One more just for funsies, what art inspirations do you have? (Other artists or any other think that u think is cool) Any particularly recent ones?

To name some off the top of my head here on tumblr= jadenvargen, bennizone, plastiboo, petday ! I do have a tag for inspo which is, lengthy indeed, but its #inspo

dm slide

pairing: sebastian stan x reader

warnings: alcohol consumption, language, nothing else really, it’s just really fluffy i think

word count: 1905

a/n: okay so my other stuff is coming, i stg, i’m just in the middle of finals and moving out of my dorm, and starting a new job, so i’m a bit stressy right now, but i’m getting there loves.

so if this one isn’t as good as it could be that’s why, but i’m hoping to add on to it later

p.s.: my requests and tag lists are open!!

xoxo ray

ray’s m.list

You were currently at your best friend’s birthday party, polishing off your third overfull glass of wine. Your best friend threw her hands above her head, shouting out “Shots on me!” She thrusted a shot glass in your hand, encouraging you to toss back the liquid. You set down your wine glass, picking up the smaller cup, not caring about the flashing cameras around you.

“I’m so glad you were able to get free from your oh so lavish lifestyle as a celebrity to come hang out with little ‘ol me!” She had to continue to shout for you to hear her over the loud music blasting through the club speakers. She grabbed your arm, pulling you towards the bathrooms. “Are you getting ready to go? The sound system is giving me a headache.” You smiled at her, grabbing your phone from your clutch.

“Absolutely, babes. Let me order the Uber and then we can go.” You held onto your phone tighter, walking up to the bar to settle your tab. “Hey, Gabe!” Gabe, one of the bartenders, turned to you.

“Hey, Y/N!” He went to grab a bottle of your favorite wine to uncork it, but stopped when you held your hand up.

“Just settling up and heading out.” You passed your black AmEx card over the counter to his waiting hand.

“You’re missin’ out, Y/N. The party is just getting started here.” You shook your head at the man.

“Nah, I’m celebrating my best friend’s birthday tonight, so this is her call.” He slid your card back to you, watching you push it into the slots of your clutch. “We’re getting outta here, but that doesn’t mean our party is ending.” You winked at him, meeting up with your companion. You linked arms with her, leading the way through the crowd. It was cold outside, which didn’t mean good things for you because of your almost too short dress. The Uber stopped beside the curb, rolling their window down for you to double check. You climbed in beside your friend, scooting closer to increase your warmth. The ride to your apartment wasn’t too long, thankfully because Uber’s creeped you out, no matter how safe you were.

Walking into your apartment was difficult to say the least. You both were stumbling the entire way to the elevator and then stumbling into your couch cushions. The two of you managed to make it to your bedroom, swapping out your tight garments for some more ill fitting attire. That was not before you took an absurd amount of photos together in your bathroom mirror. You sat across from each other on the black couch in your apartment, sifting through the pictures of the two of you. Your best friend was leaned over your shoulder, watching as you scrolled through.

“Oo! That one!” She pointed at the screen quickly, stopping your scrolling. It was of you holding the phone, leaning backward staring at the phone in your hand. Your best friend was facing you, her bare back displayed from the deep dip in the back of her dress. “We look so hot.” You both shared a look and then burst into a fit of laughter. You posted the picture to your Instagram, tagging your best friend in the corner, wishing her a happy birthday. She slid away from your, covering her lower half with a blanket.

“You want a water?” You asked as you rose from your spot on the couch. She smiled big at you.

“Can I convince you to mix up some margaritas?” Her bottom lip rolled inwards, waiting for  your response. You rolled your eyes, shaking your head before opening your liquor cabinet. You pulled down bottles of triple sec and tequila, reaching into your freezer for the bag of strawberries and limeade. You brought your Ninja Bullet out to make individual margaritas for both you and your drunk friend. Walking back over to her with containers in hand, you plopped opposite her on the couch.

“You’re literally the bestest ever.” She slurped on the drink through her swirly straw. The conversation faded between the two of you, allowing the both of you to go through your socials. “Did you see that Lizzo got a message back from Chris Evans the other day?” You laughed at her question, remembering your reaction to Lizzo’s TikTok.

“Mhm. Can you imagine getting a reply back from one of those hunks of men?” She shook her head while guzzling her margarita.

“I can’t, but I bet you can.” You scrunch your brows at her and she groaned. “You’re a celebrity too, dumbass. Girl, the amount of times that I’ve gotta remind you of that is insane.” You laughed at her, rolling your eyes.

“Babes, just because I’m quote, unquote famous, doesn’t mean that I’m on their level.” She pointed a finger at you.

“Hey, just shoot your shot, Y/N.”

“I literally don’t even know which one I would DM.” Your best friend scoffed loudly.

“Bullshit!” You choked at how loud she yelled. “You don’t know who you would DM? I know who you would DM in a fucking heartbeat.” You looked over at her with raised brows and in unison you said. “Sebastian Stan.” “Sebastian Stan.”

“Mm, he is a six foot tall Romanian God.” You shook your head while fake moaning, your friend laughing in the background. She reached for your phone before you could protest, typing away on your keyboard, smiling mischievously. She thrust the phone back into your hands, the empty DM screen of imsebastianstan on Instagram staring back at you.

“All you gotta do is send something.” She smiled at you while you glanced down at your phone screen nervously. You began typing something quickly then locked the screen, placing it facing downward on your lap, a giggly smile resting on your face. She scooted closer to you, folding her legs up to her chin. “Wait! What did you say?” You unlocked your phone, showing her the screen. She laughed at your message, drinking the rest of her margarita.

y/n.y/l/n: hi, i’m y/n and you’re the love of my life ;) <3

“That’s so fucking good, oh my God.” She glanced at the clock on your phone. “Oh girl, we’ve gotta go to sleep.” You checked it as well, dropping your head into your hands.

“Mhm, you’re right.” You stood from your spot, holding your hand out to your friend to help her up. “Let’s go to sleep.” You both crashed on your king sized mattress underneath your white fluffy duvet. You were about to drift off to sleep, when your best friend’s voice floated into your ears.

“Do you think he’s gonna reply to you?” Her voice was slurring more and more from the amount she drank and the sleep weighing on her mind. You smiled at her, it was a long shot that he would even see it, much less reply.

“We’ll have to see, babes.” She didn’t reply to you as you both fell off into a dreamless abyss.

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

The sun streaming into your room woke you up in the morning, light hitting your eyelid just right. You blinked harshly, bringing your hand up to block the glare. A groan escaped your lips, stretching out from your best friends grip. “Fuck me.” You held your head in your hand, groaning about the headache blossoming at the nape of your neck. You left the bed, pulling a sweater over your tank top to catch some warmth. You tucked your phone into the waistband of your shorts. You padded into the kitchen, grabbing your Advil bottle, dumping two pills into your hand. You got a glass of water, settling down on the couch after gulping down the headache medicine.

You opened your phone while basically inhaling your water. Your memories of last night were fuzzy, you drank quite a bit. Did you drink too much? Maybe… but did you regret it at all? Not a second of it. You had the best time hanging out with your best friend. You check your Instagram post, replying to several different comments. A red bubble was pinned over your DM button in the corner. You tilted your head in curiosity, wondering who messaged you now. You swiped over, eyes widening at the new message.

imsebastianstan: Hi, Y/N. I’m Sebastian, thank you for professing your love to me.

The feeling of panic running through your veins didn’t last long, A gigantic smile spread accompanied by a giggle. What the fuck do you do now? Your fingers hesitated over the keyboard, thinking through what you want to say back.

y/n.y/l/n: hello sebastian, what do ya say we  figure out if it’s a match :)

You sent the message before you could chicken out, locking the phone shortly after, shoving it in your waistband. You got up, refilling your glass of water, leaning against your granite countertop, tapping your fingers impatiently. You squealed as you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket.

imsebastianstan: What do you have in mind?

y/n.y/l/n: 917-555-0545 <3

Oh my god, you can’t believe you just did that. Holy shit, what are you thinking? Maybe this will all work out in your favor. You really had nothing to lose but your dignity, right? A disturbance in the peace to the right of your caught your attention.

“Why the hell are you up so early? We drank last night, that’s an excuse to sleep in, you fuck baffoon.” Her hair was tousled on top of her head, shirt hanging off one shoulder. You turned your phone around, thrusting it towards her face.

“There’s been recent developments on the Stan front.” Her brows raised, face becoming shocked.

“Oh. My. God. Are you fucking serious?” She snatched the phone away from your hand quickly to scroll through the messages. “You gave him your number?” She yelled at you as she stretched across the couch, laying her head in your lap. Your phone buzzed in her hands and her eyes widened to unbelievable proportions. “Bitch, you just got a text from an unsaved number.”

“Shut the fuck up.” You looked at the phone in her hands. “I didn’t think he was actually going to text me, I sent it as a joke! What’s it say?”

“How are we going to figure this out?” You both shared a look, shrieking enthusiastically. “Y/N! Sebastian Stan texted you!” She jumped up and down on your couch, pulling you up with her.

“What do I say back?” You held the phone against your chest, staring expectantly at your best friend. She shook her head at you.

“Nuh-uh girl. This is all you.” She held her hands up in surrender. You looked down at your keyboard, the blinking cursor waiting for instructions.

“Okay, okay, how ‘bout, ‘discuss over coffee?’” You looked at your best friend for approval, still standing on your couch. You sent the message after she nodded. A message bubble popped up, three blinking dots inside.

There’s a coffee shop on 8th street,  just outside of Washington State Park.

wanna meet up around three?

I’ll be there, Y/N.

You turned to your best friend, holding the phone to your chest. “Babes.” She raised her brows, waiting. “I have a fucking date with Sebastian Stan!” You both squealed, excited for what would happen on your date.

Everything You Can Be (TASM!Peter Parker) - Part 2

(Gif is from here)

Summary: Multiverse travelling is a rather unique experience. Peter is convinced that he is never going to live through anything at least half as exciting. That is until a stranger approaches him and his experience turns out to be a bit less unique than he had expected.

Warning: None

Words: 2,7k

Masterlist

____________________________________________________

“Wow,” she breathes out as soon as he closes the apartment door behind them. “You weren’t exaggerating when you said you are broke.”

Peter scoffs and drops his backpack down on the floor. He knows that the shabby old apartment is not much. Looking around the room, he has to admit that the area is looking especially sad now that his roommate has moved out and took plenty of stuff along with him.

He’s not used to having people over. Let alone people who spent the last couple of days tracking his every move. Maybe it was a mistake to bring her here, but even if this, by any highly unplausible chance, results in him meeting his ultimate doom, so be it.

He believed he was going to die kooky and bitter from holding the secret of the existence of parallel universes to himself because there was no one willing to listen. No one who could or would believe his experience.

Even the professor, a man who had spent his entire academic career theorising about multiverse, laughed at him and had him walked out of the building.

But now /she/ is here and he can’t wait to listen to everything that she has to say.

“Is this the thing you talked about?” She wonders just a moment later. She raises her hand to touch one of the pins on the map he had put up as soon as he had returned to this universe.

He feels rather proud of it. He had pinned down everything he remembered to be different in the other Peter’s universe.

Fascinating stuff.

“No, no. Don’t touch that, please!” he blurts out and tries to make his warning even clearer by shaking his head and his hands along.

She huffs but drops her hand down. “Thank you,” he says with a truly relieved smile, and scoots somewhat closer to the map, ready to protect it if necessary.

“Sorry,” he adds when he leans past her to get a new differently coloured pin. “If I remember what you said correctly, this is more or less the area where you woke up in that other New York,” he checks with her before putting the pin on the spot.

“Yes.”

“…. And you woke up in a stranger’s bedroom, feeling very ill and confused,” Peter recaps the rest that he remembers while she is slowly nodding her head along. “That had to be terrifying,” he trails off, and his eyebrows knit together in a concerned frown.

“Well, it’s not like it was the first time something like that happened to me,” she mutters, casually waving her hand over it and her words smooth his frown.

“Charming,” Peter comments with a chuckle.

“It really only became weird when the guy entered the room and started freaking out because I guess I had appeared in there completely out of nowhere. He kicked me out. I stayed in the lobby for a while and tried to think about the last thing I remembered doing.”

“What was it?” He asks curiously. Silence follows and he kind of regrets asking that question. What if she didn’t remember? And he just put on her back into a rather uncomfortable spot. “It’s fine if you don’t know…”

“I was at work,” she finally says, giving him a nod.

“Oh, and where were you working at?!” Peter rushes to his laptop that’s set on the small kitchen table across the room.

She squints her eyes and leans closer to the map, looking for something that she clearly cannot find, given the displeased expression she wears. “It’s hard to tell on here. Some streets have different names now… I guess it was somewhere here.”

Peter heads back to her, the screen loading when he halts in his tracks and tries his best to not let his jaw fall to the floor. “What do you mean different names?”

“I told you that I am not from here,” she reminds. When he closes his eyes and goes back to their walk to his place, he does remember her mentioning something of that sort.

“I thought you meant that you are like…. not from New York,” he states once he looks at her again.

She laughs, throwing her head back. Even lets out something that sounds like a snort. “If I were from out of town, I would have just grabbed my stuff and got my ass to where I belong as soon as I have arrived in here. I wouldn’t be roaming around New York and eaves dropping on weirdos on the train.” She shakes her head. “I’ve spent my whole life in New York. Just not this one.”

The colour from his face seems to fade, and she is torn between laughing at such a reaction and rushing to take the laptop from the poor man’s hands before he drops it.

“So what you are saying is that this is the third New York you are in?” He stammers out and his expression keeps changing from confused into thrilled in a loop.

“Yes,” she nods and carefully takes the laptop from him to set it back on the table. It doesn’t seem like she is going to leave this place any time soon and so she takes her jacket off. She hisses when zipper accidentally drags over her sensitive wrist, and she tries to rub it better. Without a care, she drops her jacket onto one of the chairs, causing the small knife to fall out of her pocket.

Of course, he notices it and his eyes narrow at her. “No weapons, huh?” Peter calls her out on the promise she made earlier in that empty alley.

She promptly picks it up and shoves it back in there. “I think if it as a protection tool,” she says innocently while walking back to him.

He doesn’t feel too convinced but doesn’t comment on it any further. Rather than that, he goes back to the original topic of their conversation.

“Third?!” He repeats, holding up his fingers as if visualising that number would make any of this make more sense.

“Yup, but you are holding up four fingers.” She notices and he quickly puts one down.

“That’s….” Peter stares at her without a word for a while. “Incredible.”

She has to laugh at the word he finally settles on because that would be the last word you would choose to describe it. “I’m not sure I would go with that,” she objects with a bit of an uncomfortable chuckle. “It’s actually pretty damn annoying.”

“No! Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He quickly nods, rubbing on the back of his neck. “I bet. I guess it’s not really a situation you would like to get yourself into. Especially when the wizard who controls this thing is in the other universe. You have no way to contact him, and we don’t even know if we have a similar wizard in here.”

The babbling coming from his mouth continues, but she got stuck at the mention of wizards. “What did you just say?” She interrupts him and he looks at her as if he were a deer in the lights.

“I said a lot of things. Which part do you need me to repeat?”

“The wizard one.”

He chuckles a bit. “Yeah. That one makes sense,” he agrees. “But there’s quite a lot to unpack there, and yet I only know just a small fraction of it, so I suggest we stick to the small things now and unpack the existence of wizards later.” Though his voice doesn’t change, she feels the question mark hanging in the air.

“Yeah, sure,” she agrees.

“Man, I hope Peter got back to where he belongs,” Peter hums as he starts to pace around the room. Feeling too excited and restless to be able to just casually stand back.

She has heard a bit about that from him earlier. How he met other two versions of himself from the other universes.

“He has a wife waiting for him. It would suck to be stuck to be somewhere else with no means to contact her, or anyone else he cares about….”

“Yeah, I get that. Believe me. There’s no need to explain,” she cuts him off, and he nods.

“Sorry,” his cheeks gain a bit of red, and his lips momentarily press into a thin line. “Do you ha-….”

“No,” she answers before he even finishes his sentence. “There’s no one desperately waiting for me to get back, so I guess I was the best option to get the short end of the stick,” she hums while crossing the room and going back to the map.

He feels bad for her, he truly does, but when he tries to open his mouth to express that, she is already touching his map and the only thing that comes out is a loud groan.

Luckily, she doesn’t move any pins that were already stuck in the map but adds some others. “This is where I appeared in this New York three weeks ago, which is literally the same place I got sucked out from. It didn’t feel that bad this time. Don’t know about you, but I kind of sensed it coming. The first time was a complete surprise.”

“I was fine even the first time around. I have a pretty good stomach.” Peter patted his belly a bit proudly.

“Good for you. Anyway, the place was the exact same, except this time there were no crowds around. It was packed before because we were all watching this fight at the Statue of Liberty. You must have heard about it. It was all over the internet and the news. That’s where I heard about them Avengers because people assumed it was them again…”

“It was on the internet?” Peter looks at her, visibly surprised. “What did they say?”

“Not much. The quality of the videos was shit. They were taken from way too far away. How do you not know?”

“I didn’t have time to be on the internet,” Peter laughs a bit, chewing on his lips

“Oh, so you were thrown into an unknown world, and you already had fancy plans? What the hell were you up to? I swear I spent the first twelve hours just walking around and googling everything,” she admits with a chuckle before her voice turns all serious. “Another thing you should note down. Google is everywhere! How weird is that? I mean, there are streets out there with completely different names. Some artists from my world didn’t make it in yours, but Google… How’s that possible?”

“Okay, I will note it down,” he promises, laughing. She follows him with her eyes as he keeps moving around and he can tell that she’s waiting for him to answer what was he doing in that same strange place.

“I was at the Statue of Liberty.”

Her eyebrows furrow while she scratches on her wrists. “What the fuck were you doing there?” It takes a minute to settle but then she stares at him with her mouth agape. “No way!”

“Yes way,” he confirms. “Me and the other Peters…”

“Fuck me…”

“It’s kind of what we do... Fighting bad guys,” Peter tries to explain. “Though it’s usually on a much smaller scale, especially for me,” he adds. “The others are pretty sick. One of them worked with the Avengers…. That’s also kind of the reason why and how we ended up in the different universe situation. But why were you ‘sucked in’?” He contemplates still walking back and forth beside her.

“That’s exactly the thing I do not understand, buddy,” she sighs. “Also, can you please stop pacing around? It’s getting on my nerves.”

“I am sorry about that, but no.” He shakes his head while passing her. “It helps me think.”

She lets out a puff of breath. “Fine.”

“Wait….,” he suddenly speaks out and makes her look away from the map that she was examining for the past couple of minutes. “Are you a…..,” he struggles with his words now and confusion is written all over his face. “A Spider…. Woman?” Peter finishes, eventually.

“Am I what?” She has no idea what the hell is he asking her about. “Not to be rude but the walking does not seem to have helped much.”

He looks at her rather offended for a second before he finally stops walking. “Okay. Maybe you are not calling it that.” He clears his throat. “Any cool abilities?” He tries. “Probably not wall crawling otherwise you would have escaped earlier, but what about super strength? Cool reflexes? Healing?” She appears more and more lost with every word he says.

“I am really good at imitating voices but that doesn’t seem to be the ability you have in mind.”

“Not really.” Peter shakes his head before an idea pops up in his head and he easily jumps up to touch the ceiling, his abilities enabling him to stick to the wall while his visitor only continues to stare. “See. I have an ability, too,” he cheers in hopes that maybe she just needs a little encouragement before opening herself up to him. “We’re the same. Able to do things rest of the people can’t.”

She takes in a deep breath before sighing. “Yeah… I really cannot do anything of that sort.” She shakes her head and then shrugs her shoulders slightly. “Sorry.”

“Oh, okay. That’s fine.” He drops to the floor again, landing right in front of her. “Do you have someone like that in your world?”

“Not that I am aware of.”

The pacing starts again, and she brings her hand up to rub on her eyes.

“Perhaps you are a villain?” His voice sounds way too cheerful, considering the accusation he had just made.

“Excuse me?” She glares at him.

“Someone’s arch nemesis?” Peter continues. “Maybe you haven’t acted on those impulses yet. Maybe they are still in the making? Maybe you wish to take over the world? Cause some havoc, throw around a bus or two?” He is pretty much just thinking out loud at this point. Her feelings slowly changing from anger to an utter disbelief.

“I am not a fucking villain,” she almost laughs.

“You sure? I mean, you did lie a bit before…,” Peter reminds. Saying you are not a stalker, and that you do not have any weapons on you…” He nods his head towards to where she has left her knife.

“I am no one’s arch nemesis.”

“You can tell me. It’s no judgement zone here. This is a safe place to say it.” He steps closer to her. She takes a step back. He still somehow makes it close enough though and her whole body tenses when he puts his hands on her shoulders. “It would bring us closer to a possible explanation, and maybe hopefully closer to somehow dealing with your situation too…”

“There are people I don’t like and people who don’t like me. Of course there are, but I am not scheming to rule the world or to harm someone.” She shakes his hand away and moves past him. “I have not hurt a single person in my whole life, and I have no intentions to change that now…. Or ever,” she states.

“You carry a knife with you….”

“Yes, in case I would ever need to protect myself?! I don’t go around stabbing people!”

“Okay!” Peter puts up his hands in defence. “I am sorry,” he says softly. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just… thinking, alright?” He hurries because she is already picking up her jacket and he cannot let her go. “It was stupid and wrong of me to assume,” he sighs.

“I am just trying to work with the information I have, and frankly, it is not much,” Peter chuckles weakly. “The only people I know who have travelled across universes were either superheroes or the bad guys, so I stupidly jumped in on an idea that seemed the easiest and the most obvious.”

She stops mid-motion and leaves the jacket hanging on her arms half-way.

He lets out a relieved sigh and smiles at her weakly. “I am an idiot, I know.”

“Yes, you are.” She hums and pulls the jacket down again. “Now, tell me about the wizard.”

Consideration and Generosity

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

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noire, DCU

Characters: Marinette, Damian

----------

She sat on a park bench that day; the weather was hot yet, cloudy.

Despite the uncomfortable sweat clinging to her being and the buzzing noise of her surroundings, she smiled happily. She would do anything for inspiration, even endure the blistering feeling of the sun.

Soon enough it has been hours since she began to sketch and draw designs for clothing she wishes to make true.

She feels her head is off, so she takes a break to answer a text from her mother.

----------

(Mom) Marinette, are you still at the park? It's been five hours.

(Me) Yep! Just taking a break.

(Mom) Just now? It's really hot outside, have you eaten? What about water?

(Me) Don't worry! I'm fine! I stayed in the shade the whole time.

(Mom) Okay, but I want a picture of you eating.

(Me) Okay, I will. I love you!

(Mom) I love you too.

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

Marinette, packs her sketch books and other materials a way in her bag. She stands up, only to tip over onto someone walking past her.

"Hey, you-"

The person stops to keep her from falling all the way down.

"Uh... I'm sorry, I guess I should have taken a break earlier."

She tries to break a way from the strangers grip. They let her go easily. They began to walk a little further a way with a eye in her direction. She sits down again to collect herself. She takes a few breaths and thinks about how to get up without falling and embarrassing herself.

"I wish I packed a water bottle or something, I knew it was hot but I thought I would be fine....", she thought to herself.

She checked her bag in case she just forgot. Lo and behold there was a water bottle in one of the outside pockets.

"Huh....? That's strange, I was sure I......oh well.", she shrugged it off as her forgetting.

Feeling a little better, she carefully stood up. Having not fallen, she smiled and picked up her full bag. She walks in the direction of a small restaurant to eat, since she wouldn't make it home before hunger got to her.

She walked like she wasn't being followed. Casual and slow, she took in the buildings a round her. The same as her memories told her, but still just as beautiful.

Once she got to an empty table, she sat her bag down in front of her. The waitress walks up to her with a smile.

"Hello! Here is the menu, please take your time. Though I do suggest today's special! Mushroom soup with broccoli, carrots, and rice."

"Thank you."

"No problem!"

The waitress leaves her be and she focuses on the menu. It seems that this restaurant is all about healthy living.

She hums to herself as she thinks of her order. However, everything sounded wonderful and she couldn't decide. Then she heard a waitress bring someone's order of a tofu and veggie stuffed bell peppers with a side salad. So she looked over to see the meal and found that it looked delicious. She also saw they ordered tomato juice.

Looking at the menu one more time, she located the meal, drink and picked out a dessert on her own.

As soon as she put her menu down, the waitress came up to her with her pen and notepad out.

"Ready to order?"

"Yes, I would like the Tofu and Veggie stuffed Bell peppers with a side salad, tomato juice, and the vanilla, soy bean ice cream."

"Would you like a topping?"

"Yes, let's see....oh! The coconut sprinkles and strawberry drizzle."

"To repeat: Tofu, veggie stuff bell peppers, side salad, tomato juice, vanilla soy bean ice cream with coconut sprinkles and strawberry drizzle?"

"Yes."

"Okay, we will right on it!"

Marinette took out her phone as she waited. She texted her mom, that she was at a restaurant nearby. Her mom reminded her to send a picture of her eating.

