I am IN LOVE with your art style!!! I always get so excited when I find new bird artists. If you ever have the chance, can you do a secretary bird? Keep up the great work :)

🐦 Secretary Bird

Tr ; Yin and yang : Part 3

☆☆☆

|In case anyones confused about the Sano family tree and where Y/n fits in :

(Great drawing i know. Revere me artists!👹)

Part 1 • Part 2

Masterlist~

|Also try to pick a gender neutral name for yourself if you can (cuz i know your not using your real name your not fooling me cuz who even does that)|

The rain poured once again as it seemed to do endlessly around your existence.

A black umbrella was held high above your head, sheltering your now slightly bigger frame. However, this day you were the one who held your own umbrella without the assistance of a so called social worker who was ment to protect you instead.

You had gotten to the venue on time but only looked on from afar. You waited and waited and waited some more. Until finally almost everyone had come and go. They came and departed after paying their respects and grievances to who you assumed would be shins other three family members. His two younger siblings and his grandfather.

You let your mind wander to them for a time, wondering how they had been dealing with the loss of your shared older brother, even though they knew nothing of your existance.

You quickly snapped your mind back to the task at hand that you had set out for yourself as you saw your opportunity to slip into the venue.

Here you would say your own final goodbyes and grievances to your older brother.

Its bad luck they say. To bring an open umbrella indoors. Have you heard of that one?

Well you didnt care much for supersistion anymore because at this stage what was the point? You could follow all the superstition in the world and your older brother would still remain stone cold in a casket, soon to be burried six feet under in the sano families grave where your mother had also been buried previously.

The last conversation you had had with your mother flashed in your mind once again as it had done many times before.

Her frail arms wrapped around your small body, delicate hands turning your face to meet her own as she uttered those last few words in her soft sickly voice that she tried to keep from shaking.

Her eyes never leaving yours until she was done speaking almost as if she knew they would be her last. Or mabey it was just the importance they held in her own heart, the one thats beating was continuously slowing down as time went on until her sickness would finally take its course and it would beat no longer.

Whenever she held you close to her body as she brushed your hair, throughout your childhood, you listened to that sound. The sound of her beating heart. It relaxed you, you had said to yourself. But deep down you knew you listened to it for the fear that if you didnt, it would become silent, the beating would stop.

And it did.

And your fear had come to fruition.

Because at that time you hadnt been listening to the sound of it but instead to the sound of the words that left your mothers mouth.

They told you it wasnt because of what she was saying.

The doctors. The nurses. Your brother.

They had told you that she hadnt died because of the last one sided conversation you two had had.

But they werent there when it happened. They didnt hear the words that fell from her mouth, dragged out after ragged strangled breaths.

The last gasps of air that she could fill her lungs with as tears fell from her eyes and the grip of her hands on either sides of your face had started to grow a little too tight, her nails almost digging into your ears.

"Dont give your heart away, my love." She had said to you.

"Your too precious for this world. Dont let anyone have it. Do you understand?" She had asked but you only looked back at her blankly, staring into her reddened eyes.

"Y/n my beautiful daughter" she had said so softly, so soothingly

"Bad people try to take advantage of the people with the most beautiful souls in this world." She continued. "This world is unfair so your bound to have bad days but if everything else fails, just have hope. Hope for a better future. Hope for a better life in this world."

Her breathing became more shallow and she had started taking shorter breaths. You didnt know what to do then. You were listening to your mothers words and you didnt want to break eye contact with her, as desperate as she seemed, but the sides of your head had started to hurt from her hand placements and her eyes had grown strange.

"And some day you'll surely-"

Her heart monitor indicated that her heart rate had been rapidly increasing, you had decided then on what to do as you wriggled out of her grasp. You had jumped down from the bed and ran out of your mothers hospital room to get the nurses.

Sure, mabey you could have used whatever that button was that would summon a nurse to your mothers hospital room but did you remember in that sistuation?

No.

Or mabey you did.

You told yourself you hadnt remembered there was such a button or that it would take too long to find it. But the truth was that even though your mothers voice was always sweet and caring and had not changed even in her last words, the look in her eyes had frightened you.

A small child around only nine years of age.

Made to take on such a burdensome responsibility. The responsibility and weight of a sick mother. No one stopped to ask how you were doing or dealing with the situation. No one except shin. The only other person in your life. The only other person who loved and cared for you since birth. Your only other family.

And so after you had alerted the nurses, you had called him, your safety, your refuge. Though that phone call had been the one he had been dreading most.

The news that would turn out to be the biggest challenge you two had yet to face in your young lives.

Could you remember what the converstaion you had with him was, what you had told him?

The answer was no.

You didnt even remember calling him now that you were older.

Your subconscious had scribbled over that part so that in time it would fade and be forgotten. Nothing more than a torn page from your book of life that was currently still in the process of being written. Far from finished, far from even being deciphered by another since your older brother had left you behind in this world.

His own book being forced to a stop too soon, having run out of ink. Having been thrown away into the fireplace to be burned beyond recognition or rememberance.

You once again made your way up that aisle, only this time there was not a single person left inside. No one who would be watching you from where they sat below you, with curious, piercing eyes.

Your open black umbrella left a trail of small water dropplets behind you, as if imitating the tears that you could not produce. When you got to the top and saw your brothers picture framed with a smile on his face as if nothing bad could ever happen, as if it wasnt his own funeral that he was smiling about, your stomach lurched.

You felt sick.

You had been feeling many diffrent emotions up till now. Sadness over your brother death. Nervousness at going to his funeral where you could run into his other family members or be questioned as to why you were there.

Or if they saw your face. How even though you always had a resemblance to him, it had now grown to a sickening degree. You couldnt even imagine what would happen, you didnt want to.

So you pushed it all down once again. Pushed it back as best you could so that you could carry on while holding your head up high. Hold your head up high under that black umbrella that was now your only shelter, your only so called protection. You were alone now. But that also ment you were stronger. You could be stronger.

No. You would be stronger.

You had to be. Or the world that despised you, that bared its fangs at you any chance it got, would open up and eat you too. Just like it had done with your mother and brother.

Unfairness.

Thats what it was.

Every child learns the meaning of that word at a young age. Weather its because their parents wouldnt buy them a toy that they really wanted or because they got a bad score on a test they studied hard for, its shown itself in many diffrent ways. So that they are able to learn its meaning.

However unlike other children you had come to understand the word even more so than learn of its meaning. Like them you had learned of it but they could never truly understand the word, not until everything they cared about had been taken from them.

Everything that kept them alive, that helped them to survive.

When you had only the purest of hearts, the world despised you.

Just like how your mother had said in her final words to you.

You were discarded and now alone.

And so you decided from that day on, the day of your brothers funeral, that you would change.

The girl with only the purest of hearts would use her own fingers to rip it from her chest and reshape it into a dagger.

A dagger in which she could use to carve her initials on the world.

They would all know her name but they would never again know her heart.

There is strength in solitude.

In not relying on anyone.

This was something you couldnt see before when those you wished to rely on were alive. But now that they had been taken from you, now that you were left alone, the path that you must follow had been revealed.

It had finally opened up and allowed you entrance.

~~~

On that day a frame of a person in black could be seen leaving the funeral venue of Manjiro Sanos older brother Shinichiro Sano. A black umbrella held high above their head as they emerged from the previously empty building and stalked off into the distance through the lashing rain.

Umbrella swaying back and forth slightly with the current of winds that swept past and chilled the bones of the living to the temperature of the dead. Without a shield of his own to protect himself from the pelting rain, crystalizing rain soaked into Manjiro Sanos funeral garb as he looked out towards the far distance.

The dark clouds high above the earth split open just enough for a streak or two of light to shine through and down onto that small figure with the black umbrella.

The scene that played out before Manjiro, of that retreating blurry figure, was almost picturesque. It would have been more so if the dropplets of rain that rolled down his cheeks were not taunting him as he tried to hold back tears for his dead older brother. Those which he had just returned from trying to wash away in the bathroom.

The day drawled on in a dim grey colour as the tides of emotions felt by those who cared for Shinichiro Sano could not be swayed by words of comfort alone. Words the two Sano siblings uttered to each other in reassurance although not believing the words themselves were saying above what the other said.

You gained no such comfort from anyone never less the man who was suposed to be your older brother.

No, not the one that had been with you from birth.

Not Shinichiro.

How could he? He was the one you were now mourning and would need comforting over.

So not him but instead your other brother.

No, not Shins younger brother Manjiro Sano either. You had never even met him, only caught glimpses from afar.

A brother who was neither one of them, neither Shinichiro nor Manjiro, yet one you could not break away from never the less.

The man who was not even biologically your other older brother. The man who was involved in the last time you saw Shinichiro before his death. The man who did not respond to you when you had asked him if he was planning to attend both of your elder brothers funeral, even though he had been greatly depressed over the matter like you had been.

Izana Kurokawa.

Why? Why couldnt you break away from him?

You didnt know.

You didnt need him to comfort you now. You were strong enough on your own.

Was it pity? A sence of responsibility?

Maybe this was how your mother felt in her decision to keep and birth you instead of simply moving on with her life. A choice that may as well have cost the last of her remaining health.

Through these circumstances the darkness got darker and in turn so did your urge to become stronger.

Not for a reason like Manjiro Sanos. Not to protect anyone else. But only to protect yourself.

Protect yourself from ever again failing to be in control of your own life. And protect yourself from the hellstorm you knew would approch you in the near future chapters of it.

You could feel it coming upon you. That storm.

The world was about to bare its fangs at you like never before. But this time you would be ready for it. This time you would fight back. This time you would not be helpless. You would not let your life be thrown around in front of you while you could do nothing but watch from the sidelines.

This time you would be a force to be reckoned with and the world would be the one who was unprepaired.

~~~

Takemichi Hanegaki walked with alot on his mind. It seemed as if his problems would never end. As soon as he fixed one thing another problem would arise and thats just what it did again this time. Just who was the man they called Izana Kurokawa? The leader of the gang Tenjiku.

Walking through the doors to his school the boy, lost in thought and unaware of his surroundings, knocked into something in front of him.

"Hey watch where your going" a voice rang out

Or someone.

"Oh my God im so sorry i wasnt looking where i wasgoingareyouallright-"

The guy he had bumped into ignored him choosing to start picking up his fallen papers instead.

'Wow how dumb am i? I had been so lost in thought and worried over my new prediciment that i just made the guy in front of me drop all his belongings' Takemichi thought to himself.

Thankfully he hadnt knocked him over. Although he had a small frame the guy didnt seem like he could get knocked down that easily, thankfully, but that also made Takemichi slightly nervous.

Whenever something like this happened he usually found himself getting beat to a pulp two minutes later. Instead though, Takemichi found himself scraping the papers the guy had dropped off the floor as well in an attempt to help and not inconvenience him any farther.

After they both finished picking up the remaining pieces of paper Takemichi then handed the ones he had collected back to the guy. Angling his head upwards to take them from him, Takemichi got a look at the guys face for the first time.

He had a certain look to him, an aura about him that Takemichi, like usual, couldn't quite put his finger on. Especially his eyes, they felt almost familiar like he had seen them somewhere, on someone before. But Takemichi didn't have time to think about all that right now, he had other things to worry about, other priorities.

"I'm really sorry about that, i was lost in thought" he wanted to give a less rambled apology this time to get his honest feelings across.

"It's fine i wasn't looking where i was going too much either" the guy replied. He had a smooth voice, a calming essence to it but an undertone that hinted there was more to his personality than at first glance.

He almost reminded Takemichi of Mikey, however wierd that sounded. He was used to his hypothesis and ideas sounding wierd by now, they had to be if he ever wanted to figure out what was going on around him. No one around here was very normal anyway, including himself. He could time leap and that certainly wasn't normal, that was like a whole superpower.

The most not normal you could get and even then he was relatively alot more normal than most of the people he had interacted with since he time leaped twelve years into the past. If anyone was completely normal around here it would be his girlfriend Hinata Tachibana as well as Hinas friend Emma Sano, Mikeys younger sister.

Probably because they both weren't caught up in all the gang stuff but either way he felt proud to have a girlfriend like Hina.

Lost in thought once again Takemichi unknowingly cluched the paper in his hand ever tighter.

'Wait. Paper?' He thought

He hadnt been holding anything on his hands when he entered the building.

He brought the crinkled paper up and unfurled it, scanning through it. A test paper? This was one of that guys papers.

"Oh, i forgot to give you this o-"

When he turned around the guy was gone.

"Ah he forgot something" Takemichi said to himself.

Since his attention had been captured by that guys resemblance to the President of Toman he had been lost in thought and forgotten to return one of the papers he had picked up off the floor for him. It instead sat half crumpled up in his hand, the one that was now scarred thanks to getting a knife thrust through it in an attempt to help Draken.

As the bell rang for class to begin, he brought the paper back up to look at it once again and something on the cornor of the paper caught Takemichis eye.

"Oh wait his name is on it, i can just return it to him later." Takemichi concluded. "Lets see Mister..."

"Y/n..."

He hesitated when the sight of that persons last name reached his eyes, his brain not willing to comprehend what he saw.

"Kurokawa...?"

☆☆☆

Reader isnt a guy they just think she is cuz she looks like shinichiro alot so they just never think to think shes a girl

Also i know takemichi doesnt know what shinichiro looks like but he thought senju was a guy so-

@beep-sheep-heart @royal-shinigami @kazu-dump @dedef7890 @simpingfor-wakasa

The person that came knocking.

Dallas Winston Centric

plot : dallas is having another rough night until someone special shows up at his door step

pairing: none, just friendship between dally and johnny

warnings: none? will add when finished with.

