening process," the instructions said. I quickly started searching Felix's stiff neck for the button, finally, my fingertips found a small, unnoticeable button hidden under his skin at the base of his neck.

I took a deep breath and pressed it. Nothing happened at first until his eyes fluttered and started to roll in circles as if it was imitating a loading icon.

Suddenly, Felix's body jerked to life. He looked around the room with a vacant expression, his pupils dilating as he took in his surroundings. I watched, frozen, as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"H-Hello, Felix," I managed to say, my voice quivering.

He stared at me, his gaze unflinching and his movements mechanical. "Hello, Master," he responded in a monotone voice. "I'm your toy, Felix. How may I serve you?"

"Ummm, can you... Can you act more like the old... umm, real Felix?"

I watched as his eyes started to swirl again; he then looked at me—the same look that I had seen countless times at school when he was about to tease someone or when he was flirting with the girls. "I'm sorry for acting weird, dude," he chuckled, his voice sounding so much more natural, he then smirked and looked around my room. "That's a nice room you have, did you win the lottery or something?" He joked.

"Well, kinda... ummm... but you are definitely my best prize so far," I said, It was funny how I was still nervous about talking with him, even though I knew he was my brainless toy now. "So, how do you feel?"

Felix rubbed his head and chuckled. "I feel fine, man. A little stiff, but I guess that's to be expected after being in a box all day." He looked down at his body, then looked at me with an eyebrow raised, "But, dude, what the fuck? Why am I in only my speedos?"

I blushed and stumbled over my words. "Well, you know, you don't have to wear clothes around me, you're my toy now."

Felix relaxed, "You're right, I don't have to wear clothes around you." With that, he stood up and pulled down his speedos, revealing his big soft cock. I gasped at the sight.

"W-what are you doing?" I stuttered, my eyes glued to his cock.

"You said I don't have to wear clothes around you, speedos are technically clothes, aren't they?" He said with a cheeky smile.

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

He walked over to me, his cock swinging gently with every step. He was so close that I could feel his warm breath on my face. "So, what do you want to do with me, dude? I'm your toy, and as a toy, I deserve to be played with."

"I-I would like you to do push-ups for me, p-please," I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

Felix nodded and dropped to the floor, his muscles rippling as he pushed himself up and down. I watched, mesmerized, as he performed the task with ease.

"Is this what you had in mind?" He asked, looking up at me with a smirk while still doing push-ups.

I nodded, my cock now rock hard in my pants. "Yes," I managed to say. "It's exactly how I fantasized for so long," I pulled my hard cock out and started jerking off to the sight of my crush, obeying my every command.

For so long I had jerked off to Felix's photos, and now here he was, in the flesh, doing push-ups in front of me. The reality was so much better than any of my fantasies. I couldn't believe this was really happening.

After almost one hour of nonstop push-ups, Felix's amazing body was glistening with sweat. The smell was starting to fill my room, it was heavenly! He looked up at me with a hint of exhaustion in his eyes, I kinda wanted to know how far he could keep doing pushups, but I didn't want to break my new toy.

"That's enough Felix, sit on that chair over there with your hands behind your head. I want to taste your sweaty armpits."

"Yes Master." Felix obeyed immediately, sitting down with his arms behind his head and looking up at me expectantly.

My cock bobbed as I walked to him and sat on his lap; I leaned down and took a deep breath, filling my nose with the musky scent of his armpits. I then slowly stuck my tongue out and licked the saltiness from his skin, savoring the taste of the most popular jock in my school. His body tensed, but he didn't move away.

"That's so disgusting dude, how can you get off by licking the dirty armpits of another dude?!" He exclaimed with a mix of shock and confusion, but he didn't resist.

I chuckled and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "It's not just any armpit, Felix. It's yours."

After spending the entire evening sniffing and licking every inch of Felix's sweaty body, I decided it was time to take things to the next level. "Alright, Felix," I said, getting off from him, "I want you to lift your legs and spread them, keep your hands behind your head."

Felix looked at me with a mix of curiosity and confusion, but he did as he was told, his body now programmed to obey his new owner.

"That's so humiliating," he murmured.

My heart was racing. This was it—the moment I had been dreaming of for so long. I looked down at him, his body now mine to explore and use as I wished. "Don't worry," I whispered, trying to reassure him, "you're going to enjoy this, I promise."

I leaned in between his legs and kissed him softly. His body tensed up, he clearly wasn't happy about kissing another guy, but he didn't pull away and just let me explore his mouth. Encouraged, I deepened the kiss, my tongue sliding into his mouth and exploring it as he lay there, unmoving. "That's fucking gross.... uuurrghh, I'm not gay," he mumbled against my lips.

"It doesn't matter if you are gay or straight, Felix," I whispered as I continued jerking him off, "You're my toy now."

He stared at me, his eyes wide with a mix of fear and anger. "What the fuck, man? I'm nobody's toy!" He breathed out, his voice cracking slightly.

The programming really did a good job at mimicking Felix's real straight personality. Ignoring his protests, I reached down and grabbed his cock, stroking it gently, but he wasn't getting hard, of course he wouldn't, I thought with a chuckle.

"Get hard for me," I commanded, watching his cock swell in my hand. "Does this feel good?"

Felix let out a moan, his body betraying his protests. "No, it...uurrghhh... it doesn't," he gritted out, his voice filled with need.

"Then let's try this," I aimed my cock against his tight ass, I felt his body tense up, but before he could react, I inserted the tip, feeling his muscles clench around me.

"What the fuck!" He shouted, trying to sit up, but I pushed him back down gently.

"Don't move," I whispered, "I want you to love this. Remember, you're not just my toy, you're my sex toy. Your purpose is to give me pleasure."

I watched Felix's eyes rolling in circular movement for a few seconds, then he suddenly looked at me with needy puppy eyes.

"Aawwwwwwghhh! This feels so fucking good! I love how you fill my ass, dude!" He moaned.

I grinned and pushed deeper inside him, feeling his tight straight ass envelop my shaft. I began to thrust in and out of him, setting a slow, deliberate rhythm. His moans grew louder and louder; the command for him to love it was really proving to be effective.

As I fucked him, I couldn't believe how perfect it felt. Soon I was fucking him real hard, my hips slapping hard against his ass, the sound echoing through my room. As I thrust inside him, I leaned in and buried my face in his armpits. I took deep sniffs as I heard Felix's moans grow louder and more desperate.

"You're mine Felix, forever!" I moaned against his armpits as I came inside him.

While I was still inside of him, I commanded him to cum, but just when he was in the middle of his orgasm, I pressed the button in his nape, and he froze mid-orgasm, his face now frozen with his eyes rolling back and tongue sticking out.

But I was surprised to see his cock was still shooting cum all over his abs, some even landed on his face and tongue. I guess the programming isn't able to stop an ongoing orgasm.

Pulling away, I looked down at him, lying on the chair with his body covered in sweat and cum leaking from his ass. His handsome face, was now distorted in a mindless dumb expression.

I decided to give him a bath, to clean off the sweat and cum that covered him, but also because he still had some of the "factory" smell on him.

I filled the tub with warm water and called him to get inside the bathtub. He was in his mindless, obedient state; that was his default mode. I wasn't in the mood to bathe a loud and rebellious toy.

His eyes were glazed over as I cleaned his body, it was so cute.

As I washed his pecs, I couldn't help but playfully pinch his nipples. I continued my exploration, moving down to his abs and then to his hard cock, which was still hard since I first commanded him to be.

"You're such a good toy," I praised, giving his shaft a gentle tug. "I've always loved you, Felix, yet you never noticed me," I whispered as I washed his hair with shampoo, "you were always surrounded by so many friends and busy with girls, why would you notice someone like me, right?" I said, washing his pecs and abs. He didn't respond since he was in default mode, but I wasn't expecting him to. "I'm so glad we have each other now. I promise we will have a lot of fun together."

When I was finished, I told him to step out of the bath and sit so I could dry him. As I was drying his muscles, an idea suddenly came to me. I pressed his nape and gave him a command...

After I was done with the command, he tilted his head and smiled at me.

"Why use a towel, Master? Use your tongue to dry my sexy body." He then pulled the towel from his lap, giving me full access to his throbbing shaft, "And I think you should start with my cock."

__________________________

I've been enjoying my new toy for months now.

Felix's disappearance is commented on to this day, no one knows what happened to him after he left the swimming practice. Somehow, the organization in which my grandfather worked managed to clear all the evidence of his disappearance from that night.

I was back home after a boring day at school, and like every day since I got Felix as my toy, I spent the day looking forward to coming back home to him.

As I walked into my room, I was greeted with the sight of Felix "sleeping" on a chair.

He always spends the day "Inactivated" when I am out. I walked to him and pressed his nape, activating him.

When he saw me he gave me a warm smile and stretched his arms, teasing me by showing his armpits.

"Welcome back Master, please come take your daily dose of your toy's armpits."

[alexsoenomel]

About Love(Dean Winchester x Reader drabble)

Summary: You and Dean have a conversation about life before falling asleep.

Warnings: None

Note: I saw this kind of dialogue in Neil Gaiman's American Gods and since I'm trying to get back to writing I decided to write just that, no descriptors, just dialogue.

"Dean, what was your dream before becoming a hunter?"

"I've never really thought of that, why?"

"I've been thinking about my dead dream and started wondering about yours."

"And what was it?"

"I was young and lost, so I had a couple of things in mind and that would also change from time to time. From a psychologist to librarian, but one thing always stayed and that was I wanted to write books."

"You never told me you like to write."

"Used to. And you never told me about your dream."

"I never had time to think about that. My old man gave me a riffle before I even realized I could have a dream."

"That's impossible everyone has a dream."

"Dreaming wasn't a thing in our household, I guess."

"What about love? Family? Something you wanted to do when you were a kid."

"I was too busy taking care of Sam to think about my own needs and wants. But I wanted a family at one point when I got older that's for sure."

"Like kids?"

"Yeah, I told you about Lisa and Ben. I've experienced what it would be like to have a normal life and I really liked it, but the job never leaves you."

"I know. When I was a teenager I used to write stories every single day after school and I was convinced I would grow up to be a writer slash something because doing one job for the rest of my life sounded so boring and yet here we are."

"What kind of stories did you write?"

"Romance, lots and lots of romance."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I was a lonely teenager obsessed with love and being in love. My parents used to tell me that I loved too much and guys I dated never appreciated that."

"That makes sense."

"How so? You appreciate the way I love and put the same amount of effort in this relationship."

"Yeah but it took time. I didn't really know what I was doing when we first got together. I knew your heart was made not to be broken, but I was still struggling not to hurt you. I knew underneath that badassery was someone gentle and kind."

"Hey, sue me but I still try."

"And I knew you needed time, especially since you're not really famous for communicating your feelings properly."

"Yeah, you do. You're the first person to NOT hurt me just because..."

"That's the last thing I wanna do and you know that."

"I do. You're also the first person that made me think about having kids with..."

"I know."

"I never told you I wanted kids."

"Last year when you thought you were pregnant I saw it on your face. You were so disappointed when you saw only one line."

"To be honest I was scared, but at the same time..."

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you still want it?"

"Yeah, I think about it all the time but hunting is not something you can just quit."

"I know. Maybe in another life we will find each other again, have boring jobs and a family."

"How many?"

"A boy and a girl."

"I don't think I'd be good at being a girl dad."

"Oh you'd be perfect. A little bit overprotective but she'd have you wrapped around her finger."

"Like her mom."

"And our son would admire you and would think his dad is a badass."

"I like the sound of that."

"Like I said, maybe in another life..."

"Also great music taste would run in the family if you don't count Sam."

"That's for sure."

[babysukiii]

fallingforyou (3)

// lottie matthew’s does not like you. you’re annoying, preppy, and way too nice. lottie doesn’t fail to show you time after time just how much she hates you. you finally get the message and steer clear of her, until senior year, when you both get paired up for a science project. //

warnings: asshole!lottie, sweet!reader, pining, mutual pining, oblivious!reader, hints of underage drinking, lowkey jealous lottie if you squint, lottie is an idiot

(this is part 3, you can read part 2 here, and part 1 here)

on this night and in this light (i think i’m falling)

“don’t you think we should be, i don’t know, actually working?” lottie questions sardonically, and you turn your head to scowl at her from where you’re laying on the rug in your room. a new episode of sabrina the teenage witch was playing and you were excitedly watching it. “shut up! sabrina is talking!” you hiss warningly, causing the yellowjackets sweeper to roll her eyes in annoyance, while you turn your gaze back to the tv. “why didn’t you tell me you were going to be doing this the whole time? i would’ve just gone home.” it’s a blatant lie, but you don’t know that, and lottie doesn’t want to tell you otherwise.

you scoff, “yeah, sure. after the way you acted when i cancelled yesterday? you’re stuck here now.” the comment is supposed to annoy lottie, but it doesn’t. it doesn’t annoy her at all, the thought of being stuck here with you. lottie blinks rapidly, trying to shove that thought so far away, she’ll never have to deal with it again. “you don’t like sabrina?” you ask, gesturing to the tv, and lottie shakes her head. “i don’t really watch tv.” she mutters her response, making you furrow your brows and laugh lightly. “seriously? aren’t your parents loaded? i thought you’d have a huge theater where you watch all your favorite shows and movies.” you tease her, causing her to glower in your direction.

“you thought wrong.” she retorts, but there’s something in her tone that you can’t quite place. you can sense the shift in demeanor, but you don’t press the subject. lottie is like an animal you’re trying to tame. she could snap at any moment for any reason. you know lottie is like this for a reason; you can’t help but wonder if maybe her mother is just as angry as her. or perhaps her father has a temper. “well, either way… it’s been kind of nice having you over.” you start cautiously, and lottie looks over at you; her tenebrous gaze meeting yours.

“i just mean, i get lonely sometimes even though i’m here with my siblings all the time. it’s nice to have someone to spend time with.” you ramble, and lottie’s eyes seem to soften in a way you’ve never seen before. “i like being here with you too.” lottie says before she can think twice, taking not only herself by surprise, but you as well. a faint blush creeps onto your face, and lottie takes in how pretty you are. before either of you can say anything else, your older sister barges through your bedroom door, causing you to jump.

lottie looks annoyed at the intrusion, and she sends a scowl the older girls way. elise stares at you for a moment, furrowing her brows as she notices how flushed your cheeks are. she can nearly feel the tension in the room. “mom said dinners ready. she served your friend a plate.” the eighteen year old comments, flashing you a knowing look. you nod, “okay! be there in a minute.” you aimlessly respond, trying to keep your eyes away from your sisters. you do everything to stop blushing but it doesn’t seem to work. elise reluctantly leaves without saying anything else, and lottie clears her throat.

“i feel bad your mom has been setting an extra plate for me. i didn’t even ask if it was okay…” lottie trails off, insecurity laced throughout her tone. you shake your head quickly in protest, “my mom likes you! she thinks your nice, and she doesn’t mind.” you assure her, “besides, my dad always works super late so he never eats with us. there’s always an extra seat.” you ramble a bit, and lottie feels a bunch of mini starbursts in her chest; going off rapidly one by one. she swallows thickly, “thanks.” she doesn’t know what else to say and internally cringes at her response. you get up, flashing her a little grin that causes her belly to flip in an uncomfortable way.

“come on, matthew’s, before my mom gets pissed.” you taunt, waiting for her to get up from her seat on your bed. she follows you out of your room, chuckling slightly, “i can’t imagine your mom angry. she’s so tiny.” lottie makes you giggle, “trust me, she can be terrifying. have you ever heard that shorter people are more likely be evil because they’re close to hell?” your retort sounds serious, which makes it even more hilarious, and lottie can’t help but burst out laughing. you giggle as well, and you don’t even realize elise and your mother are staring at you both with inscrutable looks.

you and lottie aimlessly take a seat beside each other, and lottie smiles at your mother. “thank you, mrs. l/n. this smells delicious.” she says politely, and your mom offers her a smile. “you’re welcome, sweetheart. it’s carne asada, beans, and rice, y/n’s favorite.” she admits, and elise snickers, “basics just like her.” the older girl chimes in, and sabrina giggles while you flush. lottie looks at you, and she can’t stop thinking about how pretty you look when you blush. surely she’s notice how pretty you were before, but she can’t remember ever thinking about it. elise is the only one who is aware of the way lottie is looking at you.

“so mom… maria invited me to a get together at her sorority house. can i go after dinner?” elise asks hopefully, and your mom gets this skeptical look on her face. “a get together? at a sorority house?” she questions uncertainly, obviously not buying it. “yeah! it’s just a few of the girls! please mom?” the oldest teen asks, putting on her best puppy eyes. lisa quirks a brow challengingly, “then you wouldn’t mind taking y/n with you?” she asks, smiling in a condescending way. she obviously seems to know elise will refuse to bring you along. your eyes widen at the same time elise’s do.

“me!?”

“her!?”

you both respond to your mother at the same time, and lisa nods simply. “if it’s a get together, then you should have no problem with taking your sister. besides, when was the last time you two did anything together?” the older woman asks, and a glower etches itself onto elise’s features. “why can’t i go too!?” sabrina asks, pouting and clearly upset. “because you’re failing english, and need to study.” lisa pointedly responds, and elise huffs. “fine. i’ll take her, but she’s gonna be complaining the whole time!”

your eyebrows nearly meet your hairline, and you protest quickly. “i don’t wanna go! it’s friday night, and the last thing i wanna do is spend it with elise and a bunch of her weird friends!” you flash your mom a pair of begging eyes, “please don’t make me go.” lottie commends your mother for having the willpower to go against those eyes because damn, she feels her resolve slipping and the peculiar need to step in and protect you kicks in. “i can go with you guys. just so you’re not stuck there alone.” lottie offers, and your head turns to gaze at her.

you blink a few times, clearly confused as to why lottie matthew’s would want to spend a friday night with you. “but didn’t you get invited to becky martin’s bonfire?” you inquire, and lottie shrugs, “i wasn’t gonna go to that anyways.” she lies, but you seem to believe her because you flash her a grateful expression, “i mean if you really wanna be stuck with elise’s friends all night, then sure.” you half joke, making your older sister scoff. “my friends aren’t that bad! i mean at least i have more than three, unlike you!” she hisses, and you roll your eyes.

“ever heard of quality over quantity?” you sardonically retort, making lottie chuckle. elise narrows her eyes at you, “you’re so lucky moms forcing me to bring you.” she mutters, as she continues eating.

after dinner you and lottie head back to your room, and you’re a bit quieter than usual. “you don’t have to go just for my expense, you know? i know you were planning on being at that bonfire tonight.” you say softly, and lottie tenses up as you call her out. there’s no malice or anger in your tone, but lottie frowns. “if i wanted to go to that bonfire i would. i’m hanging with you tonight.” she responds adamantly, and the way you smile washes all of her doubts away.

“okay then, i guess i’ll start getting ready. you already look pretty, but we can stop by your house if you want to change?” you suggest and lottie shrugs, trying to ignore the sensations inside of her that she gets when you call her pretty. “i’ll just go like this. i mean, it’s just a bunch of elise’s lame friends. they’re probably just gonna talk about books and stuff.” she jokes, and you giggle, making her stomach get all knotted up again. god, she really hates that feeling.

throughout the entire way to the sorority house, lottie can’t help but occasionally steal a few glances at you. you had decided to wear a pair of tight black flare jeans, and a cropped fur coat that apparently belongs to elise. lottie wasn’t used to seeing you outside of your usual school clothes. you’d mostly wear jeans and sweaters; hiding every part of yourself. though tonight lottie had a hard time keeping her eyes off you. as soon as elise pulls into the parking lot of the campus, you can hear loud music in the distance.

your confusion only seems to grow as the music gets louder, the closer to the sorority house you all get. finally, your steps begin to falter when you realize you’re approaching a house with a few drunk students outside. someone was laying on the grass, and another person was holding her friends hair while she threw up in a bush. “elise this is not a get together! this is a frat party!” you exclaim angrily, as a large guy drunkenly stumbles past you guys. elise actually looks guilty for a moment, but the expression is quickly replaced by an angry one. “that’s why i didn’t want you to come! god, mom treats me like i’m a fucking kid! i’m eighteen; i should be allowed to have some fun.” she snaps, and you sigh.