A few minutes later and her food was brought to her.

"Thank you so much!"

"It's no problem, dear, tell me if you need anything!"

The waitress leaves to let her eat. She sends a picture of her food to her mom, who responded with the words 'smile and heart'.

--------

Change perspective

--------

His day was normal. He woke up and dealt with the hooligans that plagued his life. He was currently in Paris as a part of a stake out group. His family dispersed during day to do individual actives. His father wanted him near by, but he argued that he didn't need to be monitored.

His father conceded by saying he must practice being considerate of other people and to update him on how it is going and if he needs help. He was more than reluctant to agree. Regardless, he did.

He didn't like the loose nature of his apparel for the day, but had no chouce due to the heat.

Though by no means is his clothing loose in comparison to others definition. He prefers to be dignified at all times.

Most of the day, he had nothing report to his father that was particularly considerate until he notice the ragged look of a girl a round his age. She looked dehydrated and ill. He scoffs at her lack of self preservation until he notice she was immersed in some kind of sketching. He also remembered his has to be 'considerate' today so he will say she was lost to passion. After all, this is Paris, the city known for passion.

He watches her as she unconsciously squints and makes a grim expression at times. She sways ever so slightly.

In his observations, she stopped her work to look at her phone. Her condition is not well. He walks a little closer with a water bottle he bought. The moment he walked next to her and she stood, he stabilized her and slipped the water bottle in her bag as she spoke, trying to clear her head. She was drenched in sweat.

"Father better be grateful, I am being more than generous with being 'considerate', disgusting.", he thought with distain.

He hurried a way from her only to stop a short distance a way to watch her more and to sanitize his hands; to rid himself of the horrid feeling of her sweat.

The girl swayed less than before, but after updating his father of what happened, he was ordered to tail her. What if she collapsed? His efforts would have been in vain if that was so.

He was slightly frustrated and her slow pace did nothing to help. He only felt a bit better at her choice of eatery. He saw that she was heading for a Healthy Living Restaurant and went a head of her to sit down. He typed to his father that the girl was trying to decide what to eat. He was instructed to do what he thought best if he were to interfere at all. So he picked the most sensible option for her condition, in return, she followed and added something to her order.

He ate quietly and finished before her. He then left a large tip; the service was quick, the food palatable, atmosphere was pleasant and he doubted the girl had much on her. Enough to pay perhaps, but she would then be left with nothing else.

She seemed to be middle class, and the middle class does not make much little wealth, to him at least. Sure, her clothing was quite good with quality, but her manners weren't all that remarkable and nothing else about her was either.

Polite, is what she was. Quiet, unnoticeable, and polite.

To him, she was a foolish girl that dreamed too much and did little for her own well-being. Truly the epitome of moronic whelps.

After he left the restaurant, he watched from a distance. Through the window, he saw her tempt to pay, only to be denied. He smirked, perhaps he should visit this particular restaurant again and maybe even invest a bit?

He felt his phone buzz, his father typed, wanting to be updating on the status of the girl. It became apparent that some of the hooligans are now aware of his sudden punish- mission. Yes, this is a mission.

Protecting such weak plebeians is the duty of his father and him, also the unsightly hooligans- not well in his opinion- but he shall add them this once.

"Father is surely proud of how 'considerate' and 'generous' I am.", he believes, "Excessively so."

------

The day ends with Marinette safely returning home and the still mysterious young man facing his mismatched family.

The young man remained considerate as he ignored the jeers of the hooligans until he realized, he didn't have to any more and retorted as though his words came from the high heavens.

---------

The next time he checked in on the young lady, he had some knowledge of her background he shouldn't and decided to continue to see to it that she is well taken care.

"It's called being an arrogant, egotistical xsshxle with a God complex. She doesn't need your 'consideration', she is not a charity case!"

One loud problem claimed as he tuned him out.

---------

The young man did visit the restaurant once more and she was there. She would visit often and order the same thing as he had the first time. There were times she ordered something else and he would try things she experimented with, minus the meat.

She ordered meat less and less the more she came to the restaurant, he noticed. He had no clue why, since she obviously had no problem eating it.

He didn't order sweets as often as she did, but he would on occasion, get something with a little bit of sweetness to it; like the dried fruit sandwich with any type of sauce it can come with. The sandwich had fresh, and air dried fruit. There would be other ingredients and such to change the flavor of the sandwich, making it a popular item on the menu.

------

Change Perspective

--------

She felt like she has seen the same guy a lot over the past two months and is slightly worried. After some thought to it and the more she believed she was over thinking it and that it was pure coincidence. She did know, however, he had good taste in food and art. Plus that animals are so cute!! He couldn't be all bad if animals liked him.

She would walk a little closer and sometimes walk a little farther from him and since he never moved, she felt better. It really was a coincidence to her knowledge.

Eventually, she would would stop seeing him. He was a tourist, so of course he would leave at some point. Still, she was a little sad.

Oh well, school is starting soon, maybe she'll make friends to fill the loneliness her pretend friend left her.

She liked to pretend this stranger was her friends and that they hung out, since she saw him in most places that she was. She saw him at the restaurant and sometimes the park and rarely he would be at the museum. Technically he wasn't everywhere and not as frequent as she made it seem like he was, but if was often enough to remember him.

"You should have talked to him, get his number."

"But then he might have thought I was hitting on him! I just wanted a friend..."

"Sweetie, look on bright side! Either you can cherish memories that made you happy or you can forget him and move on. You don't know what life has in-store for you, it could be fun!"

"Thank you, mom. You too dad, I will see what happens."

"On that note, want help me frost some cakes?"

"Yes!!!"

-----

The end.

Havoc [Thomas]

A Maze Runner fanfiction

//

Summary: When the reader, the second-in-command of the village goes out into the maze looking for a way out, the last thing she hopes to find is a whole new community on the other side of the walls. Much less, when it seems to be inhabited only by boys her age.

Warnings: none

A/N: Hey! This is my very first fanfic here and i decided to start with some tmr stuff ;) English not my mother language so please let me know if something is wrong. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter one: Leaving home

YOU WAKE UP THAT DAY WITH AN INCREDIBLE MOOD, although things in the village were not encouraging at all.

The dew hadn't fallen yet when you were already in front of the maze, impatiently waiting for the doors to open. You were carrying a backpack with the breakfast on your back, the belt resting on your hips, and an awl strategically hidden in your back pocket.

You didn't understand why your heart was beating so fast even if the night before had been the worst of all. The disease was progressing, it was devastating the village and the parents were leaving their children alone. You trembled in your place. You've never seen anything like that before. The illness, the confusion, the tiredness, the agony. The desease was ending with all of you. If you and the trackers didn’t find a way out as you had promised, then the village would be devastated.

You couldn't allow it. You weren't going to give up. Maybe the answer was out there, waiting for you and you weren't going to keep it waiting.

Maybe the feeling of your restless heart was a good sign. Maybe your heart was sensing things that you could not know and, with a little bit of luck, get it right as he almost always did.

The village had exits from its four points, so, as the sun was in the west that day, you decided to start with the east gate, considering it a good sign. You pulled your hair up in a high ponytail, ate an apple as fast as you could, and waited for the doors to move.

A curtain of dust and pebbles rose in front of your face as you listened the doors opening. That day the main corridor to the maze had a strange smell, but you thought that your nose was already damaged by the medicines and infusions that you had been smelling in the nursery, so you ignored it. You adjusted your boots waiting for the stench to disperse when a strong pull carried you backwards, scaring you.

“What the hell...? Asenat! "You muttered releasing the grip on your shirt. The girl smiled haughtily, crossing her arms over her chest “How many times do I have to tell you to not pull me like that? I hate being pulled!

“You can do it as many times as you want, I honestly don't care, I'll keep doing it anyways”

“You're an idiot”

“Where do you think you are going?” Cassidy asked, standing next to Asenat, both of them staring at you with their arms crossed over their chests and frowning. You rolled your eyes

“To do my job, the same as you should be doing right now”

"You are no longer a tracker”

“I am the leader, I can give myself that position”

"Second leader," Asenat corrected you, "After Richard, and he was the one who gave you the order to stay in the village, remember?"

You clicked your tongue as the trackers were already leaving to the maze. Asenat caught your shirt between her fingers again preventing you from running. Cassidy sighed, shaking her head. If something was clear to them about you, it was how stubborn you could be.

“Yes, I remember”

"Do you still have those headaches?"

"No," you lied. You'd been feeling terrible headaches for a couple of weeks now, before Richard fell sick from what the villagers called the glow. The man, who was also a tracker, had found you in the middle of your section with a terrible bruise on the back of your head and a pool of blood surrounding you. He carried you to the village, and when you were sufficiently recovered, you mentioned having a terrible pain and falling unconscious hitting the stone. Richard didn't need to know more to remove you from your job, forbidding you to return to the maze until your headaches were better. Until the night before you hadn't felt any pain, so you assumed you were fine “I'm great, don't worry about me. It was an accident”

"Yeah, are you sure?"

“Completely”

"Even if it were so, you are not allowed to go out," Cassidy said, determined. "We need you here, my friend."

"I'll be back before dark”

"Things don't work that way anymore," Cassidy replied, looking at you with a frown. "Richard hasn't died yet." His rules are still ours and since when we can do whatever we want?

“Don’t say it like that”

"You know Richard is not going to survive" Asenat lowered her voice preventing any other villagers from hearing her "he will die like the rest of the infected and when that happens all this will be over. We can continue with the rules that he made, but that will not be enough. There are families dying every day, our duty is to take care of them. We have a pact, okay? Treat the disease first, look for a way out later”

"How long are we going to keep waiting?" You asked, taking a step forward. Asenat sighed, "Three? Four? Another five years? This place is falling apart. If we really want to help the remaining villagers we need to find a way out, take them home, give them a better life, heal them "

"Nobody assures us that we will be better out there than here"

"Let's take the risk, we won't lose anything just by trying"

"We have kids in here, even babies. Their parents have died and they depend on us.

"This time it will be different" you said looking at them pleadingly "It's crazy, but something tells me that today we will find the answers we have been looking for. I could assure you that. Do you believe me? Do you trust me enough to believe in what my heart feels?”

Cassidy and Asenat looked at each other. Richard was still sick, confined to his cabin with the doctors trying to keep him alive. The night before he had lost part of the skin on his arms and his uncontrollable anger had made them tie him to the bed, however, that didn’t mean that in his small lapses of serenity he did not realize what was happening in the village.

Asenat shrugged her arms, leaving the decision to Cassidy. In her role as a teacher, she had no say in that situation and she didn't really care too much. You were reckless and almost always clumsy, but you had good ideas and that had helped you become te mainstay of the village. However Cassidy as the third in charge represented the third head of the monster. She would be the leader at Richard's death and if you didn't get back from the maze in time and that terrified her. She was not afraid of responsibility, nor making important decisions, but that represented visualizing a future where the three of you were not together and she preferred not to think about it.

"You know we do," she replied. "There hasn't been a single day when we doubted in your good judgment, but ..."

"It's different," Asenat said rubbing her chin. "The village doesn't feel like it used to. We are used to death, we can handle it, but the feeling of having it lurking over our heads is unbearable. The maze is not better. It is changing. I listen to it every night. The steel lobsters clattering through the halls. The giant woke up and will not go back to sleep”

"Cassidy," you called her, squeezing her hands. The girl sighed, thinking of the possibilities you guys had. Staying with your arms crossed was not an option, but neither was breaking the trust Richard had placed in all of you. Asenat watched you. The three of you shared the same fear, the same confusion and the same dread of losing the entire village. There were children who required the presence of someone capable to guide them, men and women waiting in fear to be infected with the glow and babies crying to feel the arms of their dead parents. You clenched her hands tighter. You needed to be covered for a few hours only and, in return, you would find the way out. You could do it, you trusted your instincts “Please...”

Cassidy sighed.

"We'll cover you until lunchtime, that's all."

"I only need that”

"Come back in one piece, will you?" She begged, looking at a small boy approaching. You leaned down, taking him in your arms letting out a groan as you picked him up. George was eight years old, he didn't weigh the same as five years ago. You kissed his cheek, returning him to the ground “The boy would go nuts if something happened to you”

"Are you going back to the maze?" George asked looking at you with his huge brown eyes. You nodded. Then you were hit by the little boy's suffocating embrace “the lobsters will hurt you!

"They are asleep now”

"They can wake up!"

"I doubt it little one. Don’t worry, I'll be fine. I'll be back at noon and we'll have a snack together, what ya think?”

“You promise?

“I promise”

"Okay, you can go," he said. You laughed, ruffling his hair

"Thanks, puppy. Stay with Asenat, okay? She can scold you while I'm gone”

"Ya’ heard it, boy," Asenat said, rubbing her knuckles at the top of his head. George complained, "You will stay with me the rest of the day and help me teach the little ones how to count to ten.

“That's not fair!”

"Life isn't fair, brat." Come on, maybe we can grab some chocolate from the kitchen later, huh?”

Asenat held out her hand and George took it enthusiastically as they walked together towards the largest cabin that you used as a classroom. George spun on his feet saying goodbye with a bright smile on his face. You blew him a kiss and Asenat turned to show you her middle finger. You smiled

"Take care of him, will you?" I highly doubt that Asenat will do it properly”

"I'm going to watch her. Now go before I regret it. And (Y/N)” She said, stopping you as you walked towards the main corridor of the maze. You turned around, waiting for his words “Don't die out there. The maze stinks enough to add the stench of a corpse” You nodded. It was a fair deal

“No prob”

You finished your run in your section faster than you expected. The meal would not be until three hours later so you decided to make a stop to rest. You sat on the floor against a wall. Hot sweat was running down your neck and the fucking headache was back. You closed your eyes, tired. It was terribly hot, and the stench of rotting meat numbed your nose.

You drank water, the little sip you had left, and put it back in your backpack. You were going to eat some of the apple slices you took with you, but the pain in the back of your head kept you from even chewing. You stood up wanting to continue your hike when the headache went down your neck and then numbed your spine. You leaned against the wall. It was covered in vines, moss, and fungus. You wiped your palms on your pants and started walking again.

The migraine erased your sight. For a second the world around you seemed to move in luminous spirals forcing you to close your eyes. The sound lightened and you swore you heard a static signal on your eardrums.

The floor spined over and over again. You dug your nails into the palms of your hands feeling the blood pour out from the sides, staining the stone. You heard the drops hiting the floor and suddenly everything stopped.

You were sweating. Your soaked shirt stuck to your body, your hair matted on your forehead and you opened your eyes. Pushing back the hair you noticed that this was not your section, that in some inexplicable way the maze had changed drastically and there was no way to return home.

Your heart beat madly. You fell to the ground on your knees, your head aching every second screaming in agony. You crawled down the corridor without understanding its course, but recognizing small fragments of leaves pointing a path to the north.

was that the way out? You, without being aware of the pain, could you have operated some kind of lever, changing the composition of the maze, leaving it unrecognizable? You weren't sure.

You kept crawling. The leaves spreading across the path, turning into a corridor covered in dust and dirt. You complained in pain and in the confusion, you managed to hear voices from the other side.

You buried your nails in the stone rising up. You pulled forward slowly approaching until you reached the exit (or the entrance?) of the maze. The wind ruffled your hair. Then your hands touched the green grass and the pain stopped.

You stayed alert. Your senses fading little by little from fatigue. Your head ached, your hands ached, your back ached. You heard the clear voice of a boy and, unaware of it, you got up as best as you could.

You got up with the help of the leaves on the wall. You narrowed your eyes focusing on the meadow stretching out in front of you. It was not the village, it was not the exit. The walls of the maze were surrounding the meadow and you could only think that the pain had caused you allusions.

Then the torture returned. You clenched your teeth. Your vision became blurry, however you could distinguish completely unknown figures in the mist. Your ears recognized voices, men's voices, and, unable to bear another second, you fainted.

📃 AS I AM CHAPTER 2 — Talk To Me

SUMMARY — You knew Kageyama Tobio since you both were in diapers, being close family 'friends'. You always wanted to befriend the quiet kid but no matter your efforts, he would never crack. When you transfer schools and meet Kageyama again, what will happen to your relationship?

PAIRING — family friend!kageyama x y/n

GENRE — fluff/crack/angst

WARNINGS — kags being a meanie

WORD COUNT — 1.7k

FIND THE MASTERLIST HERE

You woke up the next day to your slightly annoying alarm, groaning as you stretched. You reached for your phone to snooze your alarm, yawning loudly as you opened your phone to see notifications. You checked your text messages first, seeing two unknown numbers that sent you a text.

(Sent September 23rd at 11:24 pm)

xxx-xxx-xxxx: [Hey y/n! This is Shoyo!]

[From the volleyball club!]

(Sent September 23rd at 11:28 pm)

xxx-xxx-xxxx: [Yo, this is noya!]

You smiled and responded to both of their texts before climbing out of bed, stretching your arms and legs. You grabbed your uniform to slip it on before remembering something. You haven't sent Kageyama a goodmorning text!

(Sent September 24th at 6:34 am)

Y/N: [good morning Tobio! Do you want to eat lunch together today?]

[Ill bring your favorite snacks!]

Kageyama: [can't, im busy today]

Y/N: [how about tomorrow?]

Kageyama: [busy.]

You sighed and brushed it off, thinking for a bit. You smiled, Tobio was so cool! He must be busy with something important, you thought as you dressed into your uniform. Your mom let you decide if you wanted to be driven again or walk, it was only a 15 minute walk. You knew sooner or later you'd be forced to walk so you decided to walk today.

It was chilly out of course, so you slipped on a scarf and slipped out the front door. You decided to stop at the convenience store on the way to the school, grabbing three meatbuns and purchasing them. When you continued on your walk, you noticed a familiar face.

"Hey Kageyama!" You called, causing the male to jump and look around until his eyes landed on you. His calm expression turned slightly sour, and you giggled, jogging over to him. "Good morning Tobio!" You huffed out, handing him a meat bun.

"Morning, and no thank you," he declined the meat bun, making you shrug and take a bite. "Do you always walk to school?" You ask, kicking some rocks, humming a light tune. He lightly hummed and didnt bother to look at you, making you pout. "You could give me a real answer Kageyama."

You cross your arms and notice the males ears turn slightly red and he nods. "Sorry," he mumbles and you guys arrive at the school, entering the door. You sighed lightly of relief, smiling at the slight warmth the inside of the school offered.

"Where are you going to Tobio?" You asked, turning to the male, leaning over and slapping your knee lightly. He took a glance at you and turned away, "im going to class. Bye." He walked off without another word from either of you two, and you huffed lightly.

(Sent September 24th at 6:51 am)

Y/N: [Shoyo! What does Kageyama do during lunch?]

Shoyo: [What? He doesnt do anything, what do you mean?]

Y/N: [He said he's busy today but i didnt get to ask him what he was doing :'/]

Shoyo: [Ah! Uhm.. ill ask him!]

You bit your lip and thought for a bit. You guessed maybe Hinata and Kageyama weren't as close as you thought. You stuffed your phone into your pocket and headed to your class, taking your seat behind the blonde, Tsukishima. "Hey, Tsukki," you tapped him.

"Hmm?" He hummed turning to face you. Class hasnt started yet, so you placed your plastic bag on the desk, smiling. "Want a meat bun?" His eyebrows went up before he glared at you, then nodded. You beamed at him as you handed him a bun, watching him take a bite.

"Thanks," he says and turns back to his seat. "Oh yeah, and don't call me Tsukki." He went back to working on some work that he had left to complete. You ate the last meat bun before placing the plastic bag into your backpack.

—

During lunch you decided that you would stay in the classroom, you didn't bother to go find another spot to sit or anyone to sit with. You slipped on some headphones and shuffled your favorite playlist, smiling at the tune. You ate your food that you had prepared as you doodled on some homework that you had finished.

You were so into your doodles that you almost didn't notice the freckled boy trying to get your attention. "Hello?" You looked up at him, smiling instantly at the cute boy. "W-wow, hey!" You slipped off your head phones and paused your playlist. "Im Tadashi, Tsukki's friend."

"Ah, you're from the volleyball club huh?" You smiled and took a quick bite of your food before turning your attention back to the male. He smiled and nodded his head, "yeah, you're kageyamas friend uh.. y/n?"

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you," you said and he scooted close to you. "What are you drawing?" He took a peek at your sketches and then looked back up at you, smiling. "Ah, sorry this is unrelated but– your eyes are so pretty," you giggle, cupping the males face, making him giggle as well.

"You know, you're very open," Tsukishima adds, turning around in his desk to face both you and Tadashi. You took another bite of your food and then leaned back in your desk. "Well, what's wrong with that?" You ask, smirking, "it makes it easy to talk to people and make friends."

Yamaguchi giggles a bit at your comment, but you weren't sure why. "Maybe if you were more open Tsukki, you'd have more friends," yamaguchi laughed out, causing you to also burst out in laughter. Tsukishima tried hard to act offended, but couldn't help but crack a small grin at his friends comment.

—

After school you decided to go to the gym again with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. You walked next to Yamaguchi and you two talked and laughed on the way there. "Volleyball is pretty fun! Have you ever played?" He asked and you smiled, nodding. "My old friends from Nekoma let me play with them sometimes," you blurted, bouncing with each step at the happy memory.

"N-nekoma?!" Yamaguchi gasped, jaw dropping. You nodded, furrowing your eyebrows. "Yeah, why?" You questioned, also noticing an intrigued glance from the taller male. "You moved from Tokyo? From Nekoma High?" He asked as you guys stepped into the gym.

"Yeah, I'm from Tokyo," you smiled, you and Tadashi following Tsukishima like puppy dogs, continuing the conversation. "Y/N!" A loud voice called and you turned to see Hinata running full speed at you. He stopped on his heels, infront of you with a big smile. "Hi!" He smiled widely and bounces.

You wave a small goodbye to Tadashi and Tsukishima as they go to set up and you turn back to the orange headed male. "Whats up Hinata?" Nishinoya and Tanaka trailed after Hinata, "you dont have friends here yet right?" Tanaka asked and you tilted your head.

"Ah, well its only my second day here. I only have Kageyama but hes so grumpy and busy all the time, but I think you guys are pretty cool," you giggled, swinging one of your legs to a random tune playing in that head of yours. "Do you want to walk home with us today? We're gonna stop by the coaches store after practice," Noya spoke up, hope in his eyes.

"Of course! As long as they have meatbuns," you closed your eyes, smiling at the thought of meatbuns. "Wow, you must really like meat buns. Kageyama said that you bought some this morning," Hinata jumped up and down in place to keep his legs warm.

"Yeah, theres a convenience store nearby my house on the way here, so I had to get meatbuns!" You heard Daichi calling the boys to huddle, so you took a seat near the side of the gym near where the managers were standing. You worked on some homework, once again letting your mind wander as you doodled on the page.

You decided to take a break and went on your phone. You were mindlessly scrolling through social media for the rest of the practice, not once noticing the time that passed by until you felt quick repeated taps on your shoulder. You jumped and saw Hinatas big goofy smile in your face.

"Lets go go go!" He jumped and rushed out the door, leaving you shocked and rushing to grab your stuff before running after him. You saw Kageyama, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi waiting outside the door, watching you and hinata rush out the door. "Noya and Tanaka had to leave early so its just us!" Hinata informed you. You guys head to the store, kageyama standing on the opposite side of the group of you.

"Hey Kageyama look," you grabbed a bag of candy off one of the shelves and held it up for him to see. "You used to eat this all the time in first grade," you giggled and inspected the bag. You decided to purchase it and some meatbuns before you guys finished your walk home.

It was nice to talk to new people, new faces, but you really wanted to spend time with Kageyama.

"Kageyama, do you want my mom to give you a ride home, my house is right around the corner," you say, stuffing a meatbun in your mouth while shoulder bumping the male playfully. Hinatas expression was confused, but slightly worried. "Kageyama are you okay?"

Kageyama looks up at Hinata and nods his head "I'm fine." He said, completely ignoring what you had asked him. Thinking he was maybe being stubborn you poked his ankle with the toe of your shoe, "atleast give me an answer Tobio."

"I'll walk home by myself," he muttered and sped up his pace, leaving you behind. You slowed down until you were next to Tsukishima and continued to eat your meatbuns. "Why do you let him treat you like that?" Tsukishima asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Like what?" You asked, staring at the blonde with a look of utter confusion, making him nod. "He just ignores you or brushes you off half the time." He states before waving at Tadashi and Hinata that turned down different roads. "He's always been like that, even since we were children, hes just stubborn."

Tsukishima scoffs lightly. "Stubborn," he repeats softly, then turns to face you. "Ill see you tomorrow shorty," he says before slipping on his headphones and taking a right, leaving you to go left. You thought about what Tsukishima said, what did he mean? Kageyamas just like that, right?

© tomura-heart — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, or copying is not allowed. you may translate with my permission and correct crediting. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

Heavy is the Head Chapter 7: Full on Bull Fight

Ao3 link

“Hey, where’d you sneak off to this morning?” Stella asks, catching up to Kelly on their way into work. Today was the first day in a long time that they’ve driven separately and when she woke up this morning he was already gone without so much as a word to her. And it’s not the first time he’d done it in the past week.

