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kahluamystery97 · 2 months

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Satellite Ch 4 (HS X OC)

CHAPTER FOUR

Grammy Night 2021

"Maggie just walked in." Jeff said, eyeing the door.

Harry turned to see her. She was beautiful. Maggie was always beautiful. She wore her hair back loosely and a simple black dress with some midriff and back baring cutouts. Sparkly heeled sandals. She tightly gripped a clutch. He saw her pull her face into that tight public smile. Dear God she was so painfully thin.

Guests at the party greeted her. The pearly white smile got bigger and tighter. She was so visibly uncomfortable. Maybe not to the world but Harry could see it. He almost regretted inviting her. Was she okay? Was this causing her upset or discomfort?

He crossed the room and everyone around them scattered. He offered her a smile and she relaxed into her genuine Maggie smile. Her hands loosened up around the clutch.

Harry took a chance and leaned in. He kissed her cheek. "Thank you. This means everything to me."

She squeezed his arm. "You deserve it all. Thanks for including me."

He surprised them both when he grabbed her into a hug. He breathed in the clean scent of her hair and kissed her cheek again. He lingered longer than he should but not as long as he wanted. When he pulled back he said the only thing he could think of, "Drink?"

Maggie nodded. She needed a drink. A big vodka to swim in so she wasn't thinking so hard about all of this.

Harry took her hand and led her to the large bar. Just that simple gesture could have melted her. Except now Maggie found it hard to feel much these days. Her work wasn't just acting. Her life felt like an acting job. Just act like everything is ok. For the moment she just tried to be here and to be present.

Harry ordered her vodka with extra lime. Her first sip gave her such a rush that she leaned back into him. Without much thought Harry wrapped an arm around her waist. This is how they used to be. The new normal was they were officially 'just friends'? Maggie was all about control and order. Being with Harry set her on edge. All of that carefully crafted control and order she liked so much was tossed out the window around him. She couldn't trust herself to do what was in her best interest because part of her felt so invested in him. She knew logically she should cut all ties to Harry but there was a piece of her that just couldn't let go. After all that had gone down between them she was still here. What would it take to finally sever things? She was afraid to know the answer. She was afraid of what it might do to her.

"Hello!" An excited British voice called out to Maggie. It was Sarah followed by Mitch.

Maggie's eyes popped open wide seeing Sarah so clearly pregnant. "Oh my God?! What is this baby bump?! How did I miss this while watching you tonight?!" She left Harry's side to hug Sarah.

"Because this guy is out flashing his tits in a leather suit. Who would notice me?" Sarah laughed.

"Hey now." Harry pretended to be offended. Sarah and Maggie hardly gave him a glance once they started talking baby.

Mitch grabbed a drink at the bar next to Harry. "Is she ok?" He whispered and nodded toward Maggie.

Harry could only shrug. He didn't know. He knew in this light she looked gaunt. Not even the makeup could hide that.

"I have to be fed. I'm starving - all the time." Sarah announced.

The words cut through Maggie. Her face flushed. Sarah knew it was a poor choice of words immediately. Maggie clearly had something going on with her.

Mitch saved her from the awkwardness. "C'mon. Let's get that situation handled. Maggie it was really good to see you." He squeezed her arm.

"Congratulations on, on - everything! " Then a giant sip of the cold vodka. She needed a buzz.

When she turned to look at Harry he looked concerned. No. This would not do. This was his night. She tipped her head back and poured the rest of the vodka down her throat. People were dancing. She grabbed his hand.

"Don't be so serious, Styles. Let's have some fun."

They danced. They talked to friends. Maggie went to the ladies room at one point and he lost track of her. It was late and things were quieting down.

Finally he noticed people coming in from the terrace. The door opened and he got a glimpse of her.

Maggie looked out on Downtown Los Angeles. Would she ever stop loving it? Maybe LA was her longest relationship. When she left New York she never looked back. Los Angeles felt like home and a vacation all at once. The sun. The ocean. Her career allowed her to see the world and do amazing things. She was so thankful. Maggie knew she was fucking it all up right now. She knew eventually someone was going to say something. Her body would be addressed. It was always this body. This body was bad at 260 lbs. This body is bad at 101 lbs. What about a boob job? Too muscular. Too skinny. Too tall. Too short. Too young. Too old. Too pretty to take seriously. Too serious for such a pretty girl. She couldn't keep up and she was losing control. All Maggie wanted was some control back in her life.

She dropped her clutch by her feet. She could feel herself leaning a little too far off the terrace rail. It dug uncomfortably into her bony rib cage. You could let it all go, she heard the words in her head. You could tumble head first into Downtown Los Angeles and it would all just be quiet.

She felt strong hands around her waist suddenly.

"What are you doing?" Harry growled, clearly panicked. His face was flushed. She was alarmingly leaning over the rail. So much so that only her tiptoes remained on the ground. He pulled her tight against him and took a few steps back from the edge.

Maggie came back to reality. "I was enjoying the view and I've had a lot to drink. " She brushed it off.

"You have to level with me. You aren't okay. You don't look like you are okay." He searched her eyes for the truth.

"No complicated conversations. You promised me. I'm here because you wanted me to be and you made me a promise." She took a breath and looked away from him.

They were both still and silent for what felt like a long time. Harry picked up her bag and extended his hand to her. Maggie slipped her small, soft hand into his and followed him out.

They said their good nights to the guests remaining. Harry never let go of her. She started walking towards the lobby of the hotel. He gently redirected her to the elevators.

Maggie thought she should protest and insist on leaving. She didn't have the fight in her. Being next to him felt so comfortable. Walking into his room where she could take off her 'Maggie mask' and just be felt so good.

"I'll get drinks and snacks. " He said as he kicked off his shoes and took his jacket off.

Maggie sat back on the large leather sofa. She unbuckled her sandals and pulled her feet under her.

Harry appeared with two vodkas and a cheese plate. Maggie happily took the glass. She was unmoved by the cheese plate. She however grabbed a piece of cheese (swiss - the lowest calorie option) to keep Harry from asking any more questions.

A single cube of cheese. His stomach was in a knot. Didn't her sisters see this? Was anyone helping her? He put his glass down on the coffee table.

Maggie leaned against him. He put his arm around her shoulders. She felt him take a breath as if he was going to speak. She turned quickly and put her finger against his perfectly pink lips.

"Please don't. I don't want to overthink it. There is so much unsaid and nothing is going to change tonight. Let's just have this night. You deserve a good night." Maggie pressed her lips against his. They shared a soft kiss. She settled back in against him.

He knew she was right. He just wanted to savor this time with her. Amelia Mason was waiting for him in London. She was sleeping in his bed this very minute. Instead of trying to focus on whatever that was he was here with Maggie. Maybe they would never work or the time would never be right. He was so drawn to Maggie though. Harry wasn't ready to stop trying. She completed tonight for him. He would go back to hating himself for being a shit to Amelia later.

"Can I take you to bed?"

Maggie nodded her approval. He gently pulled her up off the sofa with him. He planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he turned her around by her waist and steered her into the bedroom.

Once there Maggie made her way out of her dress. Harry discarded his clothes and slipped into the bathroom. When he returned Maggie was in bed. Now dressed in the hotel robe and sleeping soundly. Her hair free from its loose updo sprawled all around her. She was so peaceful. He wanted to be peaceful with her. Harry got under the covers and pulled her in close.

Breathing her in he couldn't help but be sent back into happier times.

2018

"I get it. I'm not a musician but you're wrong." Maggie rolled her eyes as she took a sip of the bitter red wine she was served.

"I am a musician. Musically, American Girl is more substantive. Can I just run around critiquing movies like I'm a filmmaker?" Mitch narrowed his eyes as he took a swig of beer.

"You sure can but I almost dread hearing it if you won't acknowledge that Here Comes My Girl is superior to American Girl."

Harry stifled a chuckle. He and Sarah bowed out of this fight at least ten minutes prior to this exchange. Maggie and Mitch really liked one another but they really liked antagonizing each other most of all.

"C'mon H. School your lady." Mitch pressed.

"Well I hate to tell you that you're both wrong and Tom Petty's best song is Wildflowers."

"Wait, what? That isn't even the best song on that album. Gorgeous song but wrong answer." Maggie was now shaking her head.

"She's not wrong. " Sarah finally interjects sitting back on the floor on a cushion next to Mitch. She passes him the vape.

"Incredible. Maybe we should call Stevie and ask her." He says with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Lame. Name dropper." Maggie swatted his knee from her spot on the floor between them.

"It's You Wreck Me." Sarah replies matter of factly.

Mitch releases the smoke he has been holding. At the very same time Mitch and Maggie blurt, "It's Crawling Back to You."

The two high five. Sarah and Harry roll their eyes and snicker at them.

"Fuck. I'm putting that album on. Want more pizza while I'm up?" Mitch asks the three of them.

"Yes. Bring more pizza out. I'm so high. I am going to eat all of the pizza." Sarah moans falling back on the carpet softly with a giggle.

Maggie had stopped by her favorite wood fired pizza place on the way to Sarah and Mitch's house. It sounded like everyone was on the way to drunk or stoned after a long day at the studio. So she ordered a little bit of everything. She was greeted with a hero's welcome when the trio saw the armfuls of food she had.

Harry nudged Maggie with his knee gently. 'You eat? Want something?"

"I had a big dinner. All good." Maggie was a liar. She had a small salad with a little balsamic vinegar that she ate before she decided to run five miles on her treadmill. She later had a Pepcid chewable for dessert because the balsamic gave her acid reflux after her workout. Reminder. Only plain lettuce and veggies before anything strenuous. She had a movie wardrobe to fit into and late night pizza would not help.

He smiled a big dimpled smile at her. "Ok. We have to make sure you are fueling up while working out for this movie." He let his fingertips gently rub her arm a moment until they were startled by Tom Petty's Wildflowers. Mitch came clumsily crashing back into the room and dropped the brown pizza box onto the coffee table.

Maggie had been hanging with Harry and his friends while they made his sophomore album pretty regularly for the last few weeks. Now Harry was calling them a 'we'. Mitch was referring to her as Harry's lady. They never once discussed what they were or weren't after that day in Harry's pool. Maggie assumed this was still friends with benefits but as the days wore on it felt less casual.

"Can you drive or want me to get an Uber?"

"I can drive."

Harry got up off the floor and offered Maggie a hand. "Ok, tomorrow is another studio day. Going to call it a night."

"Are you ok to drive?" Sarah asked.

Maggie nodded. "Yeah, totally fine."

"Then get out and let me enjoy my Petty." Mitch roared in her direction and then winked. Maggie flipped him off with a smile.

"Night guys. See you tomorrow." Harry said. He led Maggie out with a hand on the small of her back. As they approached her convertible he reached up and stretched. A sliver of belly peeking out from his vintage Beastie Boys shirt. Before she could even have a lewd thought about it Harry had her pressed up against the sports car. "I haven't been able to kiss you all night."

"You were very well behaved."

"I think I deserve a reward." He gently kissed her mouth. His lips tugged at her bottom lip. A deep groan escaped him. "Come home with me?"

"Are you drunk Styles? Am I taking advantage of you if I say yes?"

"Mmm, God, I hope so." He let his fingertips wander up and down her hips. Maggie rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Get in the car."

He flashed his dimples at her as he jogged around the car and got in. 'Gonna let me control the music?"

"I guess just this once." Maggie's rules were her car - her music. She did not want to be forced to listen to an entire Wings album as Harry had done to her last weekend.

'Wildflowers' began to play as she pulled out of Mitch and Sarah's place. When Harry began to harmonize along with Tom Petty it was magic. He reached over and put his warm hand on her thigh. They shared a smile.

Easy. Casual. Maggie reminded herself.

A few weeks later ...

Harry yelled out in frustration. "I can't fucking write. I can't write songs anymore. I lost it." He tossed his journal onto the floor.

Mitch put his guitar down. "I mean that seems pretty fucking dramatic. It's only been a few days."

"Right a few days of nothing. I feel so fucking much and I just can't get it out. And what does come out is absolute, fucking rubbish.”

"You're forcing it man. Let it come." Kid sighed. "This song is sad. Maybe you don't want to write a sad song right now."

"I can't write any songs right now. I think we have established that. Nothing."

"Nah. I think you want to stay on theme. The breakup, the wounds but you aren't feeling that right now."

"Huh?" Harry asked, distracted as he checked his phone.

"Seriously?" Tyler rolled his eyes. "I thought we were device free until 3? How many times did you say that to me?"

"We're breaking soon, right?" He smiled as he typed a message.

"We are. You can't wait ten minutes until you see her though? Man do you have it bad." Tyler stretched out.

"She just wanted me to know she was here." Harry shrugged it off. Tyler, Tom, Mitch and Jeff had been giving him a hard time about his 'friends' status with Maggie. They had been hanging out a lot lately but who could blame him when the conversation was just as good if not better than the mind blowing sex they had been having. Harry truly felt like he was having his cake and eating it too. This was the very best friends with benefits set up he had ever had.

"Suuuure." Jeff rolled his eyes. "Harry just wants to text his girlfriend." Harry shot Jeff a glare.

"I think you've got it bad for this girl. I don't blame you. She is gorgeous and she is cool and totally not the type of girl you are going to be able to keep it casual with." Kid said from the board.

"Maggie is awesome. I agree. I'm just not in the right place after Colette to jump right into another relationship and she doesn't seem to be keen on being tied down either."

"Now that's between the two of you." Tyler smirked.

Suddenly the door to the studio opened. "Hey, hi. Hope I'm not interrupting?" Maggie stood in the doorway. She wore a red and yellow knee length circle skirt, white cropped spaghetti strapped tank. Her blonde locks were pulled back loosely in a clip with some tendrils escaping wildly but perfectly. Maggie's face was bare so her freckles popped on her lightly tanned skin. The strawberry lip oil she always wore kept her pouty lips glistening. Harry had to resist the urge to kiss her in front of everyone.

"Not at all. Just wrapping up." Mitch said. "So is there something waiting outside for us?"

At least once a week Maggie had been surprising the gang at Shangri La with fun little gifts. A mobile barista with a little coffee bar truck. Goat yoga. Massages the week before.

"I did. I hope it is very inspiring and comforting because I heard the rock star is having a bit of a day." She smiled, raising an eyebrow at Harry. He crossed his arms over his chest not moving from his spot on the couch. "You guys go ahead. I'll see if I can't cheer up this guy."

