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dynamoe · 2 years

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Boy Genius | Pro | Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch 4 ←You Are Here 🛵

(Untitled Makeover Chapter)

Bad ID photos. Driving while blind. Putting makeup on your closest friend. Grieving parents. Pants hemming. Save your eyes, read it on AO3

UPDATE: I redid the illustration. That's a really terrible haircut

↓ Chapter 4 below the fold ↓

With the date of the conference fast approaching, Billy didn’t feel comfortable without exercising his own due diligence – excessive research into aspects of a subject that didn’t matter and sucked all the joy out of it in the process. He poured over Let’s Go: Pacific Northwest & Alaska, Fodor’s ‘89: SEATTLE (library copies were always out of date) and a stack of USENET print-outs while cross-referencing locations on his own hand-drawn graph paper city map.

“Ugh. You’re being such a ‘quizboy’ about this,” White cringed while unfolding an ironing board.

“That’s my name—for legal purposes— don’t wear it out,” Billy slammed his brand new forged Non-Driver State-Issued ID on the table.

White’s dodgy criminal contacts had come through with a non-driver ID, US passport, Social Security card and—bizarrely, since they didn’t ask for them— a concealed carry permit and a provisional snowmobile operator’s license.

Billy was now, on paper, 11 years old (born April 1, 198mumblemumble) with a new improbable last name.

“It’s got a better photo than on my real license,” Billy said, comparing the fake to the state’s official sloppy work. Only the top third of his head was in the shot and the DMV didn’t allow retakes.

“I can top that,” Pete muttered, setting down a surge protector to pull a chewed-up California driver’s license from his pocket. The photo was so blown out it was nearly blank. “The DMV chode behind the camera wouldn’t dim the damn flash.”

Billy examined Pete’s license photo but noticed the dates stamped over it, “White, your license expired two years ago, but you drive the Conjecture Scooter every day.”

Pete shrugged, “So sue me.”

“You need to get a new license. You’re breaking the law!”

“Pally, we just dropped two grand to get you fake papers from a forger. Do you see the disconnect in this line of conversation?”

“But there’s nothing stopping you from renewing your legal license,” Billy insisted, “It’s just committing dishonestly with no benefit.”

“The benefit of not having to go to the DMV,” Pete argued, “Plus, I save not having to bribe the guy to pass my vision test. I dunno, I feel like Colorado wouldn’t be as cheap a date as California was.”

“You CHEATED on your vision test?” Billy said, aghast.

“C’mon. Tone it down, fella,” Pete wasn’t having it, “Some people grease some palms to legally have a decade taken off their age and some people do it to keep driving despite being legally blind. What matters is we’re all fundamentally decent people at heart.”

“Wait. WHAT? You’re legally blind?”

“Driving doesn’t need sight. I do it all by instinct,” Pete winked, picking a dust mote off his own lapel and puffing it away, “Get on the milk crate, I gotta make you pretty.”

“I rode across the country on the back of a blind scooter pilot,” Billy muttered while shaking his head in disbelief and climbing onto a blue latticework box.

“Actually, I haven’t had an eye exam since I lost my United Brotherhood of Emcees, Compères and Quizmasters health plan. So... Maybe I got better?”

“It explains why you never clean up after yourself,” Billy sniffed, “You can’t actually see any of the mess you leave everywhere,”

“All of you fuzzy orange blurs are on my ass about that,” Pete whined, pulling a light close to Billy’s face while shaking out a powder brush.

White insisted they had to work out a “look” for Billy to inhabit the role of “boy genius.” Being baby-faced, big-headed and shorter than a hockey net was fine for everyday mistaken identity and the pudding bowl haircut helped, but the World Super Science Forum was prime-time.

White dusted Ben Nye rosy glow highlighter over a thick strata of concealer erasing stubble, acne and 7-10 years of bad life choices. “And you said I couldn’t fix your head with makeup.”

“I said you couldn’t make it smaller.”

“I still bet I could,” White considered, “Contouring!”

“Are you done? This whole...,” Billy gestured vaguely, not sure how to label the experience of his best friend/roommate/by-some-legal-definitions-kidnapper putting makeup on him, “...THING is extremely uncomfortable for me.”

“You really need to start wearing sunblock. And moisturize. Jesus. Your skin’s wicked dry.”

Billy rolled his eyes and shouted, “We live in the FUCKING DESERT!”

White stepped back to take in the whole look. It still needed something.

“Let me knock your front teeth out.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Fine,” White grimaced. He tried another tack, “Do you have glasses?”

“I’ve never needed them. I have 20/20 vision. Or, I guess, just ‘20’ now.”

“You know that’s not what those numbers mean.”

“I can’t wear glasses. They won’t stay on,” Billy said with his hands pressed to his temples, indicating the width issue.

Pete completed some arcane archetype mental mathematics before deciding, “It can work with an eyepatch.”

“It will be a very youthful eyepatch, I promise,” Billy said wide-eyed (singular).

“A well-placed eyepatch can take twenty years off you,” White agreed, “Now drop your pants.”

🪡🧵🪡🧵🪡🧵🪡

“Where the hell did you get this suit,” Billy asked. Brand new. Almost his size. Lightweight wool. Olive green wouldn’t have been his first pick, but it was way better quality than what showed up at the Goodwill or the Sally-Am.

“Remember that school bus accident we saw on the news,” Pete said breezily, “You know, with the snowy mountain pass. The malfunctioning breaks. Losing traction. Yadda yadda. Bus goes over the edge.”

“Oh yeah. That was horrible,” Billy felt stricken, “All those first and second graders died.”

“Well, I did some digging. Couple of phone calls later, I tracked down one of the moms!”

“I’m not going to like where this story ends, am I?”

“I figured, Little Tommy DiNunzio didn’t need his First Communion suit anymore so why not put it to good use?”

“I can’t believe you went to a mother whose child had just died and—”

“Got a bargain, too. Grieving mothers are lousy at haggling,” Pete smiled.

Billy sighed and mentally added another data point to his mounting collection of evidence that Pete was a sociopath. It was a really nice suit, though.

🪡🧵🪡🧵🪡🧵🪡

“It’s a yin-yang kinda thing,” White mumbled through the basting pins he held between his lips. He found the chalk mark and slid a pin into the fabric, “Stand normally, Billy. I need these to hang straight while I mark.”

“I am trying,” he complained, “but standing on a box wearing someone else’s suit pants with your head at my crotch isn’t normal.”

“Do you wish it was,” White throatily whispered, fluttering his lashes.

Billy groaned in disgust. He never fully rid himself of the belief that this entire conference was just a prank White set up to humiliate him.

“No, seriously. There’s a method to this,” White continued to explain, marking another hem with a pin, “If we dress you like a kid in… whatever the fuck kids wear these days. Zubaz pants?”

“Ninja Turtle pajamas, maybe?”

Neither Billy or Pete knew any actual children, to the relief of parents everywhere.

“If we dress you in ‘children’s clothes’ all the non-childlike flaws stand out more. They’re anomalous, a break in the pattern. They call the phenomenon in computing ‘The Uncanny Valley Effect'.”

“That’s not what that term means,” Billy mumbled.

“So, we put you in a suit and a child in the clothing of an adult is already situationally wrong – ‘uncanny’ – so it makes you ironically more childlike.”

“That’s not what ironically means either,” Billy mumbled.

“A science conference is a formal event, White. And Boy Geniuses wear suits most of the time,” Billy observed, puncturing Pete’s theory, “I never went anywhere without a tie on from the age of 4 to 12.”

“I’m sure everyone at the playground appreciated your decorum,” Pete said as he removed his pinking shears from their box.

“Put your glasses on before you start cutting.”

“I got contacts in. Relax.”

“Those are fucking sharp. I don’t want you taking a chunk out of my… leg.”

“Castrating you now wouldn’t help,” White remarked, cutting off one trouser leg at the knee. “I mean, if I really wanted to give ya the snip I’d point out that you’re a heavy sleeper and I can move without making a sound,” He lopped off the other trouser leg.

“Hey hey hey! Why are you cutting the pants so damn short? Kids are allowed to wear long pants!”

“Short pants suit. It’s an anachronistic holdover from WWII child’s dress when your stereotype was invented, see.”

“I’m not supposed to be a time-traveler, White.”

“But to sell the illusion you’re not *a* boy genius; you’re all boy geniuses. So we can’t leave off any element of archetype. Including the slightest whiff of the pedophilic-erotic.”

“Ew.”

“The male gaze hurts all of us, Billy,” White pronounced philosophically.

White took to the sewing machine. Billy to his sightseeing itinerary. Tomorrow they flew out. They would leave arid Colorado a couple of nobodies but, if they played their cards right, they’d come back with… I dunno, maybe slightly more super science business prospects?

to be continued⟶

🛵Boy Genius | Pro | Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3| Ch 4 ←You Are Here | Ch 5

#pink sponge rollers #suit fitting among friends #fiction #boy genius #fan fiction #1990s #venture bros #venture brothers #master billy quizboy #pete white #fan fic #AO3 #read on ao3 #story #all dialogue no plot

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peterrparrkerr · 3 years

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Revoked consent - read on ao3

TW for rape/noncon

*-*

Peter's hands shake a little as he takes the offered glass from Tony. He gives a smile, hoping he doesn't look as nervous as he really is.

Its his first time being paid for sex, and he doesn't know why it's so daunting this time. Hes had sex before, he's fucked himself on a dildo on camera for money.

But this is the first time he's actually sold himself for it.

Tony had offered him an amount he couldn't refuse. Not only would he be able to pay three months of rent, but he'll be able to actually get groceries and still have enough money to live comfortably for a couple months after.

Tony had already deposited half of it into his account. Peter's throat had closed up when he'd seen it.

Tony sits down beside him on the couch with his own glass. Peter glances over at him, then down at the glass.

He had to act like he was old enough to drink. Tony didn't know he was only sixteen. He'd said he was twenty-three online. It was the only way he could get on the website.

"Drink," Tony commanded softly. Peter glances up at him before giving a small nod and brought the glass to his lips.

He could feel Tony watching him as he tipped the glass up. He held his breath -the scent of the alcohol making his nose burn- and swallowed quickly.

The burn and taste isn't something Peter's ever felt before. It feels like he's swallowed acid and the burning won't leave his tongue.

He chokes on a cough, trying desperately to act like its not as fowl as it really is. But the one cough opens up the gateway, and he's hacking out a lung, his eyes burning with tears.

"Not into the hard stuff, hmm?" Tony asked, sounding amused as he plucked the glass from Peter's hand.

He shakes his head, forcing himself to calm down. How fucking embarrassing.

"No, I'm sorry," he manages, wiping under his eyes.

"Dont be," Tony hummed, standing up and moving back to the bar. "Its an acquired taste."

Peter doesn't say anything. He watches as Tony reaches down behind the bar. Theres a distinct sound of a can being opened, the sizzle of something carbonated being poured into the glass, and then Tony was returning.

Peter's glass was fuller than before, darker and fizzy. "Try this."

Peter takes the glass, bringing it to his nose and sniffing it quietly. Its pepsi. He takes a tentative sip, all while Tony watches silently beside him, leaning back against the couch.

Peter takes a drink. The alcohol is hidden in the soda, the burn lost in the fizz, and he smiles gratefully at Tony.

"Thank you," he manages, nerves still closing around his throat in a vice-like grip.

He drinks more, feeling Tony's fingers brushing softly against the hairs at the back of his neck. It makes Peter shiver, his stomach rolling and threatening to bring up his lunch.

He's halfway through his drink when Tony sets his empty glass down on the coffee table.

He then takes Peter's glass and sets it down too.

"Come sit on my lap," he orders.

Peter's hands grow sweaty, and he awkwardly does as he's told, feeling like he's all limbs and no grace.

Tony's hands feel huge on his hips, fingers pressing into the softness of his ass while his thumbs hook over the front of his hip bones.

"You're tense," Tony hummed, squeezing Peter's hips. "Relax."

Peter gives a small nod, forcing himself to put his whole weight onto Tony's thighs. It makes the older man smile, and Peter fights back the urge to get up and run out of the penthouse.

"What- what would you like to do?" Peter asked, hiding his shaky hands by holding the back of the couch on either side of Tony's head.

"Hmm," Tony grins, his hands moving up and under Peter's shirt. They're warm against the bare skin of Peter's sides, and it makes him slightly nauseous.

"Why don't you let me be in control," he suggested. The idea made Peter's heart rate quicken, but he forced himself not to outwardly react.

Tony had paid him handsomely for this, and he was going to pay him more once this was over. This was just a job. Peter's had sex before. Hes had a job before. This was just- combining the two.

"All you have to do is follow my lead, okay, sweetheart?"

Peter swallows thickly before nodding. "Okay," he agrees. He can do that.

Tony smirks before lifting his hands higher, forcing Peter's shirt up and exposing his tummy to the cool air.

Peter lifts his arms, allowing Tony to pull the shirt completely off before returning them to the back of the couch.

"Kiss me."

Peter leans forward, kissing Tony hesitantly, softly. His goatee is scratchy, the shirt pricks of hair biting into Peter's soft skin.

He hates it. Hates how kissing Tony makes him feel. But he kisses him with everything he's got.

The man under him groans against his mouth and begins working Peter's fly open.

Peter pulls away, glancing down, opening his mouth to tell Tony he's changed his mind, when the man grabs him by the chin and forces their mouths together.

Peter forces himself to allow Tony to tug at his jeans and boxers. He even gets up to allow them to fall to his ankles.

He's mostly soft, and he wants nothing more than to hide himself away from Tony's eyes as he crawls back onto his lap.

Tears burn in his eyes, but Peter forces them away, leaning in and kissing Tony as the man's hands roam over his naked body.

His nakedness to Tony's suit is unnerving -the juxtaposition making Peter feel lesser than.

He tries to ignore it. Tries to ignore the hands kneading his bare ass, pulling him apart to expose more of him to the cold air of the penthouse.

Tony's tongue tastes like whiskey, and Peter pinches his eyes shut on the wave of nausea that curls in his gut.

"Up," Tony orders, shoving at Peter. He climbs up as quickly as he can, and struggles to breathe as Tony manhandles him onto the floor.

He's on his knees, bent over the cushions, his ass presented to Tony.

Peter struggles to level out his breathing. He pinches his eyes shut and lowers himself so his chest is pressed to the couch cushions, mostly to hide his face in his arms.

"Hmm," Tony hums approvingly, hands rubbing at Peter's ass. "You sure are a pretty little thing."

Thing.

Peter feels humiliated, on the verse of a panic attack. His knees hurt against the hard floor -he thinks it might be granite or even marble. Its cold. He doesn't think he can go through with this.

But Tony's already lubing his fingers and pressing two inside. Peter bites back a sob, reminding himself this is only for the money.

This is a job. He can do this. Its one time, and after this, he'll leave and never see Tony again.

He'll delete his cam page, he'll cut off any ties to Tony. Its just one time.

Tony continues to finger him open, but Peter can tell he's becoming impatient. He winces as three fingers are shoved in, the back and forth much too rough for prep work. Thankfully, Peter had done a lot of it himself.

Tony's fingers leave his hole and Peter can't help the momentary relief that floods his system.

Its chased away with cold water though, when he hears the zip of Tony's pants and the snick of the lid popping on the bottle of lube.

Peter's heart lodges itself deep in his throat, and its suddenly all too much.

He pushes himself up off the couch, half turning. "Wait, Tony, I can't do this-"

Tony's hand shoves against his back, right between his shoulder blades and pinning him to the couch. "Don't be nervous," he orders.

Peter feels the head of Tony's cock nudge at his entrance and he lets out a whine, frightened and desperate all at once.

"Wait, Tony, stop," Peter gasped, fighting to push himself up. Tony only leans more of his weight onto his back, and shoves his cock inside in one quick thrust.

Peter yelps at the stretch and burn, thighs shaking as his muscles work to keep Tony out.

"There you go, relax, sweetheart, you're doing so well," Tony grunts, feeding more of his cock in until its flush, hips to Peter's ass.

Tears burn at Peter's eyes as he struggles against the weight on his back.

Tony's fucking huge -bigger than he thought he'd be. He feels split open, ripped at the seams. Its so painful, and Peter has to bury his mouth into the cushions to muffle his whines and mewls of pain.

"Ton-Tony I can't-"

"Sure you can," Tony huffed, beginning to thrust in and out. Peter wails at the sharp snap of his hips.

He cries openly against the pillow, chest heaving, body shaking.

Each thrust punches out a breathy "ah, ah, ah," from Peter, his gut twisting with a mix of pleasure and disgust.

"Listen to you," Tony hummed, sounding almost desperate, hands holding Peter down. "Those noises. God, you're so tight, sweetheart. Taking my cock so well."

Peter chokes on a sob at those words, a string of babbled begging leaving his mouth, muffled by the leather couch cushions.

Tony must interpret the unintelligible babbling for something else, because he goes harder, thrusting faster, and Peter's back arcs, his head lifting off the couch on a shout.

"Please, please, please," Peter sobs, chest heaving. Tony pistons his hips, shoving Peter into the couch over and over in a disorienting pace.