“I had some errands to run,” he says with a shrug, and a distant look on his face; Stella doesn’t like it. He’s been acting weird since Christmas, and seems to be floating farther and farther away from her like he has something to hide.

“What kind of errands?” she asks, bumping his arm with hers playfully, trying to prompt some kind of reaction out of him, but he seems to be going iceberg mode on her.

“Just stuff.” he replies.

“Okay, well I’ll see you in the briefing room,” she says with a frustrated sigh and walks faster, leaving him behind her looking a little baffled and confused like he can’t figure out what he did wrong.

“Hey-” Sylvie starts as she steps into Stella’s office with plans to tell her about her growing suspicion that Casey’s going to propose in the near future, but she’s interrupted by Stella.

“Don’t let me anywhere near anything heavy today, because I really might end up hurling something at Kelly’s head,” she says angrily.

“What’d he do now?” Sylvie asks, and pushes the door closed. She can feel Stella’s frustration, and in some ways she shares in it. Kelly always seems to be doing something stupid. Him and Stella will be doing fine for a long time and then his emotional presence will just drop off the face of the earth.

“I don’t know! But he’s been acting really weird for like a week now and he keeps sneaking off, and then when I ask him about he acts all confused or- or evasive like everything’s normal,” Stella says angrily. “And I seriously don’t know what to do-”

“You don’t think he’s-”

“Don’t even go there Brett. He wouldn’t,” Stella says defensively, cutting her off but Sylvie can tell from her tone that the thought has crossed her mind.

“Because if he is, I know of a lot of fields in Indiana where they’d never find a body,” Sylvie adds.

“I said don’t go there!” Stella cries. “He wouldn’t cheat. His mom thought he might, but he wouldn’t. He’s an idiot but he’s not a dick.”

“Okay,” Sylvie agrees. She believes Stella on that one. Severide can be a bit of a mess, but he’s not an unfaithful mess, which means something else is going on. “Maybe it’s something to do with Conway?”

“I don’t know Brett,” Stella says shaking her head. “We talked about that and decided it was best to handle that together. But there’s definitely something going on with him. And I’m so scared he’s heading toward another shut down and I don’t know if we’ll survive that again.”

Brett sighs, it makes her mad how worked up Stella is getting with this and how scared Severide has her. It makes her want to throw something at his head too.

“Anyway, what did you want to talk about?” Stella asks, shaking herself off.

“Oh, nothing,” Brett shrugs. It seems a little ill timed to start talking about how well things are going with Matt, especially since him meeting her parents, when things seem to be getting ready to hit the fan between Stella and Kelly.

“You sure?”

“Yeah-”

“Truck 81, lift assist.”

“That’s me,” Stella sighs and get up. “We’ll talk later.”

“Be careful out there,” Sylvie orders as she follows Stella out of her office.

Stella is barely gone from sight before Severide is emerging from the laundry room and grabbing Brett by the arm.

“We need to talk,” he says tugging her toward his office.

“Yeah, I know we do,” Brett snaps, and follows him into his office, needing no more prodding from him. She’s about to give him a very big piece of her mind, and he’s practically begging for it.

“What the hell are you doing, Severide?” she demands before he even has the door closed all the way.

“What do you mean-”

“I mean what the hell are you doing?” Sylvie repeats. “Everyone knows by now that your whole stone cold iceberg act doesn’t fly with you and Stella. So whatever your problem is you need to get sorted out or she’s going to dump your ass.”

“But I haven’t been…” he trails off, the confusion on his face melting away to realization as Brett glares at him. “Oh. damn it. I have.”

“Yep,” Sylvie says.

“I didn’t mean to,” he says, getting a kind of nervous that Sylvie’s never seen from him before. “I just- this is so messed up. I’m just not sure how to…”

“How to what, Severide?”

He runs one hand through his hair awkwardly and reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a small felt box.  “Ask her…”

Sylvie can feel her eyes going wide as she stares at the box in Severide’s hand. “Is that…?”

“Yeah,” Severide breathes. “I just don’t have the slightest idea how to actually do it, which is why I wanted to ask you for help-”

“You want me to help you plan your engagement?!” Sylvie squeals, unable to contain her joy. This is like a dream come true, she’s always wanted to help someone plan an engagement.

“Please,” Severide says, sounding relieved. “It’s like suddenly everything I know about Stella has left my brain and I just don’t know where to start. And it’s gotta be amazing because she deserves only the best.”

“Okay, okay, yes I’ll help you! But the first thing you need to do is find some way to reassure her, or you might not have a girlfriend to ask by the time we get this all planned out,” Sylvie says, already trying to think of some cover story they can spin for why he’s been acting weird for so long. And being able to pull that off and making it believable kind of hinges on Severide’s ability to stop acting weird, and Sylvie isn’t super confident he can.

“How do I do that? I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I was just trying to avoid accidently giving myself away.”

“Well, I’m sorry to say it, but with your track record it could be construed as a lot of different things,” Sylvie says, starting to formulate a plan. Maybe having Severide be the one in charge of making sure Stella doesn’t dump him isn’t the best idea if they want this to be a successful proposal. “Maybe I should be the one to make sure she doesn’t dump you. And you should just like not touch anything or talk about anything.”

“Okay, that works,” Kelly says blinking a couple times. For not only a squad firefighter, but a lieutenant at that, he really is quite flighty, and she can tell he’s absolutely terrified and overwhelmed by what he’s planning.

“That was a joke. I’m not planning your entire engagement for you. It has to come from you.”

Kelly frowns. “What if I just left the ring in her locker or something?”

Sylvie glares at him.

“That was a joke too?” He says, but it sounds like more of a question.

“You’re hopeless,” Sylvie says, pinching the bridge of her nose. Everyone always jokes about what a disaster Kelly is, but it really isn’t funny.

“Hey, Brett, sorry to interrupt, but the chief wants us in his office,” Mackey says, wrapping her fist against the door and poking her head into Severide’s office. She hesitates and glances back and forth between the two of them. “I don’t know what you two are talking about, but be careful you don’t give lieutenant Severide an ulcer.”

Sylvie glances over at Severide whose forehead is wrinkled up in his stressed look that he always gets when he gets concerned or perplexed.

“Look, don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone. We’ll talk about this later. I promise.”

“Thanks Brett,” Severide says sounding lost and bewildered.

***

“No! Way!” Sylvie cries before she’s even all the way inside Casey’s office. The amount of pure joy on her face at seeing Foster standing in the office, makes Matt smile. “I don’t believe it! Mackey! This is Foster, she’s amazing- foster what happened to Med school?” Brett cries hugging her old partner.

“It’s expensive,” she laughs, “and chief Hatcher graciously said I could come work part time the days I don’t have class.”

“That’s amazing-” Sylvie trials off, a look of confusion crossing her face. “Wait. 61 already has two medics.”

“We got cleared for a third one,” Casey explains. “The CFD has been trying to get busier house three man ambo crews.”

“Oh! This is great!” Sylvie says excitedly. “You two are going to love each other! This is so exciting!”

Matt smiles, this probably the happiest he’s ever seen her, but he could tell before she even saw Foster that she was excited about something else too. The excitement in the room seems to freeze for a second as the tones sound.

“Squad 3, water rescue.”

Sylvie seems oddly relieved by this, but not in the way that she’s glad it’s not her call. There’s something else going on.

“Is that all you wanted?” she asks. “Can we go get Foster acquainted with 61?”

“Yeah, but I want you to hang back a second so we can talk,” Casey says, dismissing Foster and Mackey with a short head nod.

“What’s going on?” she asks, studying him.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Casey replies, studying her. 

“Oh,” Sylvie says and a guilty expression comes across her face like she’s trying to hide something that’s making her really happy. “I’m really not supposed to talk about it. I’m terrible with secrets if I-”

“If you?” Casey prompts, curiosity getting the better of him.

“I can’t say!” Brett says, like it’s hurting her not belting it out. “Severide’ll kill me.”

“Sev’s involved?” Casey presses.

“Matt stop! I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone!” Sylvie protests. “I gotta go help them with the rig.”

Before Matt can say anything she’s gone and has the door closed behind her. He’ll have to talk to Severide when he gets back from the water rescue call.

***

“Marks and Gallo, you two are on inventory duty for the day,” Stella says she climbs off the truck once they’re safely back at the station. “And Mouch I want you to clean out the inside of the rig. This thing looks like a pig sty.”

“Who pissed you off,” Gallo mutters under his breath, and she wastes no time pinning him down with a glare. 

“Do you want to be mopping the bay too?” she demands.

“No lieutenant,” Gallo says respectfully.

“Then just do the inventory,” she snaps and turns her glare to the empty spot where the squad truck is usually parked. It’s mighty convenient that Severide is out on call.

“Stella! Get over here!” Brett shouts to her from across the bay. Her attitude seems to have done a complete turn around since their conversation this morning in Stella’s office and she’s jealous. She’s been racking her brain all morning trying to figure out the hell could’ve possibly sent Severide off into another spiral of self isolation. She knows it’s impossible to ever have him completely figured out, it’s impossible with everyone really, but things had been going so well between them for so long and now she feels like she’s being out all over again, and she hates it.

“What-?” and before she can get her full question out, Foster is jumping out of the back of 61.

“Surprise!” The paramedic shouts enthusiastically and hugs Stella.

“What are you doing here?!” Stella cries happily and hugs her back. She allows the excitement at seeing her old friend push away her annoyance with Severide. It’s not worth her time right now.

“I’m working part time!” Foster says excitedly. “And I heard you got your bugles!”

“I did!” Stella says and flicks the collar of her shirt displaying the little bugles embroidered there.

“Wooow,” Foster says, faking a swoon. “They look way better on you than of the other idiots running around here.”

“Why thank you,” Stella says with a playful hair flip. “But seriously, how long are you here for?”

“I’m currently on break, so I’ll be working shifts with you guys for the next few weeks, and then off and on for the rest of the year.”

“This is so great, the four of us are going to own this place,” Stella says, and points at Mackey. “You don’t know this, but the three of us used to be the bosses around here. And we’re going to show the key to house domination.”

“The first lesson is don’t put up with idiots,” Foster says.

“That’s probably the most important one,” Stella agrees, Severide immediately jumping to mind. She doesn’t really agree with it. Some idiots are worth putting up with.

“Speaking of which,” Sylvie says. “We need to go have a chat. We’ll be back in a few.”

“What’s up, Brett?” Stella asks when they’ve made it out of ear shot of Mackey and Foster.

“I think you need to give Severide a chance,” Sylvie says awkwardly, like there’s something she desperately wants to say, but can’t figure out how.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Sylvie replies. “Trust me and trust that he loves you. Just give him a week.”

“A week- Brett what is going on?” Stella asks. She doesn’t need Brett and Severide keeping secrets from her.

“I don’t know, it’s just a feeling. Give him a week before you do anything drastic, okay?” Brett says and looks her in the eyes. “Trust him, and if you can’t do that trust me. It’ll be fine.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust him, Brett,” Stella says. “I’m just scared. I know where this kind of behavior goes. We’ve been down this road before, and I’m really scared, only this time it’s worse because I don’t have the first idea what’s wrong so I don’t have a ballpark for what I should be trying to ask him-”

“Truck 81, elevator panic button triggered.”

“Stella, it’ll be okay, I promise,” Sylvie says confidently. Stella’s not sure how she can be so sure, but she wishes she shared the paramedics confidence.

***

“Is everything okay with Stella?” Mackey asks as Sylvie comes back over to 61 to help with refreshing Foster on the inventory. 

“It will be, hopefully,” Sylvie relies with a frustrated sigh. Severide just needs to assure her everything’s fine and quit avoiding her and everything should work out. If he doesn’t then she’s not exactly sure how much good her speech to Stella about trusting him will go. “She’s just going through a bit of a rough patch with Severide.”

“Do I need to knock some sense into him?” Foster asks, hoping down from the back of the ambo and looking like she’s ready for a fight.

“No, it’s not like that,” Sylvie assures her, as squad 3 rolls back into the station. “It’s a communication error that will be ironed out shortly… I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

She meets Severide on the passenger side of the truck just as he’s climbing out.

“We need to talk,” he says, beating her to the punch.

“Your office?”

“Yeah,” he says and heads for the doors leading inside.

“You need to tell her something and give her some kind of believable reassurance,” Sylvie says and closes the door to his office behind her. “She’s scared. I think I kinda bought you a little time, but you still gotta give her something.”

“I’ll talk to her as soon as she gets back,” he promises and looks worried. Despite having worked around them for close to 10 years, Sylvie’s never quite been able to understand firefighters; they don’t so much as flinch running into burning buildings but anything regarding feelings or emotions is like having teeth pulled. “And I had a couple thoughts about how to ask.”

“Oh! What are they?” Sylvie asks excitedly. This is the fun part- the planning of the actual romantic gesture is definitely way better than working on a plan for how to have Stella not break up with him before he can pull it off, equally as important for sure, but a lot more fun.

“So I know this guy who does winter scuba diving in the lake, and ever since I showed her the basics a year or so ago she loves it…”

“An underwater proposal?” Sylvie asks.

“What? You don’t think that’s good?” Severide asks, looking a little disappointed.

“Honestly? I think she’d love it. I just feel like there’s a lot that could go wrong. Like do you really want to be freezing cold and wet when you get engaged?”

“It’s better than just going out to some fancy restaurant. That’s so predictable,” Severide retorts. “How about taking her hiking at pictured rocks? She loves it up there, and I know where her favorite spot is, and then take her out for a nice dinner after?”

“Oh that’d be great!” Sylvie says excitedly. “I’d tell you it’s too cold for hiking, but you two are crazy, so it’s perfect.”

“You think?”

“Yeah!”

***

“You just couldn’t stay away from us, could you?” Herrmann laughs and offers Foster a coffee.

“How could I? I love all your ugly mugs,” she jokes.

“Aw, that’s so touching,” Cruz says sarcastically.

“So how have things been for everyone since I left? I wanna know everything.” It’s nice being back here even if it is temporary. She’s missed everyone so much, she didn’t really realize just how much until now- until being back in the cozy common room surrounded by the crew she got to be so close to.

***

“Smoke break?” Casey asks, poking his head into Severide’s office. He looks busy and stressed out and like he could use the break.

“Sure,” he says and closes his laptop.

“Sylvie’s been acting weird lately,” Casey says as they walk outside together. It is, admittedly a little cold to be having a smoke break.

“Mhmm,” Severide mutters, but doesn’t give much of a response other than that.

“You know something,” Casey accuses, he can tell by Severide’s expression that he knows something.

“No!” Severide says defensively. He’s great at pretending his fine when he’s not, but any other lie? His poker face sucks.

“It’s what her mom said at dinner a couple weeks ago, isn’t it?” Casey guesses. “She wants me to propose.”

“Um, not you…” Severide says, shifting awkwardly as Casey frowns at him. “I’m gonna ask Stella and she’s helping me out.”

“Oh! Congrats man!” Casey says excitedly.

“Don’t jinx it!” Severide shushes him. “I haven’t asked her yet and there’s a lot that could go wrong.”

“Right,” Casey says, ducking his head. He’s not sure he’s ever seen Severide look this nervous before. “Well, I’m sure she’ll say yes.”

“Hopefully,” Severide mumbles, sounding very unsure of himself.

A horn blast from 81 interrupts their conversation as the truck pulls into the driveway.

“Sorry to cut the conversation short, but I actually need to go talk to Stella real quick.”

Severide makes it to the door and then the bell rings.

“Truck 81, Engine 51, Ambulance 61, Squad 3, structure fire.”

***

There’s two kids standing outside when they arrive, and Casey’s glad he decided to ride on this one because it’s already looking like they’re going to need additional units.

“You have to help our parents!” one of the kids shouts, running over to meet Casey as he gets out of the car, tugging his little sister along with him. “They’re still inside!”

“We’ll get them don’t worry,” Casey promises getting down on eye level with the young dark-haired boy. “Is there anyone else inside?”

“No,” the boy shakes his head. “Just mom and dad. We were playing at the neighbors’ and they were at home napping.”

“Okay, kiddo, where is your parents’ room?”

“Upstairs,” the boy says frantically. His sister is crying.

“Severide, Kidd, we’ve got two victims, most likely upstairs,” Casey shouts to two of his lieutenants. “Herrmann, I want you guys to start knocking down a path for Truck and Squad.”

“You got it, chief!” Herrmann calls, already directing Ritter to pull a line off the truck.

“Nathan and Mouch, I want you to up top venting. Gallo, you’re making entry with me and Squad.”

It takes the crews less than a minute to get organized and make their push through the front door.

“Okay kids, you see that ambulance over there? I want you to go see those nice paramedics, okay?” He wants to say something more encouraging to them, but the fire’s already pretty bad and the chances of them being able to get the parents out alive are slim to none.

***

“Come here guys,” Foster says gently and guides the two kids into the warm back of the ambulance. She’s missed this, being on the streets, in the action, being right there on the front lines with people.

“Give them these,” Mackey says and hands her a blanket, while taking one herself and wrapping it around the little girl’s shoulders.

“Here you go, sweetie,” Foster soothes and wraps the little boy in the blanket.

“Are our parents going to be okay?” the boy asks, looking at them with pleading eyes. Mackey glances to Foster before answering.

“They’ll be okay. They have the best firefighters in the city looking for them,” Mackey promises, comfortingly. Foster isn’t sure if the other paramedic actually believes it or if she’s just trying to be encouraging, but regardless Foster doesn’t share her confidence.

***

“Chief, this is Squad 3, we’ve got the parents, but we got separated from Severide,” Cruz reports, making Casey’s heart skip a beat. Mouch just informed him the roof was too soft to get on and properly vent, which means inside is probably filling up with smoke.

“Get the victims out of there, then we’ll worry about Severide,” Casey replies. Severide can handle himself.

“Chief, I’m fine,” Severide says a couple seconds later, and Casey relaxes just a little at hearing his friend’s staticy voice over the radio. “I’m with Kidd, she got separated from Gallo.”

Casey closes his eyes and lets out a frustrated sigh. “I want all units to exit the structure immediately.”

“Son of a bitch!” a shout from Herrmann grabs Casey’s attention as him, Cruz, Capp, and Tony exit the building with the two parents who look to be rough shape. “Where’s Ritter?! He was right behind me!”

The engine lieutenant tries to make a run back inside but Cruz grabs him before he can.

“No one is going back inside!” Casey shouts, he hates having to make the call, but he can tell even from the outside that the house is about to flash over at any second and he already has four firefighters lost inside. He doesn’t need to throw a fifth one into the mix. “Ritter, report.”

“I’m fine chief, I just fell behind,” Ritter reports.

“Chief! That’s my guy in there!” Herrmann protests.

“I know, but he’ll be fine. He knows what he’s doing. If he says he needs help then I’ll let you go in, but for now you just have to trust him.” Casey gets it. He really does. Every fiber of his being is screaming at him to run inside to go find his lost people, but no one’s called a maybay. They’re all just working their way out.

***

It’s pitch black, not like the movies where everything can be seen clearly, no, it’s darker than a night with no moon or stars. The smoke is so thick the light from his flashlight barely reaches a couple inches in front of him; Gallo has to hug the floor, nearly flat on his belly just to escape making the intense that’s starting to make his skin crawl. And worse still, he’s alone; he lost Stella what seems like hours ago, but from the glowing air gage on his regulator it can’t be more than 10 minutes ago. He knows she’s still relatively okay because he’s heard her over the radio a couple times since they got seperated, she’s with Severide now, and she knows he’s okay because they’ve had one very brief exchange only lasting long enough for them to decide the best course of action was to not waste time and air, both critical things in a fire like this, trying to find one another in the impossible blackness and find their way out on their own. So he’s alone and his only comfort in the overwhelming blackness is the presence of the hose under his body as he scoots himself along the floor.

He feels a little bit like a child again, like he’s still hiding in that closet hoping and praying that someone will come find him and save him. He’s alone and tired and yes even scared, not the same paralyzing fear that had taken over every muscle in his body like it had that day, but it’s a nagging tugging fear that’s eating away at his last nerve. It’s exhausting. He’s exhausted. He just wants to lay down on the hose, call in a mayday, and wait for someone to come get him; it’d be so simple and easy to let RIT come in and pull him out. But it’d also be dangerous. He can see small slivers of flame fingering in the smoke, they’ll flare up and dance through the smoke in little playful wisps, some of them right above his head. They’re beautiful, but precursors to something deadly and terrible. They’re there to remind him he doesn’t have time to lay down and let RIT come and save him. This place could flash over at any second and he’d have no escape. 

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Firefighter Ritter, entangled and low on air!” 

Gallo’s blood runs cold at the sound of his friend’s mayday call.

“All units mayday has been called, clear the channel.”

“Ritter, what’s your last known location?” It’s Casey that replies to Ritter’s mayday first.

“Upstairs, southwest corner!”

Gallo clenches his teeth, he just came from that way. He’s close, he can get to Gallo before RIT can. So he turns around on the hoseline and begins his crawl back to where he came from to go find his friend.

***

There’s always the human instinct to press on when met with resistance, but in firefighting that can be a deadly mistake, sometimes in order to survive you have to let yourself go limp and lay completely still. It’s terrifying, laying completely still in the hot pitch black of a burning house especially when every inch of you is screaming to get up and keep fighting. But Ritter’s tangled up good and somewhere in his process of trying to fight to get himself free, he lost his cable cutters. He honestly thrashed around a good bit longer than he should’ve before laying still. There’s no telling how much air he wasted doing that, but now the bell on his pack is ringing annoyingly right along with his pass device. It’s deafening, but right now that’s a good thing it means he can be found and helped.

“Hey man.”

Ritter didn’t even hear Gallo approaching over the sound of the various alarms sounding so close to his head, and he startles  when his friend’s hand touches his shoulder.

“You really know how to get tangled up,” Gallo says, Ritter can’t really see him through the darkness of the smoke around them, but he can feel his friend running his hands around his body trying to find all the cords he’s stuck in.

“How’d you find me?” Ritter asks, he can feel the cables starting to fall away from him, which means Gallo almost has him free.

“It was kind of hard to miss you,” Gallo jokes. Darren’s really not sure how he can sound so light hearted and breezy right now. “Chief, cancel RIT. I’ve got Ritter and he’s free.”

“How are we gonna get out of here?” Ritter asks and sits up slowly being sure to feel for anything that might snag him.

“A window,” Gallo replies. “I was in this room earlier.”

“We’re on the second story,” Ritter protests. He’s heard stories about firefighters jumping out of windows much higher, but he has no desire to do it.

“I’ve got the hose,” Gallo says calmly. “We’ll use it as a pole and slide down.”

*** 

“Ritter and Gallo are out.”

Stella breathes a sigh of relief as Casey reports that the two young firefighters are out. Now the only thing she has to worry about is getting her and Kelly’s sorry ass out.

Stella keeps one hand on Kelly making sure she doesn’t lose him; that’s the last thing anyone needs right now, another lost firefighter and another RIT team deployed- more people coming into this flashover waiting to happen. And keeps the other hand on the wall trying to feel for a window. They’re on the second floor, but if shit hits the fan they’ll jump, it doesn’t matter how high up they are.

“You got anything, Kelly?” she asks, glancing in his general direction, the only part of him she can really see is his flashlight. 

“Nothing,” he replies and she can hear him rustle around. “I’m going to attach my webbing to your wrist and go out a little further to try to find a hose. Stay on the wall.”

“Kelly wait,” she says and pulls him back as her hand finds what feels like a window cill just a foot above her head.

“Stella we don’t have time-”

She sees the flicker, it’s like lighting crackling in distant black storm clouds and the already suffocating heat gets worse. The room’s about to flash. Without thinking or waiting even a second she grabs Kelly by the shoulder straps and launches herself out the window dragging him with her. The fire comes after them like a hungry beast surging forward to devour them as they hit the slanted roof and roll. Between the immense heat from the fire, the fire itself shooting out the window behind them, the adrenaline rushing through her body and the feeling of being put through a spin cycle Stella can’t get her bearings fast enough to stop her and Severide from sliding off the roof. She can feel her side scrape the gutter and then they’re free falling.

***

One second Kelly’s on his hands and knees next to Stella talking about finding a hose and the next he’s being tugged out the window before he can even react- and after that he’s hitting water then the hard bottom of what’s probably a pool but he’s too disoriented to tell for sure, and the winds been knocked out of him so he can’t breathe. He fumbles under the ic ny cold water trying to find his footing so he can push himself to the surface with the weight of his gear and the sudden inability to breathe he can’t get himself righted and his mask starts to fill up with water. Panic isn’t a feeling he’s used to and the unnaturalness of it makes things worse. He can’t be panicking- but he is and that alone makes him want to panic more. 

A hand grabs him by the back of his coat and yanks him upward. His head breaches the surface of the water and no sooner than it has, Stella is knocking the helmet off his head and freeing his mask from his face. He gasps breathing freely at last as soon as she has the thing clear from his face. She’s laughing as she cups his cheeks in her hands for a second before hugging him close.