Dallas muttered quietly as he ran his hands over his face, looking at himself in the mirror. He really couldn’t tell what went wrong tonight, his father wasnt home and he hadnt actually gotten into trouble. Maybe it was the fact that everything had just been that perfect, or maybe it was the fact Johnny wasn’t there.

Johnny hadn’t been there all day, he was out at the Curtis’ house. It was a cold day so it made sense Johnny wouldn’t be in outside. Johnny couldn’t stand the cold and Dallas knew that better than anyone.

Dallas gripped onto the door handle, knuckles turning white from the grip he had. Dally sighed before twisting and pulling the door open with ease and walking down to his room. His feet dragged across the floor, not being bothered to actually try and walk correctly. Sure it was a slight hazard and he could trip on his own feet but he didn’t really care at this point.

He opened the door to his room, forcing himself inside as the stuffy air surrounded him. Dallas groaned in annoyance as he shut the door behind him with a soft click.

The room was empty, he never spent much time here so he felt there was no need to truly decorate it. The most decoration it got was the small pieces of paper stuck onto his door that Johnny gave him. They normally had little cartoon drawings of cats or birds.

The sound of gentle knocking filled his ears as he groaned. His dad couldnt have gotten home this late, it was 2:30am! Dallas kicked the ground before opening his bedroom door once again and walking to the front door. He cursed quietly under his breath as he fumbled with the key to open the door.

Dally pulled open the door, staring at the figure in front of him. He honestly didn’t expect him to be standing right there in front of him, at his door step.

Johnny was never at his house, he never ever came here. Not for anything. So to say the least, Dallas was surprised.

“Uh.. D-Dal..? Can i come in..?” Johnny stuttered out the question, as if it was a crime to even ask. “Ponyboy isn’t home and I don’t really enjoy being around Soda and Darry alone..”

Dallas just blinked, trying to process the question. Somehow Dallas knew Johnny was just asking to stay, which he normally never did. Johnny probably  thought he was bothering him just as much as he thought he was bothering Ponyboy by staying there almost every night. “Yea sure man, come on in.”

Johnny looked up slightly at Dally, finally looking up from his gaze on the ground. He hesitantly walked inside the small house, looking around the area. Dallas still couldn’t grasp Johnny wanting to stay at his house.

“Johnny, you can uh, sleep on my bed. Ill just sleep on the couch.” Dally mentioned, starting to walk towards his own room once again. He seemed to have more energy, his mood shooting up at the person standing in his house. Dallas felt somewhat alright around him.

Dally fumbled with his fingers as he pulled open the closet door in his room. A mountain of blankets were sat on the shelf in there, they used to be used when it got really cold in New York. Dally reached up and grabbed onto one, pulling it down with ease. He smirked at how he managed to pull it down with no mistakes.

The door to his room creaked as it was shoved open ever so slightly, Johnny now standing there looking at Dallas. The taller male walked over to Johnny with the blanket, throwing it onto his head before walking out. The smirk stayed visible on his face.

Johnny sputtered out a few noises before throwing the blanket off with a huff leaving his mouth. He marched over to Dallas with the soft blanket. A harsh glare was sent towards Dallas, like a bullet through the chest.

Love Under the Everlasting Moon - Sangonomiya Kokomi x Fem. Reader

the war is finally over, and all thats left now is to return home, and return to your beloved Kokomi, priestess of Watatsumi Island 💙

hello hello again everyone. i hope youre well. i know its been a while since i wrote a oneshot so im back with one that makes my sapphic heart just giddy. plus, its my first oneshot that has a gendered reader so yay ! I'll likely sprinkle a couple of these in with my regular gender neutral reader ones. if you'd like me to write a oneshot or letter for you, please dont hesitate to send me an ask. my request box is open and im happy to write for you. hope you enjoy 💫

~

the moon was high and brilliant as a sango pearl in the centre of the sky when you finally trudged up to the front steps towards the Sangonomiya Shrine, the guards at the foot of the path greeting you quickly and bowing in reverence, but you hardly saw them. with raspy breaths and sticky, sweaty skin that clung to your uniform, you pulled your aching legs up step after step, your pole arm serving as a staff to support your weight until you reached the top and pushed out a dry breath.

home at last after a long fight with the last of the Shogun's army, you wiped the sweat from the back of your neck, and blinked through the luminescent teal light glowing in the fountains either side of the bridge. it was still a long way to the doors of the great shrine, but before you could gather the last of your strength to pull yourself across the last few metres, a sight you hadnt had the honour of laying eyes upon appeared in a tender, pale glow on the other side of the bridge and with it, a flood of warmth and desperation rushed through your blood.

hands clasped to her chest, blue eyes wide and glassy with tears of relief, light and silky hair fluttering about around her shoulders as her long lilac nightgown flapped in the slow breeze around her bare feet, Kokomi waited at the start of the bridge for you to return, whispering desprate prayers to the Watatsumi Omikami for your safe return.

it had been months since she'd seen you, even longer since you'd had a moment just to be with one another, but having gotten word of your return from the front lines and that there would be good news when you did, she hadnt stopped to change. rushing out from her chambers, Kokomi raced down the steps but stopped at the start of the bridge and waited, silent and steady but impatient to see you.

her eyes stung with tears as the time passed by, the late evening melting into a rich but clear night, and all the while she didnt move, hardly hearing the shrine maidens when they urged her to wear a cloth around her shoulders. she just shook her head and kept her eyes on the arch standing at the entrance to the heart of Watatsumi Island. she was prepared to wait there all night long, but didnt have to, as not soon after the maidens gave up and returned to their duties, Kokomi heard the guard at the front gates say with a voice full of reverence, "Welcome back, Captain!"

the priestess's heart leapt into her chest so fast she gasped softly, the tears pricking the back of her eyes now rushing forward to blur her vision in cool tears.

"Please..." she whispered softly to herself and into the wind, and not a second later, she gasped again, a hand flying to her lips as her eyes finally rested upon you, her beloved girlfriend and the woman of her dreams, once again. bruised, exhausted, but there, here, home at last.

"Oh!" Kokomi exclaimed, her voice trembling as her heart fluttered wildly in her chest, cheeks rouging as the tears glided down her smooth cheeks. you heard her and your gaze quickly found her own, immediately drawing up a simiilar rush of heat and longing and love.

for a few moments, the two of you just stared at one another in disbelief, but then, as if all the emotions you'd bottled up had erupted at the exact same time, your polearm fell from your hand, Kokomi gasped a sob and then you were running at each other, not caring in the slightest who saw you. just the need to get to her and her to you fuelled you until, at long last, you crashed into each other's arms and tumbled to the smooth stone of the bridge.

"Oh... OH my- y-you're back! you're back!" Kokomi weapt as she clung to you, holding you as tightly as her arms would allow, her crystaline tears dripping on to the skin just under the collar of your turquoise uniform. and you held her back, wrapping your arms around her as relief brought tears to your eyes as well.

"y-yes... im home now. im home." you panted into her neck, shaking with exhileration at the feeling of being in your girlfriend's arms once more.

it was a while that you both remained there, weeping and clinging to one another in the cool sky bathed in milky moonlight, only the tender gargling of the fountains either side of you breaking up your gasping sobs and whispers of each other's name. it was bliss, relief, euphoria and never again would you have to face the ache of being away from her side ever again.

~

"tell me..." Kokomi whispered, now that you were both inside your shared chambers in the shrine, quiet and calm, her body tangled in yours and the sheets of your bed, her hand laying over your heart to feel every beat it gave out, her head resting against your neck. "Is it all over now?"

your eyes were fixated on her seemingly endless locks of blush pink and blue tipped hair, combing your fingers through it so softly as you nodded and whispered against her forehead, "yes. the war and the vision hunt decreee... are over. we can rest now."

Kokomi sighed and snuggled closer against your body before looking up to meet your eyes in the dim room, only the light of the moon seeping in through the window bringing light in, and it was enough.

taking your cheek gently in her hand, Kokomi whispered, "You... are the most wonderful woman I have ever known. I love you."

a new light erupted in your heart then for the priestess. being the captain of the first army for Watatsumi Island had kept you both close enough and over time, falling into one another's company and then arms wasn't hard at all. of course you loved her but hearing her confess made a soft heat rush to your face as a smile stretched across your lips.

"As are you, Kokomi. and... I love you too." you whispered.

Kokomi blushed a full cherry-blossom pink then as she beamed at you, blue eyes sparkling like sapphires in the moonlight as you both laced your fingers with each other, leaned close and kissed softly once again. it was perfect now, and nothing could tear you apart. not death, not war, not anything. but your love would hold you both together for all of eternity.

end

COSMIC - S3:E3; Chapter Three, The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard - [Pt. 5]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

𝘌𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘋&𝘋. 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦.

⚠️: Castle Byers scene. Meaning lots of angst, self destructive thinking, and misguided self punishing

📝: Started making it... had a break down [fr tho]... ¯\_( ツ)_/¯ bon appetite! 👩‍🍳 [edit: told ya 💀]

🔑: underlined and bold means they're talking in Russian

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

Warm rain spits from the angry blanket of clouds, falling through the sky and drenching Mike and Lucas to the bone despite their rain gear. Mud splashed up onto their ankles and drenching their socks as their bikes skid up the Byers driveway. Without a thought, they throw their bikes into the ground before racing up onto Will's porch.

It had taken far longer than they cared to admit to decide to go and find Will. To make things right.

Mike was realizing far too late just how right Will was. He didn't even recognize himself anymore. El had become such an important piece of his life, but he hadnt realized until now just how much he let his feelings screw up all the wonderful things he had in his life to begin with. He missed how things used to be. With the party. With Y/n.

With Will.

All the anger he feels towards himself is channeled into his fist banging on Will's front door.

"Will!" He cries. "Will, I'm sorry, man, alright? I was being a total asshole. I've been a total asshole. Please, can you just come outside and we'll talk?"

No answer but the thundering clouds rolling over their heads. He pounds on the door again.

"Will!"

Lucas hurries to the window, cupping his palms against the glass and peering inside. He knocks on the window, doing his best to peer around the curtains and furniture obscuring his sight.

"Hey, Will! Come on, man! We're sorry!" He knocks again, growing nervous. "Will!"

||𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

'Sorry, man. Curfew,'

'For the last time, Will! No!'

-'What, so I should be locked up all day, too?'

-'Maybe!'

Huffing, I throw the wrinkling comic book into the old mattress. Nothing was working. Nothing was enough to distract me. I was too angry.

I looked down at the withered cover of the comic book I had just thrown, my chest sinking further. Dustin's X-MEN 134, he gave it to me after that night at the hospital.

Thinking about it now, I can't even remember the last time all seven of us hung out as a party. I don't count Dustin's welcome home. Mike and El couldn't be bothered to pretend to care, and Lucas and Max kept ganging up on Dustin. Dustin was understandably upset and not wanting anything to do with us, leaving just me and Y/n. And now, not even her.

How did everything get so messed up?

What was I doing wrong?

I looked around the walls of Castle Byers, a lump forming in my throat. Everywhere I looked, I was painfully reminded of the truth.

My friends don't want me anymore.

I keep telling myself that's bullshit, but the more I do the more it feels like a lie.

They're moving on without me.

Friends don't just forget you, I reasoned. They don't just abandon you.

Then why were they doing just that?

Maybe they weren't my real friends. Friend's don't do what they did.

Everything hurts. I've been telling myself I'm fine, that I'm overreacting but I don't think I am anymore. I'm just tired. I'm tried of feeling like this. I'm tired of being pushed aside, especially when I need them most.

They didn't use to be like this, I tell myself. But somehow that just hurts more.

I had people that cared about me, who were willing to risk their lives to save me. Twice.

And now they don't give me a second thought.

I was shaking now, but I don't think it's from the rain. The storm had finally reached me, seeping through the walls and dampening my clothes and hair.

Another painful realization hits me; Castle Byers looked just like it had the night I built it with Jonathan.

Even though this night was so much like the night Castle Byers was constructed, it couldn't feel more different. More unfamiliar.

My teary eyes find my first D&D manual, propped up against the wooden walls, soaked and forgotten like me. I'm painfully reminded of the night all this started.

I remember it as clear as if it were yesterday, and yet it feels light-years away.

'Something is coming. Something hungry for blood.'

《•••》

"What is it?" I ask, edging further off my seat.

This time it's Dustin who cuts in, "What if it's the Demogorgon?"

Oh, great, I think, throwing myself back in my seat with an anxious huff. We're not ready to face a Demogorgon!

Beside me, Y/n draws in an equally anxious breath.

"Oh, Jesus, we're so screwed if it's the Demogorgon." Dustin rambles on.

"It's not the Demogorgon." Lucas says, assuring us all.

《•••》

My eyes trail to one of my favorite drawings; Will The Wise and Y/C/N. The one I had made when Y/n was first constructing her character. The one that hung in my room for so long, always cheering me up. The one that gave my mom the idea to help me communicate my now memories.

The one that Y/n always threatened to steal for her room as often and as recently as her last visit. The memory of her warm touch lingering on my cheeks burned as bright as the blush raging over me that night so long ago.

'Wait a minute... Did you guys hear that?'

《•••》

The anticipated silence in the basement left by Mike grew louder as he leaned in.

"Boom..." His voice grows louder. "Boom," Louder.

"BOOM!" Mike bellows, slamming his hands against the flat surface, rattling the table and all its contents.

The sudden noise was enough to make me and my friends jump, as was the sudden hand grabbing for my own.