The guys all snickered. Kid mumbled, "I bet she can." Jeff wiggled his eyebrows.

Once they were alone Maggie straddled Harry's lap. "Spill it. What's up?"

"I mean nothing besides the fact that I lost the ability to write music." He huffed.

Maggie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. This was a bit dramatic. "Oh yeah? When did this loss occur? How long are we talking?"

"Few days." He hated to admit it was after the last time he saw her. Maggie had been too busy to make it out to Malibu and he was too busy at the studio to go to her. He missed her and their time together.

"A few days? You big baby."

"Hey don't be mean to me I'm suffering here."

She gave him an exaggerated pouty face of her own. "Ok, ok. How can I help?"

His eyebrows shot up and smiled that wolfish smile he got when was about to be naughty. He puckered his lips and tapped them once with his index finger. Maggie leaned in and placed a soft wet kiss on him.

"Better?" She asked against his mouth.

"Lil mo." Maggie kissed again this time her tongue softly licked into his mouth. Harry's hands traveled down her sides, down the fronts of her thighs and began to creep under the hem of her skirt. Slowly his fingers crept between her thighs into the warm wetness beneath her underwear. She sighed at the first swipe through her folds.

"Here I was going to get on my knees for you. I thought you needed some help getting inspired." She bit into her bottom lip as Harry continued to stroke her.

Harry whispered into the shell of her ear. "Later baby, later. I just need a taste of you."

When Harry and Maggie emerged from the studio thirty minutes later everyone was most definitely talking. For a group of men they certainly acted like a bunch of old women in a small town quilting circle.

"Is this my surprise?" Harry lit up as he saw dogs roaming around the grounds. Each had a handler in a matching shirt with the name of the animal charity Liza and EJ founded.

"Dogs and ice cream." She pointed to the Salt and Straw cart. Harry quickly pinched her bum and gave her a wink. It took all of his self control to not pull her body into his and kiss her strawberry oiled lips.

Casual? Easy? It seemed like it was getting harder every day to keep it that way no matter what either of them said.

A few more weeks later...

"Oh, oh - yes. H, just like that." Maggie cried out in pleasure.

"Like that baby? Right there?" Harry continued to thrust up into her as his fingers worked her swollen bud.

"Ahh - yes, yes, yes." She chanted quietly.

"C'mon love, c'mon." His hips picked up speed. Maggie bounced back harder and faster to meet his movements. A scream ripped from her body as she squeezed and shook around him. Another moment and he toppled over the edge behind her.

Maggie collapsed on top of him. She focused on getting her breathing back to normal. He pushed her hair back off her face as she smiled down at him.

Harry pulled her in for a kiss. She rolled off to his side and threw a leg over him. He stroked her hair.

"Fuck Mags. You're going to put me in traction." He said kissing the top of her head.

"I had to make it good. I'm going to be gone for four days."

Harry and Maggie had been spending even more time together now that she had some down time. He loved having her around the studio and on the fringes of his album recording.

His album started off serious and sad. It was starting to feel lighter, sexier. Maggie was just the muse he needed. While the crew was eating ice cream or playing with puppies or doing goat yoga he was finding a quiet place with Maggie. He couldn't get enough of her.

It wasn't all sex. She was funny and so smart. Just when you thought you knew her she threw a curveball at him. He found himself telling her things he didn't normally talk about. He hated being without her too long.

They weren't even officially dating. Both of them were scared to define it too much. Neither had much luck in relationships and maybe if they kept this casual for a while longer they could work it out.

Now Maggie was leaving for five days. Every year they took their production company staff on a retreat to Palm Springs to thank them but also to work a bit. The trip always sparked creativity. Maggie traditionally loved this trip. She just didn't want to leave Harry to go. It was a strange sensation for her being that she was never really this enamored with a man before. It was probably good for them. They had been hot and heavy for weeks. Plus Harry could probably do a lot more work on the album if they weren't always fucking in a supply closet or bathroom at the studio.

"A week feels too long,"he complained as he kissed her neck.

"Yeah, yeah. First of all it is technically not a full week. Four days. You'll be locked in a studio with all the guys. I'll be back before you notice I'm gone. "

"Only part of that is accurate. I will definitely be locked in a studio. However, I will absolutely notice you are gone."

Maggie caught a glimpse of the bedside clock. Just after 8am. Fuck! "I am going to be late. The girls will be here in like 45 minutes." She jumped out of bed. "I have to get in the shower."

"Do you want company?"

"God help you if you try to get in my shower Harry Styles. My sister will murder us both if I'm late."

"Liza," Harry groaned.

"Yup that one." Maggie disappeared into the bathroom.

Harry got up to make coffee. He knew Liza hated him. Maggie never denied it when he brought it up. She just shrugged it off. Harry could admit it ate at him a bit. He hated being disliked. He had been working with his therapist on that. Thankfully their interactions had been minimal.

Maggie appeared a few minutes later in ripped blue jeans, a cropped white tee and Chanel espadrilles slip ons. Her hair was wavy and held back with an Hermes scarf fashioned as a headband. She rolled her bag behind her.

Harry handed her a travel tumbler. Maggie wrinkled her nose. Her lips curled up into a smile. "You made me coffee?"

"I mean I'm no barista but it was the least I could do."

She took a long sip. Oat milk. No sweetener. She loved that he knew her coffee order. He pulled her in to kiss her. Was it possible he was missing her already?

A car horn blared from down on the street. "Liza?" He asked.

"I mean who else would beep this early?"

"Let me take your bag down for you."

Maggie locked up behind her. Harry rolled her bag. Liza's large SUV was pulled half into the driveway and half into the street. All the windows were rolled down. Liza and Alex up front. Dayna and Jamie in the 3rd row. Hillary in the second row.

"Good morning ladies." Harry smiled and waved. A chorus of "Hello" carried out the windows. All of them except Liza smiling widely and giggling like school girls.

Harry put the bag in the already open trunk and then slammed the hatch. Liza's eyes watching him in the rear view. He turned to Maggie. Suddenly her eyes went big. "Shit, I have to go back in. I can't go to the desert without sunglasses."

She turned to go back in. "Ooh baby no need. Take these." He pulled her in close and pulled the tortoise Ray-Bans from the top of his head and put them on her face. She pulled them up to the top of her head so she could see him unobstructed.

"Styles to the rescue. Thank you." She got up on her toes to kiss him. He leaned down and pulled up by the backs of her thighs to meet him. He gave her a kiss he hoped would last four days.

The horn honked. "The bus is leaving." Liza shouted. Alex put her head in her hands.

Maggie let a laugh escape. Harry smiled at her. " I think she's warming up to me." They walked hand in hand to the back door. "Have a safe trip. Let me know when you get there." Reluctantly he dropped Maggie's hand but not before giving it a quick kiss. He swatted her behind as she got in the SUV. She yelped.

"Goodbye ladies. Have fun!"

A car full of happily married women, swooned in unison. Well except for Liza of course.

Liza pulled away abruptly and hit the button to roll the windows up. Maggie leaned back. Slid Harry's sunglasses on and sipped her coffee.

She counted the seconds before the interrogation would start. Hillary piped up first, "Spill it. All of it. I want all the sexy details."

Liza barked, " I can probably live without that."

"Too bad you're outvoted." Jamie yelled up to her. Liza could be rough on people but her girlfriends didn't let her get away with anything. She wasn't Boss Lady Liza with them. She was Liza, their best friend since Girl Scouts.

"First of all did he literally just lift you off the ground by your ass to kiss you? Fuck that is hot." Dayna sighed while pretending to smoke a cigarette.

She blushed. "Hmm what can I tell you? He is recording an album. He spends all of his time in the studio right now." Maggie shrugged.

"And the rest of his time in you." Alex cracked herself up. Liza shot her a look and moved to turn on the radio. Alex knocked her hand away.

Maggie had nearly spit her coffee out when Alex said that. "You are a bunch of dirty old birds."

"Listen kid, I've been having sex with the same man since George W. was in office. So you are going to have to give me some fun details. I believe I am entitled." Hillary whined.

"We've been together nearly non stop for like the last, I don't know, a few weeks. Since we met at that shitty Martin Graves party. The sex is outrageously good. Like my vagina needs this vacation though."

"I actually didn't see that coming. Good looking guys are traditionally not great lays. When you're pretty you don't even have to try. " Dayna said. "Remember that hot pizza delivery guy in college? Cute but such a dud in the sack."

"No Day he was not hot. That was the guy who looked like the lead singer of Color Me Badd, right?" Liza laughed.

"You dated a guy with a neck tattoo so..." Dayna countered.

"No, I slept with a guy who had a neck tattoo. One time. One time I drank too much Mr. Boston and fucked a guy with a neck tattoo. You bitches are going to put it on my tombstone."

Maggie loved all of these ladies so much. High school was terrible for her but Liza and Alex's friends made Maggie their little sister too. She loved their stories and antics. As the company flourished they came out West to learn the business and take part. It was so nice to have everyone here.

"OK so back to actual hot guys. Harry. Oh Harry." Hillary smiled leaning back. "Are we official? Are we serious? It sounds serious. It looks serious. You admit he has practically broken your vagina."

Maggie leaned back too. She touched the frames on her face. She pressed her lips together remembering the feeling of his goodbye kiss.

"Honestly we haven't talked about it at all. I mean I don't think he's seeing anyone else. Not sure when he would have time. I'm not seeing anyone else. I really like being with him. I'm just not ready to label it. Every time I get too excited about something the universe steps in and crushes me. I'm not ready to be crushed yet."

Alex turned around quickly. "Mags, that's not how this works. You deserve to be happy. You work so hard. Being in limbo isn't always fun or healthy though."

Dayna called from the back, "Have the conversation. Lock that good sex down."

"But if he gets a neck tattoo - he's out." Jamie said as she pulled a hard seltzer from a cooler in back.

"Now that is good advice because these bitches will never let you live it down." Liza sighed. "OK road trip music must commence."

Harry made it to the studio on time. Funny enough, he seemed to only ever be the one to do that. He let himself in and puttered around the immaculate kitchen. He opened a can of nitro cold brew coffee and stretched.

The door opened behind him. When he turned he nearly dropped the can in his hands. It wasn't an engineer or Mitch. It was Colette.

When their eyes met she unleashed a big toothy smile at him. He was stunned. For once he didn't have words.

"Surprise 'arry." She said with her lovely French accent.

"Yes, yes it is. What are you doing here?" Harry put the can down.

"Our mutual friends are having an anniversary party and invited me. I thought I would come and drop in and make sure that was OK. Check in on you. "

The mutual friends were Kid/Tom and Jenny. He totally forgot the party was Saturday night. He was sure someone mentioned the model was invited but he had been so caught up in all things Maggie that not much but her stuck in his head.

"Of course it's OK. It's good to see you." And it was. Colette was the sole focus of his previous year. Their tumultuous relationship had shaped a lot of this album. It shaped a lot of why he was having a hard time wanting to make things more defined with Maggie.

Harry leaned in and hugged her. She hugged him back and kissed his cheek. Her hands lingered on his back a minute. She softly scratched at that spot on low on his spine that made him weak in the knees. Harry allowed himself to breathe her in.

Wasn’t she still dating that trust fund baby? Harry and Colette talked quite frequently via text but he never asked her about him. He never wanted to hear about him. They were 'just friends' because when they broke up he still wanted to keep a piece of her with him. The last few weeks were the first time since they parted he didn't feel compelled to Google her or text first.

"I'm not here to interrupt. I just wanted to see you. Maybe you will be up for dinner later?" She asked.

"That would be nice." Harry heard himself accept before really thinking it over.

Colette leaned in and quickly kissed his mouth. "I'll text you later." Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared.

"Was that?" Mitch asked as he entered the kitchen.

"It was."

"And..."

"She wanted to make sure we would be cool at the same party on Saturday night. I

totally forgot she was going."

"Are you bringing Maggie? Is she bringing the dude she is with?"

"Maggie gets home from Palm Springs on Saturday. She wasn't sure she would be up for a party. And I don't speak to Colette about her love life so I have no idea. However she invited me out to dinner tonight so maybe I'll hear more then."

"Dinner? Is that inviting trouble?" Mitch raised an eyebrow.

"Let's hope not."

Maggie got checked into her hotel suite. Everyone was changing into swimwear for a poolside mixer. She was already feeling a little buzz from Jamie's cooler full of fun. She rummaged through her luggage until she found her white string bikini with navy embroidery.

She set her phone up on the wireless charger on the dresser in the bedroom. "Hey siri, FaceTime, H" Maggie pulled her shoes off as she waited to see if he would answer.

"Hello." Harry's beautiful face appeared.

"Hello. I'm here. I'm alive. Charging my phone. Rushing to get changed. How is it going there?" She asked.

"Pretty good. Productive. Finished an entire song. " Harry proudly exclaimed.

"You did? So that makes three in the can, right?"

"It does. So how was the ride out?" He asked.

"Good. Fun. Jamie had a cooler of drinks so if you'll excuse me I'm halfway to white girl wasted." She giggled. "Keep talking to me. I'm gonna step over here and change. I have to get back downstairs."

"You are such a tease." He shouted as he watched her throw her pants in camera view. Harry gave an exaggerated groan. “Ugh you are such a bad girl.”

"You only know half of it." She laughed, and she returned to the camera clad in her bikini.

Harry made a wounded sound at her appearance. "I may not survive four days. You look gorgeous. Come back to LA wearing that immediately. "

"Keep working hard and four days will have come and gone before we know it. Then I'm all yours." She leaned into the camera, blew a kiss and then quickly pulled the triangle of her bikini top over to give Harry a clear view of a nipple.

"Maggie," He growled, "I can be there in two hours."

"Less with the way you drive but don't you dare. Go back to work. I have to finish getting drunk with my friends." She beamed.

"Give me a twirl in that first." He encouraged her. She turned slowly so he could take her in.

"So this meets your approval."

He let out a loud whistle. She blew him another kiss. He blew one back. "Go have fun."

"Go back to work.."

"Miss you." He said seriously.

Maggie was completely taken by surprise. It has been just a few hours but the truth was she missed him too. So yeah maybe these four days apart was a good idea. Maybe they could get some perspective on what they wanted from one another.

“It was such a perfect night ‘arry.” Colette sighed as she looked up into Harry’s face. ‘I have really missed you.”

