#~* see what makes him tick ~ starters

[wttcsms]

as it was ; suguru geto.

pairing suguru geto x f!reader  word count 4.2k  synopsis suguru comes back, only to find that you've been waiting and wanting this whole entire time. content contains modern no curses!au, gojo's sister!reader, brother's best friend, creampie, pet names (good girl, baby), most of the fic is geto's introspection, possessive sex, mutual pining/longing author’s notes im not even horny for geto like that, but i wanted to write angsty smut abt spreading ur legs for a guy that left u & who else is better for this than geto <3

First words are always a bit tricky to get right, especially whenever he has to take into account that he essentially ghosted you a couple of years ago, after taking your virginity no less, and now he’s back in the godforsaken city he swore he was never coming back to, and he’s just at a loss about what to say and more importantly, how to say it. 

He supposes an apology, for starters, would be a good first move. And maybe it would be, could be, should be, if only he wasn’t him and you weren’t you, and the two of you were not something so confusing and intricate that it’s hard to put into words and harder still to describe with emotions. The two of you are something raw and painful, both of you taking turns playing both sadist and masochist. 

Even to himself, the extent of your relationship sounds twisted, but there was always an underlying purity to it, something that justified its existence. To this day, Suguru Geto is certain that you��re the only person who ever loved him for him, with a love so pure and just that he tries to hide it from everyone else before they can get their filthy hands on it and taint it, twist it into something it’s not. 

Sorry I left won’t cut it, and Geto doesn’t even bother trying to come up with any other variations of apology because it’s not necessarily your forgiveness that he’s come back for. The opportunity to say “I’m sorry” and have it actually mean something has long since passed. All that’s left to say is the truth for why he left, which for some odd reason, seems even harder to do than his original disappearing act.

I missed you — that’s a slight improvement. It’s the truth, if not an understatement of it. He doesn’t regret leaving Tokyo, he just regrets leaving you. Which he could say, if you would actually open the door to face him. 

He figures it’s what he deserves. He deserves worse, if he’s going to be entirely honest. He deserves a slap to the face, or a kick to his balls, or for you to tell him that you hate him, that you never want to see him ever again. 

He knocks on your apartment door, harder this time, as if it’s something urgent. And maybe it is. He’s felt more like himself than he ever has after moving, but the solitude of the countryside got boring soon after, leaving him only with the ghosts from his past to keep him company. He thinks if he doesn’t see you, in the flesh, he might actually go insane. 

He knocks again, only to be met with more silence and a door that’s starting to become more of a familiar sight than he would like. Fuck, what is he even doing? Showing up here was a bad idea to begin with, and it’s only seemingly getting worse by every agonizing second that ticks by. Even if you do open the door, there’s always the chance that you won’t let him get a single word in — that’d be the smart choice, anyway. 

And you’re a bright girl, don’t get him wrong. Something about the Gojo bloodline makes your family incapable of producing anything less than prodigal sons and daughters. If you’re not proof of this fact, there’s your older brother.

Yet another reason why showing up here is such a shitty plan. Satoru will catch wind of his visit, and when he does, he’ll show no restraint in showing Suguru what all of his private boxing lessons are good for. A broken nose and missing tooth would be a fair exchange to see you for at least a second, though. A tradeoff that he doesn’t need to debate on. 

You have to leave your apartment eventually. Suguru dances with the idea of just making camp outside your door and waiting for your stubbornness to fizzle out. It’ll be embarrassing, and your neighbors will surely have something to say about it, but it would be well worth it.

He hears the ding! of the elevator opening and human reflex causes his head to turn at the sound of the noise. 

Oh.

The world becomes contradictory at this very moment. The air suddenly stills, but the atmosphere itself seems to come alive at the same time. Stagnant air, bursting with electricity and something awe-inspiring. Everything seems to slow down, but suddenly he’s acutely aware of just how alarmingly fast his heart is beating. It’s been a while since he’s last seen you, not even bothering to check up on your social media because he knows one DM from you would have him crossing the ocean to be back by your side. 

The reason why you weren’t answering your door was simply because you weren’t even home. Relief floods his body, makes him less tense, only for him to stiffen up once more whenever his eyes trail over to the warm body awfully close to you. 

Or maybe it’s the other way around, since you’re the one clinging onto him.

You and Kento Nanami both look like you two have seen a ghost, and all things considered, you wouldn’t be wrong. 

“What are you doing here?” You’re the first to speak, with Nanami’s arm wrapped protectively around your waist, and it’s this closeness that’s the only thing Suguru finds himself able to focus on. It’s been years. He shouldn’t feel this way. You’re free to do whatever you want with whoever you want. It’s your life. He’s the one that chose to walk out of it, anyway. 

“I just wanted to talk,” he answers. Which isn’t a lie. He wanted to talk. He wanted to fight and make up and fuck your brains out and beg for forgiveness and cook you breakfast in the morning and warm your bed, amongst other things, too. But, he figures the condensed version of his list will do, especially considering that three’s a crowd, and most of his itinerary was for your ears only. “Did I come at a bad time?” 

You bite your bottom lip, slowly removing yourself from Nanami’s grip. Nanami looks at you first, concern evident in his warm eyes, eyes that you wish were just a bit darker and colder, so that they would be the ones you’re so accustomed to drowning in. 

You like Nanami well enough. He’s kind and looks out for you, and sometimes you even consider making a move on him first since he’s too much of a gentleman to cross any boundaries. Then again, you don’t think Nanami sees you as anything more than a little sister, and the last time you fucked one of your brother’s best friends… 

It’s why you just give Nanami a smile, one that tells him that you’ve got this under control. His facial expression doesn’t give any indication of what he’s thinking, but the glare he sends Suguru’s way says enough. 

Suguru can appreciate the fierce protectiveness Nanami has towards you, but it doesn’t mean he likes it. Especially when it’s Suguru that’s considered to be the threat.

You move to unlock your door once Nanami makes his reluctant exit, and when you enter your apartment, you conveniently don’t shut the door. Suguru trails behind you.

You turn on the lights, your living room and kitchen blending together in an open-floor plan, bathed in the stark, white lights hanging from your high ceilings. Your apartment, at least what Suguru can see of it, is tastefully decorated. Courtesy of your mother, he’s sure. He would ask about her, ask how she’s doing, but he figures now’s just not the right timing. 

It doesn’t seem to be the right timing for anything he wants to say. He wants to mention that he’s thought about you, thought about reaching out — sometimes to explain himself, and other times just to discuss the mundane aspects of life — but he thinks that would be even worse than apologizing. It would be cruel of him to dangle this information in your face, haunt you with the knowledge that all this time, he’s truly been avoiding you. Knowing you, you would have questioned him on why he didn’t bother reaching out, and he would have been stuck admitting that it’s simply because he was too scared that you wouldn’t answer. 

“Want a drink?” You ask him, back facing him as you peer into your fridge. He catches a glimpse of shiny glass bottles, water bottled in Europe and with the optimal pH balance, he’s certain of it. His throat feels a bit dry, but he tells you no. 

“I drank enough water on the drive up here,” he tells you, which again, isn’t a lie. Suguru feels a bit pleased with himself, even if it is a bit narcissistic of himself for expecting a pat on the back for doing something so simple. He supposes it’s just because he’s gotten so used to never being honest with himself — or others, for that matter — so his current streak for telling the truth seems like something to celebrate. 

“I didn't drink enough.” You say, and he can’t tell if it’s alcohol you’re talking about or water. You’re a lightweight; yet another trait that seems to be passed down the Gojo family. That explains Nanami escorting you home, then. 

“Aren’t you going to ask how I found you?” Suguru helps himself to taking a seat on the white couch in your living room. Because there’s no walls separating the two different spaces, he can still look at you from this position as you rest your elbows on your kitchen’s island, as if needing the support. 

“If you wanted me to know, you’d let me know.” It’s the way you say it that reveals that this comment isn’t made just in reply to his current question, but for everything else Suguru was going to follow it with. Don’t you want to know where I went? Don’t you want to know why I left? 

It’s amazing what humans are capable of. Nearly six years since the two of you have lost contact — since Suguru broke all contact — and yet, you can still read him just as well as he can read you. You see him for what he is, not whatever mask he wants to disguise himself with, and it’s scary, he thinks. Scary to be seen by someone. And nice. It’s nice to have someone know you’re a monster and still not run away.

He’s not quite sure what that says about you.

“It’s a bit of a funny story.” He says, trying to steer this conversation to a more lighthearted tone even though the two of you are nowhere close to feeling light and the jury’s still out on whether or not Suguru Geto has a heart. “You don’t need the reminder, but don’t ever tell Mei Mei a secret you want to keep.” 

The mention of your shared friend — if Mei Mei can even be considered one — makes the corners of your pretty mouth tilt upward. Mei Mei was born with a silver spoon, but the running joke is that it wasn’t in her mouth because she bartered with the doctor and blackmailed him into giving her a gold one. If you have the funds, Mei Mei has the information you’re looking for. 

She’s the only number Suguru saved in his phone contacts, and it’s only because he knew that if he needed anyone else’s number, Mei Mei would readily give it after her Venmo request goes through. 

“Of course she would tell you my address.” You say, but you don’t sound upset at all. Just amused, like this whole situation is something endearing, and you don’t harbor any ill feelings towards either of them, even though both Suguru and Mei Mei technically violated your trust. Suguru more so than Mei Mei, but, well, semantics. 

“Aren’t you mad?” The “at me” is unspoken.

“Mei Mei is a free spirit.” It’s a joke, and Suguru makes a sound from his throat that resembles a laugh. Mei Mei may do whatever she wants, but nothing about her comes free.

He knows you know what he was actually asking. He’s been trying to gauge your reaction to everything he says, trying to see if you hate his guts or not. 

“I missed you.” You tell him suddenly, and while he’s imagined those words coming out of your mouth, it still shakes him up a bit. It’s hard constantly posturing as if he’s cool and collected, nothing ever bothering him, his body and expression never betraying him. But it’s his heart that gives him away, and it’s heart that you hold, and no matter what face he puts on, he knows that you’ll know what the words he won’t say are.

“Don’t apologize.” You continue, closing the distance between you two and opting to take a seat next to him. There’s about six inches of space separating you two. The distance shapeshifts in his mind, sometimes becoming mere millimeters and sometimes feeling more like there’s an ocean between you both. 

The sorry was on the tip of his tongue and it traveled all the way there from his heart. It would be a waste of a journey for him to not say it, but he’s certain the apology would do more harm than good, even if it is genuine. 

Suguru stands out against the stark white of your apartment. Your mom likes the aesthetic of it, and since it’s your parents’ money, you merely shrugged and let her do whatever she wanted. In his black pants and black sweatshirt, he looks almost out of place in your home. 

The thought that he doesn’t belong makes your heart hurt more than the burn of the alcohol from tonight going down your throat. 

You don’t waste time wondering where Suguru went because for all intents and purposes, you never even knew where he came from to begin with. You knew him since you were children; your favorite out of all your brother’s friends because it was always Suguru who let you tag along and trail behind them. No one really knows much about Suguru’s life, his past, present, and future all a big blur to anyone but himself. From the way he slowly turns to face you, dark eyes meeting yours, you start to think of the possibility that maybe not even Suguru is an open book with himself. 

Suguru looks like a shadow, standing out from the brightness of everything that is surrounding him in your living room. You want to ask him the questions that plague your mind ever since he’s been gone, but you don’t, because you’re scared he is a shadow. One wrong move, and he just disappears from your grasp once again. 

There are the hard-hitting questions, of course. The ones that search for why he left and why he told no one and why he didn’t bother taking you. Then there are the gentler ones that would still require him to rip himself open and bare himself to you, things like how’s your new place and meet anyone interesting? You feel his gaze travel from your eyes to the slope of your nose and the apples of your cheek, downward to your lips. The intensity of his stare makes you nervously lick your lips, a tiny, quick action, but his eyes greedily take in the sight of the tip of your pink tongue casually making an appearance, only to retreat behind your pretty pink, glossed lips. 

“Are you mad that I came back?” Suguru finds himself taking the role of interviewer, since it’s evident to the two of you that you know better than to bother asking him any questions. He feels like you’re treating him a bit like a stray cat, all cautious and scared of provoking him or forcing him to run away. He wants to tell you that this is not the case and that he actually plans on staying this time around, but he hasn’t entirely convinced himself yet, so he’s not going to break your heart with any more empty promises. 

“No. Like I said, I missed you.” He wants to be able to blame your honesty on account of you being drunk, but he knows that you’ve just always been honest to a fault. 

“You shouldn’t.” He tells you this, and you scoff. Probably because Suguru is the last person who should be giving any sort of life advice. 

“Guess what I’m thinking.” You say, and Suguru feels something come alive from within, like he’s been frozen for the past six years, and the more he gets to bask in the warmth of your presence, the more he starts to defrost. There’s not a single hint of anger or malice in your tone, just the familiar, lighthearted, girlish tone of yours. 

“That you think I’m a creep and want me to get the hell out.” 

You frown, rolling your eyes, tucking your feet beneath you to get more comfortable on the couch.

“I’m thinking about that last time you told me I shouldn’t be doing something.” There’s a gleam in your bright eyes that clearly spells out desire, and Suguru is very, very close to defrosting. In fact, there’s a heat that’s beginning to settle deep in him, and maybe he should know better than to indulge in it, but it’s been years, and you are sitting here in front of him, pretty and fresh, and his hindbrain takes the driver’s seat. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But he does know, and he knows that you know that he knows, just as you seemingly know everything about him. Maybe not about his childhood — or lack, thereof — or what he’s been up to, but you know the important stuff. The things that make him tick and all the words he fails to say. Three words. Three words that he doesn’t think he’ll ever muster enough courage to say to you, but from the look in your eyes, you already know. 

“I’ll jog your memory.” 

And suddenly, your lips are pressed against his. You’re kissing him, and like the lovesick fool he is, he’s kissing you back. It’s pure muscle memory, maybe even animal instinct. He thought that leaving Tokyo was the right thing to do, and for the most part, it was, but with your lips perfectly melding with his own, he thinks that leaving was stupid. 

Making out is such a juvenile ordeal, but he relishes in it because Suguru feels like he’s spent most of his youth trying to outrun it, and now he’s trying to take advantage of what his boyhood should have consisted of. The kisses are now bordering on sloppy and hazy, and somehow, you end up straddling his lap. He’s hard, and he should be embarrassed at popping a boner just from wet kisses, but it’s you. You have an effect on him that no one else does. His Achilles. The one weakness only he can feel. 

Suguru knows that he is not a good person because a good person doesn’t go behind their best friend’s back and fucks their little sister. He had told, thirty minutes before introducing you to the feeling of his cock stretching you out, that the two of you shouldn’t be doing that. Suguru knows that he is not a good person because he cannot be any happier at the fact that history has a funny way of repeating itself. Six years later, and the two of you are back in a similar position.

You’re starting to rut against him, your dress riding up your thighs and exposing more of your skin to him. Suguru helps himself to handfuls of your soft flesh, squeezing in a manner that can’t be defined as gentle, but he loves how you take him as he is without any sort of complaint. All you do is let out a low moan, your pantyclad pussy grinding against his equally clothed bulge. 

Your movements are a bit desperate, frenzied. You’re getting lost in pleasure already, and he hasn’t even done much to elicit such a reaction. The idea that only he can get you this riled up with doing so little makes him impossibly harder, and he looks down, realizing that you’re so soaked, your panties are practically translucent. 

The two of you have the option of taking things slow, but neither of you want to do that. When you spend some time starving, you don’t savor the meal, you scarf it down. 

That’s what the two of you are — hungry, greedy — as you both hastily strip as much clothing as you can bear to spend time getting out of. Your minidress is tossed carelessly on the living room floor, and Suguru can only bother with unzipping his pants and pushing down his briefs just enough to free his cock. 

The intrusion of the tip of his cock entering your wet, needy cunt is less of an intrusion and instead akin to something rightfully returning to where it belongs. Your hands are tangled in his hair, and he relishes this feeling. This wholeness, this concept of being complete.

The inviting warmth of your pussy makes him want to cum right on the spot, but he can’t waste it. He’s spent years pining after you, missing you, and he wants you to feel like the time apart had been worth it. 

“I missed you.” This time it’s him who makes the admittance. You tighten up at this confession, and it evokes a low groan from him, almost as if you had forced the sound to come from all the way down his throat.

“I know.” You gasp out, not able to speak clearly with how deep Suguru is hitting. Your living room is filled with the wet clicks and slaps of skin against skin, your juices coating his cock every time he pulls out. 

The vein on the underside of his cock rubs against your walls, and the slight curve of it enables him to hit that gummy spot inside of you that has you seeing stars. You’ve never given much thought to cocks, but you know that Suguru’s is the prettiest of them all. 

“Tell me you’re mine.” He grunts out, lips brushing against the soft skin of your neck before biting down; gentle enough not to draw blood, sharp enough to still leave a mark. You rock against him, hips moving in tandem with his thrusts, the steady hum of pleasure continuously building up in your lower belly. You are dizzy with pleasure; blanketed in it, being spoon fed it. 

He doesn’t need you to say it to know it’s true, but you moan it out anyway, both to appease him and because there’s a sort of pride in knowing that you belong to him. 

“I’m yours. I belong to you.” The words are separated, punctuated, by the little gasps for air you give out because with every word, he thrusts up even harder, hitting that special spot that will have you cumming all over him, making a mess. 

“Yeah?” It comes out sounding like a shaky breath, and he’s close, you know it, you can feel it. 

Calloused pads belonging to fingers much larger than yours are being pressed against your clit. You’re soaked, and the dryness of his hands combining with your overall slickness gives way to delicious friction that has you cumming with his name as a broken moan filtering through your swollen lips. 

“That’s it, baby. Good girl. Good fucking girl.” He mutters, relishing in the way your walls tighten, spasm, clenching and unclenching sporadically as your body loses its energy and you press yourself up against his chest.

He follows after just a few more sloppy thrusts, the last one forcing himself as deep inside of you as possible. His cum is hot and thick, and it’s filling you to the brim. If he pulls out now, it’ll flood out of you, and the thought is both sad and hot at the same time. You want his cum inside of you, to serve as a reminder that this is real, that he’s real. 

But seeing the physicality of him staking his claim, white seed dripping out of you, turns you on. Him, too, with the look of fascination and boyish wonder he has in his eyes as he stares at how the two of you are connected.

Before he can bother with confirming a round two, a sharp knock on the door has the two of you comically jumping a bit in surprise, both of you glancing at the door and then at each other.

“[Name], I know you’re in there!” You freeze. 

Satoru. 

Suguru wants to try to calm you down, whisper to you that everything’s going to be fine, but the anger laced in his best friend’s — former best friend’s — voice is enough to make him freeze up, too. Not just his icy tone, but what he says.

“I know you’re back, too, Suguru.”

[books-and-omens]

Okay okay, so I really want to talk about S2 Crowley.

I’ve been thinking about who Crowley is in the book and who he is in the show, and the gap is significant. (@tbutchaziraphale has fantastic meta over here which I think is spot on.)