All the more startled, I look down to see Y/n's hand grasping my arm like a lifeline. I feel my skin flush, my cheeks surely reddened as I catch her eye. She looked flustered, smiling a small smile before retracting her hand and returning to the game, unknowingly leaving me in a dizzying blush.

•••

"Will, your action!"

"Fireball!" I cry, throwing the dice to the board with a satisfying rattle.

"FOURTEEN!"

My friends erupt into cheers, all around me as we celebrate together.

"BOOM!"

"Direct hit!" Mike cries, beaming proudly at me across the table. "Will the Wise's fireball hits the Thessalhydra!"

Our excited shouts fill the basement, each and every one of us victorious. My smile can't get any wider when I feel Y/n's hands grip my shoulder and begin shaking me excitedly. We both laugh, feeling on top of the world with our cheering friends by our side.

《•••》

Pained, I look away only to find the proof right in front of my eyes. My three favorite pictures; all of them, my friends and me — happy — staring back up at me.

Our photo from the science fair, encased in the popsicle frame Mike had made bearing all of our characters' names along the side. I brought it here, I brought all my favorite pictures here, to Castle Byers — to my safe place — cause that's where I knew I would need their comfort the most.

But as I look at them now, all I feel is bitterness and pain. I'm reminded of just how much everything has changed.

The science fair was a reminder of the good thing I had before that night. Before everything started.

Y/n and me, at the Snow Ball. My arm wrapped around her, the two of us grinning nervously. It wasn't just the night Y/n and I had first kissed, it was also the first night I felt like the Party had gotten bigger. All of us, Max and El included had been happy. Everyone was laughing and getting along, the happiest we had ever been — the strongest. But now I see it was really the beginning of the end.

It had been coming for so long and I didn't even see it.

And Halloween. Last Halloween, everything had been perfect. For just one. Single. Stupid. Moment.

Shakily, I pick up the photo Jonathan had taken of all of us in our costumes. We were all smiling.

We were all happy.

'Who you gonna call?'

《•••》

I beam as I see my friends pulling up, looking just as excited as I felt.

"Ghostbusters!" I finish, watching as they look me over, happily surprised.

"Hey, Spengler!"

"Egon! Looking sharp!" Y/n grinned, pulling me into a quick hug.

"Janine!" I beam. "Venkman!"

《•••》

As I look at it now, my eyes and throat stinging as Mike's voice echoes louder than ever in my mind.

'I mean, what did you think, really?'

What was I thinking?

'That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day, playing games for the rest of our lives?'

How could I have been so naive?

'it's not my fault you can't move on!'

How could I have been so... so...

"Stupid." I tell myself, my voice splitting in my throat. "So stupid!"

My hands trembling violently with rage and my own sobs, I tear the photo in two.

I was stupid. Stupid to believe I was as big of a priority to them as they were to me.

I rip the drawing off the walls, tearing it to pieces.

Stupid to ever think they'd still cared about me.

I rip and tear and crumple up every meaningful piece of them in an act of defiance.

They won't care. I think bitterly. They won't miss these, they probably won't even notice. Not like I would have.

I grab my bat.

How could I be so fucking stupid?!

Why was I hanging on to all this stuff anyway? Why was I clinging so tightly to something that was already gone?

Because I've been stupid. I'm just some stupid kid that won't grow up.

I storm out of the tent.

I'm just some stupid kid who can't grow up. They made that perfectly clear.

I stand in the pouring rain now, heart thundering in my chest as I stare at the piece of my childhood I couldn't let go of.

So. Stupid.

And I start swinging.

I swing and I swing, with an anger and frustration I've never felt so intensely until now. It's been building my whole life and I didn't realize it. Every swing is simultaneously the best and the worst I've ever felt. Every slur I've heard from my dad, from Troy, is channeled into the bat. Every ounce of frustration and fear I felt since I came back from the Upside Down that nobody understood. Every laugh, every jeer, every single moment I've felt alone is channeled into the destruction of the one place on this earth I ever felt safe.

But it holds up and in the back of my mind, I hear Jonathan again.

'And it took so long cause you were so bad at hammering'

And I start kicking, and I start ripping the walls apart until it's a crumpled heap and I stop.

The sight of Castle Byers in ruins breaks me even harder.

I didn't want it gone, but I did it anyway. That part of me that was angry at myself, told me to keep going. Cause that's what I deserved for believing things could stay the same even though deep down I knew that wasn't true.

I finally stop when I see the castle in ruins.

Exhausted, I collapse to the ground beside the wreckage.

As I sob, stewing in the pain and overwhelming grief I felt I was drowning in, the rain pours heavily over me, soaking me to the bone.

Just as it had the night it had been built.

And now, Castle Byers was gone.

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

When blue meets yellow in the west.

8:41 pm. It was almost time.

The yellow and blue clock hands were illuminated by a flash of lightning, streaking through the mall's skylight. Starcourt had long since closed, and the real activity was just beginning.

Stationed at the loading docks near the back, standing under the worst storm Hawkins had seen in years were two guards. They watched through the downpour as the scheduled truck backed its way under the concrete cover.

And perched on the roof, just out of sight sat Dustin, Steve, and Robin, scouting from under their rain slickers.

"Look for Imperial Panda and Kauffman Shoes," she reminds them.

Steve wipes away at the rain dripping into his eyes, squinting even further to get a clear picture Dustin already has.

A man in a bright yellow raincoat emerges from a hidden side door, a trolley cart full of packages marked with a familiar insignia.

"They're with that whistling guy!" Dustin says suddenly, motioning out from behind the only pair of binoculars.

"What do you think's in there?" Steve wonders, eyeing the Lynx logo on the back of their many yellow jackets.

"Guns? Bombs?"

"Chemical weapons?" Robin tries.

"Whatever it is," Dustin says, now cautiously studying the heavily armed guards. He had to admit to himself, they really weren't trying very hard not to be obvious. "they're armed to the teeth."

"Great," comes Steve's sarcastic voice, once again rubbing at his eyes, silently wishing he had brought a coat with a hood. "That's great."

A soft clink that would have been obnoxiously loud had it not been for the noise of the storm brings their attention to another guard. Having pressed a glowing button on a small control panel, two large metal doors swung open to reveal another room.

"Hey!" Robin says, squinting through the rain as she tries to get a glimpse without the binoculars. "What's in there?"

"It's just more boxes,"

"Let me check it out," Steve says, grabbing for the binoculars.

Huffing, Dustin fought to keep his grip on the binoculars. "No, I'm still looking!"

"Lemme see it!"

"Hang on!"

Steve's grip had loosened with the slick of rain, sending the binoculars knocking into the cement. The issue had already been forgotten when they saw the guards' attention had been stolen. Simultaneously, the three of them dove to the ground in a panic.

The guards began to pace, grip on their firearms tightening as they gaze out into the night. Seeing nothing but empty roofs and angry skies above them, they unknowingly miss the trio huddled against the roof wall.

Just out of sight to the right of Dustin, Steve and Robin sat panting as they try to calm their racing hearts. Way too close a call. And neither of them had realized what they had done until their eyes landed on their entertained hands. Just as quickly as they notice, they break apart, embarrassed.

Down below, the guards were now on high alert. One of them, unable to shake the feeling of being watched, stalked into the rain with his eyes deadset on an open spot on the roof. He was certain he heard the noise come from that direction.

"Stay here!" He orders to the other. "Watch the door!"

Reluctantly, his partner complies and inches back towards the doors.

When he finally reaches the top of the stairwell, he hesitates only a moment before he throws the roof door open, gun cocked.

But he was met only with steady claps of thunder and an empty roof.

Had he been wrong?

Or had he just missed whoever had been here?

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Clothes drenched, their shoes sloshing underneath their feet like sponges, Steve, Robin, and Dustin slip out from the shadows and make their way throughout the back halls behind the scenes of Starcourt.

"Well, I think we sound your Russians," Robin quips.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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hey. why dont i tell you a story? this might get long, but ill try to keep it short.

last christmas i got a game called hollow knight. my mother had gotten it on a whim, saying it resembled the designs of some characters that i liked to draw. funnily enough, i fell in love with the damn thing. i played for about seven months straight, getting all the way up to 111%. i somehow avoided spoilers, and the ending shocked me. i couldnt stay away. then, my steam account glitched. it dumped six and a half months of save data off of hollow knight. im not sure if it was my fault or something internal, but i couldnt continue after that. it had taken so long, after all. so i quit. put up the game. that is, until you started posting about it. i was going to unfollow— it had kind of gotten bitter. but i stayed. and thought about playing it. eventually, i pulled it up. i didnt really want to. but when i sent you an ask about it, you cheered me on. so i kept going even though it felt useless. how long has it been? a few weeks? a month? i dont really know. but every time i updated you, you gave me more support. eventually i got back to 111%. i really wanted to stop. but at the same time, i couldnt. i owed it to you, and myself as well. i fought the pure vessel for around a week straight. i felt like i was getting fucking nowhere. of course, i got somewhere, since im sending this to you. finally, *finally* i beat the pure vessel. i moved on to the pantheon. id been working on it hard before my save file corrupted, so it was familiar. it took a few tries, but i beat that as well. i had to pause between each boss because my hands would get shaky. the ‘pure completion’ criteria demands you be at 112% and beat the game, so once i finished the pantheon of the knight, the final pantheon, i went to fight the radiance. that fight was familiar as well, it took me a damn long time to beat her. but... somehow. somehow, ive finished this game. ive got pure completion. im at one hundred and twelve percent. it feels absolutely insane to say it. it doent really feel, well, real. but it somehow is. and its honestly thanks to you. i never wouldve kept going if you hadnt supported me. i wanted to do it, and in the end, i was satisfied with what id accomplished. proud, even. i hope you are, too. and i hope that this never happens to you, because i felt like breaking my computer when it happened. im gonna go to bed now, ive been getting migraines and they arent fun to deal with. sincerely, the ‘111% completion anon’, anon no more. you can call me ben. (twas not as short as id intended. sorry i get rambly lol, this made me a bit. emotional.)

holy shit ben!!!! i'm really, really proud of you king. i don't mind that this is long i'm honestly a bit emotional too...

you did such a good job!!! you did amazing! i'm so glad to have been a part of this Journey :•] and now you will have the bragging rights for the Rest Of Your Life.

thank you for the story, ben :•] - tumblr user cutehornet

Poor Little Anxious Crybaby (Pt.9)

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

Feel like I should clarify for those of you who havent seen the full post about it: this is based on the K-12 and Crybaby albums by Melanie Martinez, this is not my original idea and the storyline for each part is taken from there, with the exception of my own edits to the story

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

Virgil had been throwing a abnormal amount of parties now that Brennan had been gone for two weeks. It was more concerning that he continued to make cakes and decorations and get dressed up when no one attended these events. When Patton had begun to get concerned Emile had merely told him that Virgil was likely replacing his feelings of loneliness with the format of a social event, even if socializing wasnt included.

Virgil liked going to the store alone, it was big and the aisles were fun to run around in, especially since hardly anyone shopped there. The boy at the counter was rather tall, with messy brown hair that had a white streak right at the front, and the beginnings of a mustache, and red eyes. Virgil tended to ask him about his eyes, he liked them a lot, they reminded him of blood.

After about four visits the boy finally told Virgil that his name was Remus, he was fifteen, and he had a brother named Roman. The brother's name sounded familiar, but Virgil couldnt quite figure out how, Roman was never at the store, Remus said he was home sick, and couldnt really do much anyways.

"So what's the theme today?" Remus said as Virgil shoved a stack of decorations over the counter.

"Carnival," Virgil said simply, fishing for his wallet as Remus rang up the streamers and table cloth.

"What do you do with all this party stuff when you're done anyways?" Remus said.

"Put it in recycling, duh," Virgil said. As they were talking the sound of an ice cream truck came from outside, both boys turned their heads and watched it part.

The man running the truck was tall and hairy, he looked almost like a wolf, he was skinnier than you'd expect a wolf to be, though. He walked past the boys at the counter, seemingly not noticing either of them. Virgil finished paying for his things and ran out of the store, excited to get started on the party.

The truck and the man seemed to make routine appearances at the store now, each time passing Virgil and Remus like they werent even there.

"What's he buy anyways?" Virgil said, before the truck had arrived. He'd been deliberating what to make for the party that night when they'd landed on the subject of ice cream, which lead to the current topic.

"More ice cream to fill the truck, you'd think he'd have some already but nope, always comes in for more, and all kinds of other sweets to, I bet those are the toppings," Remus said, shrugging. The two of them stopped as they heard the familiar music, Virgil quickly rushing off to the dessert aisle, hoping he might be able to get some more information on the man.

He heard his footsteps, and watched out of the corner of his eye as the man picked out some different types of ice cream.

"I've heard people like that cotton candy stuff," Virgil muttered out of the corner of his mouth, shuffling over to another section of desserts, pretending to examine another cake. The man merely grunted and selected a few more types before walking up to the counter. Virgil waited until the truck had left before he approached Remus again.

"Anything weird?" He said, sliding his stuff over to the taller boy.

"Nope, same as usual, I grunt less than him in bed. You'd think he'd say hello in one language or another huh," Remus said. Virgil chose to ignore the comment.

"Do you think we should tell someone? He has a pretty clear routine, and no one should have to come back daily if they're buying that much stuff at once right?" Virgil said.

Remus thought on this for a bit before nodding. "I'll tell my parents and you tell yours," he said, bagging the last of Virgil's things and handing them to him.

Patton and Emile had taken the information about as well as Virgil had expected them to.

"Listen to me very carefully Vivi, do not get any ice cream from that truck and dont talk to that man again, Emmy and I will see if we can get someone to investigate the situation," Patton had his hands on Virgil's shoulders, the batter they'd been mixing completely forgotten in the background.