“you should’ve just been honest with me. or snuck out like a normal person your age! now i’m stuck here!” you begin to argue with the older girl, who huffs in response. “yeah, cause being at a college frat party is every seventeen year olds worst nightmare. seriously, y/n, when was the last time you were even invited to a party?” elise sardonically asks, and you frown. “i’ve been to parties!” you internally cringe at how stupid you sound, and even lottie knows you’re lying. she’s only ever seen you at one party before, and even then you had left early.

elise shakes her head in dismay, “i bet you wouldn’t even know what to do at a place like this.” she challenges, and lottie frowns when she sees the determination on your features. “well, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?” you provoke her back, suddenly thinking about those new shoes you’ve been wanting for a month. elise lights up, and lottie thinks it’s the first time she’s ever seen her look so excited as she talks to you. “fine. if you can get a guy or two to dance with you, and actually let loose… i’ll buy you anything you want from the mall. under a hundred and twenty bucks.” she says and you nod in agreement. “deal.” you confirm, holding your hand out for your sister to shake.

lottie gets a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach as the three of you walk into the sorority house. immediately lottie is alert and aware of how many people there are in here; how crowded and dim-lit the house is. losing you here would be easy, and it’d take lottie forever to find you. elise ditches you as soon as she sees her friends, and lottie hates that she’s thinking about what it’d be like if she didn’t come. you’d be stuck here, alone.

“at least they’re playing good music.” you comment, noticing an upbeat spanish song was playing. lottie’s cheeks turn a shade of crimson red as she flushes timidly. “i failed spanish class last year… i think i’m doing really bad in french too this year.” she reveals and you let out this tinkling laugh that causes her to stare at you. she takes in how you look under this lighting; your hair was clipped back in a half updo, but it was still curled in this carefree way that made lottie think you looked absolutely beautiful. she glances away, trying to think of anything but that.

“it’s okay, i suck at french. i only passed spanish class because it was my first language.” you tell her, and she smiles at the admission, “i don’t think i’ll ever be able to learn another language, it’s like my head just can’t grasp anything other than english. spanish is sexy though.” lottie blurts out, and you raises your eyebrows in a bit of amusement as her cheeks burn in humiliation. she has no idea why she just said that.

“here you go pretty ladies. you two look like you needed a drink.” a deep voice intervenes, as you look to see a tall frat boy handing you both cups. lottie speaks before you can even think about it, grabbing your hand, and grasping it firmly. her grip sends a jolt of electricity down your body, and you lose all train of thought as soon as she touches you. “we’re good, thanks though.” she says in that usual not-so-kind voice before pulling you away. “hey! i’m supposed to be getting guys like that to dance with me if i want to win the bet!” you argue, pouting as lottie begins to look for the drink station. she rolls her eyes, making a face of clear disdain at the fact that you’re actually going through with elise’s stupid challenge.

“you’re not seriously going to try and win that stupid bet, are you?” lottie gives you the third degree as she questions you, and you frown at her tone. you aren’t really sure why she sounds so upset. “well, yeah, i mean i want some new shoes and it’s an easy win. how hard can it be to get a few college dudes to dance with me?” you ask uncertainly, and lottie only seems more and more annoyed as you explain yourself. “these guys don’t just wanna dance with you, y/n. they’re all here looking to get laid.” she states, the contemptuousness in her voice causes something inside of your abdomen to tingle.

“obviously i’m not going to let them do that, matthew’s.” you respond as you both come to a stop at the drink station. lottie scoffs as she begins to make your drinks, refusing to answer you anymore. you frown, “you’re such an ass.” you mutter, only adding to her annoyance. she shoots daggers at you with her eyes, “me?? because i don’t want some gross college guy trying anything with you?” she sounds serious, and you can’t help but let your frustration wash away as you realize she’s just worried about you.

“if i didn’t know any better i’d think you’re actually starting to care about me.” you say carefully, as lottie hands you a cup of cranberry vodka. “yeah well, good thing you know better.” she murmurs, and before you can get another word out, an older guy approaches you both. “hey, i’m chris.” he introduces himself, flashing you a shy smile. “y/n.” you respond back, and lottie tries to hide the obvious distaste towards him while he eats you up with his eyes. “do you maybe wanna dance, y/n?” he asks hopefully and you’re about to say yes, when you remember lottie’s obvious indifference towards the bet.

“no, i’m okay. i’m here with someone else.” you simply respond, and the look of disappointment and humiliation etches itself onto his face. “oh, yeah. cool. i’m sorry. i’ll see you around then.” he quickly apologizes before rushing away in the opposite direction. lottie looks at you, visibly befuddled as to why you would turn him down. you shrug at her reaction, taking a sip of your drink, “i can always just blackmail elise into getting me the shoes. she’s not even supposed to be here, let alone have me here. moms gonna flip.” you laugh lightly and suddenly a sense of relief courses throughout the raven haired girl.

she isn’t sure why she was upset at the thought of you dancing with some other guy. the mere thought of some seedy dudes hands on you made her blood boil for reasons she didn’t understand.

it isn’t until lottie is laying in bed later that night; the image of your pretty smile and eyes are the only thing that she can see when she closes her eyes, that she realizes what this is. lottie matthew’s isn’t stupid; she’s aware of what’s happening… she just doesn’t want to admit it. because just last month lottie hated you; now she couldn’t get you out of her head. she was falling fast and she wasn’t sure if she could stop.

[frenchy-wino-jerkface]

So, I was a queer teenager about fifteen years ago. Fifteen years doesn't seem like much, but in TV History, fifteen years is not even BBC Sherlock times yet. So, in Queer TV History, it's basically like comparing modern times to the XVIIIth century : there was the beginning of an idea of equality and justice, but we were clearly not there yet.

The sort-of-gay pairings I saw on TV didn't end up together, or only in some niche content I couldn't get my hands on on national television - and that was where we watched shows at the time. Sometimes they were gay-coded, but what happened most of the time was : the queerest one of the pair ended up alone, living his best quirky-lonely life, while the most straight-passing found a spouse and a respectable straight marriage.

At the same time, I was falling in love with my very queer best friend. These were scary times, we were kids. When she ended up rejecting me and running off, not speaking to me again and going into straight relationships, I felt like I deserved it. That experience, plus the way I saw myself on television, shaped the way I saw my love life. Like I couldn't truly get one.

Now, shows have changed. Shows are queer, and watched by everyone. There isn't just one sort-of gay relationship on the screen, there are several in the same show! And they fall in love, and kiss, and break up, and get back together, and are shown being gentle and loving and couples! Actual couples. I still have to pinch myself sometimes. Before they get together, and despite the entire show screaming at me that it's gay, I still feel like I'm getting queerbaited. I brace myself, I wait for the unavoidable rejection and pain and loss. And yeah, sometimes it's dramatic. But it's always real now. They kiss. They love each other. There's no shame in that anymore.

Damn.

I wonder what it would have done to me and my best friend if we'd seen these shows fifteen years ago. How different I'd be today. I'm a bit sad that I didn't get that, that I was shaped so differently by contents that wanted to make me feel like I didn't quite belong, that I didn't quite deserve to be happy.

I'm sure excited for you younger lots, though. Have fun <3

[fushiguwu]

you look so lonely in here. getou suguru

CHAPTER 2 from the Summer Fever's serie!

warnings: this is just a silly short chapter to give context to the next one, nothing really happens. reader smokes weed, gojo's stupid ass being stupid, mimiko and nanako appears.

words: 1.1k

a/n: sorry bout the lazy dividers lol

MINORS DNI!

Actually, you don’t even remember getting home that night, waking up in your bed still dressed as yesterday and the makeup glued to your face and pillow. Suguru now looked like a blur in the dark— you really did drink too much. What did he look like again? You don’t remember quite well, unless for his tender voice echoing in your head randomly through the day. All the things he said to you, rounding your thoughts when you least expected, the whole time. As the week passed by, you kept yourself busy doing absolutely nothing at all by the pool, just enjoying the privilege of uselessly on summer break, and trying your very hard not to think about the charming mysterious man you accidentally met a few days before. 

And when you start to think it was all too good to be true, there’s Gojo appearing like some kind of haunting ghost in the seat right next to you, with his bright smile. Your eyes even ached behind the sunglasses.

“You look so lonely in here, you know?” 

“Is that so?” you weren’t bothered by the loneliness at all. 

“Yes! I don’t want you to spend your summer all alone by the pool, looking like a depressed teenager in an indie french movie…” Wow. That was specific. “So I’ve called out my friend who has daughters your age and he’s bringing them here today”. What the actual fuck?

“Gojo, I ain't no child, what the hell are you thinking? Just because we have the same age we’re becoming friends, like in middle school?” you were really pissed off. Who does he  think he is, some kind of supernanny? Oh, you seem to have no friends, take these twenty year old girls and be happy? 

“Hum, yes. Pretty much it. Good luck, there’s no coming back, they’re actually coming up right now”. Nice, you thought, as hurried up to your room to take a bath and look as presentable as you could. You didn’t quite enjoy visitors, but would do it for Gojo’s starving-for-stepdad-duties ass.

And they came: Mimiko and Nanako, his friend’s daughters. They looked kind of familiar, but you couldn't remember where you’ve met them before. You didn’t know what to do, to talk about, to act like. They must’ve come out of pity. Oh, poor girl, spent her last couple years out of the country and lost all her friends. Let's pay her a visit to make dad happy. Or something like that. The three of you were sitting by the pool, as Gojo hid himself behind the door to spy on you and make sure you’re making new friends. That’s when one of them, who you think is Nanako, finally breaks down the growing tension between the –four of you..

“Do you wanna smoke some weed?” She would whisper. Your eyes shined. Gojo couldn't know about it, so you looked behind to see him pretending to fix something in the door step. You were almost sure he didn’t hear what Nanako said, but your poker face was beyond obvious towards him.

“Yeah, but we gotta head to my room”

You expected a lot of things, but definitely not this. Are you complaining? Definitely not, too. So the two girls go up to your room with you, excluding the fourth intruder, who was left in the living room, looking proud of himself. Yes! You were making friends! With his friend’s daughters! What a victory for a stepdad. His duty was fulfilled. Cheers to Gojo, the best stepdad in town!

You don’t remember exactly what you guys were laughing about, but it was probably your third blunt hitting. 

“What do you mean your dad doesn't know you guys smoke? We’re gonna get into some real problems here if Satoru opens that door”. It just made Mimiko and Nanako laugh more.

“Hey, what are you guys laughing at? I’m serious!” You couldn’t help but laugh too, even though you were really talking seriously. 

Your room’s door was closed, but not locked. The three of you were sitting on your bed, just beside the opened window that gave a full view of the closed suburban neighborhood outside. The sky darkened in different shades of orange as the sun was setting in front of you. You didn’t expect it to come like this, though; to have such a good time with your stepdad friend’s daughters. Or perhaps it was just the drug effect. Either way, you felt good.

“He doesn’t know, but it doesn’t mean he prohibits us, too, u know? We’re not lying, just omitting.” says Mimiko. Mimiko, Nanako, these names didn’t seem strange, you knew it. Suddenly, a snap activates the memory in your brain. 

“Weren’t you at my moms wedding, two years ago? I mean, her wedding with Gojo.” They look at each other trying to remember, then their faces show the same snap you just did.

“Yes! Oh my god, yes! How could I forget?” Nanako starts “We were there! It was beautiful. Dad couldn’t go. He had, hum, work to do, I guess. Gojo-san got really upset, though.” 

“I see…” suddenly, there’s something weird in the atmosphere again. You weren't so sure if you wanted to know about his work. Or about him, at all. And when you were about to change topics, a huge car just stopped by your house and got all the attention in the room. It didn't take long for the car to honk loudly.

“Dang it, dad got here too soon” Mimiko seemed genuinely upset as she looked down the window, hiding the blunt away. Nanako sighed out. A loud horn is heard again. “We’re coming!” They scream for him out of the window. You get up and lend them a perfume to cover up the weed smell. You didn’t get to the door with them, as observed through your window the girls getting into the car. You see Gojo waving for his friend from the sidewalk, and Mimiko and Nanako waving for you from the car’s window. You wave back, as finish the blunt left behind. From the window you followed the car leaving, not once seeing Geto’s face

Nanako texted you late that night about Mimiko’s upcoming surprise birthday party this weekend. You did listen to Gojo talk about it the night you got to the bar with Nobara, you just didn't know who they were yet. And then, you thought of Suguru again, after a whole day of distractions. You bit your lip remembering his eyes on you, putting your hands in your throat and squeezing it, imagining it was his instead. Your mouth and feets start to tingle from the marijuana effect, a hot spread up your body and you wonder if maybe you should get some sleep before it gets out of hand.

[electricea]

SHIPPING INFO. Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

What’s your OTP for your muse(s)?

I try not to have any one OTP though I have repeatedly said and still stand by that ships with fellow Phantom Thieves do have the strongest groundwork for a romantic relationship since there's already that bond or trust. Like just going over the Phantom Thieves really quickly.

Akira/Ren/Joker - I think that Joker was probably his first true friend in a long time and someone who almost immediately proved himself to Ryuji as a good and stand up guy - I think he admires Joker a lot whilst also recognizing Joker carries a lot of weight on his shoulders and I personally see him as trying to bring some cheer, trying to ease some of Joker's burdens as best as he can.

Ann - They've got that middle school connection even if they weren't really close friends - throughout the game, they've got that playfully bickering dynamic which could easily be read as flirty if you wanted to see it that way. The two along with Joker and Morgana were the first of the Phantom Thieves and I just feel they especially have such a strong bond and a strong foundation for a relationship. I also just feel like they'd have a lot of fun being together.

Yusuke - I do love that one skit in Mementos where Ryuji offers to take him out for ramen and after their initial rocky introduction, I can genuinely see Ryuji being protective over Yusuke and wanting to bond with him, not wanting him to be lonely - I think their contrasting personalities and interests would make for a lot of fun.

Makoto - I've always felt he's quite in awe of her, she's student council president and carries so much shit, she's also a complete badass in combat - similarly to Joker I feel he'd want to ease her burdens and be there for her however he could.

Haru - Haru is someone who at her core is incredibly sweet, I just love the idea of these two gardening together and bonding and spending time together. Definitely among the more underrated ships in my opinion.

Akechi - They'd honestly make a fun enemies to lovers ship, it's fun to flesh out their dynamic much more through RP!

Kasumi/Sumire - They've got a bit of an athletics commonality and I feel like if they spent more time together, something could potentially develop, they could become closer.

I also think he's cute with Mishima and it's fun to talk about shipping him with P3 and P4 characters like Chie, Naoto or anyone else! I like to think I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to ships.

What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

Barring anything grievously problematic or inappropriate (like a relationship that's abusive in any way, shape or form or has an uncomfy age gap) I like to think that I'm pretty open minded - whether it's a pre-established ship, slow burn, even if it's more unconventional like friends with benefits situation. If someone wants to potentially ship their muse with Ryuji I'm absolutely open to hearing them out and hearing what they want to do as well as contributing some input of my own and I suppose maybe because I've had so many awesome partners who've never really tried to push or test my boundaries, I haven't thought of anything that would make me really uncomfortable, barring what I mentioned above - pretty much anything short of writing outright smut or porn. Just not comfortable doing that, especially if the muses in question are minors.

How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

I mean if you're looking to ship with a 16/17 year old Ryuji - a high schooler - and your muse is an adult, that'd be an instant no from me. I have of course done verses where he's a bit older and is a young adult and likewise, I'd never want to ship an adult Ryuji with a much younger muse. So yeah, absolutely no adult/minor relationships on here - it's either teenager/teenager or adult/adult.

Are you selective when shipping?

I mean if someone is interested in shipping but our muses have never interacted I do at least ask for some interactions to gauge the chemistry first but I don't consider it being selective or testing them, we're just checking the chemistry, you know? Wouldn't want to write a ship where they feel more like siblings than they do like lovers.

Also having a relationship with the other mun does help but it's not a necessity - so long as we're both comfortable and willing to respect each others' boundaries, that's all you can really ask for - I will tell them if I feel uncomfortable with a certain aspect of the ship or ever wish to drop them and I expect them to do the same for me. Transparency on both sides.

How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

Any removal of clothes.

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

I'm really lucky to be able to ship him with so many muses and I think it'd be unfair to single a select few out when there's so many amazing ships so I'll just say that I'm endlessly grateful for each and every one of my ships and those who write them with me - it's impossible for me to highlight or rank or single out any one of them because they're all each wonderful and cherished in their own right.

Does one have to ask to ship with you?

I mean, I'm pretty dense so it does certainly help - I try not to assume anything - like if for example, we have a really flirty thread my mind doesn't immediately go to 'well looks like we're shipping them' because there are some instances where it could be just that - just innocent flirting and nothing more, yeah? If I don't 100% know where another mun stands regarding shipping our muses, I either ask them outright or I play it safe and send them platonic stuff instead. Nobody wants to be that person forcing a ship.

How often do you like to ship?

As often as I can!

Are you multiship?

That's right - each ship is treated as its own individual relationship - so there's no shenanigans, no cheating, no nothing. I respect blogs who can go single ship and I think that's wonderful for them and for their partners but it's just for me.

Are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

Is there like a middle ground here? Like I love gushing about ships and all but I dunno if I want to label myself 'ship obsessed' - I enjoy plotting and sharing headcanons and talking about how cute they are but it's not like ships are all I think about either.

What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

I don't like to single out favourites but I've been reblogging quite a bit of PegoRyu fanart lately so it seems they occupy my heart, for now.

Finally, how does one ship with you?

Like my permanent shipping call, if I reblog one of those memes with like the list of emojis for all the possible relationships send me an outright shippy one, come into my DM's or ask me on Discord. Just be forthright with me. As I said before, I'm pretty dense.

Tagged by: @more-than-a-princess (Stole it!) Tagging: Steal it!

[sirianasims]

Chapter 26

Love Me Anyway

“Welcome back, Eric, doctor Holland is ready to see you.”

“Thank you, mr. Holland.”

“Hello, Eric. How have you been doing since last time? You’re still staying sober?”

“Yeah. I think I’m doing pretty well, actually. I mean, it’s still rough sometimes, but I mostly struggle when I’m alone for too long. And my neighbours check up on me regularly and invite me over for dinner, and my parents call me at least twice a week.”

“That’s good. And the antidepressants seem to be working too – do you want to try lowering the dose a little?”

“I don’t know… actually, no. It doesn’t feel… safe. Not yet. I really don’t want to relapse.”

“Understandable. We won’t touch them yet, then. How’s your daughter?”

“Oh, Freya’s great! She’s doing well in school, she plays football and basketball and wants to go back to Mt. Komorebi so she can snowboard again. But the best thing is, I just finished renovating the house – and she got a new bedroom!”

“Her mother and I finally agreed that I’m doing well enough that she’s comfortable with Freya living with me every other weekend.”

“That’s wonderful news, Eric! I’m happy for you. You deserve it, you’ve worked very hard in the last year. What about your job then?”

“Well, I’m still running the clinic alone, and it’s hard, but it also means I’m too exhausted to lie awake for too long at night, so I guess that’s positive. I’m still debating whether to hire a nurse or a vet. But I promise that it will be a man either way.”

“Good. I don’t usually approve of hiring someone based on gender, but I don’t think it’s wise for you to be working too closely with women just yet. You still have some work to do.”

“I know. It gets lonely, though. I mean, I haven’t… been intimate with anyone for almost a year now. Not since the vacation to Mt. Komorebi.”

“I know. And I’m no stranger to mixing love and work – after all, my husband is my receptionist. But until you’ve dealt with your tendency to use sex as a distraction, I think it’s better this way. Have you given some thought to what we talked about last time, about figuring out what you really want?”