The whiskey was warm in his belly, the breeze from the ocean settled over him. This moment felt like one of his dreams. Colette was back, she looked beautiful, they weren’t fighting. He reached his hand out to her. She took it.

“It was a really nice night. I’m glad we did this.”

“Do you want to come up to my room for a drink? I have a lovely view on the balcony.” Her eyelashes fluttered and the waves of her hair lightly rustled up in the breeze making her look ethereal.

“I’ve probably had enough to drink but I’ll walk you upstairs.” Harry knew he was playing with fire. He needed to keep his mind clear. No more booze. He wasn’t ready to let go of Colette just yet though. The night had gone too well.

Harry squeezed her hand gently and followed her.

Maggie had sobered up after having some dinner and a strong espresso. She had to do some script reading tonight before more fun tomorrow. After dinner when she returned to her room she realized she had left her phone behind charging. She was a little disappointed when there were no messages from Harry, Sure they had talked already today, a few times so really she should just be happy. Normally he said goodnight to her though.

‘Get a grip. You sound like a very intense girlfriend.’ she told herself. Maggie put the script aside and laid back. She turned off the lights and tried to get comfortable in the unfamiliar bed. She tossed and turned for another forty five minutes.

The phone on the nightstand buzzed to life.

From Harry : I hope you had the very best day. Good night sweet girl.

She typed back, ‘Only three more days to go. Good night.’

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fic #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles fluff #satellitefic

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moonchildstyles · 2 years

Note

Thinking about the first time aster and angel took it a bit further than humping each other with their clothes on :( it’s just so sweeet and maybe they are at the tattoo shop after she helped him clean around a bit while he was closing the shop cause she asked him to and since they are at the beginning they couldn’t go to either of their places cause Mitch and Sarah so the opted for the shop staying at one of the private rooms :( and none of them planned for this to happen for her pants to be sprawled on the floors they just wanted to kiss and she wanted to be in his lap :(( but one thing led to another and it just happened :(( she’s pushing herself closer than ever he’s feeling her chest on him :( she’s acting needier than ever with her soft touches and not taking as much breathing breaks as usual even though he knows she can’t breath so he has to pull himself away from her :((( and I can clearly see it going like “you okay, angel?” Her cheeks red feeling embarrassed that she left her hands to roam around and now he knows she should’ve kept them at his waist between them as she usually does :( “I’m okay sorry I’m sorry” hand retrieving :( “don’t” he kisses her forehead “don’t apologize you know I don’t like hearing that” kissing her cheek slowly she’s smiling softly his hands falling to her waist feeling the bottom of her thin long sleeve “tell me what you want, angel” she’s looking up at him eyes all wide and doe like :( “closer” she whispers he pushes her closer into him “and now what?” He has a cheeky smile on his face as he feels her chest again on his her head falling shying away from his look “don’t leave me hanging now” nudging at her waist 1 🧸

she lets out a soft giggle “even closer” she whispers waiting for his reaction :( “lift your arms” he whispers she takes a second but does it eventually he was expecting her skin to shine through but it doesn’t another white tank top is cover her delicate skin he lets out a knowing laugh she pushes at his shoulder “stop laughing at me” he gasps “it was a laugh out of adoration and off course you aren’t naked under there my angel would never, would she now?” She’s wrapping her arms around his neck feeling the leather couch and Harry’s warm skin :( “my top is quite thin and I didn’t wanna wear a bra” he’s feeling her thighs now eyes falling to her chest “I can see that” she gets closer to h covering herself with him :( his hand playing with her tank top letting her know what his next move is “I don’t wanna take my top off” she whispers Harry’s hands quickly go to her arms “then we won’t” calming her “you get to choose, angel. whatever you want we’ll do and whatever you don’t is off limits, okay?” She nods “thank you” he tells her how she shouldn’t tank him but she still does anyway just his polite girl :( “we can this off” pointing to her jeans he’s slowly moving away to give him space to unbuckle her jeans “always running around in little skirt and dresses but today you chose to wear jeans, hmm? Just making me work for it, aren’t you” making her laugh and that’s all he wants to do from now on is making her laugh :((( as he unbuckles her jeans “it’s getting chilly outside and the library gets too cold with all the air conditioning” he hums in response “stand up for me” patting her sides she stands up hands on the zipper of her jeans “don’t” spreading his legs motioning for her to stand in the middle his left hand on her waist making sure she doesn’t stumble the other on her zipper pulling it down as he’s looking up at her seeing her fingers playing with her lower lip “look at me baby” her eyes shift from his hands to his eyes “still okay with this? I can stop whenever you want” comforting her :( “I want this” she whispers “then what’s making you nervous?” He asks wanting to hear her voice make sure she’s okay “yo-you I guess” dimples deep pulling her down sitting her on his lap with her pink underwear peeking through hand running up and down her back “breath baby-“ kissing her cheek “It’s just me yeah? We are just exploring and touching each other” 2🧸

hands feeling the goosebumps on her arm he spends a while just kissing her soft lips doing their usual routine she’s playing with the ends of his hair that are barely touching his covered shoulder “how about I take my shirt off first, yeah?” He suggests:( and she’s seen him shirtless before even touched him felt his muscles under her palms and traced his tattoos “you don’t have to if you don’t want to h” he sighs “fucking hell angel” taking her lips in his again “honest to god I’ve never met anyone in my entire life that’s as sweet as you baby” taking his shirt off as she stands up again once his shirt is off he looks at her “my turn” she whispers bitting her lower lip his hands go the waist of her tight jeans slowly rolling them revealing the rest of her pink underwear that has drawings of rabbits on the front he pulls her right leg pulling the jeans from her ankles her hand on his shoulder balancing her self as he does the same on her other leg finally seeing her in her little underwear and thin top standing in between his legs like a dream his hands going to her thighs then her waist “can we kiss now?” She asks “just one more minute” 3 💞💞🧸

bestie oh my GOD:(((((((( idek what to add I love this sososososos much:( them having to get alone time at the shop bc everything is still so new:( and just UGH:(((( you got him so right being so soft and loving with her ofc leaving everything up to her ofc and just :(((((((( kissing in their underwear im losing my fucking mind:((((((((((

#im sorry my answer is so lame I just love this so much I don't even know what to add for you:9 #anon #ask #aster inspo #concept #🧸 anon

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fluentmoviequoter · 3 months

Text

to being ghosts.

Chapter 2 - Ghosts of the Night

Chapter Warnings: angst with a tiny sliver of fluff, fem!reader getting to know Victor & crew, mentions of death and executions, incorrect depictions of hacking, more world-building (this is additional story foundation, the plot picks up in ch. 3). 5.8k+ words.

The plane lands in San Francisco in the middle of the night. As the witching hour approaches, you remember what Daniels said a few hours ago.

“Vale is mine.”

Your entire plan relies on Victor, and though you doubt Daniels would be able to kill him or harm Victor in any way, you still prefer to operate with caution. Moving slowly and quietly through the dark, you feel like a ghost as you slip by unannounced, leaving the plane and your partner behind. You must find Victor first, or the world falls to men like Daniels, and the New World Charter gets precisely what they want.

Victor Vale won’t be easy to find, that you know. Even with one of his companions telling you which city they’re in, you don't know where to look first. With only a few hours until sunrise, you skirt around San Francisco, the dark metropolis symbolizing what once was and a harbinger of what is to come.

✯✯✯✯✯

“I’m leaving,” Victor announces, though Mitch is the only one awake to hear him.

“Call if you need help,” Mitch replies.

“The absence of functioning cell towers should make that easy.”

“You’re smart, find a carrier pigeon or something.”

Victor rolls his eyes, stopping with his hand on the doorknob.

“If I don’t come back-“

“You will,” Mitch interjects.

“If I don’t come back, take care of Sydney and Dol.”

Mitch turns slowly, his face somber as he nods. “I will, Vic. But don’t make me prove it.”

“I’ll do my best.”

The door closes behind Victor’s trench coat, and Mitch swears California has never been so cold.

✯✯✯✯✯

San Francisco is huge, and though you know what you’re looking for, it’s not easy to find a ghost town in the middle of the woods in the dead of night. With each passing minute, your hope dwindles; the question of what will happen if you fail to find Victor has numerous answers, and none of them are good. Stopping behind a thick tree line, you take a few deep breaths.

East.

The idea isn’t your own, like a ghost directing you towards fellow ghosts. You go east, even though you know that if you are wrong, you are running straight toward the danger you are trying to eradicate. Maybe, just maybe, things get better from here.

Your chuckle at the overly hopeful thought breaks through the darkness.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Where’s Vic?” Sydney asks, rubbing her eyes.

“He went out for a few minutes. What are you doing awake?” Mitch replies.

Sydney shrugs, her fingers grazing Dol’s head as she looks away. Mitch knows she’s avoiding answering the question for some reason but also knows Victor has a better chance of convincing her to talk.

“Is he coming back?”

Mitch remembers Victor’s words about what to tell Sydney: Not a word more than we have to.

“Of course he is,” Mitch answers. “He made a promise to protect you, right? Then he’ll be back.”

“Did you tell him what he wanted to know, about the agent you talked to?”

“We didn’t talk. But, no, I didn’t.”

“What if Victor finds them, and- and hurts them before they can help us?”

Mitch sighs, turning back toward the window. “It’s a risk we have to take. I can tell Victor everything about her but trusting her is his decision.”

“Her?” Sydney asks, a smile growing on her face. “We’re doomed.”

✯✯✯✯✯

You approach a suburb of San Francisco after a long night of walking, and it looks like it was abandoned long before the riots. Walking down the small area previously called “Main Street,” though it’s more of a main building, you doubt anyone else would choose to wait here.

A small collection of houses is barely visible in the distance, and the minutes tick by, closer to sunrise than you realize. Maybe you could rest for a bit before starting your search anew. As you move toward the first house, you pull your NWA badge from your pocket, staring at it and wishing it was different. With your focus on the badge, you don’t notice anything in your path until you run into something.

Or someone you realize as you look up.

“Don’t move,” he says darkly, his pale eyes and blond hair contrasting his dark clothing. “You’re NWA?”

“You’re Victor Vale,” you breathe out.

Furrowing your brows, you wonder how you know that and then ask yourself if you’re right.

“You know my name. What’s yours?”

“I- how do I know your name?”

“Tell me how you found me. You have less than a minute before you can’t say anything.”

“I am just trying to help.”

“That’s not an answer,” Victor says through his teeth. “Why are you here?”

You say your name with your hands raised, your badge still in your right hand. Victor sees it, and combined with your name, he remembers something he was never supposed to know.

2 Days Ago

If Mitch isn’t willing to give him the answers and information he needs, Victor will find it himself. Mitch’s unchanging insistence that this NWA agent he communicated with is trustworthy and can help them makes Victor curious. There is no surefire way to know if someone is good, but if Mitch is convinced, there has to be evidence. Or so Victor hopes.

Pulling Mitch’s laptop from the counter, Victor sits in the dark and types in the password. He scoffs at Mitch’s failure to maintain decent cyber security as the documents on the desktop load.

Opening the NWA file, Victor narrows his eyes as he scans the document. It looks normal enough to him, though one name is formatted differently. Yours.

Present Day

After you say your name, you suddenly feel like it’s easier to breathe, a barely-there pain vanishing as Victor realizes who you are. If you didn’t know his name before, that would be all the evidence you needed to identify him as the NWA’s most wanted EO.

“Why?” Victor demands, pulling you from your thoughts. “Why are EOs worth risking your ordinary, perfect little life? What makes us worthy of treason and getting yourself killed?”

You nod as he speaks, his voice as dark as the forest behind him.

“It’s not about what happens to me, it never has been,” you answer carefully but honestly. “EOs aren’t so different, and you know it. Just because you can do something that scares people like Smoak doesn’t mean you deserve to die or live in constant fear and hiding. I would do anything for good people, including EOs, no matter what the government says or does to me.”

“That’s the what, not the why.”

“Because this isn’t freedom, Mr. Vale. This is just another dictator taking out what he is scared of, anything different than him. He’s no different than Hitler, any of the others. And someone has to do something; I can’t sit on the sidelines and watch innocent people be murdered because they died and came back a little different. It’s not right, and if I can make a difference, why shouldn’t I?”

Victor drops his eyes, gazing at your badge before inquiring, “Why me?”

“You’re the most wanted EO. But I will protect you and your friends however I can.”

At the mention of his ‘friends,’ Victor has to decide if he can trust you. He can take you out with a thought, but taking you near Mitch and Sydney is a greater decision, and one that he cannot make lightly.

You toss your badge on the ground at his feet. “I didn’t want this position. If I could have walked away, I would have, but I couldn’t. Not when I know that my job was putting me in the place to help, to get EOs out of the line of fire. There is a chance to get the world back from the New World Charter; tell me you see that.”

Victor takes a deep breath, his chest rising and falling as he considers your words and actions. You seem genuine, but part of Victor thinks this could still be a trap. So, he gives you an out.

“If you do this,” he begins slowly, “turn your back on all of them – on your country – for us, there is no going back. You will be a ghost.”

Your lips twitch up, the beginning of a smile. “I’ve been a ghost for years, but it’s finally time to do something with that invisibility.”

Victor nods. “If you’re sure. There’s a house about a mile from here where we’ve been waiting. For you, presumably.”

“I’m honored,” you reply, walking beside him. “This makes you a ghost, too, then?”

Victor hums.

“So, I’m in good company,” you muse. “Do you have a ghost name? I know it’s cliché, but can I be Casper?”

Sighing, Victor wonders what it’s like to be able to trust people and show who you really are.

✯✯✯✯✯

The earliest rays of light have just begun to shine over the horizon, turning the inside of the Gulfstream an orange hue. Daniels blinks his eyes open, waking quickly when he remembers where he is and why. Somewhere outside the window beside him, Victor Vale and his EO companions are hiding.

He calls your name, standing when there is no reply. After walking through the plane and failing to find you, Daniels curses and kicks the table beside the laptop you used to track Vale.

“Stupid girl,” he mutters, snatching the computer from the floor and failing to unlock it.

Concerned about what he will say when Smoak checks in, he sticks to his original plan: as far as anyone needs to know, he left to search for Vale and protect you, safe on the plane. Valiance is the best cover for narcissism, he decides. That concern makes way for anger quickly, though, and he abandons the laptop to open the plane’s door.