This worked out well, for about a week or so. It was a sunny Friday, there were birds resting on the roof of the store. Virgil had just finished ringing up when the truck pulled up.

"Virgil?" Remus said, there was a tone of urgency in his voice.

"Remus? Is something wrong?" Remus didnt say anything, merely held up a vial of reddish black liquid with a skull etched into the glass, and slipped it into Virgil's pocket.

"Run," was all Remus said before he shoved Virgil toward the door.

Virgil hadnt quite gotten the clue until he was outside, and until he noticed the man hadnt stopped his truck until after he'd gotten outside. Virgil took off almost as soon as the door opened. Heart pounding and looking in all directions, hoping to find a way to confuse the man.

Virgil turned a corner, thinking it would lead back into the neighborhood, but instead he was faced with a wall. He jumped up on one of the trash cans on the side of the alley and attempted to grab hold of something nearby he could use to hoist himself onto the top of the wall. But just as he got into the air he felt something grab onto his leg. He tried struggling his way out, kicking and screaming and trying to free his arms to bash his attacker in the eyes. But the man was much stronger than Virgil was. Virgil felt something cold against his mouth, ice cream, the cotton candy flavor he'd mentioned before. He closed his mouth tighter, but he'd already managed to get a taste of it during one of the screaming matches. He felt drowsy, and then everything went blurry as he was thrown into the back of the truck. It was cold, to cold, he tried to stay awake, tried to find a window that he could climb out of, but he couldnt move anything. He heard three words before he went completely unconscious.

Alongside the flash of a symbol he recognized from Mr. Black's work assignments, "Tag, You're It,"

And then everything was dark.

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

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Mad Love - Chapter 23 ( The final Gotham fic)

After Gotham was cut out off from the mainland, Emerald starts to learn that three’s a crowd and Jeremiah soon shows his true colours. Will she stick around like she did with Jerome or will she finally get some sense to leave and reunite with her true love.

The fourth and final instalment in my Gotham/Emerald series.

Please leave comments, kudos and reblogs if you like it. It really helps me out as a writer, lemme know if you wanna be on the taglist as well :)

Warnings: Smut, Sex, Oral sex, the fluffiest smut you’ve ever read, Scars, Body anxiety, Body worship 

Chapter 23

Emerald’s P.O.V

Six months later

Things had been going great between Eddie and I. And even when I panicked that Jeremiah would make his appearance again, there was still nothing. Maybe I was finally free from him after all. Eddie and I had just gotten back from another successful date, it had been his turn to pick what we do so he’d taken me to the planetarium. A few of Eddies date ideas had been museum or gallery based, and they’d all been fun. The planetarium however had been quite romantic with the dimmed lights and stars dotting the ceilings and walls.

Also, the dimmed lighting helped us hide from any nosey citizens. Having the police called on us was not an ideal way to end a date. Thankfully, we’d avoided that so far. Tonight I felt ready to take the relationship to the next level. So long as the lights stayed off in the bedroom, I could go through with it. Leading him through my dark apartment blindly as we were so engrossed in each other in a passionate kiss, we soon reached the bedroom. "Emerald are you sure? I don’t want this to be too fast for you?” He asked, breathlessly. “I’m sure,” I reassured him.

His lips pressed against mine again, and he pulled me flush against him. It was obvious how eager he was, his lips moving down to my neck, and he began to unbutton my dress. Leaning into his touch, my hands moved to the buttons of his shirt. In the dark, I was struggling a little, but there was no way the lights were going on. If he saw my body and the scars on it, he’d be disgusted and the last thing he would want to do is have sex with me. Eddie chuckled against my neck and started to pull away. “Let’s turn the lights on so you don’t have to struggle,” he suggested.

Grabbing his hand to stop him, I quickly kissed him again in the hopes of distracting him. “We can keep them off, its fine,” I replied. “Emerald, it’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure of looking at your body, I’m turning the lights on.” “But it’s more fun in the dark.” “Sure unless I put it in the wrong hole, then it won’t be fun.” He pulled away again and was out of my reach before I could grab him. “Eddie, don’t please,” desperation evident in my voice.

Flicking the light switch, the room lit up exposing me to him. Turning away from him, I quickly covered any skin that had been on show. Eddie gently wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back to him. “Whats wrong? I’ve seen it all before, Emerald,” he asked. Now I had no choice but to tell him. It wouldn’t be fair to push him away when we’d gotten so close again. Sighing, I turned to face him with tears in my eyes. His expression softened, and he continued to hold me. “My body…it’s not the same as when we were together before,” I explained, opting to be vague.

“Well no, it’s been quite a few years since we were last together.” “No, I don’t mean like that.” “Then what is it? Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll still find you beautiful.” Sighing, I unbuttoned my cardigan. After a short pause I pulled it off, my arms and collar now exposed to him. As well as the scars that littered those areas. My gaze focused on my feet and the floor, not wanting to see his disgust. Eddie reached out, his thumb tracing a scar across my collarbone, and I shivered at how gentle he was. He leaned down and kissed across the tainted skin, tears pricking at my eyes.

“Your still beautiful to me. You always will be. Show me the rest, so I know how many I need to kiss better,” Eddie spoke softly. My heart swelled at his words and the tears rolled down my cheeks. Eddie kissed me, wiping away a tear with his thumb. His fingers ghosted across my arms, my skin forming goose bumps. Reaching the hem of my skirt, he pulled it up and off me. Next, he pushed my skirt down past my hips until it fell and pooled around my ankles. Eddie kissed down my chest and stomach, no scar left untouched by his lips. Hooking his thumbs into my tights, he pulled them down and off.

Remaining on his knees, he kissed across the white lines on my thighs. I threaded my fingers through his hair, sighing softly at his devotion. Heat was starting to grow between my legs, and I was longing for more of his touch. I was still overwhelmed with emotion at all this. Eddie stood back at full height and turned me round so he could study my back. Going through the same routine as before, he kissed across my shoulders, taking my bra strap between his teeth and pulling it off my shoulder so it hung loose around my arm.

He kissed down my shoulders blade, my body shuddering in response. His fingers paused at the clasp of my bra. “Do you want me to keep going?” He asked. Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks as I nodded my consent. Something that hadn’t previously been asked for from Jeremiah. Carefully Eddie pulled apart the clasp, and I pulled the lace material from my body. Eddie descended once more, his fingers trailing down my hips to the waistband of my panties. Instead of using his fingers like I thought he would have, he used his teeth again. The heat between my legs had grown into a dull throb.

Kisses were peppered along my rear and backs of my thighs before he once again stood up. He hadn't missed a single scar. Each one had been worshipped with his mouth, and maybe now I would be able to look in the mirror again. Turning to face him, I began to undress him eagerly. His clothes joined mine across the floor before Eddie pushed my body into the mattress gently. Pulling him down on top of me, I wrapped my arms around him, needing to feel his skin against mine. We kissed each other for a while, both of us breathless by the time Eddie moved on. His lips trailed down my body for a third time before his head was between my legs.

The throb had turned to an ache, an ache for any sort of contact. Eddie kissed across my mound and lips, my hips bucking for more. “Please,” I begged, my voice coming out as a whine. Finally he gave me what I wanted, his tongue licking from my hole to my clit. My head fell back against the pillow and I let out a soft moan. His tongue worked my clit in circles, drawing louder moans from me. I hadnt been eaten out in years and it felt so good. Slowly he slipped a finger into me, working me open before a second finger joined the first.

All too quickly my orgasm built, and I was screaming his name, fisting his hair. Eddie continued, drawing out every last wave of my orgasm until I was shaking, his only focus being my pleasure. I wasn’t used to this kind of treatment at all; it was something I didn't think I’d ever experience again. Eddie kissed his way back up my body, his cock pressed against my belly, which was leaking precum. Reaching between us, I wrapped my hand around his cock and stroked him slowly. Groaning, he pressed his forehead to mine. I wrapped my legs around his waist and positioned his cock at my wet centre.

Slowly he pushed into me, both of us moaning and panting at the contact. Eddie waited till I nodded before he started a slow, passionate pace. I pulled him close, clinging to him. His fingers laced with mine, his hand squeezing mine. It had been years since I had felt this wanted, this beautiful…this loved. Eddie kissed across my neck, but didn't dare leave a single bite mark across my skin. He didn't dig his fingers into my hips or wrap his large hand around my throat. There wasn’t a single moment of roughness. “I love you,” I whispered.

He looked down at me with so much adoration in his eyes, sweeping some hair from my face with a smile. “I love you too,” he responded. We continued for what felt like hours but was likely only minutes. My body radiated pure pleasure, like I was a fine-tuned instrument that only he knew how to play. He reached between us, circling my clit. My nails bit into his bicep as my second orgasm crested. I cried out my release, going completely limp against the sheets. Eddie reached his own moments after, groaning my name as he filled me with this seed.

Eddie lay next to me and pulled me into his arms. He stroked my hair, and I placed soft kisses across his chest. We stayed like this for a while, enjoying this closeness that we’d been denied for so long. “I’ve missed having you in my arms,” he murmured. “I’ve missed being in your arms.” “I’m never letting you go again.” “I don’t want you too.”

“I might have too for a shower,” he joked. “I suppose that’s an acceptable reason,” I laughed softly. We kissed each other before Eddie headed to the bathroom. I heard the shower start, waiting a little while before I would join him. Maybe we’d go for another round in the shower. Maybe he wouldn’t need to be as soft this time. My phone buzzed continuously with a call from an unknown number. Without too much thought, I hit the answer button and put it to my ear. “Hello?” I answered. “Ah good, I do have the right number. It’s so good to hear your voice again.” The voice that spoke back was an all too familiar one. One that had me frozen in fear, nausea working its way into my stomach. Jeremiah.

Taglist: @sweetfictionalworld​

Birth story.

I'm posting this mostly so I can remember it down the line when it's not as fresh in my mind.

On may 27th, I had my weekly OB appointment. I was 38 weeks and 2 days. I went in, peed in a cup, and waited for my appt time. I got called back shortly, and had my vitals take. My blood pressure was 128/88. Not bad, but higher than it had been, even just the day before. I honestly didn't think much of it. My provider comes in, says she wants to recheck my BP, draw labs, and schedule me for a induction once I got to 39 weeks. She was concerned because my BP was higher and I had slight protein in my urine-for those not in the medical field reading this, she was concerned I was developing pre-eclampsia which is a very serious complication of pregnancy. So the MA comes back, rechecks my pressure-136/96. I assumed it was from anxiety of now being told I may have pre-eclampsia. My provider was in another room, so the MA had me go to the lab area to start blood work while she waited for the doc to finish in the other room. My doctor walked in the room a couple minutes later and said "nevermind labs, I want you to go to Shea (my delivery hospital)" I immediately started to panic, and asked "why, am I going to be induced?" She told me she didn't know yet, but wanted me to get stat labs, and be monitor vitally and the baby monitored for a couple hours. She said depending on labs would depend if I would be induced. She told me she'd see me at Shea.

Needless to say, I was pure panic. I'm not sure how I didn't burst into tears right then, but I some how didn't. I was terrified. Being a nurse, I know the bad things that can happen, and of course that's all I was focused on. I got to my car, still not crying, and called my husband. I told him to get dressed, and grab stuff to go to Shea, that I was fine and that I would tell him everything when I got home. Still no crying. I called my mom, because well she's my mom and she was going to come and stay with our dogs when I went into labor so they weren't alone for potentially days on end. As soon as mom answered the phone, all the walls came down and I started crying. Not just normal crying, full blown, can't talk, sobbing. She, of course, panics. She knew I had an OB appt, and she assumed the worst. I finally got my self together enough to tell her "I'm fine, the baby is fine," I explained everything that was going on, and that I was heading to the hospital shortly. I talked to her the entire 6 minute car ride home, still crying, and scared. She asked me if I wanted her to come up, and I said yes. She lives 3 hrs away, so it's not like she's close. I didn't know what the next few hours of my life held, and that was terrifying.

I got home, James had grabbed all our stuff, and had made sure to get the extra last minute things too. He asked if I was okay because I'd obviously been crying, I told him physically yes, emotionally no and that I was afraid of the next few hours and the uncertainty. We took the dogs out, stopped to get gas, and headed to Shea.

We get to the hospital around 1pm or so. I told them everything my doc had said, and the tech checking me in said my doc had called ahead and let them know about me. Even more fear sets in. We get back to a room, I give them a urine sample and change into the lovely gown. My nurse comes in and does her exam and tells me the plan. We're going to draw labs, monitor me and the baby and depending on all of the results would determine our next steps. At this point I had let my mother in law, and 3 best friends know what was going on incase we did get admitted for induction.

We sat in the room for a couple hours. I was contracting basically the whole time, but they were about 20 mins apart. I asked the nurse about it, she said they were fairly strong on the monitor, but weren't close enough yet. So around 5pm or so, another nurse comes in, she says my original nurse got pulled into an emergency delivery, but that she was going to discharge me so we could go home. I was a bag of emotions at this point. I had accepted that I'd be induced and would meet our baby soon, and had gotten over the fear and now I was being discharged. I was given strict orders to go home, relax, drink lots of water and "come back in 24 hrs for repeat labs, and make sure to bring your hospital bags when you come tomorrow," to me, that meant we were being induced tomorrow. Apparently it's some insurance thing, that they couldn't induce me that day. No clue.

So we go home. My mom's at the house. I told her everything they said and the plan for the next day.