“I’m trying. It’s just… I thought I already knew, right? I had everything planned out since I was a teenager, so there was never any doubt or insecurity to deal with. And then I met Katherine and suddenly my carefully planned future looked completely impossible. I felt lost.”

“You were still able to graduate and start a vet clinic, though. That was part of your plan, right?”

“Yes, but it just didn’t… quite live up to my expectations, I guess? My plans hadn’t involved Freya or her mother at all, so everything felt wrong. And I couldn’t even bond with my daughter at first, it was horrible. I didn’t know how to deal with it, I just tried to escape it all like a coward.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Eric. You were only 23, you had a lot to deal with, and postpartum depression in men is woefully under-diagnosed, I’m afraid. But now that you’re doing better, what are your long-term goals? What do you want out of life? What about finding love?”

“Love?”

“Yes, love! I’m not going to force you to be celibate forever, Eric. So what do you want? Do you want to fall in love? Do you want to get married? Have more children?”

“I… yes? I think I do. I’ve just tried not to think about it, not since – I had an ex once, we really had something special but we broke up when we went to different universities. Then one day she came into my clinic, and I remembered how I always wanted to find true love and get married and all that. But I’d just had Freya at the time, and… things turned out differently.”

“Eric, listen. You’re what, 31 now? Take it from me, I’m twice your age, and your life is far from over. You have plenty of time to fall in love again, get married, have as many children as you want.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Well, that’s all for today, Eric. Keep working on your goals. I’ll see you in two weeks, and remember – no women, no booze.”

“No women, no booze. Thanks, doctor Holland.”

“Same time in two weeks, Eric?”

“That’d be great, mr. Holland. Thank you.”

I left feeling strange. I often felt relieved or exhausted after a therapy session, but this time I felt… excited? Scared? Maybe a bit of both. I hadn’t allowed myself to even consider getting into a relationship for a long time.

Was I even able to fall in love? I loved my parents and my daughter, but I couldn’t even imagine romantic love any longer.

beginning / previous / next

[b4mpyre-k1zz3s]

Hail, Asmodeus!

Y/N, a chronicly lonely woman, resorts to some…drastic measures to supplement her nonexistent love life.

Incubus!Bam Margera X Fem!Reader

(Fluff)

1.9k Words

Warnings: Extremely suggestive content, mention of creepy guys, demonic rituals, stalking, animal death mention, wet dreams, predator/prey dynamic

An: Thank you so much for your requests!! This fic was heavily inspired by this post by @haggarrd and this SPECTACULAR piece of fan art by @the-commonrose which was living in my head for an actual year before I wrote this XD I listened to October Rust on loop while writing this and I think you can tell ;) Anyways, thank you for sending in requests and please, please keep them coming! My inbox is dryer than the desert rn

It was a stupid idea, but you were getting desperate. You were a grown ass woman, and you had never been in a serious relationship. Working from home, you never really got out much and spent a majority of your free time playing video games alone like some antisocial teenager. Even in high school, you never quite developed those oh so important social skills everyone else seemed to have. You yearned for friendship, sure, but you wanted more than that. If not a relationship, as embarrassing as this sounds, all you really needed was affection- something those filthy romance novels you stuck your nose in every night just couldn’t give you. So yeah, maybe you were a little pathetic.

But after trying to meet guys on the internet turned out to be a bust because you ran into one too many creepy dudes, you decided to swear that off, and given the fact you couldn’t talk to men, dating the traditional face-to-face way was out of the question. So one weekend, when you would otherwise be rotting in your bed, laying with your computer on your chest like an otter, you decided to do a little research. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and your solution came to you from, of all places, a seedy Internet forum on the occult. it’s not like you really believed in any of that pentagram of salt, light five black candles crap, but hell, you didn’t have anything to lose.

So, that Friday night, a time for well adjusted adults to go out drinking, party, and screw, you were trying to summon a demon. Yeah, real picture of maturity here. It was an incubus, the website specified- which you only just then learned wasn’t only the name of a band but also apparently some kind of male sex demon, which was close enough to what you were looking for. You went about setting everything up, with all the candles and saying nonsense in Latin, but even after you smudged enough herbs to make your apartment smell like an Italian restaurant, nothing happened. You really should’ve known better than to trust some whackjob on the internet you thought, deciding to go to bed to avoid the gnawing pit in your stomach. Burying yourself in your sheets with a sigh, you tried not to make yourself sick with self pity.

The way your room was set up, there was this window you could almost see out of from your place on the bed, but not quite. For some odd reason, that’s where your eyes were drawn as you sleeplessly stared up at the ceiling with that whole seance thing from a week ago completely gone from your mind. The days were really starting to blend together- wake up, start work, finish work, microwave dinner, sleep. But you tried to keep positive: life isn’t that bad alone, you thought- there’s a lot worse things you could be. But as you started going through the list and you got right in between ‘dead’ and ‘in high school again’, you were suddenly shaken from your thoughts by this stomach churning noise from the darkness- this slow, drawn out scratching at your window. Even though all signs would point to it being some raccoon or mouse, the eerie chill it sent down your spine made your mind immediately go into survival mode. Jolting to your feet, you fell out of bed and scrambled to double check your windows were locked and that there wasn't some home intruder trying to break in and burgle your PlayStation or something. But sure enough, the windows were firmly locked and whatever it was was long gone. Fuck. You were going off the deep end.

After that night , you started getting a little paranoid. Maybe it was the lack of sleep getting to you, but these odd things started happening out of nowhere. The next morning, after that whole scratching incident, when you were brushing your teeth in the bathroom of your shithole apartment, you dipped your head down in the sink and you could’ve sworn you saw something- someone, standing behind you. But by the time you whipped your head up, the only figure looking back at you in the cracked mirror was yourself. Even in public, there always seemed to be something sitting barely out of your line of sight, watching you.

Or these odd physical sensations that came over you at seemingly random times. For example, at night, when you were laying in bed, cozying up with one of those aforementioned filthy novels- because that's what you do when you don’t have a boyfriend. In the silence, the only sound in the room was the periodic flipping of pages until the AC kicked on, which you used to quickly write off the sudden ‘hairs standing up on the back of your neck’ sensation. What you couldn’t explain away as easily was this heavy feeling you felt pushingpushing your bodyyour body down, as if someone had their hand on your shoulder, looking over and studying your every move. But the second you slammed the cover shut and whipped your head around, it was gone. This wasn't a one time thing either- this was routine, always when you were relaxing or busy with something benign. Take, for example, doing dishes. Standing there, elbow deep in murky dishwater, you would start to feel this…warmth surround you- always from behind, and sort of creeping around the rest of your body. And you could feel right behind your ear, these vibrations against your skin, as if there was something there lurking, growling like a starved animal.

Speaking of animals, it should be mentioned here that you never had great luck with living things, and this fact was becoming really apparent as of recently. I mean, you had no problems keeping your plants alive before this, but out of nowhere they all started simultaneously wilting, then browning…then rotting. You tried everything they said to do online, but no amount of sunlight or ph balanced water seemed to reviveto reviSoSo, without too much modumping, you decided to go outside to dump their flakey corpses in your building’s dumpster and oh. It was difficult to see with your arms full of plant pots, but you were almost sure that the thing lying on your doorstep was a dead rabbit. Now you don’t usually get nauseous around blood, but that’s human blood- dead animals are another thing. And as you stared down at the mess of red gristle and white fur in front of you, you could’ve sworn you heard someone whisper in your ear.

Bam really thought he’d get you with that one. It’s a similar concept to how the best beef comes from those cows that get massages and drink beer all day- human souls tasted best with fear, He was quietly watching you from the darkness, brushing against you with feather light touches, whispering gently in your ear, but it was seemingly impossible to figure out how to could get to your head. He was trying every trick in the book, and this woman was still oblivious! Maybe if she had a little more sense in her, she’d recognize that something was a little off after that third consecutive wet dream he gave her, but noooo! She was surprisingly accepting of all of this. In fact, if Bam knew any better, he could’ve sworn you were enjoying this. To say he was frustrated would be an understatement. This lonely pervert of a woman was either very resilient or just plain desperate, and was airing towards the latter.

It was those dreams he gave you that had the biggest effect on you. See, most humans break down- tenderize, if you will, pretty quickly at this sort of thing, but you were a tough nut to crack. But Bam kept his cool- he knew how to get creative in times like these, so he decided that not only would he be weaving these lusty thoughts into your head while you were none this wiser, at the same time, he’d be standing right by your bedside, tracing his fingers over your sleeping form. Nothing too serious, just gently slipping the linens off of your shoulder with a drag of a single clawed finger here, slowly caressing your cheek there. The touch of any demon is incredibly powerful, especially that of an Incubus. But even when you woke up with little red claw marks etched into the skin of your hips, you flat out didn’t care. In fact, you seemed to be going to bed sooner and sooner, in hopes you’d seen that mysterious figure that had you so transfixed.

So, he had to take things into his own hands.

At your window, which you had since stopped locking, Bam peered in with keen eyes, watching you as you laid there, peacefully bathed in the glow of the night. The only motion in the room was the soft rise and fall of your chest with your breath. Like a wild animal stalking its prey, he took this as his cue, silently pushing open the windows with little effort and inviting himself in. But you weren’t asleep. From under half lidded eyes, you finally got the chance to take in the visage of this bewitching stranger that had been haunting your every waking moment. Standing bare at the foot of your bed, stepping out from the cover of shadow and into the light, Bam revealed himself.

Beautiful, dark filigree stood out against his pale skin, one design spanning his Adonis’ belt and the other winding up his side. Razor sharp, catlike claws glinted in the light and, framed that way, he looked so powerful. With that toned, muscular body, you could have mistaken him for a man if it weren’t for the mouth full of fangs he was sporting, almost salivating over your body. The mattress dipped a little under his weight and the set of strong wings that sat on his back settled down against him as Bam practically slithered closer, pausing on top of you to rake a hand through the dark curls that hung in his face, revealing a pair of piercing, clouded over eyes- the eyes of a predator. But even though every feature of his was purely demonic, once you got a look at his face, you realized that he was strikingly beautiful.

It was either the slight flutter of your eyelids or the way Bam could feel your heartbeat speed up against his chest that tipped him off that you were awake. Oh, this was getting better and better. He could practically smell the fear seeping from this woman’s pores as he buried his face in your neck, anticipation hanging dense in the air between your bodies. And Bam sat there for a second, jaws wide but not quite clamping down on your throat, giving you just enough room to panic and wriggle or squirm before he finally got to that delicious prize he was so eagerly waiting for- because he liked to play with his food. Quivering with desire, you couldn’t be happier, because those same dreams you had night after night were happening for real: in your room, to you.

[bwobgames]

Previous First

They reach the second floor

It's still as unsettling as ever

The clock ticks

"It's past 9, but the clock didn't chime. Is it broken?"

"Maybe it's for the best. It was really loud"

They see a girl get out of one of the rooms carrying various blankets.

"Hey! If that's for the blanket fort, then put them back. It's been canceled!"

"... Who are you"

"Ah, the scary judgmental stare of a teenager who's cooler than you, it should be considered a war tactic"

"I'm Detective Beebo, and this is my partner Detective Ángel, we would like to ask you some questions"

She looks at Ángel weirdly

"Are you-"

"I am sorry for interrupting, but please do not ask if we are cops. We are not cops. We are private detectives, and we do not associate with the police department "

"Yeah! We don't care about the law!"

"That is not what I said, and I'd like that misinformation to not be repeated anywhere else"

"Hehe"

"I see you opening twitter. Put that down"

"Fine, but I'll keep the hat for longer"

"Wha- you're not even wearing it! Give it back!"

"It's the price to pay for my silence"

"Are you guys done?"

"Ah! Yes, ahem, we wanted to ask you about your father, Mr. Coli"

"Do you happen to know anything about him? What might make him want to commit multiple crimes?"

"... Why are you asking?"

"Me?"

"Not you, you are Oliver Beebo, right?"

"Uh, I am. Have we met before?"

She ignores that and turns to Ángel

"Aren't you the guy who bought the comp-"

"YES! I BUY MANY THINGS HAHA, JUST A HOBBY FROM DETECTIVE WORK! HAH."

"But that doesn't really matter right now, yeah? This has nothing to do with that, so we don't have to talk about it"

"Wha- have THEY met before?

Did they have a fight over a last product on a supermarket or what"

"... I'll only talk to Beebo"

"What?"

"I have something to ask you"

"Wait, no! We asked first!"

"Please don't tell me Ángel has some sort of rivalry with a 17 year old girl"

"So? Are you really in a position to ask for anything, 'detective' Ángel?"

"Never mind, you are right, ladies first"

"Uh, so, you'll tell me? About your father?"

"Yes. In private"

Ángel does not look happy. He and the teen are exchanging nasty looks

"He has a rivalry with a 17 year old. Ah man, I already decided to keep him, so better get used to it, I guess"

"I guess we'll separate for a bit"

"Ah, yeah, it's fine"

"Um, were will you two be?"

"Well, she needs to out those blankets back, so, a room?"

"That's fine, don't try hearing from behind the door, you"

"Wh- I would never!"

"I'll just stay by the stairs.

That way, if anything happens, here or on the first floor, I can quickly check it out!"

"I'd prefer if you weren't alone"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, and I can just call Vivi if I get lonely"

"... Alright, but be safe, okay? Don't you dare not be safe"

He looks a bit sad at that

"I will. Now go get that info from Miss moody teen over there"

"Die"

"Bye-bye to you too"

Oliver and Nadia enter one of the rooms, and there's not much difference between them, just window placement

She puts the blankets down

"So"

"You know me?"

"Yes, I've looked you up online"

"Oh, do you want to hire me?"

"Not quite, I need to know something from you"

"So do I, I've been told you know more about your father than others"

She gets quiet

"We can both get what we want"

"You're right"

"Then, let me ask you, Mr. Detective

Have you ever heard about

House anatomy"

[justnerdy15]

Misermie Mall (Flash Fiction Friday/daily snippet 8.25.23)

wip: original fiction wc: 1005 prompt: @flashfictionfridayofficial Mall at Night

The mall in Misermie, Tennessee finally shuttered its doors in 2007, leaving its massive buildings derelict and abandoned in the town’s crumbling downtown district.

It served no purpose — considered useless even by graffitiing teenagers and lone squatters who left the building untouched and alone — than to be the biggest eyesore that the residents of Misermie ever seen.

Yet, the city council had spent the past sixteen years striking down any attempt to get the mall demolished. At the beginning there were promises of new businesses, of a so-called economic revival for the destitute local economy, but those were quickly proven empty when a year passed, then two, then four with no sign of improvement. By the fifth year the Coming Soon banner, tattered and dirty, disappeared from sight after its cords snapped during a thunderstorm.

And that’s about the most exciting thing that’s happened to damn thing since.

People don’t even talk about it anymore. Maybe mumble a “Oh, that old thing” or even a “You mean those buildings downtown” when a kid tries to bring up the fact that nearly 4 blocks of downtown is obscured by the industrial corpse of the mall.

And god forbid you try to bring up the smell.

“Dude, my mom acts like I’m crazy when I bring it up,” Sam complains as she vaults herself over the fence. Her sneakered feet hit the asphalt with a smack and she winces at the sharp pain that zips up her legs. “Like, how can you not smell it?”

She turns to watch as Henry clambers his way over the top of the fence, the dim streetlights illuminating the dull metal, making sure he doesn’t snag himself on anything on the way.

“Yeah,” he breathes out as he swings a leg over, “My parents are the same way. It’s pretty weird.”

He decides to drop the rest of the way down and nearly topples over because of it.

“Jesus, Henry,” Sam says as she reaches out to steady him. “We haven’t even made it inside yet.”

He makes a face at her and wipes his hands on his pants. “I’m fine,” he grumbles, adjust the backpack on his shoulders, “Is Violet here or what?”

Sam pulls out her phone, studiously ignoring the texts from her parents, and checks her conversation with Violet. “Uh, she’s already at the back entrance. She said to keep the lights off until we’re around the back.”

“Of course she did.”

She kicks him with her foot. “C’mon, don’t be such a baby. Let’s go.”

As they walk through the parking lot, cracked and weedy, Sam looks over her shoulder every once and while, making sure they’re still in the clear.

“Hey, did you hear about that news reporter?” Henry asks a couple of minutes later, knocking his shoulder into hers. “The one from ETNN?”

Jeremiah Meadows. Knoxville native. Graduate from Northwestern. Missing five days and counting.

“A little bit. Not much though,” Sam says, glancing over at Henry. “What about it?”

“My sister’s weirded out about it. You know, she works for the city — the mayor’s office? They were bitching about the guy visiting for days. Like, downright being nasty.”

“Buncha old hags. Not your sister,” she added quickly, giving a brief grin, “but I’d say that seems pretty par the course.”

“Yeah, but then the guy goes missing! That’s pretty fucking weird.” His nose scrunches up. “Ugh, god, it’s getting worse.”

It’s hard to describe the smell. Like floral rot and mold and rust. A kind of, like, raw meat smell? It ebbs and flows, but never quite disappears and it feels like it invades every part of town no matter how far you are actually from the mall.

How her parents have no idea what she’s talking about is beyond her.

Sam smothers a gag, reaching up to cover her nose with her sleeve-covered hand, and shakes her head. So gross.

They turn the corner, finally reaching the back portion of the buildings, when she barely spots Violet a couple of yards away.

“Well, there’s Vi,” she says, muffled through the cotton fabric.

“Hey, Vi!” Henry calls out, waving.

Amateur.

Sam kicks him again.

“Shut up,” she says, muffled, wacking him on the shoulder. “We’re trying not to get caught. Remember?”

“Oh my god, it’s not like anyone else is here but us, Sam, lighten up.”

“Hey Henry!” Violet replies just as cheerfully and as loud. Henry gestures towards her. See.

Whatever.

Violet greets them with a wide smile, scooping her bag up from the ground, and jerks her head towards the boarded up doors. “Welcome, welcome,” she chirps, bouncing on her toes. “You nerds ready for an adventure?”

“Sure, if we can even get in.”

Sam rolls her eyes. “We’ll get in. Where’s the loose panel at?”

“Over here.” Violet walks to the closest door and nudges a wooden panel with her foot. “I thought about kicking it in, but you said you had it covered.”

“Yeah. Fair warning,” she says as she rummages through her bag, “This is going to take a minute.” There it is. Sam pulls out a hammer and goes to kneel by the panel.

She grips the hammer tightly and pounds the head against the panel. It takes a few hits before she can feel the wood give a little and she starts to move around the perimeter.

She nearly has the panel loose when a wave of the smell hits her. Recoiling from the door, she blinks away stinging tears. Shallow breaths, Sam.

They’re getting into the damn building.

“Do you want some help?” Henry asks, tapping her on the shoulder.

She shakes her head and stands. “Nah. I’m good.” And kicks the panel in.

Violet claps her hands. “Well, welcome one and all to the Misermie Mall!” She takes a step back. “Henry, you first.”

[ladydorian05]

A Home for Broken Hearts ~ Chapter 6

Co-written with and headder by @made-ofmemories

So... I took an involuntarly break, by this I mean that I just couldn't bring myself to proof read for the tenth time and actually post the chapter until today.

Anyways, sorry for the wait.

Masterpost

AO3

Chapter 6: In shades of grey with specks of light

“We should get back to work,” Eddie lets out a child-like whine at Steve’s suggestion. 

They’re lounging on the couch they bought at the antique store the previous weekend. Steve is sitting with his legs sprawled, if Robin were here she’d no doubt chastise him for ‘man-spreading’. Eddie, on the other hand, is pressed into the corner with both of his legs draped over one of Steve’s thighs. Steve’s hand rests on Eddie’s leg, his thumb absentmindedly tracing patterns against the bare skin of his knee. He’s starting to wonder if Eddie owns a single pair of pants without holes in them, if he does he’s sure he’s never seen them.

“We’ve been working all morning,” Eddie complains, “Plus, my bar means my rules and I say we deserve a longer break.”