Book!Crowley is an optimist, yes? I mean, we’re outright told this:

“Because, underneath it all, Crowley was an optimist. If there was one rock-hard certainty that had sustained him through the bad times—he thought briefly of the fourteenth century—then it was utter surety that he would come out on top; that the universe would look after him.”

Honestly, what a thing for a fallen angel to believe! And to me, it’s powerful, yes, but it never quite answers the question: where is he getting that certainty?

Tv!Crowley, in the meantime, is emphatically not this. He’s never been an optimist, not even in S1—although in S1, it might have been easier to look at A & C and consider them essentially similar to their book selves if a little out of sync.

In S1, Crowley gives the whole “don’t test them to destruction” speech. He cares about humanity deeply, even if he won’t admit it. He will try to stop the Apocalypse.

And there is still a moment when he feels helpless. When he has no innate optimism to carry him through, no deep belief in the universe looking after him or anyone. When his instincts tell him to run, and he tries to follow them. When he despairs. Aziraphale pulls him back out of that despair; they make a stand together. As we know, it works.

But the thing is, the thing is. I find tv!Crowley’s lack of optimism so very relatable.

I find despair so very relatable, too.

We live in an age of deep anxiety. (Climate change, anyone? Just for starters! The promise and wonder of the Moon landing and the end of the Cold War are far in the past; day to day, we deal with the effects of capitalism, of reactionism, of continued exclusionism. It’s far too easy to feel helpless.)

So in S2, Crowley is very much the same character as he was in S1, except we see it even clearer.

He is not an optimist. He wants to run; he wants to escape when faced with Gabriel’s arrival; he wants to protect Aziraphale and himself, and believes that the best—perhaps only—way to do that is by them retreating as far away from the problem as they can.

In Heaven, Crowley finds out about The Second Coming. His need to escape and to keep his angel safe become overwhelming. But he doesn’t tell Aziraphale about the Second Coming, does he? And his repeated offer to run away together doesn't even make sense to Aziraphale. (Not that Aziraphale would want to run if he knew. Quite the opposite, in fact, which Crowley must know.)

Anyway, Crowley already knows that the clock is ticking. Aziraphale is about to find it out. (Do you notice how often, in the last fifteen minutes of S2, we hear nothing in the background but the ticking of a clock?)

And just—the despair, the desire to retreat and escape when you are faced with overwhelming odds, with a fundamentally broken system, are so relatable.

And yet escape has never been the answer.

I hope, of course, that this is what we’ll see in S3 if there is a S3. Crowley deciding, emphatically, that running away is not the answer. 

We didn't get there yet. We were dropped out of the story at the darkest point.

But I think being at this point is precisely what makes Crowley’s confession at the end of S2 transcendent.

Because it’s the same conflict, isn’t it, except on a personal scale. Despair in the face of overwhelming odds, followed by the decision to not give up.

Crowley, who’d been ready to confess, sees what is likely to happen. He sees the way the deck is stacked against him, sees that he is unlikely to get through. He feels the coming loss. 

And then he does it anyway. 

He confesses anyway. He says what he has set out to say, gasping and clawing for every word. He does it at the point when everything appears lost.

And no, we don’t see the effects of it, not yet. We don’t see what he has launched, the hook that sank into Aziraphale, the change it has wrought in Crowley himself.

But his bravery won’t be lost.

We live in a dark timeline. I maintain that this is precisely what makes this story so compelling.

Be brave. Do the difficult thing anyway. Do it anyway. Do it anyway.

Even in the face of overwhelming odds. Especially in the face of overwhelming odds. While not being an optimist in the slightest.

This is what hope is.

This is what we have to do.

(And to all of us who’d lost a comfort story: I’m so sorry. I, too, am still grieving for it. I know, I know.

Emphatically: all is not lost.)

[hockeyboistrash]

wearing blue in a sea of yellow | a.s

a/n: this is purely self-indulgent. there may be some inaccuracies but like i said, its self-indulgent. i love this team and am so proud of what they've accomplished so far. i realise i've kinda disappeared, but i'm hoping to come back

summary: artūrs šilovs got the call that he was going to be the starter goalie. you of course had to be there, even if you were the only one wearing a canucks jersey

"They want me to start." Artūrs told you, disbelief laced his voice. He was still taking in the conversation he just had with his coach. He knew it was a possibility with Demko out injured but didn't think that DeSmith would also be out injured.

"Are you serious?" You asked, not believing what you just heard. Arturs nodded making you scream, wrapping your arms around him. You pulled back when you didn't feel his arms around you. "Is this not a good thing?"

"Yes of course it is. Its just... What if I'm not good enough?" He mumbled, looking down. That broke your heart. You hated when Arturs doubts himself but you understood the pressure that came with being an NHL goalie, especially one in the playoffs. You have the whole fanbase praising you one minute and then hating you the next.

"You are good enough." You cupped his cheek, your thumb brushing against his skin. Artūrs leaned into your touch, the contact grounding him. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't. Remember last year? You helped Latvia get third place in the championships." A small smile crept upon his lips when you said that. You always knew what to say to him. "What ever happens tonight, I'm proud of you, okay? Not everyone would be able step up like you are. That makes you a pretty incredible guy already."

Arturs turned, kissing your hand. He appreciated every reassurance you uttered to him and your presence in Nashville. "Thank you for being here with me."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." You told him, the smile he fell in love with dancing across your lips. You took his hand in yours, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Now if you get nervous or panic, just know that I will be there in the sea of yellow wearing blue."

-x-

As the clock ticked down you were on the edge of your seat. It was a close game. When Brock scored it breathed life into the game again. Then he scored another, his third of the game, pushing it to overtime. Any other day hockey is stressful but the playoffs take it to a whole new level. You wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have any nails left at the end.

You wish you could talk to Artūrs. He's got the weight of the Canucks fanbase on his shoulders and you wanted to take carry some of it for him. Instead you settled on sending him a text, even if he won't see it until after.

I'm so proud of you ❤️

Sliding your phone back into your pocket, you turned your focus back onto the game as overtime began. Your hands were clasped in front of you as your eyes darted across the ice, focusing on the puck as it was passed between the players. Then it hit the back of the net. You could feel the Nashville fans near you deflate as they lost but you didn't care. You jumped up excited that Artūrs's first playoff game was a win, excited that the Canucks are up 3-1 in the series. You watched on with pride as the boys surrounded your boyfriend, hugging each other.

You knew it'd be a while before Artūrs came out but that didn't stop you bouncing up and down, waiting for him so you could wrap your arms around him in a bone crushing hug.

The commotion from the girls let you know that the boys were coming out of the locker room. You watched on as they greeted their significant others, congratulating them as they walked pass. Artūrs was one of the last ones out leaving the two of you alone in the hallway.

His eyes lit up when he saw you, the tiredness he felt from the game slipping away. He didn't even get a chance to say anything before your arms were around him, pulling him into a deep kiss, your fingers tangled in his wet hair. Arturs truly believed he was the luckiest guy in the world when it came to you. Everything felt right when he was with you.

"You were incredible out there." You mumbled against his lips.

"Couldn't have done it without you." Artūrs said and you playfully hit is chest, rolling your eyes. He always said that after every game. It was like you were on the ice with him when really you were either in the crowd or watching at home.

"We should probably get out of here if we don't want to be locked in here." You sighed, wishing you could stay in your own little world for a little while longer, knowing the boys will want to go out and celebrate their win.

"That was one time." Artūrs grinned, his fingers laced with yours as you began walking towards the exit.

[moonlight-prose]

Heyy I never send requests because honestly I can’t explain what I mean but can you do

*hard to sit here and be close to you, and not kiss you* from the fritz gerald sentence starter list with steven grant

I loveeeee the way you write him 🥰

THE WAY THINGS CHANGE

a/n: thank you so much darling! i've been off my writing game for awhile. but i was listening to the head and the heart last night and gained some much needed inspo for steven. only to find this perfect request sitting in my inbox yet to be answered. so i hope you enjoy this late response.

summary: memories of steven grant haunted you like a history you could not change. they were your dreams, nightmares, and wishes that never came true.

word count: 1.5k+

pairing: steven grant x reader

warnings: none, angst, my attempts at being a writer again, idk this is probably not very good so be warned.

The sky was set aflame as the minutes and seconds ticked by. Your mug filled with cheap wine sat on the edge of the roof, your hands clasped around it. You wondered if you imagined hard enough that maybe the liquid would burn hot. Would it turn to coffee? The same type you had with him. Would the sun fade to a soothing darkened sky, scattered with very few stars and even fewer wishes. 

His smile was an object of permanence in your mind's eye. The quirk of his lips, the pink hue that fell into a pout of confusion. Even if it was just to show he was listening.

Although when it came to Steven, he always listened.

If you shut your eyes—imagined a night sky of infinity and constellations and stars not yet wished upon—you could see him. You could feel the way his curls twined around your fingers. The soft brown was somehow your favorite hair color now. You never knew you had one until him. They became a staple when you remembered him. The singular trait you latched onto when you could no longer trace the shape of his face, the curve of his jaw, the slope of his nose.

“What’s your favorite thing about the night sky?” you asked on a whim. The coffee perked you up slightly. Bitter and grainy on your tongue but perfect nonetheless. It allowed you to stand there at least, to stay awake as his own mind fought against the exhaustion that no doubt riddled his bones.

He never complained though.

Never told you that he lived on barely enough; that his mind was a place of chaos he’d been privy to for quite some time. You saw him as much as you could, but sometimes time never seemed to work in your favor. Time seemed to be intent on keeping the two of you apart.

He smiled—bright enough to put a sunset to shame. “The moon.”

“Of course,” you huffed.

His life wasn’t a secret to you. Steven—ever the man to consider others emotions—made sure to be upfront with you. As much as he possibly could of course. But some secrets were simply not his to tell, not a history he could divulge. So he made up in whispered words of lands that existed centuries ago. In stories that bridged the gap between humanity and the past. He regaled you with the history he could speak aloud with the hope that it would be enough.

That you’d be okay with just that.

“Tell me yours love.”

Somehow breath turned nonexistent around Steven. Your default had become to live eternally without it. Not that you minded much. Breathing was no longer a necessity when you yearned for the sensation that came without it. The skipped beat of your heart, the warmth that spread through your stomach, and the love you felt spark along each nerve and each limb.

With Steven you felt like you existed on a different plane. Problems were nonexistent. Humanity became an afterthought, and the possibility of anything flourished like a flower at the start of spring. Bright and beautiful and full of endless potential.

You’d describe your relationship with Steven that way. A perfect replica of that actually, but every now and then life collided with your shining star, knocking away the wish before you could make it. Steven held your hope in his open and inviting palms, yet the thought of permanency with him…felt further away with each passing day. He couldn’t remain. He could barely stay for the moments spent awake together.

“The stars,” you whispered, casting your gaze out onto the sea of tiny shining sparks in the sky. An endless amount of them out in space, yet so few shone in the night sky.

“For the wishes?”

You smiled. “I guess so.”

Oblivious to you, he had moved closer, his leg centimeters away from brushing against yours. “What are you wishing for tonight?”

Could you tell him? Could you reveal that your mind—your heart—was set on him. After all this time it would always be him. Steven had sunk into your life as one would fall to the bottom of a river. Softly, smoothly, until your breath slipped free in a thousand tiny bubbles. Yet you held the option to come up for air; you had every choice layed out in front of you.

When it came to Steve though…sinking was the choice you’d make every time. You’d rather drown in his sweetness than live without it. A fact that you’d come to terms with months ago.

“You tell me,” you replied, your eyes meeting his. So full of life, so full of hope. It nearly broke your heart in two.

He smiled. “It’s not really a wish.”

“I don’t care.”

“It’s…uh…” He tapped his finger on his leg. A subtle beat of morse code, each letter spelled out before your very eyes. You caught the makings of an L and an O, but the echo of his cough dragged your attention away. “It’s hard.”

“What’s hard?” you breathed.

He cleared his throat, a hint of crimson spilling onto the tops of his cheeks. “Hard to sit here and be so close to you, and not kiss you.”

Your stomach swooped, breath escaping your lungs faster than you could suck it in. Yet you still held his gaze. You kept it like a closely guarded secret; dug your fingers and nails into its makeup hoping that some part would remain once this moment ended. Once you were alone again, yearning for him to return. That was the thing about Steven though. You never had to hold on so tight, because without knowing it, he was already embedded in your heart. He was a part of your DNA.

“It doesn’t have to be,” you said softly, leaning a bit closer. The heat of your mug seared into the skin of your palms, but you ignored it for favor of the burning ache that spread through your stomach. Until it wrapped tightly around your heart.

Like a vice you’d never be able to escape.

“No?”

You shook your head, leaned even closer, and watched his eyes flick down to your lips. “Guess you figured out my wish.”

He let out a breath, shaky and warm, and you nearly collapsed as it washed across your face. Perhaps he wanted to say more, or maybe you should have been the one to keep talking, but Steven was never one to keep you waiting. He yearned for you like the moon did the sun. An ongoing cycle of passing one another by, until nothing remained but your simple silly little wishes scattered across the sky.

He held onto each one with reverence. With the patience of a man who knew that your time together would come. You’d flourish together, pass across one another. Even if it was for a brief amount of time. Steven had always been your wish, your eclipse that was yet to come, yours in more ways than you could imagine.

Cupping your cheek, he tugged you close enough until his nose pressed to your skin, his shaky breath an indication that he felt just as nervous as you. That this small moment of time was anticipated with a fervor you’d never understand. His lips met yours, barely there at first, a soft brush of skin against skin. You felt hesitant, scared that he wouldn’t want more than this.

Until you heard him groan. Broken and long and absolutely withering. He tugged you closer, his lips slotting against yours rougher than before. And you felt the heat spill searingly into your chest, a soft moan bubbling to the surface to echo in the night air. He swallowed it with ease, his fingers lightly digging into your cheek, hand moving to press into your waist. You could still taste his nerves on your tongue, feel the way his body remained slightly tense, but with each touch of your skin to his he began to loosen.

He bloomed for you right there on that balcony with the moon as your only witness.

Hot tears slipped down your cheeks, the sunlight spilling back into your vision as you finally opened your eyes again. Sunset melted into dusk, the soft hues of blue and purple streaking across the sky. Until you could see the moon begin to rise in the east. A glimmer of the man that once held your heart in his.

The creak of the roof door echoed behind you. Probably another tenet coming to admire the view. You gathered your mug, wiped the flow of tears that refused to stop, and moved to give them the space. You’d seen enough of the moon for one night. There was no reason you had to stick around to pick out hopeless stars and lost dreams. That would remain in the past with the rest of your memories.

“What are you wishing for tonight love?”

The breath caught in your throat, eyes wide as you whirled around to face what you assumed would be a figment of your imagination—a cruel trick of your mind. Yet there he stood. Wearing different clothes, and holding a different demeanor, but you’d recognize him anywhere.

You smiled slightly, your fingers tightening around the mug. “You tell me.”

[abrandnewshadow]

upset 10/2017

"WHEN I WAS 13, THAT WAS MY PLAN GOING TO MAKE A RECORD WITH STEVE ALBINI"

FRANK IERO'S NEW EP SEES HIM TEAM UP WITH STEVE ALBINI, AND AN UNEXPECTED 4 GUEST - HIS FIVE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, LILY. WORDS: HEATHER MCDAID.

FRANK IERO & THE PATIENCE

KEEP THE COFFINS COMING EP

'Keep The Coffins Coming' is a glimpse at the time between 'stomachaches' and 'Parachutes',

where Frank lero and the cellabration- x-Patience worked out where they were going next. As the band now approach the post-Parachutes crossroads of 'Where next?, it feels the fitting time to release this snapshot. 'I'm A Mess' is rougher and raw around the edges, a fledgeling version of the song that would be streamlined for the upcoming album. It's got the Steve Albini touch of capturing the vibe of a room - like the basement jam version, the live version. 'Best Friends Forever' came to life years ago with Frank's kids in tow, helping with the writing and dare we say stealing the show in

the video, and here it evolves into the full band version. 'No Fun Club' leaps off with some of the 'Danger Days' swagger and Frank yells and shifts gears into the punk revelry he excels in. 'You Are My Sunshine' is sickeningly chirpy at the best of times, but put the lero twist on it, and it becomes a mellow, stripped back version of itself to close proceedings.

The EP saw Frank and co. pondering their future; it was never about perfection, but capturing a snapshot in the band's lives and a rare opportunity to work with their idols. Rarely do you see the middle step between albums, you just see the endgame transformation. But here it is - the unapologetic, raw and eclectic bridge of Frank lero's solo work, the bones of what the band moved on to be.

Heather McDaid

Frank lero knows one or two things about ticking items off the ol' bucket list. In his time with My Chemical Romance, he played a sold out Madison Square Gardens, appeared on Saturday Night Live, and headlined Reading & Leeds. He has more plaques than he knows what to do with, and that's just for starters.

"I've been extremely fortunate in the things that I've gotten to do and the bands I've gotten to play with," says Frank. "We crossed off quite a few of those bucket list opportunities with My Chem and now to be able to do that too with my solo career is unbelievable."

This latest item to be scored off the list is to work with the iconic producer Steve Albini, who produced Nirvana's final album 'In Utero, on his EP 'Keep The Coffins Coming: The obvious place to start is, how exactly do you react when you get a call saying that you're off to work with someone like Steve? "It's weird, man" laughs Frank. "I was in the middle of writing and trying to figure out the next record. My manager Paul asked for bucket list stuff, people I'd always wanted to work with. Steve was always at the top of that list."

"When I got the call that he wanted to work with us and we were booked it was like-" he bursts out laughing "-I don't think I was able to wipe the smile off my face. I'd been wanting to work with him from, jeez, like '94. When I was 13, that was my plan, I'm going to make a record with Steve Albini, I don't care how it happens, but that was the dream record to make.

"His records sound so visceral. Never before did I put on a record where I felt like I was in the room. He really is hands off in that he wants to capture the band's sound. It's a special thing, like visiting a museum and getting to be in a room with some of your favourite bands and listening to some of your favourite records. Take 'In Utero' for example, those sounds and performances are straight up what was played in that room, there's no bells and whistles or crazy magic behind the scenes. It's all about the way he likes it and the way he records it."

That was the magic Frank was excited to capture. "I kept thinking on the trip out to Chicago as I'm driving, 'Oh, man, I'm going to get the call any moment that this was a hoax and it's not going to happen!"

But it did happen, and at an interesting

FRANK IERO & THE PATIENCE

time too. Sitting between albums, Steve captured the time in Frank's career between his first solo record and the second, when he was still unsure what it was going to become. video features their vocals and adorable balaclava-clad appearances, and now it's a full-band song produced by the legendary Albini.