Fast forward to 4pm the next day, it was time to head back to Shea. We got all of our things together and head over. I got checked into triage and brought back to a triage room. They hooked me up to the monitors, and at that point everything looked okay. Babys strip was great, I wasn't really contracting and my BP was doing okay at 130s/80s. They drew blood and then it was a waiting game.

I had started contracting again about 45 minutes after getting to the hospital. They were strong, and painful, and about 8-10 mins apart. They were painful enough that I was having to completely stop whatever I was doing, and just focus on breathing. I was assuming it was because I was stressed because the same thing had happened the day before. Of course, my blood pressure started to go up. Nothing crazy, but it was higher, about 140s/90s. My doctor came in around 6pm and said she wanted to admit me and induce me. She was concerned that if I went into labor naturally my BP would elevate too much and cause further issues. The plan was to admit me to labor and delivery, start pitocin, do an epidural, and have a baby! My doctor said, "around 4am we'll have this baby, so try to nap and relax once you get to the other room." Shift changed happens at 7pm, so one of the triage nurses started an IV, some fluids and we waited for the night shift nurse to come on for me to go over to the other room.

Around 715-730ish my L&D nurse came over and we headed over to the other room. During the *maybe* 1 minute walk over to the other room I had to stop and just breathe because holy contractions! Again, still convinced I wasn't really in labor. We got to L&D, I sat on the bed, and my nurse started asking me all the normal questions and asked what my plan was reguarding an epidural and if I wanted to do that before or after the pitocin. I was right in the middle of a VERY strong and painful contraction, and I didn't answer her right away. After the contraction passed, she said I looked incredibly uncomfortable and asked if I was okay. I straight up just started crying and told her I was so uncomfortable, and frankly I was terrified of pitocin. James was rubbing my back, and she grabbed my hands and said "don't worry, I'll go page the anaesthesiologist right now and we'll put the epidural in before we even think about pitocin. I want you comfortable first and foremost." I tried to lay down and get as comfy as possible until the doc came in.

Around 8pm he came in, explained the whole procedure and we got it done. It was so quick, and easy and I had such immediate relief. I could finally relax!! Physically and mentally! After the epidural was in, my nurse checked me, I was 4-5cm dialated, 90% effaced and 0 station. My nurse called my doc to ask if we wanted to start pitocin or wait and see what my body did naturally, my doc wanted to start the pitocin just because my BP was still elevated at this point even with the epidural and pain relief. We started the pitocin around 830pm or so, and my water still hadnt broken at this point. The plan was for my doctor to come in at 930pm and break my water if it hadn't happened naturally at that point.

Fast forward to 945ish and my doc comes in to break my water. Weirdest feeling ever. She also put Baby J on one of the internal monitors because he kept coming off the external monitor. At that point I was 5cm, 90%, and still 0 station. My nurse helped me lay on my left side and we were going to try to nap since we were in for a long night. James had started dozing pretty quickly, and I started feeling contractions again. Crazy strong, very frequent, maybe about 1 minute apart or so. I was holding his hand and felt like I was going to break his fingers Everytime I had a contraction. I remember looking at the clock and it being around 1010 and thinking "okay if my nurse hasn't come in by 1015, I'll call her" because DAMN were those contractions painful.

Within a few minutes my nurse came in, I honestly don't know how many minutes it had been because I was busy breathing hah! She said she was going to have the doctor put in an internal contraction monitor as well because she wasn't sure that the external was super accurate. My doc comes in within a few mins, and goes to place the monitor and says "oh, oh, you're complete and we need to push now because he's practically crowning" (apparently all that pain and pressure was my body saying hey let's do this!)

Nothing was ready! We weren't planning on having a baby for another few hours so the birth cart wasn't even in the room. The nurse grabbed one really quick while my doc was putting on shoe covers, she had enough time to throw on the sterile gown and gloves before i felt like I needed to push. My nurse had barely had time to page the baby nurse!

I pushed 3x over that contraction. Definitely yelled fuck, but otherwise, I don't remember saying anything/making any noise at all. My nurse coached me how to push effectively and how to curl my body to help.

Second contraction, pushed 3 more times. The whole time James was holding my left foot and rubbing my shoulder. He was his usual quiet self, which I expect nothing else hah!

Third contraction I pushed 3 more times. At the end of the third one my doc told me to take a big breath and give one big push. So I did. And little dude was born at 1036pm!

I pushed for around 7 minutes total (per James) before our little one was born. I had to get stitches, but I don't even remember it happening. As soon as they put my son on my chest, nothing else mattered. I couldn't stop shaking, or crying. It was completely uncontrollable. I was so overwhelmed! I went from the thought of having a baby hours from now, to having a baby in my arms 7 minutes later! It happened so fast we didn't even have time to tell my mom that it was game time. The plan was to have her on FaceTime so she could help talk to me and support us even though she couldn't physically be there.

Baby J was a few minutes old and I asked James to call my mom on FaceTime. When she answered she immediately started crying once she saw the baby and heard him crying. I kept apologizing for not calling her, I felt so bad even though it's so silly! James told her I started pushing about 10 mins ago and had a baby so quickly we didn't even have time to think about anything else. Of course she wasn't upset at all.

Once I was stitched up, my nurse shut off the epidural and helped clean me up a bit. After she said she was going to step out, and give us time to ourselves with our little one, but to call if we needed her. I held my little boy and just stared at him. He was perfect! The only better thing than holding him myself, was seeing James hold him for the first time. Que crying all over again.

He was born on May 28th, 2020 at 1036pm, 6lbs 1oz, and 19 inches long. I didn't get my June baby, but he's absolute perfection and has our entire hearts. Our little one is turning 7 weeks on Thursday. I can't believe he's been here for 7 weeks already. Motherhood has been the hardest most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life.

Crazy Dream

So I had this CRAZY Dream last night, and I'm going to attempt to recap it.. So buckle in. So there was this weird party going on in this skyscraper downtown. I heard about it, and supposedly it was indoor camping in the building's basement levels. You put up a tent, hang out, there's food, live music, movies on projectors, etc. It sounded weird and fun, so I figured why not, and invited a guy I was seeing to come with me for the night. I got there first, with the tent and sleeping bags, and I figured I'd go in and set up and get oriented. The building was *really* high end and fancy, but I didn't get to see much of it except the lobby and basement levels. I had arrived pretty early, so there wasn't a ton of people around yet, so I scouted out a good spot, and went about setting up the tent and contents. Once finished, I decided to head out to get a bite to eat, then I'd come back and meet up with my guy friend closer to when things are winding up. I returned to the apartment building a couple hours later.. My friend still was running late and had not shown up. So I went back in without him. IT WAS PACKED NOW. Like, concert level packed. I was struggling to find where I had put my tent, everything was so disorienting and different looking now with so many people and other tents, many of them similar looking. Eventually I saw what looked to be my tent, shoved against a wall and squished, to make room for other people who had taken the space for themselves. Particularly, three guys in their early 20's who had set up right where my tent had been. I approached them, and said something like "Hey what the hell! That's my tent back there, why did you move it, that's really rude!". They said that nobody was there so they just did it, and so what. So I go over to my tent to pack it up and find somewhere else, when one of the guys grabs me. I struggled with him but he was way too strong. He then started to grab me in inappropriate places, and I screamed "HELP! HELP!" nobody heard or nobody cared. I continued to struggle, as his touching became increasingly sexual and inappropriate. Now I screamed "HELP!! RAPE! RAPE! HELP!" Still, nobody came to my aid. Now he covered my mouth with a hand.  I realised that if this continued, they would never let me leave.. I had seen their faces, bodies, heard their names, etc.. So I decided to pretend that I consented at this point.. that his advances had turned me on or something, and that I was now into it. So I stopped resisting, and changed my body language, and when he uncovered my mouth I said something like "Actually yeah, let's do this".  After it was over, they were all still hesitant about letting me leave. I told them I did not remember their names, that I had really bad memory.. and besides, why would there be anything to worry about if I ended up consenting, we were all just having fun right. They let me leave. I grabbed my tent and walked away casually. As soon as I was out of eyesight, I dropped the tent and started running... I was in panic from what had just happened. I found a quiet spot, and called my friend to tell of what had happened, and vent. That's when I saw something strange.. Some guys were holding pistols, and talking aggressively, talking about doing something, and how they should do it. I didn't have the mental focus to worry about this right now, so I went to the elevator and went up to the Lobby. The Lobby.. There was a security booth at the front of the lobby, with a security officer on duty. I went up and knocked on the bullet proof glass, and asked her if I could come inside the booth, and that I needed to talk about something that happened in the basement. She could see I was crying and in distress, so she let me in. That is the moment when the elevator doors opened, and two people, one male one female, wearing all black, came out, one carrying a revolver, and one carrying a semi-automatic pistol. The first thing they did was come up to the security booth, and started shooting at the door, trying to get it open. But as I mentioned, it was made from bulletproof glass, and took minimal damage, though they were slowly wearing it down. That is when the security guard took out her revolver, and got ready for them to break in.. which they did. and shots flew in both directions.. I was standing beside the door that had been broken open, trying to push it back closed, against the force of one of the people in black. The security guard took the man out. But now the woman was enraged, the pushed the door open wide, despite my efforts, and shot the security officer right in the gut. She was out of bullets now, but the officer was not. She takes aim at the woman, but the woman grabs onto the gun and tries to push it into a different trajectory.. So I grab onto it too and push it back into its intended trajectory.. into the woman's head. The security officer collapses from her wounds, but I continue to struggle, and pull the trigger. The woman dies. I just killed someone. What the hell is going on. I exit the building, and that's when I overhear I couple people in a very expensive car nearby. I learn via their conversation that this whole camping party thing was organised as a birthday celebration for the daughter of a mob leader.. and that the leader, had a sister, and this brother and sister were warring over who whould be in charge of the mob, after their father had recently passed away. The building was owned by the brother, but the sister was here to take control and subvert her brother. Holy shit. I was in the middle of a frigging mafia war. But later I would learn it wasn't that simple.. There was a dark reason that the sister had not taken action until now. I just didn't know it yet. At this point I decide it is best for me to act like one of the regular party-goers, and like I hadnt seen or done anything unusual. I go out to the car where the daughter (the one the party is for) was, and she looked visibly upset. I ask her what is wrong, and say "this party is all for you, isnt it? How come you're not getting to enjoy it!"  She tells me they wont let her in because of something happening with the building, and that she doesn't think she'll get to go.  "Aww, that's too bad.." I say. "Well I really hope that changes, and you can go have some fun!". "Thanks" she says. Great, now the daughter of a mob leader has had a positive friendly association with me. This could help me later on. I continue this strategy, innocently chatting and being friendly with people who appeared to be closely tied to what was going on.. all the while pretending I was clueless to the fact that there was anything more going on here than a fun harmless party. It was working. Now most of the daughter's body-guards, and staff knew who I was, and had had friendly interactions with me. Not likely that their first instinct will be to shoot me when they see me, now. Eventually, they deem the situation stable enough that the daughter and her staff are moved into the upscale lobby of the apartment. They hang out, watch tv, talk, etc, and I am there with them, buddying it up. A few times, the elevator doors would open, and members of the Brother's (the guy who's apartment it is) security forces would burst out, and I would have to act like I was defending the daughter and her staff, and take defensive actions. This helped to prove my loyalty, and show them I was cool with what was going down. ~~~~Some of the dream is lost~~~~~ Eventually, the Sister (The rival) comes in to the building, concerned that the takeover is going more slowly and messily than she wanted.. I am in so deep now, and she is told of everything I've done to help them.. She wants to recruit me to go up into the levels of the building, and clear it out of anyone who is loyal to her brother and not her, and log/document my actions as I clear each floor. Let's be honest, my choices here are agree, or be deemed disloyal and probably be executed. So I agree. I am given guns and ammo, and a stack of paperwork, and keys to an apartment on the 80th floor. I am told that the floors closer to the top are safer, and the lower floors are still in heavy conflict, or secured by her opposition. The first thing I do is go to the 80th floor and go into "my apartment". It's nice. But, what the hell have I gotten myself into?! WTF! I decide what I will do is kinda roam the floors, scouting things out and getting a feel for what's going on, and then I will later on go and fill out the paper work, and falsify it with fake kills and etc so it looks like I had been busy working for her. I start with the high floors, since those are supposedly safer. That's when I start to see something I can hardly believe. There was more going on here than I suspected. The people loyal to the Sister, they werent human.. At least.. not entirely.. The only way I can describe it is that they looked like genetic mutants, each having different and random variations that made them more powerful, dangerous, or scary. Meanwhile, the people on the lower floors, they are just regular people, mostly civilians. This isn't a mob takeover, this is some kind of genetic freakshow genocide, or aliens, or what?! I don't even know anymore! After a long time, I return to my "apartment". I receive a call from the Sister. She wants me to come down to the lobby and rpesent my paperwork and progress reports, and celebrate with them, have a drink, etc, because aparently the whole thing is going very well, and they've cleared every floor above floor 17. Okay, I am just finishing up some work, but I will be down there shortly, I say. Time to quickly finish falsifying those logs and paperwork so it looks like I've been reasonably productive, but not so much as to draw suspicion. I describe what I had seen on each floor, and make up kill logs for enemies I had "taken out". When I finished, I headed down to the lobby. Everyone there was in good spirits, and I received lots of congratulations on my small part in the work. They poured me a drink, and I joined them in the festivities. The Sister said she had to go, and that she'd be going to the top floor to set up her new command post, now that this building was being captured in her name. That seemed fine, since there was like 70+ floors secured between her and her enemies, and the win was ever closer in sight. (I almost didn't want to mention it, but she did some weird alien psycho-kinetic stuff to me when she congratulated me, and made me feel all turned on and good, but like cranked up to 1,000. Was this some way to control me?) "But, I'd feel better if she had at least some backup, out in the hallway, I should go with her." I said. The remainder of the group commended me for my diligence, and off I went. I wasn't going there to protect her, though. I was going there to kill her. It was easy. I came to the top floor, and she had her back turned to me.. I shot her 8 times in the head and chest. Then I lit the room on fire, and left. On the elevator ride back down, a little boy got on, from floor 12, and said he was going up to floor 67 to find his friend.. I had to talk him out of it.. if he tried he would surely be killed.. "We have to get out of here, now! People have to find out about what's going on here!" The boy was sad... he was even wearing his monster halloween costume to try to blend in witth the freaky mutant-aliens he would have to get past.   But he didn't fight it.. I think he knew it was a suicide mission. But at least this way, if we get out, and find help, we might be able to save some people. So we left. Not through the lobby, but through a back fire exit. We went to the nearest place that had a phone and made just about the strangest 911 call ever to have taken place... The End

another kind of goodbye

for @carry-the-sky. happy birthday, my friend! have a little post-cancellation kastle fic.