Eddie lets his head roll to the side, resting against his shoulder as he looks away from his phone and over to Steve with a pout and honestly, how is he ever meant to argue when Eddie is looking at him like that?

“Alright, fine you win,” Steve says, not putting up much of a fight and settling into his seat. He didn’t really want to move anyway.

The place was starting to come together, it was almost unrecognizable from the construction site Steve had walked in on that first night Eddie had brought him here. Most of the heavy construction work is done, Eddie is hoping they can get whatever is left done without the need for contractors so the place has been quieter than usual for the past few days. Currently it’s just Eddie and Steve, Chrissy and Robin having announced they were going to grab some coffee a few minutes ago.

“Hey look.” Eddie turns his phone towards Steve, dragging him from his thoughts. It’s an instagram page, the instagram page for the ‘broken hearts gallery’ to be precise, “10,000 followers.”

“Holy shit.” 

“Yeah holy shit,” He has his nose buried in his phone again as he resumes scrolling, “And to think it all started with a scrunchie.”

“She texted me, you know.” That grabs Eddie’s attention, phone locked and dropped onto his chest as his focus shifts to Steve, “Heidi, I mean,” He clarifies.

“What did she want?”

“She broke up with Mr. McDreamy, again.” 

“Oh.” Eddie’s face drops and a conflicted expression takes over his features, as if he’s trying to appear unbothered but can’t quite hide the disappointment.

“I blocked her number.” Eddie’s features relax again, “The way she spoke to me that day in the bookstore… it kind of reminded me of my mom. I don’t know how I never saw it before.”

“That’s…”

“Pathetic?”

“Not the word I was looking for.” Eddie gives him a soft smile, “I don’t think you’re pathetic. I do think your mom sounds like an asshole though, no offense.”

Steve huffs a laugh, always straight to the point.

“None taken, but if you think that’s bad wait until you hear about my dad.”

“Ah parental trauma, we’re getting into the real shit now,” Eddie says, tone lighter than the subject matter would suggest, “Tell me about them.”

“They weren’t really around much for most of my childhood or teenage years, business trips mostly. My dad was a cheating asshole and  my mom didn’t trust him enough to let him go anywhere on his own. I don’t know why she put up with him honestly.” 

He remembers feeling so lonely more than anything. Something all the nannies when he was a little kid and parties he’d throw as a teenager could never fill, “He wanted me to run the family business. I never wanted that, I didn’t know what I wanted at that point but I knew I wanted to do something that made me happy instead of following their expectations. My highschool grades were average at best and the thought of me attending community college, well, they didn’t like that very much either. They kicked me out in the end.”

He doesn’t talk about his parents much, never feels the need to. Aside from Robin there’s only a handful of people who even know anything beyond the fact he no longer has contact with them. But he trusts Eddie and sharing these things feels so natural.

“I’m glad you didn’t listen to them.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You deserve to be happy.” The sentiment makes his heart swell. For all his goofing around and occasionally brash personality, Eddie had a sweeter side that Steve was starting to notice would creep to the surface every now and again. He liked it.

“They’re kind of the reason I started collecting stuff. We had this huge house, but it always felt so empty,” The words flow out like water from a tap and Steve doesn’t think he could do much to stop them even if he tried. 

He takes a glance at Eddie, wondering if he’s still paying attention. He’s leaning forward, twisting one of his chunky rings around his finger, and hanging off Steve’s every word.

“There were never any photos, or knick-knacks, or little mementos from family vacations. It felt like living in a show house. So, I started collecting things from people I cared about and then when I got older, relationships. I Kept them hidden in a box under my bed because I knew my dad would make me throw them out if he found them.”

Eddie is looking right at him with that intense gaze of his. Steve has been on the receiving end of that particular look an increasing amount lately, the kind that makes him feel as though Eddie is staring right into the depths of his soul. It still makes him want to squirm just as much as the first time, though it’s not an entirely unpleasant sensation.

“And here we all thought you were just some crazy hoarder,” Eddie jokes, breaking the tension in the air.

“Well, Robin says I have attachment issues, so.” Steve snorts. “What are your parents like?” He’s cautious, not wanting to push despite his curiosity. He knows Eddie lived with his uncle for a while and he’s never mentioned his parents so he isn’t expecting a happy story.

“My mom died when I was a kid. My dad, well, while all the other dads were teaching their kids how to play baseball he was teaching me to hotwire cars and pick locks.” He chuckles dryly, no amusement behind it, “He’s in jail now. Shocker.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve been with Wayne since I was 11, he’s my real family.” He shrugs with a smile, the same fond smile he always has when he talks about his uncle.

“I get it. I have someone- well several someones- like that too.”

“The kids?”

Steve nods, “Partly, remember El and Will?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Will has an older brother, Jonathan. We weren’t close at the time, it’s uh, a long story.” Understatement of the century, “But, he found out about my parents kicking me out and it turned out he’s a better person than I ever gave him credit for. He convinced his parents to take me in for a while. They helped me out until me and Robs could get a place of our own. They’re better parents to me than my biological ones ever were.”

He shifts in his seat, careful not to jostle Eddie too much. The weight of his legs over his is nice, grounding almost.

“Whoever said you can’t choose your family was a liar.” 

Steve hums in agreement. The kids, Joyce, Hopper and hell, even Jonathad had been the ones to fill his monotonous gray life with light.

He should call Joyce, it’s been a while since he heard her voice, Hopper’s too. A pang of guilt hits him at the thought, though he knows they’d never get mad at him for it. His gaze wanders along with his thoughts, lingering on the corner behind Eddie dedicated to all of Steve’s donations.

“Are you really not going to donate anything?” 

“Hmph?” 

“The gallery, are you going to make a donation?” Steve repeats as Eddie tucks his phone into his pocket, “You’re the only one left. I have, Chrissy has, even Robin has.” 

“I told you, I don’t really keep stuff from my relationships.” Eddie shrugs.

“I don’t believe you. You must have kept something.”

“Well, actually.” There’s a moment of realization and then a strange smirk appears on his face, one that screams pure mischief and Steve’s suddenly a little concerned about what he’s just let himself in for, “there is this one thing. ”

“I knew it!” Steve twists his body to better see Eddie, “Will you donate it?”

“Sure, I’ll bring it by later after you’ve picked up Dustin and Max from the airport.”

“Shit, what time is it?” They’d never let him live it down if he was late. He’d lost track of time after they decided to take their break, he has no idea how long they’ve been sitting there.

Eddie looks down to the watch on his wrist then back to Steve, “Nearly 12.”

Steve lets out a groan and worms his way out from under Eddie’s legs, “I gotta go.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” He says when he sees Eddie’s expression. He’s pretty sure Eddie would spend the entire day lounging on that couch with him if he could, Steve doesn’t think that would be such a bad way to spend a day either, “I won’t be long. I’ll bring Dustin and Max with me when I come back, okay?”

The airport is busy, even outside where Steve is waiting next to his parked car. It’s Max’s fiery red braids weaving through the crowds that he notices first, one hanging over each shoulder and a pair of sunglasses perched atop her head. 

“STEVE!” Dustin’s shout is the only warning he gets before he launches himself in Steve’s direction, tackling him with so much force he stumbles back a few steps, if it wasn’t for his back hitting the car Steve is sure they’d both be flat on their asses.

“Henderson!” Steve chuckles, wrapping one arm around him and using the other to scrub his knuckles across the top of his head which is protected by a cap, “How was your flight, kiddo?”

“The inflight entertainment system didn’t even have Star Wars, can you believe it? What is this?, The 80’s? There’s digital copies everywhere!” He sounds deeply offended, Max just rolls her eyes. It’s good to see that they haven’t changed.

Max steps up to give him a much calmer hug once Dustin has finally let him go. She looks tired when she pulls away, it’s not even 1pm but he has no doubt it’s already been a long day. Travelling has always taken its toll on her whether it was a car journey or a 4 hour flight, he can’t even begin to count how many times she had fallen asleep on the back seat of his car, head resting on Lucas’ shoulder.

They’ve both flown in from LA, their first stop before heading home to their parents for summer break. Max had been itching to get back to California ever since her shitty step father had moved them halfway across the country when she was barely a teen. She’d gotten into UCLA majoring in marine biology and hadn’t looked back since. Dustin made it into Caltech, an offer he couldn’t refuse. 

Steve had never been prouder, of all of them, but it had hurt seeing all of his kids scattered across the country. He and Robin had moved to Chicago shortly after, there was nothing left for either of them in their small hometown once the kids were gone.

“Alright, come on shit-heads help me with this stuff we need to get going.” He pops open the trunk and throws in one of the duffle bags from the small pile of luggage that has been dumped on the tarmac. 

He isn’t sure who the bag belongs to until Dustin screeches, “Hey be careful with that!”

“Well come help me then!”

The apartment is empty when they get there to drop off Dustin and Max’s belongings. Dustin will be sleeping in Steve’s room and Robin is sharing her room with Max. Steve had drawn the short straw and ended up agreeing to crash on the couch for the week, not wanting to deal with Dustin's snoring, he’s sure his back won’t thank him for it- Christ, he’s getting old.

“Where’s Robin?” Max calls from her room.

“She’s probably still at Hellfire. She left to get coffee with Chrissy before I went to pick you guys up,” Steve calls back from his room where he’s dumping one of Dustin’s bags onto the bed, apparently not carefully enough judging by the wide eyed ‘really?’ expression he gets in return. He shrugs in response.

“Can we go there?” Dustin is trailing after Steve, close on his heels as they head for the living room where Max meets them. 

“Sure, do you guys want a minute to settle in first? I know you had a long fli-”

“We can go now,” Max interrupts and Dustin nods enthusiastically. 

They’re outside before Steve has even stepped out of the elevator. He shakes his head with a fond smile and follows them.

“What’re you doing?” Dustin is asking Max when he catches up.

“Uh, getting into the car, what does it look like I’m doing?” She replies with a familiar disinterested tone.

“That’s my seat.”

“You sat shotgun on the way here, it’s my turn.”

“Steve, tell her!” 

“She’s right.” He shrugs, still smiling. He really has missed them, petty arguments and all, “You can sit up front on the way back.”

Dustin huffs about the seating arrangement a little at first but for the most part it's peaceful on the short drive to Hellfire, the sound of the radio drowned out by the overlapping chatter and bombardment of questions directed at Steve. Will Eddie be there? What’s he like? Is he as cool as you said he is? Have you told him about us? What did you tell him about us?

Eddie has, surprisingly, moved from the couch when the three of them walk into Hellfire; it's instead occupied by Robin and Chrissy sipping on little paper cups of coffee and sharing a box of pastries that sits on the cushion between them. Robin stands, putting her coffee down in such a rush that some of it spills into the rim of the plastic lid when she sees them. 

Dustin tackles her similarly to how he had done Steve earlier and Max wraps her arms around the both of them when Robin beckons her over to join in the hug.

“I missed you both so much!” She has her face pressed into Max’s hair and she’s squeezing them both so tight Steve’s not sure how either of them are breathing.

“Where’s Eds?” Steve asks Chrissy, she’s still on the couch watching the reunion with a soft smile and he speaks quietly so as not to disturb them. 

“Eds?” Max breaks away from the hug and turns on Steve with an expression that can only mean trouble. ‘Quietly’ was not quiet enough as it seems. Dustin seems unphased, his attention focused on Robin and the animated conversation they’re having.

Right on cue Eddie appears from wherever it is he has been hiding and Steve breathes a sigh of relief, he’ll escape her grilling and most likely teasing for a little while yet. She won’t forget though, Steve knows that much, he may be free for now but he’s just delaying the inevitable. 

“You must be Max.” Eddie is wearing a 1000 watt smile and Steve has to admit it’s endearing to see how excited he is about meeting Steve’s kids, “I’m Eddie, Steve’s told me a lot about you.”

“Nice to meet you.” She extends her hand to shake and Eddie accepts, she glares at him the whole time as if she’s looking right through him. She’s testing him, sizing him up. Steve’s seen her do it a thousand times before. He relaxes just a little bit when they break the hand shake and Max’s expression softens with a nod, not quite a smile, but something close to approval. 

“And that leaves, Dustin, right?” 

Dustin whips around at the mention of his name, he’s had his back turned to the three of them up until now, catching up with Robin and not paying a lot of attention to whatever it was the rest of the group were up to.

“No fucking way.” 

“Dustin!” Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, that was not how he was hoping that particular interaction would begin.

“I knew your voice sounded familiar!”  He yells, completely ignoring Steve and vibrating with excitement, jumping up and down on the spot. “I heard you talking in the background when I called Steve sometimes, but I could never figure out why I felt like I knew you.” Dustin’s eyes are so wide Steve’s surprised they haven’t fallen right out of their sockets.

“My- wait. Is your last name Henderson by any chance?”

“Holy shit,” Dustin says and Steve has given up at this point. He’s completely lost and by the looks on the faces of the others he’s not alone, “Eddie, Supreme-DM, Eddie?!”

“The one and only Sir. Dalastor Henderghton.” He bows low and with a flourish of the hand as if he’s introducing himself to royalty. 

“Ok, I’m confused,” Robin announces, interrupting whatever it is Eddie and Dustin have going on, “Would one of you like to share with the group? What the hell is happening right now?”

“Do you two know each other?” Chrissy adds with a quizzical tilt of her head.

“We play D&D together online,” Dustin explains, then turns to Steve for backup, “Steve, I told you about him right?”

“Yeah- yeah you told me but I- my Eddie is your Eddie?” Dustin gives a sideways glance at the implication but he doesn’t comment. Steve is sure it’ll be added to whatever teasing he’ll have to endure from Max later over ‘Eds’.

“It’s a small world,” Eddie brings a hand up to pat Dustin’s shoulder before it settles there as if they’re old friends, Steve supposes they are in a way.

“I don’t understand, you’ve seen photos of Dustin before, how did you not recognise him?” Steve’s brow is furrowed, his mind working to keep up as he connects all of the dots.

None of the kids have ever seen photos of Eddie, but Eddie has seen Dustin countless times before, in the photograph on Steve’s dresser and in the countless pictures Steve has on his phone. Granted, a lot of the pictures were from back when they were still teenagers but they hadn’t changed that much, certainly not to the point of being unrecognizable. 

“I’ve only ever heard his voice, some of our party members don’t activate their cameras.”

“My laptop doesn’t have a camera.” Dustin smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. Caltech whizz-kid, smartest person Steve knows and he doesn’t own a laptop with a camera, figures.

“I can’t believe I got to meet the person who inspired your character before we even met face to face,” Eddie looks to Dustin and Steve follows his gaze with a single raised eyebrow. Dustin is very pointedly avoiding eye contact with both of them.

“Not cool, man!” Dustin says in a hushed tone, “That was said in confidence and away from the party’s ears for a reason!”

“No one here is part of the party.” Eddie points out. Dustin sighs and covers his face with one hand, rubbing at the corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“Are you guys sticking around for a while?” Chrissy interrupts before the conversation can turn into bickering.

Steve looks to Robin who gives a tiny raise of her shoulders, he turns to look between Dustin and Max instead, “It’s up to you guys.”

“Yeah,” Max answers on behalf of both of them, “We can stay.”

“Good, there’s plenty to be done.” Chrissy is smiling, that warm welcoming smile that could convince anyone to go along with anything and Max trails after her without question when she heads towards the meticulously laid out tables and chairs she had been sanding and varnishing earlier. Most of their furniture is second hand, they look for the cheaper beaten up stuff then Chrissy works her magic. ‘Upcycling’ she had called it once.

Eddie leaves with Robin, whispering conspiratorially between themselves as they go. Steve expects Dustin to follow, but he’s just standing there staring at him with a borderline creepy smile on his face.

“Alright, out with it. Let’s get this over with.”

“Your Eddie huh?”

“So, you made a character based on me, huh?” Steve bites back, trying not to sound as smug as he feels. Or as flattered.

He finds the whole thing quite endearing really, and he’s fairly certain he’ll start to tear up if he thinks about it too hard, so he jokes about it instead. A very unhealthy technique for dealing with his emotions that he’s sure he picked up from Robin.

“Shut up.”

“I won’t talk if you don’t.” 

“Deal,” Dustin agrees.

“Alright, come on.” He bats the brim of Dustin’s cap as he passes, pushing it down over his eyes. 

Eddie and Robin are over by the stage, leaning into each other and giggling like a couple of school girls and he wants to know what has them so amused. They immediately change their tone when they see Steve approaching, Eddie is hiding something behind his back and they’re standing up straighter and trying their best to school their expressions into something more neutral but they’re both terrible at it.

“What are you two up to?” Steve asks, already resigned to whatever shenanigans he’s about to willingly let himself be dragged into.

“Well,” Eddie starts, the word drawn out and dramatic, “remember when I said I had a donation for the gallery?” Steve nods, “I went back to my apartment while you were picking the hobbits up and-”

There’s a pair of handcuffs dangling in front of Steve’s face. Not the cheap kind lined with fluffy faux fur that Steve has seen in the past, no these are made of what seems to be a high quality leather with a chunky buckle on each cuff and a thick silver chain joining them together. They look expensive.

He’s staring, he knows he is and he knows he needs to say something but he can’t seem to find a single word to force out of his clenched jaw. His cheeks are burning, his face is no doubt glowing an embarrassing shade of red. He forgets about Dustin standing by his side until he hears his barely contained snicker and then his eyes are widening, darting between Dustin and Eddie while the panic sets in. The way he sees it he has two options, covering Dustin’s eyes or snatching the cuffs from Eddie… maybe both. Yeah, both. Both is good.

“Dude, you know I’m like twenty now right?” Dustin asks, clearly witnessing the internal struggle Steve is going through and deciding to spare him. 

It still feels strange hearing it. Sometimes it’s easy to forget they’re young adults now, no longer the little 14 year old trouble makers he remembers. Hell, Mike is as tall as if not a little taller than him now, most of them have part time jobs and their own apartments. 

Steve splutters, still not quite able to find his words, this time it’s Robin who comes to his aid, “Come on, Chrissy is calling for us.”

“What no she-” Dustin screws up his face as if she’s started speaking in another language, he quickly cuts himself off when she gives him a pointed glare, “Oh- actually I think I can hear her now, yeah, see you in a bit Steve we’ll be-” He gestures vaguely in the direction of Chrissy and Max on the other side of the room, ushered along by Robin who throws a wink in Steve’s direction before they go.

“What’s wrong, not into kinky stuff, Harrington?” Eddie asks with a smirk once Robin and Dustin are gone.

“No, no it’s not that,” He says in a rush, “I just didn’t peg you for the type.” He realizes too late his choice of words and Eddie’s face lights up with amusement.

“Oh I’m full of surprises,” It’s barely more than a whisper. Steve isn’t sure when they got so close, but he can feel Eddie’s breath on his cheek as he speaks. He’s gone just as quickly as he appeared, the distance between them growing despite Steve wanting the opposite, “Where should we put them?”

“Are you sure you want to get rid of them?”

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal. I have others and my ex bought these ones.”

Others. Steve gulps, trying not to let his mind wander. It’s ok. He can be normal about this. But all he can think about are the mental images of those leather cuffs wrapped around Eddie’s wrists, or maybe how they’d feel against his own skin and- yeah he is so far beyond being normal about this. God, someone needs to just put him out of his misery before he does something really stupid and messes this whole thing up.

“Right,” He squeaks. 

They decide to hang them on the wall in the end, next to the purple scrunchie Steve donated. Robin gives him a knowing look when they join the others and Steve has no doubts that she’s going to want all of the details once they get back to the apartment. He’s not sure he’s ready for that conversation yet.

Eddie only writes ‘He wasn’t the one.’ with no duration of the relationship beside the handcuffs. Steve briefly wonders what it would mean to be his one.

<Chapter 5 ~ Master post ~ Chapter 7>

[jayspaceinc]

15 lines of dialogue: Ayden 🐾

1. “Umm okay sure. But, how exactly are you going to convince them to have dinner with us? They never do. They’re either at the office or in the home office or sleeping or— do they even eat? Did they used to eat before you guys adopted me?” He joked as neither of them really liked to talk about their parents or the lack of their presence.