"They are adorable," he laughs. "Lily is the one that actually wrote the chorus to that song. Whenever she and any of the other kids would fight, she would passive aggressively stick this thing in their face, this best friends forever song and it really started with 'Best friends forever but not now. She was just like screaming at them to let them know that she was very, very upset with them." The EP is made up of four songs, one of which made the cut for the subsequent album. "I had written a couple of songs that I knew I wanted to be on the album, but I didn't know exactly what 'Parachutes' was just yet," he explains. "One of the songs was 'I'm A Mess. It might have ended up just being a standalone track, but I wanted to bring that in regardless. I knew I wanted to bring in a whole band version of the song 'Best Friends Forever' and also 'No Fun Club. I had been toying with that, and I really needed to get it out of my head. When that started to take shape, I knew that it could work as a standalone release.

"I DIDN'T KNOW IF THESE SONGS WERE EVER GOING TO SEE

THE LIGHT OF DAY." FRANK IERO

"My way of dealing with that was to take this song and make it into something. We all sat down in a circle with my guitar one day and figured out what the chording would be, wrote the rest of the song and recorded it in my basement.

I thought it would be really fun to release it and whatever profits came in can go into their college funds. I started to really listen to the structure of the song and realised, man, I can play this live, and they would get a kick out of it whenever they saw I played the song and kids sang along. I put together a full band version and thought it'd be cool to have the original version - like I did with 'Mess' - with the kids on it, and now you have this full band Steve Albini version.

That's the other thing too, a bucket list: I'm going to go in the studio with Steve Albini, someone I've wanted to record with ever since I was a young kid getting into music and punk rock and playing in bands. That mirrors my kids being young, writing songs. How cool is that? She released her first single and video at five, and I took that song and recorded it with a legendary engineer and producer. That's crazy. I knew that song needed to be done that day.

Basically what you're hearing is a stop gap where the band transforms from where we were at the end of touring 'stomachaches' and right before we really fully realised the 'Parachutes' record. That time for me is almost like this lost in translation moment. There was definitely this bridging gap between those two records - this is that hidden step. It's interesting because as a listener, you never see that step. You hear album one. wait while your favourite bands are in the studio, then hear the final step in the evolution to album two.

Exactly! Here's the thing, when we went in the studio, I didn't know I was going to record an EP. I just wanted to record these songs, whether it was just for me or not I'd be happy with it. I didn't know if these were ever going to see the light of day, it was something I needed to do."

'Keep The Coffins Coming' is a snapshot in time. It captures an opportunity beyond

Frank's wildest dreams, a crossroads where he pondered the next step, and a gift to his kids in various forms. Right now, he sits between album two and three. The question is, where next? Whether or not there'll be the chance to see the next stop gap for this particular era, we sure are excited about the upcoming ride.

An interesting side-effect of the process was double-recording songs. Frank wrestled for a while comparing the two versions of 'I'm A Mess' but ultimately grew to see they fit perfectly in their own respective worlds as two different versions. Seeing that evolution in songs is something he was also able to gift his children by including their collaborative song 'Best Friends Forever.

Frank lero And The Patience's EP 'Keep The Coffins Coming' is out 22nd September.

[rottenomelet]

Some yandere Mahito thoughts

Warning(s): Foot fetish (more like toe licking lmao)

Mahito is nasty.

He likes playing with you in ways unlike anyone else. Likes to take you apart, look at you inside and out, see what makes you tick. He needs to know what parts of you to lick, caress, and fondle to make the noises he wants to hear. Mahito is all about reactions - what makes you cry, scream, laugh, moan. You’re an instrument he’s dying to understand.

He does things that don’t make a lot of sense. Things that coldly remind you that he’s not human. For starters, his kisses are always a bit off. The first time, he hadn’t even kissed you properly. He just pressed his lips against your own, not even puckering them or closing his eyes. Just lips to lips, no tongue, no movement. Like kissing a dead fish. When you told him so, Mahito turned his head into a fish’s.

Eventually, he gets better at kissing but he’s never quite right. Always kissing with his eyes open, for starters, but eventually you get used to that. Maybe he nibbles your lip with sharper-than-normal teeth, or fondles your tongue for just a bit too long. Whatever it is, Mahito’s kisses aren’t all the way human.

He likes to feel and he likes to pinch. He likes to pinch the fat of your thighs, your stomach, your tits. He likes to make you squeal and especially loves the marks he leaves behind when he pinches a little too hard.

He licks too. Licks places that feel good - tongues your nipples until they’re stiff and then sucks until they’re sore. He’ll lap at your cunt, finding your cum a very fascinating taste. He’ll also lick places that have no business being licked. Like your knee, your elbow, and your palm that one time.

He’d lick your toes. Just to experiment, just to see your reaction. When you recoil at the feeling and your toes clench and your face gets all embarrassed, you expect him to stop and explore some other part of you. It’s too bad for you that he likes those reactions.

He keeps doing it, suckling and nibbling your toes. Mahito makes eye contact with you as he does. He needs to see every face you make. Wants you to twitch, to whine and beg.

He’s messy. He likes cumming on you, on your tits or your ass or your tummy. Like seeing the sweat and tears and drool you make. Once he figured out how to make you squirt, he hasn’t stopped. The look in his eyes as he watches you lose yourself, make a mess of yourself - it’s the sort of expression only someone truly crazy can make.

Sticking his cock inside of you isn’t very often. He can’t exactly see inside of you, so it’s not as exciting for him. But he love your reaction to it, when you shake your head no and beg him to stop. Loves the fear in your eyes when he cums inside of you. Loves the twitches and shakes you make when he makes you cum on his dick.

[lazywriters-blog]

INNOCENTLY YOURS

LYNEY'S DEFAULT & YANDERE PROFILE

Note: This took a long time to finish but hopefully, it's good enough and enlightening to read, should I do wriothesley next? Vote for your choice in the poll at the end:

Warning: May contain triggering content, female reader, and all the yandere stuff. Not proofread.

1. Their personality, and their blank points.

Lyney is a great actor and magician with many talents and whatnot. He's got a charm to him and he seems to be confident, cheery, and suave, he grins when he's caught a contagious smile directed at him or the applause his audience graces him with.

He loves those who love his show and never misses any of it, he's a little sad inside but burdens can't always be let go of, either he persists or is dragged down. He's a little on the nervous side, especially when it comes to his family, he caters to the needs of his people to know more about them, and he's good at consoling anyone to spill their secrets willingly, he frequently makes eye contact and he's good at reading people, he isn't normally shy because why would he be? He's a great magician, if he wants attention all to himself, he's gotta play his part and act confident, After all, people are drawn to those who are self-assured and have everything sorted out.

He might not look like it, but he's a professional gaslighter, first, he guesses someone's weakness and uses it against them, in a subtle way, wouldn't want them to back out just yet, he's gotta play his magic, and reel them in. He's good at it, but sadly he could never use his skills on himself.

Even if he convinces himself he's a good person, no good person would ever want to convince themselves of it. At least, that's what he thinks.

2. Their coping mechanisms and their reaction.

When one's delusions are challenged and given a chance to face themselves, most wouldn't due to their circumstances and experiences, the same can be said for Lyney, he's seen unlikable things and knows there's some good in the world, however, once he's betrayed, it is likely impossible to ever gain trust again. How does he cope? For starters, he just stares off and it would seem so eerie to anyone who has seen him lively, he looks dead whenever he does it, shake him out of it he may just smile and shrug it off saying he was thinking hard about something, it's like he has two personalities, happy and sad, likely stemming from knowing how people would take advantage of a weak being, no one would ever want to see him a sad magician performing tricks, perhaps an interesting concept but he doesn't have the reliability to do it.

Seeing how people react, how their expressions slip and crumble into something they were hiding, yeah he's noticed many things growing up, and he's learned to cope by improving, that's because he didn't have the resources nor the perfect environment to do anything else but improvise.

Besides, it has helped him. Striving to be better isn't a bad thing, but constantly doing so leads him to neglect important details about himself.

How he gets so frustrated and fidgety when nothing is working out in his favor, he hasn't learned how to properly deal with his emotions, he knows smiling will help, and he can keep his facade up and running but ignoring troubling things will only come to haunt him again. He knows it to some extent, but ultimately he can't do anything about it, he doesn't know how to relax and rely on anyone. He's capable, and he needs to prove it, he has what it takes to make people come to him. He's a smooth talker, after all.

Alike everyone, he's a ticking bomb that has been buried deep beneath. No telling what will trigger it.

3. How much do they love? Are they too much or too little?

He loves a lot, a little much but it's above average even at the beginning, he keeps it hidden through teasing and doesn't find it necessary to keep details away from his darling. How would he have encountered his darling? What attracts him to anyone? I have this thought of Lyney meeting her when he's on a mission to uncover some secrets behind his darling's parents, her mother to be precise, it's hard enough to find an opportunity to flee and enter someone's room, lucky him that she likes him, though it had been subtle that they had invited him and his sister to their home to observe him, the hints were clear enough and their mission had been a success.

What was more interesting was how he never got to talk to her, her parents were doting and likable so she should be the same more or less, shy. Maybe, he doesn't know. Their visit was pleasant and there wasn't any reason for bad blood, however, he was curious to know their daughter.

He would keep a closer eye on his audience from then on, or on the streets, in case she was to be seen, and then, voila, she appeared on one of his magic shows, testing his theory hadn't been tough, watching her eye something else whenever he looked her way was amusing. After the show, greeting her had been enjoyable, luckily her parents seemed to leave her alone with him whenever Lynette was with him.

She was genuine, sheltered from the harshness of the world yet so knowledgeable and cunning about everything, he found himself drawn to her. How could one be so untrusting when everything has been good to them? Thus, the gears would start turning, and soon, he would know. Only to realize far too late that he's in her life too deep now.

4. Dark habits or shadows of their personality.

Growing up needing attention and wanting attention can be problematic for any person, the need to be the center of the stage and do just about anything to keep it that way, clever magic tricks, dangerous tactics, you name it, Lyney has done it at some point in his life. It had been their livelihood to perform shows and gather money to avoid starving on the streets. Lyney had been the main since then, it worked out for them and they dared not change it for anything better, except for one point in their life and it ended in betrayal so they never attempted it. Lyney likes to do trial and error with his relationships with the people of his interest and it's the same for his Darling, figuring out what works and what doesn't is his starting point.

He may try distressing things to figure out what is a person's fear, and reason for anger, tears, and sorrow, he needs to know. For a more sensitive darling, it can backfire so he goes, 'I'm just joking, don't take it too seriously, I promise it was a joke!' 'I hope that didn't bother you much.' 'I love it when you smile while crying, you look adorable! See, you smiled again!!' he can be endearing that way, he's charming enough to make anyone talk about their feelings and trust him, his darling wouldn't stand a chance if they didn't remove their pink tinted glasses and see him for what he's truly doing.

He likes to position himself in front of his darling, always maintaining eye contact and chuckling whenever she looks away, by now, if darling trusts her gut instincts she would be very uncomfortable, but his smile would say otherwise. Of course, this all would change if you prove to be a good person who gets along with his siblings, one good interaction is all he needs to be lovestruck.

And once darling has endeared herself to them, he would try convincing her to cross boundaries, stay with him for the night, and sneak out with him, it would be a good time to bond, of course, he wouldn't force it, at first.

There's only so much he can do before sleeping beside her becomes essential. He'll do all sorts of things to convince her to stay, play, sleep, and remain.

5. How do they deal with irregular feelings or emotions?

He doesn't let it show outside, he knows better than to scowl at someone's mean statement, or at her parents' statement of how he's taking their daughter from them. It would be quite a predicament. Normally, he would try to be diplomatic about it all, butter them up, and clear up the misconception, but he finds it hard to do just that because they're right and he feels so giddy thinking that, a twisted sense of satisfaction overcoming him and he just wants to laugh in their face and speak condescending things. He won't though, he'll smile a big forced grin and walk it off later whilst complaining to his sister.

6. Do they let themselves get lost in the past, or present?

He's more present in the now than the past, he does think about it five times a day and lets it influence his speech at times, but it's rare to ever escape his mouth. Sometimes sure, but he tends to avoid it as much as possible.

7. How much of sanity do they possess?

A little above high, but when someone becomes akin to his family, one bad thing and it decreases significantly, he may not seem like it but when he's going crazy worrying over details and pondering and pondering, he can't help but pace around, and when bad notions come to mind he just wants to slam his head against something or pull out his hair, occasionally under extreme pressure, he ends up doing that. But it would take more than that to make him lose his sanity and do the most horrendous actions without thinking twice. He will shed many tears, but if his family is safe, he doesn't care what happens to his enemy.

Losing someone very dear to him is the major trigger that will cut loose all the ropes holding him down. Otherwise, he's pretty strong mentally, only when it comes to his family, he's pretty weakened.

A good thing to use against him, sadly.

8. If triggered, what would they do? Do they swallow their anger or just not contain it?

Well, the first thing he would attempt to do is poke fun at them in the shadows if they've hit a nerve and threatened anyone from his family if it's about him he doesn't care for it unless it's beneficial, angering him would be tough overall he's a performer so he knows how to deal with disagreeable people, pretends to have never heard about the nasty rumors involving him, he's sneaky and confident like that, unfortunately, that fails when it comes to family and darling, he wants to know who did it, when, how, why, everything and if this person doesn't know how to back down and eat their words, they might disappear entirely.

Nobody would know but hey, he left some clues.

9. Willingness to sacrifice their loved ones.

Not an option. He doesn't want to, and never will, family is important and I think he would do his hardest to avoid such a situation, even if it comes to that, he would sacrifice himself and make sure nobody is harmed.

10. Pushed to the brink of insanity, how would it unfold?

Let's say this cruel person tricked him into thinking offering himself up for sacrifice would save his siblings or his darling. Killed them when he was trapped and chained, he couldn't think of ways of saving them because he was too busy begging for them to be spared, sobbing and doing anything in his power to help, after the deed was done and he was left to the sight of blood, he can't do anything. He's frozen, and he's out of it. He may kill himself after it or die killing the person who made them suffer, all in all, the outcome is grim, and he's missing the pillars to give his support, he is willing to crumble to the ground and break into pieces. Seeing as they are sent on dangerous missions, this consequence is not impossible.

If his darling were to live, survive, or was never taken in the first place, watching him live for what little days he would persist is devastating, he wouldn't be his usual chatty smiley self, and he would wither away sooner and later.

But, if everyone dear to him is fine and dandy, one night he may approach the said person, sit them, take out his cards ask them to pick a card while he's smiling like his usual self, he doesn't let them escape until they've chosen their fate. He's going to laugh watching their expression shift and he may say a few words if he's not too upset.

'If only you kept your mouth shut, we wouldn't have to do this, pity...'

Leave the body in the open, wipe his hands, and after changing his gloves walk back home with a hop in his step, whistling softly and pocketing his bloody cards. Ohoh, the public is going to love the scene he left them with, the mystery, the 'what happened', and 'why' are all going to be circulating the next morning.

11. Are they too stubborn to get what they want? Or are they patient enough to wait?

It's a mix of stubbornness and perseverance, he can wait though if it yields the result he wants, otherwise, he is quick to tinker and manipulate things to fall into his laps. Say, if his darling were to figure him out and expose himself to him, slam the door into his face, and discard him from her life altogether, he would be very stubborn and persist to exist in her life and force himself into it. You see, he wants attention, he needs it, and she has to give it to him because then how would he live on? If coupled with desperation, he may say he was going to jump off a building and if she wants to save him, she has to come to his magic show. [spoiler: it was part of his trick during the show] Otherwise, that would be his final farewell.

He finds ways to bring his darling back into the picture or himself in her life, he's a jealous little Rascal and he doesn't want anyone else to take his place, he wants what rightfully belonged to him and was given to him, he doesn't want it to be stolen away from him. He earned it!

12. Dirty secrets.

Ahem, I'd like to say none, but I'm sure he has some. Sometimes, when he hugs his darling from behind and she can't feel him because she's asleep and there's nothing she can do to stop him, he just has to squeeze himself closer to her and wrap his leg around her tights and keep pushing till their clothed parts are so close, he pretends it's their first time sleeping together and takes advantage of the situation, because when else will he get the chance again? Of course, their real first time should be after they've been glued for life, he just couldn't handle it.

Even when darling is up and smiling, he pulls her to him and just enjoy the sensation of her skin, kissing her neck and relishing in the cuteness of her denial, might be the one time his darling feels violated and of course, he apologies soon after. He wasn't thinking straight.

13. Creepy things they like/dislike to do.

He finds it creepy when he watches his darling sleep, he doesn't know how to feel about himself when he stands there in their room or sleeping beside her, sometimes he coerces himself to sleep and rarely he can't sleep, over time it becomes a wholesome pastime for him and he doesn't find it all that weird.

And notice when he mentions something very specific about his darling's features, that's because he spent the majority of his time observing her. It can be creepy if Darling keeps a tab on what appeals to him and what he usually compliments her with.

Especially right after waking up beside him and hearing him whisper that in her ear. It would just be more flattering for an oblivious darling.

14. Moral compass, empathy, kindness.

His moral compass might be a little crooked, but he does have some no doubt, just that he doesn't show it often enough, being with the fatui has degraded him to some extent, stealing, lying, forced entry, all the basic things one has to do in the fatui, perhaps one day he'll be demanded to kill someone and he wouldn't have a choice. Empathy is a little hard for him to initiate unless he's trying to understand someone, situations, and so on, but he does let himself be empathetic around his family and a few dear friends otherwise, he's pretty carefree and nonchalant. Kindness he shows a lot, at least from what he has observed around him and come to know. Plus, kindness is what gets him into other's people lives and he will continue it till the day he drowns and dies.

15. Can they move on from one to another?

He might try, otherwise, it's nearly impossible he clings to any semblance of kindness and love, his darling proved him of it, he deserves the things he wants if not now then at some point indeed, of course, to make his darling jealous and come to him willingly he might pretend to be in love with someone else if it backfires and his darling just doesn't like him anymore, it might be time for him to kill someone in her life. He can be a hypocrite if he wants, gaslight her, and speak all sorts of things to get into her head and slowly but surely trap her in his life. Forever.

16. Do they have control over their anger and sadness?

Yup, in a normal situation, his control over anger and frustration is simply admirable, again if his family or darling is involved it is laughable how quickly he loses his cool and compresses like a balloon, he does things recklessly and doesn't think twice even if given time to reconsider. Sadness, I think he deals with it every day, or else he wouldn't have to be putting on a big smile and over-the-top cheerful personality. Behind closer doors, alone and with nobody to entertain, he drops his smile and leans forward, and he'll stay that way until sleep calls him or his siblings enter his room. Those times are simply too small and never lets himself be away from his darling or family.

17. If they are wronged, how would they go about it?

His first instincts would be to run and make sure his darling doesn't see him in an ugly light because he's a magician and he makes people smile, does tricks, and entertains, he wouldn't want her to see him any different he's lyney the grinning and famous entertainer he did his best to build up that reputation, he doesn't want to risk tearing it apart so face to face confrontation in public is rare, but he will appear at night with darkness around him and that person will have chills running down their spine seeing how cold and eerie he looks glaring at them, he attempts to lighten the mood with dark jokes and play tricks when they try to avoid him, he'd would be pretty annoying to deal with, and finally when he has spoken his mind he'll make them face death for a second then, he lets them live or they die with fear strucken eyes.