It’s three months, give or take, when Frank lets himself think about her again. Really think about her. Not in the passing kind of way, where he’s walking down some street and sees a bouquet of gardenias, like the kind he’d almost gotten her instead of the roses that day. Or when he’s sipping on coffee, and Karen’s face flashes like a mirage at him across the cheap Formica table – blonde hair almost white under the shit diner lighting, but those eyes still so blue as she told him he would never lie to her.

So – okay, so he thinks about her. He thinks about her.

(He wonders if she—)

Frank eventually makes his way back to the city again, after. Another day, another job. Madani thinks he’s meant for something greater than this – than picking off these scum-of-the-earth kinds of assholes that litter the streets of a place like New York.

He can’t believe that he was meant for greater, but. Sometimes, he does wonder. If a part of him – whatever part of him that’s not still buried deep down in the ground with his family – was meant to come back here. To walk these streets and feel the pull of her, always, even when that’s all he can afford to feel.

He tells himself that has to be enough.

He’s been laying low, since his return. Coughed up some cash for a three-hundred-square-footer in Brooklyn, but he crosses the bridge to the city most days, maybe even finds his way to Hell’s Kitchen from time to time too. It’s risky, he knows. If Murdock catches wind of him, they’d be lucky to walk away from each other in one piece. And Karen…

There’d be a different kind of hell to pay, if Karen ever found out.

His phone gives a single buzz in his pocket as he’s hunkering his way down 47th, and he stops in his tracks, nearly colliding with an elderly woman in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Excuse me!” she says in a shrill voice, bag clutched tight to her chest.

“Apologies, ma’am,” he nods as she makes a show of putting as much distance between them as possible, and then he fishes his phone out, hesitating for one absurd moment before glancing down at the screen.

Back in town yet, Castle?

He barks out a laugh. Chrissakes, Madani.

His phone buzzes again.

I have a job for you, if you’re still interested.

“Still,” mutters Frank, with a scoffing shake of his head. He thinks he admires her perseverance, but Madani’s gotta know she’s only wasting her breath.

He cuts south down 10th, toward Lincoln Tunnel. It’s a brisk day, and the wind on his face feels sharper than usual, considering he hasn’t bled much there in a while. He jams his hands deeper into his pockets, ignoring the insistent drone of Madani’s follow-up call.

He’s got a date with a park bench on the wrong side of town, and if he closes his eyes, he can pretend it’s the same bridge overlooking the water, and when he opens them again Karen’ll be there, waiting for him.

…

His closest call comes with, of all people, the lawyer. Not Red – the other one. Franklin Nelson.

Frank’s emerging with coffee two storefronts down just as another door opens, and he’s cursing himself for not seeing the signs when out tumbles Nelson with his back turned, adjusting his tie against the wind.

“Foggy bear, wait!” someone else is laughing, and a blonde lady steps out to chase after him, slinging a purse over her shoulder and reaching with her other hand to link around his elbow.

“I told him this was gonna make me late for work,” grumbles Nelson, but without any heat to the words. “Dad’s surprise party isn’t until tomorrow, don’t know why this couldn’t have waited – oh, crap, I forgot I told Karen I’d pick up some coffee—”

Nelson’s about-facing sharply, girlfriend following closely behind. He doesn’t appear to notice Frank crouched down in a corner by the 7-Eleven, hood obscuring half his face as he trains his eyes on the ground by their feet. The girl unearths some coins from her bag as they pass, clinking them onto the lid of Frank’s coffee cup without seeming to hear his low mutter of thanks.

He’s leapt up the moment he hears the door latch shut, brushing the coins into his palm as he goes.

He leaves them with a guy camped out by the train stop, a dog lifting her head from their blankets to blink sleepy eyes up at Frank, and he walks away harder, takes the steps two at a time and wishes – God he wishes—

…

Another text from Madani.

He shuts his phone off. Goes back to retrieve it ten seconds later from the trash can that he’d dumped it in, wiping it down and scowling as her message pops up on the screen.

Castle – offer still stands, FYI.

“You should call her back,” advises a man huddled down by the newsstands next to him. His face is like leather, worn down and weathered with age, with living. “Apologize for whatever it is that you did, so you don’t end up out here like me.”

“Already there,” Frank tells him, turning the phone over and over in his hand. Madani’s message lights up again each time, flashing and flashing until he sees it like a burn through his retinas even when the phone’s no longer facing him.

“Damn. That’s a damn shame.” The guy shifts, scratching at a spot on his back. “Maybe shouldn’t’ve stayed away from her for so long.”

Frank shakes his head, uttering a short, incredulous laugh. “Well, maybe I got my reasons, yeah? You think about that?”

“Doesn’t matter what I think,” shrugs the guy. “Does she think they’re any good? These reasons of yours?”

Frank turns away, jaw working furiously.

“Yeah.” The guy shouldn’t have any right to sound as smug as he does, and yet. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

…

He’s got no place in coming here. He knows it. He knows it, but he thinks it was always meant to be this way, him circling back around to her, even after everything that he’s done to push her away. Maybe a part of him had never left. And the rest is just – there, hovering right at the edge of some sharp realization, that he could try to be whole again if he simply took that first step. And a part of Karen must at least sense that. It’s why she’d never really given up on him, before.

It doesn’t change how I feel about you.

Frank wonders if she’d forgive him this time. If he’d even want her to.

It wouldn’t be anything close to what he deserves, that’s for goddamn sure.

He gazes up at her fire escape, counts the number of steps it would take just to be able to reach that bottom rung from his vantage point across the street. Her shades are drawn, the lines of them blurred out in the dim orange light. On one corner of the windowsill, wedged up against the glass, there’s a small stack of books. On the other, a vase. From this angle, the shadows folded into the fabric of her curtains look almost like flower stems.

Frank squints, and the stems disappear.

…

There’s about a week in between, where he feels himself inching closer to something, each time he drops by her block. He never goes farther than the patch of sidewalk across from her building, but it’s getting harder not to just careen over the ledge.

More than anything, he wishes he knew, in those moments obscured in half-darkness, whether he’s come to look for that after she’d spoke of, or if he’s come to say goodbye.

Then, one day he spots flowers in her window, for the first time since—

(They’re pale white against the cream of her curtains, their stems dark slivers of green, and he imagines them pricking the pad of his thumb, drawing up a spot of blood.)

Frank takes a deep breath.

…

She doesn’t look surprised to see him when she opens the door, swinging it back two-thirds of the way before stopping. Her lips are pressed tightly together, like there’s too much to say, or maybe there’s things that she can’t, either way he can’t read her and he thinks she’s never terrified him more.

Frank drops his gaze, mouth moving soundlessly until the words grind their way out. “How’d you know I was here, Karen?”

He’s not sure what kind of answer he’s expecting. That Nelson had grown a real pair of eyes, or that Red had managed to ferret him out of his lurking somehow. Or maybe Karen really just hadn’t known at all, and those flowers were never for him.

What Karen says instead is, “Dinah and I grab a beer together, sometimes.”

“That right?” he asks, trying to lay out an image of this in his mind. It sits strangely there, stumping him for a moment, and some of his bewilderment must show on his face because Karen’s mouth almost turns up in a smile before flattening again.

She leans away from the doorjamb, waving her hand in a worn-looking gesture before letting it drop to her side. “Besides, you…haven’t exactly been subtle, in your haunting of Hell’s Kitchen.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that, other than a gruff, “’S’what dead men do, Karen,” as she folds her arms and sighs at him.

“You sure you’re not just losing your touch, Frank?” She steps into the doorway, whether to move closer to him or to block him out of her apartment, he can’t tell. “Or was it because you wanted me to know but couldn’t tell me to my face?”

His eyes snap up to hers, twitching slightly under the sharp weight of her gaze. He shakes his head, wishing he could just ask her, What do you want from me, Karen? but they’re long past that now, and if he can’t find his own way to answer her, then.

God, he really doesn’t deserve this woman.

“I think I—” He shifts his body and tries again. “I think I needed to figure some things out. Karen. I was waiting 'til I felt like I was ready, and I don’t think I’ll ever be that.” But I’m here, he wants to say, but I’m here.

“Yeah.” Karen’s nodding, hair falling into her face, and she brushes it back, resting her chin in her palm for a moment. “I know that, Frank.” All of the fight in her seems to have ebbed slowly back, and he resists the urge to reach out and shake the storm back into motion, to make her understand she doesn’t get to let him off the hook so easy.

The look she gives him now is softer, but he knows. Fight’s not done. May never be done. And he knows this because he knows he’ll never stop fighting for her.

She’s stepped back into the door, letting it swing open further. She doesn’t invite him in, but she’s quirked an eyebrow up at him, biting her lip with another deep sigh and a shake of her head.

“You, uh.” Frank glances back and forth at their surroundings, doesn’t quite meet her eye. Tries to lighten his tone through the gruffness as he asks her, “So, you wanted to see me?”

Her voice is soft, forbearing, with a hint of gentle knowing behind it. “You didn’t?”

She’s holding back the clear start of a smile from him this time, and Frank. Christ. It’s taking everything in him not to step toward her, to—

Karen tilts her chin at him, the motion loosening another wave of blonde hair, and he can’t remember anymore why he was trying so hard to stand back from all this. He’s moving, swaying forward until she’s just an arm’s length away, and there’s something almost teasing about the way she relaxes her shoulder into the door as she watches him.

“You back to kill some people, Frank?”

He feels a corner of his mouth turn up. This girl. He licks his lips, lets out a quiet sort of laugh. “That was the plan, yeah.”

Karen gazes up at him, unblinking. “Have you?”

“I was—” Frank has to look away for a moment, finally turning back when he can. His eyes are steady, boring into hers, voice low and full with meaning. “I was. Working on it.”

Karen nods. Doesn’t speak for long seconds, and he measures them out in heartbeats, chest tightening hard enough it feels like it might break when she asks him, very carefully, “Still?”

Frank steps closer, close enough to feel the way her breath shakes with a small sigh, how her body moves away from the door to meet him.

His hand is inches from hers, but he doesn’t reach for her. Not yet.

She waits, gaze searching. He gives the barest shake of his head, and a single word, gravel-filled, a promise. “No.”

Something cracks open in her expression, and it means everything to him, her head ducking away as though she can’t have him looking too closely at the way she's biting back that smile of hers, and he thinks – he thinks he wants to make her do it again, and again, for as long as she will have him.

“Would you like to come in, Frank?”

He takes her hand in his this time, feeling the pull of her as he steps across the threshold, door shutting firmly behind them, and it feels like coming home.

Remedies (Fionn Whitehead x Female Reader)

A/N: Hey guys. Sorry it took so long to post this, I am slowly starting to get back into writing so this might be kind of shitty but I enjoyed writing it and loved the concept! I’ve already started to work on the other few requests that I’ve gotten so I hope to post those by tomorrow or Monday but we’ll see 😅 I hope you enjoy!!

Request: “Can I get a request for Fionn where the reader,his girlfriend, and him are just joking around. And then he just says “i love you.”. And so it’s like there first “I love you’s” and just all the fluff!! Thank you”

Rain drums against the rooftop of the dimly lit office building, cascading down the sides of its glassy exterior, and blurring out the sound of strict demands being hurled across the room by (Y/N)’s disgruntled boss.

This gloomy, unforgiving day hadn’t been too kind to (Y/N). Having woken up to the familiar image of the empty spot on the other side of the bed—completely devoid of her boyfriend’s presence—the anxious feeling reawoke in the pit of her stomach and sent her stumbling out of the comfy blankets, in preparation for yet another day of torment.

After spilling an entire cup of chamomile tea on the kitchen floor and having to practically sprint to work in heels to avoid being late, the last thing on (Y/N)’s mind was the stack of paperwork that flooded her office desk.

In fact, her mind was too busy, reeling with overwhelming thoughts about her boyfriend, Fionn.

Fionn’s work schedule had him up and out of bed as early as 4 in the morning every day, and by the time he finally manages to shuffle past the door of their shared apartment, in the distant hours of the night, (Y/N) is almost always fast asleep. The small amounts of time that they are able to spend together, however, causes (Y/N)’s heart to swell.

Whether it was brought on by the adorable sound of his laugh that she never really grows tired of or by the way his hand fits so perfectly in hers, with his thumb rubbing small circles around the back of her palm every time she gets anxious in public, (Y/N) had concluded one thing for certain.

A thought that now consumes her. A thought that shakes her to her very core and yet simultaneously makes her feel as though she is constantly floating off the ground.

The fact that she is unmistakably in love with Fionn Whitehead.