2. “Please? They’re talking about firing me for leaving early everyday and I always get bored during the last half.”

“And that’s my issue… why? Quit leaving early!”

3. For the first time since being in here, Celia had finally laughed. “Ayden, you’ve gotten just a wee bit fruitier since the last time we’ve talked, haven’t you?”

“A little. But it’s growth. Girls weren’t really my thing I guess. What can I say? I’m growing with the times. Unlike you know who.”

“I’m standing right behind you.”

“Oh good, so you know I meant you.” Ayden quipped. He’d gotten much funnier since the last time they’d seen him.

4. “I’m 17. Not a kid. Celia, carry me?” Ayden pouted, giving her puppy dog eyes.

5. “We already know his,” Kori nodded in the direction of Greyson.

“Hard not to when you’ve almost burnt the school down on countless occasions.”

“Yeah and what do you know?”

“Oh I know a lot. Hinote ‘Greyson’ Takahashi. Graduated valedictorian with a 4.5 GPA much to your mother’s dismay. Would have graduated 2 years early had you not been suspended so much. Vandalism, pranks, bullying, so many fire alarms set off by your doing. The fact you might have given someone the clap. I could go on,” Ayden grinned ear to ear with a cheeky smile as if he hadn’t just disclosed Grey’s entire life story to the entire table.

“Please go on. But before you do, remember, I know where your sister lives and subsequently, I know where you live. And no, I didn’t give anyone the damn clap so check your sources on that one.”

“I know. I was the one who spread that rumour. You’re a virgin.”

“That was you?!” Greyson tried to grab Ayden had Summer not pushed him back into his seat.

6. “That’s because you’re money hungry. Ayden, just drop it. Don’t mention anything this weekend. Please?”

“Fine. 30 credits and I won’t say anything today. Just today.”

“I’m not paying my baby brother not to say anything. I live with you, remember? You say anything and I can make life hell.” She had a dark look in her eyes. She’s not joking. She knew all of his fears so the possibilities were endless.

“Okay, when I said 30 credits, I was kiddinggg! Of course, I was kidding. Your secret’s safe with me.”

7. “Any other questions before we leave?”

“What are we supposed to be eating tonight?”

“Ayden.”

“What! This is an important question.

8. “I should probably start breakfast since people are waking up now.”

“Really? Thank God, I’ve been starving since I woke up.”

“You should’ve said something earlier then.”

“Greyson, my priorities will always lie with seeing shirtless men before I ever consider eating. That’s a compliment by the way.”

“Thank you I think?”

9. I would’ve gotten up earlier but.. let’s just say yesterday was a mess.”

“That’s reassuring. So are you done being a moody aloof teenager then?”

Ayden rolled his eyes. “Something like that I guess. I just had some internal stuff going on. It hasn’t completely faded but, I’ve been granted with a gift not even Jesus himself could ignore.”

“Also reassuring.”

“I can’t say anything right now. But keep an ear out,” He slid out of bed and took his bag with him into the bathroom. The water cut on, signifying the beginning of a shower.

10. “Which one is mine?” He asked as he slid into the lone seat beside him.

Ayden gave a confused head cock to the side as one of his eyebrows raised as if it was ridiculous for Greyson to even ask him such a question. “None of them..? I’m eating all of this.. Go grab your own food if you’re hungry.”

“Really? You’re eating all of this? Right now?” Grey asked incredulously as he mentally counted the number of plates sitting on the table.

“Greyson, I’m a shapeshifter. My metabolism is 9 times faster than yours. I’m going to eat all this and still be hungry in an hour. Go, before the line gets any longer,” Ayden nodded off towards the breakfast line that had twice as many people now than when he sat down.

“Fine. Nice to know this is how I’m repaid after cooking you breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire weekend like a servant.”

“It’s tough being on the other side of things, isn’t it?” He asked as he chewed through a mouth full of eggs.

11. “She’s like a girl version of Ayden,” Celia said.

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Ayden exclaimed.

“Which part are you confused by?”

“I’m not confused, I’m offended you guys think I’m a brat.”

Greyson gave a scoffed laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

“What was that huffing fit you were having for like two, three days?” Kori asked, finding that statement laughable even without outside context.

“I was coping with my losses.”

12. Greyson looked back for himself and closed the door behind him. “You wanna take a walk with me?” There was a quick whipping sound coming from behind him, an excited tail now attached. “That looks like a yes.”

“Don’t be demeaning, Greyson.”

“So you don’t wanna take a walk then?”

“..No I do.”

Grey laughed and ruffled the top of his head. “Cool then get your shoes on, I’ll meet you outside.”

13. Ayden had heard enough. He walked up to Celia’s side, breaking through the men that surrounded her. “Watch your mouth when you’re talking to her. Her spit is worth more than your entire existence.”

14. A: It wouldn’t surprise me. Bow was a major sl— Ayden deleted the message he was about to send.

15. “Don’t tell me you’re tired already. Tap into that animalistic spirit.”

“I don’t know what that means!” Ayden huffed, joining them finally. He took a moment to heave, his lungs already pushed to their limit. “How can you expect me to run with no meal?”

“Do you know what I have for breakfast in the early morning?”

“Don’t tell me—“

“My breakfast is the adrenaline of life. Chasing after the rush. It always fills my hunger.”

“Yeah well, ‘adrenaline’ isn’t a substantial food item that can be chewed and swallowed.”

[screechingsandwichhologram]

happy belated birthday mate!!

could you tell me more about eros?

thank you !!!! *eats the cake*

okay so eros originally started out as just c!ranboos mom but then i gave her a bit of backstory and it spiraled from there. uh spoilers for the results of the poll btw. (its also kinda long)

so eros is the goddess of love & has domain over war. war does not have a specific deity because it is so complicated. instead, three gods with related domains (what the deity is in charge of) reside over it.

eros came about as the result of The Big War (i haven't decided on a name yet) which was a war between Hysteria (god of the mind, soul, emotions, humanity, etc) and The God of Flesh, Bone, and Blood (not techno !!! just the god itself). They've always had a hatred for each other, and it ended up in a war that lasted like. thousands of years. At this point, humanity was long gone, most animals & plants were dead, other deities were suffering, and the Nether & the Overworld were in ruins. The two gods planned a last fight to the death (at the pressure of other gods who wanted the war to be over) in the Overworld, and they decided on a piece of land that was covered in apocalyptic snow/ash (pure white). They fight and blah blah it takes so fucking long. Finally, Hysteria and the Blood God draw blood at the same time, and that blood mixes with the snow. At this point, they are both tired, and they aren't quite sure of their hatred anymore. Its the end of the world, and they are fighting, but they were created together and they must work together. So, at this moment, a new god was born !!!! This god was Eros, who's appearance created a true between her parents and started The New Timeline (as the old world was unsalvageable).

Eros was created as a teenager, so she could take care of herself. However, she did not have any experience, so she didn't make the best of decisions. She was very lonely, as she longed to experience love. She could not get it, because Hysteria was much too busy overseeing the progress of humanity, and had many, many children, so Eros did not stick out. She was normally much too scared to go see the Blood God, as they were scary and closed off. So, she wandered the Earth, typically sticking to the Overworld.

Eventually, she figured out that "hey, my parents are the two other war gods! if i start a war big enough, i can make them pay attention to me and we can hang out and be a family !!!" so she does that. and it does work! so she does it again. and again. and again.

During this time, Eros has also started several cults to do her bidding. She was hoping for maybe some semblance of love from them, and she did get it, but it wasn't very good. But she didn't have anything else, so she kept them.

After a big ass war that had horrific consequences, some other gods popped in and was like. "hey can u tone it down a bit? I'm tired of rebuilding entire forests and shit because of u." and she was like sure. yeah. okay.

So, she turned over a new leaf ! She started finding other ways to experience love. she stopped her hardcore cults and started gather small groups that weren't like. terrifying and scary and were more like just friends. she tried to disguise herself as mortal to make friends, but it hurt way too much when they died.

Around this time, she just started messing with people. (btw, the New Timeline is our world.) She would disguise herself as mortal and become a famous fashion designer (she did this several times), or pretend to be a noble to get into a royal ball (and then reveal herself and freak everyone out). She liked to dance, sing, and model the most.

One day, while exploring with her cultists (around human maturity 21-23???), she found an end portal ! having never seen one before, she went in. there, she was greeted by the newly crowned Queen Erebus (queen of the endermen).

They fell in love !!!!! awww i love them !!!!

As queen, she often volunteers with projects, and creates many charities and arts programs. She doesn't do much of the queen duties, but she will help out if erebus needs it.

Erebus was the one to bring up the idea of a child, but eros was the one to find the ritual to make it happen.

When the Collision happened (worlds smashed together , creating multiple servers (so things such as MCC can happen) which reseted the timeline) several gods were spontaneously created, one of which closed off the end (right as ranboo had fallen through the portal lmao). As such, she has mourned and studied (along side z) to find a way to reopen the end.

[vellatra]

Let the Conundrums Continue!

Tagged by the lovely @card-queen - thanks fren

And as far as other writers to tag, I don't know too many... how about @reneethegreatandpowerful , and @thethiefinwhite ? And anybody else who sees and wishes to participate, of course. :) (Don't feel pressured if you don't feel like it - or are too busy - or whatever! And there seem to be no rules here either so don't feel obligated to post original content either, if you'd rather do a fanfic!)

And now, for my random "snippet". :)

***********************************************************************

I came home to an empty house. Now that my youngest sister was bound away, I had the whole place to myself.

It felt lonely.

“Maybe you should find a nice lady and settle down,” Shala had said earlier that day, as she balanced one of her three-year old twins on each hip. “You'd be a good father – I know that from experience.”

“Nah, he's too serious,” Retsub grunted into his drink, but I could hear the jest in his voice.

“Well, maybe I will then,” I said.

I had yet to find one, though.

But there was time yet. I was young.

***********************************************************************

Five years later, I came home to an empty house and thought, “This place is too big. Maybe I should move.”

“Don't you ever get tired of the silence?” Shishlia had asked that afternoon.

“Hey, at least he can get a good night's sleep that way,” said Erniker, who was suffering from a lack of it due to their newest addition. “But maybe it would be good only up to a point.”

What point?

Well, there was still time to change things. I had my life ahead of me.

***********************************************************************

Five more years later, I came home to an empty house. It was a smaller house, and closer to work. I had almost decided to just move into the castle at one point.

“There's tons of room here, y'know,” Aileev had pointed out that day, “and I'm always looking for somebody to hang out with. I mean, if you ever need company....”

I wasn't sure a teenage girl was quite the right “company” to keep though. I was pretty old for that.

But what about other company?

There was still room in this house.

But work was pressing. I didn't have time to look for somebody.

I still had time in my life... right?

***********************************************************************

Ten years later, I came home to my empty little house and thought, “What if she were here too?”

“If anybody needs a friend, it's Mom,” I'd overheard Veelia say that morning.

“Maybe she needs a boyfriend,” said Faraena.

“Pfft, Mom, with a boyfriend?” Aileev snickered. “That's impossible.”

“Yeah, she'll have a hard time getting anybody, the way she dresses,” Faraena sighed. “So much for that gossip.”

I liked her.

“No,” I said aloud. It echoed through the empty room. “She's too good for this place. Too good for me.”

Besides, I was almost old enough to be her father.

It looked like my time was running out.

[lucientelrunya]

Twenty questions for fic writers

Tagged again by the wonderful @forerussake, thank you!! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

446,816

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment only DMBJ and those are the only fics I've posted on AO3. I've written for other fandoms before and posted those on other sites, mostly HP and original works. I've also written things for Sailor Moon, Stargate, Lord of the Rings, Grimm and Stanger Things but never finished those, so they were never posted (and most are veeeeeeery long ago).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Like a lonely house (284)

The Crystal Menace (256)

Promise in the Dark (200)

We go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos (76)

Stolen Moments (54)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yeah, always. Since I don't have that many fics on AO3 yet, it's not a lot to do and I love the interaction with readers, love hearing about their theories, what they liked and all that. And I want them to know how much I appreciate that they took time to write a nice comment and how happy that makes me! And as a reader myself I love it when authors answer my comments, too.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooof. Everything I write is angsty and hurt/comfort. But I guess the angsties one would be The Crystal Menace, because it's the first part of a trilogy and the ending is quite sad and gives a bleak outlook for the future. But it's not the real ending of the whole story, so I'm not sure it should count?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmm, actually everything I write has a happy ending (you know, and if it's not happy then it's not the end). But I think the truly happiest ending would be Like a lonely house because at the end Zhang Rishan is truly happy for the first time in a very long time.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Hmmm, very long ago one of my original ffs got a very unkind comment, but I'm not sure that should be considered hate, the person was still civil and I don' even remember much. So, I'd say no :)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do. It's not always the easiest thing to write, but when the muse strikes, I greatly enjoy it. I'm not sure what different kinds of smut there are? I do write PWPs that are just about the sex, but I also do smutty last chapters to long-fic.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Uhhhh... I think I might have started one or two, once upon a time when I was a teenager. But I never got very far with those, my focus tended to shift a lot more back then. I don't know if I would write crossovers today, at least not classic crossovers. But fusions are very interesting, like putting characters from one fandom into the world of another fandom, replacing the original characters. Or at least a world very inspired by another fandom.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so, no. It's already such a small fandom and since I only do one pairing the audience is even smaller. As for the older stuff, well, I might love the stories but they were objectively speaking very badly written so I don't think anyone would want to steal those.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Oh yes, almost all of my old stuff was co-written in role-play-style with someone else. But not big role plays, just me and my co-author creating characters and planning stories. Those were my teenage years and it took me very long to learn to write and do all the work all by myself.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Oh dear. I've had so many ships over the years and one I've written quite a lot is one I do not want to think about (because of the Terfling). I've been obsessed with FuBa for two years now and everything I've written since then is about them, so I'll say FuBa.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Definitely my Stranger Things ffs, those were the first things I started writing all by myself and I am quite proud of how far I did come with writing out a lot and not only the good scenes, but then my dad died and I couldn't really write for a year or something (until I hyperfixated on FuBa to kinda distract myself, I guess?) and the series kept on going and I didn't really like where it went, (I did mostly stop reading ffs after season 3 dropped), so I'm not sure I'll ever finish those.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I honestly have no idea. I just write what i want to read and kinda soldier on to get where I want to get.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

When I look at writing advice I always feel like I do everything wrong, but most of that advice sucks anyway XD. My weakness is definitely that I tend to get too many ideas and start too many new stories, keeping my focus on one and going through with it not easy. It gets easier when I post an ongoing fic, at least if I know people like it and are waiting for the next chapter :)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Hmmm, not sure about this. I wouldn't do it, I think, not even for languages I do speak. I can imagine different scenarios, like when a character ends up somewhere, where a language is spoken that the character doesn't understand. Mostly, if we are with that character, (first person, third person), we as the readers shouldn't understand the language as well and I would just say "says something in an unknown language". Because if characters speak a different language and it's relevant to the plot, then there has to be a translation and I personally would mark the dialogue as "spoken in X language", but still keep it english.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh dear. The first fandom I read was actually Stargate SG-1 and I think I wrote something for that? But it's so long ago, I'm not really sure. It might also be Sailor Moon, because I remember a weird crossovery story idea with Stargate. Who knows. That was more than 20 years ago ^^°°°

And also I remember a time when I had just learned to write and I wrote silly little one-page fairy tales that always ended with a happily ever after, so maybe fairytales are my real actual first fandom? XD

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Uhhh, this is a hard one because I love all my stories (even the badly written old ones). But it's Like a lonely house, I think. The first story I wrote (and finished!!) all by myself and my first story on AO3. And I still love most of it and re-read it frequently :)

Ooooookay, who to tag? Maybe @spinecorset, @daydreamorama, @elletromil, @lacommunarde, @s1utspeare, @kholran, if any of you want?

[sunnys567]

Friends in Strange Places Ch. 3

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39040329/chapters/97656390

-------------------------------------------------- Within a secret lab in a castle that once belonged to the Wisconsin Dairy King, light flickered on the face of Vlad Masters. He was focused very intensely on the soldering project he was working on. He hadn't left the lab in the last seven hours.

In the corner of the lab, two green vultures were picking through a pile of various machine bits. They looked over at Vlad, who was totally absorbed by his work, then made eye contact with each other. One of them coked an eyebrow and the other nodded.

"Oi, Vlad, ve're gonna take a quick break. Stretch our vings a bit, ya know?"

"Yes, yes, very good." Vlad replied, not looking up from his soldering. "Take as long as you need."

"Vouldn't hurt to take a break yourself, yeah? You've veen vorking in here an awful long time."

"Perhaps later. I don't quite feel the need for one yet."

The first vulture looked at the second one who just shrugged. He set the machine part in his beak down, and the two of them turned intangible and flew through the floor.

They returned to solidity as they arrived in one of Vlad's libraries. A third vulture was perched on one of the armchairs by the fireplace, a newspaper in his wings. He looked up at the other birds' arrival.

"Dat lunatic's not still vorking, is he?" He asked the other two. They nodded solemnly in response.

"Ve tried to convince him to take a break," The raspy voiced vulture said. "But he vouldn't go for it."

"D'oh ver Pete's sake!" The lead vulture threw up his wings in indignation, his newspaper pages splattering across the floor. "Dis is just getting ridiculous! I'm going to go knock some sense into dat guy!"

With that, he turned intangible and flew up through the ceiling. The other two looked at each other.

"Think ve should go too?" The vulture with the glasses asked his companion.

"Nah. Poor Vlad's gonna feel attacked enough vith just him up there. Besides, I'd like to catch up on da local politics." The raspy voiced vulture replied, rifling through the pile of disconnected newspaper.

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

"Plasmius!" Vlad's heart almost stopped as the bird popped up from the floor. "I have a bone ta pick vith you!"

"Can't it wait? I'm rather busy."

"Dat's exactly da problem! Ever since you returned from Amity Park you've done nothing but vork, vork, vork! If you're not in da lab, you're on da phone! And vhenever you do go out it's just to talk vork vith da suits!"

"My apologies for having a job. It's a thing humans have."

"Don't you sass me! You know I know how all dat stuff vorks you great buffoon!"

The vulture perched on Vlad's work table.

"Even ghosts need a break from time to time Vlad. I mean, I get vhy you don't want to come down to Florida with me and da birds, but why don't you go back down to Amity, eh? Ve're close to securing a path to the Fenton's portal. I bet dat ghost kid would be happy to see you. You of all people know how lonely it can get, being in his position."

"He's not lonely. He has friends who are aware of his situation and understand and accept him for his 'position'." Vlad lifted his goggles and looked at the vulture. "He's a teenager. I don't imagine he wants to spend his time hanging around with an old man like me."

"Ay ay ay." the vulture shook his head. "Vell, vhat about dose other two, yeah? You should go down and catch up vith dos freaks."

"Jack and Maddie are ghost hunters." Realizing the vulture wasn't going to leave him alone, Vlad begun packing away his tools. "Do I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea for someone like me to spend long periods of time around them?"

The vulture slowly sighed.

"Vlad. You and I both know you're better dan dat. You've had twenty years of practice keeping your powers hidden. Heck, da kid's veen living vith dem for months and he hasn't veen found out. And if dat doofus hasn't been caught, you're more dan safe."

"I don't want to bother them."

The vulture raised his eye brow at Vlad.

"Dat's veak Vlad. Ve saw how happy dos idiots vere to see you when dey came down here."

"I told you to stop spying on me when I have guests!"

"And I vant you to stop lying to my face, but ve can't all get vhat ve vant, can ve?"

The two of them glared at each other.

"You know, Vlad," the vulture's tone became uncharacteristically soft "You've been cooped up in dis castle with no one but us ghosts for da last two decades. Change can be scary, but it can also be good fer ya, you know? Personally, I tink you deserve to go after what makes you happy for a change, yeah?"