“Please tell me you knew there was a pool there,” he coughs, his teeth chattering together from the cold and buries his face in the shoulder of her wet bunker coat. That was close, too close, if she hadn’t grabbed him and taken that dive when she did they’d both be toast. So much happens on fire scenes- or any scenes for that matter. Any call could be your last. Life is too short, especially in this job. It’s too short for keeping secrets and having pointless fights and bottling things up- any second it could be over and there could be things left unsaid that shouldn’t be left unsaid.

“I’m going to refrain from answering that one,” Stella laughs, keeping one hand on the back of her neck. He can feel her shaking.

“Stella-”

“Are you guys okay?” Brett calls to them from the edge of the pool as they pull apart from each other just a little, but Stella keeps both hands on Kelly, steadying him almost, or maybe just hanging onto him to make sure that he is actually there and that they both did actually make it out the window. She looks amazed and worried

“We’re good,” Stella calls back as she looks him in the eyes. She’s still laughing and it’s probably her adrenaline still burning off.

“Stella-”

“What is this, round ten of me saving your ass? You should think about bringing me onto Squad-”

“Stella,” he chokes, a little louder this time. He can’t wait, maybe it’s the adrenaline, maybe it’s the fact they both just almost died (again), maybe it’s just all his feelings bubbling up inside of him all at once, but he can’t wait. He can’t wait for a weekend trip or a romantic date on a boat. “Stella I love you, and I’m sorry I spent the past couple days avoiding you. I was being an idiot, but I need you to know I didn’t mean to, I was just trying to figure something out-”

“Kelly, let’s not do this right now, we just survived jumping out a window to escape a flashover, let’s just-”

“Marry me.” Kelly blurts. He doesn’t want to wait a second longer. Stella’s eyes widen in shock like she’s completely taken off guard by the question. Even Kelly’s a little surprised with himself for throwing it out there so quickly and rashly and unromantically. He tries to think of a way to recover. “I mean- I love you Stella Kidd. In this job there are so many ups and downs and you never know what's going to happen- if you’ll make it home, but there’s one constant and that’s you. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you-”

“Yes! Kelly yes!” she gasps and grabs him and kisses him. “You idiot, yes I’ll marry you!”

“I was gonna ask you normally, I swear. I had the ring and a plan- ask Sylvie,” he mumbles, trying to justify what was probably one of the worst proposals in history. No one proposes on a fire scene.

“Is that why you were acting weird?” Stella asks, pulling away from him just a little. She looks relieved and amused.

He nods his head. He can’t stop shaking, and it occurs to him it’s probably because they’re standing in freezing cold water in January in Chicago. “I didn’t know how to do it, and didn’t mean to make you think something else was going on.”

“Kelly, it’s okay,” Stella promises, cupping his cheeks in her hands. There are tears in her eyes. “It’s okay.”

Then she’s hugging him again, and it’s the best feeling in the world

“We should probably get out of the pool now,” Stella says without lifting her head from where it’s tucking into his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he breathes. He can barely even feel the cold, either that or he just doesn’t care. The only thing that matters is that Stella said yes.

“You had one job, Severide,” Sylvie scolds, throwing a blanket over his shoulders as he climbs out of the pool behind Stella

“Yeah, and wasn’t it to get her to say yes?” he chuckles, shaking his head as the paramedic 

ruffles his wet hair fondly.

“You crazy idiot,” Brett says fondly, shaking her head with an amused smile. “Looks like you got the freezing cold and wet engagement after all.”

***

“You two are both going to get checked out at Med, right now,” Casey says as soon as Severide and Stella walk around to the front of the house with Brett escorting them. He’s just now able to breathe at a normal rate. He’d thought for sure that they were both goners. Gallo and Ritter too. But by some miracle they’d all managed to find a place to bail out before the flashover happened. It was all to close for comfort. “And probably taking the rest of the shift off.”

“Casey-”

“That’s an order, Severide. You and Kidd just took a dive out a second story window into a pool. You’re getting checked out-”

“No, Case, she said yes,” Severide says with a grin.

“Yes to- wait-” Casey breaks off astonished. Only Kelly Severide would ask the love of his life to marry him after jumping out a window into a pool in the middle of january.

“And I need a best man.”

“Come here you!” Casey cries joyously, and grabs Severide. He doesn’t even care that the lieutenant is sopping wet. After everything he’s been through he deserves this, Stella too. “Of course I’ll be your best man! Congratulations you crazy son of a bitch!”

Severide laughs and gives Casey a slap on the back. “I had this whole plan, and then that happened and it just popped out!”

“We’ll celebrate after shift, but you two still have to go to the hospital,” Casey says. He hasn’t seen Severide this happy in a long time, he’s laughing and can’t stop smiling.

“And you’ve still got a house fire to take care of,” Severide says, gesturing to the house. 

***

“Hey man,” Ritter says and sits down on the back bumper next to Gallo who is glaring into space. He looks angry and relieved all at once. “You okay?”

“We almost got cremated in there,” he says under his breath and shakes his head.

“But we didn’t, and hey, thanks for coming and getting me,” Ritter says offering his friend a water bottle. Gallo’s not the only one shaken up. Things could’ve ended really badly if Gallo hadn’t found him and if they hadn’t found that window.

“Of course,” Gallo says, finally blinking away his spacey expression to look over at Ritter, and rests a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll always come get you. I’m not leaving any more of my family to face fire alone.”

Ritter gives him a sad smile. “It’s that family, isn’t it?”

Gallo nods solemnly. “They just lost everything, and those kids might still lose their parents.”

“They got them out pretty quick, I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Ritter tries to sound reassuring, but the two parents had some pretty bad burns and severe smoke inhalation. Gallo turns away and keeps glaring, there’s something more bothering him than just the similarity to what happened to his family. “What else is bugging you?”

“It’s not just this family.”

“What do you mean?”

“The one on Christmas, the one with the three kids before that…” Gallo trails off and looks to the flaming house. Things seem to finally be dying down, 51 and the other engine companies on scene are hitting it with everything they got.

“Talk to me man,” Ritter presses. “You can’t bottle this stuff up or it’ll eat you alive.”

“I know, I just… I don’t know Ritter, something seems off to me,” he shrugs and takes a sip of water. “But I can’t put my finger on it. They’re all so familiar.”

“Because of the families?”

“No. Families live in houses, houses burn down. That’s not strange or out of the ordinary- so I mean I guess it is familiar, but not in the way I’m talking about,” Gallo replies, glancing at him.

“You think someone is setting these fires?” Ritter asks. He hasn’t noticed anything peculiar about the fires, they just seem like fires to him, different from the previous ones but just as deadly. But Gallo clearly sees a link between each of them, even if it’s just a gut feeling. He trusts his friend’s gut- that gut is what got them out of the fire today. And this fire almost got not only the two of them killed, but Severide and Kidd too, so even if it’s just a hunch, it’s a hunch worth looking into.

“I don’t know,” Gallo says and stands up. “I’m going to ask to stick around here to go over the scene with the arson investigator.”

***

“Chief, can I stick around and go over the scene with arson?” Gallo asks, approaching the chief as he waves 61 to leave the scene with Severide and Kidd.

“We’re a little short handed right now, Gallo,” Casey says without showing him a whole lot of attention. The chief looks happy and pleased- too happy and pleased for a chief that just almost lost four firefighters. “With Kidd going to the hospital truck is down to three people, so I can’t spare you. Sorry. But I’m not leaving 81 with a two man crew.”

“Chief, please,” Gallo pleads. He doesn’t know how to describe the chief, the feeling deep in his gut that there’s more to this fire, more to the other ones too.

“I can’t do it Gallo. I’ll let you know when arson finds the cause but I can’t spare you right now,” Casey says curtly, making it very clear that the conversation is over and that Gallo should go find something useful to do with his time.

“Yes sir,” Gallo mutters and starts to walk away but stops, not ready to roll over. “Chief, there’s something off about this, and the last couple fires we’ve had. I want to stay to look around for myself.”

Casey sighs. “You’re not staying, Gallo. We don’t have the man power. Besides, the reports for those fires already came out. They were accidental.”

“Chief, I’m telling you-”

“Gallo, this isn’t a discussion. And I know these fires probably hit close to home for you, but you’re not staying,” Casey says, shortly. He’s getting pissed, but so is Gallo.

“Don’t do that, please-”

“Gallo! We’re done talking about it. If you keep trying to argue, I will make you go sit in the truck.”

Gallo tightens his grip on his helmet that’s dangling from one hand. He wants to throw it, smash it against stuff, and shout, but he bites his tongue and decides to go help Ritter with his yard line instead.

“How’d it go?” Ritter asks, as he sets his stream on the house.

“He completely blew me off,” Gallo grumbles. “He’s going to regret it when I’m right.”

“That wasn’t a threat or anything right?” Ritter asks sheepishly.

“No, but he’ll see that I’m right,” Gallo replies and squats down on the hoseline behind Ritter to help him keep the thing steady.

“This call has been a lot, maybe when everything’s calmed down he’ll be more willing to talk about it,” Ritter suggests.

“I’m not holding my breath.”

***

“I just got off the phone with arson,” Casey says as Gallo slips into his office a couple hours after the fire. Matt had decided it was best for him to cool off a little before he tried going for round 2 talking about what happened on the scene with Gallo. “And they said it was an accident. The residents had a gas stove. The gas got left on and it got sparked.”

This seems to strike a cord with Gallo, but whatever the firefighter is thinking he doesn’t say it out loud. “What happened to the two parents?”

Casey ducks his head. He wishes he had better news on that front. “They didn’t make it.”

Gallo closes his eyes and lets out a slow breath.

“And I know you wanted to stay and look into that fire, but you have to understand where I’m coming from. And I can’t have you arguing with me on scenes.”

“And what about where I was coming from?” Gallo demands, he’s pissed and Casey can tell he’s trying to hold back shouting. It’s a valiant effort really.

“I have more firefighters to worry about than just you Gallo!”

“Yeah! And I’m not the only one who almost died back there! Ritter, Severide and Kidd were in there too!” Gallo claps back, finally losing his edge and raising his voice. “Just because everything ended up okay and you get to be your buddy’s best man doesn’t make that go away!”

“Go home Gallo.” Casey isn’t putting up with this. Gallo walks the fine line with insubordination just about every day, but he just took a flying leap over it. “And I would advise against saying anything else because I have yet to decide if I am going to write you up!”

“Fine! And maybe I’ll come back with a pink slip and transfer back to 90 where my captain at least listens to me!” Gallo snaps, raising his voice to a shout and before Casey can say anything else, he’s gone and closes the door behind him.

***

“I don’t mean to question your infinite knowledge, chief, but why’d you send my guy home?” Stella asks, slipping cautiously into Casey’s office. She can tell he’s still pissed about whatever went down in her absence. “Oh, me and Kelly got cleared by the way.”

“He crossed a line,” Casey says as Stella sets her and Severide’s discharge papers down on his desk.

“What kind of line?”

“Insubordination,” Casey replies, grudgingly. “He wanted to look into those fires, and then fought me when I said no.”

Stella nods her head. “Okay, but why not let him look into them?”

“I can’t let him now, that’d be rewarding bad behavior. He’ll make a habit out of it.”

“Chief, the kid’s got a good head,” Stella says after a moment of thinking. Arguing with the chief right now is risky, but she needs to have her people’s backs especially when they might be onto something. “Good instincts. Sure he’s a hot head too, but he’s not the only one.”

“What are you saying?” Casey sighs.

“If you think there’s a chance he could be right don’t let your hurt pride get in the way of letting him pursue it,” Stella replies coolly. “What if he’s right and you’re wrong and more people die? What if it’s one of us who dies next time?”

***

“Hey, You okay?” Ritter asks as Gallo opens the door for him. He came to check on his friend as soon as the shift got over. 

“Not really,” Gallo says, and he’s angry. It also looks like he hasn’t slept since getting kicked off the shift. “Casey won’t listen to me, and I’m right.”

“Maybe if you tried apologizing-”

“I’m not apologizing to him!” Gallo snaps, cutting Ritter off mid-sentence.

“Before you jump down my throat would you hear me out?” Ritter asks patiently, deciding not to be insulted by his friend’s harsh interruption. “You don’t have to actually have to mean it. You just have to make Casey think you do-”

“Why? So he thinks he’s right?!”

“No, because locking horns with him and having a full on bull fight with him obviously isn’t getting you anywhere. You dig in, he digs in. You have to take a different approach, because the one you're taking now is gonna get you fired.”

Gallo lets out a frustrated sigh. “An apology isn’t going to get him to let me investigate, especially since the case is closed.”

“It’s closed already?” Ritter asks. He decides it’s best not point out that if the investigation is already closed then it probably wasn’t arson.

“Yeah.”

“What was the cause?”

“A gas burning stove. The gas was left on and sparked a fire,” Gallo replies. “That’s how my house burned down.”

“But the other two fires were a christmas tree catching on fire and a burner being left on,” Ritter points out.

“I know, but there’s a connection. I just don’t know what because I haven’t been able to look at any of the scenes.”

“Have you tried asking Severide? He’s a genius at arson investigation, and he’s got connections,” Ritter suggests. The squad lieutenant seems to have an appreciation for following hunches, and he’s probably the best investigator in the city.

“You think he’d help?” Gallo asks, perking up. 

“I don’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Plus he was one of the people who narrowly escaped that fire, so he probably feels pretty strongly about it too.”

“We’d still have to get approval from a chief to reopen the case, and Casey’s made it pretty clear that’s not happening.”

“Maybe just investigate on the down low, you know keep it under the radar until you have something solid to give him that proves your right,” Ritter says. He’s not sure if Gallo is right about all this, but he’s going to have his back with it and be there for him. “But I’d try the apology route first.” 

Poetry for an Heiress, chapter 10

Word count: 3k

Summary: When a duchess and her children are abandoned far from home, they must rely on the kindness of one stranger to guide them home.

Warnings: None

Notes: This is the final chapter of Poetry, originally intended to be an epilogue. To those who have stuck to this story since the beginning, thank you. I am so appreciative of the support this story has gotten. I'm sorry I made you guys wait a month for this last chapter, but I promise I have smut coming soon to make up for it. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~

The leaves on the trees had just started to turn when you and Ezra were married. It turned out to be the last nice day of the year, with a clear blue sky and the last embrace of a warm breeze that blew through the garden.

Your mother and grandmother had wanted a spring wedding for you, as was traditional, but both you and Ezra decided on early autumn. It felt better for you two, closer, more personal.

The day of your wedding was perfect, not one single thing went wrong. It was as if Kevva themselves were smiling down upon you. 

Your children were so excited to find that they were going to be in your wedding. They could barely contain their excitement throughout the summer. Even the little trip you all took back to Muir for a few weeks to help Ezra pack his belongings and auction the farm couldn't distract them long enough from asking a million questions about the wedding. The only thing that seemed to pull them away long enough for you and Ezra to get a moment to yourselves was the promise of bringing the barn cat, Charlotte, and her six kittens back to the palace when you left. They wouldn't have to hunt for their food or sleep in the shed any longer, and the children were delighted at your allowing the cats to sleep with them.

The morning of the wedding, you woke to Marie crawling into bed with you and snuggling under your arm. 

"Mama," she whispered, "Are you awake?"

You chuckled and looked over at her, her curls messy and falling out of the braids she slept in. 

"Yes, my little bug, I am awake," you replied, brushing your knuckle along her cheek.

"I'm too excited to sleep, mama," she said, cuddling up to your chest.

"There's still time to sleep for a bit," you told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "It's going to be a busy day. Try to close your eyes."

"I know," she said with a yawn. "Grandmother said there was going to be sweets and dancing!"

"And we don't want to miss out on that, do we?" you teased, giving her a gentle shake. 

She shook her head. "Never! Though Mr. Ezra said he would save me extra sweets if I fell asleep."

You chuckled and gave her a hug. "You won't need to call him that anymore if you don't want to. You'll be able to just call him Ezra after today."

Marie grew quiet and you looked down, wondering if she fell back asleep in your arms. Instead, she peered up at you with wide eyes.

"Can I call him papa?" she asked softly.

You brushed some of her hair away from her eyes and smiled in response. "You can if you want, little bug. That is a question for him to answer, yes? Ask him tonight if he would be alright with that."

Marie's smile grew impossibly wider and she squeezed her little arms tighter around you. "Okay, mama!"

"Now get some rest, bug," you urged her. "I'll wake you when it's time to get ready."

A few hours later, you stood in front of the large doors of the ballroom, dressed in a pale pink and blue gown, hair swept off your neck in a delicate updo. You took a deep breath as the doors opened and you walked out into the garden, the familiar path lit by several colorful blown glass luminaries, winding through the stone walkway, leading you towards Ezra.

His hand was already outstretched as you approached and he smiled broadly when you stepped onto the altar to join him at his side. 

"You look beautiful," he whispered as he turned towards you. His eyes crinkled at the corners and you swore you saw tears in his eyes as he looked at you. "I am truly a lucky man, Princess."

Together, you turned to face the officiant as she read the ceremony to you both and to the small crowd behind you in the garden. She bowed low in front of you and Ezra before throwing the marriage veil over the two of you.

Ezra chuckled once the translucent shroud was draped over your heads, partially obscuring you both from the others. "Hi," he beamed, your hands still clasped in his between the two of you.

"Hi," you replied breathlessly, gazing up at Ezra. After a moment of silence,, you giggled and looked down at your joined hands. "We need to read the vows."

"Right, right," he said with a small nod. He cleared his throat and looked down at you. You both sucked in a breath and in unison, spoke your vows.

"I promise to stay by your side, through hardship and pleasure alike, to protect and praise you always, and keep the flames lit. To love the life we have, and the life we may create together now and forever more. For our lasting legacy, until the end of time."

As the final word was spoken, the officiant lifted the veil from your heads, revealing you both as one to the waiting crowd. 

Ezra cupped your face in his hand and kissed you deeply, not caring one bit that your family was watching. He knew he loved you from the moment he saw you in the cantina, scared and shaken, trying to feed your children. He wanted to be with you, even if you didn't care for him the same way he did for you. 

You threw your arms around him and returned his kiss with as much enthusiasm as he kissed you. You had never been more sure of anything in your whole life. This was what you had been waiting for. From the night you had been told of Rion's death, you had been waiting. Nothing had ever felt more right to you than in this moment. 

Music started up around you as the party began. Your children ran towards you, wanting to be a part of the festivities as well. Marie bounced on her heels and tugged on Ezra's sweater.

"Mr. Ezra," she said softly, looking almost shy. "I have something to ask you."

"Of course, birdie," he replied, bowing at the waist to talk to her. "How about you go and get us some cake and a drink? You can ask me anything you want." He brushed her cheek with his thumb and offered her a smile.

She grinned and jumped up and down before running off towards one of the many tables laden with treats. 

"Should I be worried?" Ezra asked as he watched her grab a massive piece of pink cake and duck through the crowd towards a high top table.

You chuckled and put your hands on Ezra's arm. "No more than usual, my love."

"I doubt there's anything that could ruin this day regardless," he hummed as he kissed you again.

"Mama!" Aiden cried as he shut his eyes. "Gross!"

"Mr. Ezra," Henry said, "My bow tie came undone, will you help me?"

Ezra chuckled and pulled away from your embrace. "While I can't tie much of anything these days, what I am able to do is show you how to do it yourself. Come on."

You smiled and ruffled Aiden's hair as Ezra led Henry towards the tent where the light was better. "Mama, you're not gonna do a bunch of that kissing stuff now, are you?"

"As much as possible," you teased. Aiden made a sour face and took off running towards the party. You shook your head and bounded after him, lightly threatening him with a dance should you catch him.

***

It was a few months after your wedding that you began to feel nauseous and lightheaded during your afternoon strolls through the garden with Ezra and the children. You chalked it up to the little bug that Henry and Aiden had come down with, but after it hung around for a week or so, Ezra insisted you talk to the doctor in the physician's wing. You had an idea as to the cause of your mysterious illness, but didn't voice your suspicions to your husband just yet.  

After a quick test, the physician confirmed what you had been thinking. You were pregnant. By his calculations, you were about two months along, maybe nine weeks or so. Still far too early to feel anything, but it didn't matter to you. You loved your child so much already and couldn't wait to tell Ezra and the children. With the children, you figured that you could wait to tell them for a while longer, just in case something were to happen, but Ezra would want to know immediately.

You found Ezra reading in the bedroom, sitting in bed with a book in his lap. He looked up and grinned when he saw you enter.

"That was a quick visit," he said, holding his arm out, beckoning you to join him.

You crawled onto the bed and smiled as you cuddled up to him. "Put the book down. I have some good news to share with you, my love."

Ezra slipped the bookmark between the pages and slid the book onto the bedside table. He rearranged himself on the bed beside you and turned to face you expectantly.

You took his hand and rested it against your belly, looking at him hopefully, excitement bubbling inside you, ready to burst. "I'm pregnant, Ez," you whispered. You bit your lip, nervously awaiting his reaction. It didn't occur to you that he might be anything but elated, or that perhaps you should have told him in a different way.

Ezra blinked a few times, processing what you had just told him. It was one of the few times you'd left him completely speechless. He barked out an excited laugh and surged forward to kiss you. "Pregnant! Princess, are you telling me I--- we are going to have a baby!"

You nodded and laughed as he kissed your cheeks, your mouth, your forehead, any spare inch of your skin that he could reach. "Yes, yes! The doctor confirmed it, but no one else knows. We mustn't tell anyone just yet!"

"Of course," he said quickly, "I can't hardly believe it!" He kissed you again and rolled over, dragging you on top of him. "Another bird to add to our flock, Princess! Imagine!"

***

Your daughter made her entrance into the world one late summer night, red and wailing and perfect, only a few hours after you went into labor while on a walk with Ezra and the children in the garden. The physician had warned you months ago that it was normal if your labor was so short, given that it was your fourth child, after all.

Ezra was by your side the entire time, encouraging you and coaching your breathing as you sat in between his legs. He let you squeeze his hand during contractions, right up until the midwife kicked him out when they were mere minutes apart. 

It wasn't long at all after the nurses shoved Ezra into the hallway that they opened the door again to proclaim the good news. A healthy baby girl.

As Ezra was let back in the room, he brought his hand to his mouth when he spotted you holding your child to your breast. He sat down beside you in the bed and stared at you both in awe. 

Your daughter turned in your arms, her bright eyes blinking sleepily in the dim light from the fireplace beside your bed. Her eyes were yours no doubt about that, but she had Ezra's beautiful, perfect mouth. Perhaps one day she would have his silver tongue to match.

Most notably, and what had first taken your own breath away, was the shock of dark hair that lay against her head. However, on her hairline was a downy tuft of fine white hairs, exactly like her father's. It had brought you to tears when you first spotted it as the midwife lifted her from between your legs. 

"She's perfect, Princess," he whispered, putting his arm over your shoulder. He rested his head against your temple and stared down at the tiny baby asleep in your arms. "What should we name her?"

"Eudora," you whispered after a moment of silence, glancing up at him, waiting for his reaction. 

Ezra was quiet, and for a second, you worried you had upset him. But he slowly moved his arm from around your shoulders to grip the baby's tiny hand in two of his fingers.

"Eudora," he said quietly, his voice breaking slightly. "That is a fine name, isn't it?"

"I never stopped thinking about what you'd told me the day you pulled me out of the water," you murmured, kissing the top of your daughter's head. "About your sister."

"Poor thing," he said softly. "I wish I'd gotten to meet her."

"I wanted to honor her," you said. "And your mother, if you'd like. For a middle name?"

"My mother," Ezra replied, brushing his thumb over the back of Eudora's tiny hand. "My mother's name was Rachel."

"Eudora Rachel," you said softly as you pressed your lips to her forehead. "Welcome to the world, my sweet girl."

Ezra wiped the tears from his eyes as he watched the two of you. He hadn't stopped grinning since the midwife came out and announced her birth. He couldn't believe that this tiny bundle sleeping in your arms was a part of him. It felt as though it could all disappear if he blinked. He feared he would wake up, back on the Green, that perhaps this was a dream brought on by the toxic dust that had seeped into his blood. But it was real. 

"Do you want to hold her?" you asked, nudging him with your shoulder. You smiled at his awestruck expression as he regarded your question, nodding slowly when you passed her over to him.

"Hello, little birdie," he said softly, shifting himself onto the bed so he could rest her carefully in the crook of his arm. "Hi, sweet girl. I-- I'm your dad. Happy birthday, angel."

You leaned against Ezra's shoulder and yawned, exhausted from bringing your daughter into the world. You let Ezra's gentle voice be a lullaby as you drifted off to sleep. Tomorrow, your children and your mother and grandmother would meet Eudora. Her birth would finally be announced to the world, introducing her as the newest princess. But for now, it was just the three of you, your husband by your side, your daughter sleeping in a bassinet by the fire. And it was absolutely perfect.

