maybe he shouldn't be surprised by this offer, especially not from alice of all people. she's probably the nicest person he knows? although it's a decently tough competition, considering he also knows charlotte and quinn. but even though he shouldn't be surprised, he definitely still is. "...really? are you sure about that? i'm, uh, not what most people consider a 'parent friendly' sort of friend."

“yeah, but just because you’re used to it doesn’t mean it’s okay,” alice answers softly. she hates the thought of robin being on campus without any of their friend group for company. “you could always come with me for break. my parents wouldn’t mind. i’m sure we have room at the house.”

He’s bouncing on his feet, excitement barely contained. “Okay, so there’s a meteor shower tonight and the science museum is doing this like special event thing, so I, uh, I mean, if you wanna go, I’d love to take you to the museum and then go watch the meteor shower? And like obviously we can get some food along the way or maybe do like a picnic thing for the meteors, but if it sounds like fun to you, I think it’d be really, really cool.”

“Rollercoasters are like… the coolest form of physics and I’ve never ridden one. I, uh, probably can’t, actually, which is like a whole separate issue, but like… maybe I could go on a baby one? I’d really like to ride at least one in my lifetime.”

“Simone Gi.ertz is honestly my hero.”

@ofviolentdeath sent: 💔 for Chase to be extra rude || Send 💔 for my muse to talk about an ex (accepting)

"If I had known then what I know now? I never would have killed her."

oh, he's never been so grateful to know emmalyn. out of all his friends, she might actually be the best one to be talking to in this scenario. he drops his hand in hers. "let's go. i'm so ready to be out of here." he shouldn't have come and when he realized it was going to be a problem, he should have bailed immediately. but he's here instead. "i owe you dinner." at the very least.

holy shit. she’s gleaned enough to figure that robin’s home life wasn’t great, but this is way worse than she was expecting. “do not apologize for that. you cannot keep shit like that inside and we can talk about it more once i get you outta here. we’ll speedrun through the living room without even acknowledging anyone.” she decides to just fuck it and drops her empty cup on the balcony floor. the whole place is gonna end up trashed, what’s one extra cup? “give me your hand, it’ll help if i can get us through the sea of people together,” she says, extending hers to him. she might not be the best at cheering someone up because emotions are so not her strong suit, but she can definitely handle orchestrating an irish goodbye.

Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023) dir. Emma Tammi

he wants to lie, to brush it off and pretend he's fine and everything is fine and that he can do this. but he absolutely cannot do this. not today. "my oldest sister's pregnant. and i found out through an instagram post by one of our cousins, because my family doesn't talk to me and doesn't like to acknowledge i exist and usually that's fine, but i'm just thinking about how i'm never gonna get to know that kid and i dunno why it's bothering me so much, but holy shit it is. i mean, i used to be really close with my sisters and it fucking sucks that they decided to be this way. and i thought coming here would help distract me, but instead i just really want to get drunk or high. i-- oh, i really, really want to get high, actually. and that's definitely not an option." he slumps back against the balcony rail and runs a hand through his hair. "sorry, that was... so much to just dump on you. um, could you like... help me get the fuck out of here, though?"

“thank fuck indeed.” robin’s always been a bit harder to read than the rest of their group, but she’s trying her best. she looks around for a place to put her empty cup on the balcony before settling on holding it for now. “shit, are you okay?” she asks, reaching a hand out before pulling it back. sure, that might be what she’d want someone to do to comfort her, but she’s not sure if robin would want that. “do you want to talk about it? or do you want me to go with you? we can get somewhere that’s not here if you want? there’s a sorta shitty in a good way diner nearby that’s open all night.”

he winces as she's talking, because yikes. he's lucky in that he hasn't had a dude be quite that condescending to him yet, but he's seen it happen enough that he doesn't think there's even a bit of hyperbole in it. "no, luckily i was spared that particular torture. and thank fuck for that." he thinks he would've gone straight for a drink if he hadn't and as she approaches, he can smell that she more or less did the same thing. he takes a breath to steady himself which, whoops, not a good call actually with the scent so nearby, and lets it out shakily. "i think i should've skipped the party. i probably should leave, but i have to go back inside to do that first, which sounds like hell."

emmalyn immediately catches the way robin’s smile seems off when she approaches, but she doesn’t think bringing that up immediately is going to really play out well for her. “just be happy you were out here and not inside being talked at by the finance bro trying to get into your pants by explaining the stock market to me as if you’re a child.” she looks around to scope out the view from the balcony as she makes her way over to robin. “unless you’re also out here because of the same guy?” there, that gives him the opening to talk about whatever’s on his mind if he wants to talk it, but gives him the chance to steer clear if that’s what he wants to do.