Vlad stared at his neatly organized soldering kit for a few seconds.

"Perhaps you're right."

"Finally!" the vulture threw up his wings and smiled "You're starting to listen to reason!"

"I'm going to the cabin for the week. That should provide a sufficient break."

The vulture's sour expression  was back in an instant.

"Oh no, you're not fooling anyvun! You're gonna spend da whole veek collecting, and analyzing and basically da same stuff you do around here anyway. Dat cabin just means more vork!"

"Well, it'll be a break form your squawking, at any rate." Vlad said as the door to the lab slid open. "You three can handle the rest of the cleanup, can't you? Great. I'll be upstairs, packing for my trip."

The door slid closed before the lead vulture could respond.

"Oooooh, dat Plasmius." he fumed. "If he didn't give such good vacation time, I'd peck dat idiot's eyeballs out."

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

Maddie sighed next to Jack on the couch.

He was working on a cross stitch pattern of a ghost. She was holding an old photograph of a time she'd taken Danny to Amity Park Park when he was nine. In the photo Maddie was hugging the smiling Danny's shoulders. They both looked so happy.

They didn't seem to have days like that anymore.

"I miss Danny." she said out loud.

"I think he's up in his room." Jack responded without looking up from his work. 

"Or did I send him to clean up the lab?" he tapped his chin thoughtfully with the needle.

"No, not like that Jack. It feels like we used to be a lot closer than we are now. Danny would always come to me about everything. Problems, secrets, or even just to ramble about space." Maddy smiled briefly at the memory before frowning again. "I'd give anything for him to open up to us. Or even just hear him list the moons of Jupiter or something."

"Speaking of space, he is a teenager Madds. Teenagers need space to grow and figure themselves out."

"I know Jack." Maddie sighed. "It just almost seems like he's purposely been avoiding us for the last few months. Have you noticed how quiet and nervous he's gotten? And it feels like it came on suddenly. Ever since the-"

Their conversation was interrupted by the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" Jack cried, practically leaping from his seat. Maddie smiled. That man was like a distractible puppy. She sighed and went back to staring longingly at the photo.

Jack opened the door and met the most dour looking letter carrier he'd ever seen. He wordlessly handed Jack a white envelope.

"Thanks man." Jack said.

Were you supposed to tip delivery people? Jack thought the mail carriers usually just dropped letters in the mailbox and left, so he wasn't sure what the protocol was here.

He had heard stories about the US postal service that were scarier than any ghosts he'd ever faced, so he figured he'd better tip the letter carrier, just to be safe.

He dug through his pockets for a coin and flipped it into the mail carrier's hand. The coin almost seemed to disappear in his palm. Weird.

Jack began to retreat into his house. "By the way," he paused halfway through closing the door "You might want to get some sun, pal. You're as pale as a ghost." He shut the door the rest of the way before the carrier could respond.

There was no return address on the envelope. In fact, there wasn't any address at all. Not even a stamp. Not a clue as to who it was for. Guess I'll just have to open it and find out. Jack thought, as he sliced open the envelope with a Fenton Letter Opener they kept on the table near the door. He pulled out the contents, which were a piece of paper and a brochure. He quickly skimmed the letter as he walked back to Maddy.

"It seems to be for Danny." He said, handing the letter and brochure over to her. "Some kind of science-convention thingy he was randomly selected for."

Maddie sat up and hungrily scanned the papers. She was beaming when she finished reading.

"Jackpot!" Maddie pounded her fist in the air. "This is is exactly what the doctor ordered!" she said, seemingly talking to the paper. Where's Danny?"

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

Up in his room, Danny was in an intense state of focus. He summoned a small ball of ecto energy and held it, clenching his hand into a tight fist.

Tucker and Sam, who were sitting on a bean bag and an office chair respectfully, gave each other doubtful glances.

The energy around Danny's hand began to glow brighter. Sweat began to gather around Danny's forehead. He tried as hard as he could to maintain the ball's stability while feeding it more energy, but eventually he lost control and a giant ecto beam shot out of Danny's hand, the kickback knocking him off the bed.

Sam and Tucker ducked as the beam bounced wildly around Danny's room before flying out the open window. A horrible squacking sound was heard from outside.

"That...was probably nothing." Tucker said.

"Hey, um, maybe we should move this somewhere safer, preferably without delicate computers and open windows?" Sam asked.

"Ugh!" Danny grunted in frustration as he got up from the floor. "I've been practicing forever, but I haven't made any progress!" Danny looked down at his hand. "How did Vlad even do that?"

"Maybe you could ask him?" Sam suggested.

"I'd love to!" Danny threw his arms into the air before flopping down onto his bed. "But he hasn't been back since the Axiom fiasco."

"Wait, seriously? But that was..."

"Nearly two months ago." Danny finished for her.

"Really? Dang." Tucker said. He looked over at Sam. "I thought you said he'd try to clear up his schedule."

"It was an educated guess," Sam raised her hands defensively. "But still just a guess. Does seem kind of weird, though."

"I overheard Mom say she's basically given up on calling him." Danny said. Sam frowned at that statement.

"That's a shame." Tucker said. "I'd hoped we'd see him again. That guy was cool. Kind of scary, but cool. Equal parts scary and cool."

Danny laughed at that.

"I know what you mean. I literally thought he was a nightmare I was having the first time I ran into him."

"He must really hate your parents, Danny." Sam said.

"What?"

"I mean, he's obviously avoiding them. Unless he's got beef with you. You didn't say anything stupid to him, did you?"

"What, no! But why would he be avoiding my parents? They're his best friends."

"You know Danny," Tucker said "We're your best friends, and you typically don't go twenty years in between seeing us."

"Guys!" Danny was starting to get ticked. He didn't know why Sam and Tucker were so on Vlad's case. "When Vlad got turned half-ghost by the accident, he didn't have nearly as much information as we did. He was figuring everything out on his own. It's perfectly reasonable that he was worried about slipping up and accidentally revealing himself to someone, especially my ghost-hating parents. I mean, remember how worried we were at first?"

"Okay, but he can control his powers now." Sam said. "So why's he still hiding?"

That made Danny pause. Why was Vlad still-

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Danny's door being kicked open.

"Dad!" Danny said "What have I told you about- wait, Mom?"

"Sorry Sweetie, I know privacy's important, but I was just so excited to show you this!"

She thrust out a piece of paper towards him.

"The...Rekluks Center Science Symposium?" Danny read.

"Working to lure and capture unique scientific minds with our educational display of rare scientific collections?" Tucker read from the pamphlet.

"Yup. Pack you bags Danny, we're going to Florida!"

"What?" Danny said.

"What?" Tucker and Sam said together.

"What?" Jazz head popped into Danny's doorframe. -------------------------------

"At least you're going somewhere." Jazz moped. Tucker and Sam had long since left, and Danny was waiting in the living room for his mom to finish getting ready to go.  "Meanwhile I'm doomed to special alone bonding time with Dad."

"And I'm stuck on a plane all weekend with Mom. Want to trade?"

"I'd love to. That science symposium actually sounds interesting. Who were the organizers agian...Rekluks?" Jazz narrowed her eyes at the pamphlet. "Okay, that sounds more like some kind of Bionicle name than a real organization, which I guess makes sense for a company run by a bunch of weirdos in Florida." Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Bionicles Jazz?" he smirked.

"Oh! Look at whatever Mom and Dad are doing!"

Danny looked over and saw his dad handing his mom some kind of belt.

"To keep you safe from ghosts, I converted the family ghost shield into this! I call it the Spectre Deflector! No ghost creeps gonna lay a hand on you in Florida!"

Or talon, Danny thought to himself.

"That's wonderful Jack!" Maddie smiled, fastening the belt around her waist. "Are you sure you and Jazz will be alright without the ghost shield for the weekend?" Maddie smiled, fastening the belt around her waist.

"The two of us'll be fine. We've got all the other ghost weapons here. I'd rather you had the protection. You never now what can happen." Jack narrowed his eyes ominously.

"Yeah, I might get bored to death." Danny muttered.

Jazz patted him sympathetically on the back.

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

"Isn't this nice Danny?" Maddie smiled at him from the other side of the table. 

"Our own private plane for a weekend getaway with just the two of us?"

"Do you want the truth, or one of those little white lies I tell you to not hurt your feelings?" Danny scowled.

Maddie sighed.

"Look Danny, I know this was kind of sprung on you, but maybe we should try not starting off on the wrong foot. Just look out at that sunny Florida coastline!"

"Folks, this is your captain speaking," a voice on the overhead said. "If you look to your left, you'll notice the cold hard landscape of the Colorado Rocky Mountains."

"Colorado?" Danny looked out the window. "But that's nowhere near Florida!"

"And if you look to your right," the captain continued "You'll see me evacuating the plane before it goes careening out of control."

Danny and Maddie rushed over to the other side of the plane just in time to see the pilot falling for a few seconds before he was obscured by a parachute.

They looked at each other before rushing to the front of he plane. The cockpit was empty.

Maddie jumped into the pilot's seat and grabbed the controls.

"They're jammed!" she grunted, yanking ineffectively at the wheel. "I don't know how we're going to get out of this one!"

"I know one way." Danny quietly groaned. He crouched down and transformed. 

This wasn't at all how he wanted his mom to find out, but it was objectively better than dying.

He stood up and grabbed Maddie's shoulders. The light on the buckle of the Spectre Deflector glowed green, and Danny was suddenly enveloped in painful green electricity. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, transforming back into his human form.

Maddie, who'd been too occupied to notice what Danny had been doing, shortly gave up with the controls. She looked up and saw Danny dazed on the ground.

"Danny!" she jumped out of her seat. "Are you alright?"

She moved to put a hand to Danny's forehead, but he slapped it away.

"I'm fine mom!"

A brief look of hurt flashed across Maddie's face, but it was soon replaced by a focused determination as she scanned the cabin. She suddenly shot up and dashed back into the cabin of the plane, shortly returning with two grey backpacks with giant green 'F's stitched onto them.

"Put that on!" she said, thrusting one at Danny. "We're jumping!"

Danny swung the backpack over his shoulder as he followed Maddie out of the cockpit. Once she'd double checked Danny's parachute was secure, Maddie threw open the emergency exit door and she and Danny jumped.

They freefell for a few seconds.

"Three...two...one! Deploy you chute Danny!"

Danny pulled the string, and after the initial jolt, he and Maddie were both gently floating to the ground.

"Why on earth did you bring your own parachutes?" Danny asked, the adrenaline beginning to wear off.

"In case ghosts attacked the plane."

"Seriously? Why would a ghost ever be involved in hijacking a plane?"

"Folks, this is your captain speaking," Maddie and Danny both looked over to see the pilot floating down next to them "I'm here to inform you that you've been the victim of a cruel hoax."

There was a sudden pop and a flash of light, and the pilot and his parachute were transformed into a green ghostly mail carrier.

"Happy landing!" he said before flying out of sight.

Maddie gave Danny a smug look. He crossed his arms saltily as the two of them descended below the treetops.

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

They passed the next few hours in silence, Maddie slicing her way through the foliage, Danny following closely (but not too closely) behind. He was very careful not to accidentally touch her.

Eventually, the sun began to dip below the horizon and Maddie decided they should stop by a small stream to make camp.

Maddie put Danny in charge of making the fire while she set up camp. Luckily, she'd happened to bring along sleeping bags in dehydrated pills, which Danny thought was kind of insane, but admittedly convenient.

When she was done setting those up, alongside a lean-to shelter, Maddie sat down next to the tired Danny by the fire. She started rifling through her hip bag.

"Fenton jerky?

"Why do you have all this?" Danny asked, taking a piece.

"It never hurts to be prepared Danny. Case in point." Maddy gestured to the woods around them.

"Yeah. You wouldn't happen to have a cell phone in there, would you?"

"How would that help you if a ghost attacked?" Maddie laughed.

Once Danny had finished his jerky, he noticed that his mom hadn't even started hers.

"Y'know Danny," she said, fiddling with the jerky in her hands "Being stranded in the woods aside, I'm glad we're getting to spend this time together."

"I guess."

There was another pause. Maddie sighed.

"I feel like we haven't been doing that a lot lately."

"I'm a teenager now. I have homework, and I hang out with Sam and Tucker, and you and dad have your ghost stuff."

"I know teenagers have their own lives and don't want to hang out with boring adults all the time, Danny. I was a teenager once and I've already raised one." Maddie laughed briefly before her face turned serious.

"I understand that you need space, but it just seems like ever since the accident-"

"The accident has nothing to do with anything!" Danny said a little too quickly. Maddie looked at him for a few seconds before she continued talking.

"Look, Danny. It's okay if you're mad at your father and me. I wouldn't blame you. It's just that, whatever's going on, I don't want you to feel like you have to hide it from us. "

As Maddie was talking, she reached out and brushed Danny's hand. Danny yelped at the shocking sensation and pulled his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" he snapped. Maddie looked like he'd slapped her.

"Danny, I'm sorry, I-"

"I'm going to sleep now." Danny shot up and began dragging one of the sleeping bags away from the makeshift tent. Maddie didn't stop him.

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

Danny was having trouble sleeping. He couldn't get his mom's hurt face out of his head.

He hadn't meant to snap at her. Really, he hadn't. The Spectre Deflector just hurt. A lot. He knew how that must have looked to his mom, but what was he supposed to tell her?

Danny rolled over and sighed. What did she mean about the accident? Sure, some of his time had been eaten up by ghost hunting, especially when the portal first opened, but major ghosts only popped up a few times a month at most now. He'd actually gone back to making his curfew and turning in his homework. Things were getting better, so what was worrying his mom?

Had she noticed him trying to hide his powers? Did she notice how nervous he got whenever they brought out their latest device? She'd never noticed his powers acting up, but did she notice him running away at random times?

Danny thought he'd been hiding it well, but his mom seemed to realize that something was off. Were other people noticing? Did his dad and Jazz notice? Okay, his dad probably hadn't, but Jazz had been offering to drive him to school a lot more lately, and there was that incident with the guidance counsellor.

At the time Danny had been focused on the fact that Spectra turned out to be a joy-sucking ghost, but Jazz really had been trying to get Danny some help.

She'd also mentioned the accident. Just like his mom had.

Was keeping his ghost powers a secret affecting his relationship with his family?

Danny sat up and got out of his sleeping bag. This was a lot. He needed a break from thinking, and he needed to pee.

He'd barely walked a few feet into the trees when he felt the familiar chill run up his body and out his mouth.

His ghost sense.

Danny was suddenly on high alert.

He barely heard it. An almost imperceptible click, but it was enough to make Danny instinctively lean left, just in time to see a blue beam shoot past him on the right.

He squinted in the direction the beam came from and spotted the faintest glow amongst the branches. There was a soft rustling as the glow retreated into the woods.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny said, thrusting up his arms. "I'm Going Ghost!"

The woods were briefly illuminated by the dual white rings that travelled up and down his body, changing him into ghost form.

The woods darkened again as his transformation concluded, but now Danny's ghostly aura lit up the area around him, making it easier to navigate the woods.

"Even when I'm on vacation, you ghosts just can't leave me alone!" Danny complained as he flew after the ghost.

He didn't have to fly for long before the light from the other ghost was once again visible through the trees. Danny quickly shot out an ecto blast. He heard the snapping of wood and a deep grunt as the blast hit its target.

Danny stopped flying as he emerged into a small clearing. Standing at the other end, shoulder slightly smoking, was none other than-

"Skulker?"

"Surprise whelp!" Skulker said, a bazooka on his shoulder, that Danny somehow hadn't noticed before, whining to life.

Danny barely moved out of the way in time to hear the crunch of a tree splintering apart where he had just been.

"What are you doing in Colorado? And how did you get back in your ecto skeleton?"

"If there's one thing I've learned as a hunter, it's how to be patient and resourceful!"

"Um, actually, that's two-" Danny was interrupted by Skulker whipping out a wrist blaster and nailing Danny square in the chest. The blaster wasn't as powerful as the bazooka, but it was enough to knock Danny back into the trees.

Danny recovered pretty quickly, though, and managed to look up just in time to see a blue net headed straight for him. He quickly blasted it to shreds before retreating into the trees, hoping that would make it harder for Skulker to hit him.

After flying a good distance away, Danny looked over his shoulder. He didn't see Skulker.

Danny stopped and looked around. He couldn't spot any signs of Skulker anywhere. Where was he?

A jolt of electric pain suddenly hit Danny in the back, making him cry out. The pain spread through the rest of his body and lingered, forcing Danny out of the air. He felt himself transforming back into human mode.

"What the-" Danny tried to transform back but it didn't work. "How did you-"

He looked up and saw Skulker standing over him, a wide grin on his face and a small taser-looking device clutched in his hand.

"This device designed to suppress your ghost powers. For the next few hours, you're nothing more than a pathetic human. I call it, the Ecto Minimus!"

"Wow, did you come up with that name all by yourself?" Danny hoped his sarcastic tone was covering up how terrified he was.

"You may have bested me back on your own turf, whelp," Skulker said, hoisting Danny up by his shirt collar "But the great outdoors is the domain of Skulker, the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone!"

Danny gulped.

Suddenly, a shrill unearthly battle cry rang through the night, and a large shape descended on Skulker from the treetops, causing him to drop Danny to the ground.

Danny watched as Skulker struggled to remove the attacker from himself, but they clung on tight and relentlessly pounded at his helmet.

"You get your filthy mitts off my son you giant hunk of ecto-junk!"

"Mom?"

Maddie Fenton continued to slash and yell. Sparks began flying off of Skulkers helmet in every direction. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Skulker turned himself intangible, Maddie's screams finally relenting as she fell to the ground. Skulker flew backwards a few feet and then turned invisible.

"Your invisibility tricks won't work on me ecto-freak!" Maddie yelled into the trees 

"If I see you anywhere near me or my son I will personally slice every limb of your ecto armour to shreds!"

Maddie turned and walked towards Danny, her face softening.

"Danny, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay..."

"Then you'd better have a good explanation," her face hardened again "for what you were doing so far from camp young man."

She reached down and grabbed Danny's arm.

"Wait! Mom, don't-"

"Oh no, you are not getting out of this." Maddie interrupted, pulling Danny onto his feet. "Running into the middle of the woods by yourself as night is incredibly dangerous."

To Danny's surprise, the Spectre Deflector didn't go off. Wow. That Ecto Minimus really worked. The name still sucked.

"I didn't run off, Sk- the ghost attacked me at camp."

"And you ran into the woods instead of towards me? Danny, that's basically playing right into its hand!"

"It wasn't like I was trying to get killed by a ghost!"

Maddie sighed. It wasn't an angry sigh, though.

"I'm sorry Danny. You're right, it's not like you got attacked on purpose. I was just so worried. When I woke up to those horrible noises, and then you weren't in your sleeping bag, and- anyway it doesn't matter."

Maddie began rifling through her bag. She pulled out a key and inserted it into the Spectre Deflector.

Danny felt more guilt being added on to the already immense pile in his stomach.

"Mom, I-"

Before Danny could finish speaking she'd snapped the Deflector around his own waist.

"I didn't think we'd actually run into any ghosts on this trip," she said "But, since I seemed to have been wrong about that, you'd better wear that for protection Danny. And stay close to me. Who knows what could be lurking in these woods."

With that, Maddie turned around and began slicing through the foliage. Danny gave the Specter deflector a few experimental tugs. It was not coming off.

"Well this is just great." he said to himself before setting off to follow his mom.

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

They walked in silence for a long while. Maddie was continuously scanning their surroundings as they walked, ready for action. She didn't notice how Danny flinched every time a leaf so much as rustled.

He hated to admit it, but Danny was feeling incredibly off-kilter and vulnerable without his powers. It was like a part of him was missing. A part of him that would be really useful if they happened to get attacked by a ghost, which was likely in this situation.

Maddie suddenly froze and threw her arm out in front of Danny. He almost bumped into her in the dark.