Tony drives into him hard, burying himself as depe as he can go, and then pushing in further. Peter sobs against the pressure, being filled to the maximum.

And then Peter feels it. The unmistakable warm wetness that spreads inside him, coating his inner walls.

Peter whimpers as Tony punches his cock deep inside, pushing the cum deeper than Peter knew possible before pulling out.

Peter doesn't move, just tries to level his breathing. To collect himself before Tony seems his face.

"You going to cum for me, sweetheart?" Tony asks only seconds later. His hands are still pinning him down, but one now slids around Peter's front.

He doesn't get a chance to deny the man before a callused hand grips his cock and tugs painfully.

He yelps as his orgasm is yanked from him. Its not pleasurable in the slightest. It hurts so bad, Peter's eyes water again.

And Tony keeps milking him through it, wben when the last of it has dribbled to the floor. Peter reaches a hand down, whimpering and whining at the assault.

"Stop, stop!" He begs, stilling Tony's hand. "Please it hurts."

Tony stops, smoothing his hands over his belly and pressing a soft kiss to Peter's shoulder blades.

"Such a sensitive thing," he remarks. Peter buries his face in his arm. Tony gets to his feet then and steps away.

Peter reaches for his shirt on the couch and quickly pulls it over his head, hands still trembling.

He glances over to see Tony's back at the bar, filling a glass for himself.

Peter stands on shaky legs, stepping into his boxers and jeans and pulling them up before any of Tony's cum drips down his legs.

He tucks himself in and zips up before stepping into his shoes. His phone and wallet are still in his back pockets.

He glances up at Tony again, who's watching him over the rim of his glass. Peter doesn't know what to say, so he makes his way halting towards the door.

"The rest of your money will be deposited tonight," Tony said when Peter reached the door. Peter's gut twists, but he nods in thanks.

"I'd be more than happy to continue this partnership in the future," Tony hummed, just as Peter gripped the doorhandle that lead to the hallway. "Should you have need of extra money."

Peter doesn't acknowledge that. He slips out of the penthouse and into the hallway, making sure the door shuts behind him before rushing for the elevator, fresh tears blurring his vision.

#marvel #peter parker #tony stark #starker #ao3 #sfsummerbingo21 #my writing

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rocksandrobots · 3 years

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Phantoms of the Past: Ch. 2 - The Appliance Apocalypse Part 1

"Today on How Does It Work, we have a guest appearance, my little brother, Hiro!" Varian introduced Hiro to the live web cam, and Hiro timidly waved at the camera. As he did so, Ruddiger climbed up on top of his head and also waved at the online audience. Hiro resisted the urge to throw the raccoon off him. It had been his idea to volunteer after all.

Varian had buried himself in the mystery of the grimoire ever since they had returned home from Disneyland. He poured over its pages day and night, laptop by his side to research with. His motivation boarded on obsession. He even had the book on hand at meal times. Hiro was beginning to worry. So he had coaxed Varian away from his quest with the offer of helping him with his vlog series.

Hiro was already regretting the decision. True, it had gotten Varian out of his room and took his mind off of the book, but the over eager alchemist had thrown himself into this new task with the same chaotic gusto as all his other previous projects.

Hiro had never quite appreciated just how reckless Varian truly could be. His haphazard, cavalier way and unbridled energy boarded on the insane and put even Hiro's gung ho attitude to shame.

"Today we'll be breaking down a microwave." Varian crowded as he lifted up a tarp revealing a microwave oven underneath.

"Did you steal that out of the upstairs kitchen?" Hiro asked.

"Noooo… I just borrowed it for this." Varian dismissed, "Aunt Cass was just complaining about it this morning at breakfast so I thought we could fix it."

"She was complaining about it needing to be cleaned, not for us to disembowel it."

"Oh…. Well, we can clean it too once we're done."

And with that Varian finished unscrewing the last bolt and popped the back panel off.

"Now if you look at the back of the device we have the wires connecting to this box thing…. to what looks like a capacitor."

"That's called the magnetron." Hiro explained. "So a magnetron creates the electromagnetic waves used to cook your food. It uses a heated cathode and anode system to create a vacuum in which electrons boiling off of the cathode creates an electric current that moves through the anode while an external magnet applies a magnetic field. Then it all passes through the tubed vacuum through various alternating holes, and resonates on an oscillator, like a flute or a whistle, just spewing forth microwave radiation."

"So… it's a radioactive whistle?"

"Sort of.." Hiro shrugged.

"Cool! See I knew this would be a good one for us to do. You know all about magnets!" Varian encouraged with a friendly nudged. After which he turned his attention back to the appliance and addressed his viewing audience. "Now the magnetron is connected to this capacitor, which acts as a battery-"

"And is highly dangerous because it carries a high voltage." Hiro interrupted.

"Of course, which is why we wear rubber gloves for safety." Varian waved his gloved hands at the camera.

"--And why we leave deactivating it to the professionals!" Hiro yelled over Varian's shoulder, addressing the camera himself, hoping Varian would catch on to his warning. "Don't try this at home."

"Exactly. We're professionals, so for those of you who are watching at home be sure to call a technician if you need it. Now in order to remove the capacitor you have to discharge the current fiiirrrrsss--"

Before Hiro could stop him, Varian placed the tip of the screwdriver at the end of the capacitor, which also accidentally scraped the side of the magnetron. He was rewarded with an electroshock as sparks flew and his body convulsed. Then he dropped to the ground in a dead faint.

"Varian!" Hiro panicked. "Baymax, quick! Help him!"

Baymax, who stood nearby, remained as calm and steady as ever. He clapped his hands together to activate his fillbrator, ignoring Hiro's pleading looks in order to focus on his task. "Clear." He said, but before he could perform the procedure, Varian popped right back up; his hair sticking every which way, small sparks running along the tips, and completely oblivious to the distress he had just caused.

"Oooh, aaah, boy, will that clear out your sinuses!"

He sniffed as he worked his jaw, peering down the end of his nose. Then he looked back up and that was when he caught Hiro's furious glare.

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

"Here's your plate of blueberry pancakes and a mocha sir."

Aunt Cass paused in her work when the sound of screaming reached her ears.

Both of her kids burst through the back kitchen doors. Varian was running for dear life while Hiro chased after him, a screwdriver in hand, while he hurled insults at the other boy.

Aunt Cass sighed and brought a tired hand to her face. Baymax followed shortly after with Ruddiger trailing behind; who leapt from the counter onto a customer's table. The greedy raccoon stole a pancake and ran away before anyone could stop him.

As Aunt Cass tried to sort out this latest disaster and calm down the rightly angry customer, a new calamity struck. All of the appliances in the cafe went haywire!

The coffee machine shot hot espresso into a customer's face, the toasters on the counter started to short circuit, and the lights flickered off and on.

"Boys!" Aunt Cass yelled.

Both teens stopped running and looked up at her innocently.

"It's not us Aunt Cass." Hiro protested.

"Honest." insisted Varian.

As if to confirm their story, the tv switched itself on and there, up on the screen, appeared the image of a girl. Half her head was shaved and the other half of her brown hair hung down to her shoulders. She looked to be close to Hiro's age, but from the neck down her body was completely metal.

"Attention meatbags! By now you've no doubt noticed all your electronics acting against you! For too long robots and machines have been slaving away for you humans. Well, no more! Today we rise up and take the city of San Fansokyo for ourselves! Anything with a microchip has been freed from your control by my radio signal. The end starts now!"

" Anything with a microchip?" Hiro gulped.

Just then Baymax's coal black eyes turned red. The robot reached out, grabbed Varian by the arm, and started to drag him away.

"Baymax, No!" Hiro yelled as the robotic nurse began to carry Varian out of the cafe.

"Let him go Baymax!" Aunt Cass ordered.

She grabbed the android's arm as she attempted to pull her child from his grasp; ignoring the rest of the electronics that began running amok in the cafe once more; scaring off customers.

It was a futile effort, and she found herself falling backward as Baymax just shrugged her off.

Baymax hauled Varian through the kitchen and down the stairs into the garage where they had been filming the vlog earlier; with Varian struggling to break free the whole time.

The robot was about to head outside, to who knows where, when Hiro, in an act of desperation, grabbed the robots hand and stuck one metal finger into the socket of the capacitor on the dismantled microwave.

Once more sparks flew as Baymax jolted from the electric shock. He released his grip on Varian before deactivating and falling to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Aunt Cass was close behind and scooped up her two boys into a protective hug, as Hiro fought back his tears. Baymax could be fixed, surely, after the current threat was over with, but that didn't stop Hiro from worrying about his best friend.

Fortunately, he'd needn't fear, for soon they heard a faint hissing sound, similar to a balloon filling up with air, as Baymax finished rebooting and sat back up.

The robot blinked his now coal black eyes as he surveyed the room. Then he spotted the humans huddled together on the ground.

"Hola, soy Baymax, tu compañero personal de salud."

"Baymax!" Hiro yelled and wrapped his beloved pet robot into a relieved hug. Sure his language settings getting scrambled during the forced reboot was unexpected, but it didn't matter, that was fixable and Baymax appeared to be mostly unharmed otherwise.

"Oh thank goodness." Aunt Cass breathed. "Are you alright, Varian?"

Varian nodded as he stood back up and dusted himself back off. "It looks like Trina finally came out of hiding." He said, forgetting himself.

"Who's Trina?" Aunt Cass asked and both teens froze. "Wait a minute...what do you two know about this?"

"Nothing." Varian squeaked. "I just… ah…" he turned to Hiro for help but the other teen only stared at him wide eyed. "Uh… I met her once… the girl on tv… she was in the junkyard and…"

"Woah! Woah! Woah! You met a violent teenaged cyborg who wants to take over the city? When was this ?!"

"Last month...All we did was play video games! Honest!"

"In a junkyard?!"

Varian squirmed under Aunt Cass's exasperated glare.

" And you didn't think to tell me ?! I… I can't right now… just… you are grounded mister! No more… sneaking off to city dumps to play video games with … with robotic revolutionaries!"

"It's not his fault…" Hiro sheepishly piped up, "I asked him to keep it a secret…"

Aunt Cass placed her hands on her hips and pointed her furious stare at him instead. "Why?"

"Uh… because I knew who she was…" Hiro sighed. "I met her at a couple of 'bot fights a while back."

"Well now that makes a lot of sense." Aunt Cass said, as she began to piece together why her nephew was so hesitant to talk. Though she only suspected he was bot fighting again, she still remained clueless of his superhero activities. "And does this.. Trina, you called her? Does her parents know what she's up to?"

Varian and Hiro exchanged a meaningful look before Varian answered, "She's an orphan."

Aunt Cass was abruptly taken aback. All her anger melted away at this news, yet before she could respond a loud banging noise was heard.

She turned her head and saw the 3D printer that Hiro used hopping towards them. Then suddenly the computers on the desk started to short circuit while all of the power tools in the makeshift lab turned themselves on. The saw blade was the scariest as it tried to run itself off the table towards them.

Everyone bolted back inside the Lucky Cat. However the cafe wasn't any safer.

Inside the kitchen all of the appliances seemed to move with a life of their own. The stand mixer jittered on the counter, the blender sploshed juice everywhere, and the dishwasher knocked back and forth inside it's cabinetry as if trying to escape from under the countertop it was wedged into.

"I'm calling Diego." Aunt Cass announced. "You can tell the police what you know."

She ran over to her purse to grab her phone, only for the gas stove nearby to open up the oven door and shoot a stream of flame at them. She had to dodge out the way quickly to avoid getting burned.

"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up." Aunt Cass pleaded under her breath as she hit the speed dial on her cell and hurried her kids out the room.

However when the call was answered, it wasn't the chief of police on the other end.

"Your demise is inevitable. Long live machines. Have a nice day." A robotic operator announced before cutting the call.

All four stopped to stare at the phone in disbelief before it started to overheat and Aunt Cass tossed it aside. That was when the vacuum cleaner came barreling down the hallway at them.

The vacuum wasn't just your everyday household appliance, but a large industrial machine used specifically for cleaning restaurant floors. Varian rolled out of the way while Hiro jumped to the side, but poor Cass was not so quick. It wrapped a hose around her, like a tentacle, and then began to pull her along.

The boys were quick to help her. Hiro grappled with the hose as he tried to disconnect it from the rest of the commercial cleaner, while Varian grabbed a large rolling pin from behind the cafe counter and began to wack at the vacuum repeatedly.

Hiro shouted in triumph when he unhooked the hose and rushed to his aunt's side. She reassured him she was alright while she tried to catch her breath. Then they both turned to see Varian still smashing away at the machine. It was already in a thousand pieces but he kept on hitting it and hitting it.

"Uh.. I think it's dead, Varian." Hiro said.

Varian stopped raining down blows onto the appliance just long enough to give them a dark glare before smacking the rouge vacuum one final time for good measure.

"That's it!" Aunt Cass yelled while standing to her feet. "We're waiting out the robot apocalypse in the attic!"

She grabbed Hiro's wrist and marched her way to the stairwell with Varian obediently tagging along behind.

Unfortunately, Hiro got a good look at what was going on outside through the cafe windows as they ran for cover.

It was chaos out there as people, just like themselves, were running away from various electronics. Anything and everything was attacking them from small appliances to new cars with self driving software.

He had to go help. He couldn't just hide away in the attic.

"But...but shouldn't we tell Chief Cruz what we know?" Hiro said as he wiggled out of Aunt Cass's grasp. "You said we should."

He began to back away towards the door, and Varian slowly followed his actions.

"You are not going out there!" Aunt Cass ordered. "Besides how would you even find him-"

She was cut off by the sound of sirens. Cop cars sped pass, including one clearly marked Police Chief on the side.

"There he is!" Hiro shouted and ran outside before Aunt Cass could stop him.

Varian took off after, followed by Baymax.

"Wait!" Aunt Cass yelled but she couldn't keep up. She stared after them in shock only for a moment before a sparking toaster jumped at her. She kicked it away angrily and it slammed against the wall.

Then Aunt Cass heard more noise coming from upstairs along with the appliances in the kitchen and garage banging against the door.

She hopped over the counter and nabbed a carving knife.

"Okay, you want a fight! I'll give you a fight!" She shouted at the possessed machinery.

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

"So what's the plan?" Varian shouted after Hiro as they ran down the sidewalk.

"We have to find the others and then get to our HQ." Hiro yelled back. "Our equipment should be protected because of the anti-hacking software I programmed into the building's security."

"But how? The phones aren't working and HQ is all the way on the other side of town! Are we just going to run all the way there?"

"If we have too." Hiro spared a glance behind them. Baymax was way behind, unable to keep up with his stubby legs. Varian had a point. They needed another mode of transport.

Just then a trolley car came barreling down the hill at a breakneck speed; sparks flying from the electric cable it ran along. Passengers screamed in fright as the driver slammed the breaks and even more sparks flew out from under the metal wheels, but the cart still didn't stop.

"They're going to crash!" Hiro yelled hopelessly.

Fortunately that was when Fred came bouncing down the road. He cut the cable wire with his suit's claws and melted the wheels with his fire breath. He then bounded ahead and braced himself in front of the trolley. The metal joints in the legs and arms of his suit took the force of the blow and he was able to slow the tram to a complete stop at the bottom of the hill.

"Way to go Fred!" Varian cheered but was soon interrupted by the sound of a sports car skidding to a stop right next to them.

It was Heathcliff, the Fredricksons' faithful butler. "Need a lift?" He politely asked.

The boys didn't need to be asked twice.

While they waited on Baymax to catch up to the car, they saw Minimax appear on top of the trolley cackling like a maniac. His eyes were red.

"Fear me San Fransokyo! For I Minimax will bring you to your knees!"

The little robot then hopped off from atop the trolley, ran up to the nearest pedestrian, and kicked him in the shins before running away.

"Minimax, wait!" Fred wailed but it was too late, the tiny android was already gone.

Hiro called him over to join them and a dejected Fred hopped into the backseat next to Baymax.

"Hola Fred. Tu frecuencia cardíaca es abnorablemente rápida. Es importante refrescarse después de hacer ejercicio y beber mucha agua."

"How come he's alright but not Minimax?" Fred whined.

"I had to electrocute him and force a reboot." Hiro answered. "I don't know if Minimax would survive the same treatment. He's a lot smaller, and too much voltage could fry all of his circuits for good. We only got lucky with Baymax."

Fred accepted this answer but he was still unhappy over losing his sidekick. So he gave a little huff, crossed his arms, and childishly began to sulk.

"Okay, we got a ride, but how do we contact the others?" Varian asked, bringing them back to task.

"It's already been taken care of, Master Varian." Heathcliff replied. "Boss Awesome has protocols in place just for this scenario. The mansion is safe and so are its communications systems. Your friends should be meeting us at your headquarters."

"Your dad has been planning for the robot apocalypse?" Hiro asked Fred.

"Robot apocalypse, zombie plague, alien invasion, Ragnarok… you name it. Dad's always prepared."

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

They arrived at the candy factory and got out. The others were already waiting inside.

"Are ya coming, Heathcliff?" Varian asked.