San Francisco looks different in the light, a deserted metropolis filled with what was lost in the transition to the New World. Daniels doesn’t see the symbolism, of course, too determined to find you and the EO trash you seem to want to protect.

✯✯✯✯✯

Victor is silent as he leads you through the woods, only glancing at you when he switches his path. You can tell he is reluctant, an internal battle occurring in his mind. He has no reason to trust you, though you are glad he is. No matter how long it takes, you will show him that you meant every word and will fight until your last breath.

“I’ll do whatever you want, anything you want,” you offer quietly. “But I can’t do this alone. Saving the rest of the EOs and taking down the New World Charter won’t be easy.”

You receive no reply, chewing the inside of your lip as you watch the ghost beside you. Victor is good, deep down, and you hope he can see that you are too.

A small house, likely a winter retreat or something of the kind, appears in a small thicket. Victor stops you, an arm extended in front of your chest as he turns toward you.

“You show me the smallest sign that you lied about who you are or why you’re here, or if I start thinking this was a trap… I will not hesitate to kill you,” Victor threatens, his voice even and serious.

“I understand. This is your life, and I know that I have to earn your trust. Like I said, I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Blindfold me, make me wait somewhere else, whatever you want. Your cautiousness is your privilege, and I know the risk I’m running if I misstep.”

Victor grumbles something under his breath before leading you to the door. He stops with his hand on the doorknob, his shoulders tensing before he gestures for you to enter first.

As you walk before him, you think about how you never felt this safe in front of Daniels. With him, you were concerned about getting a bullet in the back, but Victor’s presence behind you is a blanket of safety.

“Hey,” Mitch says, adding your name with a smile. “Thanks for coming.”

At your confused look, he adds, “I saw your picture. You’ll be glad to know the pictures have been scrubbed from most downloads.”

“Not yours, though, you’re better than that,” you deduce.

“You get it,” Mitch jokes.

A young girl stands in the doorway, looking between you and Victor as she clings to a large black dog. You recognize her from the file, the suspected EO that you knew you’d give your life to protect. Seeing her reinforces your belief that even without knowing her name, you would do everything and then more to keep her away from the NWA and safe.

Victor nods, a silent acknowledgment that everything is okay for now.

“I’m Sydney,” she says, stepping toward you.

You introduce yourself, offering your hand to shake. After Sydney releases it, the dog licks your hand.

“Nice to meet you too,” you say, kneeling to pet him. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”

“Dol,” Sydney tells you.

“You didn’t know?” Mitch repeats.

“The file listed two associates, just descriptions of you and Sydney, but apparently no one else was lucky enough to meet Dol here.”

As they arrange themselves around you, you can see they have been living a relatively normal life in this house, and you hate what you must do next.

“You’re all going to have to stay inside for now,” you tell them.

Victor’s unimpressed look alerts you that you’ll have to convince them it is more dangerous out there than they realize. Alone in this little pocket of domesticity, they are likely unaware of the degree of the assault targeting EOs across the world.

“I- I lost an EO a while back,” you admit. “Since I was assigned to Task O, I made sure to find them before my partner and send them somewhere safe. Then I would fake their deaths.”

“I told you!” Sydney interjects, looking at Victor. “There was too much life. The faked deaths were creating a rift in how much life I could sense.”

You glance at Victor with your eyebrows raised. He tilts his head to the side, a tiny movement.

“Sydney can raise the dead,” he tells you.

Your eyes widen as you look back at Sydney. “Whoa.”

She nods, pleased with your impressed reaction. “There’s connections, points that you have to pull together, and a few weeks ago I started sensing that there were more than there should have been. But if the world thought that the EOs were dead, but weren’t, I guess that explains it.”

“Continue,” Victor demands, gesturing for Sydney to pipe down.

“Okay, so I was hiding them, essentially, and lying to my partner. But there was this one EO that he got to first. When he radioed that he’d killed him, I didn’t know what to do. I thought that it was hopeless, that for every one I saved, the NWA would kill two or three more. But he had an EO partner, a guy called Rock. I managed to find Rock and keep him from taking out the entire city before I sent him to a safe place.”

“You have no way of knowing if those EOs ever made it where you sent them,” Victor argues. “For all you know, they’re all gone.”

“They’re not,” Sydney interjects. “I wouldn’t be able to feel them if that were true.”

“My point is, it may still be four versus the world. That’s not a plausible fight. If those EOs aren’t where you sent them, changed their minds, whatever, you’re right back where you started.”

“Not entirely true,” you whisper. “I didn’t have you on my side then.”

Sydney moves closer to Mitch, both convinced by your guilt at losing an EO.

“Please just listen to my idea. Give me one chance and if you still think it’s hopeless or impossible, I will leave,” you beg. “Please.”

Victor thinks he can handle whatever comes his way, and he can protect Mitch and Sydney without your help. But, as he looks at them, he decides to give you a chance. What harm can a chance do?

✯✯✯✯✯

Daniels completes a grid search of downtown San Francisco, the empty cityscape more reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic world than the lies the New World Charter is spreading about the coming changes. At the end of the first day since you abandoned your partner, Daniels uses his government-provided satellite phone to call Director Smoak.

“Smoak,” he answers.

“Director Smoak, this is Agent Daniels. My partner and I are in San Francisco to locate Victor Vale,” he explains.

“Very well. How are you doing?”

“All due respect, sir, but I didn’t trust her to join this fight. She seemed put off by your warnings about him as well, so I’ve taken point on this, and she is working from the plane.”

“An understandable and commendable leadership choice on your part, Agent Daniels. Keep me updated.”

Daniels ends the call and begins wondering how he will explain your death. After your treacherous actions, defying a direct order, he doesn’t plan to give you a chance to explain yourself.

Victor Vale, however, could take the blame. He may be able to put people in pain by seeing them, but can he take an entire army on at once?

Daniels smiles to himself as his plan comes together. A ticket is in his future, regardless of what happens to you.

✯✯✯✯✯

Throughout the first two days in the safe house with Victor, Sydney, Mitch, and Dol, you get to know each of them better.

“Wait,” Victor calls as you follow Sydney to bed. “A moment?”

Sydney disappears down the hall, and you turn toward Victor. The movement is a bit too sudden, and he mumbles, “Don’t.”

You stop, laying your hands across your stomach where he can see them. “Sorry.”

Victor watches you closely as he steps back. “What did you do before the NWA?”

“I was a police officer. Apparently I had promise, and when the department was shut down, the NWA decided that my record was worthy of attention.”

Victor’s jaw tightens at the mention of the New World, and you duck your chin.

“What was so great about your record?”

“I- honestly, I don’t know. I made a few arrests, but for the most part, I wasn’t an exemplary cop. I did it for the people, which you’d think would make me a terrible choice.”

“If you’d said no?”

You interlace your fingers together, and Victor watches your every move, prepared to drop you if you move too suddenly or make an unwarranted comment.

“There’s a place, it’s called the Canada Region by most people. It’s where they send agents who don’t agree with the ideals or ignore their orders. No one ever comes back from the Canada Region.”

“So, you risk your life for people you want to see taken down.”

“I know it sounds stupid, and maybe it is, but it seems like a chance to do something that makes it all better. Hopeless dreaming, perhaps, but at least I tried, even if I fail.”

“Failing isn’t the worst part of how that would end.”

“Save one life, and it’s worth mine,” you argue, shrugging.

Victor shakes his head, clearly thinking you’re wrong or unfounded in your beliefs. He doesn’t say anything though, as he leads you to your new bedroom.

“Night, Casper,” he mutters, so low you can barely hear it. “Be careful.”

Coming from anyone else, you’d question their motives in telling you to be careful as you go to sleep, but from Victor Vale, it’s both a necessary sentiment and a warning.

✯✯✯✯✯

When Victor walks into the kitchen, he stops when he sees you and Sydney sitting together. Sydney clearly likes you, even though you’ve only known each other for a few days. Victor assumes it has something to do with having another girl around; he’s never been one for making friends easily, regardless of what they have in common.

“What’s it like now, on the other side of where we hide?” Sydney asks you.

Victor hasn’t told you he and Mitch are keeping things from Sydney, only telling her one side of the truth, but you seem to know.

“It’s not great. A lot of cities were evacuated, but people found new places to live and they’re doing the best they can,” you answer, telling her some of the truth. “If you want to hear cool stories though, I’ve got a lot of fictional book knowledge and childhood stories,” you add.

Dol climbs onto the couch beside you, yet another resident who trusts you, as you tell Sydney about your favorite book and the world it depicts. As you distract Sydney, Victor grows more convinced that you are on the right side of this fight, even if you’re using a bad thing to get into the fight.

✯✯✯✯✯

Victor’s hand wraps around your bicep, tugging you into his room as you try to walk by.

“Tell me about Task O,” he requests, his hand slowly falling from your arm.

You take a shaky breath as you begin to answer, ready to tell the whole truth, no matter how ugly it is, how bad it makes you look, or what Victor decides to do to you when he learns what your fellow agents are doing to people like him.

“Task O is for all things ordinary, as I’m sure you know. At its simplest level, the task force is supposed to track down EOs and eliminate them. The director, Smoak, is over the whole NWA and he has a vicious vendetta against ExtraOrdinaries. My, uh, my partner Agent Daniels is really close with Smoak.”

“Still a boys’ club,” Victor says, causing you to smile before you begin talking again.

“Yeah, it is. Daniels doesn’t like me, doubts me and undermines me constantly, but he’s also the reason I was assigned to Task O. He pulled some strings to get himself on the team, and since I was his partner, I got roped into it too.”

Victor catches your use of was in referring to your partner, yet another point in your favor.

“EOs are being treated like criminals, but NWA agents are judge, jury, and executioner. No questions asked before they’re taken out, and anyone lost in the crossfire is collateral damage in getting the world back to normal.”

“I thought everyone wanted to be special.”

“Well, that’s just because you were never ordinary, were you?”

You smile as you focus on Victor rather than Task O for a moment. He’s nicer than he seemed at first, though he still threatens to kill you every once in a while.

“I just- I still don’t understand how you ended up in the NWA, let alone such an elite task force,” Victor explains.

Your smile falls. “I was young- I am young, and I think they saw someone who went through the police academy and could be easily indoctrinated. The NWA changes people at a fundamental level, like brainwashing. And Daniels was a sniper in the Army, with more awards than any one person should have, so when he saw a young woman who could shoot and do the job, and wouldn’t mind him taking the credit, he picked me.”

Victor’s eyes widen when he notices the tears running over your cheeks as you lower your voice to admit, “I thought about leaving, just running as far as I could when they told me that I was going to have to kill innocent EOs. Getting pulled into the NWA, handpicked by one of their best assets was terrible, but that first meeting felt like the end of everything I wanted to get back.”

Victor has never been good at comforting people, but he lays his hand on your shoulder and reminds you, “It was for a reason. No matter what you did or thought you’d have to do to survive, you did it for a good reason, and look how much progress you’ve made.”

Your tears slow as you relax under Victor’s touch. “Thank you.”

As you back out of his room, you see something change in Victor’s eyes: he’s starting to trust you, he’s more civil and trusting around you, and he’s the tiniest bit open, telling you about his past.

“Wait,” you call, stepping back in. “You didn’t correct me. I implied that all EOs are innocent and you didn’t say anything.”

Victor tilts his head as he says, “I thought you went to the police academy. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ ring a bell?”

“That’s not how you used to operate.”

“You said it yourself, we’re ghosts now, and we have the privilege of hindsight. Doing good wasn’t necessarily an option before, not for people like me.”

“And now?”

“Let’s just say I’ve got your back, as long as you give me reasons to.”

“Victor. Thank you, and sorry for prying.”

“Trading answers for answers is only fair.”

“So, you’ll tell me about midnight now?” you ask hopefully.

Victor waits until you’ve stepped back over the threshold to close the door as he says, “Not a chance.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Nearly a week with Victor has changed you. You’re not as scared anymore, though you do have moments where you think you hear gunshots or Daniels asking if you did your job. Being a ghost and being haunted aren’t strictly connected, and you hope the haunting feeling doesn’t follow you into the fight or the old world as you try to revive it.

Daniels is miles away, slowly moving outside of San Francisco, though you don’t know where he is or how long you have as you fall asleep. In your dreams, he’s closing in much quicker than in reality. Tonight’s nightmare, though, ends differently than the others.

---

Standing in the living room with Sydney, everything is normal, good even. And part of you knows not to trust it, but the other part is desperate to hold onto any happiness you can find.

“What is that?” Sydney asks, moments before the door is kicked in.

Daniels steps inside, dragging Sydney away from you as he threatens to kill her the instant you move. Victor and Mitch rush in, freezing as Daniels points the gun at Sydney.

“What did you do?” Victor demands, looking at you with dark eyes.

You feel a bolt of pain shoot down your spine as you answer, “Nothing, nothing, I promise. I don’t know how he found us.”

“’Us,’” Daniels repeats. “Cute. Vale, over here now or the girl is no more.”

Victor takes three long steps across the room, keeping his eyes on you as Daniels nudges his knees to make him fall to the ground.

“Mitch,” you whisper, praying for someone to do something.

“He can’t help you. He’s dying tonight too,” Daniels says, summoning Mitch over.

You can’t move, can’t scream. The only thing you do is cry and fall to your knees as Daniels does his job, quick executions. Victor fills you with pain as he distracts himself from the bloody scene beside him.

“And the ticket,” Daniels says happily before pulling the trigger.

---

You scream, panting and crying as you sit up in your bed. Flinching, you notice someone lurking in the open doorway.

“You’re okay,” Victor promises, stepping inside. “It was just a dream.”

Reaching out, you grab Victor’s arm, and he allows you to touch his wrist, shaking as you locate his pulse point. He doesn’t know what to say to calm you down, so he sits on the bed beside you and thinks.

“When I was in college, I was pre-med,” he begins, hoping to distract you like you do with Sydney. “We had this big project where we had to pick a thesis, and my roommate and I were arguing over who had the better idea.”

You lean closer to Victor, aware that Eli wrote about EOs or started to, but interested in hearing Victor’s side of the story.

“I chose adrenal responses, fight or flight. My professor was impressed, and every bit of research I did made me more interested in the different types of responses. There’s an article that I think about a lot that argued there was one more: fight, flight, or freeze. It wasn’t widely accepted, but I think it’s a valid idea.”

“So, you were a nerd?” you ask with a chuckle.

Victor turns toward you, glad to see you look more like yourself.