She turned to look at him and pointed ahead. Danny wasn't sure how he missed it but, just on the other side of the bushed they were standing behind, was a glowing green moose. It's head was bent over a small stream.

Danny had never seen a moose before and was rather taken aback by the creature's size. Was it just huge because it was a ghost? Danny knew moose and deer were different, but this ghost was a lot bigger than the deer he'd seen back at home.

The ghost moose lifted it's head and turned to look directly where Maddie and Danny were standing.

All three of them just stood there looking at each other for a solid minute. It felt like an hour.

"I'm going to approach it." Maddie finally whispered. "Try and scare it off."

"Mom are you crazy!" Danny hissed back. "Look at the size of that thing, there's no way it'll be scared by you!"

"No matter how big it is, Danny, it's still a ghost. And any ghost that knows what's good for it will fear me."

That statement kind of made Danny fear her, even if he wasn't technically a ghost right now. He held his breath as Maddie stepped out from behind the bushes. She approached the ghost slowly but confidently, Fenton Machete poised in front of her torso.

The moose's fur began to fluff up and its ears went back.

Did that mean his mom's plan was working? Was the ghost scared?

A rustling from above made Danny to snap his head up. Above him in the trees, three pairs of glowing red eyes were staring down at him.

"Mom?" Danny said, right as another rustle sounded in the bushes behind the moose.

"Shh!"

"Mom, the moose isn't alone."

Maddie turned her head around to look at Danny. That was when the the moose began to bat the ground with it's front hooves. Danny didn't know how he knew, but he knew that that wasn't a good sign.

"Mom look out! The moose!" he shouted.

Maddie barely had time to jump out of the way as the moose attempted to charge her. It sailed past, but turned right back around and started pawing the ground again.

A bunch of green glowing goats jumped out from the bushes Danny had seen rustling earlier and started bleating like crazy, their cries causing a cacophony of chaos and confusion. Many of them tried to ram Maddie, but she fought them back expertly, dodging half of them and deflecting the other half with her machete. It was both incredible and terrifying to watch.

Danny's eyes were drawn away from the tense battle by the sound of horrible hissing above him. The raccoons were all standing straight up and their teeth were bared menacingly.

In the distance Danny saw some large green birds approaching from above. Danny assumed they would be about as friendly as the rest of the ghost animals.

"I can handle them Danny!" Maddie called from the throng of goats. "It's you I'm worried about! Run!"

It was like a battle was going on in his body. On the one hand, he was powerless, unarmed, and in great danger here, but he couldn't just leave-

"I SAID RUN DANNY!"

The part of Danny's brain telling him to run won out at the desperation in his mother's voice, and he was suddenly fleeing from the ghost animals as fast as his legs could take him.

It was hard to navigate through the thick brush in the dark. Danny almost tripped at least twenty time, but he kept running. His lungs began to burn, but he didn't stop.

After a bit, Danny noticed a light in the distance. For a second he was worried it was Skulker, but the light was more yellow than Skulker's sterile white aura. Danny had no idea what that light could be, but he decided to find out. He got as close as he could without being detected and stopped running.

Big mistake.

Every muscle in his body was suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion.. Danny began panting, gulping in as much air as he could, but it didn't help the burning in his lungs.

Danny looked into the light. His vision had actually gone blurry from the exertion, but he could see that there was a person holding an electric lantern. He hoped they were friendly.

"Daniel?"

Wait a minute, he knew that voice.

"Vlad?"

"What in the sweet sarsaparilla are you-"

The sound of rusting leaves interrupted them.

"Get behind me." Vlad commanded, reaching to push Danny out of the way.

"No, Vlad, wait I-"

Too late. Vlad's hand made contact with Danny, and the light on the Spectre Deflector went off. Vlad screamed as green electricity enveloped him. He yanked his hand away from Danny and fell to the ground. The sparks faded, but Vlad was still dazed.

Danny's head snapped toward the woods where the rustling was getting louder. He realized he was too weak and tired to fight back or run as he looked between the dazed Vlad and the rustling trees, panic rising.

He braced himself for the worst as the noises were suddenly right next to them. A group of small green animals burst from the foliage, heading straight towards Danny and Vlad. They were moving too fast for Danny to identify them all, but he was pretty sure saw some rabbits and chipmunks.

Danny instinctively threw his arms up in front of his face, but the animals just ran right past the two of them, disappearing back into the woods. They either ran around or between Vlad and Danny.

Danny watched the swarm of animals until they stopped coming. A green squirrel jumped down from above somewhere and landed beside Vlad. It turned to face him and began chittering wildly, waving it's arms frantically.

"Sorry, Joe." Vlad said, leaning on his elbow to face the squirrel. "I left the translator back at the lodge. I don't know what you're trying to tell me, but rest assured, if there's trouble afoot, I will find and take care of it." Vlad said the last bit with a finality that almost made Danny shudder.

This seemed to satisfy the squirrel, who ran off after the other animals. The woods were suddenly quiet again.

"Well," Vlad grunted, pushing himself onto his knees. "Something seems to have gotten them riled up."

"Yeah. Uh, are you okay?" Danny asked, offering a hand to help him up.

"Yes dear boy, I'm quite alri-" as Vlad grabbed Danny's hand, the indictor light on the Spectre Deflecter went off again and Vlad was once again screaming and sparking. Panicking, Danny dropped his hand, causing Vlad to fall back down to the ground. The electricity quickly vanished.

"Oops, sorry. You should, uh, probably avoid touching me."

"Noted." Vlad gritted from the ground.

Danny was worried he'd done some serious damage. He let out a sigh of relief when Vlad finally sat up.

"Beef brisket," Vlad swore as he rubbed his head "Whatever you've got there packs quite the punch."

"My dad calls it the Spectre Deflector. He converted the house ghost shield into a belt to protect my mom from ghosts on our trip."

"I suppose a personal protective device of that nature would require such a powerful regulator." Vlad nodded. "But why on earth isn't it effecting you?"

"My powers got disrupted. I'm all human for the next...well, I don't actually know how long." The Ecto Minimus did wear off, right? Skulker had implied it did. Danny sure hoped it did. "But I am zero per cent ghost right now, I guess." "The Spector Deflector can disrupt your powers?"

"No, it electrocutes me too. I ran into Skulker earlier. He's got some kind of new gizmo."

"Butter biscuits! I thought Skulker had abandoned this area! And here I thought this would be a nice peaceful week of quiet research." Vlad floated back onto his feet and brushed himself off. "You mentioned your mother. Is she around?"

"Yeah, but we got separated a bit ago. I think Skulker rigged up this whole trip as a way to get to me."

"I suppose that makes sense. Which direction were you with her last? We should start walking."

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

"...and so after my mom kicked Skulker's butt we ran into a buch of ghost animals and got seperated." Danny finished explaining as he and Vlad walked.

"It seems Skulker's caused you quite a bit of trouble this weekend. He always has been rather persistent. And annoying."

"Can't argue with you there." Danny laughed. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"Ghost research."

"Can't you do that back in Wisconsin?"

"As it happens, Skulker used to use these very woods as a sort of practice hunting ground. He left it many years ago, but the spirits' of the beasts Skulker slayed still linger here, making it one of the most lucrative spots for ghost research. Outside of the Ghost Zone itself, of course."

"I didn't know animals could leave ghosts."

"Didn't we fight three such spectres the last time we met?"

"Oh. Yeah, I mean, I kinda thought ghosts like that just...formed I guess?"

"It is true that some creatures seem to be able to manifest a form from the excess ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone. I assume the formation of the ghosts in these woods was somewhat relevant to the spectral nature of their hunter, but it is quite difficult to determine what truly causes a ghost to form. Similar trials have yielded completely different results, so the question of what ghosts are and where they come from may perhaps always be a mystery."

Danny was too stunned to speak. It was like someone had taught his parents to talk fancy.

They continued to walk in silence for a bit.

Danny suddenly rememebered something that he wanted to talk to Vlad about.

"Vlad." Danny said. "We haven't seen you in months."

"I've been busy, Daniel." Vlad said. "Between my CEO duties and arduous ghost research, it can be rather difficult to find the time to stop by."

Danny thought back to his conversation with Sam and Tucker.

"Do you...actually want to see us?"

"What? Of course, don't be ridiculous."

Vlad seemed genuinely taken aback by Danny's accusation. Danny didn't want to offend him, but something about the whole situation just wasn't sitting right, and Danny knew that it would continue to bug him if he didn't find out. And if he didn't find out now, then he might not see Vlad for another few months.

"To be honest, if really feels like you don't."

"Daniel, I told you, I'm extremely busy, and-"

"It's been months. You've only stopped by once since the reunion. And you don't pick up the phone when my mom calls you."

"As I said," Vlad's tone was steadily getting less friendly. "I'm-"

"Busy, yeah, I know." Danny was running out of patience too. "I get that you've got a lot going on, but honestly it just seems like you can't be bothered to haul your butt down to Amity to see us."

"That's enough Daniel. Drop it."

"Are you telling me you're too busy for a five-minute phone conversation? Or even an e-mail?"

"I said drop it."

"I just want to know why. Are you still angry at them? You say you're not, but you act like you-"

"How could I be angry at them?!" Vlad's eyes glowed a dangerous red. "They're my only friends! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

Danny took a startled step back.

The red glow faded from Vlad's eyes. He looked horrified by what he'd just done.

"Daniel, I-"

A blue blast suddenly came out of nowhere and hit Danny, knocking him back into a tree.

"Daniel!" Vlad cried. He turned to face where the beam had come from, anger in his eyes.

Skulker stepped out from the shadows, a wide grin on his metal face.

"Well, what do you know," he smiled "I didn't expect to run into both halfas in the same place."

A black ring appeared around Vlad's waist.

"You have five seconds to explain who you are and what you want," the ring split in two, transforming him into his ghost form. "Before I personally tear you apart piece by piece."

"Vlad, that's Skulker," Danny said from the ground. The impact from the tree had left him too dazed to get up. "He's here for my pelt."

"That's Skulker? He was a lot smaller the last time I saw him. When did he get that armour?"

"You like it?" Skulker gestured to his suit. "I've had some upgrades! Now,"

Skulker raised his arm and fired at Vlad with a double barreled wrist blaster. Vlad went intangible and sunk into the ground.

Danny felt Vlad grab him from behind and rise into the air. He set Danny down on a particularly thick tree branch.

"Stay here." Vlad said, voice firm. "This shouldn't take long."

"Where else would I go?" Danny muttered, clutching the trunk of the tree as Vlad flew away.

After getting some distance from Danny, Vlad threw some pink energy blasts at Skulker. Unfortunately, he was able to dodge most of Vlad's hits using the the trees as cover. A few of Vlad's blasts did manage to hit Skulker, but they didn't seem to do much damage to his sturdy armour.

Skulker soon began firing back with his wrist blaster, but Vlad was able to use the trees to the same advantage Skulker had. Vlad was more nimble than Skulker, so he managed to avoid all of Skulker's blasts.

As Vlad dodged, he moved closer to Skulker and Danny saw him charge up ecto energy in his arm like he had the night he fought Technus. Once Vlad was close enough, he dashed over to Skulker and grabbed his wrist blaster with his charged-up hand, melting the blaster clean off Skulker's arm.

Vlad smirked as he unceremoniously dropped the deformed lump of metal to the ground.

Vlad threw a punch at Skulker, but Skulker managed to dodge it and jabbed Vlad with a familiar device. Danny's heart stopped as he watched him fall to the ground, screaming and surrounded by pink electricity.

The black rings returned, reverting Vlad to his human form.

A rare look of panic crossed Vlad's face. Some black stars sparked around him as he unsuccessfully attempted to change back into his ghost form.

Vlad pushed himself up from the ground and threw all his momentum into a punch directed at Skulker.

Grinning, Skulker reached out and caught Vlad's oncoming fist. Vlad could barely stifle a pained noise as his hand made contact with the hard metal of Skulker's armour.

"Nice try, Plasmius." Skulker sneered. "But I'm afraid both of you are useless in this form, and that terrifying blue hunter is currently occupied by my previous conquests, leaving both your pelts ripe for the picking."

"Ew." Danny and Vlad said at the same time.

"Complain all you want," Skulker pointed his arm canon directly at Vlad's face 

"There's nothing you can do to escape your fate."

The gun began to whine. Vlad shut his eyes from the glare. Danny clutched the trunk of the tree even tighter.

SHWINK!

There was a sudden blur of motion, and Skulker's canon arm fell clean off, the glow from the barrel fading away.

Danny didn't recognize the figure standing beside Skulker right away. They were covered from head to toe in dark mud and leaves, which was probably why no one had noticed their approach.

"I warned you to stay away from my son ghost!"

"Mom?"

"Maddie?"

Maddie moved with incredible speed. She danced and hopped around Skulker, hacking at his armour with her Fenton Machete.

Skulker tried to fight her off, but his clunky armour clearly wasn't designed to take on such an agile opponent at close range. Bits of metal and sparks flew off of Skulker as he desperately flailed about, failing to hinder the enraged Maddie in any way. His other arm soon joined the first one on the ground.

"This is what happens when you mess with me ghost!" Maddie cried as she jammed the Fenton Machete into Skulker's face.

Skulker's head went flying and landed a few meters away. A tiny green blob with limb's crawled out from inside of it.

"I yield! I yield!" he squeaked "You are the superior hunter! I admit it! I'm out of here!"

The tiny Skulker turned intangible and dove into the ground.

Behind Maddie, the body of Skulker's now empty armour swayed and fell to the ground with a crash.

Danny and Vlad just blinked.

Maddie looked at Vlad.

"Now, what in the sweet sarsaparilla are you doing in Colorado, Vlad?"

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

"It's very fortunate we ran into you out there, Vlad." Maddie said. "You're sure it's not a bother having us here?"

"Oh don't be ridiculous Maddie." Vlad smiled "What else am I going to do? Just send you two out there to fend for yourselves in those treacherous woods? Preposterous. Anyway, this is where you'll be staying."

After clearing up some confusion and getting Danny out of the tree, Vlad had led the group back to his log villa. It was smaller than his mansion, but it was still quite big. Vlad told them it was a very old structure, but it had had electricity and running water installed at some point, which Danny was very thankful for.

Vlad had offered to give them a tour, but after spending hours on edge in the woods at night, Danny and Maddie just wanted to go to sleep. Vlad was very understanding and had led them directly to the spare bedrooms.

"Ooh, this is much ritzier than our makeshift campsite, eh Danny?" Maddie gently elbowed Danny in the side. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to change into a less muddy jumpsuit."

With that, Maddie walked into the bedroom and shut the door.

"She brought an extra jumpsuit, but no cell phone." Danny wasn't even surprised anymore.

"Yes, that does sound like Maddie." Vlad smiled fondly. "I'll show you your room now, Daniel."

Danny took a look around as they walked down the hall. All the walls in this house seemed to be made of wood planks or logs. It was kind of cool, looking at all the knots and long swirls of the grain. The floors were also wood, but they were mostly covered by fuzzy red carpeting.

They turned a corner, and Danny was blown away by the number of doorframes he saw. This house seemed to have infinity rooms.

"You sure have a lot of spare rooms. I didn't think you'd have too many guests here."

"Oh no, besides for the all the ghost animals, I never have company. The ones who originally built this house likely did. I believe that they had a rather large family. Anyway, here we are."

Vlad stopped walking and opened a door to reveal a room that was pretty similar to the one Maddie was staying in. Danny stepped in and looked around. The colours of the bed spread were very pale. The whole bed looked very soft. And comfy. Just looking at the bed seemed to increase Danny's already pretty high levels of tiredness.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a chittering sound somewhere behind him. A green squirrel seemed to fall from the ceiling and landed on Vlad's shoulder. Vlad did not seem particularly surprised by this.

"Much appreciated, Joe." he said, accepting something shiny from the squirrel's mouth. Vlad tossed the object to Danny.

"Figured you could use that." he said.

Danny looked at the object in his hand. It was a key. He inserted it into the Spectre Deflector and turned it. There was an audible click and the belt unstrapped itself and fell from Danny's waist.

"Thanks." he said, picking up the Deflector and stuffing it in his pocket with the key. "But how did you get it?"

"I simply asked my friend here." Vlad smiled, gesturing to the squirrel on his shoulder. "I would have retrieved it myself, but it seems my intangibility yet to return."

The squirrel chittered indignantly on Vlad's shoulder.

"Ah yes, of course." Vlad dug somewhere under his collar and pulled out an acorn. He held it out to the squirrel, who snatched it and scampered away.

"You'd think providing them sanctuary would be enough of a reward on it's own." He said, watching the squirrel dart down the hall. "Then again, I suppose this isn't my house. I just pay for it."

"Wait, the animals live here?"

"Yes. Many years ago, when Skulker used to terrorize the animals here, I found out that he would persist after them even when they'd already been killed. I suppose he was testing the effectiveness of his gear on ghosts as well as the living. It felt cruel to torment those creatures endlessly, and Skulker had learned very quickly not to mess with me, so I told the animals that they could hide in the house. Even after Skulker left most of them stuck around. I still see them going in and out of here every time I stop by."

"So it's a real animal house here." Danny said.

Vlad smiled a little at Danny's joke.

"Your powers haven't returned yet, have they?" he asked.

Danny looked down at his hand. He tried to turn it invisible, but nothing happened.

"Nope."

"Shame. I wonder how long this lasts." Vlad stared at his own hand for a few seconds. "It's strange. For quite a while I actually despised my ghostliness and would have done anything to get rid of it. Even today I don't know if I'd say I like it, but now that it's gone, I feel sort of..."

"Incomplete?"

"Yes, that's the word. Anyway, I'll leave you now. I'm sure you're anxious to get some sleep." Vlad gave Danny a wave as he walked away.

Danny stared at the door where Vlad had just been. He knew exactly what he meant. The first month after the accident he'd have done anything to undo it, but now, well, he wasn't so sure. He'd kind of grown to like his powers. He probably wouldn't have any problems with being half-ghost if he didn't have to keep it a secret from his family. That was kind of the only downside. That, and getting electrocuted by the Spectre Deflector.

Exhaustion began to overtake Danny. He gave in and faceplanted into the bed. He wanted to lay there forever, but after about thirty seconds his body reminded him what he had been doing before Skulker showed up.

He'd needed to pee two hours ago and he hadn't. Now he really needed to pee. Quietly grumbling, Danny pushed himself off of the bed and began searching the halls, on the hunt for a bathroom.

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

Danny was completely lost. He couldn't find a bathroom, or the way back to his room.

Having the ability to fly and turn intangible would have been really helpful right now, Danny thought bitterly to himself. After another few minutes of roaming, Danny suddenly noticed a rhythmic creaking noise.

Crrk

Crik

Crrk

Crik

Curious, Danny walked in the direction the noise was coming from. He turned a corner and saw a light coming from a nearby room. He walked closer and peeked past the doorframe.

At the back wall of the room, near a large window, Danny saw the source of the creaking: an ancient looking rocking chair was steadily rocking back and forth. Why Vlad hadn't mentioned someone was here. Wait, hadn't he said he never had people over?

Danny froze when he noticed the spectral green tail hanging over the edge of the seat, swaying along to the rocking of the chair.

His powers still hadn't returned, so he had no way to protect himself if the ghost was hostile.

Maybe the ghost wasn't hostile?

Danny figured he should go tell Vlad about the ghost just in case. Even if Vlad didn't have weapons, his mom certainly would.

"Is that you, Vladdie dearest?" a voice asked from the rocking chair. Shoot.

"Um...n-no. My name's Danny. I'm staying here with Vlad for the night. Um, do you know him?"

The ghost laughed. It wasn't a mean laugh.

"Of course I know him dearest. Come in, come in. It's a bit foolish carrying a conversation from the hallway."

Danny stepped into the room. There wasn't much in it. Just a dresser and a bookshelf filled with knick-knacks. There wasn't even a bed. The light he'd seen was coming from one of those old oil lamps on the dresser. The walls were made of the same unfinished wood as all the other walls in the house, but there were a few colourful flowers crudely painted on them low to the ground.