18. Do their eyes wander or are they too shy to look at anyone?

Oh! He's a confident rascal, his eyes wander everywhere to observe details and drink in his darling's features and her stature, he's a sneaky little parasite latching on to any attention his darling gives him and he'll have hearts in his eyes if it were possible, he is utterly in love and he wants to see her for all she is and he will not allow his eyes rest unless he's seen everything he needs to.

19. When sexually aroused, do they contain their desires or just give in to the urges?

During his shows, he's a little cautious about letting himself get excited and waits till the performance is done, at home or somewhere safe, he's pretty quick to go red in the face and tease back, the story is different if his darling is very resistant to desires and doesn't allow herself to be influenced much, it makes him so irritable and desperate, he'll beg easily in such state and he'll do everything he can to make her hands touch him, lean in closer than needed, slowly pull off his gloves and his cape, loosen his shirt and keep his hat down, make his darling sit beside him and within no time he's so close their shoulders are touching and his eyes are so focused on her, and his hands are just itching to touch her skin if he sees any indication of her trying to leave, he'll be quick to restrain by climbing on top of her seated figure and looking down with bedroom eyes, you see he's a little desperate today and he will say so, requesting she put her hands on him and let things happen naturally.

20. What would they do with themselves after they've been left behind?

Oops, his darling left him when he was busy looking at some gadgets he's so hurt! No problem though he'll find her soon, you see it wouldn't take darling long to grow tired of his presence and just try to ditch him on the streets and return home, duck down another street when she sees him coming her way. The first few times, she would be successful in evading him but as time goes on and he adapts the same tricks won't work and she will not be able to get away for a long time. By then, he'll have his arms wrapped in hers and he is not letting go until she comes home with him, has dinner with him and his siblings, and then maybe she can leave.

21. Will they control themselves from harming another person? Is it messy? Does it get physical?

Yes, at first he will refrain from harming anyone, let a guy talk to his darling while he's right there beside her and smiling a mischievous smile while clinging onto her like a kola, forcibly turn her face back to him whilst pretending something was on her face, it gets annoying after a few, it doesn't end there, any questions that are too personal to ask or just something he doesn't approve of, he'll squeeze his darling's thigh or hand depending on how far their relationship has progressed, play a few tricks and fool the person into thinking they are in danger it works like a charm on friends, not on families though. They are much harder to push away so he can have all his darling's attention but, hey, why take them out of the picture when he can just take his darling with him?

Sure, after he's done all the tricks in the book and nothing has worked, he'll get messy and he will use blackmail, past records, guilt trip, and gaslight, he'll do the psychological gimmicks in the beginning, pushing the boundaries and waiting to see if they he has to step in and get his hands real dirty.

22. Their kinks/fetishes.

I get the feeling he likes soft hands, bigger or smaller than his, he's just a little too focused on them, he looks at them half the time and if she allows it he's holding it, something about intertwined hands just gets him giddy, another thing he likes is dragging her hand to touch him all over and of course, it takes place when his darling is busy with something else and he likes to whisper into her ears while he's doing it, hide his face in her neck and hope it gets her excited.

This little rascal likes to tease and see how much she can withstand his advances, as mentioned above he tries to get touchy and pull her into a deeper kiss if she's resisting him, but he backs off when his gestures aren't returned and pouts, attempt to strike a deal and hope his darling is brave enough to take the initiative, for example, 'next time, you gotta be the one to kiss me, it's been so long since you've showed some affection?' if it works and darling wants to whatever he wants [which he likes] oh they are going to have a night he'll never forget.

23. Do they like children, are they understanding?

Yeah, he likes children. He is pretty understanding too so if he were to become a father and have his legacy continued, he would do everything in his power to help grow his kids into something, read them bedtime stories, braid their hair, and play hide and seek. He would be a cool dad and try to keep the little ones out of any shady business and protect them from things they shouldn't know, others ask where their mother is and who his wife is, around this time he and his darling are married and nobody other than family knows it so the curiosity when he brings a kid looking so familiar to him to a candy shop or a toy shop, it gets people talking. He doesn't seem to care much as rumors spread and if he could he would try to pin down whoever opened their mouth and make them disappear, he has got his wife somewhere safe with him, he's just cautious about letting her out without him since well, she acts like she hates him. Which she shouldn't, why? Because they have a child to take care of.

More likely than not Lyney would have baby trapped his darling any chance he got, you see he would like to give his kids the life he wanted and be very close to them. He won't force it yet, but he'll plant some seeds and see how his darling reacts, but he is rather sneaky and his darling wouldn't know when he got her pregnant. That time when he tried to perform a magic trick but it turned into something intimate? Or when he riled her up and made her lose her mind? Sadly for her, she's out of luck.

24. Are they controlling?

Not really. He is manipulative, to some extent otherwise all he cares is keeping his darling all to himself.

25. If rejected, what would they do?

Ohoh, well he wouldn't get rejected the first time he confesses, his darling would likely reject him after knowing him for a while and seeing his habits after they've shared a bed and needing to escape his overwhelming need for attention. Seeing all the disagreeable tactics he uses, no one would blame her. But would he take it nicely? Sure, he tries to, puts on a convincing facade, and shortly he'll want her back meaning he will do many things to prove her wrong and get her to like him again, what changed? If he was desperate because his darling was playing hard to get, being rejected would just steer him to force himself on her and pray no one noticed them when they vanished into a small alleyway. He'll play his magic and keep her asleep for a few days, then maybe he can try confessing again until she accepts.

26. Are they willing to confine someone to stay with them forever and live happily ever after?

Yes and no, he knows being trapped will just get her spirits down but if he has no choice then he wouldn't be all that empathetic, she made him chase her for so long now it's his turn to have some fun. Ultimately, kidnapping will still be his last resort.

28. Would they be able to live happily?

Absolutely, all he wants is his darling and his family if he has those two together, he will die happy.

[preciouslandmermaid]

break me (then help me find the pieces) -- Mikey Berzatto x F!Reader

I wrote this on my phone last year (in August) and I finally decided to finish it and post it.

Tags/Warnings: Smut (18+ only! Fingering, dirty talk, protected p in v/the reader is on birth control, Mikey uses the pet name(s) “angel/baby/sweetheart”, blowjobs, light choking/spanking, rough/after care). Brief mentions of alcoholism/addiction (it’s implied the reader struggles with addiction). Explicit language. Light angst if you squint. No use of Y/N.

wc: 2k

🍝🍝🍝  (Read on Ao3) 🍝🍝🍝

The clock ticks well past midnight. You’re not expecting anyone at this hour and you didn’t receive a suggestive text beforehand. But when he knocks on your door, you let him in, because it’s Mikey. You never could refuse him.

You taste bourbon on his tongue – smoky and dark – something of a metaphor for your not-quite relationship. You and Michael were too fucked up in your own ways to seriously date. For starters, you were never sober at the same time. And you carry enough secrets between one another to put Area 51 to shame.

He cradles your face between his warm, rough hands and shoves you backward into the entryway wall. You trip over your discarded piles of shoes. But, his arm on your waist is firm, and he stops you from falling.

Another metaphor—Mikey never let you get close enough to fall for him. In a different life, you could see yourself with him—waking up early to help out at the restaurant, being an emotional buffer against his unstable mother, dealing with all the bullshit of two messy lives instead of one. For him, you’d do it.

(It was a pipe dream and you knew it. A comforting lie you told yourself whenever you got drunk and lonely. You and Mikey were matches and matches can’t build a house. Matches only exist to burn).

You push your hands up his shirt and explore the rippled, raw strength of his chest. Your fingernails graze against his nipples. Mikey releases a low, quiet hiss and nips your lower lip.

He shoves his hand between your legs, cupping the front of your pussy, and you shudder against him.

“What’re you doing, huh?” He asks, the question rhetorical, “you’re making me crazy, you know that? You drive me fuckin’ crazy.” He rubs the clothed front of your cunt, using the heel of his palm to grind into your clit, and the friction makes you whine. In the other room, the TV switches to commercial and it drones through your sparse apartment.

“I haven’t even started yet.” You tease with a pointed tug of his belt.

“It’s enough.” His grin is quick and it momentarily disarms you. Sometimes, you think all you need is Mikey’s smile and you’ll be sober forever. As long as you can be on the receiving end of that damn charming smile. You shake your head, rolling your eyes, and pushing your thoughts to the side. Mikey nuzzles his face into your neck and leaves a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses along your neck.

“How fast you gonna come for me tonight, angel?” He whispers to the shell of your ear, his breath hot as if fans over your delicate skin. Your skin prickles with goosebumps and you shiver involuntarily.

His belt clatters to the floor, “Depends on you, Mikey. You gonna take care of me?”

“’course.” He scoffs. He reclaims your mouth with his own, his tongue coaxing and warm, prying your lips open and lapping the sweet sounds you give him. His large hand yanks your sleep shorts to the side and his seeking fingers find your wet, aching cunt. Your hips buckle with the first touch of his index and middle finger against your folds.

“Mhmph.” He hums with pleasure, “soaked already, huh? Were you waiting for me, angel? Touching yourself on the couch and hopin’ I’d come over?” You groan in tandem as Mikey sinks two fingers into your warmth and you babble nonsense against his scratchy, bearded chin.

“Tell me what you imagined, sweetheart.” He goads, curling his fingers into you, and his other hand comes to encircle your throat. He doesn’t squeeze or restrain your airflow (he has in the past, but apparently that’s not what he’s in the mood for tonight). Rather, Mikey keeps his hand on your throat with a soft, gentle pressure as if to remind you that he’s here—he’s got you pinned against the wall and he’s not going anywhere and neither are you.

You gasp, “Kitchen.” Your fingers twist into his dark, silky hair. “Bent over—mph! Ah! Hard. Fast.” You’re surprised you can manage a sentence while Mikey’s fingers thrust in and out of you. You feel him smile against your cheek.

“Come for me, angel, and I’ll give you that.”

Your head thumps into the wall. Your hips grind into Mikey’s hand. The wet, squelching noises coming from below your waist are almost embarrassing—but you know Mikey gets off on making you moan and squirm for him. You kiss him and moan wantonly into his mouth. Your fingers fumble around the zipper of his jeans and Mikey squeezes your throat.

He tsks, “this ain’t about me.”

“I want--” You palm the front of his boxes, his cock twitches in response to your touch, “to touch you.”

He nibbles your lower lip, “be patient, baby.”

You let your hand fall away. There have been other nights when you’ve ignored him just for the sake of riling him up. Tonight, however, you’re willing to play nice. Mikey rhythmically squeezes your throat in tandem with your bucking, wild hips. He kisses you. He whispers in your ear “that’s right, angel” and “you’re so good for me,” and “I know you can come like this, I want you to come for me, nice and loud so the neighbors hear us.”

Mikey curls his fingers, deep and angled, moving in concentric motions against your G-spot.

“Fuck!” You exclaim, your teeth clacking together. “Fuck!  F-fuck!”

His mouth explores the tops of your breasts, kissing the exposed skin and pulling away your t-shirt with his teeth. You dig your fingers into his scalp when your orgasm hits you. You shatter, your body twitches, as the heat and tension explodes across your limbs.

He grunts and slowly withdraws his hand. It takes several long seconds for you to return to planet earth.

Mikey pulls his shirt over his head, “You said kitchen, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

You both leave your clothes in the entryway.

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

Before Mikey can bend you over the counter, you stop him with a gentle hand to his chest.

“You said my patience would pay off.” You tease, biting your lower lip and looking down.

“Did I say that?”

You drop to your knees and hold the base of his thick, hard cock in your hand.

“You did.”

“Fuck.” Mikey braces his hands behind him on the counter. He stares down at you with dark, lust-filled eyes, his hair falling in front of his forehead. You’ve always thought Michael was beautiful. But he is especially beautiful when he’s naked and framed by the golden, warm-yellow light of your kitchen.

“Mhm.” You slowly kiss your way along his cock from the base to the tip. Mikey groans, his knuckles whitening at the edge of the counter. He deserves a little teasing after what he put you through in the entryway. You flatten your tongue along him, tasting his salt-sweat and skin, before you envelope the engorged tip of his cock with your lips.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Mikey repeats as if in prayer. “I swear to God, your mouth was made for me.”

You hum in agreement, feeling the vibration traveling thorough your throat and buzzing your lips. You work your mouth over his cock, pushing as deep as you can go, your saliva collecting at the corners of your lips. Mikey moans, loud, unabashed, unashamed. You follow the movement of your mouth with your hand, squeezing him, your fingers and palm drenched in spit. His hips jerk, his muscled thighs quivering, and you wish you could smile. You peer up at him, admiring the beauty and tragedy of this man before you. His large hand comes to cup the nape of your neck.

“Can I fuck your mouth, angel?” He asks. He’s always been good about asking that. He never assumes.

You press your thighs together, feeling a fresh tingle of arousal at his question.

You pull away, saliva trailing after your mouth, and dripping onto your neck and breasts.

“Yes, Mikey.”

You open your mouth and Mikey holds his cock at the base and guides it into you. You brace your hands on his muscled thighs and Mikey holds your head steady. Your eyes flutter shut as Mikey uses you—his thrusts shallow, but quick. You’d never admit it out loud (to him or anyone) but there is a deep, primal satisfaction brewing inside you. You might be the one on your knees, but Mikey is the one who’s weak for you. He growls, the sound deep within his chest, punctuating each thrust with praise.

“So good, so good for me. That’s right. You love it when I use you like this, huh? Use that pretty little mouth of yours. Fuck! Fuckin’ Christ. Feels so good.”

Mikey withdraws and you half expect his cum to spurt onto your tits. But, he doesn’t.

“Get up on the counter, angel.” He says firmly. You rub your jaw, your smile slow and sweet and tempting. The tile counter is cold against your bare, flushed skin. You bend over and have to arch on your tiptoes for the angle to work—but you know it works. This isn’t your first time in this position.

“Please, I need your cock, Mikey.” You say, wiggling your ass in an attempt to get his attention.

Mikey grins, giving your ass a playful swat, as he lines up the tip of his cock at your entrance.

“Yeah, sweetheart? You gonna beg for me?” He rubs his tip against your folds, “you know I’m the only one who can make you feel this good, hm?”

“Yes, Mikey, yes.” You arch your back, “please fuck me, Mikey. Please.”

He presses one hand into the middle of your back, pinning you into the counter, before his cock slides into your cunt in one swift, hard thrust. You gasp.

A surprised “Yes!” escapes your parted lips. Mikey feels incredible. He always does. His thick cock fills you, stretches you, erases all coherent thought from your mind. He holds your hips with one hand while the other remains pressed into your back. Your fingers scramble for purchase on the slick counter as Mikey drives into you, his pace pounding and relentless, the slick sound of your skin slapping together with every hard thrust.

“Fuck!” He moans, “Made for me. Fuck. So good. Yes, yes, like that.”

He adjusts his grip, holding you by the hips, and dragging your cunt back over his cock when he pulls back. Your calves tremble with the effort to remain in this position, but it feels too good to stop. Mikey’s hand comes down against the swell of your ass—sharp and biting. You yelp and your inner walls clench at the painful yet pleasurable sensation. He soothes the slap with his hand before delivering another. Nothing matters but the delightful sensation of his cock pounding into you and the space between every strike of his hand. Your eyes prickle with tears. Something tight inside of you starts to unwind.

With Mikey, you are allowed to unravel. You’re allowed to be A Mess. A fuck-up. You can empty yourself out and he’ll be there. He can’t put you back together again, but he can help you find the right pieces.

You sob, your body tightening with anticipation, and Mikey’s calloused fingers find your sensitive and swollen clit. You want to beg him to stop. You want to beg him to never leave you.

Mikey says “Can feel you getting close, angel.”

“Don’t stop, Mikey. Don’t ever stop.”

Your orgasm hits you—a brilliant, echoing release. You wail, pleasure rocketing through you, firing off neurons in your brain and skittering down your spine. Your ears start to ring and you vaguely hear Mikey follow you, grunting, his thrusts erratic before they slow to a stop. He pulls out and you feel his cum dripping down your inner thighs. Your forehead flops down onto your arms and you try to regulate your breathing. The faucet turns on behind you.

You jump in surprise as a warm washcloth wipes between your legs. Your brow furrows. This is new. Mikey isn’t a callous sexual partner—but he isn’t the ‘cuddle afterwards’ type either. You both used sex as a release. You fucked each other’s brains out. You experimented. You came so hard you thought you stopped breathing. Sometimes he stayed over to watch a movie. But, he rarely slept over (or if he did—then he slept on the couch).

His large hands splay across your shoulder blades before his fingertips start digging gently into your muscles.

A back massage? You crane your neck to look over your shoulder. Mikey’s face is fraught with concentration.

He notices you looking, “You want me to stop?” His eyes dart away from yours.

“N-no, it feels nice...it would just feel better...on the bed?”

“Right,” he laughs dryly, “good idea.” Without prompting, Michael scoops you into his arms as if you weight little more than a stuffed teddy bear. He deposits you onto the bed, on your stomach, and resumes his careful and clumsy massaging. His large, strong hands work their way down your lower back and to your sore, strained calves.

You yawn, “This is...mhm...thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The lull of sleep is too strong. It’s dragging you under its waves with every passing motion of Mikey’s capable hands.

“You can stay over.” You mumble, although you’re uncertain if any of the words come out coherently. The world fades, hazy and warm, your bones are liquid and heavy. You think Mikey’s lips press into your temple. But...that might’ve been a dream.

[websterss]

I GOT YOU, YOU GOT ME  — LUKE PATTERSON

SUMMARY: What is love without a few obstacles in the way. Luke finds out that Caleb put a stamp on you.

WARNING(S): Angst, mentions of death 

WORD COUNT: 6,838

PAIRING: Luke Patterson x fem!Reader 

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy it! Feedback is always welcomed!

MASTERLIST

The boys had appeared backstage at the ghost club. They were together in Julie’s garage about to get ready for the show when Caleb showed up. Now they stood backstage. Not one of them was enjoying any second of being there. It was a lot harder on Luke because the last time he saw you, you had suddenly vanished out of the garage. Caleb taking your place and appearing on top of Julie’s piano. He told Luke that you were, “Okay…for now.” Which did not sit well with the boys. Next thing they knew Caleb blew some magic dust in their faces and they poofed out of the garage.

Now here they were, in some of the most ridiculous outfits they’ve ever worn. Luke’s collared shirt, tie and blazer were too much for the free loose style he preferred. The boys watched as Caleb came down some stairs from their left.

“Well don’t you look nice.” He smirked

“S-Sweet threads.” Reggie was surprised by the outfits they were wearing but somehow they were nice and he hated that fact he agreed even more. Caleb took a nail file and filled his nails in front of the boys.

“H-How’d you know our sizes?” Alex put his hands out.

“That’s your question!” Luke responded in annoyance as he kept pulling at his collar that did not want to loosen up. He felt so restricted and covered up he felt like he was about to snap.