“I prefer the term academically motivated,” he replies.

“That’s the same thing.”

Victor shrugs, letting you continue running your fingers over his wrist, though the touch burns after too long without feeling another’s skin on his.

“Thank you,” you whisper. “Would- Victor, would you use your power on a good person to do a better thing?”

Victor finds the question odd and its implications odder. He keeps his eyes on your hand as he answers, “I guess. Depends on the person and the situation, I suppose.”

You nod, hoping that if the need arises, he will be willing to use his powers on everyone standing in his way, even if you find yourself on the wrong side. Victor has more experience with fights like this, but if the time comes that you ask him to remove you from the array, you can only hope that he will do it without hesitation.

“Why do you ask?” Victor inquires.

“Just a question I’ve been wondering about. Thanks for calming me down and for trusting me. At least a little.”

Your fingers slide off Victor’s wrist, and the burning sensation makes way for a deep cold to settle over him at the loss of your touch. He doesn’t answer as he stands and moves to your door. You’re sure that he would do it again, though, and that he’s a much better man, a better ghost than he lets people see.

✯✯✯✯✯

Sydney seems very attached to you. You can see that she cares about and likes you, happy to spend time with you and talk to you. In return, you try to be kind and compassionate toward her, as open and honest as you can, and unknowingly act like a big sister or mother figure. Mitch is the only one who has noticed how easily Sydney attached herself to you and Victor, adopting you as her stand-in mom and dad without your knowledge.

Before you came along, Sydney’s safe place was Victor, but now it is both Victor and you. Victor is surprised that he doesn’t mind sharing the responsibility; he watches you with Sydney, and it’s clear that you mean every word you say, even what you said when you first met, and in every quiet, private moment since then.

In the quiet weeks of getting to know one another, you’ve inserted yourself into Victor’s dysfunctional family, and no one wants to return to a hidden life without you.

As the other powerless companion, Mitch trusts you, as well, though he never felt he had a reason not to. He was the one who found you and advocated for you to Victor, so your trust is readily returned.

“Which police department did you work for?” Mitch asks, interrupting your conversation with Sydney.

“Why? Wanna hack it?” you chirp happily.

He nods, and you excuse yourself from Sydney’s side to join him at the table. Security is nearly nonexistent after the department’s closure and the government’s dissolution, so you get him in quickly and help him navigate the records he is searching for.

“What are you planning to use these for?” you ask.

“To help,” Mitch answers, blunt and cryptic.

“Good talk, thanks for the informative answer,” you reply.

“I found something else you may want to see,” he adds, turning to look at you. “It’s up to you, but I found Daniels’ Army records. The original documents without any redactions.”

You freeze, pressing your lips together as you consider your options. They’re guaranteed to be graphic and full of confirmed kills, but they could give you an insight into how Daniels thinks and operates. He will be coming for you and the people you care about, so though the decision is hard, you make it quickly.

“I want to see them. How bad are they?”

Mitch tilts his head, enough of an answer that you take a deep breath to ready yourself. As he turns the screen toward you, he lays a hand on your shoulder when you move forward to view the images.

“His first name is Brian,” you read. “I didn’t know that.”

“There’s a lot of information there he probably doesn’t want you to know.”

“Then we should use it.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Victor shows the most change from the time you met him.

“Vic, do you ever wish you had killed Eli earlier?” you ask, flipping through a random magazine you found in a closet.

“Yes,” he answers quickly, without a second thought about confiding in you or exposing his thoughts and secrets. “All the time. Would have saved a lot of trouble, and more lives. Can you help with this?”

You stand, walking to his side and looking at the weapons lying before him. “I found them in the shed outside, but these were all disassembled.”

“This is field stripped,” you say, picking up a pistol. “That’s a tactical training move. Whoever this was knew what they were doing.”

“Can you put them back together?”

Looking through the pieces, you nod. “Assuming all the pieces are here, absolutely.”

You smile at Victor’s willingness to trust you to help with something small, though impactful. As you clip pieces back together, reassembling the weapons quickly, you know that Victor trusts you and that you made the right decision in finding him and recruiting him to your side.

“You know, I thought that meeting you was going to go one of three ways,” you admit.

“How else would it have ended?”

“Well, you would reluctantly trust me and join my plan, not trust me and ignore me, or recognize me as an NWA agent and kill me without a word.”

“I did recognize you as an agent,” he tells you. “I figured I could still take you out after hearing what you had to say.”

You laugh, the first genuine sign of happiness you’ve shown in a long time. “Would have made it more enjoyable too.”

“Maybe,” Victor agrees, turning away from you to hide his reaction to your pleased laugh.

“Being a ghost is starting to grow on me,” you say. “I don’t want to get my hopes up too high or anything, but to me… I think being ghosts gives us a better advantage than anything else. We’re invisible, underestimated, and most people don’t even believe in us.”

Victor reaches around you, his arm brushing you back as he adds, “And when the time is right for us, we show them who we really are and what we’re capable of.”

#to being ghosts.#victor vale x reader #victor vale #vicious ve schwab #vicious

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sunnydaleherald · 1 month

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, April 9

Cordelia: Somebody is after me! They just tried to kill Ms. Miller? Uh, she was helping me with my homework. And Mitch! And Harmony?! This is all about me! Me, me, me! Xander: Wow! For once she's right! Buffy: So you've come to *me* for help. Cordelia: (nods) Because you're always around when all this weird stuff is happening. And I know you're very strong, and you've got all those weapons... I was kind of hoping you were in a gang.

~~Buffy Episode #11: "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" ~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

the spark (Spike, unrated) by ialwayscomewhenyoucall

Try to Keep Satisfied (Buffy/Spike, E) by ClowniestLivEver

Birthday Blues (Buffy/Spike, E) by RavenLove12

What I Like About Spike (Buffy/Spike, E) by RavenLove12

Play Thing (Buffy/Spike, E) by Maxine Eden

[Chaptered Fiction]

Catching Heat Ch. 1 (Buffy/Tara, E) by mabus101

The Witching Hour: Ch, 1/25 () by TheLightdancer

In the Company of Witches and Slayers Ch. 4/200 (Willow/Tara, E) by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer)

A Reincarnation in Sunnydale Ch. 35/? (Buffy/Angel, M) by DracoRim98

Goodbye to Everything That I Knew Ch. 28/30 (Buffy/Spike, M) by My_Barbaric_Yawp

Angel Doesn’t Know Ch. 1/? (Buffy/Spike, E) by My_Barbaric_Yawp

With Arms Wide Open Ch. 28/? (Buffy/Giles, E) by jaybird023

Ripped Stockings Ch. 1/? (Jenny/Giles, E) by TheClowniestLivInExistence

The Reason Why Ch. 7 (Buffy/OC, M) by Xyex

Switch Swith Ch. 1-10/10 COMPLETE (Buffy/Spike, E) by sunalso

Ashes to Ashes, We All Fall Down Ch 1-2/2 COMPLETE (Spike/Drusilla, unrated) by Scar_Eve

hit rewind Ch. 47/? (Buffy/Spike, M) by untiljanuary

49 Cemeteries Ch. 21 (Buffy/Spike,, T) by firemanwhenthefloodsrollback

Early One Morning , Chapter 31 (Buffy/Spike, E) by all choseny

The Neighbor's Point of View, Chapter 98 (Buffy/Spike, G) by the_big_bad

Celebrating You, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, E) by RavenLove12

Sculpture of Dance , Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Desicat

Hope is the thing with feathers, Chapter 2-9 (Buffy/Spike, E) by will_

Her Villanelle, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Geliot99

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Buffy & Spike () by novivi

Artwork:Buffy () by bethrnoora

Artwork:Cordy, Willow, and Buffy () by yarboyandy

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Icons: Slayers icons () by onegirlinallthewrld

Video: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - Barbie Promo (Fan Trailer) () by Trailerventure

[Reviews & Recaps]

BTVS/Angel Rewatch Chronicles: Seasons 5/2, Part Two by QualifiedApathetic

Mothman’s Buffy Rewatch, Season 2, episode 22, Becoming (Part 2) by mothmans-wedding-photographer

[Community Announcements]

Spring 2024 Round - Pick a Theme by seasonal-spuffyAs promised we are back for the spring round. We still haven't found a new home for Seasonal Spuffy. The sad news is that this round will be our last round on lj/dw. We hope you help us spread the word, so we can go out with a great last round.

Tuesday: Vices by comment-fic

I run a discord server for Buffyverse rarepairs. by riley-summers

[Fandom Discussions]

Was thinking about Riley being an annoying character and something came to mind. by clockwards

Sorry thinking about Buffy breaking down to Tara again and Spike and Tara’s gentle friendship. by clockwards

“came back wrong” trope except she came back normal by thirstghosting

Ughhhh ew who is this Riley bitch. by loonyoz

what if faith during her redemption arc tried being a dog walker by annieofhearts

Summarizing the shit I’ve been ranting about to my buffy freaks this week re: “you arent the source of me” by breezybeej

Oh man, the Nice Guy energy radiating off Xander when Buffy turns him down for the dance is insane. by nicnacsnonsense

Literally one of my all time favorite interactions in btvs by hersterical

nothing makes me more evil than seeing someone misinterpret daniel “oz” osbourne of buffy the vampire slayer fame. by joe-spookyy

My favorite part of Buffy The Vampire Slayer by transgender-spiderman

What if Buffy fell in love with Spike first and was the one running around like a crazy weirdo by skyegraves21

maybe i don't understand how relationships work. by momsforroadhead

Bangel and Cangel parallels II by oveliagirlhaditright

Some Bangel and Cangel Parallels I've Noticed and Decided to Compile Together for Fun by oveliagirlhaditright

these are my picks for the best Buffy episodes in every slot of each season. by coraniaid

People in whose image The First should have appeared at least once during Season 7: by coraniaid

I feel like After Life did a great job at showing depression/loss by Anyanka_Tin

Bronze: 2024 music update by thepalebeast91

Rewatcher: anyone else annoyed with Ash&Angel episodes? by Prestigious_Olive_19

How was Angel enter into the apartment Faith broke into in s1e18 “Five by Five”? by dude19832

The loose ends - and how should they have been tied up? by artmalique

What are the best storylines in your least favorite season? by sadhungryandvirgin

First time watch by BlazinAsianNation

Was Faith justified in her anger at Buffy in "This Year's Girl"? by jdpm1991

Does Angel have photographic memory? by Slayerette444

I love these dresses Willow wears, but have no idea what to look for to find them. by Xandertheokay

Would The Key's identity be safe with you if you were Tara or Spike? by PristineSituation498

What happens to watchers after their slayer dies? by Helpplease49257

Are the monks in S4 complete morons or am i missing something? by FormerlyKnownAsBeBa

How could a Giles/Joyce storyline work? by jogaforacont

Watching Buffy for the first time. About to start Season 2. by Stradiwhovius_

Xander is fine. I don't know what my problem was. by LeoraJacquelyn

Buffy/Angel Relationship Timeline by BeneficialGrade8930

the Prophecy Girl speech by BPD-and-Lipstick

"Reptile Boy" and Wolfram & Hart by SvenVersluis2001

4x2/4 a problem I have with each by ukcountrylover

Some highlights from my Sunnydale Sims 4 save file by missssinister

Unpopular opinion… by Happycatmother

Mark Metcalf as The Master by Smykster

This sub is really hostile at times. by telomeres-

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Before Willow, Larry Was the Gay Representation on 'Buffy' by Instinct Magazine

PUBLICATION: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Took an Idea From Xena: Warrior Princess and Perfected It by Den of Geek

PUBLICATION: All 13 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Characters Who Appeared In Angel (& When) by Screen Rant

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#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #angel the series #fan art #fan fiction #meta

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canyouhearthelight · 9 months

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Leather Houses, Ch. 3

Chapter 3 of 4 for this one!

This chapter is significantly longer than the other two if my word count is correct. Which makes sense, because this is also the chapter that took the longest to write, despite @baelpenrose encouraging me every step of the way for several months. As before, a reminder that this is a horror story. This chapter in particular gets a bit squicky on the blood and medical stuff, so read at your own risk.

For those out there who don't vibe with this kind of fiction, never fear! One last chapter after this, and I have a short retelling of a fairy tale close at hand, and a cyberpunk story after that (hopefully).

So… My name is Joannette Perkins, I guess? Matt has called me Joanie since we were seven. That's one of the few things in this whole mess that hasn't changed.

I haven't heard from him in over a week. He went to this doctor we'd never heard of before, trying to get some answers about the latest change in our - my, I guess now? - reality. He was supposed to be back at my house by five-thirty at the latest. Six o'clock rolled by, then seven, with no Mike. I tried calling his phone, but it went to voicemail. When I called the doctor's office, they acted like they'd never heard of Mitch Anderson… despite the fact, earlier that same day, they had an entire file on him dating from his birth. I hung up the phone before she finished his last name, jumped in my car, and hauled ass to his house.

Whatever higher power exists in the universe must have heard my desperate prayers, because the sight that greeted me when I pulled in the driveway I knew as well as my own tasted like salvation. No feeling of dread, no nausea, no pulsing veins. Just plain, white siding. Black shutters. Concrete porch, brick lined foundation.

Mitch’s house was just a house. He wasn’t erased. He may still be alive.

But that meant that the so-called-doctor’s office was lying.

I bolted into his house, key already in hand instead of digging it out of the potted plant. Slamming the door, I looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. After a mad dash to his bedroom, I snatched his planner off the dresser. Matt was always so meticulous, and I had never been more grateful. I flicked through the pages, not trusting anything in the past - just because… Mitch? Matt? Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck why couldn’t I remember my best friend’s name? - was supposedly immune to what was going on, I didn’t trust it to spread to his planner.

Finally, I reached today’s date. DCol 3.5. Sure enough, I recognized that shorthand, and it matched what I remembered. He promised to be back at my house by 5:30PM at the latest. Here it was, creeping up on eight o’clock, and he was nowhere to be found. The house wasn’t transformed, but I was also battling to remember his name.

Swearing soundly, I glanced around the room. Mail. He kept mail somewhere… his desk. Where was his desk? Storming through the house, I finally found a small sideboard in the living room, stuffed with neatly-filed mail.

Michael Andrews. Every last thing in that drawer was addressed to the one name I couldn’t think of. Logically, this had to be the right name - why keep me from even guessing such a normal name, if it wasn’t the name I was looking for? I mean… Mitch? Has anyone actually known a guy named fucking Mitch? Not even ‘Mitchell’. Just…. Mitch.