"Don't be shy now. Come over here where I can see you, dearest."

Danny gulped. The ghost seemed harmless, friendly even, but he couldn't help feeling vulnerable without his powers. How did Sam and Tucker face malicious ghosts like this all the time?

Danny took a few steps towards the window. He almost jumped when the rocking chair began to float a few inches off the ground. The chair turned 180 degrees and sank back down to the ground.

"That's better." The ghost smiled. She was quite tiny. Her glowing skin was the translucent green colour that ghosts often were. She was wearing a matching dress and  bonnet that were a horrendously pink gaudy floral patterns. Danny might've barfed if he'd seen that pattern in any other context, but they strangely seemed to suit the ghost that was wearing them.

She peered at Danny through the thinnest wire glasses he'd ever seen. Her eyes, despite glowing a menacing red, were shaped into soft slits as if she was half drifting off to sleep.

"Hmmm, the first human guest Vlad's had in years and it's a child. Strange. Are you Vlad's son perhaps? He's never talked about you." "What? Oh, no. I'm just a friend. My mom's friends with Vlad, and she's here too and she brought me along." Danny wondered if the ghost could tell how nervous he was.

"No guests for nearly twenty years then suddenly two guests? My that Vlad is a strange one. Ah, but where are my manners? I know your name, but you don't know mine. Danny, my name is Bernadette. My friends call me Bernie, though." She paused and narrowed her eyes at him. "You can call me Bernie, you seem like the friendly sort."

"It's, um, nice to meet you Bernie." Danny felt his body relax. He was 99% sure Bernie wasn't going to attack him at this point. That did leave Danny with the awkward problem of not knowing what to say to an elderly ghost.

"So...are you friends with Vlad?"

"Ah, dearest Vlad." Bernie smiled fondly. "What a nice young man. He takes such good care of me. Well, I suppose I don't need much taking care of, being a ghost and all, but the sweet thing always comes to see me when he's up here. He doesn't come up too much, he's so busy with his big company. He runs it, you know. But when he does come he always visits me. Asks how I'm doing, if I need anything, just sits and listens to me gab away. What a doll." Bernie looked over at the bookshelf.

"You know he brought all my treasures down for me from the attic when he first found me. Being a ghost makes it awful hard to pick things up, let me tell you. I do love not having to cook anymore, though. Anyway, Vlad went and fetched all my things the seconds I told him about them. He said it was to apologize for infesting my house with all the wild life, even though I didn't mind one bit. I rather like the little critters. Even the bears and such don't cause trouble. I always wanted to see some live bears up close when I was alive. Ma and Pa never let me get to close to them though. Quite dangerous creatures, when you're alive anyway. Which I'm not, so there Ma and Pa!" Bernie chuckled.

Danny felt a yawn coming on. He tried to stifle it but it had been a strenuous night, and it was quite late.

"My goodness!" Bernie's eyes widened slightly, as though she were snapping out of a daze. "How rude of me! I do forget you humans still need sleep! And here I am rambling away when you're so clearly tuckered out, you poor thing. Off you get now!"

"Oh, yeah, thanks. Sorry, I am kind of tired."

"No need to apologize young man. You've been nothing but patient and polite with me. Don't you worry about hurting my feelings. I've got nothing but time, and I'll go on for forever if you let me. Now off to bed with you."

"You wouldn't happen to know where the bathroom is, would you?"

"Considering I've been living in this house for the last five hundred years, I would hope so." Bernie laughed. "It's down the hall at your first left turn."

"Thanks Bernie." Danny said as he headed out the door. "Goodnight."

"Such a polite young man. Goodnight Danny."

As Danny left Bernie's rocker floated into the air and turned to face the window again.

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

Danny sighed. He'd found the bathroom, but now he was having trouble finding his room again. Why did everywhere in this lodge look the same?

He stopped when he heard voices coming from a nearby room.

His mom and Vlad must've been in there talking. Danny stopped by the doorway and peeked inside. The two of them were standing by an unlit fireplace, a nearby lamp giving the room a soft yellow glow. Danny assumed this was some sort of sitting room.

"...couldn't get the ectoplasm out of the carpet for weeks!" Danny heard his mom say. "You can still see it glowing when it's really dark outside!"

They laughed for a bit and then there was a few seconds of silence.

"You could come back with us, you know." Maddie said. "Jack would be ecstatic to see you."

"Sadly, I can't Maddie. I've got a tight schedule to keep. I would love to come down, but I simply don't have the time to spare."

Maddie picked up an ornament from the mantle. She looked at it as she spoke.

"You know Vlad, it's alright. You can tell me the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you're still mad at us about the accident."

Vlad blinked a few times before responding.

"What? Of course I'm not mad, that was all in the past. I've told you, I don't hold any resentment towards you or Jack. It was an accident, after all."

"Then why don't you want to see us?"

"What? Don't be ridiculous, of course I want to see you. You and Jack are my best friends!"

"You say that Vlad, but you never stop by. I've called you. Many times, and you never call back."

"I'm CEO of a very lucrative company Maddie. That keeps me rather-"

"Busy. I know. Too busy to fit a five minute phone call in over the course of three months."

Maddie put the ornament back on the mantle and faced Vlad.

"And then the few times we do get to see you, you seem anxious to leave as soon as possible. You barely seemed like you wanted to be at our house the one time you stopped by. And even when you invited us to your place, you disappeared five minutes after we arrived, and then we barely got to see you at the party. There was an actual ghost attack, and you missed it!"

Maddie took a calming breath.

"I want to spend time with you, Vlad. I miss you. Jack and I both do. It was so painful, not seeing you for the last twenty years, but when we do see you now it feels like it's just to tease us before you go right back to ghosting us."

Maddie probably didn't notice how Vlad tensed up at that wording, but Danny did.

"We want to be friends with you again, Vlad, but honestly it doesn't seem like you really want to be friends with us. You don't trust us and that hurts. I can't stand what you're doing to me. I want to stop re-opening the wound you left. The worst part of all of this is that you can't even be honest about it."

Vlad didn't say anything. He didn't even move. He just stood there with a stupefied look on his face.

"I should go to bed." Maddie turned away from him.

That seemed to break Vlad out of his stupor.

"Maddie, I-"

"Thanks again for letting us stay the night."

Danny began to panic as his mom approached the door. He managed to turn himself invisible just as she entered the hall.

He turned invisible? Nice, his powers were back!

He turned visible again as soon as his mom was out of sight.

Danny peeked around the doorframe into the sitting room. He wondered if he should go in and talk to Vlad.

He took a deep breath and entered the room. Vlad turned at the sound of his footsteps.

"Oh, Daniel." Vlad's ever-present smile nowhere to be found. "What are you doing?"

He didn't sound angry, just tired.

"Uh, my ghost powers are back."

"Oh, good." Vlad didn't seem that excited about that news.

"Also I, uh, kind of heard that last bit of your conversation." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh."

Danny had no idea what to say. He wondered if maybe he should have just left.

"I'm...sorry for snapping at you earlier." Vlad said "That was uncalled for."

"Oh." Danny said awkwardly. "It's fine."

"No, it was completely inappropriate." Vlad sighed. "I suppose the things you were saying weren't completely untrue. You and Maddie both. I just...didn't want to face them. You were right. I've...I've just been awful to Jack and Maddie, haven't I? To all of you."

Vlad sat on the sofa and buried his face in his hands. Danny had no idea what to do.

"I want to see them, I really do. I just...I can't risk them finding out."

"I get what you mean, I really do, but it's not too hard a secret to hide from them. 

I've done pretty well, so it shouldn't be a problem for y-"

"No, Daniel," Vlad put his hands down and leaned on his lap. "It's different for me. I just...on some deep level I just can't risk Jack and Maddie finding out. If...if they knew what I...what I really was...I can't lose Jack and Maddie, I just can't! Then I-I'd have nothing..."

"It kind of seems like you already have."

Vlad looked at Danny. The most deflated expression he'd ever seen flashed across Vlad's face, but it quickly replaced with a neutral expression.

"I think," Vlad said as he stood up. "That I should go to bed. It's late."

His tone was level. Too level. Expressionless, he proceeded to walked past Danny.

"Wait!" Vlad stopped at the doorway. "I'm sorry, Vlad. I-I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't do anything wrong Daniel. I'm just...tired. Very tired. This night has...given me a lot to think about."

With that he turned around and walked out into the hall, leaving Danny alone in the sitting room. He sighed to himself. If only Jazz had been here. She'd probably know how to fix things between Vlad and Mom.

Not that she'd be working with the full picture, but still, she'd probably have done a better job than Danny did.

Vlad wasn't the only one that was tired. Danny yawned before heading back out to the hall to continue searching for his room. At least it would be easier to find now that his powers were back.

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

Danny wasn't sure what time he woke up the next morning, but the sun had fully risen. He stretched and put on his clothes from yesterday (which felt pretty gross).

The lodge was slightly easier to navigate in the daytime, so Danny only wandered around the halls for a little bit until he found the kitchen. His mom was already there, fully dressed and cooking some eggs.

"Good morning Sweetie. Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, I did. Is Vlad up yet?"

"He left a note." Maddie turned back to the eggs. "He said he had to set out early to get some stuff done, so he won't be around to see us off."

"Oh." Danny picked up the note from the island. His mom had summed it up pretty well. "Wait, what's he saying about a helicopter?"

"Oh, we discussed it last night. Vlad keeps a helicopter out here for emergencies, and he's letting us take it to get home."

"Wait, you can pilot a helicopter?"

"Of course. Breakfast is ready!" Maddy scooped some scrambled eggs onto a plate and handed it to Danny. "There you go."

Danny noticed that his eggs looked paler than normal.

"You put milk in the eggs?" Danny said as he sat down.

"Is that a problem?" Maddie looked worried.

"No, no! That's actually the way I like them. Jazz thinks its weird, and she's usually the one that makes the eggs, so I haven't had them in a while. This is...really nice."

Maddie smiled and took a seat across from Danny.

"Your father hates it too."

"Really? Dad hates a food?"

"That's the one food he won't eat. Well, he'll eat it, but he'll tell me how weird I am the whole time."

"So for about two seconds?"

"Daniel!" his mom feigned offense.

Danny laughed at that. His mom laughed too.

They ate very quickly. Danny had been too tired last night to realize how hungry he was.

"Did you make your bed this morning?" Maddie asked as she collected Danny's empty plate.

"Ummmm, yes?" Danny smiled wide.

"Alright, you can go up and double check your bed while I was the dishes, and then we'll set off."

Danny rolled his eyes as he headed back to his bedroom.

After he finished actually making the bed (to the best of his ability), he decided to make a quick stop before heading back to the kitchen.

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"Bernie? Hello?" Danny pushed open the door to Bernie's room.  She was sitting in her rocker like last night, only now the curtains were closed and she was facing towards the door. Her eyes were shut and her hands were folded on her lap. She looked so peaceful.

Her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, sorry." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Oh don't be silly." Bernie waved a hand at him. "I was just resting my eyes."

"Oh. Well, anyway, my mom and I were about to leave, and I just wanted to say goodbye real quick. You're pretty much the only friendly ghost I've ever met."

"Well how nice of you Danny." Bernie beamed. "Come here, I have something for you."

"Oh, " Danny stepped into the room "Thanks, but you don't have to-"

"Oh nonsense! Now, hold out your hand."

Danny held out his hand. Bernie waved her hand over his palm. Three green (what Danny assumed were) wrapped candies appeared in the air and fell into his palm. They glowed faintly.

"Um, thanks Bernie." Danny hadn't expected that, but he guessed it made sense for an old lady to have hard candies.

Bernie closed Danny's fingers with her hand. Her touch was so gentle Danny barely even felt it. "Poor Vladdie. He's so good to me, but he never talks about his own friends. I can sense his loneliness. He reminds me of my own son in that way. It's good he has friends now, though. You share those with Vlad and your mother now."

"I will. See you Bernie" Danny smiled. He turned and began towards door.

"Goodbye Danny." Bernie began to relax back into her chair. "Do me a favour and take care of Vladdie for me. Won't you?"

"I will." Danny said as he walked out the door.

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Getting ready to go was a very fast process when all your luggage had been lost in a plane crash. They were soon in the air heading back to Amity. "

Did you...ask Vlad if he wanted to come with us?" Danny asked. "To, like, maybe visit Dad?" He hoped his mom didn't notice how tacked on that last part was.

"I did. He said he was too busy."

"Oh."

Maddie's expression was neutral. Too neutral. She wasn't disappointed that Vlad wasn't coming, she'd accepted that fact. Maybe before she'd even invited him. It made Danny feel worse for his mom than he would have if she'd looked sad.

They flew in silence for a few minutes before Maddie sighed.

"Look, Danny, I'm sorry about this weekend."

"What do you mean? You're not the one who hijacked the plane."

"No, I meant that conversation by the fire."

Even after all the chaos, Danny hadn't forgotten about that night. He still felt terrible about it.

"Mom, it's okay."

"No Danny, it's not okay. You haven't been acting okay for a while, and I assumed I could just jump in and fix everything in a single weekend. If we're being honest though, I should've addressed this months ago. I shouldn't have let things go on for as long as they did. I told myself you needed some space, but maybe I was just too scared to face the fact that, even if it was unintentional, your father and I hurt you. A part of me was scared that if I brought this up, it'd just end up pushing you further away. But that was irresponsible of me, and not at all how a parent should act. You weren't getting better by not talking about it, but I was being too cowardly to help."

Maddie took a calming breath before continuing.

"I just want you to know that, if you hold any resentment towards me or your father, we understand. We messed up big time with the portal. And other things. But whatever you're going through, I want to be there to help. Your father and I both do. Even if it's something you think we won't want to hear, we can take it, I promise. I know you're getting older and you need to figure some things our yourself, but we want to be there for you in whatever way we can."

Maddie turned to face Danny.

"I love you Danny, and I want to be a part of your life. I'm sorry if I've been forgetting to show you that lately."

Danny didn't know what to say.

How long had she been thinking like this? How long had she assumed everything was her fault?

Why hadn't Mom said something earlier? Why did she hide this from him? Finding out she'd been keeping this information a secret from him for so long made Danny feel so hurt and guilty.

...Oh.

The knot that had been in Danny's stomach for the last fifteen hours began to loosen as he realized what he had to do. He put a hand on his mom's shoulder. Maddie seemed genuinely surprised by the physical contact.

"It's not your fault Mom." Danny said. "I've been...going through some stuff. It's nothing bad, it's just..." Danny struggled to find the words. How could he explain it without telling the truth? "I just...didn't think about how it would affect other people. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry." Danny looked at his feet in shame.

"You don't have to be sorry."

Dany looked up from the floor when he felt something touch his hand. He saw his mom's black gloved hand covering his own.

"You can always tell me about it, you know."

"I..."

Danny looked into his mother's eyes. They were so hopeful.

"Not...not today. But maybe someday."

Maddie was smiling, but Danny wasn't sure what kind of a smile it was.

He wasn't sure if he meant what he said. Maybe he did. The thought terrified him.

Danny didn't want to think about that right now though. He'd think about that later when he was alone. For now he needed a distraction.

Danny reached into his pocket.

"What have you got there?" Maddie asked.

Danny pulled out a tiny bottle filled with orange pop.

"I found a bunch of these in Vlad's kitchen fridge." He said, uncapping the bottle.

"And you took one? Without asking?"

"Vlad's a gazillionaire and he had like, a million more of these things." Danny took a swig. "Oh, wow that's nice."

"Daniel James Fenton, that is not the-"

"You want some?" Danny held the bottle out to her.

Maddie stopped speaking. Sharing pop had been a strange but special sort of tradition with her and Danny. One they hadn't done in years. Maddie thought Danny had forgotten about it.

"I- well...alright, hand it over." she accepted the bottle from Danny and took a drink. Her eyes went wide. "Holy moley, that stuff is good!"

"Right?"

"Seriously," Maddie turned the bottle around "What is in this?"

"Eyes on the road, Mom!"

"We're in the sky Danny." Maddie said.

THUMP!

Danny and Maddie nearly jumped out of their seats when a seagull crashed into the helicopter's windscreen. They both just stared at the surprised bird as it slid down the glass and out of sight.

"But, yeah, I'll just look at his when we get home." She said handing the bottle back to Danny.

Danny rolled his eyes affectionately.

This really was nice.

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

"You know Danny, I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't tell them what happened on the trip." Maddie said as they approached their house. "Your father will be so disappointed to hear he missed fighting ghosts and seeing Vlad."

"I'm okay with that."

"We're home!" Maddie announced as they opened the door.

Jack was sitting on the couch working on his embroidery while Jazz sat on the other end reading a very thick book.

"Hey, welcome back! How was the trip?"

"Oh, you know," Maddie said.

"Boring." Danny added.

"Nothing interesting."

"Snooze."

"Who even cares?"

"I'm gonna go call Sam and Tucker." Danny said. He made to leave, but then stopped and kissed his mom on the cheek. "I had fun though. We should spend more time together."

Danny went upstairs. Maddie watched with a smile on her face.

"So," She turned to Jack "Anything interesting happen here?"

"Oh, nothing really." Jack said.

"Same old same old." Jazz added.

"Boring."

"Ho hum."

"Yawn."

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Danny had barely opened his bedroom door when he felt his ghost sense go off.

"Seriously? I haven't even been home for five minutes!"

Danny went over to his window and threw it open. He looked around. He didn't see any ghosts.

"Aaaaaaargh!" Came a war cry from below. Danny looked down. A giant green beaver ran out the front door, with Jazz on its back, her arms wrapped around it's neck.

"Dad execute maneuver nine!" she commanded.

"On it Jazzy-pants!"

Danny couldn't see his father from this angle, but he did see Jazz barrel roll off the beaver just in time for it to get tangled up in a bunch of metallic rope.

While the beaver struggled on the ground, Jack came into view and gave Jazz a high five. The two of them looked down at their handiwork with pride.

Danny stuck his head back inside and closed the window. Jazz ghost hunting? With their father?

That was the strangest thing he'd seen all weekend.

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Epilogue --------------------------------------------------

"I don't know about you two," Tucker said as they sat down to lunch on Monday "But I'm ready to die after the test Lancer just gave us."

"It wasn't that bad if you actually read the book." Sam smirked. Tucker glared at her. "What'd you get Danny?"

Before Danny could answer, he felt the cold chill of his ghost sense. He looked up and saw something green whizz by the window.

"Guys, trouble!" he said, standing up from his seat.

Before anyone could do anything else, Danny saw something else out the window; a red figure floated in place on a hover board. They fired a few pink beams from an ecto blaster before zooming out of sight, presumably after the ghost.

"Did you guys see that?"

"Oh, yeah, we actually-" Tucker started to say.

Danny was running towards the door before he could finish his sentence.

He burst outside and stopped at the sight above him. The red Figure and the ghost were locked in battle high above him, the red person shooting furiously at the ghost who was weaving around, dodging their blasts.

The red person didn't seem to have great aim, but they eventually connected with the ghost who gave off a howl and shot off in the opposite direction of Casper High.

"And you'd better stay away you gooey creep!" The red person shouted after it.

Once it was clear the ghost wasn't coming back, the red person zoomed out of sight.

Danny blinked at the sky.

"Okay, who the heck was that?"

"The Red Huntress." Sam said. Danny hadn't even noticed that she and Tucker had arrived.

"Wait," he said "You know her?"

"Yeah, we saw her hunting some ghost Sam and I were about to go after while you were in Florida."

"Colorado." Danny corrected Tucker.

"Colorado." Tucker repeated.

"We didn't get to talk to her," Sam said "But she seems pretty driven. Shouted her name at the ghost she was chasing. Fancy tech, a lot of confidence, but not a lot of experience, I'm guessing."

"Yeah her aim's not great." Danny frowned.

"She doesn't seem to have a thermos or anything to contain the ghosts she hunts either. That costume's awesome though!"

"I can agree with you there." Sam nodded.

Danny put his head in his hands.

"I was only gone for ONE DAY!"

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