The next morning, you woke with Eudora's short, wailing cries for milk, which you provided happily. You were already untying the laces on your nightgown to bare your breast to her as you moved to her little crib to carry her back to bed.

Ezra had awoken with you, or perhaps maybe he had not slept at all. He watched you feed her and then change her with rapt attention, afraid to miss even a moment of his daughter's first hours of life. 

It was still very early in the morning, the moon had not yet gone down, the sun still far from reaching the horizon. It had only been a few hours since you had fallen asleep, the clock on the mantel let you know as much. But both you and Ezra stayed awake after that until the sun rose, leaning against one another as you watched your daughter sleep soundly between your bodies.

"She's perfect," he whispered, leaning over to kiss you. "She is such a tiny little thing, I'm afraid I would crush her."

"It always feels that way," you murmured. "But you won't."

"I can't stop looking at her," he said. "She has only just seen her first sunrise and I would already shoot a man dead for even looking at her."

"That feeling will never go away either," you chuckled, glancing back down at Eudora. You trailed your fingers over the fine white patch in her hair and smiled at the thought that she would carry her father with her always.

Ezra ran his fingers over the back of your hand and leaned over to press a kiss to your forehead.

"And you, Princess, how do you feel?" he asked, settling back to look at you.

"Wonderful," you replied, with a small smile. You heard the rapid pounding of feet in the hallway outside as your children raced to meet their new baby sister. Your mother opened the door and the children poured inside, already squealing with delight.

Ezra gently scooped Eudora into his arm so the children could get a closer, careful look at her. 

You looked at the five of them and smiled fondly at the new life you now had. It felt like a dream, perfect in every way imaginable. 

After a moment, Ezra set the baby down in her bassinet and rejoined you on the bed to watch the children as they peered into her little cradle. 

"Remember that night in the garden on Muir?" he asked, lacing his fingers in yours. "When I promised you I would always be there to read you poetry?"

You smiled and leaned against him. "I believe the phrasing was something about whispering poetry between my thighs," you said, your voice hushed.