I scrambled to look at the messages in my phone. To only mild chagrin, I saw they were nothing out of the ordinary. Breakfast dates, good mornings and good nights, cutesy little nicknames and plans for weekend after weekend. A romantic getaway coming up, to help ‘rekindle’ our relationship.

“Lazy fucks,” I muttered. The only fight Mike and I ever had was over who was taking Amanda Bradford to prom. I punched him because he took her, he hit me back because I hooked up with her in the limo.

We both dumped her, our black eyes and broken hearts a matched set. Mike and I were platonic soul mates, and how dare she do that to us? We also both casually ignored the fact that our friendship was likely the reason we were both single. Codependency? Never met her. Anyway. It was very clear that whoever was behind this didn’t do their homework. Yet another piece of information we - I - could use against Them: They were fallible. Anything that made mistakes could be beaten.

In the end, I tucked Mike’s planner under my arm and headed back to my house to plot my next move, along with anything I knew to be accurate that I thought may help me - plus his phonebook, which was currently so thin it did nothing to level his table anymore. My biggest concern was the difficulty I had in remembering his name. Every other detail was crisp and clear, but the name kept getting garbled. Had they realized they couldn’t just erase people without either of us noticing? Were they still able to mislead me, so I couldn’t ask around about him?

For the last seven days, I had done everything I could think of to find out where Mike vanished to. He obviously didn’t disappear in the same way everyone else in town had, since his house was still just a house when I drove by twice a day to collect his mail. Calling the ‘doctor’ with the right name didn’t help, either, since it seemed he didn’t put me down as his emergency contact. I called bullshit every time, since he had no living family and I would have been his emergency contact even if there wasn’t some fake hot-and-heavy relationship dangling in the new background. I even drove past the address for ‘Doctor Collins’ several times, and the building looked… boring. Like a normal medical practice.

Except that Sanderson had never had a doctor’s practice in town. We had always driven over to Hendrix for that.

Today was the day I planned to walk into that clinic and find out exactly what happened to Mike. A week was past, no word of him, plus more and more people were disappearing around town and leaving those horrid leather buildings. Yet his house still stood, as though he just stepped out for a minute. As reassuring as the sight was, it seemed an offense in the face of everything else going on - a sick taunt from an unknown player. I vacillated between relief and revulsion every time I drove by, but didn’t dare park in his driveway.

Instead, I decided to lay low at my own house and get what little rest I could before what I had planned for tonight. As much as my conscience told me I should be seen around town and try to act normal, another part of me couldn’t stand to be reminded of the nightmarish ghost town I lived in now.

As hard as it was to believe, I managed to doze off into fitful sleep at some point. When I woke up, it was dark outside and the clock read nine at night. I shook the sleep out of my head and picked up the planner on my bedside table.

DCol 3.5

Right. “Doctor” Collins’ clinic, looking for Mike. I pulled my tennis shoes on and dug a permanent marker out of the kitchen junk drawer. In the largest letters I could manage, I scrawled “Don’t Sleep” on the back of my forearm, and “Save Mike” on the inside. The fog was already trying to descend and push him out, fighting back with every letter of his name that I managed to write. In the end, I was breathing heavily and leaning against my counters. It took a few minutes to catch my breath, but eventually I stood up and was brushing my hair out of my face when something caught my eye.

Save Mike.

At least it works, I realized guiltily. I made sure to keep my arm in my field of vision as I looked up the doctor’s office and set the GPS on my phone to take me there. With the nagging voice coming from my pocket, I grabbed my keys and climbed in the car. It took several wrong turns and a strong reminder not to throw my phone out of the window, but I eventually pulled up outside the nondescript clinic, squinting against the darkness.

I glanced around and saw no other vehicles at the clinic or even on the street nearby. Made sense, I supposed - whatever weird shit they were doing here, witnesses were probably a bad idea. I was pretty sure that walking in the front door was still an awful idea, so I slowly made my way around the building looking for another entrance. There had to be one for deliveries, ri -

Bingo. Ugly standard door with a deadbolt, meet girl with a juvie rap sheet shorter than it probably should be. It took long enough to make me mad at myself, but I managed to get both locks open. I held my breath and screwed my eyes shut, throwing a silent prayer to anything listening that the alarm wouldn’t be armed.

Apparently the right person heard, because the only sound was the creak of the door hinges and my heart thundering in my ears. Not giving it a chance to catch up, I darted inside and made sure to lock the door behind me - if nothing else, it would hopefully slow someone down if I got caught. Unfortunately, that left me in a dark, unlit hallway without even a moon to shine in.

I patiently stood, chanting “Save Mike, Save Mike, Save Mike” over and over while I waited for my eyes to adjust. The words had started to lose any sense of meaning by the time it occurred to me that I should have been able to see something by now. Carefully, I lifted a shaking hand in front of my face.

I may as well have been blindfolded. I blinked hard a couple of times to confirm that my eyes were, in fact, open, and tried again. Nothing, and I had to suppress a shriek when I accidentally touched my own nose. A deep breath later I held my hand as far out in front of me as possible and started carefully inching forward. “Save Mike” I mouthed silently while I tried to think how far into the building the front desk would be.

When I was roughly where I estimated a door would be in a normal doctor’s office, I started waving my hand in the vicinity of the right height for a door handle. My fingers only touched more air, so I slid forward slowly, thinking I may have been off by a couple feet. Still nothing.

“Save Mike,” I whispered, trying to remind myself why I was in such terrifying circumstances. I kept moving forward, step by step, fingers grasping for anything. When I was roughly three feet past where the front door of the clinic should have been, I still hadn’t reached so much as a wall.

This is it, I thought. I’m in another nightmare, that has to be it. Trying to orient myself, I squatted down and placed my palm flat on a cool, slightly damp floor.

Don’t think about why it’s damp, I sang nervously in my head. Save Mike…

I inched my hands in the vicinity of where I was, keeping my hand on the floor. It was much rougher than I expected. Nonetheless, I didn’t find anything in the area right around me. I sat down, stretched one leg to my left and my right hand in the opposite direction. I wasn’t tall by any means, but if I really was still in a hallway, it would have to be pretty damned wide if I couldn’t touch either wall like this.

My hand still met nothing but air, but right when I was about to panic, I stubbed my toe on something very large and very blunt.

Bingo! Scooting as quickly as I could on my butt, I soon had both toes and both knees against a hard surface. I scrambled to my feet and reached both hands for a doorknob.

I regretted that decision for the rest of my life.

The second my palm flattened on the wall, my fully-dilated eyes were scorched by a bright light. I bent over my knees, groaning involuntarily and rubbing away tears. After several moments, the pain subsided and I carefully cracked one eye, shocked to still be alive. Instead of being caught like I had feared, my eyes were greeted by blurry gold lights glowing from the walls of the hallway. I blinked several times to clear my vision, turning to the other wall to be greeted by the same blurry shapes. No matter how many times I tried to clear the spots, they only got clearer.

Instead of dull lights, I was staring at what looked like letters. I had no idea what they said, and I don’t know why my brain thought “letters”, but there was no doubt in my mind that was what I was looking at. Confusion made me turn my head in the direction I came from, showing that the symbols went on as far as I could see. When I looked in the direction I had been going, I saw the same thing.

“That makes no sense,” I whispered to myself. “There’s no way…” When I spun again, I saw the words on my arm.

“Oh god,” I remembered in horror. “Mike. MIKE!” I took off at a jog, choosing a direction at random. “Michael!”

I jogged for what seemed an eternity, shoving down thoughts that tried to make me confront the impossible nature of the hallway I was in. Mike and I could figure it out later, I just needed to find him first. I saw nothing even vaguely resembling a door, however, and no matter how far I went, the hallway stretched as far as I could see in both directions. My breath was getting shorter and shorter when I decided to distract myself by focusing on the letters lighting the infinite corridor.

I was able to confirm my hunch that they were either letters or a repeating pattern - some symbols were more frequent than others, with entire sequences repeating. I was covered with a thin sheet of sweat when I realized that they all repeated after a certain point. Over and over, to the point that I could measure how far I had come by each repetition. It was maddening.

When I was breathing heavily and shaking with exhaustion, I stopped and screamed in frustration. “Dammit!” I shouted. “Where’s Mike!? I just want to find him and I’ll go! Hell, show me a door, and I’ll just leave. I’ll find another way, if he’s still alive. Just stop running me around in circles!”

My voice echoed, repeating the last word. Circles, I thought. Am I, though? Am I running around in circles? Out of ideas and desperate, I walked over to one wall and started slapping my palms against it.

I mean, it worked in the movies, right? And it’s not like I had anything to lose - I was trapped in what seemed to be an infinite hallway, out of breath, with no food or water. I had gotten in here somehow, so there had to be a way to get out. I slapped and poked and prodded until my palms were numb and bleeding, nails broken back to the nail bed. There was just enough light that I could see the handprints I was leaving on the walls.

Absolutely nothing happened.

My back slammed against a wall in defeat, probably smearing bloody handprints as I slid to the floor. I banged my head back against the hard surface until I saw stars. As they cleared, I started laughing miserably. “I’m going to die in here,” I gasped, tears leaking from my eyes. “Why the hell did I think I could save anyone? I can’t even save myself…” Twisting to the side, I started pounding on the wall with the so-far undamaged side of one hand. Something snapped in even that, and I ended up resting my forehead against the wall, sobbing.

No food, no water, no Mike, no dignity. I just sobbed and snotted with every last shred of energy I had left. I couldn’t even be bothered to wipe my face, and gave up breathing through my nose entirely. At one point, I was trying to catch my breath and turned my head to rest one cheek against the cool material.

Even that, I only got to enjoy for about five seconds, because the wall gave way and dumped me back on the floor. I was blinded by light again, although this time it was white and from overhead. “Ow, fuck,” I swore.

The groan that answered me from nearby sent me shooting to my feet, swearing even more. I shaded my eyes from the bright light, squinting into the room I had somehow opened. Something lay in a heap on a table, strapped down around various parts of its mass.

“Jesus fuck, Joanie,” it groaned miserably. “Learn some new shit for once…”

I ran over, my heart pounding. “I’m going to make your face some new shit, you son of a - well, no, your mom was a fucking saint, but still!”

“Took you long enough,” he managed through dry, cracked lips.

“They tried to make me forget you,” I admitted, bracing myself on the edge of the table while I tried to remove the restraints with trembling and painful fingers.

“Are you bleeding?”

“We can talk about it later. We still need to figure out how to get out of here.”

“I don’t even know if I can walk. They injected me with something. Said I keep resetting or something. That I never remember?”

“Don’t know what they’re talking about, don’t care. Walking may be the least of our issues,” I rushed out as I got the next restraint loose. “That door I came through was something way beyond locked. I thought I was going to die before I found you.”

Poor Mike looked incredibly confused, and I couldn’t exactly blame him - I sounded like a lunatic. “The office isn’t that big… unless they moved me?”

“Hell, they could have moved us both to another planet for all I can tell. That hallway is not standard issue, that’s for damned sure.” As much as I loved Mike, I knew for a fact that if I told him anything else about the hallway now, the idiot would want to see it. “I solemnly swear to tell you everything once we aren’t here anymore.”

I barely managed to get the restraints removed completely because my hands were slick with blood by the end, although I never could have told whose it was at that point. Carefully, I helped Mike into a sitting position and made sure he was somewhat steady before looking for something to drink for the both of us. After pausing to re-steady him three or four times, all I managed to find were bags of IV fluid.

Grimacing, I stabbed one and started sucking it dry, desperate for anything to keep me going. It tasted like stale electrolyte drink, but it took every ounce of willpower to stop halfway through the bag and give it to Mike. At the first taste, he jerked his face away and spat it out. Years of practice cleaning cuts and making him eat when he was sick at least left me well-equipped to grab the back of his head and stick the corner of the bag back in his mouth. “It’s the only thing I can find to drink,” I scolded. “So we can stand here until we die of old age and dehydration, or you can quit being a big baby.”

The scowl he threw at me before he started drinking ranked just below the top ten most terrifying things I had seen that day, but eventually the bag was empty. I snagged another, stuffed it in my bra, and shoved the scalpel in my back pocket for good measure. From this side, the door was pretty obvious, so I mentally oriented which way I needed to turn when we went through it - you know, in case direction actually mattered when you were dealing with eldritch physics or whatever made impossibly long hallways with golden runes and invisible doors.

“Okay, bud,” I grunted as I helped Mike to his feet. “Time to boogie. Through the door, hang a right.”

“Uh huh,” he panted, nodding.

“Before you know it, I’ll be shoving you in the shower,” I promised, reaching for the handle and mentally bracing myself.

“Ass.”

“You very much underestimate how bad you smell,” I muttered. “You’ve been here at least a week.”

“Real fun….” he trailed off as the door to the lab or whatever closed behind us. “Where the hell are we?”

I hiked him higher up on my shoulder and started walking. “I told you, I don’t know. But there’s air, so that’s nice.”

“Are we underground? This is - “

“I. Don’t. Know,” I repeated slowly. “And I. Don’t. Care. This should be the direction of the door I came in if I’m remembering right, so we’re going this way. Not sure it matters to the hallway, but it matters to me, so let’s get going.”

“What do you mean, if it matters!?” Great. Mike was starting to panic. Doing an awesome job, Joanie!

Hiking him higher on my shoulder again - dragging a man six inches taller than you was not an easy task - I took as deep of a breath as I could. “When I got here on the outside, this was the fake doctor’s office, complete with fake back door. As soon as I got inside, the door closed or vanished, or something. It was pitch black, I couldn’t find a wall, and because I couldn’t see, it took forever to realize I had walked way too far to not have slammed into the front door. Blah, blah, blah, kept going like a dumbass, blah blah, turned around, found a wall, it lit up…” I waved my spare hand around. “So at least there’s light?”

That seemed to help, because he at least started walking instead of half-stumbling, half-being dragged. “Whatever they injected me with messed up my eyes, I think.” He rubbed them, almost punching me in the cheek.

“Hey, we don’t want to barf, so that’s something,” I joked. I am soooo not telling him that he can probably see them fine, they’re just gibberish.

“Are there any more people missing?” he asked after a few minutes of walking.

“Not that I can tell. You were the last one, so far. And your house is still… you know, your house. Maybe the program or whatever got stuck?”