“I know you boys aren’t my biggest fans, and an eternity at my club might seem overwhelming, but I just put you in sweet threads so humor me on this one last pitch. Now for starters…isn’t it nice that you’re all here together.”

Luke looked at Reggie, then at Alex.

“And believe me, everything you two want, including Willie and Y/n…is here.” He gestured to Alex and Luke. Who were confused about what they should do. Alex shifted on his feet while Luke looked over at Alex. On one hand they did not want to join the club, but you and Willie were here. The only people they wanted to be with. “And on my stage, you don’t vanish when the music stops.” Caleb approached Luke. “You soak in the applause for as long as you want. The connection that you will feel with that audience…” He adjusted Luke’s black bow tie. Luke’s thoughts were unsure. He looked like a hopeless puppy. “Will be like no other, I promise.”

Just as he finished the crowd cheered, all excited for the show that was about to start.

“Oh, shh shh. Do you hear that?” Caleb took a step back from Luke. “They’re waiting for you!” A sudden high jolt struck the boys in the chest making them bend over in pain. They groaned in agony as they got struck harder this time.

“Ooh that one looked like it hurt!” Caleb shrugged as he walked backwards towards the curtain strings. “Now let me remind you. You don’t know if playing the Orpheum is your unfinished business. Do you really have time to make that mistake? I suggest you take my offer because the clock is ticking.” Caleb reached for the glass on the tray his servant was holding for him and took a sip. “And Luke.” Luke looked up from the pain. “So is Y/n’s time.” He smirked as he set his drink back on the tray.

“What did you do to her-“ Luke groaned as another jolt struck him and the boys. They were growing stronger by the minute.

“Ouch.” Caleb furrowed his brows. Just then Caleb snapped his fingers and you suddenly appeared. However he didn’t make you reappear gently. You ended up hitting the ground with a thump. You groaned as you slowly sat up with your hands.

“Y/n!” Luke exclaimed as he rushed over to you to help you up gently.

“You know where to find me.” Caleb opened the curtain and walked onto the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen I’m back!” He exclaimed to the audience.

Once you found your balance again Luke could see a look of fear in your eyes. “Y/n?” He frowned, caressing your hairs out of your face with his hands.

“There was nothing there…” You whimpered. “I-I couldn’t see anything.” You closed your eyes, shaking your head. “It was all just pitch black.”

“What did he do to you?” Luke said it more to himself than towards you.

“Luke, you have to get back to Julie.” You looked up at him with tears in your eyes. “You have to…you can’t stay here with Caleb. It’s not everything he says it is. You have to fight it okay?” You cupped his face crying.

“What about you? I’m not leaving you here with him.” He shook his head. “You had to go through a month of losing me that night, alone. I’m not losing you this time.”

He was referring to how he had died back in 1995. You were a mess after hearing the news. You couldn’t get out of bed, you wouldn’t eat, you just didn’t want to live in a world without him. And soon tragedy followed you till your dying breath. Your car flipped. A semi had run into the drivers side after you failed to see the stop sign. Funny how things ended up now. It brought everyone you knew great loss, but it brought you back to your Luke.

“You can’t save me this time Luke.” You whispered and you took a deep breath.

“Don’t say that. We’re gonna find a way and we’ll all be back singing with Julie in no time.” He smiled softly.

“Luke’s right Y/n, we’re gonna find a way okay.” Alex spoke up. 

“No matter what.” Reggie pitched in. He smiled your way.

“No you guys don’t understand.” You shed a tear. Luke and the boys frowned.

“Don’t understand what, Y/n?”

“I can’t leave…” You broke down. “He took my soul.”

“N-No.” Luke furiously shook his head as he walked up to you again. “No he didn’t.” He chuckled, but you weren’t laughing. “No…” His voice grew quieter.

“He took Willie’s soul too.” Alex looked down at his feet.

“No that can’t be. He can’t do that.” He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. You noticed that it went back to being styled again. “I’m gonna kill em’!” Luke huffed angrily.

“Well technically he’s already dead…” Reggie made a noise of disagreement. Luke turned to give him a look of annoyance. “So you can’t really kill…” Reggie averted his gaze as he trailed off.

“When?” Luke looked at you with a serious expression. 

“Luke-“ You began to protest but he cut you off. “When, Y/n?” Angry Luke was not to be messed with.

“Yesterday.” You sighed. “I didn’t know what he wanted to talk to me about. He said that he wanted me to pass you guys a message. He told me he wanted to invite you guys to another show.” You scoffed remembering, you hated yourself for falling for his lies. For falling into Caleb’s trap. “Nothing felt wrong at the time. He showed me the perks of being able to do tricks, he said he could grant me my deepest desires with the snap of his fingers!” You made emphasized gestures with your hands to demonstrate how much Caleb made it seem like this big luxurious thing. “It seemed silly at the time but that didn’t turn out to be the case…” You cried “I-I didn’t think the stamp would be harmless.” You sniffled as you pulled back your sleeve to reveal the purple stamp. Luke’s heart ached at the sight of the purple mark printed on your wrist. He knew all too well about that stamp and what its actual purpose was now. “I’m such an idiot.” “You’re not.” Luke held your hand. 

“He tricked you, Y/n. All of us. Besides you were just being your trusting self like you always are.” Luke smiled sadly. “He took advantage of that. He was wrong to do that.” He pulled you into a hug. “We’re gonna get your soul back Y/n, I promise.” He pressed a kiss to your temple.

“How?” You gripped him tightly.

“We’ll find a way.” He dug his face into your neck. 

“Yeah!” Alex and Reggie chimed in.

“Everything’s gonna be fine, Y/n.” Reggie offered reassurance. Even if he was scared himself. “I’m scared guys, what if something happens to m-“ You suddenly vanished from Luke’s arms. He tried grasping the air of empty space. His hands wrapped around nothing. You were no longer there. Confused and scared he turned to look at the boys.

“W-Where’d she go??” He whipped his head around multiple times. Trying to catch a glimpse of you around the room. You were gone. Caleb let the boys see you for only a limited amount of time. He had his leverage to uphold over the boys and he wasn’t gonna screw it up. Caleb was willing to do anything to get the boys to join his club.

Before they could panic any more their bodies started reacting to the music that was playing. Caleb was pulling them in by the groove of the beats playing.

Alex was first. His hand twirling his drum stick, not being able to control it. He then appeared on stage, he was scared because he couldn’t stop playing the drums.

“Alex…show me watcha’ got.” Caleb introduced him. He looked around at the audience who cheered but he was nowhere near as happy to be there.

“Yeah Alex!” Someone cheered from the crowd.

Next was Reggie who could feel the music flow through him, he could feel his body move on his own and that’s what worried him. Luke turned his head to see the empty spot where Reggie once stood and watched as Reggie reappeared next to Caleb on his left.

“Reggie…swing it baby!” Reggie played a smooth bass run. The musical connection he’d usually have wasn’t there. His feet moving on their own accord.

“Now Luke!” Caleb pointed off to the sidelines of the stage. Luke had swung his guitar to the front of him. He scowled as Caleb kept magically pulling him closer on stage, but Luke was trying to fight it. He tried and tried and soon he was walking forcefully towards Caleb. He scowled as he aggressively played each note. No control over his own body. You were right this wasn’t what it seemed like. They’d get to play eternity, but not on their own accord, not willing, there was no individuality, no freedom. Nothing.

“How do you like my new band?” Caleb sang. The crowd was eating it up. They were loving it more than the boys were. As Caleb began to scat. You suddenly appeared center stage wearing a hot number similar to Caleb’s backup dancers. The only minor difference between your outfit and theirs was the lack of feathers and extra accessories. Caleb made you look less ridiculous than his dancers. A purple two piece that coordinated with the boys suits, the added beads and jewels color coordinated with their suits. As someone who was from the 90′s, the heels Caleb put you in were new. Never in your life would you ever wear heels. You could never walk in them. High tops were always the move, not the three - four inch heels you wore. Yet as you moved, not on your own accord, but by whatever Caleb was making you do. You moved gracefully. Twirling and kicking a leg up in the air. Swinging to the music.

Luke’s eyes widened as he watched you go into a sudden split. You got up and then danced over to him. Your hands ran across his shoulders, and your hips swayed side to side. You were not enjoying one bit about this. Luke’s eyes displayed how grateful he was to see you again. Yet they feigned hurt because this wasn’t what neither of you wanted. Caleb smirked at the two of you, then snapped his fingers as he sang.

Luke had stopped playing which caused him to wonder why, but he soon realized why. His hand immediately reached out for yours, suddenly twirling you in circles three times. He was surprised by how you didn’t get dizzy. He knew that you weren’t loving this either, he knew that you had two left feet, but Caleb made you move so elegantly no one would ever know that in reality you couldn’t actually dance. You stopped spinning and then Luke spun you out and then in. For the ending drum hit that Alex played, Caleb made Luke dip you into his left knee then bring you back up. Your head hung back as he dipped you. Luke supported the back of your head as you went down, then right back up. Chest against chest. The motion was quick and sudden. You breathed heavily as your hands rested on his shoulders and your left leg lifted against his hip. Luke’s right hand caressed your exposed skin on your left thigh as he held it up against his side.

You could feel his hot breath against your cheek. Luke had turned his head briefly then looked right back at you. Your breath was taken away by his moves, it had caught you off guard. Luke wasn’t gonna lie, even in the ridiculous outfits they were in, you managed to look even more beautiful. You were breathtaking the moment you appeared on stage. If the circumstances were different, Luke would have showered you with kisses. He wouldn’t have hesitated to take your lower lip. To take you there and then like he would back when he’d convince you to skip classes with him.

As he reached forward to brush his lips against yours, you vanished into thin air again. Luke almost wanted to cry. He looked to the roaring crowd that he had tuned out, then looked to Reggie, then to Caleb.

He knew they couldn’t stay here, he knew what would happen to them if they didn’t accept Caleb’s offer too. Yet no music was worth making without Julie, without you by his side every time. A world worth living in the afterlife was not worth it without you. It wasn’t worth picking up a guitar again if he was being forced to play in front of a crowd.

He knew what he and the boys had to do. They had to fight. 

-

Julie had gone onto the stage. The boys were nowhere to be seen. She grew worried that something had happened. She had an idea but it was too much for her to bear. She was devastated her friends were gone. She didn’t want to have to play alone but she knew that she had too. She had to go up there alone, she had to do it for them. They were the reason she was where she was now. Julie wouldn’t have been able to do it if it hadn’t been for them. If it hadn’t been for you. You were starting to grow on her. She found an equal, a companion, a shoulder to cry on within you. You were there for her when she couldn’t go to the guys about things. Luke liked to tease you and let you handle the ‘girl stuff’ as he put it.

You were gone too.

After delivering her speech, Julie took a deep breath and began playing the notes she knew by heart on the keyboard.

“Don’t blink. No, I don’t want to miss it. One thing, and it’s back to the beginning Cause everything is rushing in fast Keep going on never look back. And it’s one, two, three, four times That I’ll try for one more night Light a fire in my eyes. I’m going out of my mind, Whatever happens Even if I’m the last standing. I'ma stand tall. I'ma stand tall, Whatever happens Even when everything’s down I'ma stand tall. I'ma stand tallI gotta keep on dreaming. Cause I gotta catch that feeling. Whatever happens Even if I’m the last standing. I'ma stand tall. I'ma stand tall.” Julie poured her heart out onto the song.

Alex was the first to appear on the stage with her. She was taken aback, but so happy to see him. He smiled at her as he each beat.

-

The boys were about to play another song but they were trying so hard to stop. Caleb smirked as he twirled around two of his dancers. The crowd were dancing in their seats waiting for another great song.

Alex had looked down at his hands. He could admit that this was now how things were supposed to go. He should have been there right now with Julie and the boys playing the Orpheum, not here being forced out of his will. Music was supposed to come out freely, not pressured out by some old magical ghost. He knew Willie’s soul and yours was taken. Alex was going to make sure that you both got them back, so that you wouldn’t have to endure this place anymore. The song was beginning and right as he was about to collide his sticks with the center of his drums. He stopped. He didn’t know what it was but it was like he could feel something stir within him. Like music…He observed himself, then began unbuttoning his white shirt. He smiled as he was able to remove the bowtie, then quickly folded the ends of his sleeves. The boys were watching him with curiosity, then were taken back when he vanished from the stage. This caught Caleb’s attention. He frowned as he heard Reggie gasp.

Reggie felt like something was calling to him, almost like an echo to his heart, to his soul. It was a light trying to guide him back to where he belonged. Reggie quickly shed off his blazer, feeling like he was wearing too much red to begin with. Caleb took a step back as he looked offended about the blazer being on the floor. Reggie kept the vest on though. He smiled over at Luke, who was also smiling non stop. Then he vanished too like Alex had. Luke laughed as he stared at the empty space Reggie stood.

-

“Right now. I’m loving every minute Hands down. Can’t let myself forget it, no. Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep holding on nevеr look back.” Julie’s heart felt full as Reggie appeared beside her. Her boys weren’t gone, they were slowly coming back to her one by one. All that was left was Luke. “And it’s one, two, three, four times. That I’ll try for one morе night. Light a fire in my eyes…” Julie grew aware of how much Luke was glitching. Luke was having a hard time trying to appear on stage. To the audience it looked like the ‘hologram’ was malfunctioning, but to Julie and the guys, they knew Luke was trying so hard to fight against whatever was holding him back.

-

“Now Luke…” Caleb chuckled. “Alex and Reggie clearly have some different opinions in mind.” Luke scowled. He pulled at the collar that was suffocating him. He grunted as he ripped the bowtie off, then the sleeves of his shirt. Leaving his whole arms exposed just how he liked it. His chains and arm scarf made their appearance as he looked down at the ripped pieces on the ground.

“Ouch!” Caleb feigned hurt. He placed a hand on his chest and shook his head. “Should’ve stuck with the sleeveless outfit I had in mind for you then, huh?” Caleb clicked his tongue at Luke.

“This isn’t about the outfits.” Luke snapped. “It’s about the-”

“The music. Yes I know.” Caleb rolled his eyes. “But what about it being about the girl too.” Caleb smirked.

“What are you…Where’s Y/N-” Luke suddenly remembered. He began but was cut off when Caleb made you reappear once again, but this time Caleb had a strong hold on your arm. Luke grew guilty at the thought of almost leaving without you.

“Luke?” You were in your normal clothes again. The fear in your eyes was prominent. He was scared too.

“Let her go!” He warned Caleb. Luke’s eyes grew dark.

“Can’t do that!” Caleb sing-songed. You looked down at the torn material on the ground. Then you looked up at Luke’s outfit. He changed his look….

You looked around for Alex and Reggie but they were nowhere to be seen. A smile appeared on your face.

“Luke, you have to go. The Orpheum, remember?” You exclaimed trying to get out of Caleb’s hold. “Julie needs you.” You pleaded.

“Not without you!” He argued.

“Yes without me. You made the outfit your own. See! The guys were able to leave. You need to go, Luke.” You smiled sadly. “Your unfinished business, remember.”

“What about yours huh? You’ll be trapped here, remember. You didn’t even know what it was. You said it was something you didn’t get the chance to do.” Luke’s eyes watered.

You did though…You did know because it was the one thing you had been scared to do. To say. Your smile grew as a tear shed down your face. Caleb found the interaction adorable, he just had to roll his eyes at the two teenagers in love.

“Well this is just too precious, but I do have a show to do so if you’ll excuse-” 

“I love you, Luke!” You blurted out.

Luke took a step back not expecting you to do that. He was gonna say it back, but he noticed that you had started to glow.

“Y/n your-” He gasped. You frowned then looked down at yourself. Caleb let go of you then yelled angrily. 

“No!”

You then gasped when something struck you. You knew that it wasn’t good. You didn’t feel good, but you didn’t want to tell Luke.

You looked down and watched as the glowing hue died down. You glanced up at Luke and giggled as you ran up to him.

“I think I got my soul back.” You muttered. Yet deep down you knew that something was wrong. Caleb struck you with something, but you just wanted to get Luke out of here so you lied, plus it was nice seeing him smile again. “I love you…so much Luke.”

“You waited till I died to tell me…dumb!” Luke chuckled as he cupped your face and kissed you roughly. He was taking the moment to savor the feeling of your lips against his. To make up for the moment that Caleb ruined between you two on stage. To show you how much he loved you. He pulled back and pressed his head against yours. His smile grew every second.

“No!” You both turned your head to face Caleb. “I’m not through with you my darling.” Caleb smirked.

“You forgot about something Caleb.” You smirked too. “And what is that?”

“You went back on your deal, You can’t harm another ghost you mark…Willie is free now.” You reminded him. His smirk faded away suddenly. “You don’t have a hold over him or me. You lost this time.” You knew that wasn’t true. He still had his hold over you, but Willie was free. Caleb promised you no harm would come to Willie or the guys, but he hurt them. So now he had to let Willie go. He was being reluctant to let them go…to let you go. Luke grabbed a hold of your hand.

“I believe we have a show to get to.” He beamed.

“Let’s go then, what are you waiting for!” You exclaimed as you pulled at his arm. Luke grinned, grabbing your hand and then orbed you guys out of the club. Not wanting to spend another second here.

-

“I’m going out of my mind!” Luke finally appeared on stage coming in with his vocals. There were no more glitches or malfunctions. He fully appeared as himself. He rocked out and sang his heart out. Julie had grabbed her mic when he finally showed up. She started jumping up and down on stage. She had looked around for a brief second which Luke caught onto. He looked at her then gestured over to the crowd where you stood in the front row. Julie turned her head in time to see you throw a big kiss at her with your hands. She grew excited and continued dancing around on stage.

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing I'ma stand tall. I'ma stand tall Whatever happens even when everything’s down I'ma stand tall. I'ma stand tallI gotta keep on dreaming Cause I gotta catch that feeling, Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing I'ma stand tall. I'ma stand tall.”

“Like I’m glowing in the dark. I keep on going when it’s all falling apart Yeah I know it with all my heart. Ooh, ooh.” Luke and Julie harmonized together. Then Luke sand. 

“Never look back!” 

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing. I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.” Alex stood up and let his voice be heard. You always enjoyed hearing him sing.

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing. I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.” 

Reggie then sang his heart out next. “Stand tall!”

“Stand tall!” 

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing. I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall, Whatever happens even when everything’s down I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall I gotta keep on dreaming. Cause I gotta catch that feeling, Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing. I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall…” They finished off slowly.

The crowd cheered as the guys and Julie stood in the middle of the stage bowing. You blew a kiss at Luke and then placed your hand over your heart as you looked at Julie. You were even surprised when you noticed Carried had stood up as well. It had been a beautiful moment to witness. You knew the band was going to be a hit.

You started crying right after the boys vanished from the stage leaving Julie standing alone. You wanted to go up there and hug her. They were the reason why Julie was doing what she loved again. You were so proud of them. Their unfinished business was accomplished. They played the Orpheum. They could finally cross over. You were so happy for them that you couldn’t even be hurt by Luke leaving. Luke talked about crossing over so much you weren’t surprised that he finally did.

But you grew surprised when you and Julie made it back to the garage studio to find the boys laying on the ground in pain. You didn’t even bother to turn the lights on, but Julie did. You were only worried about the boys and why they were still here.

“Luke!” You ran over to him. His eyes were closed, and he groaned out. “I-I don’t understand?” 

“Why are you here? I-I thought-” Julie was cut off by the sudden jolt that struck the boys. He held onto Alex and Luke’s hands as they groaned out in pain. Coughing because taking so much of their energy away. “I-I thought you crossed over. Why didn’t you cross over?”

Alex took his hand back silently thanking you for comforting him. “I-I guess playing the Orpheum…” He struggled to stand up. “Wasn’t our unfinished business.”

“Point Caleb.” Reggie said sarcastically. He used the sofa chair as support to hold him up.

“We wanted you guys to think we crossed over…so we pretended to.” Luke glanced up at Julie then looked at you beside him. “We just…” He shook his head, shrugging because he found it silly. “We had nowhere else to go.” Luke looked so hurt you didn’t think holding his hand was doing enough to comfort him.

“We’d thought you’d go straight to bed…” Reggie shrugged looking at Julie then at you. 

“And we thought you’d go on one of your walks or visit your parents grave like you always do.”

“Yeah well.” Alex sighed heavily as he leaned against the piano. “I knew they were both gonna come out here but nobody ever listens to-” Another jolt struck the boys. This one was stronger than the last one causing them to curl over and clutch their stomachs. They were all brought down. Luke had to lay down, Reggie let go of the couch, and Alex almost fell to his knees.

“I don’t know how to help!” You exclaimed as you looked over each of them. You had never seen them in pain this badly.

Julie rushed forward and pleaded at them. “You have to save yourself right now! Go join Caleb’s club please! It’s better than not existing at all…please just go, go poof out, do something please! Do it for me please. Do it for Y/n, Luke.” Julie gestured to you, who was on the verge of crying. Luke turned over to stare at you with a look you couldn’t describe.

“We’re not going back there.” Reggie shook his head. He never wanted to return to that terrible place.

Luke stood up letting go of your hand and stepped closer to Julie. “No music is worth making Julie, if we’re not making it with you.” Julie tilted her head, her eyes glossing over his words. “No regrets.” Luke admitted. She reached forward to embrace him. At first you were touched that she even attempted to hug Luke, but your eyes widened when Julie was able to wrap her arms around him. She didn’t phase through him. You were taken back because she was able to touch him. Luke wrapped his arms around her too when she went in for a hug. Reggie smiled and Alex was confused.

“I love you guys.” Julie sniffled.

Julie then suddenly pulled back realizing she could feel Luke. She ran her hands down his arms then to his hands. “How can I feel you?”

Luke was surprised too. “I-I don’t know.”

Julie gasped as she placed her hands on his face. You were in too much pain to care about her touching Luke, you knew there wasn’t anything more to it. Luke then cupped her face too. Laughing because he couldn’t believe what was happening.

He turned to look at you guys. “I feel stronger.”

“Alex, Reggie, come.” Julie told them. You knew that the boys were more hurt, so Julie had motioned them over. Julie wasn’t aware that you were hurt too. She thought you were fine, all of them did. So they thought.

“How can that be?” You said to yourself. You were about to walk up to them when you felt the energy suddenly drain from your body. You stumbled back slightly.

The guys walked up to Julie and wrapped their arms around each other. Halo beams glowed up into the air above them as they stayed in that position for a few seconds. They were too busy to notice that they didn’t catch the sudden thump that hit the ground. You collapsed.

“Woah, I-I don’t feel as weak anymore.” Reggie smiled.

“Yeah, me neither. Not that I was ever that weak.” Alex joked, causing them all to laugh. The guys then all looked down at their wrist. The purple stamp removed itself from their wrist and flowed up into the air.

“What do you think that means?” Julie gaped at the purple magic that floated above her. 

“I think the band is back.” Luke smiled.

“You guys think we could try that hug one more time?” Alex asked, they laughed and huddled together embracing each other with their hands.

“I like this!” Reggie admitted.

“Me too!” Julie exclaimed. “We played the Orpheum!” They all jumped up and down together.

Luke was the first to step back from the hug briefly to glance back at you. He finally grew aware that you were quiet the entire time.

“Hey, Y/n why you’d get-” Luke chuckled but felt his heart plummet when he noticed you on the ground. Your eyes were closed. “Y/n!” Luke rushed over to your side. The guys and Julie rushed to your aid too. Luke cupped your face trying to get you to open your eyes. “Hey baby, come on now. Open your eyes for me yeah.” Luke smiled, pleading with hopeful eyes. He gently patted the side of your cheek. “Why aren’t you opening your eyes?” He exclaimed. “W-Why isn’t she opening her eyes?” He looked over his shoulder at Julie, Alex and Reggie. “Y/n, open your eyes. Open your eyes baby, please!” Luke took you into his arms and rocked you. Shaking you and patting your face. No response. “Come on now. I can’t do this without you.” Luke shook his head.

“She was fine….She looked fine…” Julie shook her head. “Why isn’t she fine?”

“You guys were the last ones to leave the club…”Alex pointed out. “Did anything happen?” “She said she got her soul back, but why would…” Luke trailed off as he looked down at you. His eyes roamed over your body until he caught a glimpse of your wrist. He grabbed your arm and pulled back your sleeve to reveal the purple mark still present, still tattooed onto your skin. “I-I don’t…why is this still here?” Luke croaked. “Shouldn’t this be gone.”

“Caleb might still have a hold on her.” Reggie furrowed his brows.

“He can’t.” Luke denied any thoughts. “Y/n was fine, she was fine.” Luke hugged you closer to his chest. “You were fine, why aren’t you fine?” He whimpered to you. He brushed your hair out of your face looking at your closed eyes. You looked peaceful, too peaceful. You didn’t show any signs of suffering. His hands stopped as he suddenly remembered that Julie was in front of him. “Julie, come here.” He sniffled as he adjusted your body to allow Julie to be able to get closer to you. “Y-You can feel us, maybe if you hug her, or touch her, she’ll wake up.” Luke was so sure that his idea would work.

“I’ll try.” The corner of her lips were drawn down, but her eyes reassured Luke that she was willing to try. Julie slowly reached forward to place her hand on your skin. The anticipation was tense around the room. Alex, Reggie, and Luke waited for her hand to come in contact with your skin, but all she was met with was air. Her hand had gone through you. Luke shed a tear as he watched Julie’s anxiety start to form as she repeated the motion. Her hand still went through. He gently stopped her hand and shook his head. Luke reassured her through his teary eyes.

“Could you guys give me…” Luke gestured to you. “I just want to be alone with her right now.” 

“Luke are you sure?” Alex grew unsure about leaving Luke alone. No one should have to be alone for something like this. Alex was so fond of you. He was glad Luke and you met when you guys did. After he and Luke had gone through something, Alex thought things were going to be weird, but you never made things weird. Alex was just glad Luke had you. His anxiety was slowly growing and making its appearance. He never did like change. Dying had been a big change, now you were not waking up. He didn’t know how he’d be able to handle this. He was concerned for Luke because Luke never really showed anyone how he was feeling. He’d bottle things up, so staying calm right now was worrying Alex.

“Alex please…” Luke’s glossed over eyes peered up to look into his. Luke averted his gaze and glanced down to look at you again. His thumb caressing over your cheek.

“We’ll be outside okay.” Julie stood up and placed her hand on Luke’s shoulder before she guided Reggie and Alex out of the garage closing the doors behind her.

As soon as the doors closed Luke immediately broke down. Tear after tear fell down his face. He hugged you closer, rocking you in his arms as he dug his face into the side of your neck. “I’m so sorry baby.” He muttered into your neck. “I’m so sorry.” He pulled back to look at you. “I-I didn’t even tell you I loved you.” He shook his head. He hated himself for not saying it back at the club. He had kissed you instead, he didn’t say it, not even when you guys were in school. “God I love you…I love you so much. I should have told you sooner, I should’ve told you after our first date. I should’ve told you when you were there for me after I ran away. I should’ve…” He cried. He clenched his jaw, closing his eyes as he rested his face on the crook of your neck. He just held you. Trying to embrace you closer, there wasn’t any more room to possibly hold you against him closer. He kept readjusting his arms around you to hug you. He sniffled, small cries filled the quiet studio.

Julie, Reggie, and Alex, could hear him through the doors. Each shedding their own tears. Each filled with sorrow and pain.

Luke couldn’t move. He stayed sitting on the floor. Holding your body up. He began muttering words that slowly turned into a song. “When I can’t think of the right words to say…I just sing oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh.” He sniffled as he rocked you. “Come on and harmonize with my melody and we’ll sing oh oh oh oh oh oh oh…” He pulled back to get a view of you. “Ain’t it a perfect harmony. You got me.” He waited to hear you sing your part back to him, but you didn’t. “I got you.” He whispered. “I got you.” He nodded. “You got me. Yeah you got me.” A tear fell down his cheek. “I got you. A perfect harmony…” You two would always finish off harmonizing but you didn’t sing your parts, so Luke’s voice alone didn’t create that magical sound that made your voices mix so perfectly. “I love you so much…” He dug his face into the crook of your neck sobbing. He had been too lost in his own thoughts he didn’t notice the purple mark leave your body. The magical trace that was printed on your skin flowed into the air. Caleb’s mark was gone.

“You waited till I died to tell me….” You rasped. The glowing hue came back and took over your body. “Dumb.” Luke gasped as he pulled back and gaped at you with wide eyes.

You sighed as you slowly opened your eyes squinting at the lights that were too bright at the moment. Luke cupped your face as you tried sitting up, but you found yourself on his lap instead. Luke looked relieved and on the verge of happy tears. You placed your hands over his cupped ones and smiled. You were so tired and your head hurt from the fall.

“Oh my god!” Luke exclaimed as he checked you over to make sure nothing else was wrong. “Guys get in here!” Luke yelled out. The three outside gave each other looks of concern as they opened the doors and rushed in. They all stopped mid run once they saw you awake. “Oh my god. You’re okay!” He held your face in his hands. His eyes gleaming over with tears of joy. “God I love you so much.”

“What just happened?” Julie was confused because the light in you dimmed not too long ago. 

“I’m free.” You gasped. You looked down at your forearm, running your palm over the area where the mark had been.

“Does that mean that…” Alex trailed off as he stopped to think for a minute. “Willie? Is he-” 

“He’s okay Alex.” You smiled as you caught sight of someone entering the studio.

“Alex.” Everyone turned around as Willie suddenly appeared. Alex stood still for a moment as he ran up to him and hugged him. They pulled back and shared a hesitatant kiss.

“You’re okay.” Alex laughed. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” 

“Likewise hotdog.” Willie smiled at the happy blonde.

Luke couldn’t help but smile at his best friend then look over at you.

“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t woken up.” He ran a hand through your hair. 

“Hey, you got me.” You sang as you cupped his face gently. He smiled as he pressed his head against yours.

“I got you.” He harmonized with you. You laughed and pressed a tender kiss to his lips.

“I want love!” Julie pouted. Blurting out her inner thoughts causing everyone in the room to laugh.

“You’ll get there soon kiddo.” You laughed as you reassured her. “You’ll get there soon.” You smiled fondly at Luke.

[sheeple]

Miracles don't exist | 9: Something fishy

Genre(s): Riddle!reader / Slytherin!reader / kinda slowburn / little happy moments Fandom(s): Harry Potter Pairing(s): Theodore Nott x Reader / Harry Potter x Riddle!reader Summary: Being the Dark Lord's daughter and raised under the strict supervision of the Malfoy's is no easy life. Especially if you start crushing on your father's arch-nemesis, Harry Potter. And that while being engaged to one of his follower’s sons. Warning(s): None this chapter A/n: Did I use dialogue of Catching fire. Maybe. But that scene is so damn cute and I love it how Peeta looks at Katniss. Ugh [Masterlist] [Mini masterlist] [Playlist]

The days grow slowly less cold but wetter when the second task approaches in February. It's been weirdly quiet. No letters from your aunt or uncle and no letters from your father. You're very relieved that he hasn't written to you in such a long time. That means he is too weak, he's too occupied with something evil and nefarious, or he's dead. You highly doubt the last option.

You walk with your cousin and his friends to the dock so you can take a boat to one of the three platforms. You see Harry walk not much further from you next to Neville and you speed up, catching up.

"Hey", you say, making both boys turn towards you, "Good luck with your task. Please be safe, yeah?"

Harry nods shakingly, obviously anxious about what's to come. You reach out for his hand and give it a squeeze. "You can do this. I believe in you." You give him a small smile, hoping it gives him some sort of comfort.

"Where are Hermione and Ron, by the way?" You look around but don't spot the redhead and the brunette that's usually not far away.

"I don't know", he mumbles. "They've been gone since yesterday. McGonagall asked to talk to them and since then they haven't returned."

You frown. It's not like them to just disappear. "I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe they are a part of the task?"

Harry looks solemn towards the water. "I rather hope not."

Arriving at the boats, a hand on your waist steadies you as you step into the wooden boat. You look up and see Theodore glaring at Harry, who looks too anxious and concerned with the second task that is minutes away from happening to even bother.

The other Slytherins fill the remaining seats in the boat and you wave goodbye to Harry.

Nobody says anything but you feel the glares from around you. "What?", you snap.

"Seriously, Potter?", sneers Draco, his bottom lip curled up. "You know what I have said about fraternizing with the enemy."

You sigh, massaging your temples. "For Merlin's sake, Draco! The boy is terrified! Who knows what he is going to encounter down there. If it were you, you would already be screaming and crying to your father to put an end to the tournament."

Draco's jaw ticks but it seems to shut him up effectively. 

The boats stop at the raised platforms and you immediately get out, not accepting the outstretched hand of Theodore. Seeing your opportunity to get away, you climb the first set of iron steps to get to the top deck. There you have a nice overview of the water and the surrounding landscape.

Your head rests on your hand as you lean against the railing, waiting for the contestants to get ready to dive in the water when Theodore slides into the empty space next to you. "I've been thinking─"

"Congrats on using your brain, Theo. You didn't strain it?"

Theodore stops and looks at you with raised eyebrows. Quite perplexed.

You bite your bottom lip. You've grown too comfortable too quick at the idea of Theodore being your friend and you've overstepped boundaries. "Sorry. I've never been really good at being friends."

He smiles, obviously enjoying your little quip. "For starters, it helps when you know the person. I hardly know anything about you except that you love muggle books and that you have the most amazing smile, even though you rarely show the real thing."

The comment about your smile makes your cheeks heat up but you decided to push it down. "That about sums me up."

"There is more than that, you just don't want to tell me."

"It's like I said─"

At that moment Professor Dumbledore starts his speech to explain what the second task contains and with the sound of a cannon firing, the contestants jump into the water. Harry follows after them a couple of beats later.

Theodore leans close to you and says, "Listen, Black, how the whole friend thing works is that you have to tell each other the deep stuff."

"The deep stuff?", you whisper back, your eyes focused on the murky water.

"Like...", he glances up at the sky, "what is your favourite colour?"

Turning towards him, a smile adorning your face. "Now you've stepped over the line."

The both of you laugh. You slap a hand over your mouth and hit Theodore in an attempt to quiet him down before it attacks the attention of the people around you. 

Still smiling, Theodore props his head on his fist and says, "seriously though, what is it?"

You think for a moment. What is your favourite colour? Most of the clothing that you own is black and dark green, but that's more to blend in with the rest of your family and the Slytherin students. Your room back home is also mostly black. The only colour you can think of is-

"Pink", you decide.

It makes Theo's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Pink?" He looks perplexed. He for sure expected you to say some variating of green or something.

"Pink", you confirm. "But not old pink. More like… a tulip pink."

Theodore hums, a large smile forming on his face. "Tulip pink?"

He bursts out laughing and you push his shoulder smiling. "It's a nice colour! What is yours anyways?"

He doesn't hesitate for a moment. "Green."

"And you're critiquing my colour of choice?"

Theodore bumps against you with his shoulder. "Shut up. The Whomping Willow leaves colour nicely in spring."

One corner of your mouth twitches up and you snicker. "Whomping Willow leaves?"

The comment earns you a look from the brown-haired boy.

The first to get up to the surface is Fleur ─ who didn't finish her task ─ next is Krum, followed by Cedic. At the last minute, Harry shoots up out of the lake and lands on the platform. The crowd goes wild and you jump up and down, happy that Harry is safe and well.

The task ends with Victor getting the most points and Fleur the least, but the winners are Harry and Cedic.

There is this restlessness in your body, going down all the way to your core. You've been tossing and turning for hours and flipped your pillow over too many times. With a huff, you sit up and decide that you are not going to do this any longer.

You swing your legs off your bed and scramble ─ as quietly as you can as not to disturb the peace of your sleeping roommates ─ for your sneakers and make your way out of the Slytherin common room.

It's quiet when you roam the halls. Of course, it is, it's after curfew after all.

Something in you tells you that something is coming. It festers deep within your soul, twirling and whizzing around. It makes you anxious.

Hearing steps coming from the hallway adjacent to yours, you swiftly hide in an alcove. You suck in your breath in the hope to appear as a shadow. You release it once you see it's Harry that's passing by.

"Harry!", you whisper, making the boy turn his head. His stance relaxes as soon as he sees it's you, and he slides his wand back into his pocket.

"What are you doing out of bed?", he whispers back in the same tone as you walk next to him.

You shrug. "I couldn't sleep. Again. You?"

Harry looks at the ground, searching for the right words. You grab his wrist as a sign he can tell you.

"Barty Crouch is killed. I found him in the forest while walking with Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione. Turns out, Crouch's son was a Death Eater and responsible for torturing Neville's parents."

You hold a hand over your mouth in shock. "Oh, poor Neville. Does he know?"

"No. At least - I don't think so."

You frown. It was never a question of why you felt remorse for the boy. It was your mother after all that tortured the Longbottoms to the point that they are now. And, in your opinion, it's far crueller to leave a boy behind with parents that don't remember him than to leave behind an orphan.

As the two of you pass a hallway filled with portraits, arguing voices cut through the silence of the night before a door flies open and reveals Professor Snape and Professor Karkaroff ─ who has his sleeve pulled up and revealed his dark mark, which slowly grows more intense.

"It's a sign, Severus. You know what it means as well as I."

Karkaroff snaps his head towards the two of you and angrily storms off, sneering.

Giving each other a wide-eyed look, the both of you decide it's for the best to just continue walking. But Snape has other ideas.

"Potter! Black! What is your hurry?"

You sigh and turn around, not daring to look at Snape's harsh glare.

But the Professor's attention is focused on the boy next to you. "Congratulations. Your performance in the Black Lake was inspiring. Gillyweed, am I correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Ingenious. Run along, Black, you mustn't be caught roaming the halls after curfew."

You nod, giving Harry a sorry look before you get house points deducted for whatever Snape is irritated with.

As you round the corner, you know what you have to do. There is no denying that something is going to happen, with the Dark Mark on Karkaroff's arm and the uneasy feeling in your bones. You have to go to Dumbledore. To at least report to him, as you promised.

Taglist (bold means I couldn’t tag you): @the0doreslover @lqndkxlmqma @st4rrry @choppedpartymuffinwinner @ledtassoo​ @pietrobae @literallyobessed @vanishingcherry @lestat-whore @harrysnovia

[whumblr]

Experiment

Continuation from Scary words - pt 1 here

-

After the A for asphyxiation, Roman had effortlessly weaved into B for broken voice.

Dani had crumbled to the floor when he finally removed the cane, clutching her throat, broken gasps wheezing and whistling past her lips.

Unfortunately, it left her right where he wanted her; slumped over on her knees, back exposed.

And while he already had his broken voice, he couldn’t resist following it up with a few broken screams ripped from a broken throat.

It felt like her windpipe had shattered and the shards had lodged on the inside of her throat, each breath stabbing them in further.

“Do you want to continue your ABC’s?” Roman’s voice snapped her back to the present, to the library, where he was sitting at the reading table, her sitting in her chair on the other side of the room. “We only have D for drowning and E for electrocution to go before we can dive into flagellation. I’d say we can tick off D and E at the same time, even…”

She would gladly undergo those things if she got her C for castration. But unfortunately, they’d crossed the C off with, of course, the caning that followed after he broke her voice. She’d already unleashed her own ABC’s with asshole, bastard, and creep for starters, but he’d just tutted and pointed out that her voice and throat needed healing and that insults weren’t helping. What she needed was silence. Enforced silence, if necessary. He even threatened a gag or a collar. So for the past few days, the only thing she could do was curl up in her reading chair and give him her deadliest glares.

Roman had remained unperturbed. Brought her fucking tea with honey, placing it next to her pile of books on the side table with a genuine smile as she was reading. She couldn’t thank him; wasn’t allowed to thank him if he wanted to draw out some words to have an excuse to collar her, not that she wanted to thank him. She glared at the tea – tea with honey was fucking disgusting and the smell made her even more angry – and she wondered if it would even help a crushed throat.

Infuriatingly, it did.

“I’m good.” Her voice was still hoarse but at least by now she was allowed to speak again.

“Good, ‘cause I was thinking more of E for experiment.”

She didn’t like the sound of that.

“See,” Roman continued, as if her silence was one that invited him to keep talking, “Pain can be influenced by a lot. The body has its ways to reduce or relieve pain, by hormones, adrenaline, endorphins, name it. Not to mention there are outside influences like the various painkillers and drugs. And it gets me wondering… if it can be reduced, then could it also be increased?”

He got up and gestured for her to follow him to his office. Reluctantly, she did. She uncomfortably looked on as he rummaged about in a drawer of his desk and he pulled out small case. He put it on his desk and opened it to reveal an injection needle and two vials with, judging by the unnatural blue colour, questionable content.

“What does that do?” she heard herself ask.

“Supposedly, it inhibits the release of adrenaline. That alone should up the magic for a bit but it should have the direct opposite effect of painkillers. Instead of blocking neurotransmission of pain, it stimulates the neuron and sends more signals to the brain.”

Oh, the wonders of unethical research.

“And, of course, you need a test subject…” she said, eyes on the blue liquid.

“Naturally.”

“You know, the man who started the pain index tested everything out on himself. I think should try these experiments on yourself as well. Otherwise your peers will just think you’re a pussy.”

“Well, there’s only one peer involved in this research and you already think I’m a pussy, so I don’t have much to lose.”

Pussy was a bit of an understatement in her humble opinion… And true, he didn’t have any of her respect left to lose.

“But my sense of pain is already increased due to stress…” she tried.

“We’ll just have to make a note of that in the footnotes.” Well, at least he acknowledged it… with a malicious grin that is. He closed the case with the syringe and carefully took it in his hands. “Now, come with me.”

She followed down to the basement, already knowing that the footnotes were a non-existent thing. This was purely to sate his own curiosity. And by god was she hoping that he bought – or made? – a dud. A harmless dud. She dawdled in the middle of the empty room, watching him.

“Let’s start… modestly.” His hand roamed over a row of knives and he picked a small – compared to the other things on display – hunting knife. “You wanna lie on there?” He gestured the knife towards the metal table.

She absolutely did not, thank you. No way she was going to make this experiment easier on him.

Roman shrugged. “I agree.” And he snapped forward.

He grabbed her by the front of her shirt, got her off-balance, and pushed hard. Her world tilted. Her shoulder blades crashed against the cold, concrete floor. And before she could even get a dazed “fuck…” past her lips, Roman was already on top of her, having both wrists pinned under his knees.

“Stay with me, Dani dear,” he snapped his fingers in front of her face, “I’m going to need your honest responses here.” He held out the hunting knife in both hands and unsheathed it dramatically.

The sight of the knife helped more than the annoying snapping in her face; she snarled and started to buck against him, trying to get her wrists free.

He merely tutted and leaned over her, resting the blade just above her wrist. “Don’t, you don’t want me to slip. Like I said, we’ll just start modestly.”

His eyes were intently focused on hers, taking in every twitch, every bit of fear written over her face.

She didn’t have that luxury. Nor did she want to see the hunger on his face. Her eyes were fixed on the knife, ready for the—

His first cut drew a sharp intake of breath. But more in surprise than because of the pain. Luckily, it was barely more than a scratch and barely squeezed out a drop of blood.

But his intentions were made clear when he moved the knife a few inches up. And the prick of the tip breaking through skin grew sharper as it started to carve its way through.

Roman let the blade roll along on its curve, the edge sinking in up to where the sharpened lighter grey part thickened into the rest of the blade. He rested a hand just under her elbow and leaned his weight on it when she started to struggle. The knife resurfaced with a red hue and he dragged the tip to the other end of her arm to complete a full line.

Dani grit her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, keeping any pain bottled up, merely letting part of it escape in a frustrated grunt.

But the third time the knife broke skin, she flew up with a surprised yelp. The knife sank in deeper than before, and instead of feeling the sting of easily parted skin, this time she felt him force it through deeper layers. The quick slice was replaced by a slow dragging, drawing out the pain, until inch by inch, the build-up became too much.

She let out a cry. Let her head fall back against the concrete. Judging by the pain, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was close to or already carving directly into muscle. She clenched her teeth, forcing herself to keep a ‘stop!’ – or worse, ‘please’ – well contained.

Roman shushed her and despite his concentration on his carving, a smile started forming on his face.

“Now then,” he said, admiring his three cuts. He pulled the knife away, put it down, and he reached for the case with the needle. “Round two is the real deal.”

Like unsheathing the knife, he made a show of it. Stabbing the needle in the small vial, pulling the plunger back slowly while keeping his eyes locked with hers, flicking the syringe and putting the vial neatly back in the case. Slow, calculated, because he could. Then his thumb rested on the plunger and Dani braced herself.

“No,” she growled and tried sit up. “No you are not—"

Immediately his hand shot around her throat, cutting off her air, pushing her back down. And with just his thumb on her chin, he forced her to face sideways, giving him full access to her exposed neck.

Dani whimpered when she felt the needle pierce skin, when she felt that goddamn blue potion enter her system.

Roman sat back, leaning to the side to put the syringe back, but again his eyes didn’t leave hers. And they both waited for something to happen.

Nothing happened. As far as she was concerned. It was probably just her imagination… that the little bones in her wrists grinded painfully under his knees, rolling and bumping into each other with each movement he made. She just... hadn’t noticed before, what with the knife carving her up, that’s all. And it was just stress, or the aftermath of her struggle just now, that made the bruises from last week’s caning flare up, her shoulder blades tensing against the hard, unyielding concrete. Her throat flaring back up was because of that first surprised cry after days of silence.

And the three cuts over her forearm stinging harder than before was just part of his stupid placebo plan. Maybe after the initial fight and cutting up, adrenaline had just ebbed dow—oh shit.

Supposedly, it inhibits the release of adrenaline.

“Is it working?” Roman asked in the sweetest voice, noticing how her face fell.

“No,” she growled, shifting uncomfortably.

He hummed a note of disbelief. “Now for the before and after…”

He slashed the knife over the small of her wrist, matching the small scratch on the other and didn’t even bother with her response, immediately resting the tip a few inches above it.

It pricked out more than a lone drop of blood; tears started burning in her eyes. Pain, fear of a more intense pain, and the complete lack of control taking its toll on her.

Besides. If this worked, and probably even if it didn’t work, this was going to be waiting for her with everything he did. Beating. Injection. More severe beating drawing out more pain. Knifeplay. Injection. See what it does. Five whiplashes. Inj—

A gasp combined with a cry of pain as he repeated his process, letting his blade roll along. It was like acid slowly crawled over her skin, biting its way across, burning deeper, nibbling at her nerve ends.

“Ohh, I think it’s working,” he crooned as she twisted her head away. He rested a thumb under the cut, lightly pulling it open.

“No! No, it’s— AahH!" And this time not just the tip but almost the whole freaking knife dug into her arm.

She trashed under him, screaming, crying, voice tearing up her throat again. But it didn’t stop him from dragging out that final line, mirroring the gash on her other arm. He pushed her back down, leaned his weight heavier onto her wrist as she pulled and twisted wildly to get free.

Maybe it was her panic, maybe it was the accumulation of everything, maybe it was that goddamn drug, but it hurt worse than before and she just couldn’t take it. She screamed with every bit of skin that was forced apart and when he was finally done, she fell down on her back, shallow panicked breaths mixing with soft sobs.

Roman hummed and wiped the blade on her shirt. “And here I was sure that it worked…” He considered her, wicked grin on his face. He nudged up a little, letting her wrists slip free. But she was too dazed to do anything and she remained down, trying to catch her breath, just watching how the blood tickled down her arms.

“But well,” he continued, picking up one of the vials and holding it up in front of his eyes. Not even a quarter of it had been used. “If you say it’s not working… maybe we need a bigger sample size.”

He rose and neatly packed everything back into its case. A whimper rose up when he picked up the knife but he shushed her gently and held out a hand for her.

“Let’s disinfect all this first, shall we.”

-

Continued here

Tag list: @firewheeesky @myfriendcallsmeasickwoman19 @whumpawink @painsandconfusion @whumpifi @whumpy-daydreams @whumpyourdamnpears @auroragehenna

[lovepookie]

zerobaseone masterlist

૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡ “is it a new start or the end?"

disclaimer! i will not be writing fics for yujin as he is a minor and i am not comfortable doing so! however, if i write reactions/fake texts for him it is purely platonic/friendship. xoxo

✿ = my personal favorites!

ot9 reactions/imagines — (coming soon)

ot9 fake texts —

��︎ — texting zb1 “we need to talk”

hyung line | maknae line

☁︎ — zb1 texting you “i’m paying for your nails” ✿

hyung line | maknae line

☁︎ — angsty zb1 texts: after an argument ✿

☁︎ — zb1 reaction to “pull up, i’m in a fight” ✿

hyung line | maknae line

☁︎ — bestfriend!zb1 accidental confession

hyung line | maknae line

.♡.

— kim jiwoong ༉‧₊˚. (coming soon)

— zhang hao ༉‧₊˚. (coming soon)

— sung hanbin ༉‧₊˚.

SUN STAR MOON | 2.7k | angst, fluffy, slightly suggestive, established relationship, fem!reader, pregnancy au, kind of depressing ngl

♡ sypnosis: two lines. all it takes is two lines to change the trajectory of your life; you're pregnant. what are you to do? for starters, you have your amazing boyfriend hanbin by your side-and he'd go to the ends of the earth to make you happy and to make things work. there's something deep down that tells you he'd make an amazing dad; and maybe, just maybe, that you could make this work.

— seok matthew ༉‧₊˚.

NO PRESENTS | 2.4k | teeth-rotting fluff, suggestive, established relationship, non-idol au, christmas centered

♡ sypnosis: you and matthew agreed on no presents this year in order to save up to see his family for christmas next year. he has pestered you for a christmas tree, and now he won't stop clinging to you because "it's christmas, woman!" little does he know, you have a little gift up your sleeve.

— kim taerae ༉‧₊˚. (coming soon)

— ricky shen ༉‧₊˚.

FAVORING ROSES OVER DAISIES ✿ | 7.0k | royal au, fantasy/magical, fluff, angsty, prince! ricky, fem!reader, prince!hanbin side pairing, enemies to lovers, forbidden love

♡ sypnosis: daisies will forever and always be boring; they were the former queen's-your mother's-favorite flower. however, now that it's your turn to ascend the thrown, you can't help that roses are your favorite; just like the blood-red ones embellished on prince ricky's black suit on the night of your suitor's ball. but don't get caught up in the pretty scent and petals, because where there is beauty, there is thorns. ricky is the prince of an enemy nation-and your whole life he has been nothing but a pest. a really pretty one.

— kim gyubin ༉‧₊˚.

WHAT? HUH? ✿ | 5.3k | fluff, slight angst?, suggestive, childhood bestfriends to lovers, crack, college au, older reader

♡ sypnosis: your childhood friend gyubin had managed to bribe you into being his date to an all exclusive couple's christmas frat party, but you know more than anyone present that you don't belong there. the way gyubin's been eyeing you the whole night, the slight touches here and there; the way your heart beats fast in your chest in response-none of it belongs because you're just supposed to be friends-right?

HONEY ✿ | 3.7k | fluff, hint of angst, fem!reader, bestfriends to lovers, college au

♡ sypnosis: you're not really sure why the sight of gyubin's eyes start to look different one day. they had your cheeks burning when he'd get even so much as a foot away from you despite him being your best friend, and they reminded you so much of honey when the light from the window hit them just right. you've slowly come to realize that the big brown eyes that belonged to the exhausting and annoying loser just might be the reason for your fast heart rate too.

— park gunwook ༉‧₊˚.

CONSEQUENCES ✿ | 2.1k | teeth rotting fluff, some angst, established relationship, boyfriend!gunwook

♡ sypnosis: your boyfriend is park gunwook. sweet. cute. couldn't hurt a fly. and you? a demon who wants to tick him off and see him jealous. gunwook doesn't play when it comes to his feelings, so naturally, you'll suffer the consequences-or maybe you won't. you're kinda his soft spot.

PROMISE | 2.0k | fluff, slight angst, sports fic, established relationship, boyfriend!gunwook

♡ sypnosis: star-football player park gunwook probably can't play for the rest of the season due to an injury sustained on the field. but more than that, your boyfriend park gunwook is in pain-and you'll hop fences, run past security, and go to the ends of the earth just to get to him; that's a promise.

— han yujin ༉‧₊˚.

2024 © lovepookie

♡ please do not plagarize, repost, copy or translate any of my works. thank you.

[captainleviswifee]

Treat you better...

Tags: Modern AU Levi, established relationship, fem reader, reigniting the spark, low key anxious Levi, argument, overthinking, jealousy, OOC or IC Levi? 😭idk Please reblog and follow if you like this content!

Edit: you can use extensions, or apps to replace y/n with the name of your choice. I personally use interactivefics extensions, but let me know if you know others!

The darkness blankets the sky, the neighborhood quiet with muffled noises of a party some walks away. Having just parked his car in the garage he get's out taking a bag of take outs for dinner.

Walking up to the porch of his and your door, he unlocks the door with ease. Keys clanking as he fiddles with them with a tired sigh. Work is well work as usual. It's not the mundane challenges of work he's sighing for. Likely it's the increasing monotonous routine he goes with it at the office everyday. It doesn't help that his relationship with you is reflecting how gray and dull his everyday work is.

Opening the door, the living space welcomes him. Not you, you're not at home yet. You're at the office, either working overtime or being asked out by your friends for a night out. He drops his briefcase on the sofa, as he takes off his coat. Hanging it on the coat rack beside the now locked door.

Now loosening up his tie, he picks up his phone to check the time, it's nearly 10 pm. "It's Friday...then it must be her hanging out with co-workers tonight." He says to particularly no one but himself. His gaze frowning at the screen of his phone. "Or her damn boss," He grumbles.

And that's the problem. Your relationship with him either progressively turns to dull and gray because of his increasing workload, or if it's dull and gray because of your increasing workload and constant late night parties.

But Levi understands you better.

The parties were to distract you from this monotonous routine of your evenings with him. Can be a bad or good habit depending on the act you entertain yourself with. And Levi knew better than to push you to ask when you're in this phase of taking a sort of break.

Or it could also be he's afraid that he'd make things worse and drive a deeper wedge between you two. It's likely the latter.

And that's precisely why he discreetly asked two of his female coworkers for advice. Hange and Petra. Hange had advised to open a table with you for discussion. Basically sit and talk. Meanwhile Petra, advised you to go an extra mile to know what a woman wants. For starters, read a book.

A romance book for example. And she had just the perfect recommendation in hand.

Levi sets the reheated take outs, then preparing a plate of rice—his favorite, on the table. He then walks to the sofa, picking up his briefcase to find a certain book from Petra this morning.

"Huh," Levi could not even read the title, his eyes scanning the book. "Damn, sappy shit." He flips the cover to read a random chapter and sees a specific sentence that nearly killed him from cringe.

But if it would help him get tips on how to reignite this spark between you two, he'd grit his teeth through the cringe. Pick out the good ones, and yeet out the overly cringe ones.

With the book in his hand, he walks back to the dinner table, sitting down to a meal while he takes a spoonful of a bite or two.

After eating, he continued to wait for you at the living room, sitting with his arm resting on the armrest, his other hand propping up the book he's reading close to his steel blue gaze.

The hours tick and you're not home still. It's already 1 am, and you're still not at home. It was then that he finally decides to check his phone. And oh, he finds a message from you in his notifications.

Clicking it, it reads,

"I'm sorry love, I'll be home in a few. Just a 'lil late."

Sent at 11:45 pm. He sighs, texting back,

"Do you need me to fetch you?"

He sends it and returned to reading the book.

He'd hate to admit it, but it became a bit more tolerable for his eyes to read the book after a few chapters. He's mind whirrs at the kind of man most women would want.

Crossing out the unrealistic standards, there are things he might find worthy of taking note. Like getting a little more creative with giving you flowers, or how he should better care for you for when you have period cramps. Basically just be there for you more. Levi had thought he was doing just fine, doing everything to be there for you. But now basing some things he may have missed in comparison to a 'what would most women want,' is that he may have appeared a little too distant or cold. Especially when he's at work.

He sighs, deciding to find a way to strike a proper balance between work and his personal life.

You're an amazing woman, flawed may be, but you're the woman he loves to see everyday.

Sighing, he flips open the book again to continue reading, "Hoh, what do we have here?" He smirks, immersed in his reading although he'd deny that he is.

The pacing of the story just got to a sensual, lightly steamy part. And he couldn't help but think, 'Is this too what most women want?' He ponders, 'I guess not too different to what most men wants, except this has more steps in this. More foreplay it seems,'

His eyes scan the forbidden text, his mind wandering if it could be him and you. Or what could be your reaction had you be reading this instead? Levi imagined you reading this with a flustered expression made him think of other forbidden things he'd do to you.