@heartfullofxfright sent: 025, an empty balcony while a party goes on inside. another college daze one maybe???

parties are a part of college life. he knows that. and normally it's fine. he can usually handle being around alcohol and even weed, most of the time. but there are days when it's harder. when all he wants to do is get high and not think about his problems. it's been a tough week, class-wise, and a tougher one family-wise.

he shouldn't have come to this party. when he was invited, he should have said no. but it had seemed like a good idea in the moment, something fun for a distraction. instead it's a minefield of temptations that he isn't entirely sure he can navigate tonight.

when someone joins him out on the balcony, he gives them a tight smile. "hey. don't tell me you're bored already."

"See, I dunno if I would've done the demon thing? Like... maybe. Maybe if things got really, really bad. But like... eternity in hell is a really high price to pay and I know it would break my parents' hearts when they died and like... I wasn't with them? So that... I dunno. I don't think I would've done it, but it's kind of easy to say that now. Who knows what it would've come down to." He shook his head. "Oh, absolutely not. No offense but immortality sounds like actual hell? And I feel like mortals are probably not meant to live that long. ...do vampires like... start to lose it when they get really, really old? 'cause I feel like some humans who became immortal probably would."

"Probably better you opted to seek out a witch instead of going the crossroads demon route. Demons don't generally call a deal null." She generally didn't either, but she had developed quite the soft spot where Hunter was concerned. "Look, fixing your medical issues is one thing, but I don't have the power to grant immortality. And, even if I did, I don't think you'd actually want that. The amount of losses you'd suffer would be greater than anyone deserves to go through."

"Honestly, I think if I'd been like... even slightly less desperate, I probably wouldn't have believed it either. But now I kinda wanna know everything about it. But I don't know if I have enough time for all the things I wanna learn, which is like... everything, all the time." He gave a shrug. "That's fair, but I stand by it. I was gonna run out of time anyway, y'know?" It had been a really easy decision when it came down to it. "Cool, cool, cool. I, uh, still feel weird about it, but like... thank you?"

"Yeah, I don't think a lot of people want to consider the possibilities of magic, so they tend to ignore what they can't readily explain away. And, speaking as a parent, I can tell you the answer to that is not well. I think I would ground any of mine for a century for doing what you did." After all, she knew better than most what horrible things could come from the best of intentions. "I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't sure. Trust me, it's something I've considered for a decent while."

"Huh. No, that makes sense. I mean, I only know like... five people and they're all very human and I don't think they believe that magic exists at all. But I still won't tell anyone. I don't even wanna know how my parents would react if they knew." Definitely not well and he was happy to avoid that conversation. "I don't wanna be like, 'are you sure?' but I mean, are you sure?"

"You'd be surprised how many humans I've done business with. Did you really think you were such a rarity on that front?" She was fairly certain a good chunk of her business came from desperate humans, but she wasn't entirely sure on the exact numbers. Mostly because it didn't matter much. "Live. If you want to pay me back, live a full life, die with as few regrets as possible, leave behind more happy memories than painful ones. Do all of that and I'll call us even."

👀👀👀

"Right. I mean, I don't think anyone I told would even believe me because literally everyone else I know is human, but like, noted. Will keep it to myself. But also like... it feels a little unfair to you? Not that I'm ungrateful! But I mean... is there some other way I can pay you back? 'cause we made a deal and you did help."

"I mean, you have heard the phrase don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Probably best if you didn't ask too many questions. Or told literally anyone about this. Reputation to keep and all."

“Rollercoasters are like… the coolest form of physics and I’ve never ridden one. I, uh, probably can’t, actually, which is like a whole separate issue, but like… maybe I could go on a baby one? I’d really like to ride at least one in my lifetime.”

"Should I stop talking? I feel like I'm talking too much."