A rueful chuckle shook him as he stumbled against me slightly. “Sure. Leather houses, people who don’t exist anymore, hallways that can’t exist but do…. A program makes as much sense as anything.”

“That, a psychotic break, magic, or aliens are pretty much our options.” I dragged him more towards the middle of the hallway as he stumbled again.

“Sure,” he sighed. “All of the above, hell. Why not?”

A damp skittering noise made me look down. “Did you kick something? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Huh?” Mike stopped and stared dumbly at his feet. “What would I have kicked?”

“The… gravel…” I trailed off as I realized the gravel I had cut my hands on before was gone. The floor was completely smooth now.

Which explained the noise even less. Especially when I heard it again.

“Mike, we gotta move. I think the tunnel is closing up behind us, or falling apart, or just found a new way to fuck with me.” I gripped the wrist over my shoulder firmly and grabbed his waist hard enough to make him yelp. “Let’s go…” I urged, dragging him as fast as I could.

“Joanie,” he tried to complain, panting slightly. “I can’t…”

A loud, sucking, grumbling noise cut him off.

“Never mind,” he finished, finally picking up the pace. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“That’s the spirit!”

We were both panting soon - Mike from trying to run after whatever they did to him, me from trying to keep him upright as he kept stumbling sideways.

“Fuck!” I swore when my shoulder barked into the wall. “Dammit, Mike! I get that you’re unsteady, but at least try to wobble in both directions!”

That damned skittering again. Every nerve ending in my body was now set to ‘gotta go, don’t get eaten, don’t get buried’.

“Then quit steering me into the wall!” he argued back. “I’m doing my best, here. But I can go forward or where you send me, not both!”

“I’m just trying to keep you from running me into the wall, dumbass!” Nopenopenope, I did not hear another gurgle, I definitely did not. Nope.

“Running me into the other one isn’t -” This time he steered me into the wall hard enough to knock me down, wrenching my arm from around his waist painfully.

Swearing, I pushed myself up from the floor and leaned my back against the wall, bracing myself to get up. “Damn it, that’s what I was talking about!” I managed to get up, but Mike was still in the way. How he hadn’t fallen when I did was beyond me, but nonetheless I ducked back under his arm and started walking as fast as I could away from whatever was making those horrible noises behind us. I gave up entirely on steering him toward the middle and just focused on going forward and avoiding walking into the wall on my side.

“Janie,” Mike panted eventually.

“Mm hmm.”

“Those noises are getting louder.”

“Nope. No they aren’t. There aren’t any noises.”

“It sounds like a really big stomach full of marbles is behind us.”

I groaned, curling my shoulder away from the wall again. “If you keep talking about it, I can’t keep pretending not to hear it, Mike.”

The wet growling noise happened again, and this time Mike was the one sent stumbling. Fortunately for us both, he flung his left arm out and braced himself on the wall beside me.

Well. I thought it was fortunate, at least.

“What the fuck!?” he shouted, jerking his hand away like the wall burned it. “That can’t be there!”

“Keep walking….” I insisted, nudging him forward. “And I told you that you kept walking me into the wall!”

“Walking…. Walking….” he singsonged before hissing in my ear. “Janey that wall can’t be there because of this.” He grabbed the hand I had wrapped around him and stretched my fingers out.

Dragging them against a wall.

“Oh, hell no,” I muttered, gently pushing him ahead of me. Bracing my hands on his hips, I kept leading him. “Go, go, gogo go go go.”

He started jogging. “Don’t need to tell me again…”

“Great,” I complained. “First time in my life you ever listen to me the first time, and it’s because a hallway is trying to eat us.”

He jogged a little faster. “Not helping, Joannette!”

“You’re going faster, so I beg to differ, Michael!” The growling and skittering happened again, close enough and loud enough that I smelled something rank and my hair blew against my face.

“Heard it!” was the only thing Mike said before speeding up.

By this point I could touch both walls with my fingertips, something I very much regretted wishing for previously. “Do you see anything ahead?” I cried, panic edging into my voice. “A light, eyes, words, anything?”

“I think I see a door, but it’s too far away!”

Like hell it was. “I don’t care what that receptionist at work told you, you are not disabled, dude! You did cross country… Move your ass!”

“That was in high school!” he shouted back, speeding up more anyway. “And I’ve been tortured for a week!”

Another fetid growl brushed against my cheek. “And I’ll make that seem like a fucking vacation if I get eaten by the Hall of Eternal Stench!” I squeaked, bracing my hands on his shoulders and pushing as hard as I could to make him go faster.

The further we went, the tighter the hall was getting, much more noticeably now. My elbows were tucked against my sides, palms still dragging on both walls, by the time Mike shouted that we were almost there.

“It’s not locked!” I screamed. “I didn’t lock it behind me!”

My blood turned to ice as something sharp drew down my back. I bolted forward, slamming into Mike and knocking him to the floor. I barely managed to steady myself before what felt like the same thing dragged past my ankle.

Not five seconds later, Mike started screaming. Not from fear… this was like the time he had broken his ankle and seen bone sticking out.

He was screaming in pain.

Before I realized what I was doing, I grabbed the scalpel from my back pocket and slashed as far as I could behind me, whipping my whole body around from the force of adrenaline. Whatever was behind us hissed, and I could see a dark flicker retreat past my ankles.

“Mike?” I asked as calmly as I could, trying to force my eyes to see whatever it was. “Are you still alive?”

Panicked, wheezing shrieks answered me.

“That works,” I tried to assure him. “I need you to crawl forward until you feel the door, okay?” My voice was trembling, but I wasn’t screaming, so I counted that as a win.

After some scuffling noises behind me, I heard his voice smaller than it had been since he’d hit puberty. “I’m.. I’m there.”

Thinking hard and still trying to see something in front of my face, I carefully backed up until my feet bumped into him. “That’s you, right?”

“Ye-yeah.”

“Awesome. The door handle should be on the right.” No. It was on the right from the outside. “Left! Left! The handle should be on the left. I need you to scoot as far to the left of the door as you can, okay? You can sit against my legs if you need to.” Something as dark as the hallway was flickering across the now-faint runes on the walls. I couldn’t even force my brain to make up a shape, there were too many… somethings. Limbs, things, creatures -

“I - I - I moved.”

“Can you climb up my back to stand? We’re only going to have one shot at this.”

Clumsily, he used me as a ladder to get to his feet. Something had him leaning against me heavily.

“Mike, can you walk?”

“My foot, I… I think it cut something. I tried to stand on it, but it won’t take any weight. Like my ACL, but lower.”

Fuuuuuuuck, that wasn’t good. “You’re my best friend, Mike. My best person. I wouldn’t have done all this stupid shit if you weren’t.”

“I know,” he answered hesitantly. “And I’m glad to be your person.”

The shapes on the walls were incredibly close, but still too far away for me to hit anything as I slashed outward.

“How close is the door?”

“My hand is on it.”

“Awesome.” Still lashing out at the darkness, I could tell the sigils were fading and we were running out of time. Mentally, I mapped where the door and handle were, arm burning as I ran out of energy.

“You love me, Mike?”

“Love you. You’re my best friend.”

“Love you, too. And I’m sorry.” Closing my eyes, I whipped around and reached past him.

#original fiction #traumatized characters #original writing #found family #writeblr #my writing #writers on tumblr #short horror #horror fiction #medical horror #unreality

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danganronpafan777 · 2 months

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(3/4)

-DRA arc (i dont pay too much attention in ch.6 class trial, so this might be wrong)

Nyx was transferred to Hope’s Peak academy by a letter that was not meant for them. Nyx wasnt in Future Foundation’s care anymore, and lives in the building where Komaru used to live in. Nyx then transfers this invitation letter towards the Hope’s Peak academy, hoping they would give it back to the neccessary person, but the facilities end up mistaking Nyx as one of the students, so they transfered. Here are some points of Nyx in DRA:

-Nyx isnt affected by the mmeory.. machine thing, as Nyx got on Hope’s Peak academy after the memory machine thing happened.

-Nyx in chapter 1 was supposed to be seen as boring, and not important to the story, and chapter 2 starts for Nyx to show their weird side.

-Nyx doesnt have elegant clothing for chapter 4, so they’re forced to stay out of the party and stay in their room. Also, Nyx ended up using a device to communicate because someone locked their room and Nyx couldnt get out for like.. two chapters (ch.4 and ch.5)

-Nyx was the main suspect to be the mastermind, since Nyx used to be in WoH thing. and also is the only one who got on Hope’s Peak Academy late.

-Nyx doesnt like Mitch. and Nyx was glad Mitch died. This also continues in SDRA2, because theres a Higa island. that made Nyx stay away from Higa island. Also, Nyx tries everything to avoid Mitch and literally ignores him in class trials.

-Nyx became friends with the sunshine quartet quite well, however Nyx themself doesnt feel like theyre in the group. Nyx just feels like theyre just a replacement or some sort.

-Nyx is kinda jealous of Kiyoka, Kanata, Haruhiko, and Satsuki for their personalities. Nyx strives to be with them a lot so they think by being with them, they could develop similar habits or traits as them. Ultimately, after they died, Nyx didnt know how to communicate without going back to their ‘true personality’.

-Nyx spends their time chatting with Teruya (from out the room to in the room) after ch.4.

-Nyx was injure by a cut on their face and nyx also fell down the stairs at ch.3

NYX’S DRA BIO:

BIRTHDAY: September 15

WEIGHT: 40 kg

HEIGHT: 160 cm

BUST: 70 cm

LIKES: cute things, ryousangata fashion

DISLIKES: mitch, uncomfortable clothing

I have to admit that I’m confused about a few things:

Udg doesn’t occur until after the tragedy, and after Trigger Happy Havoc’s killing game, so UDG comes after DRA

The memory machine wasn’t a hope’s peak wide thing or anything, just something in the Kisaragi foundation lab that Utsuro and Akane personal used to erase their classmates memories and eventually their own

Other than that, Nyx you aren’t a replacement, your one of them 🥺

Tsurugi was definitely jealous of Nyx not attending the party

It’s kinda funny that they hate Mitch so much that it’s in their official profile-

#Nyx #dra #danganronpa another #teruya otori #haruhiko kobashikawa #sunshine quartet

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aftgsucks · 2 months

Text

NMFTG ch 23

Operation Easthaven (it's not actually that complicated)

THe team scrambles to get Andrew out of easthaven under the cut: ao3

Coach took Neil at his word and ushered the Foxes down the hallway and out of the building. Neil ignored everyone’s continued questions in favor of continuing to bleed out of his face and freak the fuck out.

What the hell could he even do? What could Renee do? Burn the place down? A bomb threat maybe, something to get everyone evacuated, but it wasn’t like Neil knew which doctor Riko had paid off. And there was no telling what protocols the place had for that sort of situation. Or what would happen to Andrew if the law decided he was breaking the terms of his parole. Everything could just get worse if Neil ran off half-cocked.

Neil was in possession of a varied criminal career that covered a lot of areas, rehab centers and consequently breaking a guy out of a rehab center to protect him from evil rapist doctors were not covered in any of those aforementioned areas.

If only he could still ask Mary for advice. As if she’d say any anything other than Abram what the fuck do you think you’re doing, you’re name is now Mitch Blanc and you’re moving to Siberia. Forget about the goalie. You suicidal wretch.

Coach unlocked the bus and Neil pulled Renee away to the side to explain everything to just her. Except no one got on the bus and everyone just kept talking.

“Neil, please let me look at your nose.”

“What did Riko say about my brother?”

“Those fucking Ravens.”

“What did Kevin mean by if?”

“Jesus Christ Neil could you explain just one thing for once.”

“I swear to god Kevin I don’t care if Andrew stabs me.”

“Let’s just beat the shit out of Riko, who even cares why.”

“Nathaniel--” Kevin was so quiet, no one but Neil even heard him. But Neil heard it like a gunshot.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT,” Neil slapped a hand against the side of the bus. Everyone shut up. Neil wrestled with his lungs. “I’m Neil,” he managed to get out. Neil turned to Kevin. Kevin was pale and terrified and Neil could not find an ounce of care for his feelings. Not on this. “I’m Neil,” he repeated.

Kevin nodded. His right hand was wrapped around his left, both pulled close to his chest as if waiting for a rebreak. Already flinching from what he thought the son of the Butcher would do to him. And Neil found an ounce.

Neil dragged in a full breath. “Kevin, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” Kevin said, his voice still too quiet. “I’m sorry.”

“What the hell did he even call you?” Seth asked.

“Who cares about that,” Nicky yelled. “I couldn’t give less of a fuck whatever weird slur Kevin called Neil to make him snap! One of you two is telling me right now what Kevin meant by ‘if Andrew comes back,’ or I am hitting the both of you with Coach’s bus.”

“No, you will not be doing that,” Coach said. “All of you get on the bus right now and Neil will explain on the way back to Palmetto. And I swear to God if you all keep squawking at each other you will all be running back.”

Everyone got on the bus.

Abby made Neil sit next to her so she could look at his nose. Everyone else dead silent as she set it and tapped it and then offered Neil pain meds that he immediately refused. Once she was done Wymack started the bus and pulled onto the road.

“Okay, what happened?” Dan asked in her authoritative, do not disobey me captain’s voice.

Even if he had to say this in front of everyone, Neil still stood up and looked directly at Renee. “Riko bought one of the doctors at Easthaven, we need to get Andrew out before he ends up dead.”

Everyone lost their collective minds. A discordant chorus of “elaborate,” and “Coach turn this bus around right now.” And Neil struggled to ignore it. Especially as Aaron actively grabbed him by the suit collar, hissing and shaking like a feral cat.

“I’ll call Betsy,” Renee said, already pulling out her phone.

“Didn’t she sign over care or something,” Neil asked, leaning around Aaron to talk to her. Nicky had very loudly complained about that, that not even Dobson could get a message to Andrew.

“She’s still the best place to start,” Renee got up and went to the back of the bus.

“Aaron, you need to calm down,” Neil pulled Aaron’s hands off of him.

“Are you seriously telling me to calm down right now?”

“What part of shaking me do think will help Andrew?”

“Well, clearly Kevin thought hitting you would fix something,” Allison so very helpfully said.

“Riko said if Neil went to Evermore Andrew would be safe,” Kevin said, his voice flat with a bottle of vodka in his lap.