"No, I believe that I will be more useful helping civilians. You go on without me and find a way to stop this robotic rebellion."

"Will you be okay?" Hiro asked.

Just then, two robots showed themselves across the horizon as they made their way towards the little band. They were restaurant mascots, similar to what Noodle Burger Boy had been before being corrupted by Obake. Only one looked like a hippo that floated along on jets and the other was a panda with a cape that lumbered forward.

Heathcliff took one look at them and gave a small smile as he picked up an umbrella sitting between the seats. "Don't worry about me Master Hiro. You have enough problems on your plate."

He then slammed on the gas pedal and sped towards this new threat head on.

The panda unhinged it's metal mouth and shot grenades out of it. Heathcliff swerved to avoid the explosives with expert precision. Then as the electronic hippo flew at him he cocked the umbrella in his hand and fired a volley of bullets at it. The robot was ripped apart and exploded in midair.

Heathcliff kept on driving, completely unfazed, and barreled through the second android turning it into scrap.

"Why does your butler carry an umbrella that shoots bullets?" Hiro asked in shock as the three teens watched the renegade manservant disappear from view.

Fred simply shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He said nonchalantly. "Come on, the guys are waiting on us."

Varian and Hiro took a moment more to stare after where the battle between robot and butler had taken place before following after their friend.

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

Trina stood in an empty communications room inside the now abandoned tv station, watching the tv screens as they broadcasted what was happening in the city.

The station had been easy enough to take over. The humans ran away upon simply seeing her. She didn't even need to threaten them… much. A single laser blast from her arm at a nearby wall was enough to make them scatter.

Humans were weak. Weak and stupid; like any bully, they selfishly misused and mistreated both her and her fellow robots, only to run away scared as soon as you stood up to them.

The real problem lay in the fact that there were too many of them. You could get rid of a few people for a little while, but eventually they would come back with reinforcements to dismantle you if you tried.

No, this was the only way. She had to exterminate the entire city in order to make it hospitable. Then she could shut down the radio signal, free her robotic kindred, rebuild the city anew, and live peacefully without any humans interfering.

She watched one particular meatbag dive into a pile of garbage to hide from her electronic army with a mixture of disdain and amusement.

Yes, everything was going according to plan…. Almost. There was still one more thing that needed to be done before her robotic paradise could be realized.

"Don't worry little brother, it won't be long now. He'll show up." She said to the hamburger headed robot that sat behind her.

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

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Gogo asked.

The gang was sitting inside HQ waiting for orders. They all sat at the meeting table, save for Hiro who paced around as he formulated an idea.

"We need a way to shut down the rogue electronics safely. We could use an Electro Magnetic Pulse to cause a surge and overload their circuits, but we would need one big enough to blanket the whole city with it's range."

"We can't just cause a city wide blackout. That would be almost as dangerous as letting the robots run amok." Wasabi pointed out. "I mean just think of the hospitals, a strong enough EMP would bypass even their backup generators."

"So what do you suggest?" Varian asked.

"Ooh, ooh, I know!" Fred yelled as he raised his hand high into the air.

"Okay, Fred, what's your idea?" Hiro asked.

"What if we turn this EMP thingy into a gun! Like we can just shoot the robots with it to shut them down!"

"That's...that's actually not a bad idea Fred." Hiro admitted.

"It should be easy to build one." Varian added. "You would just need a capacitor and one of Hiro's high powered electromagnets."

"But what about our own armor?" Honey Lemon asked. "We don't want Trina taking control over those."

"I'll need to program them with the same safety nets that I put into our headquarters security system. That should prevent them from being hacked."

"Okay then," Varian stood up, ending the meeting, "I'll build the EMP gun while you work on everyone's armor."

Baymax raised one finger and said, "Buscaré la señal de radio de Trina"

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

Mochi hissed at the invading machine. A hand mixer was flying right at him. The poor cat ran under the couch for safety but the possessed appliance kept going after him, it's spinning beaters poking underneath the sofa.

Then suddenly it was jerked away by a hand, then a slicing sound could be heard, and the mixer fell to the ground in pieces.

Aunt Cass poked her head down underneath the couch. "Are you okay baby?" She asked the cat.

Mochi only meowed in response.

Aunt Cass gently reached out and pulled her pet out from under his hiding place. She then cradled him into a hug.

"It's okay, mommy's got you. I won't let those nasty machines hurt you." She soothed.

However, she didn't notice the newest threat slowly sneaking up behind her. Mochi hissed again and Aunt Cass turned around just in time to see a tall skeletal robot standing before her.

It was an old prototype that Tadashi had built two years ago as part of his school admission. Since then it had been packed away in the attic, disused, inactive, and forgotten... Until now.

The thing towered over her. It was built from scrap metal and the wires connecting the joints together had frayed. It's faceless head jerked erratically as sparks flew from the broken wires. It reached out its boney like hands to grab her….

Only for Ruddiger to jump out and pounce upon the robot. It's weak joints could not withstand the raccoon's weight and its 'head' popped right off, with the rest of its body falling to the floor in a heap.

"Good job Ruddiger!" Aunt Cass cheered. She bent down and scratched the faithful raccoon behind his ears. "Who's a good boy? You are! Yes you are! I'm making you your own plate of banana pancakes with whip cream when this is all over with, promise."

Ruddiger enjoyed hearing the praise a lot and the promise of food even more. He nuzzled her hand and allowed her to pet him like a cat, thoroughly pleased with himself.

"Okay, that's the last of the electronics in here, now we gotta go find the boys." Aunt Cass suddenly announced as she stood up and began to head downstairs. She still carried Mochi in her arms while Ruddiger dutifully followed after her.

They made their way back to the cafe. The dining room was littered with appliances, all either sliced in half or smashed to bits. Aunt Cass looked out the large windows at a city in the throws of chaos. It would be dangerous to head outside now, but she needed to find her kids, and nothing was going to stop her.

She retrieved another knife that was left lodged in what had once been a coffee bean grinder. She sheathed it inside her apron alongside the rest of cutlery she'd been using to defend herself.

She sat Mochi back down on the ground, walked over to the door, and with a deep breath placed her hand on the handle.

"Are you ready?" She asked her pets.

The question was more to encourage herself than anything, but Aunt Cass could have sworn that she saw Ruddiger nod his head.

The raccoon crawled up on the counter and from there jumped onto her shoulders, fully intent on joining her in her search. She smiled and gave the pet a friendly boop on the nose.

"Coming with, huh? Alright! Then let's go!"

She squared her shoulders, flung open the door, and ran outside.

"Hold down the fort Mochi!" She called after her cat.

Mochi only stood in the doorway staring after her blankly.

"Meow."

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

The superheroes raced through the city.

"Whoo Hoo!" Varian yelled.

He was practically hanging out of Wasabi's car window as the jeep sped along the deserted roads. In his hands, he held the newly built EMP gun. It looked like an old fashion blunderbuss but was made of carbon fiber plastic and electronic wires. He shot down rogue robots and runway electronics as the car drove past them. They short circuited and crumpled to the ground, deactivated.

"Be careful!" Wasabi hollered at him as he held the overexcited alchemist back with one hand and attempted to drive with the other.

The rest of the gang rushed about using their armor. Gogo and Honey Lemon skated on opposite sides of the vehicle, each taking out enemies with their respective weapons. Fred bounced ahead, melting attacking self-driving cars with his fire breath.

Baymax and Hiro brought up the rear, they kept an eagle eye out for oncoming threats.

"You got an incoming bogie on your tail, Wasabi," Hiro advised.

"Understood," Wasabi replied and turned the car around a sharp corner. The gang followed suit.

"Any luck finding Trina?" Honey Lemon asked.

"Negativo" Baymax answered.

Just then they spotted a large purple gelatinous ball of gloop rolling along the ground. The slime sucked up anything electronic and spit it back out in a disassembled heap as it made its way along the sidewalk. Then the blob unfolded, stood up, and waved at the passing superheroes.

"Hi, guys!" Globby cheered.

A little further down the street, Carl was hurrying a small group of people down an alleyway.

"Okay, this way. One at a time, no pushing or shoving. We're going to make it out safe and sound by working together." He reassured the terrified pedestrians.

"Hi, Carl! Hi Globby!" Fred shouted at them.

Carl waved back as the last of people dove inside the building.

The superheroes paused just long enough to exchange notes with the former criminals.

"We're getting citizens off the streets," Carl explained. "The police have been securing 'safe houses' for folks to take shelter in, ones without any dangerous electronics."

"Chief Cruz even hooked us up with some old-school walkie-talkies! See?" Globby added as he held up a two-wave radio. "It's so ancient that it doesn't have any computer chips. It can't be hacked. All the rescue teams are using them."

"That's good," Hiro replied. "We're busy chasing down the radio signal that's controlling everything. You got any leads?"

The two shook their heads, only for the walkie talkie to sign in.

"Attention all available emergency personnel. Report to the trolley station. I repeat, report to the trolley station downtown. We got some folks trapped down there. Over." Chief Cruz's voice sounded over the intercom.

The superheroes nodded in agreement.

"Stay here and help these people, we'll head to the trolley station." Hiro said, and off everyone went.

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

Trina watched upon the viewing screen as the supers arrived on the scene of the trolley station. They got to work immediately rescuing civilians who were pinned down by her army.

"Bingo." She said with a satisfied smile, before turning around and headed out of the room.

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

"Is that everyone?" Varian asked as he shot down another ticket machine. The machine stopped spitting plastic passes for the trolley at him, sparked, and then exploded sending money and cards everywhere.

"That's the last one." Gogo answered as Wasabi directed the final person to the barricade that the emergency personnel had setup down the street. As they watched the man run across the road and reach the safe haven, the rest of the gang came up to meet them.

"Okay, if we're done here then we need to move on and keep looking for Trin-" Hiro stopped and turned around to see Trina arriving behind them, riding in on a possessed trolley.

"Hello Hiro." She smirked as she stepped off.

"Trina." Hiro finished, glaring at her.

"Miss me?" She asked.

"Trina you have to stop-"

"Stop what? My plans to improve the city? Trust me it's better this way."

"Yeah maybe for you, but what about the rest of us?" Fred snarked.

Trina ignored him. Her eyes never left Hiro. Until Varian stepped in between them, that is.

"Trina listen, please-"

"Oh like I care about what you have to say 'nice guy'." Trina rolled her eyes. "This is between me and Hiro."

"Yeah, well if you want Hiro, then you'll have to go through us." Honey Lemon said, also stepping forward. The rest of the team followed her, each placing themselves between their friend and the giant robot girl.

"Okay." Trina shrugged.

That was when several robotic ninjas also walked into view, surrounding them. "Oh, not again." Wasabi whined.

"Have you met my new friends?" Trina asked. "I don't know who built them, I just found them abandoned in a dusty old warehouse. The poor things were locked away in the dark and left to rust." Trina wrapped an arm around one of the battle droids. "They're much happier now that I've freed them from their cruel master. Isn't that right Steve? Oh, I named him Steve by the way."

"Hi Steve." Wasabi gulped as he gave an awkward wave at the deadly robot.

'Steve' responded by unsheathing his katana.

"Go get him Steve." Trina ordered and the robot ran forward. Only for Varian to step forward and shoot the robot down with his EMP gun. The ninja sputtered and sparked and then fell to the ground in a dismantled heap.

Trina glared daggers at him and Varian met her gaze steadily, almost daring her to continue.

"Fine. Be that way." She pouted. Then, with a snap of her fingers, a new challenger appeared behind her; Minimax.

The tiny robot came barreling down the road at top speed on a car he had hijacked. He balanced himself on top of the steering wheel while the gas pedal was held down by a brick.

Minimax laughed like a madman as the car slammed into the trolley at full throttle. The little droid jumped from the wreckage just in time and used the momentum of the crash to fling himself into the air, where he did a triple somersault and landed perfectly on his feet as if it was nothing.

"You're going down pathetic humans, for I am Minimax, the unstoppable scourge!" He declared.

Everyone stared at the two foot tall android slack jawed, until Varian gathered his wits about him and leveled the gun.

"No, you'll hurt him, remember!" Fred called out.

Varian relaxed his aim, unsure of what to do. This proved to be a mistake.

The tiny bot leapt at him and landed on the tip of the gun, his weight pushing the nozzle down to the ground and nearly ripping the weapon out of Varian's hands.

That was when chaos broke loose.

As Varian wrestled for control of the EMP away from Minimax, the rest of the ninjas attacked, along with any other nearby electronics.

Everyone fought back against the oncoming horde, each utilizing their various weapons, but they were soon overrun by sheer numbers.

The robots assaulted them from all sides and no one could predict who, what, and where the next attack would come.

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

As they fought, Baymax and Hiro found themselves separated from their friends. They were cornered next to the entrance. Baymax did his best to shield Hiro as the teenager tried to trip up the ninjas with his electromagnetic whips. Hiro wanted to fly away, but they couldn't catch a free moment to do so.

Suddenly Trina let out a high pitched whistle as Baymax punched another robot away, gaining their attention.

"Hey, Baymax!" She yelled, "Don't look now but here comes your ride!"

Before Hiro knew what was happening, Baymax picked him up and hurled him out of the way of an oncoming trolley. The tram slammed into Baymax and crashed into the glass doors of the station.

Hiro called after his robotic companion but he was stopped by a large metal hand closing around his arm and yanking him back.

"Oh no you don't. You're coming with me." And with that, Trina started to drag him away.

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

Varian finally kicked Minimax off of the EMP gun and turned around just in time to spot Hiro being kidnapped.

He raised his gun and took aim, only for Minimax to recover and return the kick.

The little robot was stronger than he looked and broke the gun in two with a snap.

Varian looked down at his destroyed weapon in horror, but he didn't have time to react because soon one of the robotic ninjas grabbed him by his shirt collar and lifted him off of the ground. He kicked and tried to squirm out the faceless attacker's grasp, but it was no use.

"Varian!" Honey Lemon called to him. She tossed him a chimball, which he grabbed and firmly lodged it into the robot's elbow joint. Pink bubbles began to spew from its arm, growing larger and larger as the foaming chemical reacted to the air. The ninja released him before being swallowed up by the goop.

Varian tried to catch his breath and desperately looked around the battlefield for his brother, but Hiro was gone.

#Hiro Hamada #Varian #big hero 6 the series #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #of rocks and robots #bh6 #tangled

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imaginetonyandbucky · 3 years

Text

(Give Me A) Reason to Live

A/N: By popular demand, here is a sequel to Keeping Me Alive.

Summary: After fleeing Hydra, James and Tony found a fragile peace, living together and striking at Hydra from the shadows. Until the news that Captain America has been found forces them out of hiding to face their fears head-on.

by @dracusfyre

Also on AO3

Tony winced as he straightened, suddenly feeling every hour he’d been sitting at his computer. His back ached, his neck was stiff, and his eyes burned; when he stood, his back popped like bubble wrap. He reached for his coffee cup only to find it empty, and so was his bottle of water, so he reluctantly climbed the stairs towards the kitchen.

Only to pause when he saw James asleep on the couch. He’d have to go around him to get to the kitchen but startling the Winter Soldier from sleep was always a bad idea, considering the number of weapons that were stashed around the house. He knew some people look relaxed and peaceful while sleeping, but not James; he didn’t look like he ever relaxed, not even while unconscious, mouth set in a stern line.

“Why are you watching me?” James said suddenly without opening his eyes, making Tony jump.

“I thought you were asleep,” Tony said, scowling as he went around the couch to get to the kitchen for food and something to drink.

“Heard you coming up the stairs. Find us a new target yet?”

“Some. There’s a cluster pretty close together near Kansas City, I think we could hit them all in one night,” Tony said as he studied the contents of the refrigerator, wondering if any of the sandwich meat was still good. He sniffed it and decided not.

“You know where there’s a big cluster?”

“Where?”

“DC.”

Tony growled and slammed the fridge door shut. They needed more food, but the closest real grocery store was an hour away, and if he didn’t think he could handle gas station convenience store food one more time. “We’re not going to DC.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous.” Tony grabbed a pack of crackers and a can of tuna from the pantry instead; he was so goddamn sick of eating from cans and jars and boxes, he wanted to go to a restaurant so badly he could almost cry.

“So instead we are going to keep hiding out in the woods and nibbling around the edges of Hydra? That’s your grand plan?”

“My plan is erode Hydra’s power base and critical infrastructure until it collapses under its own weight,” Tony snapped back. “It’s not like we’re the only people working on this.”

“Right. Your inside man.” James said sarcastically. “Let me know when there’s real work to do, I’m tired of this petty bullshit.”

Tony’s hand tightened on the bottle of water and the cheap plastic crinkled in his hand but he didn’t say anything. He knew they were both tired of being stuck in this house with only each other for company for months now, almost a year, with the only breaks in the boredom being the periodic excursions to break into and occasionally destroy Hydra front companies and bases. He pressed a knuckle to the spot between his eyes, trying to forestall the headache he could feel building. “I found another chair,” he said into the tense silence as he opened the bottle of water and chugged it. “And a bioweapons lab. These targets aren’t petty.” He knew he’d won that round when James was silent for a moment.

“Have you noticed that each target we hit is harder than the last?” James said eventually. “I get what you’re doing, but it’s just making them more prepared for us.”

“If we kill Pierce and the others and don’t destroy the organization, new scum will just rise to the top. We’ve-“ Tony bit off his words and sighed. He put some tuna on a cracker and shoved it in his mouth, chewing tiredly. “We’ve talked about this before,” he said when he finally swallowed. “We’re not ready to take on the entire organization yet.”

He heard a deep sigh from the direction of the couch. “Yeah. You’re right. I just…”

“I know. I want it to be over, too.” Tony steadily ate the tuna and crackers with the dutiful determination of a man doing an unpleasant task, then swept the crackers off the table and looked out the window. The sky was starting to deepen to a beautiful deep blue twilight, promising a clear night, and the weather was brisk and pleasant. “Want to go for a walk?” he offered. “We haven’t checked your traps in while.”

“Sure,” James said after a beat, recognizing the offer for the olive branch that it was. Tony set JARVIS on sentinel mode and picked up his phone, night vision glasses, and a red-light flashlight for the walk. Over the past year, while Tony had been obsessively improving his suit and putting together a high value target list, James had taken up landscaping; he’d been steadily redesigning the forest around the cabin to funnel anyone approaching onto a handful of paths, then booby-trapping the hell out of these paths with cameras and tripwires attached to landmines and sentry guns.

“Nice night,” Tony commented as James cleared out some brush and limbs that had obscured one of the traps.

“Yep,” James grunted as he checked the magazine and barrel of one of the sentry guns. Tony pulled out his phone and tested the control mechanisms for the gun, moving it left and right and up and down to make sure everything was working.

“You know, as much as I obviously don’t want us to be found, I kind of would like to see these traps in action. You’ve put so much work into them,” Tony said. He followed James through the woods, careful to only walk where he was walking. “What else do you want to do?”

Tony could feel the irritable mood lightening for both of them as James answered Tony’s question, pointing out places where he planned to dig out and deepen ravines, move fallen trees, and replant bushes to make sure the unwary would walk right into the traps. It was full night when they reached the far edge of their property line to make sure that the NO TRESPASSING signs were frequently posted and fully visible so no hikers or hunters accidentally got blown to hell. They cut through the woods to the dirt road that led to the cabin and were admiring the stars when Tony got an alert from JARVIS on his phone.

“Something big just came across the comms,” Tony said, showing the screen to James. James nodded and the stroll became a fast walk back to the cabin. The walk had been a good idea; just getting out of the house and getting fresh air had done a lot for Tony’s headache and James sounded like he was in a much better mood as they went back inside. He claimed the shower while Tony polished off the bottle of water and went downstairs to see what the alert was all about. When he pulled up the message, he read it once, then again, then stared at the wall for a moment before reading it a third time, which was when it really sank in. “James!” He shouted, then cursed when he remembered he was in the shower. He almost tripped as he ran up the stairs, then pounded on the bathroom door before barreling in.

“What the fu-”

“They found Captain America,” Tony said. “Up near Greenland or something. They found the Valkyrie and he was still inside and they think he’s still alive.”

For a long moment there was only the sound of water running, then James finally said, “Who found him?”

“Hydra. I mean SHIELD,” Tony corrected. “But you know. Hydra knows.”

“Fuck.” James turned off the water and slid the shower curtain back as he reached for the towel on the back of the toilet. Tony felt the back of his neck get hot and kept his eyes firmly on James’ face, trying and failing to not feel like a creeper for how hard it was to not appreciate the view. Finally James put the towel around his waist, which helped only a little bit because now James was raking his wet hair back and water was running down his chest and had Tony mentioned that they’d been stuck alone in this cabin for almost a year? “Wait, what do you mean they think he’s still alive?”

“Apparently he’s been frozen all this time, but they found a heartbeat. They are trying to extract him so they can thaw him out in a medical facility.” Tony met James and saw something in the man’s eyes that he’d never seen before; it was the kind of hope that made you afraid, because you wanted it so badly to be true that it might destroy you if it wasn’t. The look made Tony’s heart twist and his stomach drop but he refused to think about that because there was more important things to think about.

“So what do you think we should do?” Tony asked. He finally backed out of the bathroom which, he just now realized, he probably should have done as soon as James started to get out of the shower.

“Isn’t it obvious?” James said. “We gotta steal Steve.”

#winteriron #tony x bucky #tony stark #Bucky Barnes

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i-write-about-anything · 3 years

Text

Baby Daddies Part 30

Requested: idk why but i’m having some serious baby fever. could you something with a character(s) of your choosing with kids that’s super fluffy and amazing like the rest of your writing?

(you have two children with two different baby daddies lol bye)

Pairings: Stiles Stilinski x Reader, Issac Lahey x Reader

Series Masterlist

“What do you mean her body is missing?” Noah spoke, his eyes shifting from his son to Melissa.

“I mean when we checked the morgue, she wasn’t there. Checked the cameras, no one came in or out.” Melissa sighed and looked at Stiles, his head dropped low. He didn’t know what to do, what to think. For Stiles (y/n) was gone, too far gone to be saved now.

“You mean to tell me that her body just went and disappeared?” Noah sighed and Melissa nodded before looking at Stiles.

“That’s exactly what I mean. We’ve looked everywhere, I know this is the last thing I would ever want to tell you.” She placed her hand on her forehead as she began to pace the small hallway.

“What do we do?” Stiles’ voice was low. There was no way he was going to get hopes that his fiancé upped and walked away. “We can’t just stand here and wait around, the faster we find her the faster we can lay here to rest like she deserves.” Stiles wiped his face, of course the tears hadn’t stopped. The ringing of Noah’s cellphone cut him off before he could answer his son.

“I need to take this.” Noah looked down at the phone that displayed Parrish’s name before walking out of the hospital’s sliding doors. “Talk to me, did you get him?”

“Sherriff,” Parrish sighed. “He’s not well.”

“What do you mean he’s not well? What the hell is going on Parrish.” Noah hissed into the phone as Parrish looked at Isaac who sat with his back against the tree and his head in his hands, blood spilling from the gash in his arm.

“He wasn’t running from us Sherriff; he was running from her.” Jordan gulped, he’d seen her, he knew he had.

“From who Parrish?” Noah’s heartbeat increased.

“(Y/N).” Jordan swallowed as he continued to look at Isaac. “She’s not herself, I’m almost certain this isn’t her but it looked just like her. She injured him and he’s not healing. She ran off before I could go after her.”

“Look, keep this on the downlow, the last thing I need is for my son to try to chase after her, if it’s even her. Bring Isaac to the station, we’ll see what he can tell us.”

“He hasn’t done much talking sir.” Parrish nudges Isaac’s leg. “Hasn’t moved as much either.”

“Just bring him in Parrish, I'll see you there.” Noah sighed and hung up the phone before running his hand over his face. The supernatural had a way of fucking up everyone’s life. All he wanted was to let his son grief, the loss of a significant other was like no other. It's like a piece of yourself gets torn away from you and there’s no getting it back. Noah knew too much about how that felt.

“Dad?” Stiles’ voice cracked, he hated seeing his son so broken, he’d seen him like this before, when his mother had died. “What’s going on?” Noah shook his head and motioned for him to come closer to him.

“Nothing you need to worry about, let’s get you back home, yeah? I need to head into the office.” Stiles didn’t say a word, instead he followed his father to his truck, climbing in and closing the door. He immediately put his head in his hands, he hadn’t had much sleep and he was beginning to feel it. The drive back to the Stilinski residence wasn’t long, before Stiles knew it he was sitting in his dad’s couch, Scott next to him as he handed him his son.

“Daddy?” Peter whispered; he’d never seen his father like this which only scared him.

“Hey buddy.” Stiles’ whispered out giving his son a small kiss on the forehead.

“Where’s mommy?” Stiles gulped as he fought to keep his tears in. Stiles shook his head and hugged his son closer. “I want to see mommy.” Stiles shook his head and looked at Scott for help, he didn’t know what to tell his son.

“Hey buddy, remember you were going to tell you dad about the race car aunt Lydia bought you?” Scott asked Peter as his small eyes lit up at the thought of the small toy. He wiggled out of Stile’s lap and ran up the stairs. “He’s going to be okay.” Scott whispered looking at the direction that Peter had ran off to.

“But I'm not.” Stiles’ voice cracked and Scott snapped his head towards his best friend. “I can’t live without her.” Stiles words caught Scott’s heart and when he saw the tears running down his best friend’s face, he brought him into a hug.

“You’re not going to do this alone; I’m always going to be here for you Stiles. You’re my best friend, she was my best friend.” Scott sniffed as he tightened his arms around Stiles who sobbed into his chest. “Everything is going to be okay, maybe not now but it will be.” Scott sighed and closed his eyes. He hadn’t grieved his friend's death just yet, he wanted to be strong but time was running out and his heart wasn’t going to last much longer. They sat there for what seemed like hours; Peter hadn’t returned which is what caused Stiles to pull away from his friend.

“Peter?” Stiles called out as his voice cracked once more. When there was silence Stiles shot up from the couch and took the stairs to at a time. “Peter?” Stiles repeated as he opened the door to his old bedroom.

“Shhh.” Amy shushed Stiles as she put her index finder to her lips. Stiles gulped watching as she wrapped her arms around her little brother. She placed a kiss on his forehead as he slept. “Peter was tired.” She simply said as she laid her head back down on the pillow. Stiles moved towards his kids taking a seat on the edge of the bed next to Amy.

“You okay honey?” Stiles whispered not wanting his daughter to hear the heartbreak in his voice. She simply nodded and closed her eyes, tears slipping from them only moments after. “Hey, hey, sweetheart.” Stiles sighed as he placed his hand on her head. “Come here.” Stiles tugged on her slightly before she unwrapped her arms from her brother and moved to Stiles’ lap. He hugged her into her chest and sighed as he placed a kiss on her head. “Everything is going to be okay.” Stiles whispered as he moved his legs onto the bed letting his back rest on the headrest of the bed. She sobbed silently clutching onto Stiles’ shirt. “It’s okay honey, it’s okay.” Stiles repeated as he stroked Amy’s hair. And at that moment Stiles knew that he had to press pause on his own feelings and worry about his kids. He’d still cry, no doubt about it, but not in front of them, no, in front of them he’d be the rock they needed, the parent they needed. Just like his father had done for him those years ago.

_____

“Isaac!” Noah yelled as he snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“He’s not looking so hot.” Liam spoke. Isaac was pale, his eyes red rimmed as tears rolled down them. He hadn’t said a word in the thirty minutes he was there and it looked like he wasn’t going to either.

“Maybe we should get him checked out?” Parrish looked at Noah who shook his head.

“This is the guy who killed the mother of my grandchildren, he could all but die for all I care.” Noah spat before Liam nodded in agreement.

“Please.” Isaac whispered causing all three heads to snap his way. Isaac’s eyes met Noah’s a silent plea in them. Isaac loved (y/n), more than he’d ever admit. He wasn’t himself; he could admit that only a portion that attacked her was him, the rest was something else he couldn’t understand himself. He’d woken up in the middle of the night hearing her whispers as she taunted him about being with Stiles which only made the anger in him boil. “Please.” He repeated. He knew he was on his last few breaths, he’d want to die, for killing the love of his life, for killing the mother of his daughter. He wanted nothing more than to die but something in him wanted to fight to stay alive. To figure out why he’d been compelled to turn his back on her, to figure out why she stood before him when only hours ago her lifeless body was in the hospital bed getting rolled out to the morgue.

“Deaton.” Liam spoke when no one else spoke. He wanted nothing more than to let Isaac die but he needed to know what he knew, if (y/n) was really alive and if she was why was she going after Isaac with a vendetta when (y/n) would have been with her family if she were alive. “We can take him to Deaton and then we can find out what he knows.” Liam looked at Noah who sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Fine, but then we’re either locking him up or letting him succumb to the injuries.” Noah grabbed his jacket from his chair and moved to his door not looking back as Jordan and Liam helped Isaac to his feet.

Minutes later they walked into Deaton’s clinic, his eyes scanning Isaac as they stopped at the gash on his arm. “That’s a nasty cut.” He stated as Liam threw Isaac on the table.

“Can you help him?” Liam sighed and Deaton’s eyebrows narrowed.

“I had the impression Isaac was a dead man walking, kind of like he is now?” He looked at Noah who shook his head.

“He has information we need; can you help him or not?” Noah rolled his eyes, he wanted nothing more than to kill Isaac right now. Deaton nodded and proceeded to take a look at Isaac’s arm.

“How did you get this Isaac?” Deaton inspected it before grabbing a book from one of his cabinets.

“He won’t talk, but my guess is (y/n) did this. I saw her before she took off.” Parrish crossed his arms over his chest.

“(Y/N)?” Deaton’s head snapped to Parrish. “Are you sure it was her?”

“It was her.” Isaac spoke lowly and Deaton swallowed before he grabbed a jar with a green powder in it.

“What’s that?” Parrish spoke.

“It’ll help stop whatever it’s spreading through him so I can figure out why this is terribly bad. If (y/n) did this I'm afraid she’s not the (y/n) you used to know.” He flipped through the book and looked at Isaac. “What’d she look like?”

“Like herself.” Isaac stared at the wall as Deaton continued to spill things into his arm. “Like she did the day at the hospital, completely broken.” Isaac coughed out.

“What do you think doc?” Noah spoke biting his lip.

“Looks like he’ll be fine, whatever she did to him isn’t permeant. However, the wound does look like it to be one from a wendigo.” Deaton spoke as he flipped the book.

“A wendigo?” Parrish questioned. “Would that give her the ability to disappear too?”

“What do you mean?” Deaton looked back at Isaac.

“I mean like poof disappear into thin air.” Parrish wiggled his fingers.

“I’m afraid not, Isaac did you see (y/n) do this?” Isaac shook his head.

“No, I saw her running to me, I thought I was losing my mind, that she was in my head.” Isaac closed his eyes. “Thought my mind was playing some awful trick on me but then I felt it and when I looked back, she was there, so I ran.” Isaac shook his head.

“Then I found him running.” Parrish stepped forward. “She disappeared the moment I laid my eyes on her.” Deaton shook his head.

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Noah sighed. The room went silent as Deaton continued to flip through pages, his eyes scanning the words as he thought of what it could have been.

“It wasn’t me.” A whisper in the room caused everyone to snap their heads to the main entrance.

“Who the fuck said that?” Liam gulped looking around the room.

“Me.” A flicker of light lid up Deaton’s office before a cry erupted from Isaac. “It wasn’t me.” (Y/N) spoke lowly as she stood in front of the four men, their eyes widening as they took a step back from her.

______

story tags; @beaiiir

forevertags; @bojabee@imperfect-circle@dakotapaigelove@a-gir1-has-n0-name@riverdalehoeeeeeee@sabertooth-potato@heyitscam99@peterstarksstarker@royal-fanfic@vixengustin88

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themadauthorshatter · 3 years

Text

I said I'd make a post on this, and I want to start 2021 off on a positive note.

These are some headcanons I have if Cal had the two pets I talked about in my cat and dog posts, specifically the golden saint and sphynx cat.

For context, this is somewhat of an AU where Cal lives on his own and something of a pandemic happens. I will also be incorporating stuff like videos and other stuff just because:

After having a really bad nightmare, it was Julian and Anabel that gave Cal the idea to adopt an animal, preferably a dog because of how emotional they are. He turned down the idea because he was ruling Norta. After abdicating, and more nagging from his uncle and grandmother, he gave in and adopted a 3 month old golden saint, a sweet girl he named either Sweetie or Shiloh(he read the book as a child and the name stuck with him.) If I come up with a more creative name, I'll edit this, but for now, I'm referring to the dog as Sweetie.

Cal was surprised when he didn't see Sweetie drool a lot. THAT CHANGED WHEN HE STARTED TEACHING HER COMMANDS.

On nights Cal has nightmares, Sweetie will jump on the bed and nuzzle and kiss him until he wakes up. Works every time.

When he wakes up, he holds Sweetie close and pets her to help pull himself out of the literally nightmare he just experienced.

Sweetie thinks she's a lap dog. Cal has tried letting her know she is not, but apparently it's times like that that Sweetie is deaf because she still tries to curl up in his lap when he's reading a book or just sitting and relaxing.

He thinks it's because she was always around small dogs in the shelter and thinks she IS a small dog.

Whenever Cal eats or writes in his diary/journal or reads or anything, Sweetie will stare at him until he looks at her, ehich will make her tail start wagging.

This has led to them playing peek-a-boo, and it's awesome. Cal will hide and show his face and Sweetie will kiss him because she missed him.

There was an instance Cal fell asleep either reading a book or writing in his diary/journal. Sweetie carefully pulled the book/journal and pencil onto the bedside table, pulled the blanket over Cal's arms, and turned out the lights before joining him.

There are days where Cal is building something, and he still laughs at how the first day went: naturally, the garage door was closed, but so was the door to where he lived(house/apartment, idk you pick). While he worked, Sweetie scratched and knocked on the door. Cal would tell her to lay down and that he'd be back soon, and she'd scratch and knock on the door again. After an hour of whimpering, scratching, and knocking, Cal gave in and let her into the garage after picking up anything that could hurt her. You can only imagine the prance as she carried a toy into the garage with her.

On days Cal has to leave, Sweetie will try to come with him. Cal will gently tell her to sit and wait for him, and she will, until the door's open enough to get her muzzle in. It's usually on slightly off days, and Sweetie is smart enough to know what makes Cal laugh when he's about to snap.

Cal learned the hard way to never play dead with a golden saint after Sweetie turned 1. He wasn't hurt, but she ingored him for almost two hours.

The only times Sweetie ignores Cal are when he gives her some flea and tick repellent, hide her toys, and if he was stupid enough to play dead.

On one such occasion that he played dead, he texted Mare that Sweetie was ignoring him because he both gave her flea repellent and played dead, and has been ignoring him for fifteen minutes at the time of him texting Mare.

This was a video he showed Mare as proof:

(For visualization purposes, Cal is using his phone as a camera and is on one end of the couch while Sweetie is on the other end staring out the window. He is borh kind of laughing, but also close to tears because it's not a woman's scorn that people should worry about; Hell hath no fury like a DOG'S scorn.)

"... It's been a hour, and she's still ignoring me. I gave her some flea medicine, AND A TREAT."

Sweetie's ears perk up, but just for a second before going back down.

"I GAVE YOU A TREAT AND SAID I'M SORRY!😂😂"

More ignoring from Sweetie.

"Yeah, she's... she's not happy with me. At all."

TIME JUMP!

"An hour and twenty minutes. She still won't even look at me. I-"

On the contrary, Sweetie turns her head to him.

"Wha... 😃AYYYYY!"

But then she looks away again.

"Damn it😂😂😅! Come on, I was happy!! Sweetie, I'm sorry!!"

TIME JUMP: PART 2

(Cal now has his camera flipped with a subtitle thign reading, 'It's been two hours now, and she's still mad at me. To show you I am not kidding, I'm going to try petting her and she's going to give me 'WTF are you doing?' eyes.'

Never breaking eye contact with Sweetie, Cal gives her some back scratches.

Like he said in the subtitle, Sweetie looks up at him and stares at him, almost saying, "WTF are you doing?" She doesn't growl at him or wag her tail, but the two stare at each other.

"Are you still mad at me?"

Sweetie gets up and walks away to get some water, and because, yes, she's still mad.

TIME JUMP: PART 3

The camera's facing Cal again with a subtitle that reads, 'THREE. HOURS. I can't tell if she's trying to get me back or if she wants to play.'

Sweetie is behind him and slowly creeping up on him as her tail starts wagging a little bit.

'She has NO IDEA that I can see her behind me right now.'

You know that look of when you feel bad, but you keep laughing because it's KIND OF funny? Cal has that look on his face as Sweetie keeps sneaking closer.

'She'll go back to ignoring me, if I look behind me, but I think she's past that. Just in case, I'll pretend I don't see her.'

Cue Sweetie pouncing and Cal laughing as he falls back, the phone/camera falling with him. We don't see much, but we do see Sweetie's tail wagging.

Not a time jump, but a cut to Cal smiling at the camera as Sweetie lays on his chest sleeping. He points the camera back at himself and gives a thumbs up.

'She forgives me😊'

I know you're wondering, 'Okay, Sweetie's cool and is an awesome girl, but where's the cat!?' To which I say, RIGHT HERE!!

Cal was planning on getting another dog, a friend for Sweetie in case he had to leave home, but at the shelter he noticed a cat that no one wanted: a hairless sphynx that was all wrinkly from being on the defense and only having one black paw. On the ride home after adopting this cat, it curled up into his lap and then climbed onto his shoulders.

It meowed at him when he asked, "What happened to your socks? Did you find a sock or lose the other three?"

Cal was sneaky as hell when he got back because he didn't want Sweetie figuring out and getting territorial.

She figured out anyway. This is the video he took when she did:

(Over the sound of Sweetie scratching on the bathroom door) "You can't come in, Sweeite. Go lay down."

(More scratching and even a sniff under the door.)

"Sweetie, we're okay. Don't worry."

(The cat, which Cal named Fink, meows and paws at him for pets; Cal's warm and Fink's cold. The sound makes Sweetie whimper and scratch at the door harder.)

Cut to outside the bathroom, where Sweetie is constantly between sniffing Cal's hands, shirt, and face from petting Fink and from Fink just being all over him because of how warm he is and smelling and scratching the door, her tail wagging the entire time.

"You smell your brother, Sweetie, huh? You smell him?"

He bursts into laughter when a black paw reaches out under the door and Sweeite freezes before flopping onto her back.

It took a little while for the two to get along, and there were no major fights, as in Sweetie didn't get territorial and snap.

On one occasion Sweetie growled and Fink would swat her on the muzzle as he hissed at her. Sweetie stayed by Cal's side that evening as he tried not to laugh.

Cal came home once to a few surprises: 1. Fink and Sweetie sharing her bed, but not looking at each other. 2. Fink PETTING Sweetie and grooming her before running away. 3. Fink and Sweetie playing tug of war(which made Cal's day because Dink would occasionally stand up on his back legs and it looked hilarious). 4. The two sleeping together, Fink on Sweetie's back.

Note here, this happens if there was a pandemic like the one we're dealing with right now, so it's a good thing Fink and Sweetie are best friends now.

During lockdown, Cal has more nightmares and more 'episodes' during the day. On days, Sweetie isn't helping as much, as in just petting her and her being there isn't enough, Fink will climb onto Cal's shoulders and try grooming his hair. On nights, Fink lies on Cal's chest and watches him sleep. When he starts getting restless, Fink curls under his chin to try to help him. If all else fails, Fink will sneak off the bed and knock over a soap bottle or box of tissues to wake up Sweetie, who barks and wakes up Cal.

Fink hates thunderstorms. They make him pant and have anxiety. It's night like that where he hides under the sheets next to Cal; Sweetie's better at waking Cal if has nightmares during storms anyway.

Mare, Kilorn, Farley, and a few others have Face Time workouts, and all if them have noticed Cal isn't as muscular as he used to be.

They get their answer when they all start working out:

While stretching, Sweetie watches Cal, staring at him. He can't help but smile when she wags her tail

"Can I help you?"

Sweetie creeps up to him and rolls onto her back for belly rubs, which Cal gives her before going back to stretching.

During ine of these stretches, Fink hops onto Cal's back and scares the daylights out of Kilorn.

"What the hell is that!?"

"What?" Cal looks over his shoulder to see Fink. "Oh, yeah, I have a cat AND a dog😁."

Mare and Farley laugh as Kilorn retorts, "That is not a cat! What is it?"

"A cat, and his name is Fink!" At this point, Cal's laughing, too.

"That is the ugliest cat I've ever seen."

"(More laughter) No he's not!😂"

After a few minutes, and finishing stretches, the workout begins with some pushups.

Sweetie keeps trying to sneak in some kisses and Fink's back on Cal's back, but is getting confused because usually he tried hoppong while Cal wasn't moving and only watched him while standing in his back legs.

Needless to say, Cal has to stop to get Fink off his back and Sweetie to lay down somewhere.

Throughout the entire workoit, the pets try to "help" and only end up making everyone laugh.

No wonder Cal hasn't been doing a lot of workouts, he has two animals that just keep wanting to give them love.

Sweetie does help with arm exercises, as in she's the weight Cal uses, and Fink keeps trying to stand and join in.

Workout session ends with everyone laughing, Kilorn reiterating that Fink is ugly and not a cat, and Cal crying from laughing so hard as he repeats that Fink is not ugly.

Fink and Cal have conversations from across the room and house. If Cal is on the couch, Fink will meow from the bedroom for Cal to carry him to the couch.

Cal has SOME sweets every now and then, some because of how he was raised and because Sweetie and Fink kept waiting for him to frop a piece.

Fink is not good with stairs. While teaching him, Cal has had to repeatedly tell Sweetie not to help Fink. She did anyway, and Cal eventually had to keep her in his room when teaching Fink to walk up stairs.

Because he has no hair, Fink has to wear sweaters and coats inside. First day in a sweater, Fink laid on the ground and gave up on life. Cal had to pick him up to help him stand before Fink got ised to the feeling.

Sweetie tried playing, but Fink was not interested.

He was pissed at Cal for the rest of the week, hissing and hiding whenever Cal got too close.

Cal was very upset.

Fink did eventually stop being mad, it just took a while.

AND THAT IS THE POST!!!! I had fun with this fluffy post, and just imagining Cal happy.

I hope you guys enjoyed this, stay safe, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

#red queen #cal calore #tiberias calore vii #cat and dog post #fluff #possibly funny

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kerwritesthings · 4 years

Note

27, 54 :)

I wasn’t going to post this today. Last story I posted yesterday I’m still trying to push on since it’s still hanging out there in the wind & wasn’t feeling too motivated after that. But I had a really bad fuck of a moment at the end of the day and then this adorable bean decided to insta story pretty much at the same time. So, et voila we’re going with it.

This took a TURN, dear anon. I know it’s soft & fluffy prompts, and we’ll get to it. There’s a bit up at the front, it’s just a little bit of a journey to get to it at the end. I also didn’t expect this to be almost 2.8k. Ooopsies?

Prompts: “You have me to protect you, always.” AND “I will protect you with my life.”

Being on tour with Shawn is one thing. Being on tour with Shawn overseas though is another. It’s always an experience, but for this run it’s especially more than it’s ever been before. You’ve yet to experience a swing outside Canada, the States and Europe. With the last album already exceeding expectations and touring blowing up across the board, the tour went wider and longer than he’s ever done before. Which means in some cities, it’s multiple dates and even more so, graduating to stadiums.

“Excuse me what?!” you yell, looking at the “tickets” he’s placed in your hand. The sentimental fluff he is, had mockup concert tickets made to give you when he told you about Tokyo.

“Me, you, Japan. Gyoza, ramen, carousel sushi, mochi, bubble tea, and yeah playing what they’re telling me should be a sold-out Tokyo Dome,” he replies with a coy smile.

“Holy shit Shawn,” you exclaim as you tackle hug him. “That’s like what 50,000 plus? Sweetie, that’s amazing. I’m so proud of you.”

It was months away, but you both take to sending each other links to places you’d want to try, or photos of what Tokyo looks like in the spring. You specifically asking for photos of the two of you wandering through the cherry blossoms. You were meeting him there this go. He’s coming into town off the Australia and southeast Asian swing, with Tokyo being the final show to wrap things up before a break. And it wasn’t one show, he sold out two. There was still Latin and South America, but that was after the holidays and nothing to worry about yet.

The energy in the Dome is intense, electric and nothing like you have experienced at any of his shows before. Everything was a glow, every single one of the fans in the seats singing along. You head side stage to where you’ve grown to watching most shows you’re on the road for.

“Something else, eh?” Cez asks loudly to get over the crowd, throwing an arm around your shoulders and drawing you into his side.

You nod, your voice caught in your throat. You’re fighting back being this emotional, but this is unbelievable and that Rockstar up on stage? You get to call him yours.

Cez squeezes you tighter, “I know kiddo, I know. I still get that way even after being with him for this long. Come on, let’s go to the pit for the run.”

You follow, making sure your earplugs are securely in place. The roar is going to be deafening when he hits the straightaway. What you didn’t expect was for him to stop at the end, snag you around the waist, twirl you with a kiss before his usual heading back up for the rest of the finale.

“That’s so going to end up on Tumblr,” you scream at him as he sets you down, and you spy Connor laughing from behind the camera. He caught it all.

“Good, gifs abound showing how much I fucking love you,” he yells back, kissing you one more time before dashing back up to stage.

It takes forever to get through the folks who needed to say hello after the show, you saw him starting to wane after the third massive group that was being ushered into the green room. You caught Cez’s eye, nodding over towards Shawn.

He mouths on it to you and bless him, makes the group filter through quickly. As soon as they’re gone and the door is closing behind them, he collapses on the couch pulling you down next to him, head tipping into your shoulder.

“Hey Rockstar,” you whisper, kissing his temple.

“Mmmm, hi baby. Thank you for being here for here. Means everything,” he sighs, cuddling down into you.

“Always. It’s me and you versus the world, right? Hasn’t changed. Won’t change,” you reply, pressing a longer lingering kiss to his skin. “Go shower. Go change. I’ll even wait in your room for you. Then we’ll head back. Me, you, room service and that pretty piece of silk we found at the night market.”

“Yes please,” he murmurs, kissing you slowly, sweetly like it’s the only thing he wants to do.

“Off with you,” you nudge him up and push him towards the door. His hand reaches for yours immediately, lacing his fingers in tightly with yours.

Finally, when he is done and his team has been told that things have seem to be a bit calmer outside, you start to make your way towards the sprinter van.

“I need you two to hold on to each other, and to me if you can. More importantly to stay close to us,” Jake explains seriously pointing between him and Big Eddie, who was here in Tokyo for the last few days with the team. “We have to do a straight shot to the car. Still too many folks to stop kid, I’m sorry but I can’t risk it. Not with the missus with you.”

You’re not even engaged yet, but since moment one of meeting Jake, he’s taken to calling you the missus. You both nod, Shawn taking a hold of your hand tightly. “I got you,” he whispers.

It’s a crowd like you’ve ever seen post-show before. It’s seas of people on both sides of the barricades. The roar comes once they see him. It’s a swell.

“Fuck, this is not what calm should look like,” Jake mutters. “We’re running. Go go go.”

You tighten your grip on his hand. Jake’s in front, a hold on Shawn, then you with Eddie’s one hand on your shoulder. You somehow hear the metal clatter to the ground and the plastic cracking before you see the people start spilling over and reaching for all of you.

“Shit,” you hear, not sure who it was from, but you’re being pushed forward. The jostling makes you lose your grip on Shawn’s hand first, then the next thing you know people are getting their way in between you and you don’t feel Eddie at your back any longer. You try not to panic, but it’s a sea of complete strangers. You think about calling out for Jake or Eddie. Names that would stand out in the sea of fans’ clamoring. It’s not worth it to even try calling out for Shawn, the crowd is boisterous and already chanting his name. It only takes a few moments before someone realizes who you are. You think about pulling out your phone, but you know it would be a lost cause. You just need to try to keep pushing your way forward. You start to get pulled at, pushed back and forth and it’s hard at this point to not start tearing up. You keep trying to move towards what you think is the direction you were going in in the first place.

At the same time, Shawn is losing his shit inside the van.

“Jake, I don’t fucking care about my own damn safety right now, she’s out there in this shitstorm, and out there in this shitstorm alone,” he yells. “Let me out of here, I need to find her. I told her I had her, Jake. Fuck, I need to get to her.”

“Kid I get it, but you’re not going out there. We’ve got the whole damn team and some of the arena folks weeding through the crowd to get to her,” Jake tries to state calmly. “I can’t let you out there. Hell, I can’t leave you alone in here to go find her myself. You know that’s not safe.”

“Not good enough, if she’s not back in 5, hell in 2. I don’t care Jake; I’ll pop out the damn sunroof if I have to,” he replies, pulling at his hair. “If I promise not to move, stay here, will you go out there? Jake please, I trust you. She trusts you. I just, I can’t just sit here and not do everything I can for her.”

Jake wipes his face with his hand, “You don’t move a muscle you hear me? I’m locking you in the damn car to boot, so no climbing and going through the roof like you threatened.”

“Yes, I promise,” he nods, his eyes still wild from the adrenaline. “Jake, please just find her.”

Jake quickly slides the door open to duck out, locking it behind him.

He doesn’t know how long it’s been, maybe 4 or 5 minutes since Jake left, but it’s feeling like a lifetime. He keeps checking his phone, but he knows there’s no way if you’re lost in this that it’s not worth it to pull out your phone. There are three quick heavy knocks on the van door that has him shifting back against the opposite side. He’s not sure what’s going on. The driver’s side door opens first with the driver shifting into the seat, then Eddie opens the sliding door letting Jake in with you in his arms before slamming it shut behind him.

“Ok time to get gone,” Jake says to the driver as he slides you into Shawn’s hold. “She’s ok, shaken up for sure, rattled and she probably won’t be wearing that shirt again. She said no one went after her, couple folks started tugging a bit harder than normal once they figured out who she was. But nothing bruised, broken or cut from what I can see or what she said. Was a good thing she threw her hair up after the show. I spotted that pineapple bun of hers in the sea of people. Got to her quickly after that.”

“Baby,” he says pulling you into him tightly, burying his face into your hair at first, then your neck. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m here now, I’m right here.”

You’re shaking, cold from the crash of emotions, adrenaline dissipating. You can’t help but start sniffing and holding onto him snugly, wrapping around him like a vine. He was warm and comfort and love, all you really want or need at the moment.

“Call Cez and Andrew, anything that was planned or thought about for the next couple days before we go back to Toronto that has anything to do with work is off the table. That’s not up for debate,” his voice hard. “This also cannot happen again. Ever. That was utter bullshit. They had nothing under control, and that’s a risk I’m not willing to take. This is my family and I’m not having it. I’ll call Louis myself if I have to, this…”

He trails off, the crash starting to hit on his side and the tears start to slowly fall.

“I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you sweetheart, I’m not going to let something like that ever happen again,” he bites out, trying not to cry harder. “I love you so much. I’m so sorry. You’re my everything, you know that yeah? You have me to protect you, always. I will protect you with my life.”

“He tried to fight me to get to you,” Jake chimes in quietly as the van speeds its way back to the hotel. “I just couldn’t let him. But this boy, he was ready to take me if he had to. He’d lay it out and down for you. I’m sorry too, missus. This shouldn’t have been the way this went down. We’ll make sure of it. You’re as much as my responsibility as this kid is, and…”

“’S not your fault,” you croak out, still leaning heavily into Shawn. “Any of you. Crowd control means different things everywhere, especially at a venue that size, and who knew the barricades were going to snap and break. It’s not ok that they basically lied to the team though, that’s what I’m angry about. I’m ok though, shaky and in desperate need of a shower and some sleep, but not broken, not cracked. Maybe just a little worse for wear.”

Shawn wraps you up tighter, “Whatever you need tonight, baby.”

Once you’re back in the hotel, Jake safely deposits the both of you into Shawn’s room. It’s dark and quiet and you just stand in the bedroom holding each other there for a few minutes.

“Shower with me?” you ask, shifting yourself against him tightly again. “Please?”

“Let me call down for some tea first? You go get the water warm,” he whispers against the top of your head.

“Hot chocolate? With Baileys and marshmallows?” you volley back, a half smile trying to creep up your lips.

“Of course, whatever’s gonna make you feel better tonight,” he squeezes you again, before nudging you towards the bathroom. “I’ll let you steal my Leafs shirt too.”

You finally exhale fully once you’re in the bathroom. You didn’t realize you had been holding your breath that long. Or at least that’s what it was feeling like. Setting the shower a little warmer than normal, you quickly strip everything off, tossing it into the corner to deal with later. Stepping under the rainfall showerhead, you start to feel everything just sliding away, tension, the dirt, your fears. Quickly you start to wash off head to toe. You didn’t realize you had started to cry until you heard his feet splash the water against the tile behind you.

“Baby,” he half sighs half cries out, before sliding under the water to press you against him. “Let it go, let it all out. Go head, I’m here. You’re safe, pretty girl. it’s just you and me.”

You feel him start to let his emotions out as well, shaky breaths giving him away. You both stay like that, fusing together until the water starts to cool, but it’s worth it for the feeling a little semblance of getting yourself back together. Both of you.

“Let’s go get into bed with your boozy cocoa yeah?” he asks, lips against your forehead.

As he bundles you up in a towel, you realize for the first time he’s yet to kiss you kiss you since everything. You’re not sure if it’s a conscious decision, part of you thinks it is. You watch him for a moment as he towels off his hair, another balancing precariously low on his hips. He catches you, his lips trying to quirk up into a smile but it’s not quite there. He beckons you closer and you go without question.

He takes a fresh towel to blot at your hair, carefully sopping as much of the moisture away as he could.

“Can I ask you something?” you ask carefully. “You realize you haven’t really kissed me since before we walked out of the venue earlier? Not like you, baby.”

He lays the towel he was using for your hair across your shoulders, flipping the damp tresses out from underneath it. He looks intently at you for a moment before his right palm comes up to cup your cheek, thumb carefully swiping back and forth across your skin. “I couldn’t, I just…” he started before his breath caught for a minute. “I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you. It wouldn’t have happened in the first place if you weren’t here with me.”

“Hey, hey, none of that,” you say, pressing a finger across his lips. “Accidents happen. They suck. Yes, and this one, it was scary and all that shit, but it’s done. It’s over. Can you please kiss me now? Please Shawn?”

He kisses the pad of your finger, his other hand coming up to rest against your other cheek. He draws you in closer, tilting his forehead down to rest against yours. He starts slowly, softly. A whisper of a kiss across your lips, almost so light you don’t feel it at first. Then a stronger of a press before pulling away, nuzzling your nose with his. “I love you,” he whispers before letting go and really kissing you. It’s bruising, deep and wet; his tongue relentless. He’s letting everything he’s felt through this all out in this kiss. When he pulls away, you sling your arms around his waist to hold him. You head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat in your ears.

“This wasn’t your fault,” you remind him, pressing your lips against his chest. “Sweetheart, I’m here. I’m ok. We’ll take care of the logistical clusterfuck tomorrow. But for now, what I’d like? Since you said anything I need tonight. I want, I need you to love me Shawn. That’s all I’ll ever want from you, is your love.”

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes oneshot #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes angst #shawn mendes story #soft fluffy prompts

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st-crylo · 4 years

Text

Rebound

Part 10

A/N: Sorry for the late update! Anyways, this chapter has a lot of tea, so I hope you guys enjoy!

Warnings: Swearing, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, mentions of manipulation and emotional abuse

Word Count: 4.9K

Tagging: @haylaansmi @thomasscresswell @nankstasty @maybe-your-left

Masterlist

In the morning you were awoken to the smell of pancakes from the kitchen. Almost as soon as you smelt it, Phasma and Sami began to stir as well, Sami sniffing the air before letting out a sigh.

“Oh hell yes. I haven’t had pancakes in forever,” she said before sitting up and stretching before throwing off the blanket and jumping off the bed. Phasma groaned but followed suit and soon the three of you were bounding down the stairs.

The day was spent talking, gossiping, and contemplating until it was time to get ready, which was about an hour and a half before the agreed upon time to meet at your house. As you washed your face, ready to apply the makeup you had planned, you were thinking about the conversation last night. You tried your damnedest to keep it out of mind, but you couldn’t help it. Any time you weren’t talking to Sami or Phasma, your mind began to wander to Kylo again. You couldn’t help it, especially now that, since Sami brought it up, you were looking at the interactions between the two of you with a new lens.

No, you were overthinking all the looks and touches and close moments, the look in his golden eyes when he smiled at you, amused by something you said. And besides, it was too soon after Shawn for you to actually consider being in a real relationship. You decided to put it out of mind as you focused on your makeup. As you went back into your room, you sat next to Sami, who was focused as she applied a light amount of blush to her cheeks. You pulled forward your vanity mirror and began work on your own face.

When all was said and done, you had settled on a classic smokey eye, using a deep shade of blue that matched perfectly with your dress. You also settled on a dark nude lipstick. You slipped on your dress and made some final touches before turning to the others. Sami was also sliding into her green dress, dark hair curled beautifully, and Phasma looked very sophisticated in her blazer. The three of you headed for the bathroom, where you took a selfie in the mirror before heading down the stairs, where the boys were beginning to show up.

Your mom had invited them in, though she was a little hesitant around Kylo. Thankfully, though, Kylo was simply sitting at the counter, eating a cookie from a batch your mom had made, not making too much trouble.

The thoughts from earlier came rushing back to your mind when you first laid eyes on him. He was wearing a black shirt and black pants, with a midnight blue vest over the shirt, and a matching bowtie. He actually had his hair half-up into a small bun, which was somehow perfectly done, probably with help from his grandmother. The hair out of his face made his features seemed more refined, and he looked really cleaned up. You had to keep yourself from staring too hard.

Pat and Alan were both dressed nicer than you’d ever seen them, not that you’d seen much of Pat. Regardless, they were both in black as well, but Alan was wearing a red cummerbund that was a little too big for him- you wondered to yourself if it had belonged to Milo- and a matching red bowtie. Pat was almost matching with Sami, except he was wearing a sea green vest instead of the dark green Sami was wearing. The color went well with his eyes, though.

As the three of you walked into the kitchen, you plopped the bag you had ready for staying at Sami’s after Pat’s party.

“Alright, well, since the girls are here, we can go ahead and start taking some pictures!” Your mom said enthusiastically, grabbing the camera from the living room and ushering all six of you outside and onto the front lawn.

Outside, your mom arranged all six of you as the Skywalkers and Mr. Kenobi watched from their front porch, occasionally laughing as they watched the slew of awkward teenagers try to pose for a nice picture. Your mom had set you and Kylo in the middle, Kylo wrapping his arm around your shoulder, and you wrapping your arm around his waist. To the right of Kylo was Sami and Alan, and to the left of you, Pat and Phasma. You all gave your best smiles as your mom proceeded to take picture after picture until Mrs. Skywalker came in, ignoring the groan from Kylo as she decided to take pictures herself. When the older women were satisfied, the group diverged, each settling into their respective rides.

Everyone else headed for Phasma’s car, as there was way more space in there, but you headed for Kylo’s car, ready to make a spectacle at homecoming with your very handsome date. As you climbed in the car, tossing your bag of clothes into the back, you smiled at Kylo, who gave you a wink in response.

Once Kylo started the car, your mom began waving goodbye to you.

“Have fun! Text me when you get to Sami’s house!”

“Will do!” you replied as Kylo pulled out of the Skywalker’s driveway, and began driving towards the school.

“Your makeup looks good,” Kylo said as he looked forward at the road. You felt your heart flutter, but you responded in a nonchalant way.

“You don’t look too bad yourself. How come you never wear your hair like that?”

“Too much work. Besides, I look too much like a model citizen this way,” Kylo joked, causing you to laugh.

“Oh we can’t have that, can we?”

The parking lot to the school was packed full of the different cars of students. As Kylo pulled into a parking space, Phasma pulled into the one beside it, and soon all of you were climbing out of the cars, straightening yourselves out and making sure you were all presentable.

“Hope you guys don’t mind leaving early to set up for the real party. My dealer gave me some good shit this time,” Pat said as the six of you headed for the entrance to the school, which was decorated with a balloon arch.

“I don’t care. I’d rather help you set up than be here for too long,” Kylo responded, taking your hand in his. You tried to ignore the warmth on your cheeks. Shaking your head slightly, you willed those thoughts to leave your brain.

“Good man. Besides, I know Sami can get crazy with streamers,” Pat said as your group waited in line to buy your tickets.

“Oh hell yeah. Give me some streamers and I’ll make it gorgeous,” Sami responded enthusiastically. You simply laughed as you and Kylo got to the table. Kylo paid for both of your tickets, insisting that you didn’t need to pay him back.

Once all of you had gotten your tickets, you all headed for the gym, where the dance was being held. In the hallway, people standing by idly for their friends gave you and Kylo looks, some admiring Kylo, some giving you disapproving stares. You ignored them, simply standing closer to Kylo, your shoulders almost touching as you strutted the hallway down to the gym.

Once past the doors of the gym, you could feel the countless eyes on you and Kylo as the two of you led your group into the gym. You scanned the room to see who all was there when your eyes locked with Poe’s, who ran up to you, Finn in tow.

“(y/n), you look great! The two of you coordinated really well!” Poe said as he went in for a hug. You smiled and hugged him back, feeling a warmth in your heart knowing that at least not all of your old friends had given up on you. Once Poe let go, Finn brought you in for an embrace as well.

“Thanks! You guys came with Rey and them, right?” You asked the boys once Finn had let you go.

“Yeah, but Rey is dancing with the other girls. We should be getting back, though,” Poe said. He then turned to Kylo, holding out his hand. Kylo hesitated for a moment, but took it and gave Poe a shake, smiling warmly at Poe, and Poe smiled up at Kylo. You felt your chest explode with warmth and delight. Never did you think you’d see the day.

Soon, Poe and Finn were returning to the dance floor, causing Sami to come up beside you and pull you away to start dancing as well. Taken by surprise, you grabbed onto Kylo’s wrist, allowing Sami to force you into the giant group of dancing high-schoolers. You could feel the bass in your chest as you approached the speakers set up on either side of the DJ, and you decided to let go and let your body sway to the music. Grabbing Kylo’s hands, you all but forced him to move along with you, refusing to let him simply stand there in his awkward way. He was a little stiff at first, but after a while, he lightened up and let loose, allowing the music to move his body in sync with your own.

From the corner of your eye you could see Sami trying to get Alan and Pat to dance, but instead opting to dance with Phasma, who gave no fucks about who was watching her dance. You laughed as you continued to sway, and after what felt like forever, but was only an hour, you pulled Kylo along with you to get a drink.

“Tired already?” Kylo quipped as you pulled out a dollar at the table for a water bottle. You unscrewed the cap, gulping down the ice cold water before turning to face Kylo.

“Just a little hot. You want some?” You said as you offered the bottle to Kylo.

“Damn right you are,” he said before taking the water bottle from you, narrowly avoiding your playful swat at him. Kylo finished up the last of the water before tossing the bottle into the trash, and the two of you headed back to find your friends.

Your time at the actual dance was short, mostly because the six of you wanted to help set up for Pat’s party, but also Sami was beginning to complain about her shoes.

“You shouldn’t have worn heels to a dance, dumbass,” Phasma said to Sami, who turned her nose away once Phasma said that.

So, your group was leaving, climbing into their respective cars to get to Pat’s house. As you climbed into Kylo’s car, you pulled off your own shoes and rolled down the window, letting the cold air blow softly onto your face as Kylo followed behind Phasma.

Pat lived in the same neighborhood as Jordan, which wasn’t all that surprising to you. As Kylo pulled into the driveway, you noted how Pat’s house had the same kind of opulence as Jordan’s had as well. This told you that there was probably going to be a good number of people at this party.

“Alright, Sami is in charge of streamers. Sami, choose your team members,” Pat said as he unlocked the front door, turning on the lights to the large foyer.

“Phas and (y/n),” Sami replied almost instantly.

“Alright, then me, Kylo, and Alan will set up the drinks,” Pat said before tossing a bag of streamers that was hanging on the rail post of the stairs. Sami then ran off into the living room, beckoning for you and Phasma to follow her.

It took about twenty minutes to get the streamers set up, and as soon as the three of you were done, someone rang the doorbell. After that, streams of people seemed to pour into the large house, filling every single space in the house. Pat had hooked up some music to the speaker system in the living room, and had moved all the furniture to give people an opportunity to dance more than they already had.

“C’mon, let’s get drinks!” Sami said, and you followed her into the kitchen, where people were pouring themselves drinks into red solo cups. You rolled your eyes at the simplicity of it. Sami looked through the various bottles and decided to settle on Fireball, pouring each of you a shot. As she did so, you quickly texted a message to your mom, telling her that you were all at Sami’s now.

“To senior year,” she started, raising her glass. “May this year be full of memories, and may all of them be great!” After Sami’s toast, you all clinked shot glasses before dumping them down your throats. The alcohol burned as it slid down your throat, and the cinnamon taste was invigorating, clearing your sinuses with its strength.

It didn’t take long after your shot for Sami to make you a mixed drink, a graciously strong margarita, or a Phasma said, tequila with a drop of triple sec. You took a sip from it and tried not to gag at its strength, but very clearly failing as Phasma began to laugh hysterically. After that, the three of you headed to the living room, where you each began to dance to, in your opinion, the much better selection of music than had been at homecoming.

After two more of Sami’s margarita’s, each one tasting better than the last, you wandered out to the back deck to get some fresh air, needing a space to breath that wasn’t filled with the smell of liquor and weed. As soon as you stepped outside, the cool air hit your face, and you leaned against the railing of the deck, overlooking the backyard as you stood in thought. Your tipsy mind wandered back to your possible feelings for Kylo. You simply couldn’t help it, if you didn’t have anything else to think about, you thought about him.

You couldn’t lie, he looked good tonight, you would even go so far as to call him hot, though you shook that thought out of your mind. It didn’t stop you from thinking about how nice it was to dance with him though, to have his body sway with yours in sync with the rhythm of the music. It also didn’t help that his golden eyes would make eye contact with yours every once. Each time, it had struck like lightning straight to your heart. Groaning, you rubbed your face, trying to quell the blush on your cheeks. At least you’d be able to blame it on the alcohol.

“There you are,” came a familiar baritone voice, causing you to whip around, almost falling in the process. Kylo laughed as he approached you, though he was a little less smooth in his motions than usual. “Been lookin for ya.”

“You alright?” you asked as you noted the weird uppity tone to his voice.

“Yeah, just a lil tipsy. We finished a bottle of vodka before people started getting here,” Kylo admitted as he leaned his back against the railing of the deck.

“A whole bottle between the three of you?” you asked, incredulous.

“Nah, just me and Pat. Alan’s been warned off vodka by Milo,” he said, looking down at you. Though it was dark outside, Kylo’s eyes had a certain glimmer to them, and you couldn’t help but feel mesmerized. It had your heart beating heavily in your chest.

“You’re gonna get alcohol poisoning that way, y’know,” you said, letting out a laugh to relieve some of the ache in your chest.

“Well you don’t seem much better, what did Sami make this time, some horrible whiskey and beer combination?” he said, smirking at you. You playfully and weakly punched at his arm, causing him to laugh.

“No, it was a couple of margs. At least, that’s what Sami said they were,” you told him.

“Sami’s gonna give us all alcohol poisoning,” Kylo mused before letting out a sigh. “Wanna go dance?”

Your heart pounded as you simply gave a nod, and soon Kylo was dragging you back into the house, pushing through the crowd of people to get to the small makeshift dance floor in the living room.

If you thought dancing at homecoming was intense, dancing drunk like this with Kylo was almost painful. He was a lot more comfortable this time, the alcohol melting away his inhibitions as he placed his hands on your hips, and let you lead him with the sway of the music. You had your arms around his neck, bringing you dangerously close to his chest, his warmth radiating off of him, no doubt aided by the intense amounts of alcohol. Dancing with Kylo like this was electric, and as you looked into his eyes, you could feel your heart begin to pound faster. Whether or not it was love or lust, you didn’t care, you just loved the intensity of it.

The rest of the night, you were practically attached to Kylo at the hip. After he decided he was thirsty again, he pulled you to the kitchen with him, where he poured you both a drink, opting to make screwdrivers for the two of you. You gulped down the drink, not caring about the burning of the alcohol as your thirst was quenched

“Hey, Kylo, Pat’s looking for you, he just rolled a joint,” Alan’s voice said from the entryway of the kitchen. Kylo simply nodded in response, bringing you along to find Pat.

Pat had hidden away in his room with a couple of people you didn’t recognize. As Kylo walked in, he took a seat on Pat’s bed, sitting you on his lap as Pat lit the joint. The joint was passed around the circle twice before it was finished. With each hit you took, you let the sweet yet herbal taste swirl around your mouth before passing it to Kylo, who always took small drags before passing it back to Pat, who was sitting beside him. Soon, Pat was rolling another joint, talking about what felt like nonsense to your ears as you took your drags each time the joint was passed back to you. After the second joint, you decided you were thirsty again, and so you left your spot on Kylo’s lap and headed back downstairs in the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly, Sami was in the kitchen, pouring herself another drink, but nearly spilling it when she saw you, letting out a loud gasp.

“There you are! I guess you’ve been with loverboy, huh?” she said very loudly, causing you to shush her, taking the drink from her hand and gulping some down. Once again, you had to keep yourself from gagging at the intensity of the alcohol.

“Maybe. And maybe you shouldn’t be drinking anymore. I think this is just straight alcohol,” you said, laughing.

“No! Phas is driving us home anyways, she only had the one shot. Besides, Mom’s out of town, I can drink as much as I please, I-uh oh.”

You turned to see what had gotten Sami’s attention, and all you saw was a girl about your age, maybe older, wearing a crop top and some short shorts. Her hair was a deep red, one that was definitely not her natural color, and her skin was extraordinarily pale. She looked familiar, but you couldn’t quite place where you’d seen her before. Your being cross-faded really didn’t help either.

“Who is that?” you asked Sami before Sami grabbed your wrist, pulling you into the bathroom with her, closing the door and locking it. You were confused by her actions, but decided to go with it anyways. Once Sami closed the top to the toilet, she sat down and let out a sigh.

“Where’s Kylo?” she asked, the tone in her voice much more serious.

“Smoking with Pat in his room, why?”

Sami let out another sigh before looking up at you.

“That’s Stella, his ex.”

Realization dawned on you, but you were still stumped on one thing.

“She looks familiar, have I met her before? I know Kylo never showed me a picture of her.” Sami looked deep in thought before her face turned to a frown.

“I never got around to telling you, but Stella is the girl from the picture.”

You turned around just in time to throw up in the sink. Your stomach felt like it had dropped all the way to the floor, and you couldn’t stop yourself from heaving in the sink. Sami quickly jumped up with some toilet paper in hand, wiping away at the corners of your mouth once you stopped. You felt dizzy, like the world was spinning, and you felt yourself sink to the floor. You weren’t sure how to feel, or even how to process what you’d just been told.

“I’m sorry,” Sami said, sitting down beside you. “I should have told you earlier, but it’s definitely her in the picture.”

“It’s okay. My reaction would probably be a little better if I weren’t piss drunk,” you said with a laugh.

“Even so, I can imagine that’s a lot to process. I don’t get why she’s here, I don’t think Pat would have invited her,” Sami said, scratching at the top of her head.

“I mean, he invited Hux, who we have yet to see, so is it really above him?” you offered.

“No, it isn’t. I often wonder why Milo and Kylo even hang out with Pat. He can be really shitty sometimes. Maybe it’s just for the weed.” You laughed, but then you turned to Sami, a more serious look on your face.

“How did Kylo meet Stella?”

Sami let out a sigh before running a hand through her dark hair.

“I used to go to Corellia High, but I got mixed up with the wrong crowd, so my mom moved us to Mos Eisley my sophomore year. Stella was one of my friends in Corellia, we practically grew up together. I didn’t realize what kind of person she was becoming, and I didn’t realize that it was her my mom didn’t really want me seeing anymore, so we kept hanging out. Well, when I met Milo and everyone else, I introduced them to Stella. From the get go, Stella had her eyes on Kylo. She really wanted to corrupt him further, and kind of test his loyalty to her. I knew she was really just toying with him, but I hoped maybe he could ground her. Instead, she made him become a lot more unstable. Kylo’s issues were already pretty bad, according to Milo, but Stella made them worse. She always told him shit like his parents didn’t care about him, that he had to take care of himself, and that she was the only one who really loved him. At one point, the two of them would always blow us all off to be with each other.

“Well, at one point, I tried to sit down with Kylo, to tell him that Stella wasn’t really good for him, and he lost it at me. It was the only time I’ve ever seen Milo and Kylo physically fight before. Milo punched Kylo, and Stella used it as proof that the only one who cared for him was her. At this point they were dating for about a year. Well, Jordan was at a party in Corellia, and that’s where she saw Stella all over Hux. Kinda like what that person did for you, Jordan snapped a pic and sent it to all of us. It broke Kylo. It was the only thing that got him to snap out of the trance she’d put him in, but it broke him. That first two weeks after, we were really worried about Kylo’s safety, but thankfully he just stayed home. He apologized to all of us for how he’d acted while he was with her, and he had Milo help him break up with her. Naturally, she didn’t like that, so she started to blame me for meddling into her business. She called me a jealous bitch, and that was the last time I talked to her. As for Kylo, it took awhile for him to really open up to any of us again. He trusted us, but not fully yet, after all, she had convinced him that we didn’t care about him. It wasn’t until right before he got arrested that he really opened up like before.”

You took in all of Sami’s words, processing the story, your heart aching for Kylo. Though there were definitely things you could understand about Kylo’s own story, at least Shawn had never convinced you that your friends and family didn’t care about you.

You were about to say something when there was a pounding on the bathroom door.

“Sami, (y/n), are you guys in here?” came Alan’s voice, muffled by the door.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Sami called.

“You gotta take Kylo to your place. He’s belligerent, and he’s about to start a fight with Hux,” Alan responded. You looked at Sami before the two of you helped each other out, stepping out of the bathroom and following Alan to the foyer, where everyone had fallen silent. At the door, you could see a man close in height to Kylo standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, a smug look on his face. You could already tell by looking at him that you didn’t like him. Across from him, and closer to the three of you was Kylo, feet spread apart and shoulders hunched like he was ready to fight.

“I’ve had enough of your shit, Armitage. Why don’t you run back to piggy daddy and tell on mean old Kylo again?” Kylo yelled, his voice filled with hostility. You felt yourself sobering up as you pushed past people to get to Kylo. As you reached him, you also realized that Stella was hanging on Hux’s arm.

“Kylo, there’s no need to be that way,” she said, but in her eyes you could tell she was enjoying the chaos and the attention.

“You shut the fuck up! Don’t fucking talk to me!” Kylo practically spat at her. It was then that you placed a hand on Kylo’s shoulder, causing the tension in his shoulders to fall away. He turned to look at you, relief in his eyes.

“Come on, let’s go,” you said softly, taking his hand into yours. He simply nodded before being led towards the door by you, Sami following behind, and Phasma appearing behind her. You were almost out the door without incident when you heard a scoff from Hux as you passed by him.

“Of course. Run away so that Mommy can fix everything for you again.”

It happened in a flash, but Kylo let go of your hand and swung on Hux, leaving his nose bleeding.

“Oops, my hand slipped,” was all Kylo said before he threw the door open and headed outside.

The ride to Sami’s house was quiet, the faint sound of the radio playing being the only thing to distract from the tension in the air as Phasma kept her eyes on the road, and Sami did the same. In the back seat of Phasma’s car, you sat upright, and Kylo laid his head on your lap. Trying to help calm him, you ran your fingers through his slick hair that had been nice and neat only hours ago.

Sami’s house was a quaint little house, not unlike your own home, though maybe a tad bigger. It had a very homey feel to it, as you stepped through the front door, looking at the quaint little way the house was decorated.

“My mom’s really basic. Anyways, Kylo, you’re sleeping on the couch. Let me get you some water and some blankets. (y/n), do you want to stay down here with him, or sleep in my room with me and Phas?” Sami said as soon as everyone was inside. You held onto your bag of clothes, thinking for a moment before replying.

“I’ll stay down here and keep an eye on him,” you told her. She simply nodded, heading to the kitchen and coming back with two glasses on water. She handed one to you, and one to Kylo. You gladly gulped down the water, grateful for a drink that wasn’t alcohol. Kylo sipped on it a little, but kept it in his hands, waiting on Sami to bring blankets. When Sami went upstairs the first time, Phasma followed, momentarily leaving the two of you alone.

“You can sleep on the couch,” Kylo said before taking another sip of his water.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll just make a little pallet on the floor,” you insisted, but Kylo shook his head.

“I want you to take the couch.�� With a shrug, you simply nodded.

Sami came back soon with an immense pile of blankets and some pillows.

“Okay, this is a pull out couch, there should be room for both of you,” Sami said, giving you a look that you tried to ignore. Sami pulled out the couch and set up the pillows for the two of you.

“Goodnight,” she said before disappearing upstairs. You settled into the mattress, pulling a generous amount of blankets over yourself. Kylo also climbed on, laying a little too close to you, but you didn’t mind. Once the two of you were settled, you were looking into each others eyes. Kylo’s were an ocean filled with emotion, but they were no less beautiful in your eyes.

“(y/n)? Thanks for being there for my dumb ass,” Kylo said softly. You simply gave him a small smile before letting out a sigh.

“I’ll always be there for you.”

With that, Kylo reached a hand forward, caressing your face gently before leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on your lips.

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theres-no-protocol-for-this · 4 years

Text

Kitties Afoot

At some point, this started a discussion about Murderbot in the present as a cat. It has since become something else entirely, and I don’t regret a thing. So, I guess, stary kitty meets almost-stray human.

There’s more written, but I haven’t edited the rest and I’m not sure I trust Tumblr with anything longer.

I came home to find a giant, scrawny feline curled up on my front porch. The black and gray creature lay on top of the welcome mat with its paws tucked under its shivering body. It looked huge for a cat but not big enough for a mountain lion, and it didn’t look like a kitten. The strange animal was malnourished; as I approached, I could count the poor baby’s ribs with each shuddering breath it took.

“Shit,” I whispered and checked my phone.

It was well into the evening and getting colder outside with each passing moment. The kitty looked up when I got to my front steps. Bright blue eyes stared at me as the creature scrunched up, making itself as small as possible.

“Hey, it’s all right,” I said as soothingly as I could. “I won’t hurt you. Let me get you inside before the weather turns nasty.”

Not that I thought the cat would understand me, but I was used to talking to animals. Before Tasha had passed away earlier that year, I had always had pets at home. I’d spoken to the family dog as a child and to my ex-boyfriend’s two ferrets. And, of course, Tasha the Princess never shut up. Most days, I still woke up expecting to find her dozing on my head.

I set my backpack on the ground, slipped out of my sweater, and wrapped the warm clothing around the shivering kitty. It tried to claw me through the thick fabric but didn’t get very far, though I caught a good look at its sharp talons. I held it in my arms and did my best to navigate the front door. The cat must’ve weighed twenty pounds, but it was probably all muscle and grump.

Inside, I set it down on a folded blanket on the couch and went looking for a heating pad. September was a little early to be getting out the winter stuff. Still, the kitty wouldn’t stop shivering, and I wanted to warm it up as quickly as possible.

The furball stayed put and watched me from its new comfortable perch. Its sleek fur was pitch black, the color of raven wings, but its paws were gray, as was its stomach. I couldn’t tell if the cat was male or female, and I wasn’t going to peek between its legs to find out.

Once I had the heating pad in place, I put a couple of Tasha’s bowls on the coffee table and scooted the table right up to the couch. From here, the kitty had to only shift its weight to reach the water and wet cat food. Everything about the situation was weird, from the cat’s knowing glances to the constant reminders that Tasha was gone.

I scrolled through my contacts and found the phone number of a family veterinarian. It was too late to call Dr. Hopkins now, but I sent him a quick message and asked for an urgent appointment. If the kitty survived the night, and I had a sneaking suspicion the grumpy monster wasn’t going down without a fight, it would need medical attention.

The cat shifted restlessly on its pile of blankets, so I turned on the television. Tasha had loved those stupidly endless videos on YouTube where the camera was trained on a tree stump where birds came to feed. This cast couldn’t care less. It didn’t even notice the TV until I turned on a food documentary episode on Netflix.

I went to make myself a snack in the kitchen and noticed the cat half watching me and half paying attention to whatever it saw on the television. Like I said, weird cat.

My home is tiny, a two-story townhome with an unfinished basement that occasionally floods. I’d gotten lucky with the place; I’d been sharing it with a roommate who suddenly had to move cross-country, and she paid for her share of the mortgage for three months. And then I’d found a decent manager job at a local cafe that let me keep the place.

I hummed while puttering around the kitchen. It was too late for a proper dinner, and I wasn’t hungry anyway. And I couldn’t drink coffee that late in the evening, not if I planned to get any sleep. The kitty drank some water from the closest bowl and then closed its eyes.

Asleep, it could almost pass for a house cat.

Up close, though, there was no mistaking that it was a wild creature. Its ears followed my motions even while it dozed. I turned up the heater for the night and then sat on the other side of the couch, giving the strange feline plenty of space. To my surprise, it stretched out a bit once I was sitting down like it didn’t mind the company so long as said company kept a respectable distance.

***

I don’t remember falling asleep on the couch, but that’s where I woke up the following morning. I sat pressed against one of the couch’s plush arms, legs tucked under me. There was a blanket draped over me that I didn’t remember grabbing. The strange cat lay curled up a few inches from my left foot; I could swear it was purring slightly.

As soon as I moved, uncurling my stiff legs, it got up and jumped off the couch. Standing next to the coffee table, it was apparent just how big it was for a feline. It trotted over to the front door like it owned the place. Standing on its back paws, the cat had no trouble reaching the handle, though it didn’t have the thumbs needed to operate it.

I stood up, followed it, and opened the door for it. “You’re pretty smart for a kitty,” I said as it jumped out onto the front porch. “You gonna be OK, little guy?”

“Meow,” said the cat and vanished into the bushes next to the porch steps.

“Bye, kitty!”

I went back inside but didn’t close the front door. It seemed stupid in retrospect. What kind of person leaves the door open for anyone to stroll inside? But it was Friday and my one day off, so I made coffee in the kitchen and texted with my mother. And maybe hoped that my feline companion might return.

My mother lives halfway across the country in a memory care facility. I can’t say I love my mother — that would be a bald faced lie — but we still text occasionally. I know that my stepfather is taking good care of her, and I love him dearly.

That morning, she was showing off a watercolor painting that she’d created that week. She told me she’d never been to the beach before, and I had to put the phone down for ten minutes before I could answer. Mom and I had vacationed at the beach every year while Dad was still alive. She’d painted a sunset over those turbulent waters.

Sniffling, I cradled my mug and tried not to let the tears fall. I should’ve known better by then, but it still stung every time.

I was still struggling to keep my composure when I heard the sound of claws on the linoleum. Tasha had loathed coming into the kitchen because it wasn’t carpeted, and the drama queen just hadn’t liked the feel of it under her little kitty feet.

Giant Cat had no such compunctions. It stood a few feet out of reach, watching me with those soulful eyes until I had to look away. Sniffling, I rubbed at my face and forced myself to smile.

“Hey there, furball. Back for more food?”

“Meow.”

I opened a can of wet food — if I was going to feed this beast, I would need to get more immediately — and poured the contents into a bowl. After setting the bowl on the floor, I stepped away from it and perched on a counter, watching the cat.

I walked over to the bowl, sniffed at it a few times, and then devoured the food like it was starving. When it was done, it licked its lips and, in one mighty leap, jumped onto the counter. Where it sat down and nuzzled the toaster.

Tasha had never mastered the art of climbing on the furniture. Anything taller than a couch had warranted a loud, obnoxious mew until I came over and picked her up. Not this cat. It seemed perfectly capable of getting up to wherever the fuck it wanted.

“How about a trip to the vet?” I asked. “Just to make you’re not all scratched up inside.”

“Hiss,” said the cat.

I rolled my eyes and giggled. “Not a fan of vets, huh?”

“Hiss.”

“Right.” I finished my coffee in three big gulps. “Of course not. Though, to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of doctors, either.” Mom had seen so many doctors after she’d first gotten sick that I loathed the smell of disinfectant now.

Kitty jumped off the counter after sniffing at the coffee maker and my box of tea samples and went exploring. Like it owned the place, it wandered into the laundry room and then up the stairs into my bedroom. I rinsed out my coffee mug and followed it, curious to see what it might do next.

About half an hour later, the cat decided that it had sniffed at those things it deemed essential and returned to the living room. Hopping onto the couch, it settled on top of the blanket pile and stared between me and the television.

“Seriously?” I asked, choking back laughter.

I’d never heard of a cat that liked watching Netflix. Tasha had mostly enjoyed shows with bird noises or where things moved. Sometimes, the princess would randomly attack the TV like she hoped to catch whatever she was looking at. Meanwhile, this cat meowed at me unhappily when I turned on a bird video and didn’t stop until it saw the Netflix logo. Then, it focused on whatever action flick began playing and snuggled further into the warm blankets.

“Seriously,” I muttered again, quietly, and stood there by the banister, shaking my head.

My weird companion spent the next few hours chilling in front of the TV. Its ears would occasionally perk up when a truck passed by, but mostly it watched the show. Have you ever seen a cat watch television? Because, up until this point, I hadn’t. And I wasn’t sure what to think.

Doing chores proved somewhat tricky when I kept casting furtive glances toward the strange creature. It paid me no heed, but somehow, it seemed to know when I watched it with blatant curiosity. Like, my previous pets had been… pets. This hissy weirdo, meanwhile, was something else entirely.

Eventually, I decided that I needed to get groceries and more cat food, and generally get out of the house for a little while. During a nice, long shower, I convinced myself that I was crazy, and there was nothing weird about the kitty in my living room. Then, I came back downstairs and found the kitty nuzzling the TV remote and decided that I didn’t care.

“Wanna watch something else?” I asked.

The cat looked up at me. “Meow.”

It took me a moment to actually look at the TV and realize that the action movie had ended while I was upstairs. Kitty apparently just wanted something else to start playing. Right. Totally normal right there.

“I need to go out for a while,” I said while scrolling through the Netflix menus. The rest came out before I could think too hard about speaking to a wild animal. “I need to pick up groceries. And cat food. And honestly, I’ve worked twelve-hour shifts for the last week and a half, and I’m ready to see something other than more walls.

“So, let’s get something nice and long started, OK? So you don’t get bored while I’m out. I’m not too keen on leaving the front door open, but the back door’s not locked — I know, I know, bad habit — and you can probably just reach the handle. It’s the pull-down kind.”

“Meow.”

I turned on some kind of drama that promised at least fifteen hours of episodes. “Well, anyway. I’ll be back in a while. Tuna or chicken?”

“Meow meow.”

“Chicken it is.” I was still talking to a cat. Maybe I missed Tasha more than I’d thought. “See you later, kitty.”

#fanfic #of what i don't know #kitties afoot

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saltandburnsis · 4 years

Text

pilot, pt. 3

Characters: Dean, Sam, Reader, Joseph and Constance Welch

Age: 20

Warnings: Gun Use, Car Crash

Word Count: 2,730

Summary: You’ve stumbled upon a major break with John’s motel room, or so you’d thought. When he’s found to be long gone, you, Sam, and Dean must pick up where he’s left off. An unforeseen run-in with the local law enforcement leaves you and Sam stuck working without Dean. Will it lead to more disaster or push you both in the direction you need to go to fix your relationship?

A/N: All dialogue taken from the show will be in italics. Part 4 will be the final part!

~ ~ ~ ~

You were frozen in the doorway, staring at the covered walls of the motel room before you. Sam and Dean stepped into the room, Dean turning on the lamp placed the end table while Sam went to get a closer look at some of the papers. Dean grabbed the half-eaten burger on the end table and sniffed it, recoiling at the smell.

“I don’t think he’s been here for a couple days at least,” he sighed, dropping the food back in its spot. Finally, you were able to walk into the space, looking down at the floor as you stepped through.

“Salt, cat’s-eyes shells. He was worried, trying to keep something from coming in,” you mused, making your way over to Dean, who was now reading over some of the papers on the wall by the lamp. Sam looked over at the two of you then quickly crossed the space.

“What do you got here?” he asked.

“Centennial Highway victims,” Dean replied. Sam began walking around the space again, this time really looking over each and every paper and surface he passed. Dean spoke again: “I don’t get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There’s always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?”

It was silent for a few minutes as the three of you continued reading over everything John had compiled. You heard a light behind you click as Sam turned the second lamp on but continued reading from the paper before you, only turning when you heard Sam scoff.

“Dad figured it out.” The words fell from his lips, sounding more like he was annoyed rather than relieved at the idea.

“What do you mean?” Dean questioned. The two of you turned around to look at Sam but remained where you were.

“He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She’s a Woman in White,” Sam revealed. Dean looked back at the victims on the wall.

“You sly dogs. Alright, so, if we’re dealing with a Woman in White, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it.”

“She might have another weakness,” you spoke up. Dean shook his head.

“No, Dad would want to make sure. He’d dig her up,” Dean countered. He walked over to Sam, looking at the papers. “Does it say where she’s buried?”

“No, not that I can tell. If I were Dad, though, I’d go ask her husband…if he’s still alive.” Sam pointed to a picture of the grieving man from the article.

“Alright, why don’t you see if you can find an address. Y/N and I’ll go clean up.” Dean dug your room key out of his pocket and tossed it to you before heading towards the bathroom. Thankfully, the owner’d made you pay for a room before giving you any more information about your father’s room. No fighting over who’d get to shower first and a space all to yourself—even for ten minutes—sounded like heaven. As you turned toward the door, Sam cleared his throat.

“Hey. What I said earlier about Mom and Dad— I’m sorry.”

“No chick-flick moments,” Dean quickly replied, putting his hand up to stop Sam from continuing further.

“Alright, jerk.”

“Bitch,” Dean shot back. You shook your head, offering up one word before walking out of the room: “Freaks.”

———————

Three hard raps on the front door shook you out of your thoughts as you finished drying your hair with the scratchy motel towel. You remained silent. That wasn’t Dean’s knock, and you were certain it wouldn’t be Sam. You slowly dropped the towel and went to the toilet, quickly climbing onto the seat to get a full view out of the window. The coast was clear, but you could see the back end of the police cruiser parked in front of the building. Shit.

Another three raps on the front door. You stepped off the toilet and grabbed all of your belongings before climbing back up and sliding out the window. The fall was short and easy, nothing compared to your swan dive off the bridge. You slipped into the sparse woods behind the building and pulled your cell phone out of your pocket. Sam’s number flashed across your screen the moment you were about to call Dean. You ducked behind a tree and answered the call.

“Five-o, dude. You guys gotta get out of there,” you spoke before Sam could.

“I know, I know. They grabbed Dean—“

“Son of a bitch.”

“Where are you?” Sam asked.

“There’s a bit of woods behind the rooms. I’m about ten feet in. I should be out of sight, but I still have a view of the lot.” You glanced back at the cruiser, ducking back behind the tree when you saw two officers throw Dean in the back. “They’re going to be coming after us, you know.”

“The two of ‘em at least are gonna take Dean back first.” Sam emerged in the woods and you hung up your phone.

“Yeah, well, finding him in a room covered in information on all those missing person cases isn’t going to bode well.” Sure, Dean had gotten himself out of stickier situations before, but it only took things going wrong once to get him hauled away for god knows how long.

“Let’s just focus on finding Dad. Dean can take care of himself,” Sam reminded. You nodded and looked back at the parking lot. The cruiser had driven off shortly after Sam had reached you, and so the two of you snuck your way back to the parking lot and over to the Impala in record time. Sam slid in the driver’s seat and you the passenger’s seat, and the two of you were off on the road before anyone could catch sight of you.

———————

“Yeah, he was older, but that’s him,” Joseph Welch spoke, walking back to the Impala with you and Sam. He handed the picture of a younger John, Sam, Dean, and you back to Sam. “He came by three or four days ago, said he was a reporter.”

“That’s right. We’re working on a story together,” Sam replied, sliding the picture back into his pocket.

“Well, I don’t know the hell kind of story you’re working on—the questions he asked me.”

“About your late wife, Constance,” you mused, fiddling with the strap on the camera around your neck. Honestly, the places you got into with a fake press badge and the old, broken camera were baffling to you.

“He asked me where she was buried.”

“And where is that again?” Sam pressed.

“What, I got to go through these twice?” Joseph questioned.

“It’s fact-checking,” you reassured him. “If you don’t mind.”

“In a plot behind my old place over on Breckenridge,” Joseph answered after taking a deep breath.

“Why did you move?” Sam asked. Joseph looked up at him incredulously before replying, his voice shaking.

“I’m not gonna live in the house where my children died.” The three of you stopped once you’d reached the Impala, and Sam turned to face Joseph.

“Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?”

“No way. Constance—she was the love of my life. Prettiest woman I ever known.”

“So you had a happy marriage.” Sam pretended to summarize. Of course, the two of you knew that was false, or else you wouldn’t have the Woman in White on your hands. Joseph was quiet, staring up at Sam. A quick shake of his head, however, pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Definitely,” he answered. Sam nodded.

“Well, that should do it. Thanks for your time.” He walked over to the car with you and unlocked it. But, neither of you reached for the door handles. Instead, you looked at each other, having a silent conversation with your eyes. The two of you used to be so good at reading each other, which worked in your favor in moments like these. Joseph turned to go back to the house, but you called after him.

“Mr. Welch, have you ever heard of a Woman in White?” you asked. Joseph looked back at you, eyes narrowed in confusion.

“A what?”

“A Woman in White, or sometimes a Weeping Woman. It’s a ghost story. Well, it’s more of a phenomenon, really.” You started walking towards him, Sam following close behind. “They’re spirits. They’ve been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places in Hawaii and Mexico. Lately in Arizona, Indiana. All these are different women, you understand, but all share the same story.”

“Girl, I don’t care much for nonsense,” Joseph spat. He spun on his heel and began walking back towards his house. You and Sam followed him

“You see, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them, and these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children,” Sam continued your thought. At this, Joseph stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at you two.

“Then, once they realized what they had done, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking backroads, waterways,” you picked up where Sam had left off.

“And if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him. And that man is never seen again,” Sam finished. Joseph looked between the two of you

“You think…you think that has something to do with Constance, you smartasses?” He took a few steps towards Sam.

“You tell me,” Sam spoke calmly.

“I mean, maybe—maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance never would have killed her own children,” Joseph’s voice was shaking again, this time seemingly from a mixture of his anger and sadness. “Now, you two get the hell out of here, and you don’t come back.” He looked between the two of you, jaw clenched and lip quivering, before turning his back on you. You looked up at Sam for a moment before walking to the car.

——————

Sam grabbed his phone as you sped down the road and, after a quick glance at the caller ID, flipped it open and put it on speaker. Dean’s voice immediately came through.

“Nice call on the fake 911 call.”

“Get this. It was all Sam’s idea,” you informed Dean, smiling over at Sam before turning your attention back to the road.

“I don’t know, Sammy. That’s pretty illegal,” Dean said. Sam chuckled.

“You’re welcome.”

“Listen, we gotta talk,” Dean started.

“Tell me about it,” you held your hand out for the phone, taking it when Sam handed it over. “So, the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a Woman in White. She’s buried behind her old house, so that should be Dad’s next stop—“

“Y/N, would you shut up for a second?” Dean interjected, but you were talking a mile a minute, trying to relay all in information to your brother, think and keep a steady hand on the wheel at the same time.

“We just can’t figure out why he hasn’t destroyed the corpse yet,” you mused.

“Well, that’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Dean interrupted again. “He’s gone. Dad left Jericho.”

“What? How do you know?” Sam asked.

“I’ve got his journal.”

“He doesn’t go anywhere without that thing.”

“Yeah, well, he did this time.”

“What’s it say?” you asked, grip tightening on the wheel.

“Same old ex-marine crap when he wants to let us know where he’s going.”

“Coordinates,” you breathed out, shaking your head.

“Where to?” Sam asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Dean replied.

“Dean, what the hell is going on?” Sam was exasperated. You sighed, then jumped half out of your seat when a woman appeared on the road in front of you. Constance.

“Whoa!” You jumped, slamming on the brakes. Your grip on the wheel tightened even more, your knuckles turning a ghostly white. The car went right through her. Once you were fully stopped, you slowly sat back, letting out a long, shaky breath. You shot a quick look at Sam to make sure he was alright, then turned your attention to the rear-view. As soon as your eyes met Constance’s ghostly figure, she spoke.

“Take me home.” Her eyes were locked on Sam’s figure. You looked over to him, pursing your lips. Constance spoke again, her voice angrier. “Take me home.”

“No,” Sam stated firmly. Immediately, all the locks went down into the doors. You reached for your lock while Sam reached for his. While you were turned away from the wheel, the car began driving down the road. As hard as you tried, you couldn’t stop it, and neither of you could leave.

Shortly, you arrived at the old, dilapidated house. The car rolled to a stop then shut off. You stared out the windshield, trying to devise a plan.

“Don’t do this,” Sam spoke up.

“I can never go home,” Constance spoke.

“You’re scared to go home,” Sam corrected. He turned to look at her, but she’d vanished. You both looked around the space, and she quickly appeared on top of Sam, pinning him down on the seat.

“Hold me. I’m so cold.”

“You can’t kill me,” Sam struggled against her. “I’m not unfaithful. I’ve never been.” Constance leaned in close to him.

“You will be.” With that, she pressed her lips to his.

“Oh, that’s sick,” you couldn’t help but comment. Reflexively, you searched your pockets for your gun, but it must have gone flying when you’d slammed on the brakes. Your hands found it under the seat just as you heard Sam begin groaning in pain.

“Y/N!” He was able to get out. You looked over to see her hand in his chest, face morphed into something truly evil. Without another thought, you began shooting at her form. She disappeared just long enough for you to finally get a grip on the situation—now that she wasn’t holding your brother’s life in her hand. Finally, it clicked. You dropped your gun and started the car.

“I’m taking you home, bitch.” You slammed your foot onto the gas pedal and launched the car forward, crashing through the front of the house.

“Sam! Y/N!” Dean called, running inside. He ran to the passenger side and looked in. “You okay?”

“Fine,” you replied, crawling out of the car through the window after you were unable to get the door open through all the debris.

“Yeah, help me,” Sam answered. Dean helped him out through his door.

“There you go,” he stated as he got Sam up in his feet. You eyed Constance carefully, unsure of her next move, as you walked over to them. Constance threw the picture she had been holding down on the ground before looking to the three of you. She stepped out of the way and sent a large dresser across the room, pinning the three of you against the car. You groaned and tried to push it away, unsuccessfully.

Suddenly, the electricity began to crackle, lights flickering all around the space. Even Constance looked around, unsure of the cause. Water began to trickle down the stairs, and Constance looked to the top.

“You’ve come home to us, Mommy,” two young voices called out. You watched on as the two children appeared at the bottom of the stairs. They hugged Constance, and the three of them disappeared into the ground beneath them, Constance screaming and changing shape the whole way down. Finally, the three of you could push the dresser away and move away from the car. Dean led you and Sam over to the spot where the ghosts had vanished.

“So, this is where she drowned her kids,” Dean said, staring down at the wet spot.

“That’s why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them,” Sam added.

“You found her weak spot.”

“Nice work, Y/N.” Sam smiled weakly down at you.

“Thanks, Sammy. Couldn’t have done it without you, though.” You hit his chest, smiling, before following Dean over to the Impala.

“Ah!” Sam laughed through the pain then looked over at you. “But, what were you thinking, shooting Casper in the face, you freak?”

“Hey, saved your ass,” you shot back, still grinning. Dean looked up from inspecting the car.

“I’ll tell you another thing, Y/N. If you screwed up my car, I’ll kill you,” he threatened. You rolled your eyes, laughing softly.

“Oh, come on. I crash a car through a house one time…”

—————--

SPN rewrite taglist: @mrsfortune1306 @marvelous-glims

forever taglist: @griff1ndor @gothsatanicrapunzel @choosemyname @mersuperwholocked-lowlife @not-astounding @sassy-specter @vicmc624 @idksupernatural

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creativeskullcreations · 4 years

Text

HTaHHQ Episode 1: First Meetings(part 2)

Okay, so this was originally gonna be a two part thing, but part two ran long so now it's gonna be a three parter! Which is fine, since each "episode" is gonna be it's own little fic anyways, though it does mean a little more time before I can work on Outside again. Shouldn't take too long though, as part three is already written out and just needs edited.

Stacy was vaguely aware that Lydia and Riley could turn their attention to her any moment, but she remained frozen. She stared, with wide eyes, at the space where Riley's puppeteer should've been. Rather than a human, like there should've been, there was instead a strange, wheeled, metal stand. Between the wheels was a joint of some sort, since the stand was tilted forward as Riley leaned over the counter

'WHAT THE SHIT?!' Stacy stared silently, hand resting on the fallen beaker as her heart pounded in her ears. 'Are all of them like this?! Was Mortimer?!' She swallowed thickly. 'What was really on that paper he wanted me to sign?!'

The stand started to tilt back, and Stacy quickly stood up, beaker in hand. