#you can blame danny for this line of thought

[sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine]

wait but now I'm curious; does jake have visible pit hair? have we ever seen his pits??

[think-like-a-poet]

What sbout max softlaunching his gf (reader) in the summer break, with help from her of course because he doesnt know what it is. No one knew, expect his family, yours snd maybe daniel -🍸

Thanks in advance💕💕

What is a soft launch?

Max verstappen x reader

▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱

@ Maxverstappen1

Liked by Alexalbon, danielricciardo and 1.379.382 others

Maxverstappen1: Back home with my darlings.

-

Redbullracing: New line up?

-User: i don't know if they can reach the padels.

-user: yuki can, they can

-user: not the yuki slander

Alexalbon: This is the kind of content that I like

User: what a cutie ( i am not talking bout the cats)

-user: well the cats are cute too, but not the point

User: who took the photos maxy

-user: probably family or friend

-user; maybe he has a gf

-user; it was me guys

user; sometimes a baby girl is a 26 year old men.

-user: amen

danielriccardo: I have some new toys for them

-maxverstappen: they have so many

-Danielricciardo: that is not what they said. They like it

-maxverstappen1: of course they do. I are cats

@ Maxverstappen1

Liked by Charlesleclerc, redbullracing and 1.379.302 others

Maxverstappen1: Padel session

-

User: Mr Verstappen, is this a soft launch?

User: Never thought i live to the day Max does a soft launch

user: THAT SHOULD BE ME

User: what you mean soft launch, this is basicly a hard launch if you ask me

Charlesleclerc: how did you blame the racket this time

-Maxverstappen1: Ha ha ha, so funny . . . . . . . . .

-user; lestappen content

-user: not much, but i take it

User: please forgive me for the words i am about to say

user: can you hit me with you racket,

user: TELL US THE NAME

-user: please

-

@ Maxverstappen1

Liked by DanielRicciardo, Christianhorner and 1.690.303 others

Maxverstappen1: Holiday with my favourite people. @ VictoriaVerstappen, @ SopieKumpen @ Yourusername

user; we have a name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

user: Victoria, she is so beautiful

user: she is so pretty

-user: you cant see her face

-user: stalked her account

-user: god, i wish i looked like that

user: we lost him

user: noo, my boyfriend

.

@ Yourusername

Liked by 862.792 people

Yourusername: Date night with my darling, @ Maxverstappen1

comments disabled.

-

@ Daniel Ricciardo

Liked by, Yourusername, maxverstappen1, landonorris and 1.580.937 others

Danielricciardo: As they finally told everyone. Here are some pictures I took of the lovely couple @ Maxverstappen1 and @ Yourusername. Thank you of making me feel like a third wheel.

Youruser: These are so pretty. Thanks danny

-danierriccardo: Tnks, mostly your doing.

-maxverstappen1: don't flirt with my girlfriend man

-danielriccardo: not flirting, just appreciating beauty

-maxverstappen1: i crash you of the track

-visacashapp: please don't

user: she is so pretty

user: god had favourites

Maxverstappen1: no problem, get a gf and you can be fourth wheel

user: if you look close you see me jumping of a clif.

user: she is beautifull

user: we need more pictures

-landonorris: say no more

-user: whaattaa

.

@ Lando Norris jpg

Liked by RacerBia, yourusername and 599.573 others

Landonorrisjpg: Cleaning up the gallery. @ Youruername @ Maxverstappen1

Youruser: How did i never noticed you made these

-Landonorris"cause you kept staring at him

Maxverstappen1: maybe you are good for something

-user: hahahahaha, Pleaseee max

-landonorris: no more pictured

user: fuck romeo and juliet, i want what these bitches have

-user: same

-user same2

-user: same3

-user: same13937

user: all i need is a tall blue eyes boyfriend who looks at me like that.

-user: is it to much to ask

user: tell us your secrect yn

-yourusername: i catched him with kebab

-user; i will try, let you know how it goed

-yourusername: 👍 good luck honey.

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

DP×DC prompt. Pre-Dead on main. Soulmate Au.

Do clones have soulmates? And evil (depressed) future versions of yourself? Only phamily is allowed to know.

~~~~

Jason wasn’t particularly thrilled to have a soulmate. Of course, it was a rare phenomenon many wanted. But the presence of the tattoo did not guarantee a meeting with the fate promised man. The tattoo was more a clue than a commitment, according to Jason. Meeting a street rat like him would be a good way to form a brotherhood, but that doesn’t mean he could trust a stranger completely just because fate says so.

After he became Robin, owning a soulmate became undesirable. Jason once again made sure that it was best that they never meet. It would be safer for his human. Or rather, so Jason thought, until his inscription suddenly darkened and disappeared. Died. His solmate died, and there was nothing he could do. He knew it could happen, but somehow it hurt anyway. One person has only one soulmate for life. And he wasted his chance by not even trying to find his one.

He didn’t even have time to meet someone for whom fate has chosen this line:

Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.

(It is to live twice, when you can enjoy recalling your former life)

And Now it didn’t matter. Would they be lovers, best friends, family? What kind of person was the one whom the universe associated with this quote?Jason is not meant to know.

~~~~~~

Todd was suffering from nightmares. No, to be more specific, he was experiencing a completely different life in a dream. A few days earlier, he had hallucinations in which his surroundings seemed to change the appearance of different eras for a few seconds. Strange glitch. Jason blamed the sleep deprivation that Red Robin must have given him through bite. But Robin didn’t know who the hell Red Robin was.

The search for a biological mother, death and resurrection. His work as a crime lord. His madness and envy to the red robin. It was so strange. Life in Gotham never allowed him to be a naive child like the idiots of Metropolis but those dream memories made him grow up to fast again. In an attempt to wash away this nightmare and this blood, Jason stands under a cold shower at five o'clock in the morning. And then he notices that his mark has changed. It looks like a tree crown now.

On top of the old grey line a neon-green quotes lit up in latin, but now Jason can read them without a dictionary:

1)Death pursues the man even as he flees from it.

2) Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you.

3) There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.

When B tries to pat him on the shoulder after the patrol, Robin dodges. Too much has happened, or rather, too much should happen. These dreams are too real to be the result of fear toxin damage or something else. The feeling of betrayal and fear that comes when he just thinks about the damn clown is too intense. And now he's too weak to fight him. He doesn't have his gang or a more mature body, or even the confidence in Batman that allowed Robin to fly without a doubt.

~~~~~

~You can't love anyone, 'cause that would mean you had a heart~

If you were loved by a man when he was alive, then the love of a ghost will be for you either a blessing or a curse. And if the spirit is not at rest because of his hatred for man, then there is no special sense to put up with the dead. They can hardly change their attitude. They don’t think critically. Maddie and Jack expound this theory on career day for Danny’s classmates. And they don’t understand why their boy looks at the presentation with horror.

Danny was fond of the quote on his wrist. It gave him hope many times even in the darkest of times.

~Fortis est ut mors dilectio / Love is strong as death~

Danny never listened to his parents' theories before. But what if they’re right? What if the ghosts of nature are just good liars and his ghost half convinced his human half that he’s still capable of emotion? Were these just residual memories of affection about family and friends that forced him to stay in Amity Park? Was it just his ghost obsession that told him a man behind his mark was important?

For the first time, when Jazz summons all the Phantoms to a weekly meeting, Danny does not seek excuses, but brings the matter up for a discussion.

Truly, it's no surprise to him that Dan’s tattoo is invariable. But it’s a bit of a surprise that Dani shares special human with them. Well, as ghosts, they have zero chance of actually spending their "lives" with the person behind words, so there’s no reason to be jealous of each other.

A lot of soulmates live their lives without each other, and it's not a tragedy. Or so Danny and Dani thought. Until Dan sarcastically notes during a family therapy session in Jazz’s room that their soulmate will not live to be fifteen either.

Their feelings or their absence will wait. Their soul mate is now in real danger, and this is far more important than the existential crisis of a few pieces of ectoplasm. This is the main problem. Jazz doesn’t agree, but honestly, the older sister has always been a bore. Danny panics and Dani also bursts into tears when Dan just shrugs his shoulders.

Danny: So you know who is our soulmate is, right? Dan: Of course I do. And I know the grave won’t hold him forever. Dani: So how is he..going to die? Dan: Murdered. By the Joker. I studied the case. Asked Vlad to still it for me. That was the beginning of the end, I think. So many broken bones and so much blood, and then the explosion. Not the best way to die. The only thing I regret is that I didn't stop playing the hero and kill that damn clown before it happened. It would solve so many problems. And why didn't I throw a temper tantrum a couple of days earlier instead of trying to get rid of my emotions first?

Danny: True. That shit didn't work anyway. Dan: Shut up. Dani: I was hoping that our soulmate would be happy even without us. Does this really have to happen? Isn't there anything we can do? Dan: Ask your time freak. But in my experience, anything connected to Phantom just doesn’t get a happy ending.

~~~~~~They say that time's supposed to heal ya, but I ain't done much healing~~~~~~

Jazz is not surprised when after breakfast with her siblings she's asked to leave so they can talk to themselves alone. Dan: Well, shoot. What else do you want to know? Danny: Like you didn’t figure it out. All right. When you asked Vlad to separate your human half from ghost half, whether you really wanted to get rid of human emotions or.. Dan: Or did I try to kill myself? You are me. You must know the answer. Nobody's left. Could you live with the shame of not being able to save them? Dani: Um, that vile monster who made all this happen with out soulmate, it was still exist in your timeline? Dan: Yes. And Batman too. Even after Jason's death he didn’t get rid of the damn clown.

Danny: You were supposed to be there for him. Dan: I know. Dani: Did you at least avenge him? Dan: I tried. But his paranoid furry dad, with his backup plans for backup plans, was always getting in my way. Dani: Batman? Our soulmate is Robin? Danny: Come on, you terrorized the entire Amity Park, don’t tell me you’re scared of a man in a bat suit. You couldn't get rid of one person under bat's nose? Seriously? We're such a disgrace, man. Dan: Oh please, don’t be ridiculous. Danny: So why not? Dan: Because Batman is his father, like I said. You know how I work. Even if I had only come for Joker, there would be no guarantee that I wouldn't end up getting into a fight with this vigilante as well. Even if the bastard deserved a good beating, it would still be awkward if our soulmate returned to the world of the living and it turned out that this was not what he wanted, right? Danny: How thOughTfuL.

Dan:...I think I told you to shut up.

Danny: Yeah, yeah. So, what’s the plan? Dan: You do realize that if I go to Gotham, I won’t spare Joker or anyone who will try to hurt our bird? Danny: Well, if Сlockwork has a problem with it he should say it to my face. I’m not asking you to hold back. Not this time. Joker is not just a random guy or a ghost who can be talked out of his ideas. Better nip the problem in the bud. Dani: Yeah. We are ghost, so it's our nature to protect what belongs to us. And we are selfish because we are humans. We can’t hide it, well, from ourself, right? Danny: Um, right, but we think you should stay. It's too dangerous. Dani: But he's my soulmate too! Even if he doesn't get to know either of us, I also want to do something to help him. Someone has to serve as a distraction or be ready to help. I'm coming too. It's not up for discussion.

Dan: Just let her. She's just as stubborn as we are. We'll spend more time on pointless arguments than on the mission itself.

Danny: I hate it when you're right.

Dani: Now, should we tell Jazz about our weekend or? Danny: Good question.

~~~~~~ Jazz: Where are you guys going? Danny: To commit murder. Nothing brings families together faster, you know? Want to come with us? Jazz: Haha, very funny. Take me a burger on the way home. Dani: Okay. Dan: Oh, she's gonna kill us.

[hypewinter]

Bruce sighed. He was in over his head. Wayyyy over his head. Honestly he only had himself to blame. Really what was he thinking? He'd taken in one child and suddenly thought he was an expert in traumatized youths? He'd been overconfident and rash and now Danny was suffering for it and would probably hate him forever now and-

"I can hear you fidgeting through the door!" Came a voice that broke Bruce out of his spiral. There was a shuffle before the heavy wooden door swung open. A boy with floppy black hair and ice blue eyes stared up at him.

"You could've just knocked ya know?" Danny said.

Bruce fidgeted a little more, embarrassed that he'd been caught. "Bu- I thought you were-"

"Still mad at you?" Danny interrupted. "Yeah, I can tell by your face. You didn't even bother to wipe off your eyeshadow."

It was true. Bruce had rushed through patrol and gotten back home as quickly as possible. He'd barely shed his armor as he practically tripped over himself trying to get up to Danny's room. He had come up with and memorized the perfect apology to smooth things over between the two of them and had been dying to get it out before he messed anything else up. But now all the words he'd rehearsed left him.

"Wait. You're not angry?"

Danny leveled him with a blank stare as he leaned on the door frame. "Oh I'm always angry. Just not at you. At least not right now."

Upon seeing Bruce struggle to form words, Danny continued. "You were right," he said. "I shouldn't have beat up Dylan and his little minions. I knew they were intentionally trying to goad me into hitting them and I did it anyway. I-I'm sorry."

For the first time since their conversation began, Danny looked away. His look of mild annoyance was now replaced with one of shame.

"I just- they were making fun of my family. Saying stuff like 'they were small town trash and no one would miss them'. And that comment just set me off." Tears were now springing to Danny's eyes as anger took over his features.

Danny's hands balled into fists as he continued. "I couldn't just let that go. Especially not when they're the ones that are trash. They're so bothered by a 'commoner' wearing the same uniform as them that they feel the need to persistently bully me even when I have nothing to do with them. We don't share any classes, I eat lunch alone, I'm not in any clubs or extracurriculars and if I had a choice I wouldn't even be going to that damn school to begin with!"

Tears were freely streaming down Danny's cheeks as he stopped to catch his breath. His whole body was shuddering with fury. Bruce carefully put a hand on the boy's shoulder, ready to back off if Danny pulled away but he leaned in instead. Given the go ahead, Bruce carefully pulled Danny into a hug, slowly patting his back.

It took a while before either of them spoke. "I know what they said was out of line," Bruce started. "And trust me, they'll definitely receive punishment. But-"

"I know, I know," Danny murmured, turning his face to the side while still clutching onto Bruce's shirt. "Sending 5 boys to the hospital with my training is still bad."

After staying like that for a while, Danny finally looked up at Bruce. "Am I gonna be expelled?" he asked.

Bruce gave a soft smile. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. I promise."

Danny finally pulled away, rubbing at his face with his sleeve and returned Bruce's smile with a toothy one of his own. "You're gonna bribe them or something aren't you? There's gonna be a conveniently placed donation or something. You're just like those rich pricks," he teased.

"Heyyyy! How come Danny gets to cuss?" came a small voice from beyond the shadows of Danny's room. Soon enough, Dick made himself seen, Zitka cradled in his arms as he sleepily stolled forth.

"He's not," Bruce answered quickly. They had just convinced Dick to use more "colorful" insults as opposed to outright cursing and Bruce for one was not willing to face Alfred's wrath if he reverted back. A side glance at Danny told him the exact same thought was running through the boy's mind too. Leave it to Alfred to put the fear of God into two vigilantes who beat up criminals every night.

Dick yawned as he reached out for Bruce. "Then why'd he just say-"

"Don't tell Alfred and you'll have my dessert for a week," Danny interrupted in a panic.

Dick grinned. "Deal," he said as Bruce picked him up. The little boy blinked his eyes a few times before falling back asleep in Bruce's embrace.

Danny halfheartedly glared at the sleeping child. "I swear that kid is gonna grow up to be a politician the way he manipulates like that."

All Bruce could do was sigh. After all Danny was probably onto something. Dick knew very well the influence he had on others and never shied away from using it. It was very likely that he would be holding this particular little incident over their heads for at least the next two weeks.

Bruce looked at Danny, a thought suddenly dawning on him. "Why was Dick sleeping in your room? Did he have a nightmare again?" he asked, shifting the conversation.

Danny shook his head. "Nah. He just insisted that we both make up. He wouldn't leave until I agreed. That kid really doesn't know the meaning of 'no'."

Bruce felt his heart melt as he looked down at the boy in his arms. Why was Dick such a sweet child?

Danny grinned as he started heading downstairs. "Don't get all sappy yet. He was also walking me through his plan of how he got back at Dylan and his gang for my suspension."

The smile dropped from Bruce's face. "Wh... what do you mean revenge? Danny? Danny!?"

I told y'all I'd do it myself if I had to.

[writingstoraes]

paddock greetings 💌

pairing: charles leclerc/fem!reader

type: instagram imagine/social media au

notes: not proofread and not revised so please expect errors hehehe please lmk what u think by replying or messaging and if u wanna be part of my taglist! <3 this is a bit long! hehe

about: for your 5th anniversary and engagement, the drivers send their greetings with a bit of banter in the comments as always.

lewishamilton

liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc, arthurleclerc, and 1,560,431 others

lewishamilton Greeting this two a happy 5-year anniversary and wishing them the best as they take another massive and wonderful step in their life! Best wishes to the best couple I know ❤️

charles_leclerc Thank you, mate! Also huge thanks for setting me up with her, wouldn't be here without you 😅

lewishamilton Well you wouldn't stop asking about her so I gave in 🤷‍♂️

charlesrari LMAOOO SIR LEWIS AIRING OUT CHARLES' BUSINESS LIKE THAT

yourusername thank you, lew! wow imagine if i never went on that blind date...

pierregasly I think you would have found someone better

charles_leclerc You have one minute before I pay a visit to your room.

pierregasly

liked by carlossainz55, lilymhe, yourusername, and 506,771 others

pierregasly Congratulations on the engagement of the two craziest people I know 🥂 Pls stop asking me to take cheesy pictures of you guys sometimes what you do in front of me is unacceptable. I still remember being behind the camera when I took you guys' infamous yacht shots 😮‍💨

yourusername not you saying we're improper im literally the third wheel when you and charles are together???

pierregasly Y/N you took Charles away from me can you blame me

charles_leclerc Pierre what

pierregasly Are you choosing your wife over me? Wow okay that hurts mate

danielricciardo

liked by charles_leclerc, yourusername, arthurleclerc, and 905,660 others

danielricciardo Some outtakes from my camera of Y/N and Charles. This was the first time Charles took Y/N on a trip with us and they honestly just bring out the best in each other. No better day to post this than now. Congratulations on the engagement, you two! 🎉 Wishing you live a life filled with love and happiness.

yourusername DANIEL WTH this is so pretty :(( these pictures are a blessing, thank you danny 🤍

charles_leclerc Thank you, Daniel! And thank you for my new wallpaper hahaha

carlossainz55 You're replacing me already?

charles_leclerc Mate you were never my wallpaper

pierregasly Don't even bother Carlos he's a married man now

yourusername what i have to deal with every day...

landonorris

liked by yourusername, maxverstappen, charles_leclerc, and 432,679 others

landonorris Congratulations on the engagement Y/N and Charles! I want to let you know that I am utterly disgusted by the two of you please stop flirting in front of me ❤️

yourusername you greeted us but at what cost

charles_leclerc ... Thanks???

ferrarifan3 Lando greeting like a true friend we love to see it

charloslove LMAO I KNEW LANDO WOULD HAVE THE FUNNIEST GREETING

carlossainz55

liked by charles_leclerc, yourusername, isahernaez, and 860,560 others

carlossainz55 Love you both to bits but honestly third-wheeling with you guys has got to be one of the worst experiences ever. "It'll be fun, Carlos," but then they'd leave me in the middle of the road - this happened in Madrid by the way and I will never live it down. Happy engagement, Charles and Y/N 😁

charles_leclerc Carlos we did not leave you we just bought food

carlossainz55 You were gone for 30 minutes?

charles_leclerc The taco line was long you said you wanted tacos!

myferrarimen this banter is what i live for honestly

yourusername why were u in the middle of the road anyway

carlossainz55 I dont remember 🤷‍♂️

charles16 how carlos doesnt get lost on a daily basis is a mystery to me

pierregasly Lmaooo they left you

yukibabie "I will never live it down" king of grudges

---------

tagging: @slytherheign <33 hope ur video recording for class went well mwah

notes: thought this was a rlly cute idea and my classes start on monday so its a bummer :// my masterlist is up and running so u can navigate thru my works on my pinned post! lmk what u guys think <33

[halfagone]

Thank you! So this next one is a risky just a DP x DC au. Basically, Dani joins the young Justice and constantly gushes about her father Danny, with her bragging about his achievements and causing both the YJ team and the league as a whole extremely curious about him (especially Batman). When Dani finally decides to introduce them to him, they were not expecting an 18 year old who’s already ruling the realms despite his young age. Naturally, shenanigans ensue from there. What do you think?

Hmm... *strokes non-existent goatee* Now this is an AU I don't usually do... (I have a threshold for angst, as I like to call it, for any given story, and I wonder if this would've passed the threshold) I think for best comical effect Danny shouldn't be super mature like he is in, say... Off With the Demon's Head, where we see a similar father-daughter kind of dynamic between Danny and Ellie. That way the YJ and JL are all the more shocked when they realize that this is the guy Ellie's been talking about all along. Also if Ellie and Danny are only, like, four years apart so Danny's 18 and Ellie's 14 and they call each other father and daughter that would be hilarious XDD

I have been extremely picky about my Ghost King AUs recently, however, so I don't know how I would go about this. There are so many fics with this concept, I've written a number of fics with it too, and not all of them really do it for me anymore? I don't know if I just feel burnt out from the idea thanks to oversaturation or what, so I don't know what I could do for you on this idea. But! I can have a really funny exchange/reveal. >:D

---

Ellie, otherwise known as Phantom ("The Second," Ellie would always tut. "It's Phantom the Second, and don't you forget it."), hopped around excitedly as they stood at the zeta tubes, waiting for her apparent father to arrive. More than a few of them were shifting around on anxious feet, wondering how this meeting would go. Ellie had never held back on boasting about her father, and well. Could you blame them for being intimidated? Even just a little? Many of them hadn't gotten the privilege of seeing his exploits themselves, but they had seen the ripple effect across the world nonetheless. It was nothing to scoff at.

Oh gosh, they were totally going to blow this, weren't they?

Batman remained as stern as ever, even though he was just as curious and intrigued by the stories Ellie had shared. What concerned him the most at the moment, however, was how Ellie had told them to wait here, at the zeta tubes, when Batman was sure that no outsiders should be able to enter the base without the assistance of-

Before he could even finish that thought, there was a blinding ripple of light concentrated around a seam in the fabric of time and space itself. Many of them had to shield or close their eyes to protect their sight from the glare, and when the light finally abated they looked back to see a figure floating above the ground. A ebony black crown floated about their head, wisps of black fire smoking from its gemstones. A thick black coat was thrown over one shoulder, lined with a shock of white fur. It hid the royal regalia underneath, but the quality of it could not be understated.

The mop of white hair couldn't hide the toxic green eyes, no matter the fringe that laid atop of it. Those eyes were piercing, staring into their souls without mercy. More than one of them swallowed; that was fine, only the Supers could hear them... Right?

When the figure laid their eyes on Ellie, they smiled, revealing fanged, glittering white teeth.

"Dad!" Ellie shouted with excitement, floating off the ground without realizing it.

In another flash of bright light, the intimidating figure was then replaced with a young teenager, whose black hair floated gently as they touched down on the ground. Bright green had turned into calm blue, and the royal garb had been replaced with... an uni hoodie with tattered jeans?

"Hi, baby! How are you?" The teenager exclaimed as Ellie threw herself into his arms. "Is it okay if we have McDonald's for dinner? Uh, there was an accident in the kitchen again."

"Don't tell me you and Pa blew something up again," Ellie groaned with exasperation.

"Don't be ridiculous, me and your mom did this time," Ellie's father remarked with nervous laughter. Ellie shook her head at his antics. It was then that the unknown teenager turned to them. "Oh hi! You guys must be the Justice League, and... Young Justice? I hope that's correct? Ellie's told us a lot about you guys. Has she been good? How much collateral damage has she caused?"

"She burned down a lab the other day," Superman commented distantly, his shock overwhelming him.

The teenager gasped, turning back to Ellie. "You did? Aw, I'm so proud of you." He pulled her into another hug, making the younger girl giggle in happiness.

Meanwhile, everyone else couldn't help but stare. What the actual what just happened?

[schrodingers-deadbitch]

Half A Corpse

Chapter One

The soft hum of the radio filled the silent car ride, the four bodies inside somewhat anticipating what was to come. It had been a couple of days since they had left the ruins of Amity and were making their way to their new home in Gotham.

If any of them had their own way they would have stayed in Amity and mourned what they had lost. Every Amity Parker would have, even Dan. But with some prompting from none other than Clockwork, they all made their way to their new homes. Where was that? Wherever their hearts took them.

Most, like the Nightingale's, left for Gotham. Others, Metropolis. Some strayed from the trend and moved to places like Central City or even far into the countryside. But it was as Clockwork said, and they went where their hearts took them.

“This place smells of death.”

Jazz couldn't tell if her sister was complaining or not but she wouldn't blame her if she were.

“Haven't you been to Gotham before?” She asked, her eyes drifting upwards to the rear view mirror to look at Dani, only to see her sitting upside down. “Also if you keep that up I'll be the one going to jail not you.”

“It was actually the first place I went because I thought it was interesting,” She said while shifting herself into an upright position “but I could sense that it was someone's haunt so I didn't intrude.”

“Good thing you didn't. She doesn't have the ability to deal with many of the issues within her city but Lady Gotham is a powerful spirit nonetheless, and doesn't do well with outside ghosts.” Dan stated, putting down his book to give his full attention to his little sister.

“Well if that's the case why did she let us in?”

“Because Clockwork and I asked very nicely.” Danny yawned at her. He was still waking up from his nap. He was very, very tired.

Dani didn't ask any more questions. She was already off of that topic and was now observing the city around her. She was completely enamored. Fascinated by how well both the modern and gothic architecture complemented each other. To her (and probably everyone else in the car);

“It gives dark academia vibes, ya know! Just modern. And with lots of crime.” Her voice filled with awe and wonder.

“Excusing the fact that you've been on the internet too much as of late, it would have been better if there was a little more sunlight.”

They all couldn't have agreed more. True to every Gothamite's words, the sun did not shine in Gotham. And with all the smog, probably never will.

From there on the car ride was filled with convocation. Everyone had something to say about their new city. Their new home.

***

Danny never thought that he would be having a conversation with Sam about what it meant to be low-key but here he was.

“Yeah, I know you said that you wanted something low-key but there was no way I was going to let you guys live in some shabby apartment. So I bought a place and renovated it for you guys.”

Danny rubbed his temples feeling a headache coming on. “Yeah okay I thank you for that. But what's the cafe, book shoppy thing down bottom huh?”

“Well you guys said that you wanted to be self-sufficient.” Sam stated as if that would answer his question. Based on pure context alone it did.

"Sam, you know we literally live in a place called Crime. Alley. Right? I know we border the Narrows but that's not the point.”

She sighed. “You guys refused my help because you said it would ‘feel like using me’, “ Danny could just hear the air quotes from over the line, “but let's face it! Jazz is doing college full time and you and Dani will be going to school. The only person left to work in Dan. And no offense to him but he looks shady AF.”

A shout came from the other side of the house informing them that no offense was taken.

“Anyways,” she continued “Dan looks hella shady. And from what I can tell, no one's gonna hire a shady person. Especially if they come from Crime Alley or the Narrows. The only work he would probably get is from a shady garage or joining a gang and doing straight up crime.”

Danny sighed and shook his head, plopping himself into one of the beanbag chairs Sam furnished the house with. She had a point and she was also painting a clear image in his head about how that would work out.

“Besides, I set up a protection circle after renovations were finished and I've gotta say it's the best work I've done yet.”

He could feel Sam's pride through the phone. She was probably puffing up her chest like a peacock.

“Yeah I felt it coming in. I don't know shit about magic but I could tell that it was pretty good. What does it do again?”

The next hour was filled with endless chatter between the two. It became even longer once Tucker joined the conversation.

Jazz couldn't help but watch her little brother talk so animatedly with his friends. He just looked so happy. Like everything that had happened to them didn't even happen. It was kinda unnerving. What she was seeing here, the happy go lucky boy she saw in the orphanage all those years ago, and what she saw a couple back just wasn't adding up. That couldn't have been her brother. It couldn't. But it was.

Her breathing was becoming ragged as she started to shake. She sighed in relief feeling the presence of Dan beside her.

“He's going to remember, you know.” He said, handing her a cup of jasmine tea. She took it gratefully and Dan continued. “Clockwork said that the seals would break eventually-”

“He also said that he needed a trigger.” She snapped at him. After a moment of realization she apologized. He continued.

“CW doesn't do anything uncalculated Jazz I just want you to know that.”

“What do you mean by that?” She asked, her voice quivering a bit.

“He had a whole life before he met you, Jazz. One he doesn't remember. That should say something sis.”

He walked away before she could say anything else.

@emergentpanda-blog

@epilepticnerd

@justwannabecat

@wind02summer

[phantoms-lair]

"Okay, I can see why your astrology loving self likes it here," Tim elbowed Danny.

"It's astronomy and you know it." Danny said, fake offended.

"Yeah, I will admit I'm surprised by how good the internet is here. I wasn't expecting that out of rural Kansas."

"Well, think of who they have to keep in contact with, and how far away." Danny pointed out. "Honestly, pretty sure Bruce is responsible."

"Wouldn't be surprised."

"Hey Danny!" Elle hovered over the two of them. "Let's go flying!"

"We've got a guest you know." Danny gestured at Tim with his thumb. "Be kind of a jerk move to fly off without him."

"Can't he fly?" Elle asked. "His hero name is Robin, right?"

Elle looked like she was ten, but Tim had to remind himself she was less than half a year old and often surrounded by metahumans. "No flight. All my powers are up here." he said, tapping the side of his head.

"You're psychic?" she asked.

Danny laughed and Tim rolled his eyes. "No powers, just smart." he clarified. Then he looked back at the stars. "It would be interesting to see what it would be like to have powers, but like most of the family, I'm a normal human."

"No one who can lie to Batman with a straight face is normal." Danny pointed out.

"If he wants to know what it's like to have powers, why don't you show him?" Elle asked.

"It's rude." Danny said, sticking his tongue.

"Not with consent."

"Not with permission." Danny pleaded. "You are too young for me to want to hear you use the phrase 'consent'."

"Missing something." Tim pointed out.

"Overshadowing. If I take control of you I can channel my powers through your body. But like I said, it's kind of rude."

Tim wasn't sure 'rude' was the word for stealing someone's bodily autonomy. But Elle did have a point of her own. There was a world of difference between doing something with or without consent. "Okay, how would that work?"

"How would what work?" Danny asked.

"The overshadowing thing."

"Oh, it's er," Danny was fiddling with his fingers, suddenly nervous. "It's kinda creepy."

Tim gave him a flat look. They'd covered Danny referring to himself as 'creepy' enough in Gotham that he wasn't amused.

"It's basically possession. I would seize control of your body and channel my powers through it. Normally the person getting possessed is sort of put to sleep and only has vague impressions of the time they were controlled. But a person with strong enough willpower can resist and be aware." Unsaid was that pretty much everyone in Tim's family would be able to hold onto their awareness.

"Could you cede control once you had it though? Possess someone but not control them?"

"I honestly don't know. I've never tried it." Danny admitted.

"Then lets try it," Tim suggested.

Danny looked at him like he was crazy. "Why?"

"Two reason. The first is it will see how well I do if a ghost tries controlling me. The second," he shrugged, "I'm not a metahuman and will probably never be one. And I'm okay with that, but it's been interesting to see what it feels like to be one, you know?"

Danny pursed his lips and Tim wondered if he was crossing a line. Being a metahuman hadn't exactly been a fun experience for Danny, after all.

"Okay." Danny said reluctantly. "But you don't get to blame me if you don't like it."

Or he could just still have issues with the thought of people rejecting him for his powers. "Fair. We've got Elle as our witness that this was my idea. I could talk to the Kents beforehand too-"

"Not necessary!" Danny shuddered.

Tim felt his heart droop. Deep down Danny still didn't trust they'd keep caring for him. He hated what the Fentons had done to Danny's self esteem. "You don't have to if you don't want to." Tim softly reminded him. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable either. But I trust you, you know?"

Danny swallowed heavily. "Okay. If you're sure."

It felt cold, at first, like a chill up his spine. Then Tim felt his mouth move and vocal chords activate independently of of him. "Okay, so this is overshadowing." His own voice said. "So I guess, try to do something and I'll try not to stop it?"

"Do you have to talk out loud?" Tim asked. "It's going to look like I'm talking to myself."

"I guess that works. And yes, no psychic connection for this. Sorry."

"Weird," Elle observed. "I've seen some recordings of overshadowing and usually the person has the eyes glowing the ghosts color when control, but the glow fades when they resist control. But the eye glow didn't go away when Tim spoke."

"He's not resisting me, I'm letting him have control, it's different." Danny insisted.

"Maybe I should start resisting you. Just to see if I can." Tim suggested.

Elle giggled. It really did look funny with him talking to himself.

"Okay," Danny raised Tim's arm and clenched his fist. "You try to open your hand and I'll try to keep it shut."

Tim had to admit just feeling his arm move like that was mildly panic inducing. He'd managed not to be carded by Hatter but imagined this was what it felt like. He struggled to move his hand only to have it firmly stay in place. He struggled more, eventually sending his arm into erratic fits, punching himself in the face. "Owww" he moaned as

Elle doubled over in laughter.

"Healing factor should take care of it in a few minutes. Unless you want to stop now." Danny rubbed their injured nose.

"No, I mean, I think I want muscle control back, we can work on resisting stuff more later. But I want to see what having powers feels like!"

"Which one do you want to-"

"Flying!" Elle interrupted gleefully.

"I think you might have an ulterior motive." Danny said dryly. "You up for flying, Tim?"

"Yes please," Tim answered, trying to hide how excited he was to try.

He's seen others fly, several times, but it wasn't something he's ever thought he could do except on a hang glider or something.

"We're going for invisibility first." Danny warned. "Since we don't want to be seen."

If getting possessed had been a shiver up his spine, becoming invisible was like being dunked in cool water. Not frigid, but a definite chill ran across his skin as it vanished from sight. Then Tim felt gravity lose it's hold on him. Without any form of propulsion he lifted up about a foot in the air.

"We're going to start low and slow." Danny assured him. "So if anything goes wrong you aren't going to fall too far." Gently he leaned forward and glided effortlessly through the air.

"Do you think I could do this myself?" Tim asked.

"No clue, let's try!" Danny seemed to be warming up to the idea of testing with Tim's lack of a bad reaction to being overshadowed.

The floated in place and Tim tried to move their shared body. But while he could mover his limbs with ease, Danny's power couldn't be interacted with. "Doesn't look like it, sorry."

Elle looped back around. "This is low and slow is kiddy stuff." She groaned.

Danny gave her a mild glare. "You are three months old. You have no right to complain of kiddy stuff."

"If anything I can more." Elle countered. "Come on, can we at least do tag or something?" Tim shrugged. "Sure, tag sounds good."

~

"Does she normally smoke you this bad at tag?"

"No." Danny grumped.

Tim sighed. "Sorry. Having to plan out our strategies is letting her hear us. If you took full control-" "Then you wouldn't be in the game, I'd just be using you as a meat suit for no reason." Danny pointed out.

Tim thought for a moment. "Danny, can you put your shield in a bubble around us, so Elle can't hear us planning?"

"Sure, but it's going to be obvious."

"That's fine, we're just planning the planning." Tim assured. Danny raised the shield "We're planning to plan? Seems redundant."

"We're planning the things that will let us plan in plain sigh without your sister knowing." Tim corrected. "So our main issue here is we've got two minds that need to collaborate. Even if we split the division of labor of you powers me body, we each need to use both. You can take control of my body if an opportunity needs it, but I can't take control of your powers, so that what we need more communication for."

"Elle hasn't developed much beyond the standard, so we can keep to those. So, intangibility," Tim tapped the ring finger of his left hand twice. "If I make that motion, it means I'm asking you to use intangibility, if you do it it's warning me you're using it and I don't have to flinch away. Blinking twice will work the same for invisibility and..." Tim thought a moment more. "Tongue for flying." "Okay, I get eyes for invisibility and hands for intangibility, why tongue for flying?" Danny asked.

"Because it can't be seen. So tongue on the roof of my mouth acts as the taps or blinking, but can also be used to indicate direction in three dimensions." Tim demonstrated by holding his tongue to the roof of his mouth, then pressing it to the left side of his cheek."

Any more discussion was interrupted by Elle knocking on the shield. Danny dropped it to reveal his younger sister looking annoyed. "Are we playing or what?" Dany smirk and cracked their shared knuckles. "Round two begins now."

~

Alfred stood on the porch with the Kents while Martha rang the bell to call the children in. It had been a lovely visit catching up with them while Tim spent some time with Danny and Elle. It warmed his heart that despite moving to Smallville and possibly adding Kent to his name instead of Wayne, Danny and Tim were still very much brothers.

(One of the contingencies, if the Kents hadn't felt able to take in the boy, was for him to be officially adopted by Tim as a Drake, allowing him to still be a part of the family without feeling an unwanted connection to Master Bruce. But that plan was scrapped when Danny became publicly known during the Seige of Gotham. It was for the best, Danny truly needed more adults he trusted.)

It wasn't unexpected to see the children approach from the air. What was unexpected was there was only two of them and Master Tim seemed to be flying of his own volition. A raised eyebrow was all it took to remind the children that this wasn't an ordinary situation either.

Tim felt his shoulders hunch and his cheek flush as Danny's self-consciousness expressed itself in his body. Danny separated from him and opened his mouth, probably to apologize, but Tim wasn't going to let him. "I wanted to know what it was like to fly." he said, cutting off any apologies for his existence his brother might make.

"Indeed." Alfred said simply. "And how did that work out?"

"Quite well. I can better coordinate flying members of the team now, as well as Danny and I worked out a simple non-verbal code in order to plan around Elle while she could hear everything we said to each other. It was a productive endeavor."

"More importantly, Master Tim." Alfred's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Did you have fun?"

Tim felt himself becoming bashful now, ducking his head. "Yeah." He answered. "I did."

Good. Just as Danny needed the occasional reminder they were cared for, Tim needed the reminder that he was more than his use.

"That's something." Pa rubbed his chin. "Don't suppose you'd be willing too take me up there too. "I'd love to be able to go flying with Clark."

Danny's face turned red, and he half hid behind Tim's shoulder.

"It's okay if you're not comfortable with us for that yet." Ma said kindly. "We know you haven't know us as long as Tim."

"S'Okay." Danny muttered.

"You can take Pa and I'll take Ma. We can all go flying!" Elle cheered.

"When your brother's ready," Ma gently admonished.

"With that we must be off." Alfred apologized. "While I treasure these times, it's not fair to Miss Gordon to have to run herd on our family all evening without backup."

"Give Bruce our best." Ma patted Tim on the head while Pa and Alfred shook hands.

"I will. See you soon Danny."

"Yeah." Danny smiled at his brother. "See you soon."

It would be sooner than either of the two thought

[aceghosts]

15 Lines of Dialogue

I was tagged by @voidika and @nightbloodbix to do this challenge! Thank you!

Tagging (Opt In/Out): @bbrocklesnar, @marivenah, @alexxmason, @sergeiravenov, @carlosoliveiraa, @strangefable, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @amalkavian, @confidentandgood, @clicheantagonist, @theelderhazelnut, @cassietrn, @direwombat, @captastra, @cloudofbutterflies92, @katsigian, @inafieldofdaisies, @simplegenius042, and anyone else who wants to do this!

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

Rooney Shepard (Cyberpunk 2077)

“Even at the cost of my own life,” Rooney picks up their whiskey glass again, “If you’re going to ask me if I regret it, I don’t. I would do the same again if given the choice.”

“You are a client,” Their tone is firm as they continue to dig their grave, ever obstinate, “You are hiring me to find someone. Unless you would prefer someone else to take this case.”

“Hmm…,” They start, tilting their head for a second as they pretend to think before answering with a smirk, “No.”

“People depend on me, Yorinobu. I cannot let them down. If I stop, I fail them. And if I fail them, then what use am I to anyone?”

“Fine,” They say, pulling out their monowire, “Remember, I gave you a chance to turn back.”

“I can do all of these things, but I know when others need me first,”

“No, I made a promise that I intend to keep. I’ll find a way out for us both.”

“It’s more than that. He’s my teammate; I’m responsible for him.”

“I can blame myself,” They look at him, meeting his eyes, “It was my job to protect Jack. He was my younger brother. He needed me, and I failed him. Danny, too.”

“No.” Rooney’s tone is deadly quiet, a grim look on their face.

“Work. You know how I am.”

“Not for a lack of trying,” They joke back, wiping at their eyes.

“I do. I let everyone down who didn’t make it off Space Force One. I refuse to let anyone else get hurt. Not as long as I breathe.”

“I know what is at stake. I’ve made a decision and decided that I’m okay with that risk.”

‘Glad to see you too, Silverhand’, Rooney thinks. A moment later and perhaps a touch more fondly, they add, ‘I mean it. I really thought I might have lost you, and it terrified me’.

[gretavanfleetposts]

Fire in the Water: Chapter Eight

Summary: You had thought dating a vampire would be the most complicated thing you'd ever done. But as it turns out, becoming one is even more complicated. The boys are determined to make your transformation as smooth as possible while each fighting to maintain the relationships they once had and those they now lust for. Author's Note: As always, I'd like to thank the lovely @gretasmokerising and @earthlysorrows for everything Content Warnings: swearing, alcohol, physical fighting, talk of blood, blood drinking, threesome, oral (f. receiving), fingering, penetrative sex (18+ minors do not interact) Word Count: 11k

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“We’re lucky you don’t have laser eyes like superman or something.”

Danny's voice startled you where you were standing in the kitchen watching Jake's guest house intently. You'd been watching for any sign of movement, any sign of life other than his own. You knew he hadn't been particularly happy about the day you'd spent with Sam by the cliffs, not that he had said anything about it. But the look on his face aimed at his brother when you'd returned had said it all. And you knew Jake too well to think he wouldn't try and get back at you. You almost couldn't blame him. It's what you would have done.

Maybe that was the cause of your worry.

“Watching for movement,” you explained without even a glance in his direction.

“There’s no way he’s got someone in there this late in the game.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, you might be doing a fine job of resisting him but I don’t think the same applies the other way around.”

You let out a deep sigh, only letting your eyes flicker over to Danny's for a fraction of a second.

“He sure is keeping his distance,” you muttered.

Danny couldn't contain his laughter as he moved to stand behind you, flattening his palms against the counter on either side of yours and leaning in to speak against your ear.

“Well, not to insert myself into your business but I do believe you were upset when he was not keeping his distance.”

You were once again thankful no one could hear the thoughts that his proximity sent floating around in your mind.

“Don’t use logic against me. Don’t you know I’m an emotional nightmare?”

“Well if you're such an emotional nightmare, unfortunately I think he is the one to be able to fix that.”

You scoffed at the idea. Jake was just as vindictive as you were and he was beginning to show you just how much fun he was having with the whole situation. Fun at your expense.

“Yeah, the one using my jealousy against me for his own entertainment. Great.”

Danny's hands inched closer to yours on the countertop, his face turning inward a little more to catch your profile as he spoke in the sultriest voice he could.

“It’s like heroin to him. He feels everything you do except stronger, like it’s radiating in on itself. He can feel it coursing through you, through himself, and it just sort of builds. The good stuff ends up being euphoric.” And then he smiled against your ear and took on his more normal intonation. “Plus he's just kind of an asshole.”

“He is an asshole,” you agreed in a voice barely above a whisper, cracking at the start like your mouth had run dry.

It earned another beautiful laugh from Danny who turned his gaze downward to watch the sinful path his hands were about to make.

“All I’m saying is…” He ran his fingertips lightly over the backs of your hands, tracing them upward to reach your elbows and drawing long lines up your biceps with a feather-like touch. “Every little tingle, every little buzz, every little ounce of something you feel, he feels it everywhere.”

If you had forgotten just how much pent up energy you'd accumulated over the last month, Danny was there to remind you of it.

“So what you should be doing,” he continued like his fingers along your skin, working up over your shoulders until his left hand snaked around the back of your neck and tangled itself into your hair at the nape of your neck, “is making him feel exactly what you want him to feel rather than the other way around.”

You hadn't even realized your body was pushing into his until he tightened his hold on your hair and a shameless whimper tumbled out of your throat.

“You know,” you huffed with a breathy chuckle, “that might be the smartest thing anyone in this house has said since I turned.”

“That’s why they keep me around,” Danny smiled.

“No, that’s why I keep you around.”

Danny didn't move when he heard Adele's voice. Didn't even flinch where he stood with his erection pressed to your ass. It reminded you of something Josh had once said about vampires and morals. They were loose, it seemed.

"Sweetheart…" Danny started with his lips ghosting over your neck, "we were thinking maybe it's time to make Jake a little jealous."

To your surprise, you could already hear the smile in Adele's voice.

"I think that is an excellent idea. Are you going to do it by the window, too? Make him watch?"

You turned out of Danny's grasp to face Adele, crossing the kitchen in stride. And as you passed her, you took her hand in yours, spinning her as you went.

"Surely we can be loud enough," you muttered.

Danny followed behind you both as you led Adele into their shared bedroom, only turning back to face her once you reached the edge of the bed. And although you had suddenly felt nerves bubble up in your chest as she stared at you, in all her beauty, those nerves didn't last long before her mouth was against yours, hungry and fast and putting your mind at ease.

Danny sauntered across the room while he watched her tongue slip past your teeth and explore your mouth. He watched carefully as her fingers pulled your hips into hers and as you threw your arms over her shoulders to feel more of her against you. He was committing it to memory with his watchful gaze. You, on the other hand, were committing it to memory with your tongue.

When he reached you both, Adele pulled away to drop to her knees before you, giving Danny the space to slot his body around her and capture your mouth against his. He was rougher than she was. She commanded with her tongue, pressing forward like she wanted to explore your entire body with that alone. But Danny commanded with his hands, working them up into your hair and giving a hard tug to angle your face up toward him better. He moved you with his hands, and you were happily malleable between them, like you'd been caught in a rip tide that you were eager to let carry you along its formidable journey.

On her knees before you, Adele's fingers skirted up your clothed legs, teasing you through the fabric and reveling in the way your muscles twitched and tensed beneath her talented fingers. You had to give her more credit; she matched her beauty with ability. Actually, they didn't seem to be lacking in anything as a couple. And if Danny hadn't had his tongue in your mouth and Adele hadn't been kissing her way down the soft skin of your stomach as she dragged the material of your leggings down your thighs, you might have even been self-conscious that you could never compete with them.

But truthfully, not a thought existed in your head, of either your own inadequacy or your plans to make Jake jealous. Every tangible thought you might have formed evaporated the moment Adele's tongue slipped from her parted lips and dragged a line down your stomach over your pussy still shielded by too much fabric.

Danny's hands held your hair tight enough to yank your face roughly away from his to command you in a low growl. “Tell her what you want, sweetheart. She's good at doing what she's told.”

He smirked while he watched your throat bob with a gulp as you worked up the ability to speak.

“P-please lick me, use your tongue on me,” you stuttered, your eyes locked to Danny's.

He looked like he pitied you, like he'd been a slave to Adele's tongue many more times than once. But thankfully, he was right. She didn't have to be told twice.

She mumbled out a raspy, “Yes, ma'am”, and yanked your leggings along with your panties to their resting spot about your thighs. Without another word, she licked a long stripe between your lips up to your clit where she gave it a mean flick, one that caused your body to jolt in Danny's hands.

He tutted his tongue and shushed you softly, one hand still holding your hair with a frightening grip while the other pet your cheek like you were some pathetic creature who needed to be soothed through your release. And it only got you wetter.

“If you want more, just ask,” he smiled. “She's a bit of a tease.”

Adele hummed in agreement against the skin of your thighs that she had busied herself kissing around, nipping here and there just to feel you jolt again. It brought a wicked smile to her face each time.

“More, Adele, I need more.” It was another pitiful whine, not that you really cared how it sounded. But as you urged her to bring her tongue to you again, Danny nodded alongside you, furrowing his brows like he was mocking your desperation.

“Our little dracula needs more, Adele. Don't you hear how needy she is? Don't you want to take pity on her?”

She hummed again, sinking her long nails into your flesh as she dove in between your legs. This time, when she drew that same line along your slit and stopped at your clit, she began to draw lazy circles around the sensitive bundle of nerves, letting her tongue lie flat against your skin to be as gentle as possible.

“Oh fuck,” you felt your body go limp in Danny's hands, his grip in your hair practically the only thing keeping you upright.

“Ooh, I think she likes that,” he smiled wide. “She's good with her tongue, isn't she?”

Your eyes rolled back as she worked her tongue faster against your clit, lapping at it like you were her last meal. You could hear the sound of moisture growing with each flick of her tongue, too, like some lewd church bell signaling the state of your body and the height of your pleasure.

Adele was eager, too. You'd seen that eagerness launched at Danny practically every waking moment they spent at one another's side. But now that that eagerness was turned toward you and her nails threatened to break skin against your thighs with the force she used to keep you still against her mouth, you had a new appreciation for it.

Fuck, they were good together.

Danny's hands abandoned your body for only a moment, long enough for you to catch a glimpse of the sight unfolding beneath you. Adele had her knees spread far apart, enough to allow her to grind her own aching entrance against the floor. And just watching her that way, desperate for any friction she could manage, you wanted to pull her to her feet and drop to your own knees to worship her instead. But Danny seemed to have other plans. In fact, they both seemed keen to keep you at the center of attention. And who were you to argue with that?

Danny situated himself behind you, meeting Adele's force which threatened to push you backward to fit you snugly between the two of them. This time, his hand wrapped around your throat to pull your head backward, enough for you to stare up at him.

“Spread your legs a little farther for me, sweetheart,” he urged, tapping the outside of your thigh with his free hand.

Adele helped you spread your feet wider, pulling your clothes down to your ankles to help with your range of motion. But once you were situated how Danny wanted you, she continued her assault against you and you moaned loudly, arching back against Danny's body. But that moan turned into a gasp when you felt his fingers slip between your legs, wetting themselves on the slick you and Adele both left behind, and parting your lips easily.

You tensed against him in anticipation, afraid any movement on your part would deter him from sliding those thick, long fingers inside of you. But Danny was smart. He could tell what you were doing by just the feeling alone.

“Oh, don't worry your pretty little self over it,” he whispered against the shell of your ear as he tightened his grip around your throat. “I'm much nicer than Jake. Way less stupid, too.”

In your haze of pleasure that they had carefully crafted for you, you'd forgotten that this had all been a plan to rile Jake up. And when Danny pushed his fingers inside of you, curling them in time with Adele's cadence against your clit, flicking and rolling the bud along her tongue while Danny made use of how wet she was getting you, you suddenly hoped Jake would at least have the decency to wait until you were done to burst through the door.

"Oh fuck," you gasped at the sensations, beginning to overpower your mind and your body.

However talented Adele was with her tongue, Danny matched that with his fingers, expertly curling them to press that fleshy spot inside of you. And once he found it, he never relented, thrusting his fingers in and out quickly and yet finding it every time.

"So fucking wet for us," Danny mused at the slick sounds his hand was working up into the air as he moved. "All of this just to make him jealous, huh?"

"N-no," you breathed, "not just to make him jealous."

Danny liked that. You could tell by the way he growled in your ear and gripped your throat even tighter. If you had been human, your air supply would have been long gone. But as a vampire, you relished in it and willed his hand to form an even stronger hold on you.

Adele seemed to like it too, moaning loudly against your cunt and working up an even faster rhythm with her own hips.

“I th-think she needs us,” you choked out to Danny, still standing tall behind you.

At your words, he peered over your shoulder and glanced downward at his other half. And when he saw the state she was in, he gave her a ‘tsk’ with his tongue and shook his head.

“Poor thing,” he said in a low voice. It was almost evil the way his fingers never even slowed inside of you. “I think you’re right. But she's going to have to wait until you soak her face if she wants some relief.”

If Jake couldn't feel what was happening by now, you were certain he was with someone else, focused entirely on her. He would have had to have been preoccupied to miss the way you arched harder against Danny at his words, working your hand up into his curls just for something to grab onto while his fingers fucked in and out of you. He would have had to have been preoccupied to miss the way Adele moaned loudly between your legs, focusing now on flicking your clit over and over and over, like each flick might have been the one to light the match that would burn the whole house down. He would have had to be entirely on another planet to miss the way your body suddenly barreled toward your release at the hands of them both.

“That's it, sweetheart, give it to us,” Danny growled against your ear. “I want to feel you clench around my fingers when she makes you cum.”

“So…fucking close, don't-”

“She's so pretty humping the floor like that. I know you want to taste her too. Give in and she's all yours. We're all yours.”

It was the sound Adele made between your legs that undid you, like she herself had released there against the floor. You felt the snap inside your body and a wet release of your own between your legs as you soaked Danny's fingers and Adele's face.

It hit you hard, a loud noise clawing its way through your throat that Danny was still restricting with his hand. But his digits still worked you through it, guiding you gently through the waves as they crashed over you and waned to a mere lapping at your shoreline.

And as you came down, for once you thanked your lucky stars that you hadn't been interrupted in the middle of your much-needed orgasm.

When he felt certain you could stand on your own, Danny pulled his fingers from you and released your throat, using that binding hand to pull Adele by her long brown hair up to her feet in front of you. And when she met your eyes, you saw just how lust-filled and desperate she was.

She leaned into your ear opposite the one Danny had chosen, whispering against you as her fingers lingered on your body, tracing invisible lines like constellations on your skin.

“You taste like heaven.”

You swore it incited a blush to rise to your cheeks.

“What do you think?” Danny asked in your other ear. “Do you think she deserves us?”

You nodded fervently. Adele deserved the fucking world given what she had just done to you.

“Absolutely,” you breathed in a post-high haze.

“The only question is: who gets my cock first?”

“She should have it so she knows what she’s missing,” Adele smiled, trailing her knuckle down your cheek with a look in her eye that almost did you in again right there.

“Maybe I wanted to watch you take it.” Your voice was uneven but that didn't seem to matter. Adele's smile grew despite it.

“Maybe you could both share,” Danny suggested, the clear winner when you and Adele exchanged an eager glance between you.

But then you heard it: the interruption you'd been long expecting. The interruption you had even hoped for before clothing had been removed and hands had begun to wander.

“Didn’t realize we were sharing.” Jake stood in the doorway, never averting his eyes from the scene that lay before him.

And by the look on his face alone, you could tell he was fuming.

“Uh oh,” Adele whispered to herself with a smile before retreating from your body and throwing herself back onto her and Danny's bed.

Danny was kind enough to help you fix your clothes as he met Jake's eyes. God, he didn't even seem ashamed of himself.

“We were just about to invite you-” he started before Jake quickly cut him off.

“Save it.”

It was all he said before turning to leave. But before he went, his eyes sent you a very dangerous message, one that told you if you were to stay in that room and finish what you had started, there would be problems. And for some reason, it only served to make you suddenly angry.

“Go get him, tiger.” Danny slapped your ass hard before your feet could move to follow Jake out the door.

When your feet finally did catch up with your mind, decidedly certain that it was in your best interest to follow Jake, you could already hear Danny pouncing on Adele who giggled under his weight, both of them eager to continue on with what they'd only just begun.

You followed Jake's footsteps out to the greenhouse, reveling in what you had done as you went.

He crossed to the other side of the small glass house before turning sharply toward you, anger seeping into his features in a way you hadn’t quite seen before. It seemed to drag his skin down, sink in his eyes a bit farther. It made him look just as dangerous as he was.

"What the fuck was that?" he growled.

"That was me having fun that you interrupted,” you fired back.

It was easy to match his energy with your own anger which flowed freely and hot through your body like molten lava.

He stepped toward you with an accusatory finger, this time pointing at you the way you had him so many times before. “Are you seriously trying to make me jealous?”

“Why? Is it working?”

He took another step to close the space that separated you, speaking in a much quieter voice that hardly softened his anger.

“I’m not allowed to touch Adele but she gets to touch you? Tell me how that’s fair.”

Your eyes narrowed at him and you spoke through gritted teeth. “You touch everyone.”

You could see the visible tightening of his jaw as he clenched his teeth hard together, looking as though he were contemplating whether to tell you the truth or not. But after only a moment of silence, he relented.

“I touch them because it’s easier.”

“Easier than what?”

He gave you an annoyed shake of his head before finally exploding.

“Than feeling everything all at once! With sex I can tune everything else out and focus on just that. It’s easier for me.”

You studied him as you committed his words to memory. Easier. There was nothing easy about this, maybe because you hadn’t let him touch you as freely as he was used to. That seemed to be the implication and it suddenly made you wonder what he was tuning out by touching you. For you, there was no escape. His touch ignited within you desires you wished you could quell. You would become a slave to it before long. Maybe he was faring better.

“Is that why you touched me the other night?”

You saw the shift at your accusation, the staunch anger that suddenly melted from his face and wept its way into frustration.

“No, it isn’t,” he said flatly, thoroughly unamused and unwilling to even entertain such a notion.

But you weren't certain you were so convinced. The waters were already so muddy, you weren't sure what was real or not, what was a product of the soul tie and what wasn't, which pieces of his many words were the truth and which weren't. And the confusion you felt manifested itself in the narrowing of your eyes. But despite your otherwise silence, Jake shook his head again, an angry, exasperated smile taking shape on his lips as he chuckled darkly.

You were pushing him to the limits of his self-restraint, that much remained clear.

“What do I have to do to get you to trust me? I feel the way you feel about me; I know something is there. I just don’t know how to make you see that I’m not doing anything just for my benefit-”

“I don't believe you.” You couldn't even help it as it slipped out of your mouth, powerless to stop it and prevent him from hearing it.

He looked like he wanted to take a page from your book and leap at you now.

“No, of course you don't,” he said with a single raise of his eyebrow and a suddenly quiet tone that marked danger better than anything more violent. “You don't see any good in me or this situation. You're off with Sam rather than even trying-”

“Sam has nothing to do with this,” you stopped him quickly.

“Sam has everything to do with this!”

You couldn't even argue as you stood there, silently, trying to think of something to say, anything to say. But nothing seemed convincing.

Jake took another step forward and suddenly his eyes were pleading with you.

“I don't know what he told you about his little theories but even he doesn't really believe that shit. He just tells himself that stuff to cope.”

“Don't say that about him-” you whispered, a sound that was quickly cut off by Jake continuing on his path of destruction.

“It's the truth. And I love him, I don't want him to hurt, but he has his own baggage. He is hardly a voice of reason in all of this.”

“Just stop!” You screamed this time. You felt like that memory of Danny, huddled in the corner hearing things you didn't want to hear.

“You feel like no one tells you anything so I'm telling you this now. I mean, he left so angry last night-”

“What do you mean he left?”

You could feel the panic set in even before Jake explained. Had you lost yet another brother? Did it count as a loss if you had been the one to push him away, unbeknownst to you as it was? He hadn't even said goodbye.

“We got into an argument and he left.”

You felt almost dizzy as you thought about your days with Sam coming to an end. It started as a numbing in your fingertips and worked its way up through your body until it reached your eyes, fighting to see past the spin it had put in your field of vision.

“Left where?” you croaked.

“I don’t know,” Jake shook his head.

Your ears went almost silent except for a ringing sound that echoed loudly through the muffled quiet that was beginning to make you feel hot.

“For how long?”

Jake sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit, you don’t know!” you suddenly screamed through the hazy noise ringing in your ears.

It snapped Jake back to you, back to his exhaustion.

“I would tell you if I did-” he made an attempt to promise, although if you had been paying attention, you would have seen what he now saw. You were gone.

“Why would he leave me?” you screamed at him in disbelief. “Where would he go?”

“He’s probably at the high council right now telling them what I did just to get back at me.”

“Don't say that! He would never do that!”

Your fight reached your hands finally and with both palms planted on his chest, you shoved him hard, working up your primal urge to inflict upon him immeasurable pain from both the outside in and the inside out. But it only sent him backward a few steps. You tried again, using all your force against him, and when that didn't work, you switched to beating your hands against his chest instead. But you could barely create more than a fizzle of energy. Barely a spark, only enough to give him a headache he could cure instantly. That was all you could conjure up.

Between dizzying tears that you hadn't even realized had wet your face and shakiness from your anger and exertion, you stared down at your hands in confusion.

“Wha-why can't I hurt you?”

“It's because we-”

“Shut up! Just shut up! Get out!”

He never got another word out before he left with a disheartened look on his face, abandoning you only because you had begged for him to.

And in his absence, with no one else to fight, you turned your anger on the plants and the strung golden stars and the lights that adorned the greenhouse, smashing and breaking what you could before falling into a heap of misery on the floor alongside the remnants of your rage.

And you thought of Sam beneath the ocean, this time swept away from you with the tides that were destined to keep you apart.

—

You sat amongst the rubble for god knows how long, your body slumped between two tables while you fiddled with a star that had been torn in half, straight down the middle.

You had watched the sun set around you, watched the lights bouncing off your skin and the glass around you dwindle down until only an amber glow remained. You felt weak. You felt tired. You felt drained. You didn't have much more fight left in you and now, you felt you didn't have many options left either.

Even so, you were surprised to see Jake appear before you again, braving the aftermath of what you had done, and what you had tried to do, to kneel in front of you.

“Oh great, you’re back,” you sniffled.

The tears had never actually stopped. Even hours later, there was still a constant stream wetting your face. Although now they came and fell silently.

“I came to make peace,” he said, taking the star from your fingers and running his thumb delicately along the torn edge.

It wasn't just the loss you felt. There was guilt there too. You felt it even stronger as you watched his fingers carefully curl around the broken star. You had destroyed everything Sam had ever given you and now the only memories that remained were broken ones.

You turned your face downward into your knees at the thought of what you had done in your anger, sobbing gently into the fabric of your pants.

“Can I touch you?” Jake asked in a quiet voice.

You answered with a nod and nothing more, one mostly obscured by the position of your face against your knees. But soon after, you felt his arms pull you into an embrace, wrapping around your body where you sat on the floor and drawing you in close to his chest. And if you hadn't been frustrated before, you certainly were now because that touch? Jake's touch? It soothed you instantly.

You knew your fate was becoming harder to resist but his touch now felt unlike anything you'd ever experienced. Now that you weren't fighting it so hard, you could feel it like puzzle pieces clicking together. His presence alone made you feel whole.

With his hands, he lifted your face from its place buried into his chest and wiped the tears from your eyes with the pads of his thumbs. The anger and frustration and exhaustion from earlier was nowhere to be found on his face. And neither was his usual smugness, for that matter. In its place you found only the warmth of his chocolate brown eyes and a delicate smile that teased up his features.

“I do have a surprise for you, if you're up for it.”

“Not another club outing, I hope,” you sniffed.

He gave you a soft laugh back. “No, not another club outing. Something a little closer to home.”

You sniffled again, in a tragic state really, and wiped at your eyes to dry them more thoroughly with the back of your hand.

“Do I have time to shower?”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “You can use mine.”

Jake had already laid out clothes for you when you emerged from a steamy shower, a simple tiered black dress that looked perfectly fit for a birthday party or something of the likes. It seemed almost too frilly for Jake's tastes alone, although it fit like a glove and flattered you well. Maybe Adele had had a hand in picking it out.

You opened the door to his bathroom to see him standing across the room wearing his worn black velvet vest again, this time with a heavy bundle of what you assumed was faux silver pendants on his bare chest, accentuating the smooth expanse of lightly tanned skin that sat beneath. But his expression looked nervous, that was, until he caught sight of you standing in the bathroom doorway.

He seemed to inhale almost silently and you noted there was no exhale that followed. You felt like a flattered schoolgirl, heart leaping in her chest at the evidence that her silly little crush liked her back.

“What’s the big surprise?” you asked from where you stood.

His gaze lingered on you a little longer before he registered what you had asked, straightening and bringing his eyes back up to yours.

“I invited your friends over for a party at the house.”

You weren't sure you’d heard him right.

“My friends don’t even live here.”

“Had them flown out. Danny and Adele should be back from the airport with them any minute now.”

You stood there staring at him, speechless as the lump in your throat grew.

God, you had shed more tears over the past month than you had maybe over the course of your entire life, even with the grief you had lived with. At least this was more than worthy of your tears.

“Why?” you asked, fighting to hold yourself together. You had just done your makeup, damn it.

“Well, now that you’re immortal, this will probably be one of the last times you can see them. They’ll age and change, but you’ll stay the same. It’s best to cut ties early before they start to question things but it’s important you’re able to say goodbye the right way.”

“How did you know about my friends?”

“Sam told me a while ago about the picture he’d unpacked from your things. I tracked them down not long after.”

The tears welled up in your eyes finally but Jake crossed to you quickly to dry them once more with his thumbs, careful not to ruin the makeup you had just applied.

“I can barely even feel you,” he whispered. “Are those happy tears or sad tears?”

“Both,” you laughed, an almost broken sound when mixed with your tears.

“Both,” he repeated almost silently, pressing his forehead to yours.

He brought his lips to your face but instead of pressing them to your own, he let them brush over the spot just under your eye where your tears had collected, one and then the other. And you gasped at the touch, as delicate as it was with his plump lips upon your skin and his hands holding your face so gently, like you were glass between his fingers and he worried he didn't know his own strength.

When his face fell, it brought his mouth mere centimeters from yours, his lips parted to match your own and the beating of your bodies suddenly in sync. And you would have closed the space if he had let you, but he spoke instead, letting out the breath he had been holding.

“Better not keep them waiting. Especially not with those two.”

He barely looked like he meant it. In fact, if the company was anyone else, you felt certain that he and you would be perfectly content to stay there, locked away from the rest of the world in favor of each other. But you had lost too much, and far too violently, to forgo the opportunity he had gone out of his way to give you. So instead of starting something you didn't have the time to finish, you gave him a silent nod, and he led you hand-in-hand into the house.

—

Seeing your friends again undeniably brought up feelings from the past that you had thought were long forgotten. And seeing people from your past, people you'd never be able to see again, brought up feelings you hadn't yet faced. But Jake stood at your side through the entirety of it, shaking hands and introducing himself, making jokes, mixing drinks, and not a flirtation in sight.

Danny and Adele were on their best behavior, too. Although, the girls you had surrounded yourself with in your college and young adult years certainly enjoyed watching their less-than-appropriate antics with one another.

Your only regret was that Josh wasn't there to meet them. Or Sam, for that matter. But you did your best not to think of them, where they were and what they were doing at that very moment. They had made their choices to leave and Jake? Well, Jake had stayed. He had stayed with you through it all. And this was no exception.

It was a night you'd relish. One you would take with you until the very end of your long eternity. And one day in the not so distant future when you had the emotional capacity to dwell on it, you'd cry hard, icy tears over the friends you'd never see again. But for now, the warmth of new memories thawed your ever-hardening heart.

They hadn't stayed nearly long enough for your own liking. It was too short a trip to really explain to them how thankful you had been for their friendship before Danny and Adele made the journey with them back to their hotel near the airport, better suited than you to be around so many beating hearts.

So instead, you stayed behind with Jake, meeting him out by his house in the cover of darkness after goodbyes had been waved.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” you said softly as you came to a halt in front of where Jake stood leaning against the side of his cottage, a bottle of Jack Daniels nestled between his fingers like it was part of the outfit.

He shook his head as he fiddled with the glass bottle in his hands, not meeting your eyes.

“You don’t need to thank me. It was the least I could do after the way I’ve treated you.”

“It’s fine-” you began but Jake refused to let you finish the sentence.

“No, it isn’t,” he corrected you. And deep down, you knew he was right. None of this was fine, least of all your treatment of each other. But it didn't stop with him. It went both ways. You had your own things to be ashamed of when it came to what you had been putting him through since you turned.

“I know it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I’m bad at this,” he continued. “I’ve been alone since…”

“Since the evil one?” you finished the sentence for him.

He nodded and snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, since her.” But then his voice went more serious. “Sort of swore off commitment. And monogamy.”

You nodded back. It wasn't hard to understand on his part. He hadn't ever really seemed like the type. At least he had always been honest about that.

“I guess that’s understandable, given what you can do.”

He chewed his lip and nodded again, like he was agreeing with you. But his nod suddenly turned into a frustrated movement as he struggled to find the words. Or struggled to say them.

“The point is, I knew I had feelings for you before I ever even turned you. I never would have acted on them, for Josh’s sake, but they were there. And then I turned you and I ruined your life and I don’t know how to live with it.”

You swore his eyes were glassy, nothing but his stubbornness and the liquor in his hand to hold back the tears that sat waiting right behind his eyes. It stunned you into silence.

“I hide behind it, I know you see that,” he continued, finally meeting your eyes. “I hide behind my gifts, I hide behind sex, and I was using your jealousy to hide behind the fact that I know you didn’t want any of this. The fact that it was me that got you killed, me that stole you from Josh, and me now that is once again putting Sam through misery.”

You wanted to ask him what he meant by that but for your own sake, you moved past it. Instead, you sighed deeply, pressing your lips together as you thought.

All of the things he had done that had led you to this point. You had thought they'd all been done for his own entertainment. And you were embarrassed to admit that no, you had not, in fact, seen that it was a front. You'd been so caught up in how this all impacted you that you hadn't even stopped to consider what it meant for Jake to steal his own brother's girlfriend. What it meant for him that he now couldn't live without her. You hadn't considered that he might have blamed himself. Sam was the self-torturous one, not Jake. Not given the caricature you'd created of him in your mind. And suddenly, you wished you could take back every fight, every accusation, every vengeful action you had committed against him. Because the truth was, as hard as it was to admit, he hadn't deserved any of them.

The tie was not a thing he had created. It was a thing that had happened to him, just the same as it had happened to you.

You exhaled a heavy breath, your shoulders sinking down as you moved to lean against the wall next to him.

“As much as I would love to blame you, none of this is actually your fault.”

He passed you the bottle of liquor like an olive branch being extended to you. You took a long drag of the dark liquid, downing a gulp like you enjoyed the fiery taste before passing it back to him.

He corked it down by his waist and let it slump against the wall alongside him. And when he finally spoke again, he wound his eyes shut tightly, like he didn't want to face what he was saying.

“Josh was never going to turn you. After Danny couldn’t see past it, time and time again, Sam convinced him not to turn you. Not to mess up what you had. And then I went and fucked everything up.”

It might have hurt worse if the pain had still been so fresh. You might have waged another war against him had you known. But truthfully, there was nothing to be mad about. You never would have had your tie with Josh under any circumstances. And you knew what that meant. You were never really his. You could face that now.

“Did you really not see the truck coming that night?” you asked him quietly, face turned to the side so you could study him, even if he tried to hide from you.

But he didn't hide. He met your stare head on.

“I really didn’t. I was so enraptured by you. You were the only thing I could feel. And it has been that way every single moment since.”

You were quick to tears; you knew that now. You wished you could blame Jake for it but the truth was, that was just your new normal. You never went untouched by anything anymore. Everything left a mark. But the marks Jake was leaving weren't all bad. And this one that he was leaving now didn't anger you at all, not in the slightest.

You wiped at your tears with an unsteady hand, chuckling as you spoke. “You’ve gotta stop making me cry.”

“Happy tears or sad tears?” he asked with a deadly serious look on his face.

You sniffled back the brunt of them, meeting his eyes deliberately.

“Happy tears.”

A light smile finally crossed his lips.

“Those I’ll take,” he answered softly.

It was you that leaned in this time, meeting him where he stood to press your lips against his after the distance between you became unbearable. And he met you with hesitation only for a mere moment before he melded into you, dropping his liquor bottle into the grass to bring his hands to either side of your face.

He connected to you like a long-lost lover, finally finding his way back into your arms. And you accepted him. Welcomed him, even, like that space had been created for him and only him.

When you pulled back, his mouth chased yours but you stilled him with a single finger pressed to his lips.

You took a step away from the wall, turning and outstretched your hand to him without a single word. And you expected to see some hesitation in his body as he watched you, searching the air for your feelings to confirm to him how exactly you were feeling before he did the wrong thing. So you were surprised when he took your hand silently, not so much as a pause between when you outstretched your own and when you felt his fingers wind their way through yours, solving the maze.

With his hand in yours, you walked around the house, leading him through the french doors at the back and into the golden light of the one singular room in the house.

Your intent was clear when you walked backward to the edge of his bed, his fingers still woven through yours. You could feel the need radiating from the depth of your being. But it wasn't unadulterated lust. It was a need that went much deeper. One that permeated your soul. You needed to be with him. You needed to feel whole.

He took a singular step forward to meet you and that was where the hesitance began to show on his face.

“Are you sure you want this?” he asked, looking suddenly unsure if he should touch you.

“What, you can't feel it?” you asked softly, pulling him by the hand into you.

“Struggling to…” His voice trailed off at the feeling of your lips on his neck, working their way over the sensitive veins lying shallowly beneath the skin.

His body sang for you as you went, reacting to every touch, every movement, every glide of your lips against his skin. You could feel him shudder when you nipped down his chest, feel the breath he inhaled hitch in his throat when the tip of your nose grazed over his nipple after your tongue led the way. You could feel him tense and still himself when your hands moved over their own paths, admiring his thighs and as much of his exposed chest as they could.

It wasn't just passion or lust, not the way your lips and hands moved over him nor the way his body moved in response. It was a meeting of souls, a connection that made you feel complete in a way that you hadn't since you had turned.

He groaned against your mouth when you brought your lips back to his, like a starving man met with his first and last meal. It turned your movements almost frantic, feeling the rumble vibrate through your own body. You needed him. You couldn't go another second without him.

He seemed to remember himself when your fingers began to work down the buttons of his vest, his own encircling your body to glide the zipper of your dress down its long path along your back, freeing the teeth one by one as he dragged it down slowly. Too slow for your liking.

When the material finally hung loose around your shoulders and torso, he parted with you to let the dress fall into a crumpled pile at the foot of his bed. And then his hands took the material's place, roaming over freshly exposed skin like he was mapping out the earth.

The temperature of his hands matched the ice of your own skin but the more they moved, the more they heated your body from the inside out. They were delicate against you, holding you with a care you didn't know he was capable of. And his touch that had always been so certain and calculated now had a sense of responsibility to it, like it was his duty not to break you or let you fall.

He moved you onto the bed, pushing you backward gently as his body blanketed you. His own movements, slow as they had been, began to quicken in pace as he let his tongue taste every inch of your skin, working down between your breasts and over your abdomen, across the expanse of your stomach and down past your navel. You knew where he was headed. You knew what he wanted to taste. And as much as you wanted him to taste it, you needed much more, much more urgently.

“I can't wait, Jake,” you said as you stopped him with your hands on his shoulders. “I want all of you, your fingers, your mouth, everything, but right now I just need you. I can't wait any longer.”

He gave you nothing more than a quick nod, silent and fervent. One that showcased just how much he needed to feel you wrapped around him as well.

He let you stand and push him back onto the bed, into a sitting position so you could climb over him and straddle his thighs with your own. It must have been new for him, letting someone else take charge for once. He was always the one making the moves, always the one commanding the situation. But now he had relinquished some of that control. He was putting himself in your hands, giving you the freedom to do whatever it was you would, and his body under yours seemed to pray to you that you'd have mercy on him and put him out of his aching misery sooner rather than later.

Your hands worked into his hair to pull gently at the roots, angling his face toward you better to deepen the kiss as you pressed every inch of your skin to his that you could. And the moan it earned from the vampire beneath you was like music to your fucking ears, a sound that held all of his usual raspiness but mixed deliciously with the desperation flooding his body.

His hands were quick to remove the vest and shirt that separated your chest, coming around your back to connect at the strap still securing your bra soon after. He made fast work of the garment, discarding it onto the floor to be forgotten like your dress and any other material that stood to keep you from him.

Finally, his hands dropped to his belt that sat snugly between your bodies. He worked it off in one fluid motion despite the way you clung to him and the space you wouldn't allow him to make between you. But when it came to his pants, you were much more eager to aid him in removing those, pulling yourself away with a deep exhale to fiddle with buttons and zippers and encourage a wiggle of hips until finally, there was nothing separating either of you.

You'd seen each other naked before but the allure of it paled when compared to the way it felt to now have nothing but him pressed against nothing but you. Like puzzle pieces that had not chosen their own design nor the shape of their edges marveling at the way they fit together.

Reaching between your bodies fighting to intertwine, you took his length in your hand, earning a groan from Jake at the touch, almost like a sigh of relief. It practically paused his every movement as the contact did well to short-circuit the wires in his brain. It practically fried your own synapses, taking his weight in your hand and running your thumb along the leaking tip. You could have wept along with it with that same need you felt permeate your entire body.

You lined him up with your entrance quickly, growing tired of the fact that he wasn't inside of you already. And in one swift motion, you sank down onto his length and it was like seeing the world for the first time. Like feeling the world for the first time.

You were no stranger to sex. No stranger to sex as a vampire, either. But nothing could have prepared you for the feeling of Jake stretching you out with his cock and nudging the very deepest parts of you. It was indescribable, the feeling of euphoria that electrified every individual cell within your body. It wasn't his gifts, either. There was no chemical reaction manufactured by his brain responsible for the sensation that practically collapsed your lungs in on themselves and sharpened a collective moan to pierce the air. There was only his body meeting yours like he was made to take up that space. There was only him.

When you turned your gaze down toward him, your bottom lip sucked in between your teeth, he looked just as far gone as you felt. His brows were crossed in a deep furrow and his lips parted as he panted like he had just run a marathon. And the most graceful sentiment he was capable of in that moment where words all but failed him was a simple curse.

“Holy shit.”

You watched his adam's apple bob along his throat as he swallowed hard, no doubt working himself up to last longer than his body suddenly wanted to.

“I might have done this sooner if I had known what I was missing,” you breathed back in response.

It earned a laugh from him, the sound of which wrapped snugly around your heart and warmed you from the inside. And suddenly you understood Danny and Adele much better. You understood why they never separated, why they seemingly flaunted their love in front of Sam or really anyone who happened to be around. You would do anything to protect that sound of laughter and the boy who created it. You couldn't even imagine a single moment feeling empty of him. You needed him by your side. You needed to hear that laugh to stay sane.

You moved again, a gentle raise and lowering of your hips that drew another moan out of you both as you squeezed hard around his length on the long journey down.

“Fuck, I need more, baby, please,” he pleaded with desperate eyes and pouting lips.

Another movement of your hips and his hands flew to your body, gripping onto you like his life depended on it despite the fact that you had barely done anything at all. You almost didn't even need to. It was euphoric just feeling him there, inside of you, completing you.

“Fuck,” he moaned again in a rasp as he buried his face into the crook of your neck, seeking more skin to sooth him as he climbed high.

When you moved again to finally develop a rhythm, he pulled back to look at your face. He looked like he was fighting back his own release already, face red and sweaty, veins tensed beneath his skin, eyes lidded and heavy.

“Even after the centuries I've been alive-” he spoke through broken sentences as he struggled to keep his mind together, “even after all that time, all that p-practice, I could never create anything that feels the way you do.”

He shook his head, his tongue darting out to wet his lips when you angled your hips and came down on his cock harder than you had before, repeating the action to watch his head roll back. You almost feared he had left his physical body behind and become one with the stars.

You pulled his face back to you with your hands as you continued to fuck yourself along his length, grinding down hard every time you reached the base and your thighs met his with a slapping sound that echoed through his home. And you recited your dream to him, the earliest one you had had that he had ventured into.

“You have me. Do you feel that? I'm coursing through your veins.”

He groaned at your words and the way they paired so sweetly with your squeeze around his cock like you owned him.

“You're all I feel,” he growled suddenly, wrapping one arm around your waist to lift you off of him and press your back into the mattress behind you.

With the new position, he maneuvered on top of you and thrusted his hips once, filling you again as you yelped his name.

“You're all I think about,” he spoke through gritted teeth, angling his hips and watching your face closely as he began to fuck you like he meant it.

“You're all I see,” he said again, lifting your knee high along his torso as his pace quickened and his nose ran along your skin, keeping his face close because the air without your touch felt far too cold for him to face.

His hand found your chin and he wrapped his fingers underneath it to hold your face, keeping your gaze locked onto him.

“You're all I hear,” he growled. “You're all I taste.”

Suddenly his face was gone from your view but not seconds later you felt his fangs sink into the artery running along your neck, sending your body reeling into an orgasm head first as he drew your blood from your body.

It felt so good your toes curled, your fingers twitched, your words failed you. And it lingered. It wasn't like any orgasm you'd had before. It wasn't a quick wave that passed over you on its way to the shore. It was a crashing of two souls together, igniting when they found each other. It was an awakening and his name fell from your lips like a chant. Like a prayer to your savior.

He pulled his fangs from your neck in time to bury his own face into your sweating skin.

“You're all I know,” he growled finally into your jaw when he released inside of you, fucking you both through your orgasms diligently.

It was better than his gifts, somehow. It was a euphoria you had never known. And he was there alongside you, reciting your name in your ear and moving his hips like he was unwilling to stop, unwilling to let it end.

But it did, as all things did. His hips slowed and an exhaustive state took over, even for two bodies that could hardly tire. But when he did finally come to a halt, he didn't pull himself from you, only took your face in his hands again.

A sweet smile crossed his lips, looking a bit loopy and fucked-out. He remained silent as he stared at you, almost to the point of shyness on your end.

“We should just stay here and never move,” he said finally.

It brought a smile to your face.

“I think we can manage that.”

But the post-sex high that still mingled in the air and intoxicated you both was short lived. You stayed that way for too short a time, reveling in each other and making your homes there, before Danny was pushing his way through the doors, not even bothering to shield his eyes.

And he looked frantic.

“I'm sorry,” he breathed, ignoring the evident state of undress before him, “you two need to get dressed. A representative for the council is here.”

Even if you hadn't seen the grave look on his face, you would have known to be worried. You could feel that same gravity in Jake's body, still connected to yours and now rigid with nerves. Jake looked like he was asking a silent question to Danny and your eyes flickered between them, hoping one of them would speak the conversation aloud for your sake.

“I’m sorry,” Danny repeated after a moment. His shoulders caved with disappointment, like he was internally scolding himself under Jake's own accusatory eyes. “I didn’t see them coming. They must have decided recently.”

“Is it Marcus?” Jake asked.

Danny gave a nod paired with quiet confirmation, although what it meant to Jake, you weren't sure. You didn't know much about the council, hadn't even heard any names uttered until now. You had no idea what to expect when you walked into the house.

Danny was gone just as quickly as he had appeared, leaving you alone with Jake who practically jumped up from the bed.

“I have questions,” you began as he threw you a clean shirt of his and rummaged around for his own.

“I know you do, baby. I'll do my best to answer them just…not now.”

There was something in his demeanor that told you you shouldn't press. It wasn't like his usual cockiness that urged you to argue with him, practically begged for it. You'd never seen him so shaken. So you chose silence rather than pestering for once, silently dressing while you studied him as well as you could.

His movements had an air of frenzy to them, like his body was vibrating a little too fast to move with the fluidity and precision it usually did. And despite the fact that he tried to keep his face stoic and flat, you could see the concern creasing his brow and deepening the lines in the outer corners of his eyes. And when he was finally dressed and his hair fixed and his faux silver necklaces slung around his neck, he came back to you.

“Just don't say anything, okay? Let me do all of the talking.”

You nodded and he nodded back, seemingly to steady his own nerves. But before he moved another inch, he took your face in his hands and pressed his forehead to yours.

His fingers curled around to the back of your neck, sweeping up into your hair from the nape and sending a shiver down your spine as they went. You felt it much more freely now with Sam gone, that draw that had existed since long before you were even turned. But now, with danger at the helm of your path, you were choking on worry. It strangled you, took hold of your throat and wouldn't let go. You had already lost two brothers. You couldn't bear to lose a third. Not him.

With a quick kiss to your lips, one that would linger there for hours, that your fingertips would seek to soothe you, he led you through his home with his fingers laced through yours.

Danny and Adele were standing just inside the main house in the grand living room that seldom got any use. It was a large room off the dining room, one wall entirely made of glass for two stories to give an unblemished view of the forest that lay beyond it. A giant fireplace sat on the opposite wall, one that went unlit year round. Deep mahogany covered almost every other surface, save for a few chairs upholstered in a burnt orange velvet. Like the furniture of royalty with taste. It matched the man you presumed to be Marcus standing at the center of it all.

He was tall, taller than Adele or her partner, with broad shoulders and sunken features. He looked to be not much older than you all but there was something ancient in the way he held himself. And the way he dressed. From head to toe, he was clad in a softly worn velvet, like the seats that laid about the room, but this one a faded black in color. Thrown over his shoulders was a large cloak of the material, hiding a simple yet expensive dark suit beneath. But it was what held the cloak together that caught your eye: a large silver pendant that seemed to have spokes reaching out from the sides, almost like stars connected by an ovular shape in the middle with light-catching red gems arranged in a neat pattern at the center of the piece. He wore it like a sigil, the power it might have held undoubtedly his own. And given the presence he cast about the room, one that immediately set your teeth on edge, you couldn't help but wonder if the piece was made of actual silver.

“Ah, just the couple Cassius is hoping to meet.” When Marcus spoke, you could hear the many lives he had lived in his voice.

He sounded like a thing of the past, his tone smooth and slow in a way that coaxed a clammy sweat in your palms. And his eyes, bright red and piercing like the rubies he wore, were held open wide. Nothing about him looked human or sounded human or moved in any way a human might.

You felt Jake's hand raise to your lower back, his fingers flexing against you to try and calm the fear he must have felt radiating off of you.

“My dear, this is Marcus,” he began the introduction. “Marcus, this is-”

“Oh we know who she is.” Marcus punctuated it with an eerie smile, although it was his use of the term ‘we’ that you fixated on the most.

His eyes trained themselves on you, taking a long and shameless moment to rake up and down your body, taking you in fully. And when his eyes reached yours once more, his smile widened.

“My apologies for the surprise visit. Cassius asked that I use…non-traditional methods of transportation to arrive faster.”

He looked at Danny when he said it, like it was done simply so the curly-haired boy couldn’t see his arrival. And once again, Jake stiffened at your side.

“You should each pack bags,” he began again. “Cassius is eager to meet you.”

Jake gave him a single nod, glancing over at you quickly with a flash of fear behind his eyes. And just barely under his breath you could hear him mumble out a curse.

“Shit.”

Taglist: @gvfcinema @jakekiszkasbuttsweat @hippievanfleet @crossczeched48 @cassiesgreta @sunfl0wer-power @abby-gvf @joshkiszkasfoot @joshskittytickler @lightsofthe-living-gvf @i-choose-the-road @am-bam @alwaysdaydreamingoffiction @themoreyou-love @bumblebeewrites @coolmedown @sacredthesin @jonch-gvf @justdamnpeachy @fallenstar1708 @vanfleeter @laurengvf8 @allybtj @watching-over-hypegirl @hr33gvf @kaitburb @threadofstars @jennasometimesreads @samiiijones @jakekiszkasmommy @lallisonl @therobynsworld-blog @misshunnybee @sparrowofthedawnsworld @demonrat444 @malany-gvf @myownparadise96 @capturethechaos @st4rdust-ch0rds @montenegroisr @sacredjake @notthedroidz @sinarainbows @kissingthegoat @eraofstardustchords @cherryflo @blacksoul-27 @lyndz2names @earthgrlsreasy @gvfmarge @carlyfleet @thetroublegetssoloud71 @withlovegvf @suzi107 @gracev0609 @objectsinspvce @kissakiszka @amorlizette @stardustcatcher @notsostrangerthing @brokebellsgvf @sweet1squash @imleavingyoufornewyork @lipstickitty @mavvanfleet

[twilight-deviant]

Pompous Pep Week - Day 5: Age Swap

This is over a week late, but I finished it, which is a win to me. xD

My thoughts on this universe of teen Vlad and adult Danny...

Vlad is a teenage boy constantly trying to appeal to his crush, Maddie, though she seems to have eyes for their friend Jack. The three still have a ghost portal accident like they did in college, occurring earlier in life due to more available technology in the modern age of 2004. A little less unstable as well, no ecto-acne.

Vlad, still a victim of Jack's impulsiveness, hides his emerging ghost powers as he figures them out. He does not yet have the crooked notion to use them robbing banks and getting rich.

One day, while in his ghost form, he encounters and defeats a low-level ghost. Maddie and Jack happen to observe and find it fascinating. Maddie thinks the winning ghost is strong and remarkable, worth studying further. This leads Vlad down a hole of instigating more fights with ghosts to impress her, with eventual plans to reveal his true identity. When he can't get fights going organically, he begins bribing ghosts into it or summoning them with ghost tech/magic, unmindful of all the collateral damage caused by these battles. Over time, he devolves further into wanton damage and cruelty to the losing ghosts.

Enter Danny Phantom, a (formerly retired) ghost hero who can't ignore the new influx of ghosts and what this new ghost boy is getting up to. Plot twist? Turns out he's half-ghost too... and Maddie's father. (No, obviously he's not also Jack's father. lol.) Their introduction is a battle, one which Vlad swiftly loses, causing him to transform back human. [See above art]

Danny is shocked to meet another half-ghost (and it's his daughter's friend!) and tries to take Vlad under his wing, teach him how to use his powers. Naturally, Vlad fights the implication he needs help— and fights Danny too. They become unfortunate enemies, with Danny constantly torn over the question if it's okay to hit a kid. Haha. But the boy is being evil! He at least needs a time-out.

I imagine parts of canon plot still transpire. Things like Vlad researching the Ghost Zone for ways to become more powerful but it backfiring, leading to him running to Danny for help. Danny always assists, but he rarely receives a thank you.

On a personal level, Maddie can't understand why Vlad hates her dad. Meanwhile, Danny has to watch the very apparent tragedy of Vlad having a crush on Maddie, knowing she likes Jack. He can't give advice or suggest Vlad look elsewhere for love because the teen bites his head off anytime he tries to help him. None of it will end well.

For Danny's backstory, it can't transpire along canon lines with an accident in his parents' lab. I therefore decided he received his powers through magic and the occult over science. And we can blame Sam for that. Haha. When the Satanic Panic of the 80s/90s hit, she rebelled even harder against her parents and bought every dark tome and trinket she could find. Yes, this led to her summoning a portal to the Ghost Zone, and yes, Danny was caught in a reaction when the portal destabilized.

After half-dying and becoming infused with ghostly aura, Danny worked to develop his powers and stop any ghosts who made their way into the human world. I imagine that, like a Ouija board without a goodbye, the portal is open (sometimes in various locations) until they realize to close it properly. This actually takes years for them to do. In that time, Danny likes to play that he's a hero. (Ooh, fun to imagine things like meeting Ember when she was still alive.) But eventually, they did close the portal and the need for his heroics... ended.

Eventually, he and Sam got married. They had a daughter. They got divorced. (It's complicated~) If you want to ask how they have a red-headed child, go look at Sam's parents again and discuss with me whether her hair really is naturally black. Hmm.......... Also maybe they have another, older daughter named Jazz. Hahaha.

If it's necessary to pick a day job for adult Danny, he still wanted to be an astronaut. Especially with an adjusted timeline and him being alive during the thrill of the moon landing. Unfortunately, the program required incredibly thorough medical examinations, something his half-ghost biology could never pass without serious questions. So he did the next best thing with all that training. He's an airplane pilot. Flying comes pretty easy to him, after all.

He retired from ghost hunting. But also lately there seem to be new ghosts showing up in town?

[iguessthisisanewobsession]

It Takes a Mob pt.6

Previous

First

“I still don’t get why Bill gets the kid. He didn’t even want him if the first place!”

Bill sighed he absentmindedly put a hand across the giggling mound on his front.

“Yeah yeah, you forget you’re a crackhead without an’ addiction. Can’t hide shit on you.”

Locking the door behind them, Bill checked that Danny could still breathe under the jacket Marv shoved over them.

Bill, quite frankly, felt like a child messing around in his father’s closet again.

The jacket was big on Marv, so Bill looked was drowning in the thing.

“You act like you aren’t happy that I’m the one doing the heavy lifting.”

Marv let out a guffaw from behind him,

“Heavy lifting? Bill, he’s a baby, weighs less than a handful of grapes.”

“Yeah, well how about we switch, and you say that after afterwards? I have a newfound respect for women.”

Danny poked his head out and seemed very entertained by the commute.

Happily babbling away an swiveling to and fro'.

‘Good instincts,’

Bill mused,

‘Keep them up kid. Watchful eyes, saves your guys and all that.’

The three thugs were walking together in a rough diagonal line with Bill in the center. It was casual enough not to draw attention but if needed they could have the kid covered. Maybe they were being a bit paranoid, but that pays in crime ally. The rest of the walk for what it was worth, was thankfully quiet.

Well, as quiet as Gotham could be. A couple of meagering drunks and some of the nosy ladies of the night withstanding.

A couple light jokes with the ladies and a look from the others got to the guys and they got were they needed to be without any fanfare.

No, problems only arose when they got to work.

It started at the door.

Danny was gently tucked away as they walked to the door.

“Hey fellas, I know we have no official dress code ‘round here but you’re pushing it with that dress.”

“Stan, if I wanted your opinion on my clothes I’d’ve asked ahead of time. Just check us in.”

Stan leaned against the door before dramatically lifting his clipboard.

“Alright, your names?”

“What?”

“What? Need a name to sign you in. Would hate to have all those hours to go unaccounted for.”

Oh, Bill hates Stan, pompous because got a job through daddy dearest. He would blame his upbringing, but Bill knew the Brat’s father. Gabe did his best with that one, just unfortunate that his kid took after his Ex-wife more often than not.

Any normal given night, this would be the moment that someone would have to descale the situation. Bill felt the urge to grab his knife in the back of his mind.

But this was no ordinary night. He was carrying something a lot squishier and more precious than his bruised ego at the moment.

“Bill.”

Was spat through gritted teeth. Stan clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Don’t see a Bill here.”

“Man, just let Bill in, you know him! He’s been working here for two years!”

“Well, I’m just doing my job Marv, you don’t have to be so feisty.”

Bill released out a deep breath be for uttering,

“William. Overbeck. Junior.”

“Ahh! Yup! There you are Junior! Making’ your old man proud, right?”

“Listen here you tweaky little fuck- “

“Stanley? you better not be messing with Bill out there! If you need to learn a thing or two from a senior than I can gladly-“

“No madam! Right this way.”

Bill always had a soft spot for Ken’s Me-mah. He made sure to step aside as Ken ran too her voice.

“Me-maw!!”

“Hi sugar, you’ve been keeping’ out of trouble now?”

Ken was grinning like a mad man as held the elderly lady.

“Only the stuff I’m not given permission to do!”

“That’s my boy.”

“What are you doing in our neck of the woods this evening?”

Marv asked as she walked over to the others.

“Oh, you know how it is in the kitchen, all the hard things to carry I just thought I was best I didn’t bother trying. We got enough flour and rice to feed all of crime alley that needs to be unloaded. Bill, Marv, do you mind helping a weak old woman?”

“Hardly weak, Me-mah. Everybody knows you have just as much sway as a general around here.”

“And don’t you forget it sonny! Now you two, come! We got work to do for tomorrow and the night is young.”

Bill shifted awkwardly on his feet,

“Well, you see- “

“Don’t you start with me William! I still know your daddy’s number! Now get!”

~~~~~~~~

Bill and Marv stepped into the old kitchen single file. The smell of spices and heat of the oven filled the air.

Bringing out a large cutting board Me-mah gestured to Bill with a knife.

“So, before we begin, do you boys want to tell me what you dragged into my kitchen?”

‘Shit,’

The men shared a glance, and Bill raised a hand to try to come up with something plausible.

“Don’t you think about lying or running, we all know I’ll eventually find out. The only question is am I finding out by you or by word of mouth. Now off with the coat Bill, unless you’re finally eating right.”

Bill put down his finger.

Danny let out a sneeze.

Letting out a sigh Bill reached for the zipper on his front and gingerly pulled it down before handing it to Marv.

“Oh.”

Me-mah gasped,

“That’s not a puppy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hoodlums: @reinluna,@confused-moose-child,@mimilikey,@emeraudesfateandfandoms, @dolfay, @boredomfarie @aconitewolfsbane , @withoutcontxt , @onyxlightdragon , @satanicrutialspecialist , @phoenixdemonqueen , @vixen-uchiha , @skulld3mort-1fan , @bytheoldwillowtree , @illusionwolfwriter24r8 , @thewondersoflebanon , @vipower001 , @autumnwulf , @alice-hazelwood , @fisticuffsatapplebees , @f4nd0m-fun , @markus209, @dolfay, @basilf1res , @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair , @skirter01 , @bun-fish , @ascetic-orange , @thegatorsgoose , @sunflowershine03 , @ladythugs , @firegirl108 , @glitchedchaos , @rangerhorsetug , @mimilikey, @booberrylizard ,, @lehana37 , @dragongoblet , @flamey-comet , @mandyne-1001 , @starscreamlover , @moonfirearc , @bae-graphomaniac , @mewzaque , @wolfeyedwitch , @demon-cat-goes-woof , @undead-essence , @jaguarthecat , @scythegal ,, @boo-ghosties ,

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Corrupted, chapter 23: Getting Real - a TMA x Malevolent crossover

So, here they are: facing fear-gods, and a fucked-up eater of fear-gods, and a weird Welsh heritage, and a death sentence from the devil incarnate, and… they’re flirting about it.

He likes it.

He likes Hastur.

Oh. Oh, he's in over his head.

Corrupted, a TMA x Malevolent crossover featuring Tim Stoker and the King in Yellow, chapter 23.

AO3

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

One of the challenges of an emotional eruption is the tendency to feel stupid after.

Objectively, Tim knows he’s not being stupid. He’s comforted loads of people (drunk and otherwise) who felt overwhelmed and out of control, and he’s aware nobody blames him, or thinks he’s overreacting.

Jon gets him tea. It’s pointless and silly and Tim feels so… moved.

Myrddin just lets him cry it out by walking away and giving him space. Again, Tim is moved; he wanted the space, but was uncomfortable asking for it.

Elias calls back. Yeah, no. Tim doesn’t answer that.

Tim. Tim, breathe.

Tim thinks that's an excellent idea. “I need some air,” he says, sounding nose-stuffed and weary.

“Is that… safe?” says Jon.

“My gut says yes, as long as I don’t go too far, I think.”

“Well, then by all means, don’t do that,” says Jon imperiously.

Tim quashes the urge to put Jon in his pocket and smiles instead. “I won’t. Thanks.” And not remotely in the mood for searching for a door, he climbs right through an open window and away.

#

The ocean goes on forever. He can’t even see the gray horizon-line out there in the fog.

He knows Wales is over there, but weather doesn’t permit visual confirmation, and all he can see is mist and wave and sky. It’s a weirdly lonely feeling. If not for the tower right behind them, it would easily feel like they were abandoned at the edge of the world.

Simon Fairchild, he thinks, would love the view. Then he remembers Junior’s thumb mutating the horizon for a moment, and he sways, dizzy.

Are you all right?

“Super,” says Tim, leaning on his thighs and taking a minute to breathe deeply.

Hastur sounds subdued. I'm sorry, Tim.

"You pronounced those pretty good without practice," says Tim, knowing he isn't making a ton of sense.

Hastur ignores the quip. All of this is so much to ask of a human. I'm sorry.

Tim stands. Swallows. He faces the fact that a god just apologized to him—and a narcissistic, dramatic, ridiculous god, at that. Then Tim faces the fact that if he has to stand up to horrible monsters and impossible magic, he doesn't want to do it alone.

No, it's not that he doesn't want to do it alone. He wants to do it with Hastur.

More than with Danny. More than with any friend. He wants to be with Hastur through this, and he is absolutely not ready to analyze that. “I appreciate that." It's too close, too vulnerable, too real, and Tim jukes left of subject. "All this isn't how I thought my life would end, that’s for certain.”

Tim… it isn’t ending. Not for sure. There may yet be a way to save you.

Tim scoffs. “Don’t you mean us? You better mean us.”

You will have the greatest story ever told when this is through. I expect you to elaborate on my greatness.

Oh, no, Hastur didn't mean us. “Well, sure. Gonna sell the rights to Bollywood, and live off the inevitable franchise money that comes from it.”

Why Bollywood?

“Because any film of my life needs to have gaudy fun, charisma, a good sense of humor, and some baller dancing."

Hastur laughs softly. Ah… I do like you, Tim.

There’s no regret in that statement anymore. There’s an eagerness, an expectation, a focus so intense it has weight. Of course, Tim goes with it. “Kind of impossible not to imagine degenerate things when you talk like that.”

If this works, you won’t have to imagine them anymore.

Hoo, boy. So, here they are: facing fear-gods, and a fucked-up eater of fear-gods, and a weird Welsh heritage, and a death sentence from the devil incarnate, and… they’re flirting about it.

He likes it.

He likes Hastur.

Oh. Oh, he's in over his head. Oh, this is a lot. Tim swallows. "Why didn’t you say ‘us,’ Hastur?"

I’m resigned, Hastur says.

“Resigned?” Tim tries to keep it light. “To what, Bollywood?”

I’ve had a really good run—far longer than I should—thanks to raw luck.

Tim clenches his fist. “Excuse me? You're quitting?”

Don't misunderstand. I'm saying I’ve decided if I have to die because of meeting you, then… the scales balance. That’s all.

Tim stops walking.

Water whispers against the shore, steady and patient. A bird of some kind screams overhead, unseen. The smell of baked bread wafts from the tower, luring. Tim swallows. “That’s a really big thing to say, Hastur.”

I’m aware.

Tim is shaking (because it's cold, he tells himself). “First off, no, I do not approve of you accepting death. Not allowed. Practically an HSE violation. Second, that’s… not something you want to joke around with. For any reason.”

I’m aware.

Tim shakes. He nudges a loose rock with his foot. He could walk the whole island in a few hours; see the weird churchyard where (supposedly) 20,000 saints were laid to rest. See the weird apples unlike any other in the world, immune to blight. See the lighthouse. He doesn’t move. “You’re telling the truth?”

I am.

Tim’s mouth is dry.

Don’t feel like you have to respond. I didn’t say it to get a response. I… just felt it should be said.

But that's such a big thing to say. “Hey. I have a question.”

Ask.

“Why didn’t I lose another body-part after we beamed ourselves here?” Tom says, following a gut instinct.

I chose not to take it.

Tim inhales slowly. “You could’ve before?”

I’m not sure. In both other cases, I was straining for independence, we were in the middle of something wild, and I just found myself with your eye, and your hand. This time… maybe because I had control of your body, briefly, I could feel a… Hastur considers. Like a breeze from an entryway you didn’t know was there. I knew I could follow it and something would happen. I chose not to.

Tim feels pale. Hastur means it. This thing Hastur said… he means it. “Why do the scales balance, Hastur?”

Silence.

“I’m just… that’s a really big thing to say.”

I'm aware.

Tim knows how he’d take a statement like that from a human. He knows what it would mean, emotionally. It sounds like love. 

On the other hand, it's coming from a narcissistic god in hiding who’s facing death by digestion or death by Cthulhu’s great-grand-uncle, all while trapped in a mortal body, and given this, Tim has no idea what it means.

Whatever it really means, it’s a vulnerable statement, and deserves a response. “I…”

Shhh. You don’t have to answer me. I’ve been around a long time and had many lovers, and I know what I said. I didn’t say that to obligate you. I just wanted you to know.

Holy shit. Holy shit. “We're not lovers, though.”

What a strange thing to say to the god seated deep inside you.

Tom chokes a laugh. “What the hell, Hastur? Foul beast. Get thee behind me.”

Oh, I’ll get behind you, all right.

Tim laughs again, and Hastur laughs, too—a deep and quiet sound that buzzes under Tim’s skin in places that shouldn't be possible with disembodied vocal cords, but does anyway.

Damn. They're really doing this. When had the goofy flirting become real?

It is real. This is real.

It's never been real for Tim before. It's worse than fear-gods, worse than some psycho cannibal chomping his way through history. This is real.

Spooked, Tim tries to make it silly again. “Many lovers, eh? How many of those lovers knew who and what you are?”

Hastur huffs. What does that have to do with anything?

Tim grins. “Just wondering what kind of skill level I’m going to be dealing with. You could be like the CEO who thinks he’s funny because his employees all laugh at his jokes.”

Ha! They enjoyed it. I’ll have you know there is no lover like me anywhere in the world.

“That’s not necessarily a positive,” Tim quips, because that was an opening. “And I’m sure they all told you that, right? Notarized and sealed in wax, or something.”

The responses I create cannot be faked.

Tim laughs again. This game is fun. “As far as you know, anyway. Seems to me you’d need a lover who doesn't, you know, worship you to get an honest opinion.”

Are you offering? says Hastur, all honey and whiskey and incorrigible god.

(This became real when did this become real—)

Tim folds his hands behind his back. “Just making an observation.”

Well. I'm glad I could— Hastur stops.

They both feel the change. It’s like a cold breeze, but cruel, moving with intent, and Tim spins toward the horizon. There: a darkness forming in the mist, large, growing, taking so long to resolve into a recognizable shape that the fear of it surges over them, making Tim shockingly aware yet again of how isolated he is on this beach right now, out of sight of land, away from everyone and everything he’s ever known in his life, and—

Hastur’s hand pinches his bicep hard enough to bruise.

“Ow!”

Focus. I'm here. You're not alone. He can’t make us alone.

Of course. Lukas.

Somehow, when Elias said “ship,” this image had not come to mind. It moors in the distance, and its details do not come clear. It is a ghost, a phantom, a rusted and silent hulk in the gloom like nothing else remains in all the world. “Fuck me,” Tim whispers.

I think we’d best go back inside.

“Yeah,” waits Tim weakly. “Hey. Is it okay if I run?”

What do we have to lose?

That was Hasturian for let’s fucking book it, and without another word, Tim turns and bolts.

#

Myrddin seems to dislike having Peter Lukas’ ship in sight of his home. He stands at the window, squishing a slice of bread into a little ball, considering.

“Kinda need that ship,” says Tim, “in case you were, you know, thinking of scuttling it, or something. I don’t fancy trying to portal myself to wherever we’re going.”

“Mm,” Myrddin says.

“I mean, unless you have another way to get there,” says Tim.

“Oh, I do,” says Myrddin, “but I’d rather eat my own foot than go near the destination, to be perfectly honest. Not my cup of tea.” He shivers.

Well, if the wizard’s being that dramatic, then it can’t be that serious. “Not that we both don't know this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, but I’ve got a promise to keep.”

“And many miles before you sleep?” prompts Myrddin.

“These woods don't quite have the lovely part down.”

“Dark and deep, though,” Myrddin says.

“You're not wrong.”

Beside them, Jon shivers, staring out the window.

Tim wonders if he sees something they don’t. “Maybe it’s a better idea if you stay behind.”

“No,” says Jon.

He’s using you somehow, little priest, says Hastur. Elias is doing something. You’re walking right into it.

“I don't care,” Jon snaps. “I have to… I can't… you don’t understand.”

“So help me do that?” says Tim, all too aware that a spooky lifeboat with a spooky shape that’s probably Lukas in the bow is coming their way. “Because right now, I'm seeing you taking a big risk, popping along with me, and I don’t have a reason why.”

Jon sighs. “Look. I don’t know what Elias’ role in this is, but I'm not doing any of it for him. You don’t understand. I need to know. I need to. I need see the truth with my own eyes.”

“Right, but why?” Tim frowns. “You’re not telling me something.”

Jon looks positively caught. “I am not.”

“Yeah, that’s a double-negative, boss, so you just admitted you are,” says Tim, just to be a contrary.

Jon reddens. “I swear on my honor I will swim after the blasted boat if you try to leave me behind.”

Tim is not laughing. Nope. Not at all. “You got a lot of practice swimming?”

Jon is too skinny to do a puffy kitten impression, but he manages, anyway. “I grew up in Bournemouth. I’ll have you know I am an adequate swimmer.”

Hastur laughs. Adequate!

“Perfectly satisfactory!” says Jon.

“All right, all right,” says Tim, raising his hands. “You can come on the scary ghost ship. On your head be it if it’s properly spooky and answers nothing.”

“I’m not—” John begins, and then comes a knock at the door.

Myrddin takes Tim’s hand. “I'm glad to have met you," he says. "Don’t die, hm? We can talk when you get…” And he pauses. Blinks. “Oh, my,” he says, and turns away.

“When I what?” Tim blurts. “Get back? Why would you interrupt that?”

Myrddin opens the door instead of replying. A man stands there, and he is not Peter Lukas. He is short, heavyset, with a thick, black beard and dark skin made darker by the sun. He wears a nondescript pea coat, and around his neck hangs the unique, trumpet-like shape of a boatswain’s whistle.

That whistle gives Tim the heebie-jeebies. A whistle has never given him the heebie-jeebies before.

“Well, well, well,” says Myrddin. “Tadeus. That’s where you disappeared to?”

And the man, the boatswain judging by his whistle, looks through Myrddin like the wizard isn’t there, and tilts his head toward Tim in the barest acknowledgment.

Tim feels like his eyes are very wide. "Okay, sure. Yeah, let's go."

Myrddin touches his shoulder. "Good luck," he says softly. "I think you’ll be glad in the end you made the choices you did. Yes. You will.” And he tucks something into Tim’s pocket and pushes him toward the door.

The guy—Dahl, apparently—has already turned, walking back towards that tiny boat.

Jon gulps audibly. “Thank you for your hospitality, sir.”

“Of course, of course,” says Murddin with great and sudden cheer. “We’ll talk more when you get back.”

“When he gets back?” squawks Tim, but he already knows he won’t get an answer.

Dahl isn't waiting. They both hurry after.

Myrrdin stands in the door, smiling, waving a handkerchief like a black-and-white recording of some old-timey embarkation.

Tim shakes his head. “This might as well happen,” he murmurs.

That’s an amusing reaction to horror.

“Sort of logical, really,” says Tim, hunching his shoulders against the sudden cold as he follows this Dahl. “It’s really one of those days, you know? Not much we can do about it. So this might as well happen.”

His left hand shifts slightly out of his pocket and strokes his stomach. Pragmatic. But you're not doing it alone.

Tim swallows.

Jon jogs at his heels, too close, already spooked and shit at hiding it.

They wouldn't get anything out of drowning us, would they? Tim thinks, trying not to add to the spookification.

Only Elias’s displeasure, probably, says Hastur.

“What?” says Jon. “What displeasure?”

Tim forgot Jon could hear Hastur now. “Oh. They won’t do anything nefarious to us, is all I'm saying.”

Jon looks a little pale. “Only if we actually die. There are a lot of things they could do that don't involve death."

Tim makes a face. “Well, sure, if you want to get ridiculously technical, sure.”

You can still back out, little priest.

“Look, will you just call me Jon, please?” Jon snaps. “It's my blasted name.”

Hastur chuckles. As you wish. Jon. He does something to the name, makes it intimate, magical, maybe even a little invasive.

Jon trips.

“Hastur,” chides Tim, steadying him.

What? He wants me to use his name! Names are intimate.

Tim rolls his eyes. “Sorry. Some people can't behave, apparently.”

“Fine,” mutters Jon. “It’s fine. I asked.”

Don’t go making me jealous, now, Tim thinks, still chiding.

Don’t give me reason to, says Hastur.

So.

Tim thinks two things as they follow the silent Dahl onto the rowboat. One, he's right, and their relationship is changed. It is real. Serious. They both feel it, and they really need to talk out some boundaries ASAP.

Two (speaking of boundaries), Hastur is apparently jealous of Jon?

Why?

Well. That would be one of the things they discuss. Soon.

Dahl is strong. He kicks them off the rocky shore and hops in, weirdly graceful, and begins rowing them toward that distant dark shape.

But Tim knows what he saw before. The boat moved itself. Dahl is doing this for show, and Tim can’t imagine why. Though come to think of it, there’s a weird isolation to sitting in a boat, silent, rowed by a man a;sp sitting in silence, who ignores them as completely as if they didn't exist.

[invisibleraven]

What I thought was so permanent fades

Written for the Year of the OTP challenge prompt: life changes

On AO3!

This fic went in a bit of a different direction than I planned but I kind of love where it ended? Is it a little bittersweet? Yes. But to quote my absolute favourite song; "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

Luke looked at himself in the mirror-it was early and he honestly wanted to go back to bed but they had a band meeting over breakfast and since he was the one that scheduled it, he couldn’t exactly cancel. But the temptation was there.

The steam was clearing, but the bathroom was still warm-a blessing with the cold front moving in and messing up his joints. Luke sighed as he applied shaving cream to his face, he’d rather just stay scruffy, but Julie threatened to withhold kisses if he didn’t shave, and Luke wasn’t willing to give those up. Plus she made Reggie get rid of the awful goatee, so Luke supposed it was only fair.

It was so weird looking in the mirror and seeing himself now-his hair fading to a soft sandy grey, lines mapping his face. Here he was, smack dab in middle age, a place he swore he’d never see.

It wasn’t that he thought he’d be one of those rock stars that burned bright but fast, but when you die at seventeen, you kind of figure you won’t be hitting forty two.

But then again, he never imagined he’d come back as a ghost either, so who can say how fate works?

Then again, fate never accounted for Julie Molina and her capacity for love. A love so strong that she brought three wayward ghosts back to life. Giving them all a second chance at life-to actually grow old.

Plus it didn’t hurt that Julie promised to grow old with them-him and Reggie specifically. She even put it in her wedding vows. It had taken time, and a lot of work to sort themselves out, but they had come together in the end, and had been that way ever since. Sure, a lot of people didn’t get it, their families included, but they supported them, the fans gave them unwavering love, and the three of them were stronger than ever, especially after twenty years together.

“Hurry it up Patterson,” Julie said as she entered the bathroom, playfully swatting his towel clad butt. “You can admire yourself later.”

Luke stuck his tongue out at her as he finished shaving and watched her brush her teeth and twist her hair into a braid. He loved watching her, even if she teased him for being a creeper, who could really blame him when he had Julie to stare at?

Julie had aged as well-she had a large streak of white in her curls, though Reggie claimed it made her look like Rogue instead of old. Her smile lines were more pronounced, her curves a bit softer. But she was still just as gorgeous as the day they literally fell into her life.

There were days that Luke was so overwhelmed by how much they owed Julie. She had handed them so much; her talent, her home, her family. They literally owed her their lives. So he and Reggie had devoted theirs to her. But she had done the same for them-giving them all the love she possessed, bringing their children into the world, and blooming into the wonderful human being she was always meant to be,m nourished by their returned love.

“Where’s Reg?” he asked as he patted his face dry.

“Bringing the kids to school,” Julie supplied. “Danny had that diorama for history class that he didn’t want to chance on the bus. And well if Danny was getting a ride then Luna wasn’t taking the bus.”

“Of course.”

Julie looped her arms around Luke’s neck. Standing on her tiptoes so she could look him right in the eye. “You sure about this?”

He held her hips, skin warm as he wormed his way under her soft shirt. Ignoring how she squirmed since she was notoriously ticklish. “Yeah, it’s time.”

“Okay.” She pressed up to give him a kiss. “Let’s get breakfast on the go, Alex and Willie will be here soon.”

The coffee had just finished brewing when Reggie returned, running his fingers through his still luxuriously thick locks that had been windswept due to his fondness for driving with the top down. Luke wasn’t sure how Reggie avoided aging like the rest of them-his temples were silver but otherwise his hair was just as dark as it had been as a teen, and while he had a few lines, he still maintained his youthful appearance. Some guys had all the luck.

“Hello my loves,” he said, pecking each of their cheeks as he popped some bread into the toaster. “Lex running late?”

“Isla missed the bus,” Julie explained. “So Willie is going to drop them both off.”

That was the other thing-somehow Julie’s magic had extended to Willie. None of them questioned it, but it had allowed Alex more happiness than he ever thought he’d get. He’d even promised Julie to name his first born after her, but she told him since she didn’t know what or how she’d done what she did. But when Alex and Willie adopted Isla, they had given her the middle name Julie-after her godmother.

How much power did Julie even contain? How much love did it take? None of them wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth, and even though Julie hadn’t seen any other ghosts in over twenty years, the fact that she had such power when it came to them was a slightly terrifying and delirious prospect. Maybe Reggie hadn’t been wrong when he called her a witch. A witch without her powers now, but magical nonetheless.

Alex and Willie came rushing in as Reggie finished the toast. “Sorry we’re late!” Alex exclaimed. “I swear that bus driver has it out for Isla, he keeps ‘missing’ her stop.”

“You need to report that dude,” Julie said as she dished up the eggs while Luke finished off the bacon.

Willie plopped himself down on a stool, snagging a piece of toast. “So what’s this meeting about?”

Everyone looked at Luke, even though Julie and Reggie knew what he was going to say, they wanted to give him a moment to collect himself. Finally he spoke.

“I wanna put the band on hiatus. Maybe permanently.”

“What?” Alex all but shrieked. “Who are you and what have you done with Luke?”

Luke grinned despite himself. “I’m not saying I’m giving up music… but I think I want a bit of a break. Spend time with the kids before they get to high school. Maybe write stuff that wouldn’t work for the Phantoms.”

“You’re welcome to help Julie and I with our next country album,” Reggie offered with a wink.

“Maybe,” Luke mused. “I mean the last one won you guys a lot of accolades and acclaim.”

“Okay now I know there’s something up,” Alex said. “You hate country.”

“I’ve acquired a taste for it,” Luke replied. “Look Lex, we’ve played in every stadium and arena I ever dreamed of, we have oodles of platinum records and frankly we’re running out of trophy space. I’ve accomplished every dream I ever had.”

“Except the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Reggie joked, and Luke pointed at him in reply, but they all knew they’d get there one day, just like they talked about all those years ago.

“So you wanna go on hiatus? Instead of just taking a vacation?” Willie clarified.

“I think I need a break,” Luke admitted. “Before I get burnt out or even hate it. I’ve been obsessed with music since the nineties, maybe it’s time for me to find something new. Or at least go back to playing for the sake of it, not doing it as a job.”

“And you guys are okay with this?’ Alex asked Reggie and Julie.

“I mean we’ve had breaks before, for the kids,” Reggie said. “Besides, Julie and I are still doing our country thing. Might be fun to do something musical without labels breathing down on us. Pressure free songwriting? Sign me up. Maybe I’ll even add another instrument to my roster.”

“Because five isn’t enough,” snarked Alex before turning to Julie.

Julie took a moment, then nodded. “I… I’m almost older than my mom ever got to be. Which is making me wonder about what I’m going to do with the half of my life that she didn’t get to have. I love playing with you guys, and maybe we’ll come back to it, maybe we won’t. But I’d like to have the space to explore new things, and take some family time. Maybe write a book or something, I dunno.”

“Well that’s that then,” Willie said, clapping his hands together. “I mean I love your guys stuff, but it sucked when you went on tour when I couldn’t come. Some time together would be great. We could start fostering like we talked about, or I could work on my art. Plus Alex you and Kayla have been aching for a chance to do some choreo together, why not now?”

“You guys know I don’t deal well with change,” Alex said. “But… I could be okay with this one.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Luke said, finally allowing himself to relax for what felt like forever. “I’ll get Flynn to draft up something, and we’ll release it to the press soon.”

The rest of the breakfast was a little bittersweet-the end of an era as it were. But they still spent it catching up with regular life drama, and Willie promised to work with Ray and Victoria to make them all a scrapbook.

“We should mass produce them,” Luke joked. “They’d sell like gangbusters.”

Willie hummed like he was considering it, and Alex rolled his eyes, silently promising the others he’d talk him out of it. Eventually though, they went off home to enjoy the rest of their day, while Luke, Julie, and Reggie flopped onto the couch.

“Feel better?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah, I really do,” Luke replied. “I thought as soon as I said the words the feeling would come over me like ‘oh no, this is a mistake’, but they didn’t. I feel… almost relieved?”

“Makes sense,” Jullie mused. “The Phantoms have been such a big part of our lives, and now that they’ve crossed over in a sense… it feels kind of sad and final?”

“Maybe they’ll be reincarnated, or brought back-someday,” Luke said. “We did, so there’s always hope.”

“Any idea what you wanna do with the rest of our lives?” Reggie asked.

Luke hummed, looking at his spouses, the loves of his life, the reasons for his life and smiled. “I’m not sure, but for right now, how about a nap?”

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Currently on the road back home having a good time (hopefully bc i sure need it) -Danny Words: 1,952 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

III: I Use The Power of Friendship (Goes Wrong)

Ara's glad to be left alone with the girls. Reyna is an old friend and Annabeth... well, she's like a sister.

As they leave the dining area, Ara remembers what a fun little girl Reyna used to be. Maybe they can find a way to build something, an alliance that will satisfy both sides. She must be careful, though, the last time Ara tried to be the voice of reason, it didn't end well, which brings her back to Nico. 

Gods, she really hopes Lily doesn't know about his disappearance, she's got too much on her plate already.

"Come," Reyna gestures at the girls. "Walk with me."

Ara spent many years telling Nico that Camp Half-Blood was the best place for them, and technically, this place is for Romans, not Greeks, but still... Now she understands why Nico started to disobey her months into her leadership, he'd found New Rome, and he knew Ara was clueless.

How many times had she thought of Lily that way? Lily was too wary, and Ara was all about going big or going home. She'd forced her to participate in flashy plans just because they were easier. Now, standing in the middle of New Rome, witnessing what could be achieved with patience and careful planning, Ara couldn't blame Lily for being exasperated by Ara's approach.

"The harpy Ella..." Reyna says, bringing Ara back from her brooding. "It was a prophecy she spoke. We all know that, don't we?"

"It sounded like a prophecy," Annabeth agrees. "But I've never met Ella before today, and I've never heard those lines exactly."

"I have," Reyna sighs. "At least some of them—"

Argentum, Reyna's automaton dog, starts barking when some kids gather around to play with it. Leo hasn't seen Reyna's dogs yet, but Ara wants to take them onto the ship so he can take a look.

"You have a beautiful life," Ara says. "And you built it with hard work, I respect that."

"When we met, you were just an Aphrodite," Reyna smiles a little. "You don't sound like one now, but it shows."

"You should see her when she's with Leo," Annabeth quips.

Reyna turns to her with a raised eyebrow. "The scrawny boy with the curly hair?"

Ara knows what Reyna thinks because it's what most people think. It's what Lily said when she found out: Really? Him? Ara clears her throat. "Anyway..."

"We should move on," Reyna walks forward, and Ara appreciates it.

"We've also met before," Annabeth points out. "You were younger, right?"

"Very good. Percy didn't remember me. Of course you spoke mostly with my older sister Hylla, who is now queen of the Amazons. She left just this morning, before you arrived. At any rate, when we last met, I was a mere handmaiden in the house of Circe."

"We played tag," Ara tilts her head, trying to remember. "You said my teddy bag was cute and I gave you the bag of gummy bears I kept in it. You thought it was funny that I kept gummy bears inside my bear bag."

Reyna smiles openly and Ara feels comforted by it. This teenager had been like her once, a little girl with not much to offer, and her rank had sharpened her edges. Now, Ara is on her way to becoming Reyna, and she doesn't hate what she's seeing.

"Wait," Ara blinks, finally processing what the older girl said. "Your sister is the queen of what?"

Reyna chuckles. "You're a lot like Percy."

This catches Ara off guard. No one ever says that about her—not in a positive way, at least. 

"This is my favorite spot," Reyna announces. "The Garden of Bacchus."

When Ara sees Baccus's statue she lets out a laugh. "You guys got a great involuntary sense of humor..." 

Reyna hums. After a moment, she continues. "I wanted to hear it from you."

"Hear what?" Annabeth asks.

"The truth. Convince me that I'm not making a mistake by trusting you. Tell me about yourself. Tell me about Camp Half-Blood. Your friend Piper has sorcery in her words. I spent enough time with Circe to know charmspeak when I hear it. I can't trust what she says. And Jason... well, he has changed. He seems distant, no longer quite Roman."

Reyna raises a hand to stop Ara before she can argue.

"My dogs determined you're a reliable person, charmspeak and all. You have an honest heart, like your brother, but I brought you here and not him, because you probably know Camp Half-Blood way better than Percy nowadays."

If Ara weren't dating Leo, she'd be crushing on Reyna by now. If the girl keeps complimenting her, Ara's going to apply for Roman citizenship. 

"Well," the girl shares a look with Annabeth. "Where do we start?"

"Guess what!" Nico bounces on his feet. "Something cool happened this morning!"

"You got to ride a pegasus?"

"No!"

"You convinced Percy to play Mythomagic?"

"Better!"

I look around, and that's when I realize my brother isn't by the fountain. He waits there for Annabeth and I before breakfast, even if we don't sit together. Now that our friend is missing, I'm expecting to see him staring at his reflection in the water, sulking or something, but he's not there.

I notice his cabin's door is wide open and my stomach drops. "Where is Percy?"

The young boy smirks. "I helped him sneak out so he could follow Bianca!"

I'm not very strong, but I pull Nico by the neck of his shirt until we're face to face. The sudden action causes him to yelp. 

"Why didn't you wake me?" I whisper in panic.

"H-He told me not to! 'You look after my sister, I look after yours'—I thought it was fair!"

Percy calling me his sister even when I'm not around makes me giddy, but I'm also upset that he's decided to leave me behind without saying a word. It's the first time that he goes on a quest without me, and it stings.

Nico removes himself from my grip, looking guilty. "I wanted to go too, but Percy said I had to stay with you."

I realize I'm not Nico's mentor. I'm just an older version of Nico. We've been left behind by our siblings because they didn't think we were strong enough to keep up with them.

"Does Chiron know?"

"I won't tell on Percy," Nico stands proudly. "I promised I wouldn't."

His devotion to my brother confirms we're the same, so I wrap an arm around his shoulders and guide him to the Athena cabin.

"Alright," I sigh. "It's you and me... That isn't so bad! We'll be a great team. Come on, let's get Lily." 

"If you go to the ancient lands, especially Rome itself, there is something you should know about your mother," Reyna mentions.

Annabeth steps back. "My—my mother?"

"When I lived on Circe's island, we had many visitors. Once, perhaps a year before you and Percy arrived, a young man washed ashore. He was half mad from thirst and heat. He'd been drifting at sea for days. His words didn't make much sense, but he said he was a son of Athena."

"What happened to this demigod?"

"Circe turned him into a guinea pig, of course. He made quite a crazy little rodent. But before that, he kept raving about his failed quest. He claimed that he'd gone to Rome, following the Mark of Athena."

Ara stares at her friend. Annabeth used to confide in her, and now they're both keeping their hands behind their backs, waiting for the other to give the first step. It feels wrong.

"Yes," Reyna continues. "He kept muttering about wisdom's child, the Mark of Athena, and the giants' bane standing pale and gold. The same lines Ella was just reciting. But you say that you've never heard them before today?"

"Not—not the way Ella said them." Annabeth's voice quivers. "Did this demigod—did he explain his quest?"

"At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about. Much later, when I became praetor of Camp Jupiter, I began to suspect."

"Suspect... what?" 

Something explodes behind them, interrupting their conversation. 

"Giants?" Annabeth looks around frantically. "I thought their army was defeated!"

"It isn't the giants," Reyna says tensely. "You've betrayed our trust."

"What? No!"

"Annabeth," Ara turns her around. "The ship!"

The girls run fast to reach the commotion. Ara searches in her pocket and seizes Almighty but she doesn't turn it into a sword yet, she has to try and de-escalate the situation first.

Jason and Piper are fighting side by side. Percy, Frank, and Hazel are all together. Only one person is missing.

"Leo!" Ara hurries to the Argo II. A group of demigods approaches her menacingly, and she uses charmspeak. "Drop your weapons!" 

They obey her at once. Percy shouts her name, so Ara elbows the soldiers out of her way. She arrives at the same time as Annabeth.

"Girls!" Her brother scowls. "What—?"

"I don't know!" Annabeth exclaims mortified.

"I'll tell you what!" Octavian climbs down the rope ladder. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"

Ara rushes past the crowd again, dodging attacks from pretty much all around her. 

"I was just there!" Octavian continues. "I saw it with my own eyes!"

The girl reaches the ladder and jumps, kicking Octavian out of her way. She climbs fast, yelling Leo's name hoping he'll answer. She finds him near the ballista, and he is shooting. 

"Leo, stop!"

The girl doesn't use charmspeak at first, she never uses it on her loved ones, not since Nico. Besides, Leo usually stops when Ara tells him to, but not this time.

"Enough!" Ara grabs him and the boy stumbles back. She cups his face. "Leónidas!"

In his eyes, she sees a flash of something that reminds her of Luke. She moves away from him as soon as it happens. Ara decides to take the ammunition out from the ballista, and that's when the boy reacts. He yanks her back by the cloak, tossing her against the railing.

"Get out of the way," he says numbly.

Ara's on the ground when Percy and Annabeth reach the deck. Percy doesn't hesitate before attacking Leo, tackling him to the ground. Annabeth helps her up. 

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know!" Ara gulps, her left side is pulsing. "He's acting weird!"

A dragon lands on deck and drops an unconscious Jason and a stressed-out Piper, then turns into Frank Zhang. Percy drags Leo away. "Girls, get us out of here!"

"Can you stand?" Annabeth asks worryingly.

"'Course I can..." Ara groans, struggling to reach the control board and typing away, then pulling the throttle steadily to glide higher.

The crew stumbles back thanks to the change in speed. Ara tells Annabeth to get her dino bag and then orders Percy to tie Leo to the main mast. She has to know what's going on with him before she can let him walk around freely.

"Thanks," she tells her brother once he's done. "Check on Jason, see if you can help Piper with him."

Percy frowns. "I'm not leaving you alone with—"

"That's an order, Percy!" Ara urges him, still pushing buttons and flipping switches.

She doesn't want to be rude, but if Leo wakes up and sees Percy's glare on him again, he's gonna freak out and it's going to make things harder for her. Annabeth returns with the T-Rex and Percy leaves, though he asks Frank and Annabeth to keep an eye on Leo.

Once she stabilizes the ship, Ara grabs her bag and pulls out her bottle of nectar. She crouches in front of Leo and tilts up his face to pour the liquid down his throat. Leo bends forward coughing and she pushes him back against the mast.

"Easy," she speaks gently. "Easy, Leo... what happened?"

"I... I was having a..." His eyes glide across the deck and realization hits him like a ton of bricks. It wasn't a nightmare.

"Leo," Annabeth crouches next to Ara, but she sounds way less chummy. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Next Chapter ->

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles

[f1-disaster-bi]

I'm awake for quali and i hope my brain is awake enough for writing in english 😂

I love everything about the dragons au. Little kid lando trusting the dragons already and just being with them while the adults panic or him trusting Vesper with his egg knowing she would never hurt either of them 🥺💖

All the options for the superhero au are great and so angsty and then lando who can't stop healing 😭😭😭

And the professional dom au is so scary having someone constantly watching you and following you 🫣 i hope Lance and Esteban can help make lando feel safe again

Charles comforting and reassuring lando in their relationship was very sweet 💖 but landos uncle is a dick lanfo should tell his mum let her be mad at her brother and set him straight 💪🏼

Lando and Daniel being so soft cuddled together is the cutest thing 💖 no one can blame Daniel for forgetting about his emails when lando is right there 😂

George knowing lando will not have gone shopping and knowing all his favourite foods and what he needs and then also making him soup while lando sleeps is so great 💖 you can feel the love there in every bit 💖

Vampire au norrix was freaking hot 🥵 and i guess this made them even closer to each other with lando being so vulnerable with martin and trusting him wholly 💖

Dando abo au will always hit so deep 🥺 i love danny always knowing what lando needs but not pushing him but just offering and letting lando come to him 💖

Lando being as excited for the anow as their kids is so cute 💖 and of course he makes sure the kids are warm and comfy before thinking of himself good thing is that danny will always look out for him too 💖

I loved George and Alex being there for lando 💖 holding him close and making sure he will be comfortable with them and that he knows they are comfortable with him too 💖

And then a heartbroken norrix 😭 it's so well written but angsty norrix will always make me cry 😭 especially the last line you wrote "they never had a chance at all" 😭😭😭

I loved everything and thank you again for taking the time to write so much 🫂

-💖

I'm glad you're enjoying everything, and I'm loving working through all the prompts you and others have sent/been sending me 🥹💖

Dragons au - yes! Vesper being so soft with them when normally she only is that way with George, but just thought of her being just as anxious for Egg to hatch cause she wants to meet her brother has me in a choke hold 😭😭

Superhero au - in my head right now, I'm picturing Daniel waking up because he feels a bit strange and Lando is just straddling his lap and trying to heal him softly despite Daniel not needing any healing and Daniel just having to gently bring him out if sleep.

Pro Dom au - Lando would be so scared, especially when he realises that it's not just at the club, and he'd be half afraid to go to Lance and Este's incase he brings the stalker there but his boyfriends will not let Lando suffer or out of his sight.

Omega Charlando au - Just the idea of Lando worrying about it because maybe this is his favourite uncle. It's the one he's always been close to so it hurts to have him turn like that and try set him up with alpha's when he's happy and in love with Charles. And Charles just being sweet and protective and knowing what Lando needs 😭

Dando - I just needed soft Dando because I miss them and who wouldn't get distracted? Especially by Lando being just sweet and cuddling and just wanting to be close to Daniel 🥹

George/Lando - George just knowing his boyfriends adhd will struggle and spending the time and money to care for him, even making his mums soup that he got the recipe for and tucking Lando in cause he knows the other fell asleep working is just them 🥹😭

Norrix Vampire - I saw that prompt and went "Martin short circuiting because Lando is already blowing his brains out by riding him and then asks to be bitten". It's very intimate and special. It's a first for both of them. Martin's never bitten a human before Lando, let alone during sex and Lando just going all floppy and happy and cuddly afterwards like the cute little snack pack he is 🥹😂

Abo angst au - Daniel is so soft with Lando but also sees the strength Lando has. He knows Lando can care for himself. This doesn't change that. Nothing changes how he sees and loves Lando, and that's why Lando knows he is safe with Daniel even if his brain is a little fucked up with trauma rn

Single parent au - Lando just loves his kids and loves snow even if he gets cold easily. He'd just be so excited to see them playing in it that he wouldn't think of searching for his own coat once he has wellies on Flynn but Daniel is always there taking care of them all 🥹

Rookies 2019 - that prompt was so sweet and cute. It was so sweet and I just wanted Lando knowing he could tell them but still being scared and George and Alsx just trying to figure out how to let Lando know it's okay. That they love him and support him and they'd be so devastated when Lando says he'll leave if they're uncomfortable with him now

Prince's au - I know I said no mote Norrix angst but I couldn't help it. My brain instantly went to that. It instantly went to them being in love and knowing they can't run or avoid family duty, especially not Martin, and that this will end in heartbreak no matter how hard they try.