“That’s bullshit and we all fucking know it. All Riko wants is to fucking kill one of us, drugging Seth, sending that moron after Renee, Drake ending up across the country to surprise Andrew. This is just another goddamned hairbrained scheme to put one of us in the ground. If Andrew hadn’t gone to rehab he would have just tried to blackmail me into spending my break getting poorly tortured to death in his goth fucking torture room. If we leave Andrew in Easthaven he will die. If I go to Evermore I will die and Riko can still do whatever the fuck he wants to Andrew. And you know as jazzed as I am at the prospect of not having to deal with any of this shit anymore. I refuse to have Riko fucking Moriyama be the one to actually kill me. So no, I am not going to Evermore Kevin, Riko is a lying manipulative piece of shit and nothing short of actually getting Andrew out of that place is going to make him safe.”

“Neil, you need to breathe,” Abby said right behind him.

And yeah, actually the world was kinda fading out at the edges. Neil sat down. Katelyn was suddenly right next to him, knelt on the floor of the bus, asking him those inane questions about what he could see and hear. Inane because they worked and he hated that.

When Neil tuned back into the conversation Aaron was talking. “How the fuck do we get him out of there? You idiots barely got him in.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to figure out who Riko paid and report them,” Katelyn suggested, one hand still on Neil’s shoulder. “Or break their legs maybe? I don’t know, whatever it takes to stop them from hurting him. Getting the one without the court order out of the court ordered building sounds easier than getting Andrew out.”

“Holy shit,” Allison awed. “And I was confused about what you were doing with a Minyard. Break some doctor’s legs, what are you a fucking New York City gangster? You gonna tell Riko to sleep with the fishes?”

“Stop flirting,” Seth complained.

“How do we even figure that out? Poll the employees, hi have you ever taken money from famed exy star Riko Moriyama,” Matt asked.

“There has to be something about the doctor that made Riko offer, it’s not like he could have polled the employees to figure out which one would take the money.” Dan said.

“Easthaven’s supposed to be a good facility, Betsy said it was good. A good place wouldn’t just hire someone with that kind of history.” Nicky said. “Right? She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t have put. She wouldn’t put Andrew in a place--”

“Nicky, if I have to keep breathing so do you,” Neil said. He just wanted to hit something and have everything be fixed. He wanted a nap or to jump out of the moving bus. He wanted a gun. He was about to suggest the arson, evacuate, grab Andrew plan. Deal with the legal consequences whenever they happened. They didn’t have time to stalk all the employees, not thoroughly enough for whatever thread of depravity had managed to escape the center's background check but not Riko’s.

“I got an anonymous threat,” Wymack started, loud and final. “From some rival team while we were at the banquet that said a doctor was going to hurt Andrew. With everything that’s happened in the last two years it’s enough to at least get him on the phone. If not get Andrew moved someplace else. Walker,” he called out louder, “give me the phone when you’re done. Betsy and I will get Andrew out of Easthaven and you will all curb your violent criminal thoughts.”

“Can it be that simple?” Neil asked. “Will anyone take you seriously?”

“I’ll make them,” Wymack promised.

And that was good enough.

If nothing else, Neil was willing to let Coach try first. There was always arson if he failed.

Renee handed Wymack the phone and Wymack talked to Dobson. Dobson would drive out to Easthaven and Wymack would call ahead to whoever was in charge on his own phone.

No one pretended to not eavesdrop as Wymack called up the rehab center and started talking about dangerous fans. About how the team had gotten Swatted last year. All of the dead animals and vandalism that came along with the attention of “Raven’s fans,” he spun a good yarn. Wymack did. It helped that all of that was mostly true, with the exception of a lot of it being perpetrated by the Raven’s themselves.

The whole time he kept the bus at a steady calm pace. Ending with the explanation that Dr. Betsy Dobson needed to speak with the head of Easthaven and Andrew himself to ensure his safety in the face of these threats.

Quietly, while Coach was still talking, Kevin moved to sit near Neil. He still had that bottle of vodka, unopened, white knuckled in his grip.

“He wasn’t lying,” Kevin said in low French.

“No,” Neil admitted in the same language. “He wasn’t.”

“You’re gonna die,” Kevin said, knowing, solemn, without question.

“Yeah, I am.”

“You-- Fuck, Neil you’ve been saying that all year.” Kevin turned to Neil, “have you really been trying to get Andrew to kill you?” He asked.

“Eh, I could’ve been trying harder.”

“You’re gonna die,” he repeated, twisting his hands around the bottle.

“Kevin, enough. I know, there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Trust me, if I could…” Neil trailed off, would he? Really? If he could stop this, magically end everyone who wanted him dead. Erase Nathanial Wesninski from existence, make Neil Josten real and separate and alive. If Neil could do any of that, would he? Or would he just make the end not hurt. It was going to hurt. It was going to hurt so bad, he knew that, he had the proof of concept carved into his skin before he could properly remember it.

Neil looked at Kevin, “will you still teach me?” He asked.

“Every night.”

Neil debated the next question for half a moment before deciding maybe he needed an answer for this one thing. “What did he mean by owning me?”

“You don’t know?”

“Assume I’m an idiot.”

“Shit,” Kevin was wide-eyed. “Uh, when your mother took you, that was your audition. You were supposed to be a Raven. The money you took was the family's money. Your father sold you and then you ran.”

Well, all things considered his father literally selling him to a homicidal sports cult wasn’t exactly out of character for him. “I didn’t know, she never explained why we left. I never asked.”

“Why did you think you were there? Why did you think they made us watch your father kill someone?”

“Little league practice,” Neil shrugged. “He made me watch him kill people all the time, it was only strange that you and the other were there.” They were both avoiding names, speaking in French only disguised the conversation so much.

“If you failed the next day we would have watched him kill you.” Kevin said.

“He would have killed me for Exy?” Sure, Neil’s father would have stabbed him because it was a little too sunny outside. But disposing of his only son wholesale just for being bad at sports seemed wasteful even for him.

“You weren’t supposed to exist,” Kevin said. “None of the branches are supposed to have heirs, it would dilute the family’s power.”

No. No, absolutely not.

“He works for them?”

“How stupid are you?” Kevin asked.

“I was ten when I left, it’s not like anyone sat me down and explained the intricacies of it!” God fucking damn it, everything came back to the Moriyamas.

“What the hell are you two even arguing about?” Aaron asked. “Kevin, we’ve all wanted to hit Neil but this is just not his fault.”

Neil lost it. He laughed so hard his eyes teared up. Maybe Riko Moriyama would kill him, all he had to do was put in a phone call to his estranged family about where Neil was and that would do it. “C’mon Aaron, give it your best shot. I know you’re still miffed about Halloween.” He said in English, already anticipating the easy no Aaron would give but wanting someone to put him out of his misery nonetheless.

“You should run,” Kevin said in French.

“I’m sick of it, Kevin, I’m sick of all of it. I’m here, it’s fine.” Neil told him in French.

By the time they made it back to the dorms, the sun just peaking out over the skyline. Andrew had been moved to a new facility, strong armed by the combined powers of Wymack, Dobson, and a well documented history of Exy related harassment. The new place let Dobson see him and she reported that Andrew was tired, recovering from his meds, but otherwise unharmed.

Neil watched Nicky and Aaron be shocked at the degree of relief on the other Foxes. Andrew was safe, they’d gotten him out in time. He’d be back in the new year threatening to stab people and being dramatic.

But before then, the Monsters were going to New York and Neil needed to pack.

#no more fucks to give #aftg #all for the game #fanfiction #nmftg

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seashell-leeshell · 2 months

Text

You're Such a Birdbrain!!!

A Glitch Techs tickle fic

Lee! Miko Kubota

Ler! Ally

Miko's gauntlet breaks (again :P) and Ally is stuck outside of it. The chicky chum quickly gets bored, stuck in the real world without a glitch to fight, so she finds a new way to play with her Glitch Tech.

A/N: first original work in a while, might not be the best especially since I just found this in my drafts from my old Glitch Techs hyperfixation :P finished it as best i could and tossing it out here, so enjoy! or don't. that's fine too.

🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩🌟🦩

"Oi, blueberry, get down!" Mitch yelled.

Miko ducked just in time to avoid the glitch's fireball, quickly tossing a repair disc at the crater and running over to Zahra.

"Z. Do you think you can cover me? I have a plan," she whispered.

Zahra sent a thumbs up, then pulled up a shield on her gauntlet. A purple energy dome came between Miko and the spiked monster, which was currently giving Five and Haneesh a really hard time. Miko messed with her own gauntlet for a moment, before her favorite featherbrain popped into existence next to her.

"You ready to kick some Bonkser butt, Ally?" she said, hopping up onto the bird's back. Ally chirped in reply, and crouched to start running.

"Now!" Miko yelled. Zahra dropped the shield, and Ally sped towards the turtle creature. Miko blasted the glitch in the face, as Ally ducked and dodged around every fireball and claw. Haneesh took advantage of the distraction and threw a bomb underneath the monster. Five sent a final blast at the explosive, setting it off with an 8-bit BOOM.

Bonkser roared one last time before being sucked up into Mitch’s gauntlet.

“Mitch, come on!” Five yelled, rolling his eyes. “You barely even helped with this one!”

“Sounds like a skill issue, noobs!” Mitch cackled triumphantly. “I’ll see your sorry, XP deficient butts back at HQ.” He jumped into his van and sped through a portal.

Zahra looked like she wanted to kill him.

“Wait, guys, where’s Miko?” Haneesh asked, realizing her absence.

The remaining three techs were silent, before running through the battleground calling her name.

“Miko? Where are you?!” Zahra called.

“Come on, Miko, answer us!” Haneesh yelled as he dug through some rubble.

“Miko??!?” Five screeched, starting to panic.

A pile of rubble shifted, and Miko’s arm popped out waving. “I’m here!”

Five and Zahra grabbed her arm and pulled her out. Miko was a little scraped up, but mostly fine. Ally was holding her arm tight.

“Don’t scare me like that again!” Five grumbled.

“Sorry. But look, I’m fine! Let’s just drop a repair disc and go back to…” Miko faltered as she reached for her gauntlet.

The screen was gone, exposing the wiring and motherboard beneath. A giant crack spread through the entire side, and the hand gear was completely missing with a few sparks coming from the severed metal. Looking further down, Miko also realized her plixel armor had dematerialized.

“Aw, nerds…” she muttered.

Haneesh shrugged. “Eh, Phil’ll fix it when we get back.” He dropped his own repair disc and the four turned to leave.

“Oh, shoot! Ally!” Miko cried, turning to the bird. “You’re stuck out here, oh poor girl!” She grabbed Ally’s neck and gushed, “I’m so, so sorry! Come on, let’s get back so you can go home ASAP!”

Ally chirped and chewed on Miko’s hair.

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

Five pulled into the garage, and Ally jumped out of the back of the van, Miko atop. The two raced up to Phil’s office, only to find him standing outside it with a donut in hand and a scowl on his face.

“Phil, my gauntlet broke. Can you do your quick little impossibly-efficient repair thing?” Miko asked, screeching to a stop.

“Can’t, kid. My office was apparently not updated and now it’s got a virus. It’ll take all day for BITT to debug,” Phil grumped.

“All day?!” Miko gasped.

Phil sighed. “Yep. Sorry, Miko, but you’re out of commission until my office is fixed and I can repair gauntlets again.”

Ally chirped and chewed on Miko’s hair.

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

Miko grumbled and plopped down on a couch in the break room. “All day?! Why can’t he ever update things on time? Out of commission… hmph.” She kicked aimlessly at the air.

Ally chirped and ran in a circle before looking expectantly at Miko.

“Aw, sorry, girl, I don’t have anything for you to play fetch with. I can't make any Plixie Stix.” Miko told her.

Ally tilted her head, then huffed and sat down next to Miko.

“I know, I’m sorry you’re stuck out here. It’s pretty boring sometimes, huh?” Miko glanced at her chicky chum and sighed.

Ally chirped and pecked lightly at Miko’s arm.

“Hey!”

Ally pecked again. Maybe Miko would give her a treat if she bothered her enough.

“Ally, quit it.”

Peck.

“Ally, I don’t have treats either, if that’s what you want. I can’t access my inventory right now.”

Ally, of course, pecked again.

“Ally, look! My gauntlet is toast. I can’t get you anything!” Miko said, exasperated. She lifted her arm and showed Ally the busted gear. “Look! See? Nothing!”

Ally pecked again, this time missing Miko’s arm and pecking her side.

“EY!” Miko jumped with a high-pitched yelp.

Ally raised her head in alarm, worried she’d hurt her Miko.

“Don’t look at me like that, silly. I’m fine.”

Ally tilted her head. Then why did she jump?

Ally pecked again in the same spot.

“AhahHALLy! Meanie!” Miko squeaked, scooting away.

Ally chirped. She’d found a new game!

Ally scooted closer after Miko and pecked her side again, this time not stopping after one.

“HEY! Allyhyhyhyhyhyhyhy! Quihihit it thahat tihihihickles!” Miko giggled and tried curling up on herself to stop Ally, but the bird was dead set on her new entertainment. Ally pecked lightly, so as not to hurt Miko, but that just made it tickle more as she repeatedly poked Miko's side.

"Ally whyhyhyhy? AAA! Nononono nohot thehehehere!" Miko yelped as Ally nuzzled her beak into the girl's tummy. "Nahahahaha Ally you rahahahascal!"

Ally was very amused by her newfound activity, and wanted to see if anything else would get this reaction from her Glitch Tech.

The bird pulled away, giving Miko a breather.

"Thahanks... Ally... Whahat was that fohoHOR?! EE NOHOHOHO ALLYHYHYHY!"

Ally nuzzled her fuzzy head into Miko's neck, chirping adorably.

"Nohohooo EE hahahahahaha Ally that tihihickles! AaA!"

Ally finally stopped, and MIko sat up, breathing heavily.

"You little birdbrain! Remind me not to let you get bored again," she laughed.

Five came in, holding a couple of slushies.

"Hey, Miko, I heard what happened with Phil's- why are you so exhausted?" he said.

Miko blinked, pushed her messy hair out of her face, and said, "Eh. Just playing with Ally. You know how she is," she said, taking a slushie.

Ally chirped and chewed on Miko's hair.

#seashell made something #sfw tickling community #sfw tickle community #tickle fic #glitch techs tickle #lee!miko #ler!ally #sorry its been so long since I put out any work of mine #lol

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