Ezra chuckled and nodded. "That was indeed the phrase, yes. And I will keep that promise until the end of my days, Princess. I will write poems for you, for the children. For this little one." He looked over at the bassinet and smiled widely before turning to you again and kissing you sweetly. "All my love, Princess. And in a hundred years, they can tell stories of us, be inspired by us, and by our poetry."

~~~~~~

TAGLIST:

@the-feckless-wonder @gallowsjoker @phoenixhalliwell @waatermelon-sugaar @huliabitch @miscellaneous-mando @lestrange2703 @seasonschange-butpeopledont @auandromedus

Hello simps, my tumblr was not working for a PHAT while so now i am BACK!! I have part 2 of that Funtime Freddy X Reader. Ill include a link to the wattpad version below and a AO3 link coming soon.

So without further ado, here is chapter two, 'My Favorite~'

Y/n woke up the next morning to the blaring of her alarm clock. It was a rainy Saturday morning, her favorite kind of weather. She decided to take a walk, but then stopped at the sound of music. She followed it to her roommate's room.

"Tanisha? What's up, girlie?" Y/n said, peeking her head in. "I heard 'Call Out My Name' by The Weeknd and I assumed that wasn't a good sign. What’s up?"

Tanisha didn't respond. Y/n walked in and sat on her bed next to her. She looked at her outfit. She wore her fluffy black robe with a matching bonnet on her head. Her glasses were on her forehead and she had a frown on her face.

"'Nish, 'Nish?" Y/n said, poking her face. Tanisha started to smile. "Nisha, come on goofy, tell me what’s going on?"

Tanisha started to laugh and swatted her hand away. "Dang it, Y/n! Ugh, I got fired from my job. So now I don't know what to do, money-wise."

Y/n looked at her, sympathetically. "Oh no! Dude, I’m so sorry. What happened?"

Tanisha shook her head. "I don't even know. It came out of nowhere. They said I was underqualified even with my years of dedication into my field. They gave my job to the owner's son, WHO DOESN'T EVEN LIKE WHAT HIS FATHER DOES! Ugh."

Y/n sat in silence for a bit. Then her face lit up.

"You could work with me!" Y/n exclaimed. Tanisha looked at her like she was crazy.

"There is no way in God's green earth I'm cleaning up after some dirty kids. I don't even know where they have been. Girl bye." She said.

"You wouldn't be doing that. You could be my assistant! You would just be in the office taking calls, meeting with adults, making decisions, just stuff that I would be doing too! Kinda like my right-hand man."

"I don't know…You know what, why not? It beats sucking up to rude old people just to keep your job. Barely."

"That's the spirit, now go start on breakfast. I’ll be in the shower, then we'll switch. Oh and wear something business casual, ok? Ok, great, thanks!" Y/n said, running out the room and into the shower. Tanisha didn't even get a word in, so she trudged her way into the kitchen.

"Man, nothing gets the day started better than bacon and hashbrowns. Oh, would you look at the time! We gotta go!" Y/n said, getting up and putting her drink in a to-go cup. Tanisha nodded and finished her bite and got up from the table. She grabbed a big purse and threw on some sunglasses. Y/n looked at her outfit. Tanisha had on a black long-sleeved button-up shirt paired tucked into a pair of black bootcut slacks and simple black heels. Her hair was pulled into a low bun and her baby hairs were laid down. All paired with gold hoops, a black and gold belt, and clear lipgloss.

"You look hot. Are you ready?" Y/n said, turning for the door.

"Well hold up now. Lemme see you, bestie!" Tanisha said. Y/n laughed and turned around. She had on a black, mid-thigh length cable knit dress paired with a silver statement necklace and black ankle heeled boots. She wore her hair in [whatever style you would wear it in] with her favorite hair clip. It was a pink pig with a blue butterfly on its nose.

"Oooh! You cute, now let’s go!" Tanisha said. They both walked out of their house and into Y/n's car.

Y/n pulled into the Circus Baby's Pizza World parking lot. Both girls hopped out and started into the building.

"Now, for your first duty, you will be following me around and making a checklist. These are things I need to upgrade and change around here. So you can start with Repaint the outside sign. Just look at it." Y/n said, unlocking to door. "Also, Install Ring door system. Just so I can monitor the pizzeria inside and out when I'm away."

Tanisha pulled out her phone and jotted both things down. Both girls headed to the office. They set their bags on the desk and Tanisha kicked her heels off. Y/n walked out and started down towards the kitchen with Tanisha following close behind.

"Hmm." Y/n said, looking around. "It looks clean in here, so that’s good."

She opened the refrigerator and looked around. She observed the balls of pizza dough wrapped up and containers of various pizza toppings.

"Put down Add salad bar and Add 'make your own pizza station'. I think that would be nice. Also, put down, Have day shift clean ovens and microwaves every 2 days, after each big party. That may change later. Now, I have to test each animatronic for their showtime audios and what not. While I'm doing that, you can look in each room and write down anything you think needs to be tweaked, upgraded, or added in. Okay?" Y/n said as she walked out and towards Funtime Auditorium. Tanisha nodded and walked into the Circus Gallery. Y/n flicked on the light and walked to the control panel next to Funtime Freddy's stage. She took out a pen and a mini notebook and pressed the blue button. Y/n watched the stage lights flash on and off and music began to flare from the two big speakers towards the stage. A voice spoke from behind a curtain. The voice sounded very much excited.

"Okay! L-ladies and g-g-gentlemen, boys and girls-s, its time for the Funtime-time Freddy show-ow!" The voice glitched, ending a psychotic giggle. Y/n rested her chin in her hand while a pen laid in her other. She began writing on the pad. FunFred's voice is glitchy, have someone repair it. She set it down and looked to the stage. The curtain moved aside to reveal the Freddy animatronic, moving about.

"Hey, Freddy!" The little bunny hand puppet exclaimed and crossed his arms, "You forgot to introduce me to everyone. Hmph!"

"Oh Bon Bon, I would never forget about you! You're my best friend! Everyone, this is my best friend in the entire world, Bonnie the Bunny. But everyone calls him 'Bon Bon'. Say hello Bon Bon!"

"Hello everybody!" The bunny cheered, but he looked around.

Y/n picked up on this and wrote it down in her notebook. Bonnie’s hand puppet acts as an extra set of eyes. Maybe to scan the room to see how many people are present? She set her pen down and looked back up. The bunny was still looking around the room.

"Freddy, where is everybody? I don't see anybody" Bon Bon said, holding his paw to his nose. Freddy looked around the room too.

"Oh Bon Bon, you silly goose, there someone is! I see you over there in the dark! Come on out!"

Y/n looked around. ‘Of course, he’s talking to me, I’m the only other one in the room’, she thought. She got up from her seat in the back and sat closer to the stage.

“Wh-what’s your name-your name?” Freddy asked. Y/n furrower here eyes in confusion.

“Its...Y/n?” She said, tapping her leg with the pen.

“Y-Y/n! That’s such a fun name! Don’t you think so, Bo-Bon Bon?”

“Yep!”

Y/n squinted and smiled and continued watching the show.

======

“Hey, I’m done. What now?” Tanisha said opening the door. She heard Y/n’s laughing sound all through the auditorium and through the halls. She stepped in and walked towards her.

“Are you ok? I haven’t heard you laugh like this in a while. What’s so funny?” Tanisha asked, looking at her. Y/n didn’t answer, instead, she pointed to the stage, wiping a tear.

“Girl this stage show is so funny! I might have to spend more time here!” Y/n said, taking a breath. “When we get back, you gotta tell me what you saw and what changes need to be made. Tanisha nodded in response. Freddy heard the complements Y/n gave and wiggled his ears.

“Girl isn’t he so cute! I think I found my favorite performer.” Y/n said, resting her chin in her hand. Tanisha watched the show with her friend up until it was time to go.

“Don’t you have to shut him off?” She asked. Y/n nodded and got up.

“Yeah, but I don’t know how...Maybe it’s this red button.” Y/n said. Freddy was still talking to Bon Bon, but he tracked her with his eyes. The walked to the button and pressed it. A loud crackling noise sounded through the room. Both girls looked to the stage to see Freddy and Bonnie on their stage, not moving, frozen. Y/n’s mouth was agape for a moment.

“Did I just...zap him?” She asked. Tanisha was stunned too.

“Uhhh. I think so. Let’s go through, the vibe in here just shifted.” Tanish said walking backward and going back to the office. Y/n’s face fell but shifted to confusion at what her roommate said. She shrugged it off and walked closer. She grabbed Freddy’s hand.

“I’m so so so sorry. I didn’t know that would happen…” She whispered.

She let go and walked out of his room and towards the office.

Hey so I saw you mention top surgery and was curious. I was supposed to be having top surgery this summer but that’s postponed. I was curious how that went with chronic pain? I’m scared about the surgical binder with my fibro and back pain. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated!! (You can answer privately if you prefer)

ive actually been meaning to write up a big post on this pretty much since i had top surgery but still haven't got around to it yet so I'm happy to talk about it lol. ill go over stuff now n still aim to do a more in depth post later when im on my laptop (but writing this now bc i tend to forget everything haha). ill stick to the more fibro / chronic illness specific stuff & stuff i wasnt expecting rather than rehashing everything. apologies im on mobile so i cant put this under a cut

firstly, im sorry ur surgery got postponed! i know that must be gutting, so i hope it gets rescheduled asap & the time until then passes easily for u ❤️

I had double incision with free nipple grafts on the 4th of september 2019 with Mr Miles Berry at the london wellbeck hospital. i think he did an amazing job and can't recommend him enough for his work! i think the last pics i took of my chest were for tdov, and ill rb them after i post this for reference. i didnt have drains at any point of the surgery

for ppl with fibro, i was told that the pain after surgery either tends to trigger a flareup, or be really easily manageable, and it's hard to predict which it will be beforehand. its best to prepare for a flareup and be pleasently surprised if u dont get one. for me, i had a flareup that sucked but wasnt too bad as far as flareups go

you'll probably get given painkillers. take them regularly. it's easier to treat pain preemptively. if u don't get given them (no idea how it works outside of the uk) id say def get codine and paracetamol. u can't take ibuprofen for a while

i woke up from aneasthetic freezing cold + in a lot of pain. apparently most ppl dont need the full dose of morphine, but i did. after that it was a bit better. i was just So Goddamn Hungry literally it's all i was talking about

that night in hospital was probably one of the most uncomfortable in my life. you have to sleep sitting up for like blood reasons, so my back pain was quite bad bc of it. moving around a bit and adjusting pillows helped. if u have anything that normally helps ur back pain bring it with u to the hospital, & dont be afraid to ask the nurses for help with it (even if they can just adjust ur pillows for u). i couldnt rly sleep much but distraction helps. bring ur phone + headphones. i did a few ask memes when i couldnt sleep

the first week from surgery was rly tough, the first few days especially. this was bc i still had to sleep elevated for a few days and i couldnt get comfortable. i was too exhausted to do anything but couldn't sleep and it rly started to get me down. then i got some sleeping tablets (just nytol) and that helped so much. i literally cannot recommend it enough bc the not sleeping properly made everything hard (and like esp because with fibro the whole pain/fatigue/depression cycle is so real). once i started sleeping better recovery became a lot easier, and the tablets made the awkward sleeping positions more manageable. if i had to give only one bit of advice this would be it

on that note, ik everyone says this but do get a V pillow. it helps u adjust to sleeping on ur back and if u sleep on ur side normally it means u can like lean slightly sideways on it which makes it sm easier. also this isn't even top related but they make good back pillows when ur watching stuff in bed even now

get urself some video games (if ur into them) and easy entertainment shows lined up for when u wanna have them. recovering from major surgery makes ur fatigue even more pronounced so ur not going to be able to do all that much, but having light entertainment ready to go stops u getting as bored. its also a good excuse to finally play/watch the things you've been meaning to for a while

go outside when u can. if u have a garden just walk around it. it helps with a lot of stuff, and idk about u but i always forget how much it does. even just helping u sleep better if u get trapped in a fibro fatigued-but-can't-sleep cycle. and it goes so far helping u feel human in the first week

the first week is rly hard for a lot of ppl - its frustrating to have all that pain and exhaustion and not being able to wash or change the binder, and with the swelling and bandages under the binder it doesn't really feel like there's much change, which all sort of adds together. i keep going on about this week bc it helps to mentally prepare for it - there's no need to dread it, you just need to remind urself how worth it itll all be and that the rest of recovery is a lot better than the first part, and in time it won't have seemed that bad. big picture stuff

when u get the chest reveal, everything's better. i didnt stop smiling. and when u put the post op binder on afterwards, without all the bandaging, u like feel for the first time how much flatter u are??? and its amazing. even with the swelling. and then u get to shower and u feel human again and its great. (ik some ppl have their post ops/chest reveals much earlier than a week, but 5 days to a week is pretty standard in the uk. mine was 6 days i think)

more post op binder stuff: i got given 2. the first one i woke up in after the surgery and wasn't allowed to take off until my post op, and the second one i got given at my post op to change into after i showered. After that i alternated every few days. whatever u get given, if u get less than 2 i recommend getting another one so u can alternate them (if u want help sourcing them hmu. ive also still got mine i need to give away)

the post op binders were actually a lot easier to wear full time than normal binders. they were like more stretchy, and stretchy the full way round (bc they dont have the compression bit at the front). i used to sleep in my normal binder every time i slept with my ex, and that hurt like a motherfuck sometimes. the post op binder was much kinder to my ribs

i had to wear the post op binder full time, taking it off like once a day to shower n let my chest breathe (and massage my scars once i started that). some surgeons arent that strict abt wearing it that long, but it really helps swelling, & bc i didnt have drains it was rly important to stop fluid buildup. ik quite a few guys in my trans groups who stopped wearing their binder fairly early and then got quite a lot of swelling so i didn't want to risk it & i wore it for the full 6 weeks. at some point (icr when but maybe at 6 weeks? bc my post op was at 8 weeks bc he was on holiday) i didnt wear it during the day and only wore it at night

all in all the binder didnt bother me that much. it was more comfortable than my regular binders and i just kinda got on with it. it was annoying tho and i was glad when i could stop wearing it. for me the most annoying part was that it was a full length binder (i always wore half length before) and the riding up at the hips was rly irritating. i actually quite liked sleeping with it tho it was a pretty nice pressure stim ahah

some post op binders r more comfortable than others. if u have to buy ur own, i rly suggest going with a proper surgical one (they arent too hard to find second hand for free or cheap, again im happy to help here) bc they're kinder to chronic pain. i know that having a comfortable post op binder made it all a lot easier for me. there are also lots of alternatives w lots of price ranges tho, so that's not ur only option

ok i think thats everything right now! sorry its so long, but let me know if u have any questions!!

finally: before i got top ppl told me that its honestly life changing, and i didnt realise how true that would be. literally every single aspect of my life is at least partially better because of it, and most of them drastically so. I'm really excited for you to get that for yourself, and im wishing u all the best for it 💕

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 30: Taking Stock

On Wednesday, Ren decided to stock up on materials needed for the infiltration. First she paid a visit to Takemi’s clinic to grab some medicine. “Hey doc” she said, upon entering.

“Well well, how’s my favorite guinea pig?” Takemi responded.

“Well, we just got done with midterms, so that’s a load off my shoulders” Ren said.

“That’s nice to hear,” Takemi said. “Say, if you have time, I could use your help today.”

Well, I wasn’t planning on going after Madarame right away. “OK” Ren answered.

Takemi smiled. “This is why you’re my favorite guinea pig.”

“Don’t tell me you have a side guinea pig” Ren smirked. Morgana snuck out of her bag to roam around while this was all happening.

Takemi chortled. “Alright, step into my office.” Ren opened the door. “And as much as I would like to, no, I don’t have a ‘side guinea pig’. I’m afraid you’re the only one for me.”

Ren giggled and she stepped in. She liked Dr. Takemi. She had her sense of humor. Although at the same time, that worried Ren a little. People with her sense of humor typically didn’t get it from a society that cares about them. At least according to her experience.

Once Ren had sat down, Takemi offered her a new dose of medicine. “Here. It’s been refined since last time.” Ren looked at the medicine. “Whenever you’re ready.”Ren swallowed the medicine. Almost instantly, she passed out.

Ren woke up sometime later. “Ughhhhhhh” she said, getting out of it.

“So, how do you feel?” Takemi asked.

Ren blinked a few times. “I’m feeling alright, I guess. This all feels sudden compared to last time.”

“Hm, I see. I should take note of that.” Takemi began writing down notes. Her office got a phone call. She picked up. “Hello?...Yes, this is a medical clinic...What?...I’m sorry, but this place is ill equipped to deal with such an emergency...Yes, I understand...Very well. Bring them to the Takemi Medical Cli-...Heh. They hung up on me.” She put the phone down.

“That sounded kind of serious,” Ren said.

“Oh, don’t worry. There’s a hospital nearby, and the patient in question will be fine waiting a little longer to get there” Takemi explained. “Still, all it took was for them to know my name to hang up on me.” She sighed.

“You alright?” Ren asked.

“Yeah. I’m used to it at this point” Takemi lamented.

“You wanna talk about it?” Ren asked.

Takemi looked at her. “Why not?” she answered. “Remember how that officer called me ‘The Plague’?” Ren nodded. “Well, before this job, I used to work at a prestigious hospital. However, I got blamed for a medical error that nearly cost a patient their life. I was forced to resign and was given that nickname.”

Ren thought for a moment. “Did you cause it?” Takemi looked at her. “The medical error, I mean…”

“Well, that’s what the reports say,” Takemi said.

“But did you do it?” Ren insisted.

“Why does it matter?” Takemi said, defensively.

“Because… I might also have experience getting blamed for something I didn’t do…” Ren said solemnly.

Takemi looked at her. “I see... “ She came over and gave Ren a hug. “I didn’t do anything either. It’ll be OK.”

Ren was stunned. She then reciprocated the hug. “Yeah. I’m sure everything will be OK for you too.”

They let go. “Hm” Takemi chuckled. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’m quite content here for now.”

“Eh, miracles could happen” Ren reminded her.

“Miracles, huh” Takemi said. “As a doctor, I’m more on the scientific side of things. But if one were to happen, I’d take it.”

“I getcha,” Ren said.

“So, what's your crime?” Takemi asked.

“Oh, well…” Ren hesitated. “Um, someone said that I assaulted them when I didn’t…”

Takemi stared at her. “If you can tell me their name, I can make it look like an accident.” Ren was shocked. “That was a joke of course. I’m a doctor. I heal people, not kill them.”

“Oh. He he” Ren laughed nervously.

“But if you ever need help proving your innocence again, don’t hesitate to call me” Takemi assured her.

“Thanks,” Ren replied.

“Well, in any case, I’m going to need to go over your results,” Takemi said. “Is there anything you need?” Ren nodded and made her purchases. “Very well. You’ve been a tremendous help today. Both in terms of the test, and just being a friend for me. It’s been a while since I’ve felt good about things. Maybe once this medicine gets done, I can hold my head high again.”

“I’d like to see that,” Ren said. “Thank you.”

Death-Tae Takemi: Rank 3

Later, Ren headed down Central Street and made her way towards Untouchable. She walked in and bought some equipment. “Psst” Morgana whispered. “Are you going to ask about the gun?” Ren nodded and turned back to the shopkeeper.

Before Ren could say anything,the store owner spoke up. “By the way, change of plans. You can keep the bag. It’d be a hassle for you to bring back.”

“I see,” Ren said. “To be honest, I… kind of opened the bag. From what I saw, it looked pretty cool.”

The owner looked at her. “You think?”

Ren nodded. “And I was kind of wondering, would you be able to sell me that kind of stuff in the future?”

The shopkeeper’s attention was now fully on her. He looked her up and down. “Step into the back please.” Ren felt a little nervous, but played along anyway. This man didn’t give off the same kind of energy Kamoshida did, and even if he was a creep, she wouldn’t feel the need to hesitate and punch him. As Ren entered, the man followed her in. He closed the door. “Alright, what are you up to?” he asked.

Ren looked at him. “I’m just an enthusiast.”

The man glared at her. “Please, I know you’re up to something. You wouldn’t have come to me with that medal if you were just an enthusiast.” He sighed. “But then again, whatever it is you’re up to can’t be all bad.” Ren was curious. “You didn’t rat me out to those officers when you sold that medal to me.”

“We had a deal, didn’t we?” Ren said.

“Yeah, but you could have gone back on it” the owner said. “You had the money already. You had what you needed.”

“Yeah, but then where would I go for fake weapons that are this good in quality?” Ren responded.

“Heh” the shopkeeper said. “Flattery will only take you so far, but I’m a sucker for it. Alright, I’ll hear you out on this. You don’t need to tell me anything necessarily, but this kind of transaction needs to be built on trust.”

Ren looked at him. “Do you have anything in mind?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking, if you help me out, I can help you out as well” the owner said. “But you also have to understand, I don’t need to answer any questions either, go it?”

“Got it,” Ren said.

“Hm. A fast learner. I like that” the man said.

“A lot of people seem to,” Ren replied.

“So that’s the deal then. You work for me, and I’ll give you access to the secret menu” the shopkeeper said. “Is there anything I should know about before the deal becomes final?”

Ren felt a little bad. “Well, if you’re having problems with the police, then I doubt it would be helpful for me to be here too often. I have an arrest record after all.”

“Heh. Join the club” the owner said. “I doubt whatever they have you on is much compared to me. If any officer comes around, chances are they’re after me. Still, it’s nice that we have this connection. Adds another layer of trust, you know?” Ren giggled. He reached out his hand. “Munehisa Iwai.”

Ren shook his hand. “Ren Amamiya.”

“Well Ren, pleasure doing business with you” Iwai said.

I am thou... Thou art I… Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Hanged Man Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

Hanged Man-Munehisa Iwai: Rank 1

“It’s getting kind of late right now, so you don’t need to do anything today,” Iwai said. “Just be sure to stop by whenever I need help.”

“Got it,” Ren said. They exchanged contact information, and Ren headed back to Leblanc for the night.

I felt it, it was perfect→T.H

Parings→ Tom Holland x reader

Summary→ you and tom have a stump in your relationship which causes you both to seek therapists and find a way to fix yourselves again

Warnings→ angst, mentions of drug use, cursing, mentions of sex, mentions of anxiety

A/n→ I’ve had this in my drafts for about two weeks and now I’m finally posting it so here you go and enjoy!! Also yes, the title is from black swan

“Why don’t we start from the very beginning of that’s okay with you, Yes?” The woman asked setting down her phone with the recording app opened, you had twiddled with your shirt, the shirt that tom always—once loved.

“Well,” you take a deep breath looking around the room trying to find the perfect place to start, because that’s what you guys were perfect. “We met at a bar...”

It was true, you met at a bar, a karaoke one to be exact. You were drunk out of your mind singing Beyoncé on stage with your best friends when the boy with the stray curls and beer in his hand caught your eye. He was really the only one paying attention, everyone else was drinking and having their own fun. You still don’t exactly know why he was at a karaoke bar especially when he would hardly ever sing for you. All you could truly remember from that night was getting so drunk and then going home with the boy which would start your whole new life.

“We move in together around a year maybe a year and a half later...” you trailed trying to remember everything, she nodded.

“Right, and is that where things got tough? The year mark?” She asked looking up at you.

“No, god no, we were just starting. We were everyone’s favorite, I mean we were being to become perfect.”

You two were perfect, in the eye of the press, in the eye of your friends, you two were pulled straight out of a fairytail. It was too good to be true, everything comes to a end was all you had to remind yourself, even Perfect things come to an end.

~

“So tom, you said you’ve been feeling worst? Why’s that?” The man asked lighting his cigarette and huffing out smoke, Tom smoked when he got stressed, so of course he pulls out a cig and lit one up. The taste of cigarettes were still bitter, he hated them but they gave him a warmth that he was missing when he was sad.

“We’re lost, I don’t even think were a couple anymore...” he looked down.

There were too many fights, too many. Hell, tom got mad last week that you forgot to take the trash out to the dumpster and you got pissed because he forgot to get strawberries at the store. Children, you guys acted like children. He swore that Sam and Harry acted like this when they were four. He was so shocked yet so angry and he couldn’t tell why. He didn’t know what was happening.

“We haven’t touched each other in weeks, I mean I haven’t even felt what her lips feel like about a month.” He admits, he didn’t want to tell Harrison, he thought Harrison wouldn’t even believe him because he knew how much tom love you, so he was telling the man in front of him right now.

“Well, sometimes this happens, couples get angry and don’t know how to act around each other and it takes time and understanding.” The therapist says, he was right but tom hated that he was right.

“But we’re not married, we’ve only been dating for over a year and I know her and she knows me. I know that happens to married couples who have been together for like 30 years or some shit and get tired of each other.” He admits as he takes in his cigarette and then blows out. The last time he smoked so much was when he was starting to become a true actor, he had big roles and didn’t know how to handle hate and press.

~

“He use to do this thing for me,” You look down and smile at the memories. “Every Sunday he’d get up really early to leave the house and go get coffee from my favorite place, he’d then come back in bed and I’d wake up with hot fresh coffee next to me.” You say and she nods.

“Were you still able to talk good with each other at that point?” She shifted her body and you only rolled your eyes. Not on purpose it was just a point needed to be made.

“Yeah whatever that means. We fight over stupid shit now, last week he yelled at me about trash! I mean to be fair I yelled at him for strawberries. I don’t even know where the anger came from, I can’t blame it on hormones, I don’t know if it’s my stress or his stress on me—“before your could finish she put up her hand.

“What do you mean by his stress?” She asked. She might’ve actually been able to help and all your sessions might add up.

“He’s an actor, he’s gone all the time. When he’s home he wants to be with friends and family which I completely understand but sometimes I feel as if I’m in the corner or if I’m an accessory. When he slides under the sheets at night he doesn’t kiss me nor does he try and touch me like he use to. It feels forced, he’s forcing himself to like me.” You tell her truthfully. You couldn’t help the word vomit at this point.

“I think you’re both sacred.” She sets her clipboard down. “Well, let’s start off with your age. You are both 22 I’m assuming? You’re young and excited to be adults and have all the fun you can before you have to face a bunch of responsibilities. I think you two do love each other, I think that the two of you both worry that one is going to leave.” She explains, everything was starting making sense.

She could’ve been right, or so wrong. When tom came home for the first time back from press he touched you like a starved man, you two fucked in every single place in the flat you could find. Then the two of you fell asleep in your bed and woke up the next morning and did it again. When tom came back for the 5th time it was different, only a hug at the airport and then tom passing out when you got home. That wasn’t perfect, this was no longer perfect.

“(Y/n)? Are you listening?” She asked and you snapped out of your thoughts.

“Yes, Yes, Of course. But he acts like he is going to leave or I’m going to leave when all I do is sit and wait until he comes home. I don’t cheat I don’t go out and flirt with other men.” You start to feel yourself heat up. You start to feel the anger you often Times now feel with tom.

~

“You sound like you’re scared.” The man writes down.

“Oh yeah? Of what?” His voice was bitter, if this is how he talke to you he hoped you’d leave him. the man sets down his clipboard and looks tom in the eyes.

“You’re scared of her leaving you—“ tom rolled his eyes and put out his cigarette.

“Bullshit.” He said leaning back in the leather chair.

“Mr. holland hear me out. You leave a lot on press, you’re a young actor with plenty attention on you. She knows that all too well because when you’re out in America selling your movie she’s sitting at home watching you do that and she’s watching people fall in love with you and it is very easy for people to see that when one is getting more attention they feel that they don’t need their attention anymore.” He sighs and tom comes to realization. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah,” He feels his heart in his chest pumping so fast he worries that his therapist can hear it. “You know last week I watch her take Xanax, I know she has anxiety and she needs it sometimes but she promised me she only takes it when things gets serious. She told me that when we moved in then shoved it in the back of our medicine cabinet. Last week I found it in her bedside table, new prescription too. That hurt the most, she didn’t even tell me.” He hurts himself with his own words and wonders why you can’t talk to him, he’s pushing more.

“Have you taken anything for anxiety and depression Mr. Holland?” He asks holding out his clipboard again.

“Yes,” He says blandly. “When I was a kid my mum put me on medicine for when I was acting so I wouldn’t have a panic attack in the middle of a scene. I went off of it when I was 16 and then got a new prescription when I was 20. I haven’t touched it since then, it’s most likely expired.” He says looking at the cars out the window.

“Well,” he writes down really quickly before looking at tom. “I think you should start taking medicine again. It’s only for the best, if you want to run it though with her then—“ tom needed to speak, needed to tell someone about the small box hidden in the house.

“I was going to ask her to marry me.” He gulps and takes a swing of his water. “I bought a ring before press and it was perfect, it was simple silver and heart shaped. She’s a sucker for those things, classy, straight out of s movie type stuff. Took me a long ass time to find just the perfect one and then I did, it was gorgeous. Then I came back for the 5th time and I was going to do it, I was going to ask her but then she got weird which made me mad and then her mad and I think—“ tom choked on his own tears.

“Are you okay?” The man slid over tissues in case he needed any.

“No, I love her so much and it’s my fault.” Tom says as he continues to look at all the cars passing by and all the people walking.

“I don’t think this is you’re fault at all.” He says. “Our time is up, sadly. But I’m open tomorrow if you want to come back, I’m free at 12:50 if that’s good with you. If not then I’ll see you Thursday. I want you to try and have a proper conversation without getting mad at each other.” He notes and tom gets up from his seat.

“Thank you.” He nods before exiting the room.

~

“You’re not on any drugs, correct?” She asks writing.

“What? As in prescription or just like weed?” You ask her and she laughs a little.

“I meant prescription. Like any anti—depressants or anxiety medication, or even if you have an illness that requires daily meds. Even if it’s just as simple as allergy medicine.” She gesture and you shake your head but then remember the Xanax you took last week to help yourself de-stress.

“Well, no, and yes, I took Xanax last week but that was just to help myself calm down. After our trash fight we got a little more intense and we just were yelling and screaming and I had an attack so I took some then fell asleep.” You told her and she nodded.

“Right, was that perscribed to you?” She asked and you nodded.

“Oh yes, I didn’t just buy it off of a stranger. I use to take it more but after I met tom I didn’t need to at all and I was somewhat perfect.” You told her.

“Right, Perfect. You use that word a lot Mrs. (y/l/n), no human is perfect, no animal, no art work, no place, no man Is perfect. I need you to let that go if we can move on.” She says sternly. She was right, of course she was right.

“Right, no one is perfect.” You gulp and move your hair. You felt perfection though, perfection was in tom. Tom could make you feel perfect.

“That’s a beautiful ring, did he give it to you?” She asks and you look down at the ring you still wore. ‘Never take this off because I promise I’ll always be there no matter where I am’.

“Yes, he did. It’s a promise ring.” You fiddled with it. She got up and walked over to her bookshelf and handed you a book.

“I want you to read this,” She hands you a book a child’s book to be exact. Well, if you chose to read it too your child. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the dance swan lake, this is the book version. It shows what two do for love and I think it’ll help you understand more.” She smiles and you stand up.

“Thank you, so much.” You smile at her.

“You’re welcome, our time is up though and i want you to talk with him.” She smiles at you as you grab your bag and reach for the door.

“Thank you once again.” You say as you leave and she smiles and waves you out.

~

“Tom?” You call out setting your keys on the table. “Tom I—“ You got cut off by the smell of coffee brewing. Coffee from your favorite place in London.

“What are you doing?” You asked him as he brewed the coffee and flipped pancakes.

“I got home early and decided to make you pancakes.” It was 4:30 in the afternoon. He never did this anymore so why now?

“Right?” You day and lean against the counter. “How was your day?” You ask trying to start a conversation. No arguing tonight.

“Good actually, yours?” He said. This was a start, this was all a start.

“Good, I got to write and oh! I saw this man with this Spider-Man shirt that reminded me of you because it was totally made for a seven year old.” You laugh and he does too. He was laughing with you. The sound that you missed so much.

“That’s so funny because I saw a man in a Spider-Man shirt too that was far too small for a man.” He joke with you.

“Can we talk about things?” You asked and he nodded and turned off the stove.

“I know about the Xanax, I’m sorry I made you so stressed I made you take drugs.” He has tears in the corner of his eyes.

“I could say the same about you, didn’t know you smoked.” You told him and he nods, you could smell it.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m such a shitty boyfriend and you’re the perfect girlfriend. I leave and you wait and I don’t know why you wait.” He leans against the stove and sets the spatula down.

“Because I love you.” You told yourself more then you told him. “I mean I love you a lot and I don’t want to let go of the people I love a lot.” You tell him and he Steps in front of you.

“I love you too. And I’m sorry we’re so distant, that drives me insane to most.” He tells you and you let your fingers rest on his shoulder.

“Do you wanna know what drives me crazy?” You asked him and he nodded. “I talk to you like your my co-worker. I can’t carry a proper conversation with you and it’s not your fault anymore then it is mine but that’s what drives me insane, because you’re not my co-worker and I want to tell you everything but I can’t for some reason.” You tell him and he wraps his arms around your waist.

“Yeah,” he nods. “I get that.” He gulps before you rest your head on his shoulder. You couldn’t even get a tear out because you were so done with crying that your body wouldn’t allow you to cry anymore.