So much so that it physically hurts, sometimes.

And now all she can think about—as she sits, slouching in her scruffy desk chair and listening half heartedly to her angry boss spewing some nonsense about all of that damned paperwork—is how exactly she is going to tell him.

It’s all she thinks about as she stumbles onto the train, her earbuds hanging loosely in her ears, numbing the noises of her surroundings.

It’s all she thinks about as she fumbles to unlock the door to an entirely Fionn-less apartment.

Those three words are all that she thinks about.

Until, that is, when she steps past the door only to come face to face with her smirking boyfriend and an abrupt smack in the face by a strange foam object.

“Fionn!” (Y/N) bellows, simply unamused as she watches her boyfriend practically skip away, laughing maniacally with a Nerf gun in hand.

Toeing off her shoes, she spots another Nerf gun sitting on the kitchen counter, untouched, and quickly snatches it, narrowly missing another foam dart to the face as she ducks behind the table.

“Oh, you’re so dead!” She laughs, airily, raising her head up cautiously past the tabletop to survey her surroundings in an attempt to move out of the room towards her attacker.

“So, how was your day, love?” He replies back, attempting to distract her with conversation.

She takes the opportunity to quickly crawl from her spot behind the kitchen table towards the staircase across the room, finding cover behind a closet door.

“Dreadfully uneventful…” She replies amused, and tilts her head over the edge of the door to see him moving towards the kitchen,

“...And yours?”

His head snaps in her direction from across the room, causing her to draw back as close to the wall as she can, a smirk plastered upon her lips.

“Oh, you know how busy film sets get…”

His voice trails and she can hear the slight stumble of his footsteps,

“What with having to go through makeup…”

She holds her breath as his voice seems to get louder,

“and having to wait until they get the lighting just about right…”

She can practically hear the grin on his face as he continues,

“and having to reshoot scenes for hours on end…”

The footsteps come to a stop at the other side of the door and (Y/N) knows that she’s trapped with no escape,

“But I think we managed things pretty well…”

He’s quick to grab the door and push it out of the way, but she’s even quicker and suddenly tackles him to the ground, with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

His Nerf gun falls dramatically from his hand, skidding across the floor as he wraps his arms around her waist and breaks into fits of laughter.

She grins in triumph and joins him in laughter, snuggling her face into his neck,

“I told you I would get yo—” She begins, chuckling before she’s quickly interrupted.

“God, I love you.”

Her laughter ceases as her heart speeds up and her mind tries to rationalize if the words—those words just left his mouth.

He’s still chuckling in the moment when she sits up, stock-straight and serious,

“What did you just say?” She asks him, breathlessly, her eyes scanning his face as he meets her gaze.

“I love you.” Fionn repeats the words in a small but assured voice, his gaze growing soft.

Before she can really register her own actions, (Y/N) pulls her boyfriend into a passionate kiss, abruptly pushing him down to the floor again. Her lips curl into a grin as he kisses her back before she pulls away and glances back into his eyes.

“I love you too...I love you so much…”

She giggles in pure euphoria, trailing off as her lips meet his again in a passionate kiss.

He pulls away slightly, kissing down her neck before muttering against her skin, “Promise?”

“I promise.”

Notes of Import

Before Kima could protest, Allura had snatched the rest of her notes from her hands and hurried back to her desk, tossing papers and a few spare quills into her bag.

“Wait, no! Allie!”

“We have to hurry, Kima, this is important!”

“But Allie-“

“No time! Come on!”

Before Kima could get another word out, Allura had grabbed her hand, and the world flashed blue around them. When the bright light subsided, Kima found herself standing in front of the council chambers.

“Gods damn it!”  

Kima startled awake. Frustration made it high pitched and strengthened the light accent, but the voice was unmistakably Allura’s.

The curse was worrying, though.

Kima rose and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The slanted morning light streamed through one of the tall windows, framing the figure of Allura, hunched over her desk. There papers strewn across the surface and a quill in her hand.

“Everything okay?” Kima asked with a yawn. She snatched one of Allura’s soft shirts from the dresser next to the bed and pulled it over her head before padding over to join Allura.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Allura assured her. She ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. “It’s just… so much happened in that meeting yesterday, and I’m supposed to report to the council later and I know the Marquesian general said something relevant to the trade routes but I was so distracted by Asum’s report that I-“

“Hey, calm down,” Kima said. She shifted some of the clutter on Allura’s desk aside and jumped up so she was seated on the edge, looking into Allura’s face. There was a crease in her brow, and bags under her eyes, and Kima wanted nothing more than to smooth them away and let the woman rest. But Kima knew Allura would refuse any such plan until the report was finished. “No one expects you to remember every single detail, Allie. It’s okay to ask for help sometimes. Besides, I was there too, you know.”

Allura’s expression turned dubious, one eyebrow arched. “And you were paying enough attention to remember what the general said?”

Kima crossed her arms and huffed, swinging her legs impetuously. “Hey! I can pay attention. Besides, you asked me to take notes.”

“To give you something to do, not because I actually thought you-���

But Kima had already jumped to her feet and was halfway across the room before Allura could finish her sentence. The damn woman took far too much on her own shoulders, she always had. And while Kima had suspected that Allura was just trying to keep her still, she also knew Allura wouldn’t waste her time with something frivolous. It wasn’t in her nature. So yes, Kima had taken notes. Maybe not the best notes. She may have drifted off for a while, but Allura was stressed, and Kima didn’t think it necessary to mention that. She was pretty sure she had been awake for the general’s report, at any rate.

She dug through her little bag, where it rested on the nightstand. There! Paper. A little crumpled, but at least it was intact.

Spreading the papers out on the bed in front of her, Kima started scanning, trying to find the relevant section. The pages had gotten jumbled in transit.

“Ah, here!” she cried at last, finding the page she was looking for. “The general said that in his experience, sky ships traveling over the desert typically-“

A hand pressed against Kima’s shoulder, making her jump. She had been so focused she hadn’t heard Allura approach.

“Hey! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Allura chuckled behind her. She leaned over Kima’s shoulder, trying to read the notes spread out on the bed, but before she could Kima hurriedly scooped them up.

“I mean it’s not like my handwriting is all that great or anything, they’re not exactly a thrilling read,” she rambled, struggling to gather the pages.

“Okay,” Allura said, amused. Kima clambered onto the bed, notes firmly in hand, and started to shuffle through them to find the page she had just been reading from.

“Kima?’ Allura’s voice sounded. Kima glanced up. “You missed a page.”

Before Kima could reclaim the paper, however, Allura froze, eyes on the text.

“Kima,” she said, thinly veiled excitement filling her voice, “did the general really say this? About the caravans?”

She handed the page over and Kima looked at the line in question. She shrugged. “I mean I don’t exactly sit around making up boring negotiation talk in my spare time. If I wrote it down he probably said it.” She eyed the page again, trying to think back through the endless slog of discussion and debate. “Oh yeah, I remember that. He seemed a little shifty, so I jotted it down.”

A huge grin had crossed Allura’s face and Kima could tell that if she were any less dignified she would have been jumping up and down. “Kima, that directly contradicts what he told us later. We have to take this in front of the council!”

Before Kima could protest, Allura had snatched the rest of her notes from her hands and hurried back to her desk, tossing papers and a few spare quills into her bag.

“Wait, no! Allie!”

“We have to hurry, Kima, this is important!”

“But Allie-“

“No time! Come on!”

Before Kima could get another word out, Allura had grabbed her hand, and the world flashed blue around them. When the bright light subsided, Kima found herself standing in front of the council chambers.

***

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Allura.” Asum said.

The entire council was gathered around a table in one of the meeting rooms. Kima sat in the corner, face flaming red and buried in her hands.

Across from her, Tofor started giggling.

Asum sighed. “Tofor. Do you have something constructive to add?”

Tofor giggled again, one hand across her mouth to try and stifle her laughter. “No, I’m sorry. I just- I didn’t expect Kima to be a doodler!” Several other council members broke as well, struggling to contain their laughter.

Kima groaned.

“No, no!” Tofor assured her. “Don’t get me wrong, Kima, this is an excellent rendition of a chicken eating the general.”

Allura sighed.

“Look at this one! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog in trousers before,” someone else added.

There was a shuffling of papers as the drawings were passed around and compared.

“Wait,” Tofor said, reaching for the stack. “Does this- it does! Look! ‘A + K Vysoren’ surrounded by little hearts!”

A chorus of “awwwws” sounded from around the table. “Okay, that’s enough!” Allura said, snatching the paper out of Tofor’s hand. “As much as I would love to stand around appreciating my wife’s art, we should really focus on- oh. Is that me? Kima, darling, that’s very sweet of you.”

If it were possible Kima was certain her face would have flushed a few shades redder. As it was she could feel the blush crawling up into her hairline. “I’m out,” she announced, standing.

“No, wait, Kima!” Tofor said. She sounded genuinely apologetic. “I’m sorry. We’ll stop now, I promise.”

Kima glared at her. Before she could say anything else, Allura took her hand gently and guided her to a corner where they could talk a little more privately. She gathered her skirts and knelt carefully in front of Kima - something she virtually never did in public. In front of Sirrus and Dohla and Ghenn, yes. But rarely anyone else. She was, Kima realized with a start, equalizing the playing field, in a sense. Being vulnerable in front of the others like this. She tucked a strand of Kima’s hair behind her ear, cutting her reflections short. “I’m sorry, love. I should have checked with you before handing over your notes like that.”

“It’s okay,” Kima said with a sigh. “I know it was important. I just can’t show my face again for a bit.”

Allura laughed and kissed her forehead. “That’s not true. I think they were impressed by your drawings, if anything. I might keep the ones you did of me.”

Kima ducked her head to hide her smile. “Whatever. They’re just stupid doodles. I hope you find what you need, though.”

Allura smiled and pulled her into a hug. “I think we have. Thanks for saving the day again.”

Kima glanced around, eyeing the rest of the council suspiciously. To their credit they appeared to be trying to give them space, gathered around one of the pages and either locked in heated debate regarding the contents, or animated discussion of another of Kima’s drawings. Kima fervently hoped it was the former.

Taking her chance, she pressed a quick kiss to Allura’s cheek before turning on her heel and running out the door. “See you at home!” she called over one shoulder. Allura’s quiet chuckle followed her as she hurried down the hall.

Snowfall | Chris (bang chan)

Genre: floof

Word count: 500 some

A/n for the anon who requested it, I hope you like it!! Sorry it's so short I was kind of drawing a blank but I still think it's cute :)

~

It was the fourth day in a row where your college was closed due to snow and by this point the whole town was shut down! You hadnt left your house in days and were getting very lonely :((((( However, the roads weren't as bad today and your amazing boyfriend Chris said he would come over to visit you!!

You had tidied up your space and gotten out some movies to watch when you heard a knock on your door. Before you could answer it, your boyfriend had already opened it and set candy and other goodies on your table.

"Um chris how did you get in"

"Oh that, I uh have a key"

"What?! When did you get a key to my apartment"

"Not too long ago oh is that the Nightmare before Christmas!!" i used this in my HJS fic too lol i luv this movie

He hurriedly ran to your TV and put the movie in. It was one of your guys' favorites and you could really watch it at any time of year. You made some hot cocoa and popcorn before joining Chris on the couch. As you sat down, he immediately covered you both up in a blanket and wrapped his arms around you. You felt like you could stay like that forever.

Intense singing along and snuggles later~

"Hey chris what do you wanna do now?"

"Hmm wanna go play outside?"

"Dude it's like 15 degrees (sorry I'm American so farenheit losers)"

"Yeah so"

The next thing you know you're bundled up in a coat, scarf, gloves, boots, and the rest and heading out the door. It was cold but you would endure it to see Chris so giddy like a child in the snow (ღ˘⌣˘ღ). You made snow angels and made it a point to threaten your boyfriend that if he hit you with snow, you wouldn't kiss him ever again. You stood up after about 5 snow angels to admire your hard work but something caught your eye.

"Y/n look what I made"

A huge snow for like an igloo loomed next to your incomparable angels. He invited you in, to which you obliged. "You look cold and snow is a good insulator so I made you this igloo for you to sit in with me (｡◕‿◕｡)." You wrapped yourself around him and kissed his cheek playfully "you are so cute"

He responded by kissing your cheek "you're cuter (づ￣ ³￣)づ " this chain went on for a few more kisses on the cheek until you knew what you had to do.

"Okay but you're the cutest" and smooch!! You kissed his lips "and I love you" This was your first time telling him that you love him so it was a big deal but you knew that you did. He grabbed your face and flinched at how cold it had gotten despite your blushing, "I love you too y/n, but you're freezing!! Let's get you inside and I can warm you up with my burning love for you." Even though he was dorky as can be and that line was super cheesy, you just kissed him again savoring every moment with the boy you loved.

Masterlist

When Worlds Collide

Summary: Violet Harmon is new to Riverdale High and had caught the interest of none other than Reggie Mantle. Unfortunately, Violet doesn’t exactly seem to appreciate his advances and only wants him to leave her alone

Request: Yep! From a lovely little anon

A/N: this was interesting to write tbh! I never think about crossover ships and I haven’t written for either of these guys yet. Let me know what you think! It’s sort of set before the Southsiders join them, so she stands out more

—

Violet hadn’t been at her new school for more than three days and yet, she couldn’t seem to shake this guy. Reggie, he’d introduced himself the first time they’d met. He’d followed it with a cheesy pickup line about how she’d be screaming it later. She merely gave him a disinterested look and threatened to put her cigarette out on his arm.