Flipping the page, he continues, still sure he's reading to get insights on how he should treat you than for the story of the text he's reading.

Then as if he was stricken with lightning, he hears a warm breathy whisper right behind his ear, "Oh? What you reading?" Your playful tone snaps him from his deep thoughts.

"Oh, you're here," His face momentarily stiffens, lips opening slightly, before returning to his nonchalant expression. He then adds, "And you're late," His gaze now frowning. "Sorry," You scratch the back of your head, "We just finished overtime and my boss thought to bring all of us to a short late snack at a cafe." You explain, studying his narrowed blue-gray gaze, before your eyes landing on a specific book. "Didn't know you'd be reading this genre though, Levi." You reply in a teasing manner. His hands swiftly, and casually moving the book away from your view as a response, "Your boss?" One of his eyebrow arches, his expression remaining nonchalant yet the undercurrent of his threatening tone betrays the calm exterior he maintains. "That stupid blond bastard again?" He grumbles, now standing up to meet your eyes, the book still in his hand.

'Stupid, and bastard. Well that's rare,' You smile, Levi adding two insults in a single sentence for the same person speaks just how much this is pissing him off.

"Listen, we need to talk," He then takes your bag placing it on the table before holding your shoulders down to have you sit.

"Levi," You say with a flat and tired expression, "There's nothing to talk about—" Before he cuts you off, "Oh yea we do. Don't think I didn't noticed how you're avoiding me the whole month, and how I see you're spending more time with your work friends and that stupid boss of yours. Again."

Then it's your turn to cut him off, "Levi, you're not jealous are you?" "Fucking no." He says flatly, he then combs his hair back before talking again, "Look, it's just. We're both busy recently and I'm sorry I couldn't be there to listen how your day went or that I couldn't pay attention to you more. But that doesn't mean you should entertain yourself with people outside the problem of our relationship." He then mutters the last bit, "Especially not with your boss." And that's where you stop him, "What are you talking about? Are you saying I'm upset at you because you're busy?" You scoff.

"Yes?" His expression, suddenly forming a puzzled look. His face became even more puzzled after hears you laugh, "And that's why you're reading that book hm?" You tease him, "What-fuck, no." He then places the book behind him. You already know that it's a romance book, and with the few pages you saw of it earlier, it has some smut scenes.

"C'mon, let's see what's it about." You quip, your hands reaching for it, but he's faster and was able to keep it off your grasp.

"Forget it, so you're saying that you're not upset at all?" He asks you, his narrow, blue-gray irises gazing deep into yours. "No, I'm not," You reply with a smile, "Why would you think that?" He then looks down on the table, his gaze falling to your bag on the coffee table as he searches his own mind. "I don't know...maybe it's just because I miss you." He sighs, "Yeah, maybe it's that. You think it's because of that?" He replies more like a sentence of him just rambling and asking the truth he already knows.

You gave a light chuckle before pulling him to a hug. "Gosh you're so adorable," You mumble to his neck, appreciative of his efforts and his feelings. He momentarily stiffens, before accepting the embrace. "Shut it," He rejects the compliment, but you feel his heart beating warm and fast against yours, his hands wrapping around you in return. Embracing you back.

"I miss you too," You whisper to him and you just feel him nudge his face to your own neck. As if hiding his face from view by deepening the embrace.

You pull away, and you give him a light kiss on his lips, his lips lingering for a moment before reluctantly pulling away. Maybe it's because his heart was beating too fast, that you also feel it pump blood to the lower half of his body. A something else entirely beating against your warm body as he tells you in a low gruff voice. His breath hot against your lips, his arms pulling you closer in place. "More,"

[c0rrupt4]

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘆 •︎ Il Dottore x Male Reader

This is Chapter 2. You can read the prologue here. Chapter 1 here. Or the book on Wattpad here.

"Yes, sorry to interrupt, but who is 'he'?" Dottore, questioned as he was taking notes.

"Ah, sorry my deepest apologies I forgot I'm not speaking to someone from my own planet. He is (Y/N) (L/N). This man is awful enough that some people can't even bear to utter his name only referring to him as he." Feno said with an awkward chuckle.

"I see, what despicable acts did this man commit to earn such a reputation for himself?"

"Ah, for starters he was the sole reason for 3 World wars, there were other wars and battles he had a hand in too, mass genocide, annihilating clans, sending races and creatures into and near extinction and the list goes on. For example, the parasites you see were actually a butterfly beetle hybrid. They are called Hendra. They are quite passive creatures and will curiously follow humans just because they find you interesting. They are extinct except for the modified, dark magic-imbued versions he cross-bred, and the crossbred ones are ANYTHING but friendly."

"I see, tell me more," Dottore said as he motioned for Viva to follow along as the three entered the portal, stepping into a new world.

"Ah, my Henda is gone... no worries. I'll make sure to send more than one next time." I said with a heavy sigh, moving away from my desk, dragging the heavy chain that was around my neck.

"200 years..." I paused to add another tick to the brick tower wall. "200 years since that cursed woman imprisoned me with her pathetic little spell. If it wasn't for the fact that I was drunk at a feast... hah... I would have had her head on a silver platter."

200 years without seeing the sun, moon, and stars. 200 years without being able to enjoy a decent fight. 200 years without any contact with the outside world, other than through my Controlled Hendra. And where are my good-for-nothing followers? GONE. It was infuriating! Me, an esteemed powerful wizard, reduced to nothing but a children's bedtime story or to be blamed whenever famine came upon these pathetic creatures. While Ruka... Ruka was deemed a god?

"If it weren't for me Ruka wouldn't even know what power is! Why.. why that blasted Elven woman would be still busy doing her foolish latern dances!" I ranted on as I trudged over to my bed. Weighed down by the heavy enchanted chain that bound me to this tower.

"It's alright. Today the tides have changed in my favor, Dottore... from the brief viewing of his memories, he seems like my kind of guy... Maybe, just maybe, I can use this fool to not only conquer Lumar but Teyvat too!"

"Ah, yes, welcome to Lumar travelers from Teyvat!"

"Lumar is so beautiful..." Viva said in awe as she walked around the garden.

Dottore moved to walk around the garden too. "Feno, where are we in Lumar exactly?"

"This is the garden of the temple, located in the Rosokha Empire it's kept in pristine shape as Lady Ruka adores floral."

"Who is this 'Lady Ruka?' Is she that woman in the statue of the underground temple? And is she the same woman in the state of the fountain? She seems like she's an important part of your history." Dottore said as he sat down on a beautiful fountain. It was the same statue of the Elven women, but this time her pose was simply holding a candle, but the difference is she was wearing a long robe and was decorated from head to toe with jewels.

"She must be a hero, or maybe the wife of a King!" Viva piped in only to receive a glare from Dottore.

"Ah, but Lady Ruka is far more than just that! She is our beautiful Goddess! As I recall telling you about (Y/N) (L/N) earlier... 200 years ago, she fought against him, and many hours later she came out triumphant. Imprisoning the fiend so he could no longer continue his reign of terror! Not only that, she's so modest that she requests we don't refer to her as Goddess but just 'Lady'." Feno had told the tale with such passion that it reminded Dottore of how Pierro speaks of the Tsaritsa at times.

"She sounds like Archons back in Teyvat! Right, Feno?" Viva smiled as she said this.

"Yes, a lot like your archons."

"Hey Feno, how do you know so much about Teyvat yet the portal was closed for so long?"

"Yes, how do you know? I'm curious myself, and thank you for finally making a comment that's worth listening to Viva." Dottore said causing Viva to look towards the ground to avoid his annoyed gaze.

"Now, now, all comments are worth listening to! But, we have archives dating back 400 years to when the portal was open. It was sealed a little over 150 years ago as we used it as a way to banish His... underlings. I would be happy to give you copies of it all to take back to Teyvat after showing you around Lumar. I at least want to show you around the Rosokha Empire, the Kingdom our fair Lady Ruka rebuilt."

"I see. Why not," Dottore said. "I planned on taking notes along the way, so this will be good. Although, are there other Empires or Kingdoms? Are they ruled similarly to how Archons rule Teyvat?" Dottore questioned eagerly.

"I see you are excited my dear, Dottore. You'll learn everything you wish to know about Lumar in due time. But, yes, Lumar is ruled similarly like that with Gods having their own nation. But we don't have Visions, Gnosis, or Celestia, and Gods are nowhere near abundant enough for there to be wars among gods. At least we believe so."

"I see." Dottore said as he took a moment to jot this all down.

"Can we meet Lady Ruka?"

【︎ᴜᴘ ɴᴇxᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪɪɪ...】︎

ルカと帝国 ❀

║▌│█║▌│ █║▌│█│║▌║║▌│█║▌│ █║▌│█│║▌║║▌│█║▌│ █║▌│█│║▌║║▌│█║▌│ █

[askmemenoquestions]

Slay the Princess Starter Sentences

*Contains spoilers

"You have a job to do here. Just get in there and do what needs to be done."

"While I appreciate the mental exercise, we are running up against a bit of a ticking clock."

"It's no use arguing semantics over a metaphorical chicken-or-egg, because the egg is hatched and it's about to ruin everything."

"If anything, slaying a princess is better than slaying a seamstress. Seamstresses contribute something of value to society."

"You're playing a dangerous game by coming here unarmed."

"We could have gotten out of here together. Were you just lying to me this whole time?"

"If I have to kill you, I'll kill you. Do you think I need both of my arms to do that?"

"This vessel is full of you. I need something empty I can crawl inside of. I need something shaped like me."

"This world is broken beyond repair. We must weave something new."

"Do you want to linger here, entwined with a creature you taught to hate you forever? Eternity never ends."

"You shouldn't have let that fear creep into your heart. You had the upper hand, and now look at you."

"Don't think that just because I'm the one in chains it means you have a right to interrogate me."

"You poor thing. I'll go ahead and put you out of your misery."

"This was fun. You put up more of a fight than I thought you would."

"You have made a decision. It is the wrong one. I love you."

"Please, shake yourself out of it. We have to get out of here."

"No... this is the beginning of eternity. Your reward."

"And then you locked us away in an empty void for eternity."

"Like I've been saying. She's dead. We killed her already."

"Why are you even here? Just making sure you finished the job or what?"

"I was willing to ignore everything you did to me so we could get out of here. Together."

"But I guess violence is the only language you speak."

"On second thought, let's not kill him. Let's throw him someplace that never ends. I'd like to see what that does to him."

"You are familiar, but you are not me. I feel sadness, longing, hope as I witness you."

"I'm sorry. There are some changes that can never be undone, there are some tears that can never be unshed."

"I have not lived. I am not afraid to die."

"If you need time, then I'll wait with you."

"What textures will you weave for yourself to occupy forever? Will you place 'You' and 'I' into a box for safekeeping?"

"I will be here waiting by your side until you're ready to return to mine."

"She asks that I tell you to remember her. You won't."

"You've made a terrible enemy, and there's nothing in the world that can possibly save you from me."

"After all this time alone, I thought I'd finally found a friend. But you were just another monster, weren't you?"

"I know who you are, and I remember what you've done."

"We don't have to make things better. We can't make things better."

"We're just meant to chase each other in the dark until one of us catches the other."

"I'm glad to die horribly if it means you die with me. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"The thing that sits beyond our edge speaks his logic into us. He tries to grasp at things that cannot be grasped."

"It was a fitting end. I'm sorry if it hurt. But doesn't this make it all seem so small?"

"Whenever you are ready, I will wipe your slate clean once again."

"Words are... difficult for me. They never fully weave what I wish to say."

"There is nowhere for you to be but here."

"You have already committed to my completion. You cannot go further astray."

"What you're seeing here is obviously real. Just accept it and go with the flow."

"You are like me, even if you have chosen not to look at the corners of you that do not fit, even if you have chosen to ignore the brilliant contours of your soul."

"The desires of my multitudes thrive in endless competition with themselves, but none of them rise above their dance to influence me."

"You've brought that knife again, even though you know it's useless. Such charming audacity."

"Oh? Are you still trying to defy me? I. Said. Kneel."

"What a pitiful display. A wounded little bird thinking it can defy a god."

"Was severing the tendons of my ascension not enough for you? Was it not enough to rend my divine heart?"

"I hope you weren't planning on dying. We're going to make this last forever."

"These gifts are a conversation, and each one shows me the contours of your heart."

"I'm going to have fun breaking you into little pieces."

"You and I are always going to end in violence, so why bother to run?"

"I never wanted to fight you. So how do we leave?"

[mudskip-drabbles]

💬 — soupmates. Giovanni is now the sad one (⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠) unusually quiet — something felt weird about him for a week — etc :3

send 💬 for an angsty starter drabble! (X)

Choo Choo! All aboard the Angst Train, next stop: Giovanni!

At first, Rick didn't understand why Molly, her friends, or any of Giovanni's Boys never seemed to pick up on how...different Giovanni had been in the past week or so. He'd even asked Molly, assuming that there was something he was missing, that Gio had talked to someone about what was bothering him and that was why no one was reacting to it, but...Molly had only met his concern with confusion. She was a smart kid, so if she hadn't picked up on how odd Giovanni was acting, then perhaps Rick was simply misunderstanding the situation? He was still learning how to live a 'normal life', after all...

So, he'd tried to ignore it like everyone else seemed to be, but it didn't go away as the days ticked on, and if anything, it had gotten worse. Rick had been musing to himself on if he should say anything -after all, asking Giovanni about why the air around him always felt so odd would be the easiest way to settle the whole ordeal- when he was struck with the sudden realization as to why he could feel what others couldn't: His epithet.

They'd discovered many things about his epithet since he'd washed up on that beach; that it 'disconnected' with enough distance, that Molly's epithet could sever his connection with someone should she use it on them with the intention of dumbing down that person's epithet, and that powerful emotions could be felt along the tether without either party intending it to be.

Giovanni had been feeling so sad that it was sending feedback through Rick's epithet. He had been putting up a happy act in front of everyone else, which was why no one noticed just how wrong things were. There was a bit of irony in this realization, however, seeing that it only came about because Giovanni felt Rick's worry through that same string that tethered them together.

"Hey uh...you alright over there man? You're making my chest feel all...heavy 'n stuff." Giovanni now mirroring the worry that had him speaking up in the first place, Rick's sudden epiphany left his mouth in a matter of seconds after it had clicked into place with the prompt: "You have been pretending to be happy." Something that apparently had a ring of truth to it, if the way Giovanni's face fell as panic shot through their bond was anything to go by.

"Oh...shit. Forgot you could do the whole...thingy-do." Clarifying with a gesture to mimic the 'string' from himself to Rick, Gio tossed the controller to the game he'd been playing aside with a deep sigh. "For the record, if it wasn't for the soul-thingy, you'd have no idea." Something that was not reassuring in the slightest. How long before Rick had Giovanni been hiding his emotions where no one could see them?

"I don't want to not know." He can't fix it if he didn't know. "Do you want me to not know?" If that was the case, he'd drop it and pretend it never even happened, even if it meant having to feel that heavy weight of sadness sitting in his chest for the rest of his life. Giovanni wouldn't hide something like this without a good reason, after all, he was always reminding everyone else how important it was to share your feelings with others in order to feel better.

Giovanni...didn't seem to have an answer to Rick's question, a harsh puff of air being breathed out until it petered down into a sort of raspberry once his lips met. "It's not that I don't want you to know, I just...didn't see a reason for you to know." Something that clearly did not make sense to Rick by the look of pure confusion that fell over his face. "You are sad, what other reason would you need?" Another sigh from Gio as he ran a hand through his hair, Rick using the few moments of it's span to make his way over to his friend and sit next to him on the couch.

"It's just something stupid, you know? And I know it's stupid, so why bother? It'll go away eventually." Rick did not like this reasoning.

"It is not stupid because you are feeling it! It is making you sad, so we must fight it with the power of friendship!!" In other words, he was here, if Giovanni wanted to talk.

This impassioned declaration brought a smile to Gio's lips after a brief pause of surprise, his hair falling into his face as he shook his head with a laugh.

"Can't really argue with you there, shades." A statement that had Rick smiling himself in victory, up until he watched Gio's fall as he brushed the hair back out of his face.

"It's just...I dunno, this whole fuckin' thing is still buggin' me. I know Molly said she doesn't care that I took her, and if she did she could tell someone at school, or hell, she could just go home on her own, she knows how the subway system works better than literally anyone I know! Like I said, it's stupid, but I still worry, you know? If I'm doing the right thing..."

Flopping back against the couch, an arm slung over his eyes as he slid halfway down in the seat, Giovanni let his words hang in the air, not even daring to see what sort of look they'd brought to Rick's face. Rick himself was silent for a moment, the man being even more confused than before this conversation had started.

"You are right, that is stupid." A statement that had Gio peeking from under his arm at just how intensely it had been declared.

"Come again?" He found himself smiling despite how most anyone else might take offense to such a parroting of their self depreciation.

"It is stupid that you believe yourself to be wrong. You have not one reason to, you have said so yourself! Besides, if Molly was unhappy, I would know." So firmly stated, Giovanni didn't realize just how right those words were at first.

"Why would you...oh...oh!! The- The thingy!!!" Bolting upright with realization, Giovanni almost kicked the coffee table with the frantic scramble from his slouch.

"The Thingy!!!" Was parroted with just as much vigor, Rick's smile so bright Gio couldn't help but return it. "Molly has felt nothing but happiness even before you two began to share in my dwelling, and it has only grown each day when she returns to us from the 'school'."

"No shit? You aren't fuckin' with me just to make me happy 'n stuff?" Not that Gio believed in such a thing, not when it came to Rick, something that was only reaffirmed by the horror such a question was met with.

"I would never lie to my friends!! You would know immediately, were I to be untruthful, for the guilt would eat me ALIVE!!!" Dramatic, but it got the point across, and even got Giovanni to laugh as a bonus.

Silence fell over them after his laugh dwindled down to only a smile, long enough that Gio once again felt worry stutter across their bond.

"...Did I fix the sad?" It was so genuine, the amount of pure concern those words carried with them, that it had Gio's breath getting caught in his throat as he answered.

"You kicked the sad's ass, dude! It never stood a damn chance!" And he meant it. When it came to Rick, he couldn't lie, and their bond had nothing to do with it.

"All thanks to the power of friendship! HAHAHAHA!" A crackle of blackened magic sparked from Rick's palms as he laughed, only for it to be abruptly cut off by him jumping up from the couch to greet-

"MOLLY!!! You have returned from the school!!!!" Like clockwork, he dropped everything to greet her at the door the moment it had clicked open, Molly already smiling even before she'd stepped into their apartment.

Giovanni watched for a moment as Rick bounced around Molly like an overexcited puppy, wanting to know everything she'd learned that day to 'add to their power'. Molly only laughed, her bag being set on the table as she pulled a book from it, the girl already off on an info dump about her planned science project on, of course, bears.

Wanting in on the excitement, Gio stood from the couch to join them at the table, only the thought of how stupid he had been able to flit through his mind before it was overtaken by a rather detailed explanation on grizzlies from the cub bouncing on her heels as she showed them pages of the book.