“Hey,” you push back his curls getting a full good glimpse at his face. “I miss you.” You whisper for only him to hear. “Like I miss you miss you.” You smile and he smiles big back.

“I miss you miss you too.” He says before he leans into kiss you.

And you felt it, it was perfect again. His lips were still the same and you knew they weren’t touched in anyway possible, infact they stayed the same just for you. His touch was still gentle as if his fingers waited for your skin again. And his eyes, oh his eyes stared at you as if it was the first time all over again.

“I have so many things to say to you.” He lifted you up from the ground for you to wrap your legs around him. “So much I have to tell you about, America is a crazy place.” He laughs a little and you do too.

“I do too, we have a new front desk woman at work, she’s so lost and scared I feel so bad but at the end of the day I know she’s doing it for the health insurance.” You giggle. He was ready to tell you everything again, he needed to tell you everything again.

“I want to hear your stories so bad but right now, I want to be in between your legs and make love to you until you can’t walk.” He smirks and you do too before you allow him to dive into your neck and kiss while he walks you to the bedroom.

Everything doesn’t come to an end, sometimes it does but most of the times it’s just a pause. You and tom had a pause, there’d never be a true end to you and tom because that was simply impossible.

Taglist; taglist: @lynnbeaan @actorsdamn @your-daily-dose-of-fangirl @sunshine-peter @ironspiderguy @mdgrdians @dreamymeliorism @roaringgoodshow @built4broadway @strugglinggryffindorkid @1mychalia1 @grace-sully @didanyonesaybuckybarnes @embrace-themagic @bloodysleepy @thebonanamuffin @thellamalordd @flowerchild8341 @cade-james @random-stupid-stuffs @joyfulspider @sad-broken-crayon @mylinkmyrules @carry-on-ms-believer @queenmissfit t @skeletalwolfcat t @gingerpeachyy @condy-wants-a-cookie @dennythepooh @zon-chan @fandom-fangirl07 @gabriels-gumdrop @whatam3ss @jamaicaa-blakee @thetributethatvolunteered @o-brienwrites @smexylemony y @spn-worm @fucking-reddie e @stranger-marvel @darlingtholland @sylvirstars @supernatural-strangethings-1980 @pvnk-bivch @spideyyypeter @lubrielx @authorpocketcow @swoozi224 @abunchofmaraudersfluff ff @redridingthroughthehood @sammyskyler2000 @usuallyweepingnacho @tom-hollands-eyelash @capandbuck @delicately-written @emmyfignewton @spidcr-man @laramitk @captianbuckyy @kira-marieee @hazthosterfield @emilyle23 @tomshufflepuff @freakofnature444 @keepingupwiththehollands @ballarinaphan @1-800-chosen-jacobs @screamsss-in-fangirl

Griðastaður - 2017 draft version

So, before there was award-winning play Griðastaður starring Jörundur Ragnarsson, there was an early draft read by Hákon Jóhannesson, better known as Hákon from Iceland Music News (presumably, he was studying acting at the Academy of the Arts at the same time as Matthías was studying playwriting). Because it’s fun, I’m going to compare this early version to the final product! It’s the same core idea and significant chunks are very similar, but there were also a lot of interesting changes made between this 2017 draft and the final version, overwhelmingly for the better in my opinion.

(Scroll down to the “Thoughts” section below the cut if you just want to hear the overall summary, as opposed to me very lengthily laying out all the noteworthy changes because wow there were more changes than I realized.)

What Changed

The first thing to note is that the early version starts with Lárus’s phone conversation with his mother. The entire opening, with Lárus preparing for a meeting, explaining his relationship with IKEA and how he came to IKEA this one particular morning when he woke up with a guilty conscience, just isn’t there, though a small part of it is implemented after the phone call. I expect in part it was expanded to make for a more substantial play, but the opening of the final version also contains some fun/interesting bits of setup or foreshadowing for later: Lárus ends up backtracking on telling the meeting attendees to turn off their mobile phones, saying they can keep them on if they’ve got kids or moms (turns out it’s because he missed the notifications when his mom was dying), he mentions the Securitas guy isn’t going to have a problem with them staying late, and the weird little tangent about the IKEA flags serves to set up the flag-bearer who rescues him at the end.

This also means that in the early draft, him having to tell his mom that he’s just in IKEA because it’s his sanctuary and he's not there to buy anything is how the audience actually learns he’s in IKEA.

After the phone call, he says “I often have nightmares. (That was my mom.)” He explains that there’s a void inside of him, which he tries to fill with chocolate or Netflix subscriptions, but that gives him this guilty conscience, which then calls for more chocolate or thoughtful status updates or “neat patterned socks” - or, as he’s been doing increasingly recently, carefully evaluating the selection available at Swedish megastore IKEA. He wakes up with a guilty conscience, and makes coffee according to the guilt that he’s feeling. Then he explains about heading to Garðabær, the eco-labeled house, and going to IKEA and spending whole days there, and then we go on to, more or less, the section that follows the phone conversation in the final version.

When recounting the things he’s going to leave behind, he mentions a facial soap that he bought and used and now misses, which I thought was kind of a fun little detail.

The deodorant story is rearranged a little in the final version; in the draft version he talks about how he doesn’t know Chinese and would never be able to say any of this to the Chinese guy before he actually imagines the man’s response. He says he can’t even tell his brother what he thinks of him, or talk to his mom; the brother’s gone in the final version (makes sense, since the brother is never mentioned again and has nothing to do with anything). When pleading with the Chinese man, he suggests the chemicals are produced in really toxic conditions like maybe where he works, not where his sister did.

At the end of the deodorant story, as he asks the Chinese man to help him understand, he moves straight from there to shouting about spiders, as if he’s imagining the spiders attacking while he’s trying to talk to the Chinese guy! I kind of like that, compared to the final version where these bits are separated and don’t feel connected, and Hákon doesn’t play it in this very deliberately fake voice, instead just coming off more like he got carried away with this imaginary scenario. The thing he sprays on the spiders is the Nike Xtreme Men Edition deodorant that the Chinese guy was using. Afterwards, he says this story, which he dreamt once, is only one of his many go-to stories.

The bit on B-products isn’t there, nor is the fake PowerPoint, but he still talks about discounts, quality of life, etc. When talking about how stuff pollutes, he includes property rights, “which aren’t going anywhere”.

In the draft version, the IKEA employee really does compliment Lárus on his contemplation on environmentalism, where in the final version Lárus merely imagines the employee tells him that. Lárus thanks the employee, says IKEA is his sanctuary and if there is any place where he can cry it’s in IKEA, and then the employee goes “You’ve been in the bathroom department since we opened.” In the final version Lárus sounds defensive and awkward about this, but here he just sounds like nothing is more natural. When the employee asks if Lárus is looking for anything, he says “Well, aren’t we all looking for something? Haven’t we all been in the bathroom department since it opened, ever since we were born?!” The employee goes “Yeah, sure, but are you looking for anything special?”, which prompts Lárus to realize he’s going to try to sell him something, at which point Lárus goes off on another rant about how they’re here in the Mecca of disposable crap and he’d be even worse than the Chinese guy from the story if he bought stuff - upon which the employee asks what all the disinfectant he’s bought was for (showing that yeah, he literally launched into that whole rant within earshot of the employee), and from there persuades him that if he could buy 34 bottles of disinfectant he might as well buy this Silverån mirror cabinet without significantly depleting the Earth’s resources, and it’s really convenient and easy to clean, and then Lárus asks if he can put his toothbrush in it, etc. I’ll just translate how that whole conversation plays out, because it’s got a pretty different feel to it:

“So could I store my toothbrush in it, for example?”

“Sure.”

“How many?”

“As many as you like.”

“And toothpaste? How many tubes of toothpaste?”

“As many as you like.”

“200 tubes of toothpaste?”

“Yeah, if you like.”

“How about deodorant, eco-labeled?”

“Eco-labeled? Sure.”

“What about chocolate and popcorn and olive oil?”

“Yup, whatever you like.”

“Essays and books? Das Kapital, for example?”

“I-I’ve actually got better cabinets for that.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, you can put anything in that one.”

“Medicine?”

“Yes, absolutely!”

“Mom?”

“...N-no?”

“My mom is chronically ill in the hospital.”

[The employee makes a tiny awkward grunt]

“Dental floss?”

“Sure, sure.”

“Mouthwash?”

“Yeah, yeah, uh, sorry about your mom.”

“Self-respect?”

“Huh?”

“Can this cabinet assure me that I’ll see her again?”

“Who? It’s just a cabinet!”

“Uh-huh. Disinfectant and band-aids? The contradiction inherent in my lifestyle and my fundamental beliefs?”

“Yeah, yeah, disinfectant, whatever, maybe not 34 bottles, that’s an excessive amount of disinfectant, and sorry about your mom.”

And then the employee says actually he needs to help other customers and he’ll write it down. All in all, this whole encounter is a lot more parodesque and weird, the employee is a more absurd, comical character, and Lárus is more condescending and actively hostile, where in the final version the employee feels very much like a real, ordinary person, and Lárus makes it a bit awkward by bringing up his mom but is a lot more sympathetic and keeps his annoyance at the employee to himself. I think this is a really solid change; the draft version is amusing but Lárus just comes off as kind of an annoying dick in it and it’s hard to come away from this actually caring about his relationship with his mother.

The following sequence, where he goes down to get the cabinet and finds they’re all gone and then his phone chimes with the text about his mom being dead, is very similar, although it’s been fleshed out a bit with some details in the final version.

When he’s been hiding in the warehouse for those six hours, he “feels something break - and it’s not the Billy shelves”. Definitely a good call losing that joke; in the final thing he totally pulls off this sequence as a serious moment where you actually feel sorry for him, but in the draft this keeps it fairly ridiculous.

The security guard scene is very similar, but in the middle of it he throws in a “This is all imaginary, come on.” Good call losing that too! This little emotional breakdown into twisted violent power fantasy is my favorite part of the play, and he ought to be far too worked up here to have the self-awareness to remind the audience this isn’t really happening. Hákon punches the script as he beats the guard half to death, though, which is amusing.

When he goes back to the cafeteria and there’s no hot food, he specifically states that he imagines they’ve thrown it all away, rather than sounding like he genuinely assumes this is the case. Again, I think the final version works better; he’s still in this supremely agitated emotional state, and it’s far better conveyed if he sounds like he really believes what he’s saying, even if he is telling this story at a later point. He also doesn’t take the bathroom break where he starts to calm down and catch his breath; he just immediately notices the salads and heads on up to his favorite staged bathroom. When he says “I’ve always dreamed about doing this”, he adds, “staying the whole night at IKEA.”

In the draft version, the rant to his mom about how everyone dies keeps noting, both at the start and throughout the first half of it, that he didn’t actually literally say this to her. I think the final version, where he says that whole rant and only then admits he didn’t actually say it, works better, especially since it’s set up by the previous encounter with the employee where he does the same thing. He also doesn’t say “I love you” at the end, which in the final version really lends that extra punch to it when he follows it with “...No, I didn’t say that to her.”

The whole bit with him imagining another meeting with the Chinese guy, his sister the marine biologist and the turtle and them coming to a mutual understanding, isn’t there in the draft; the Chinese guy doesn’t come back at all, much less parallel Lárus’s sense of loss the way he does in the final version. We just pretty much go straight from the everyone dies rant to Guðrún arriving, and she’s just a random employee rather than the person who raises the flags (I don’t think the flag introduction in the final version is entirely elegant, but the presence of that setup is nice narratively).

The part with them visiting his mother’s grave and the exchange ending with “Mortality is a staged bathroom” is more or less the same, but again, we don’t get the “No, she didn’t actually say that”, or the entire following paragraph talking about all the kinds of people at IKEA who are going to die.

Then the final bit about how Guðrún led him down the escalator is there but a bit shorter, and then Lárus proudly presents the first eco-labeled cabinet at IKEA. We don’t get the bit about how none of this makes sense because there aren’t two escalators facing each other at the IKEA in Garðabær. I am convinced this is because somebody who frequents IKEA watched the workshop performance, came to Matthías and pointed out that it didn’t make sense, and he just brazenly decided to have Lárus address the complaint in the play instead of ditching the escalator scene. Amazing.

Thoughts

Overall, the tone of the play and the character of Lárus comes across differently in the draft version. It’s more of a straight dark comedy, and accordingly, Lárus is basically an unsympathetic comedy protagonist archetype. Hákon really plays him that way, too, primarily angry and indignant and pretentious.

In between the two versions, Matthías (or one of his instructors, or someone else who commented) realized that Lárus could actually work as a sympathetic character: he’s pretty eccentric and obsessed with IKEA, sure, but he’s also just lonely and repressed and goofily imaginative and overwhelmed by everything and worried about his sick mom, and by fleshing things out and editing various details and just playing him differently, we could genuinely feel for him when he learns his mom is dead and breaks down and crawls into the shelves at IKEA - which makes for a way better play than if we just can’t stand him. Jörundur plays him as awkward, nervous, constantly second-guessing himself, bad at expressing any of the things he’s thinking, and for all his eccentricities you just care about him and can follow his emotional journey, or at least the most important section of it.

The final version also just ties various things together better, bringing things from earlier back later and so on. I don’t think it’s 100% successful at being a satisfying narrative, but it’s a lot more so than the draft version, which is largely just an amusing ramble describing events that don’t seem to be in much of any coherent relationship with one another.

All in all, it really shows that Matthías spent a lot of time and care improving the play since the draft, which I, possibly the biggest nerd about revisions and adaptations that I know, think is pretty cool.

Biggest Fan pt. 5

In which you’re a famous singer and Calum is a fan of your music.

Warnings: none? 

Pairing: Calum Hood x Reader

Requested By: Anonymous originally

“hi can you do a blurb on calum where you’re also famous and u find out he’s interested in you and low key loves your music? shebjdjsj idk jus make it fluffy and ill love u forever“

A/N: hell YEAH!!! so, as usual: do you guys want me to continue this? tell me what you thought!!! i love for feedback!! if you want more parts i can add some uhh angst and some uhh smut

Requests are CLOSED! 

*Gif not mine*

Series Masterlist

Calum returned home from tour about a month ago, and you couldn’t be happier.

You couldn’t meet him at the airport in LA when he got back. Both of you being there at the same time would have been too hectic, so you agreed to wait till the next day to see each other.

You met him at his apartment that next day, and he had pulled you into the biggest hug you’d ever experienced, and gracefully smashed his lips against yours.

It was a pretty good day.

He was now in your apartment, and you were both sitting in the small room that you had dubbed your music room. All your instruments were scattered about, and you had awards hung up on the walls. It was like a safe space for you, where you knew you could express yourself without a care in the world. It’s where you’d written some of your best music.

Calum was sat at the piano, messing around with some chord progressions, and you were on the couch, desperately trying to tune your acoustic guitar that had been giving you a problem for a couple weeks now.

“Need help?” Calum finally chuckled, taking his fingers off the keys. You groaned and held it out to him, and he set it on his lap.

“Stupid thing has been out of tune for like, two weeks,” you mumbled, slumping down on the couch. “The pegs are hardly moving and I haven’t been bothered to fix it.”

Calum snickered at you, softly shaking his head. You watched him as he worked, and you couldn’t help but admire the way his fingers easily twisted the pegs, and smoothly got the guitar back in tune.

“Thanks,” you grinned, taking the instrument and setting it back in your lap.

“Of course, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart had become Calum’s favorite pet name for you. He frankly used it just as much as he used your real name, and it brought a smile to your face every time.

The both of you continued to fool around on the instruments, experimenting with random sounds and tunes. It was relaxing; you and Calum did it a lot, just each gave each other some space and made some music.

“We should write a song together,” you randomly suggested, placing your hand over the strings of your guitar to stop the sound.

Calum stopped playing as well, looking over at you. The corners of his mouth were slowly turning up at the idea.

“We should,” he agreed, turning the piano stool to face you. “Just us two or is my band included in this?”

You laughed, shrugging.

“We can write it ourselves, and then decide if they’re going to be on it when we record it.”

“Record it? Like, actually?”

“I mean, yeah. We don’t have to release it if we don’t want to, but we can have it for ourselves still.”

He paused a moment before shaking his head.

“I want to release it. I mean, pretty much everyone already knows we’re dating, but I think the song could be a cute way to make it official, you know? And we could always write more in the future, just for us.”

You smiled lovingly at that. It was true that everyone had their suspicions about your relationship; not that that was anything new. Another leaked photo of you and him walking his dog, Duke, together a couple weeks before pretty much verified it for the world. No one exactly needed anything to make it official, but based on the mostly positive reactions you had been getting, people would love it.

It was also true that you could write more songs later. With both of you being fairly high profile people, you could only keep your relationship so private, but having your own unreleased songs was one thing you could have for yourselves, one thing the public didn’t have to know about you.

“Yeah, you’re right,” you mumbled, and Calum turned the stool to face the piano again. He then scooted over to make room for you, patting the space next to him with a wide grin on his face.

You set your guitar down and grabbed some paper and a couple pencils from your desk, placing them on top of the piano. You sat down next to him, the small stool making for a tight fit, but neither of you minded. Calum bent his head down, pressing a kiss against the top of your head.

“Let’s write a killer song, sweetheart.”

-

Many hours, a few cups of coffee, and a couple breaks consisting of making out and quick back massages, and you had a song. A great one.

Both of you were in love with it. The lyrics were special to you, the instrumentals flowed perfectly, and you knew everyone else was going to love it too.

As soon as the song was finished and you shared a celebratory kiss, you and Calum collapsed onto the couch, both of you too tired to make it to your bedroom, falling asleep almost instantly. It was almost three in the morning when you finished, and songwriting could be exhausting.

The next morning, you woke to find yourself alone on the couch, curled up in a ball. And freezing. You and Calum fell asleep without a blanket, but he was a human space heater. He kept you warm all night, but now you had nothing.

Shivering, you sat up, wrapping your arms around yourself to try to keep at least a little bit warm. The smell of bacon filled your nose, signalling to you that Calum was making breakfast. You smiled to yourself, pushing yourself up off the couch and walking into the kitchen.

Calum was standing at the counter, sticking pieces of bread into the toaster. He turned around at the sound of your footsteps, a smile spreading across his face. He opened his arms for you, and you scurried over to him.

“Good morning,” he mumbled as he pulled you into a hug, and you tilted your head up to give him a kiss. You sighed in content, relishing in the warmth radiating off of him. “I was just making - Jesus, Y/N, you’re freezing!”

He had pulled away from the hug, reaching for your hands, but immediately jerked away when he felt them. You pouted, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Well I wouldn’t be if the person who was keeping me warm didn’t get up,” you mumbled with a teasing tone. Calum rolled his eyes, but the grin on his face told you he was only being playful. He pulled his sweatshirt off his torso and handed it over to you, leaving him in only a t-shirt and his basketball shorts.

“Should keep you warm, baby,” he said with a wink, and you glady slipped the clothing on. You were practically swimming in it, but it was comfortable, definitely warm, and smelled like him, so you couldn’t complain at all.

“Thank you, bub,” you mused with a smile, standing on your toes to peck his lips. He smiled back down at you, and then forced his expression to a serious one.

“I’m not getting that back, am I?”

You laughed, shaking your head.

“Nope.”

He let out an over exaggerated sigh, and it was his turn to peck your lips.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” he joked, and you shrugged innocently in response. “Anyway, breakfast?”

“Yes, please!” You exclaimed dramatically, and Calum chuckled at your enthusiasm. You helped him finish up the food, and then you sat down to eat.

“I was thinking I could call John later, and he can help us record our song. Maybe get Ashton to play drums for us,” Calum suggested after he polished off his serving of eggs. You figured the John he was referring to was John Feldmann, a friend of his and the band’s. You had never met the man, but Calum had all good things to say about him. Ashton was of course his bandmate and best friend, who you had only met a couple times - very briefly in Chicago, and one more time when Calum got you to come to his apartment to meet all the boys after they got back from tour - but had definitely taken a liking to. He was a fun guy to hang out with.

You nodded in agreement, swallowing down the bite of toast in your mouth.

“Sounds good.” You grabbed your napkin and wiped your hands and mouth. “You can play bass, obviously, and I can play guitar.”

“Yeah, and maybe we can split the piano part.”

“Okay. You have to do that part with the accidentals you wrote, though, I seriously cannot play it.”

Calum kicked your shin under the table, and you kicked him back out of instinct, causing a whole game of footsie to break out. Laughter sounded from both of you, clutching your stomach. You stopped kicking, both of you trying to catch your breath. You were overjoyed. Playing footsie and laughing with Calum was such a special thing to you, even if it seemed lame.

Calum was a special thing to you.

“Alright, alright, I’ll play it,” he said, a light pink tint to his cheeks.

You finished up breakfast, and Calum sent out texts to John and Ashton. You both also texted your management, who were very supportive of the idea and promised to get everything arranged.

“John said we can meet him at the studio at 4:30, and Ash is on board too,” Calum said, coming back into the room after he got off the phone with John, who called Calum immediately after he texted. “Does that work for you?”

You nodded, shoving your hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt.

“Yep, I have no plans.”

Calum nodded, sliding his phone into the pocket of his shorts and coming up to where you sat at the table, placing his hands on your shoulders.

“I should head home. I have to change and feed Duke and stuff, but I’ll pick you up on the way to the studio, okay?”

You smiled and stood up to meet him, his hands never leaving your shoulders.

“Text me when you’re on your way?” You asked, and he agreed. You walked him to the door, leaning in to kiss him after he slipped on his shoes.

“Bye, sweetheart.”

“See you later,” you said with a smile, shutting the door behind him.

During the time between Calum leaving and then returning to pick you up to go to the studio, you took a quick shower and made yourself presentable, making sure to put Calum’s hoodie back on. It was the first piece of clothing you had gotten from him, and you were in love with it already. He was definitely not getting it back.

You got a text from him around 4:15, saying he was here. You grabbed everything you needed; your guitar that you had transferred to a case, the papers with the song written on them, your phone. The studio should have anything else you needed.

You walked outside to Calum’s car, and he quickly got out of the car to help you put your guitar in the trunk.

“Hey,” he greeted, hand on the small of your back as he leaned down to kiss you and lead you to the back of his car. Once you got your guitar in, laying it next to his bass, you got in the car and drove off to whatever studio John and Ashton were meeting you at. It wasn’t the studio you normally worked at, but you had driven by before.

You and Calum grabbed your instruments from the trunk and headed inside, finding John and Ashton were already there, waiting for you.

“Hey, guys,” Calum greeted, causing the men to look up.

“What’s up, Cal?” John exclaimed with a smile, going to hug him. Ashton came up to you, easily pulling you in for a hug.

“It’s nice to see you again, Y/N,” he said cheerfully, and you grinned up at the dimpled man.

“Yeah, you too!”

You felt a gentle hand return to the small of your back, and Calum pulled you back to his side.

“John, this is my girlfriend, Y/N. Y/N, this is John Feldmann.”

You extended your hand with a smile, and the man firmly shook it.

“It’s great to meet you,” you said, bringing your hand back and readjusting your grip on your guitar case.

“You as well,” he responded with a grin. “My daughter and I love your music.”

“Thank you,” you chuckled, and you felt Calum pull you a tad closer.

“Alright, let’s see this song you guys have.”

You and Calum got out your instruments, and you showed them everything you had written. You both sang the lyrics for them, and showed them the instrument parts. John and Ashton loved it, praising you for your collaboration. They made some suggestions, which made the song even better, and you helped Ashton figure out a drum part. Then, it was time to start recording.

You recorded the instruments first. You played your guitar first, then Calum on bass, Ashton on drums, and you and Calum split up the piano part.

When it was time for vocals, you and Calum recorded your solo parts before your parts together. The entire time you were singing alone, Calum was watching you with a love struck look in his eyes. He admired how beautiful your voice sounded, the way your eyes fluttered shut as you got into it.

You looked like an angel.

You did the same during Calum’s turn. His voice was a godsend, and you felt chills run down your spine as he hit his notes perfectly.

Then you had to record your parts that you sang together, and you both entered the booth and slipped pairs of headphones over your ears. Once John gave you the okay, you started singing, and the two men outside were in awe.

Your voices melded together perfectly. You were able to harmonize beautifully, and John and Ashton didn’t miss the quick glances filled with adoration that you two made towards each other. They grinned at each other; they could tell you really liked each other, and they were happy that their friend was happy.

After everything was recorded, everyone sat down to put it all together. John layered the parts together professionally, everyone listening closely to make sure it was perfect. You had to record a few things again, but soon enough, the song was done.

“Congratulations, guys,” Ashton said, exchanging hugs with everyone. “You’ve got yourselves a fucking awesome song.”

“Thanks so much for helping,” you returned, lacing your fingers with Calum’s.

“We really appreciate it,” he continued for you, giving your hand a squeeze.

“Glad we could do it,” John smiled.

You all exchanged your final goodbyes before parting ways, John and Ashton heading to their respective cars while you and Calum walked over to his car. You put your cases in the trunk, and right when Calum pushed the door shut, you threw your arms around his torso, pulling him tightly to you.

He chuckled, returning the gesture and wrapping his strong arms around you.

“We have our own song, babe,” you breathed out, looking up at him with a smile.

You were in disbelief, honestly. The thought of a collaboration wasn’t strange to you, but the thought of doing one with your boyfriend was different. It meant something.

Calum felt similarly. He wrote songs and sang with his band all the time, but a duet was a little more foreign to him, and. he loved it. He loved singing with just you.

“I know,” he laughed softly, shaking his head. He kissed your forehead, and you couldn’t help but sigh in content at the feeling. “I’m so excited, sweetheart.”

“Me too.”

-

Some time had passed since you recorded your song, and you were finally ready to announce it. All of the logistics got worked out, cover art was created, and the song was ready to go up.

You were practically trembling with excitement while driving to Calum’s place. You were planning on tweeting to announce the song, both of you saying the same thing at the same time.

You parked the car and headed up to his apartment, rapping on the door with your knuckles. It opened pretty quick, revealing a smiling Calum.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he mumbled, greeting you with a kiss.

“Hey, bubba,” you responded and happily accepted his affection. “You ready?”

“More than ready.”

He lead you into his living room. It was a tad messy, but that was something you had grown used to. You snuggled up on the couch, you in his lap with your back against his chest.

“What should we say?”

You discussed a caption for a few minutes, and included a picture of the cover art; the photo was of you and Calum lying in a bed of roses, eyes fixed on each other while laughing. You were supposed to have serious faces, but you couldn’t contain your laughter, and ended up actually liking that picture better. The title of the song was printed across the top, and your names across the bottom.

Once you both had the tweet typed out, Calum spoke up.

“On three?”

You nodded, taking a deep breath.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

You hit send, and then it was official.

“LA VILLE DE L’AMOUR. Our new song PARIS out Friday.”

A Memory Of The Smell of Smoke, Ch 1.

Fandom: The Society.

Summary: Everyone liked to pretend that Campbell had been born bad. That their fear and hatred were logical, rational, justified, because Campbell was a monster incapable of making the choice between good and evil. Because he couldn't feel the way they did. Well, fuck that. He was gonna prove them wrong. At least, that had been the plan.

Rating: Mature.

Tags: Canon Divergence, Pre-Canon, Emotional Baggage, Mental Health Issues, Child Abuse, Substance Abuse, Animal Death, Complicated Relationships, Pre-Slash, Denial of Feelings, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Implied Rape, Campbell has mild ASPD and is self aware enough to try and be better, the non-con is NOT Campbell, didn't add an official warning because it is the aftermath only, yes it is the party becca mentioned and there will be a warning in the notes of that chapter, Campbell/Harry, Campbell/Elle.

Word Count: 3121(chapter 1/5).

AO3 || CH 2 || CH 3 || CH 4 || CH 5

Disclaimer: This is part of the first book of a series, A Gamble At Terrible Odds.

Knowing what I know of personality disorders and my own personal experiences, this is an attempt to write a canon divergent storyline for Campbell, using a slightly more realistic take on conduct disorder and ASPD instead of slapping on Hollywood "psychopath" stereotypes. While young people with conduct disorder can be violent and abusive, the diagnosis does exist on a spectrum, and neither ASPD nor "psychopathy" should be diagnosed before the age of 18; this is one thing that rubbed me the wrong way on The Society. I wanted an antagonist who's threat lay in the fact that they are calculating, ambitious, and ruthless-- not just "crazy". Hopefully I can succeed in presenting a more understandable and slightly less sensationalized vision of how-and-why he behaves. Please note that I have no intention of making him a violent abuser, not in an attempt to "woobie" him, but to bring his character more in line with my experiences of how an emotionally neglected child/teen with moderately reduced empathy would behave, provided they were actively attempting to help themselves.

Tl;dr I just wanted to make Campbell less needlessly shitty, because it makes me feel better as a person, and because I wanted one (1) antagonist who isn't just an evil, horrible abuser with a scary mental illness.

Thank you for reading, and leaving kudos/comments/likes. <3

/////

Campbell could barely remember life before Sam. The few memories he had were just bits and pieces, and nothing worth remembering. His parents leaving him with his Aunt Amanda, Uncle Jim, and cousin Cassandra while they went on a business trip or to some fancy vacation. Being scolded for crying too loud in the grocery store. In the kitchen of their big fancy house, reaching for his mother to pick him up, and standing there alone as she walked away. Later, sweetie. Some other time, dear. Mommy's busy, Campbell. It was always the same thing, and it only got worse when his mother got pregnant again.