Most of their interactions had been like that. Reggie, with one or two of his posse behind him, making advances at the girl, all of which she declined. She had no interest in the (in his mind) suave, handsome jock. She preferred to keep to herself and keep her head down; the less she got noticed, the better. With Reggie hanging around her, she was always noticed. By him. By his friends. By people who wondered who she was and why one of their Star football players seemed to like her so much. She couldn’t answer that question more than anyone else.

It just so happened that Violet got in the habit of skipping third period english, the class she shared with Reggie Mantle. She sat behind the school, leaning against the brick wall with a cigarette between her lips. It became sort of her safe haven. It was quiet, deserted. No one bothered her there. That is, until one fateful day reggie found her.

“Hey, Sweet thing,” came his drawl, lips curving up into a small smirk as he sat down next to her. Violet’s annoyance came out in a puff of smoke, aimed for Reggie’s face.

“What do you want?” She said, regretting even acknowledging his presence.

“You.” Reggie’s response was as flirtatious as ever, brown eyes sparkling with mirth. And maybe a little hope.

Violet just took another long drag from her cigarette, facing forward again. “Piss off, Mantle.”

Truthfully, she didn’t give a shit what he had to say. She had been content sitting there, in her own little world before he came along and wrecked it. All he ever did was hit on her and piss her off. Why would she want to have a conversation now?

He let out a loud, very dramatic yawn and draped his arm across her shoulders, triumphant smirk on his strong features. “Oh come on, pretty thing. What’s the harm in just-“ He was cut off by her glare.

“What do you want with me?” She demanded, eyebrows drawing together. Her angry expression was more of a pout, really, not that she quite recognized that. But it was. And Reggie was in no way intimidated.

“A date,” he answered honestly. “Just one.” Hopefully more. He seemed surprisingly honest for once, genuine hope in his glittering brown eyes. Violet couldn’t help but sigh, considering her options. He was kind of handsome. Kind of. And one date didn’t sound all that bad...she didn’t fully trust him, though. She’d have to watch him closely.

“Fine, Mantle. One date.” His brown eyes lit up at her words. “No sex, either. I want to be wined and dined.”

“And sixty-“

“No,” she said firmly, giving him a look. Reggie was pleased anyway. He’d gotten what he wanted. He leaned forward to press a kiss to her lips before fist pumping the air in triumph.

“Fuck yeah!”

A/N: alright! I hope this was what you wanted, anon! Let me know if I should do a part two of this for you guys.

Reed Richards let out one large puff of smoke staring at it as it disappeared wanting to explain it, but he was too distracted by Victor stroked his hair thoughtlessly. Victor was also high; they were a couple of high fools together smoking some weed that Victor had stashed away. Reed didn’t usually smoke socially mostly because he didn’t do much of anything socially, but here he was in Victor von Doom’s dorm wishing he hadn’t gone.

Victor’s fingers crawled down to his shoulders. It felt like he was playing music on his body as he thoughtlessly ran his hands on Reed. “Are you playing me?” Reed asked taking one of Victor’s hands in his own and staring at it.

“No,” Victor said softly drawing Reed’s hand up to his lips kissing his fingertips.

Reed stared for a moment then kissed Victor. It was sloppy and frantic and rough, there was too much tongue, he missed at first and had to move to actually find Victor’s lips. Reed crawled into Victor’s lap grinding his hips against him. Victor tore off Reed’s shirt and threw it onto the floor.

“Ben is gonna be pissed,” Reed mumbled as Victor sucked on his neck. That would leave a mark.

“Why should he be worried of our doings?” Victor asked as Reed slipped his shirt off of him.

“He hates you, remember?” Reed said as Victor pushed him back onto the couch.

“Take off your pants,” Victor commanded, and Reed obliged fumbling with his zipper and finally kicking them onto the floor.

Victor straddled Reed then took Reed’s chin in his hand and drew him to him. He bent down and kissed him. His teeth clashed against Reed’s at first as he decided how he wanted to take Reed’s kiss. He finally placed his lips on Reed’s more gently than Reed thought he would. Reed reached up and drew him towards him until he was crouching over him.

“Fuck me, please,” Reed whispered in Victor’s ear.

Victor stood up to discard his pants on the floor. “But first,” he said as he slipped himself out of his boxers, “on your knees.”

Reed woke up sore next to Victor with no memory of the events of the night before. Obviously, he knew what happened because it didn’t take a genius to realize that he and Victor fucked, and he was a genius. If his clothing strewn around the room didn’t give it away, Victor’s hand on his ass definitely did.

“I have to go. I have class,” Reed said getting out of Victor’s bed and grabbing his clothes off the floor. Victor mumbled something after him but didn’t make any moves to get out of bed.

He raced to his dorm to shower and change out of his clothes which smelled awful. He bumped into Ben as he rushed inside.

“Ya look terrible,” Ben said catching Reed by the arm. His eyes drifted to the hickeys and bite marks all over Reed’s neck and his eyes widened. “Who did all this?”

“I need to shower and change and get to class,” Reed said.

Ben let him go, and Reed slipped inside their dorm to grab some clothes and his shower caddy then rushed to the showers. While he showered he inspected the marks on his body from his night with Victor. They were many, but that was what was to be expected from someone like Victor. He looked up into the hot water and closed his eyes. What was he doing? God, what was he going to do?

Apparently, what he was going to do was ignore the issue. He avoided Victor when he could which did not please Doom. This went on for weeks. Reed found every way to avoid Victor, but it could only last so long. Victor was pissed.

Reed was going to class when Victor cornered him. “Would you please get out of my way,” Reed said cooly which only made Victor seeth more.

“So, you have chosen to ignore what happened between us,” Victor said crossing his arms.

“And what happened between us?” Reed asked.

“Do not play ignorant with me. You are not a fool,” Victor said.

“We had sex. Is that what you want me to say? What is there to talk about?” Reed hissed.

“I will not be used,” Victor said. His eyes narrowing.

“I was high. I wasn’t in the position to use anyone,” Reed said.

“Then why did we not speak afterward, and why did you choose to avoid me?” Victor asked.

Reed winced knowing that what he did was not right. “Because I was scared,” Reed admitted and his voice shook. “I’ve never had sex with a man before.”

“Is that all?” Victor asked dropping his arms to his side. His face grew as soft as it could for a moment.

Reed looked away. “Look, I have a lot of things going on. I don’t need another distraction,” he said lying.

Victor took a step towards him, and Reed flatted on the wall. “I am a distraction to you?” he asked running his finger along Reed’s chin. Reed’s eyes widened.

“Ben has a class for the next couple hours,” Reed blurted out.

Victor smirked. “Willing to skip class for a taste of me, I see,” he said leaning down and catching Reed’s mouth with his. Reed strained to hold onto Victor’s lips as he pulled away.

Reed ripped off his sheets and tossed them into his hamper. He looked around his room at everything he just cleaned partly proud of himself for cleaning up their mess in so little time and partly ashamed of what he and Victor did. Ben walked in and took a moment to admire how even his side of the room was neat.

“What, uh, brought this on?” Ben asked.

Reed shrugged not trusting himself to lie to Ben about something like this. Ben dropped his bags and sat down on the couch getting comfortable. Reed winced thinking about how he sucked Victor off right where Ben was sitting. He couldn’t hide this from Ben forever; he had to tell him.

Unfortunately, Ben found out in the worst way possible. Reed put a sock on the doorknob like they said they would if they ever brought someone back to the dorm, but back then Reed never imagined needing to use it. Ben must have gotten accustomed to not having to worry about Reed having sex because he came in despite the warning.

At first Ben didn’t know what was wrong. “Some joker put a sock on tha door…” he said blissfully unaware of what was going on, but that blissful ignorance didn’t last long enough. Reed and Victor were fucking on the desk which was partially out of the way of the door so he didn’t see them until he turned to look towards Reed exclamations of surprise.

“What tha fuck!?” Ben shouted.

“Get out you clodding oaf,” Victor shouted.

Ben got out of the room as quickly as he could wishing he could rip his eyes out. His only comfort was that both Reed and Victor were partially clothed.

“So,” Reed said as Ben finally came back to their dorm. He stood as far as he could from Reed glaring at him. “I'm sorry you saw that.”

“Cut tha shit, Reed. Where?” Ben said looking around the dorm.

“Where?”

“Where all have you two fucked?”

Reed turned red as he thought of all the places he and Victor fucked in the dorm room alone. “Are you sure you want to know?” Reed asked.

“Just tell me, Reed,” Ben insisted.

“The, uh, couch, my bed, my desk,” Ben let out a grumble when he said the desk. Obviously, they fucked on the desk he was there, “I think, that’s all…” It wasn’t, but he wanted to spare him some of the discomforts of knowing all the places that he and Victor fucked.

“Outta all people,” Ben asked, “why him?”

Reed rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It wasn’t planned,” he said.

“He’s such a jerk,” Ben said.

“He’s not bad high, I guess,” Reed said under his breath. Ben’s head jerked around to look at him.

“You fucked while high?” Ben exclaimed.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Reed said.

“Are you datin’?” Ben asked his disapproval was all over his face.

“No,” Reed said, “I believe the term is friends-with-benefits.”

“That’s disgustin’,” Ben said shaking his head.

Reed tucked a strand of Sue’s hair behind her ear smiling. “You’re beautiful,” he said bending down to kiss her. It was barely a peck, but it was enough to make Reed feel like he was on top of the world.

Reed went back to his apartment thinking about how he was the luckiest man alive. His phone was ringing off the hook so he answered it. It was Ben on the other line.

“Your pal Victor did somethin’ really stupid. Ya better come fast.”

Victor’s whole face was bandaged up, and he laid out in the hospital bed weak from the accident. Reed sat in the chair next to him so that he would have someone to wake up to when he finally regained consciousness.

“Reed?” Victor’s voice was soft and strained.

Reed stood up placing his book to the side and leaning over Victor’s bedside. “Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked.

“I feel as if I were hit by a freight train,” Victor said reaching his hands up only to find that he was connected to all kinds of drips and cords.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” Reed said touching his hand gently.

“My face, it sears,” Victor said. “I’ve never known such pain.”

“Do you want me to call a nurse?” Reed asked.

“No, I do not wish for anyone to see me like this,” Victor said.

“How did this happen?” Reed asked pulling a chair up.

“I don’t wish to speak of it,” Victor said looking away from Reed.

Reed and Victor sat in silence for a while. Reed stood up grabbing his book and the rest of his things. “I have to go. I have class,” he said. Victor mumbled something after him seemingly dozing off.

Ben met Reed outside of the hospital. “Did ya tell him that he was expelled?” he asked.

Reed shook his head. “I didn’t have the heart. I’ve never seen him that vulnerable before,” he said.

“Hey, you’re with Suzie now,” Ben said.

“I don’t have feelings for him. I just feel terrible about what happened,” Reed said.

When Victor’s bandages were taken off, and he looked into the mirror and his heart sunk. A scar ran across his face ruining his once attractive face making him disfigured and in his eyes ugly. He beat his fist into the mirror, and it shattered under his strength. Pieces of glass ripped at his skin and blood ran down his hand. He sunk down to the floor holding his hand and let out a strangled sob.

No one came to see him for days and he stewed in his misery. Reed finally visited knowing that he was the closest thing Victor had to a friend. He found him sunk on the floor, his hand unbandaged, and him unwashed.

“Leave,” Doom said his voice stronger than he looked.

“Let me look at your hand,” Reed said kneeling down next to him and touching the blooding hand.

Doom snatched it away. “I said leave.”

“Victor, it could get infected then you could lose your hand. You have enough to worry about already,” Reed said taking his hand and inspecting it.

Victor looked up at Reed, and Reed finally saw the scar that disfigured one side of his face. He made no comment as he drew Victor up and to the sink to clean the cut. He ran hot water over the cut washing off the blood so that he could get a better look of the cut underneath. Victor winced. Reed sat him on the toilet and grabbed some alcohol from under the sink which he put on a cotton ball and dabbed gently on the cut. Victor cussed under his breath in what Reed assumed was Latverian. Reed found some bandages and wrapped Victor’s hand tightly.

“Now, you need to bathe yourself,” Reed said. “Can you do that on your own?”

“Yes,” Victor said his voice softer than when he demanded that Reed leave. Reed started the bath for him then made a move to leave before he saw how Victor struggled with his clothing. Reed helped him take off his shirt and pants but left him in his boxers.

Reed left the bathroom before Victor sunk into the bath. Victor emerged half an hour later in a towel. His hair was still dripping wet, but he looked better than he had been curled on the ground in anguish. Victor sat next to Reed and leaned his head on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“It was nothing,” Reed said tucking his arm around Victor’s waist in an awkward half-hug.

Victor sat up and leaned in to kiss Reed. Reed winced and moved away. Doom reached for his face and moved away from Reed his eyes wide.

“Even you recoil from me because of my hideous scar,” Doom said.

“It’s not that Victor. I’m seeing someone,” Reed said softly.

“So you’ve moved on so quickly just when I needed you the most,” Doom hissed.

“Moved on? From what?” Reed asked confused.

Doom’s face grew hard, and he pointed to the door. “Out!”

“Victor, I-”

“OUT!”

Seeing Reed was torture. Victor blamed him for everything, the accident, getting expelled… breaking his heart. If he weren’t so obsessed… in love with… Reed, none of this would have happened. He would have done the calculations right, he would have been successful, he would have freed his mother… So bitterly he held onto these feelings following a path that was forged with hate. It was years after that he saw Reed again and despite the time his anger had not faded, but rather it grew and grew until it was something monstrous. Any love that he knew for Reed was long gone and replaced with abhorrence. Reed was his most hated rival but once his only friend.