Your mother's tired, his father would say. She needs to rest. Not that his father ever made time, either. He was important, and often harassing some poor fuck in the community with Uncle Rogers. Campbell didn't know what to do, so he would cry and scream until finally one of them would pay enough attention to yell back. Sometimes they would grab his wrist and drag him to his room for time out. He just always was too much for them, too stressful for them, too demanding, too clingy, too emotional. A bitter irony, he thought when he was older and looking back, remembering what it was like to feel that deeply. He'd been robbed of that, before he'd even known how to vocalize it. When Sam was born, they gave him to Campbell to hold. Campbell looked down at his baby brother. He was so small. So fragile. Don't you love him, his parents asked. Campbell didn't reply, and his parents laughed it off and teased him for being jealous. He didn't know what that word meant, not at the time. All he knew was that he was standing at the edge of his family, watching something he wasn't allowed to be a part of, even if he didn't understand why. He did discover that if he held Sam close, if he was gentle with Sam and kissed his forehead and smiled at him, their parents would smile, too. Their parents would coo and hold Campbell, too. They would sing to them both, read to them both. At first, he thought maybe he could do it. Even if he didn't feel as warm towards Sam in the way his cousin Cassandra seemed to feel towards her little sister, Allie, Campbell liked Sam alright. Campbell knew he could be a good boy, a good brother, and his parents would love him. For the first two years of Sam's life, things did seem like they were improving. Sam gurgled at him and followed him everywhere, and babies were kinda gross but Campbell accepted that. At least he felt like maybe he had a friend. It didn't matter that Sam spent more time with their parents than him, and that their parents looked at Sam in a way they never looked at Campbell. Campbell still felt less alone. ... At first. But then one night, when Sam was three and Campbell was five, their parents shook Campbell awake in the middle of the night. He tried to ask what was happening, but his parents just shouted at him to stop asking questions. There were sirens outside. Campbell saw their mother rush by his bedroom, with Sam in her arms. He looked strange. Limp. Campbell tried to follow, but their father grabbed his arm and yanked him a different direction. Their Uncle Jim was there, and he loaded Campbell into his car and drove him to their home. Cassandra was awake when they arrived. She took Campbell's hand and led him to the room she shared with her sister. At least there, it was quiet. They sat together on Cassandra's bed, silent and staring off into space. He didn't know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was light outside and Cassandra was holding him in her arms. "What's goin' on?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Where's Sammy?" "It's bad," she said, in that matter-of-fact voice of hers. "Sam is in the hospital." Campbell wiggled out of her embrace and padded out to the kitchen, where Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jim stood, faces pale. "What happened?" he demanded, frowning when the adults shared a look. "What happened to Sammy?" "Sweetie," Aunt Amanda said as she clutched her coffee mug, "try to go back to bed. We don't--" "Tell me!" He was yelling, and he knew that good boys didn't yell at adults, but he didn't care. Without Sam, there was nothing and there would never be anything again; he needed Sam, more than he needed anyone. "Tell me what's goin' on!" Uncle Jim came over and crouched down in front of him. "Sam got sick, and fell asleep. The doctors are trying to wake him up and make him feel better. That's all we know right now, Campbell." Asleep. Campbell remembered that Cassandra had a hamster once, and it died. It went to sleep and never woke up again. "What if Sammy doesn't wake up?" Aunt Amanda started crying. Uncle Jim said nothing. Campbell went back to Cassandra, who was watching him with wide blue eyes. Allie woke up not long after, and they all ate pancakes in bed. At least, the girls did. Campbell gave his bacon to Cassandra and picked at his pancakes until they were cold. Allie played ball with them out in the yard; Campbell kicked it back to her a few times, but he was too busy thinking about his brother. Would he be okay? Would he come home? What made him sick? Kids didn't just die, did they? "I thought only old people died," Campbell said to Cassandra later, when Allie was getting a bath. "Sammy's too little." Cassandra was coloring in a book. She didn't look up, but she shrugged. "Kids die all the time. In war and from cancer and stuff." "How do you know?" "My parents watch the news." Campbell sucked on his lips. Jealousy. He knew that word, now, and knew it's ugly pulse. The only time he ever watched the television was when a movie or Sesame Street was put on for Sam. And he didn't even know what that word meant, cancer, but he wasn't going to ask. He didn't want to know. If he knew what it was, it made it real. That night, his father came to the house and picked Campbell up, taking him back to their own house to get some clothes. "You need to stay with your auntie and uncle for a while," his father said while snatched random things and jamming them into a backpack. "Just for a few days. Understand?" "When is Sammy coming home?" "Don't ask questions. Go get your toothbrush." Campbell slumped and wandered off to get his stuff from the bathroom. The ride back was silent. He brought his backpack in and dropped it next to Cassandra's bed; he noticed his father talking to Uncle Jim and Aunt Amanda in the study, and he slinked closer to listen. He couldn't hear much, but it was about Sam. "Meningitis. They don't know if he'll..." But then his father noticed him at the door. He walked over and shut it, just like that. Campbell felt something hot and painful stir in his chest, and without thinking, he kicked the door as hard as he could. It stayed shut. Campbell stormed back to the bedroom. His father left without saying goodbye, and that night, Campbell burrowed against Cassandra's shoulder as he cried. He didn't want to cry. He wanted to hit things, and break things, and make people hurt. He didn't understand it, but it was something he knew how to do. Sam woke up a few days later, and their parents brought him home after a week and a half in the hospital. Campbell stayed away a bit longer to give them time to take care of Sam; something had gone wrong in the hospital, but no one said what. Campbell barely ate. He didn't speak. Not to anyone besides Cassandra, anyways. She was the one who told him the news first, after she'd listened in on her parents talking. "They said Sam can't hear anymore," Cassandra whispered. "Not at all." Campbell didn't believe her, not until he finally was allowed back home and saw it for himself. Sam was crying, and wouldn't stop crying. When Campbell tried to see him, to talk to him, their parents shooed him out of the room. The days dragged on with no improvement. Take out containers piled up around the kitchen, and Campbell spent most of his time in his room. He'd try to read, or do puzzles, or kick a ball around the house. Alone. Always alone. Sometimes, he didn't see Sam for days. Even when he did, it was through the doorway of Sam's room, and Sam would just be laying in bed or screaming. Something inside Campbell snapped. Campbell remembered in vivid detail the day it happened. The day he changed. It was two weeks after Sam had come home. It had been over a month since Sam had first gotten sick. Every day had been worse than the last, with their mother sleeping at weird hours and their father growling at him at every little thing. He knew, in the way that five year olds knew, that his parents had to take care of Sam. But what about him? What about story time, or singing, or watching silly movies together? Things had just started feeling normal, and now it was all gone again. He was alone again. If Sam never got better, what would that even mean? He didn't know, and no one would explain. Campbell stood alone in the dining room, surrounded by clutter and white, dirty foam boxes that were starting to smell. That hot feeling was back, burning his chest, and Campbell had to let it out. He picked up one of the foam boxes and threw it. He threw another, and another, but it wasn't enough. That's when he picked up his toy ball, and hurled it into the living room. There was a loud crash, and his parents came running out. His mother said something, but Campbell didn't know what, because his father was already yelling at him. "What did you do that for?" his father shouted. "Your mother was trying to sleep. Don't you know how hard she has to work around here?" Campbell said nothing. "Answer me!" Silence. "Fine. Apologize to your mother and go to your room." Campbell opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He wasn't sorry. He didn't feel bad. He didn't feel anything. He went to his room without a word, and he stayed there until he was called. And that was what life became, most days. Wake up, get dressed, wait to be called for breakfast, return to his room, stare at his plate at lunch and eat almost nothing, return to his room, pick at dinner, bathe and brush his teeth, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Some days he would go to see Cassandra, but they just sat on the swingset and stared out at the woods, without speaking. Nothing mattered anymore. What was there to talk about? When his parents caught him playing with matches, they hid them. When they caught him cutting holes in his clothes and in his bedding, they hid those, too. Forks and knives were moved to higher shelves when Campbell took to stabbing himself in the hand with them, just to see if it still hurt. It did, but he didn't cry. It just didn't matter. No one did anything, not even Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jim, not even when he yanked the heads off Allie's dolls and pushed Cassandra off a swing. Cassandra didn't cry. She just got up and kicked him in the shin, and that was the last time Campbell ever pushed her. Hurt someone, and they hurt you back. Except, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes they'd let you. Once he turned six and entered kindergarten, he learned that when he got into a fight with another kid over a toy. Campbell punched the other kid in the face, and for a tiny moment, he felt happy. He felt excited. He wanted to feel that again, and so he picked fights with more kids over the span of a few days, until parents began to complain and teachers spoke to his mother and father after school. "If you keep fighting," Cassandra said when she came over to play, "they'll send you away to a special school." Campbell frowned. "You're lying." "Am not. I heard my mom say to your mom." After that, Campbell stopped fighting with the other kids. He stuck to himself, watching them while he played alone. He learned more about them that way-- their names, their likes, their dislikes. He learned what made them laugh and what made them cry. Sometimes at home, he would copy the way their faces looked when they were happy or sad. Campbell was bored. He felt itchy, like he wanted to move and keep moving but couldn't. He missed that feeling of excitement. But at least he wasn't being sent away, and the more he practiced being like the other kids, the less his parents yelled at him. It was good enough. A year passed. Sam was tutored at home, and Campbell learned from the tutor how to talk to Sam using sign language. It took about a year to be able to really have a conversation with his little brother; he didn't put as much effort into it as he knew he should have, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Sam was only four years old. Anything he really needed to say, he said to their parents. Sometimes he would ask Campbell to play, but Campbell was six years old and struggling to fit in with other first graders. He came home exhausted and frustrated, and would usually end up snapping at Sam. It wasn't a surprise when Sam began to distance himself. And it only got worse. Campbell was angry all the time and couldn't make it stop. Any time the teacher tried to make him do oral reports or work in groups with classmates, he would break down. He didn't know what was going on, and his parents simply brushed it off as him being difficult. Teachers looked the other way. Classmates began to whisper about him when they thought he couldn't hear. Campbell managed to keep himself from lashing out at Sam, but walls, plates, and other inanimate objects began to suffer worse than ever. "Why won't they listen?" Campbell asked Cassandra one day. "They never listen to me. They just spend all their time worrying about Sam." Cassandra shrugged. "Sometimes you have to make them listen." He didn't know how. He threatened to run away, to hurt himself. Nothing. Sam had become one of them-- only approaching him when their parents wanted to order Campbell to come to dinner or brush his teeth or do his chores. There was only one place in the world where Campbell felt like he could just be himself-- when he was with Cassandra, though their visits had grown fewer and farther in between as Campbell spiraled. Soon, her parents stopped letting him visit altogether. That loss of support was the finale straw. Campbell went into the living room weeks after his final visit with Cassandra. His parents had gotten Sam a bird for his birthday; they always gave Sam everything he wanted. Everything. Sam was the only one who mattered to them. Campbell stared at the little green and yellow thing, shrieking and flapping in its cage; he'd finally thought of a way to make his parents listen to him. He opened the window, then reached into the cage and grabbed the bird. Campbell threw the bird out the open window, and headed back up to his bedroom. It was about an hour before anyone noticed. He could hear Sam screaming, and their parents were at his bedroom door in minutes. "What did you do with Oliver?" his father boomed. "Do you have him?" Campbell barely blinked. "I don't have him." "Where did you put him?" "Outside." His mother stared at Campbell like he had two heads. "Why would you do that? What is wrong with you?" Those words hung in the air, and Campbell didn't know what to say. He just gazed back at her and shrugged, silent. They hauled him downstairs and shoved him out the door, demanding he take them to where he put Oliver. Campbell obeyed, hesitating when he didn't see Oliver anywhere. How far could a pet bird go? His father started yelling, like always. They kept pushing him to look harder, to tell the truth, to take them to the bird, but he couldn't. The bird wasn't where he'd left it. He was grounded, indefinitely. Sam wouldn't look at him. A few days later, their mother came inside with a shoebox, her face grim. They sat Campbell down, and showed him what was inside. Campbell stared at the dead bird, bile rising in the back of his throat. "Did you do this?" his mother asked. "No! I swear, I only let him outside." "Tell us the truth." "I am!" His parents exchanged a look. They didn't believe him. Campbell could tell. They left the room, and he could hear Sam wailing a few moments after. Campbell sat at the table, looking down at his hands as his thoughts raced. He hadn't meant this. He'd just wanted to upset Sam a little, get their parents to react. He just wanted them to talk to him, to take him to talk to someone. He wanted to feel like he mattered. Now, he just felt... empty. Lost. Sam came in. His eyes were red and swollen. He was still crying, and he was signing something at Campbell. Why. Over and over and over, just... why. Campbell didn't know how to answer. He'd never bothered to learn how to say things like because I'm angry, because mom and dad love you more, because I need help, because there's something wrong with me. So he just did what he did before, and said nothing. That was the first time Sam looked at him with hatred. Campbell stood and brushed past Sam, heading back to his room. Something twisted in his stomach, but he didn't know what. He couldn't tell, and he didn't want to. Like cancer, if it was named, it would be real. He didn't want any of it to be real.

He just wanted to fade away.

Criminal Minds- The Good Ol’ Days

Tagging: @marvelfanlife, @itsmeedee, @cynbx, @jaqren, @gabriellewritermua, @princesswagger15, @screaminginbi, @tleighstone12, @cosmicmelaninflower

A collaboration fic with @princesswagger15.

After a long hiatus, the wait is over. Here is the new chapter

Chapter 8-Whodunnit?

The next morning has been quiet apart from the sounds of birds chirping. Normally there would be the sounds of students marching to their classes outside the dorms though surprisingly, there was not a single peep from outside. Emily and Elle woke up to the sounds of their phones buzzing.

“Did you just get a message too?”

“I-I did and it’s from…...Marissa?”

“Isn’t that Reid girlfriend?”

“Y-yea, wait why would she text us?”

“I don’t maybe she’s in trouble? Let me check the message.”

“Meet at Joe’s Burger Shack at 6:30 pm at the booth in the very back. Me and Reid got somethings to talk about with everyone.”

The two ladies looked at each other. “Her and Reid? And what makes her want to talk to us?”

“I don’t know how to feel about this.”

“Oh christ……………...you don't think he….?”

“I’m not sure…..I’m more concerned on what Marissa has to say.” “You think we can trust her?”

“I mean, I’m not really sure but she has help us and Reid out a few times, Like at Meadow’s party.”

“Yeah, maybe we should just hear her out before we make any rash decisions.” Elle nodded. “

“I wonder if everyone got the message yet?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe maybe not.”

“Uggghhh, well i guueess ill get ready for the day. See ya!”

  A few minutes later, both Emily and Elle head to the meeting place, where they are suddenly joined by the rest of their circle of friends that are waiting for Reid and Marissa.

“I see you guys all got the message.” Emily quipped.

“Hey guys! Nice to see you, took you long enough.” Derek said.

“So……..what do you think Marissa has to share?” Ashley asked.

“That’s why we’re here to find out.”

The group gathered around at the booth, still awaiting Reid and Marissa’s arrival.

“I don’t about this.” Tara complained. “What if this is a trap?” “She’s right…...I mean she could just be using us here and rat us out to Barnes.” Luke adds.

“I’m sure Marissa wouldn’t do such a thing, she saved Reid and Matt’s girlfriend.” JJ responds.

“She could just be doing that to gain our trust.” Just then, Elle slaps Derek’s arm. “Look, I get that this unexpected message from Reid’s girlfriend is jarring but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t playing us when Kristy and Reid were in trouble.”

“Relax Greenaway, were just being a little wary considering that Marissa decided to bring us here for whatever reason and she’s not here yet.”

While the group is waiting, Matt looks over to Hotch, who has a cold expression on his face.

“You okay Hotch? You seemed quiet lately.”

“I-I’m alright.” “You sure? Cause your arm is shaking. Seems like you got something in mind.” He lowered his arm. “I-I made it clear that no one outside this group should know anything about this, and now one of us decides to tell them what’s going on just because she’s their girlfriend? Does Reid even know the consequences this might lead us to?”

“Look guys, im sure Reid and Marissa have nothing but good intentions, they wouldn’t betray us.” Ashley says.

“And how do you know, Seaver? We don’t know her personally like Reid does.”

“I know that if we trust Reid, and he trusts Marissa, we have nothing to worry about.”

Just then, the group looks to see Reid arrive, taking small steps as he approach his friends. “Hey guys, so I know I have some ex-

“What the hell is going on Reid?! We told you don’t tell anyone!” Hotch yells.

“I-I’m sorry Hotch, I know what I did was wrong, and I should have listened to you-”

“Well I don’t think you should be yelling at Reid but if you want me to leave then fine.”

The gang all looked up to see Marissa arrived not long after Reid. “Well do you guys want me to leave?”

They all looked at Hotch, whom he rubs his face and sighs. “Alright, let’s hear what you have to say.”

“Thank you. Well the day y'all saw your teacher’s class destroyed, i noticed Reid acting a bit weird so i asked what was wrong. Eventually i got him to tell me what's been happening and we started coming up with theories. We were thinking, this is a team.”

“Interesting……..so you’re saying that we’re dealing with two unsubs, is that right?”

“No, not two, more than that. I’d say somewhere between 7, maybe even 8.”

“Eight? I think you’re exaggerating a little bit.” Emily suggested.

“Oh really? On a scale of 1 to HOLY FUCKING SHIT, how bad was the classroom when yall walked in?”

“11, if that clears things up.”

“So if it was that bad, you think only one person could do that? It had to be at least 2 or 3 people.”

“You don’t need to tell us who it was, Garcia and I know who trashed the classroom.”

“Who?”

“It’s Kyle, Kyle Hodges.” Garcia blurts out.

“That son of a bitch! I told him if i EVER heard of him doing some fuck fucky shit, i’d fucking end him!”

“I’ve should’ve known when I chased him, that he was the one who wrecked that place.” Reid responds.

“But why would Kyle do this? What does he have to gain from it?” JJ asked.

“Someone probably promised him some type of reward.”

Hodges...that bastard….” Matt growled. “This crosses the fucking line to think that he has the nerve to pull some stunt like that.”

“But even if we confront him, how to we get proof? The guy is too cocky to tell the truth.” “Ashley’s right.” Hotch said. “He’ll just lie his way out.”

“Garcia, I hear that you’re hella good on a computer, you think you can somehow get into the school’s camera system? Maybe we can catch them in the act on camera.” Marissa suggests.

“Better…..I recorded his phone conversation and call history.”

“Damn girl, nice!”

“Cool, now all we need to do is find Kyle. We just need to know where he is. Any ideas?”

“I mean after the party I saw him and his buddies in the quad by the huge oak tree.” Elle suggested. “And he’s usually at the weight room to improve on his biceps and legs.” Derek adds.

“Let's go back to campus and search the gym first. We stay together, we don’t need to be splitting up at this time.” Marissa says standing up.

“You just got here for like six minutes and yet you’re already acting as if you’re the leader of us.” Tara scoffs.

“Sorry but what can i say, im very dominate. And i like to work fast and i'm assuming that if your teacher is still missing, we have to move quickly. Now if you all want to sit there like bumps on logs while we have a lead, then by all means do it. Look, i know you guys dont like me, you don’t trust me, but im in this with yall. For the good and the bad, now let's go!” The gang all looked at each other with confusion as they turn to Reid.

“You sure we can trust her?” JJ asked.

“Of course we can. I know her, if she really wanted to rat us out, she would’ve done it awhile ago. But I promise to remain cautious at ease.” The two nodded as they and the rest of the group follow Marissa back to the campus.

Just as the group and Marissa return to the campus, they see a group of students running towards the exits, Tara grabs one of the students and asks, “Hey, what’s going on? Why are you guys running?”

“Some incident happened at the bridge near the forest. I don’t know what it was but it ain’t pretty.”

“Should we check it out?” Asks Derek.

“Let’s follow them.” Emily responds as they follow the wave of people running towards the exits. By the time they reach the entrance of the woods, it was heavily crowded with people, prompting the team to squeeze through and bump any bystanders to see what was on the other side. As Matt pushed through the last of the crowd, he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Holy fucking hell.” He mummers.

“What is it Matt-oh shit.” Kate responds. The rest of the group emerge from the crowd and look down in shock and distraught as they see Kyle lying in the dirt naked with stab wounds in his stomach and chest.

“So much for finding him.” Emily groaned.

“Okay well we can only assume that either someone from his team did this to his or this is his way of suicide but i'll go with the first option.” Marissa said crossing her arms.

“Look, I know Kyle is an asshole and all but why would someone do such a cruel act to him?” Garcia complained.

“Because he knew too much.” Hotch replies.

“Is there any way you can maybe check in the office if he was there earlier today, or maybe around the campus with someone else the night you and Luke talked to him?” Marissa asked.

Garcia shook her head.

Just then, Barnes and Strauss emerge from the crowds as they witness the sight of Kyle’s corpse. Barnes gestures at the police as they surround the area.

“Alright students, show’s over. Go back to your dorms and classes.” The people in the crowd groan as several policemen guide them away from the scene. As they walk away, there were multiple instances of whispers and gossip on how Kyle died, what happened and who could it have done it.

The gang then gathered at the quad to try and gather all their thoughts. With Kyle gone, there’s was only more questions than answers.

“So…….what now?”

“Well Derek, with Kyle gone, we just lost our chance to ask him some important questions.”

“We lost the person, not the answer.” Marissa states.

“What do you mean, Marissa?” Ashley asked.

“Well i mean, if we go back to the night of Rossi’s class being trashed on the cctv’s system, we can possibly see the person walk in the class and if we catch his face we can probably run it through the students and staff’s pictures.”

“.................and how do you know all this?” JJ asked.

“Just using the environment to my advantage, and it would make the most sense to actually check all our resources?”

“I still can’t believe you just joined us today and somehow you know more about this than we do.” Elle thought. “Yeah, even moreso than Reid.” Luke adds.

“Hey!”

“Well how can you not learn some stuff from crime shows and this handsome bookworm?” Marissa said as she kissed Reid’s cheek.

“Ehehehehehehe.” “Anyway……..so Marissa, you were saying?” Hotch interupts her. “If what you were saying is true about the cctv, how can we get access to the footage?”

“Well if Garcia, aka this beautiful ball of sunshine, says she’s as good with computers as you say she she is, it should be a piece of cake for her to get in.”

“Awww.” She blushed. “She called me beautiful……………...and yes, I can get access into the cctv footage.”

“So Garcia, are you sure you want to do this?” Elle asked.

“Chillax hun, this isn’t my first rodeo. I got this.” She cracked her knuckles as she pulls out her laptop from her bag.

“Well this may take a while so i'm gonna go get something to e-”

“What is it Garcia?” Hotch asks.

“I’m in.” Hotch and the rest of the group gather around her as she looks up cctv footage from last night.

“Damn, that was hella fast! Nice job babe!” Marissa says hugging Garcia.

They all watch as Garcia rewinds the footage.

“Try going back to the night of Rossi’s room being trashed.” “Got it.” Just as she rewinds the footage, they took notice of an unknown stranger walking into Rossi’s classroom.

“Wait wait wait wait…” Emily stopped. “You mind zooming that in?”

“Sure thing my fine furry friend.” She zooms in on the footage, showing a stranger in a black hoodie and loose clothing.

“There’s no way that person could be Kyle.”

“Yeah, this person is way bigger than Fuckboi- i mean Kyle.” Marissa says.

“Who is this guy? I’ve never seen him before.”

“Maybe he could be a professor or a custodian?” Kate shrugged her shoulders.

“Better to be safe than sorry, does his face ever show to the camera Garcia?” Reid asks.

“Well, it’s hard to see from the lack of lighting in the classroom.”

“Try seeing if he looks up slightly and try to screenshot then brighten the image.” Tara joins in.

“Okay.” Garcia then zooms in, brightening and clearing the image up. “How’s that?”

“Try a liiittle more?”

“Uh………..okay.” She continues to clear the image up. “Sorry, that’s as far as I can go.”

“It’s fine sweetcheeks. Try to run the image through the campus student and staff database.” Derek says.

“Okay, though this may take a while……..”

“That’s fine, just do it.” Hotch says.

She then goes through the student and staff database, only to stop. “Or perhaps not.” “So?” She turns to the gang. “..................No match.”

“Damn, well there goes that damn theory.” Marissa says disappointed.

Garcia closes her laptop. “So……………..what now?”

“Well is there anyone else acting strange around campus or anywhere you guys can remember?”

They all looked at each other, shaking their heads.

“Acting cruel to others or you? Anything guys?”

“No.” They all shook their heads.

“Well, then we’re all screwed.”                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------

  Elsewhere, Rossi was in his cabin when he heard someone knocking at his door. He then walked up to see three familiar strangers outside. “Nice to see you again David.”

“Phillip, Mark, Kiera. You don’t know how glad I am to see you guys again.”

“Well, we’re always here to help.” Rossi took a step back, allowing the three agents to enter his cabin before closing the door behind them. “Though I wish this was under better circumstances.”

They all sat in the dining room.

“Can I get you guys something?” “Uh no thanks, we’re good.” “Okay.” He sat down. “First…..any leads on Gideon’s case?” “Sadly nothing yet, but we’re still looking.” Kiera responds.

“Oh okay, just let me know if there’s any update.” He rubs his palms. “I just don’t get how this could all happen. Besides, there’s no way his death could be ruled as a suicide. Something seems a bit off here.” The three agents were silent as they stare at their old friend.

“What? Was is it?” “When was the last time you kept in touch with your students back in Quantico University?”

“I-I don’t know. Maybe around a week.”

“Oh……..” “What is it Phil?” “W-well, let’s just say that it was no coincidence that we were brought here not long after you called us.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Kiera took a deep breath. “T-there was an incident up by the woodlands near the campus. A student has been murdered.”

“Oh my god, don’t tell me it was one of my kids! I can’t handle that again!”

“It was this student.” Mark pulls out a photo of a teen and another showing his corpse, sliding them towards Rossi. “Kyle Hodges, the M.E identified his body, police reported that he was found by two girls who where just hiking when they came across his body. Do you recognize him?”

Rossi compared and analyze the two photos before placing them down.

“No i don't know him. But did anyone find anything else? Are my students okay?!”

“Your students are okay. So far, Hodges is the only confirmed death. Our biggest concern is finding who killed him.”

“Any leads?” They shook their heads. “No, but we did find a connection between Gideon and Kyle’s death.” “And what’s that?” Philip then hands him autopsies and photos of Gideon and Kyle, comparing the two different photos.

“We were surprised to not notice it until now but if you look closely, both were found with a small symbol carved on their stomachs.”

Rossi eyes’ widen as he recognized the carvings found on the photos.

“Dave, you recognized them?” “I’ve seen this before.”

“Where? On a previous case or something?”

“Yeah…...it was a case I worked on a few years ago, where I caught…….The Replicator.”

“Woah woah woah! You mean THE Replicator?”

“Yes….unfortunately.”

“Oh god, this is worst than we all thought!”

Rossi then slammed his fist on the table. “M-my students, I need to warn them. If this is what I think it is, then we could be looking back at a repeat of the massacre of 90-Oh god.”

“Hey, don’t think like that, we won’t let anything like that happen ever again.”

“I know I know. It’s just……...my journal, everything I know about what happened is in that journal. If it gets into the wrong hands……”

“I know Rossi, we know. We are all trying our best, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Everything will be fine.”

“Let’s hope so, cause things are getting worse than ever.”

Just then, they heard the sound of the phone ringing. Curious, Rossi then got up from his seat and grabs the phone, pressing the button.

“Hello?”

“Hey Rossi! Um, uhhh it’s Emily. I was wondering if you could meet us in the quad back at campus, we have a few things to catch you up on.”

 “Uh sure uh…...how did you get my number?”

“Ummmmmm………………. That’s not important, we just need you in the quad.”

“Yea, sure, I’ll be there soon.” He then hangs up as he looks at his friends.

“What’s going on Rossi? What happened, is something wrong?”

“Umm yeah, one of my students just called and said they needed to meet them at the campus.”

“Why would they ask to meet with you all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know, maybe they found out something? Maybe a lead?”

“You think your students can be trusted? We don’t know if this could lead to a repeat of ‘90.”

“Look, you said it yourself, everything will be fine right? And don’t worry, i know these children can handle it. Plus they got me, and we have you guys to help us.”

The three agents glanced at each other before shifting their focus back to Rossi. “Of course, we’ll do whatever we can to help, even if it means crossing bureaucratic lines.”

“I understand.” He then grabs his jacket. “Thank you, though.” He grabs his keys and phone before heading out.

“Think he’ll be alright?” Mark asks Philip, who gives him a reassuring look.

“It’s Rossi, he knows what he’s doing.”

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

A few minutes later while Rossi is walking through the grass covered quad, he sees his team conversing among themselves. Most likely trying to come up with some theories. Once he’s walks a little closer, his heart drops as he sees an unfamiliar face talking with them as well.

Garcia looks up to see Rossi standing in the distance, smiling with glee. “Rossi!” The team looked back to see their professor, charging towards them, and embracing him.

“Oh professor, it’s so good to see you again, we’ve missed you so much. So much has happened since you left.”

“I know.” He said as he hugs his students one by one, making his way towards the table.

“Uhhhhh……………… Garcia, who the fuck is that at the table with the group? Please tell me she’s only a friend, please tell you guys didn’t tell her ANYTHING?”

“Uh yeah, about that……..” Marissa stood up and holds out her hand. “Hi, I’m Marissa, Reid’s girlfriend.”

“Hi, I’m David Rossi.” The two shake hands as he looks over to Reid.

“Would you mind leaving for a bit? I’m here to have a conversation with my students privately.”

Marissa glares at him. “Uh, I’m sorry, but why should I?”

“Because this conversation doesn’t involve you, so please leave.”

She chuckled amusingly. “No offense professor, but I’m pretty sure it does involve me.”

“Oh really? Why does it?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Because I know everything, about your classroom, about what’s been going on, Gideon’s death, everything. And i am sorry for your loss by the way, he way a good man, at least from what i hear.”

“Really? Who told you?”

Marissa then looks at the team who’s standing behind her. As they all look at both her and Rossi eyes widen , they all point to Reid who’s standing in back.

“Reid……”

“Y-y-yes Pro-Professor?” He nervously asked as Rossi walks up to him.

“Didn’t I make it clear that no one outside out group knows about the situation?”

“Yeeeessss………………. I'm so sorry sir but I really trust her. She’s a good person okay, I know she is!”

“I know I know. I’m not saying that she is a bad person, my concern is that she might not understand what we’re going through and she might end up notifying Barnes or the authorities without our consent.”

“Professor, i know what your concerns are, and if this is as bad as you guys are saying that it is, i will not tell ANYONE what’s going on, i won’t do anything drastic like that without you guys’ consent. I swear it on my very soul sir, i won’t do it. Just let me help you all out.”

Rossi considers her offer to him and his students, he thinks about saying yes, but not without analyzing her behavior. She’s not bouncing or fidgeting, nothing that indicates that she lying about anything. She just looks hopeful, hoping that he says yes to her.

“Okay, I trust you.”

“Yay!” She gleefully cheers as she jumps up and down she says, “I won’t guys down!I won't let you down i swear!”

“I know you won’t………….which is why Emily and Tara will keep a close eye on you.”

“Of course! Of course, i totally understand!”

“Good, anyway………..what did you guys bring me here for?”

“Oh right! Something happened to your classroom while you were gone.” JJ said while looking at Rossi with sadness.

“What do you mean?” “I uh, think it’s best if we show you.”

As the students all gather their things, and start walking towards his classroom, Rossi starts to get more and more worried with each step he took. What happened to his class? Why would someone do this? Why would anyone want to do this to him? As they get closer to the room, a thought crossed his mind. ‘I hope no one found my journal…’

Ashley suddenly she slightly pulls on Rossi’s sleeve and he looks at her when she says, “Rossi, it’s not pretty in there, so what you’re about to see will be pretty shocking.”

“I’ve seen worse, I’m sure this won’t be the worst thing I’ve seen in these past few years.” He took a deep breath and opened the doors.

As Rossi sees what’s happened to his room, he feels so many emotions brewing inside him. Sadness, shock, anger, disgust, and worry. For himself and his students. As he looks at his desk flipped on it’s side and papers and desk lying around everywhere, he sees just how personal this attack is. He knows now that whoever this is has got it out for him in the worst way. As the tears swell up in his eyes, he feels his students gather closer to him and touch his arm trying to comfort him.

“Are you okay professor?”

“Y-yeah, i-i just………….. Who would do this? And why? What did i ever do?”

“That’s what we’re here to find out.” Hotch then pats his professor on the back. “Don’t worry professor, we’ll help you find whoever is going after you. We’ll do whatever we can to stop them from hurting anyone else, and we promise to help rebuild your classroom..”

“Thank you guys, you are all extraordinary students, and i'll be here from now on to help you catch these sons of bitches.”

The rest of the team all nodded as they gather around their professor into a big hug. Little did they notice a tall stranger observing them behind the window outside.

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

 Elsewhere, Barnes and Strauss were at the Dean’s office, pondering over what to do with multiple incidents happening at the college.

“Man, these last few months have been a handful, I mean, the campus has been going nuts lately.”

“What are we gonna do?” Barnes complained. “We thought that we got this under control but apparently, things just get worse and worse.”

“Yeah i know, I mean between Hodges’s death, Rossi’s classroom being destroyed and everything else, what’s gonna happen to the college? What if they shut us down?”

Barnes slams her hands on Strauss’s desk. “They won’t….W-we just need to find a way to resolve this matter.”

“But how Barnes? We have no clues on who could’ve done this? We don’t have suspects! What are we gonna do!?”

“W-we’ll figure it out….I-I just need to think of some way to get some information out of some students. Maybe we can find something in Rossi’s classroom or anywhere in the campus?”

Strauss tilt her head. “You don’t think he had anything to do with this, do you?”

“I mean probably not but better safe than sorry right?” She felt Strauss touch her hand. “Linda, look, I get it. I am as desperate as you are in trying to protect  the students and staff on this campus, but we can’t be too rash on this. Otherwise, more people will get hurt.”

“Yeah, I get it, I understand. I’m sorry, i guess i get a bit carried away sometimes.”

“We all do……..” She paused. “How about you get some rest, we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Alright, same to you, go take a rest.”

She then grabs her bag and coat before closing the door behind her.

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

Near the forest, Meadows was standing next a tree waiting for someone. As she wanders around by the trees, she was startled by the sounds of footsteps approaching her.

“Who’s there?” She shouts. Just then, she sees a person in a red hoodie approaching her, prompting her to sigh in relief.

“Oh, it’s you.” She sighs. “For a second, I thought you were someone else.”

“Why would i be someone else? You and me are the only ones that are supposed to meet…. Right?”

“That is correct.” “Did you make sure that there was no one following you?”

“I made sure of it.”

“Cool, so, show me what you got.”

The person opens her backpack, pulling out a small journal and handing it to Meadows.

“Nice, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you’d be able to pull off.”

“Oh Mary, you’d be surprise to know what I’m capable of. Besides, I couldn’t have done it without the help from you.”

“Yeah sure, well we should start looking through this.”

“Yeah we should.” The two go through the journal, smiling at some of the pages. “Your friends don’t know about this, do they?”

“Like hell they do."

“Good, that's the last thing we need right now.”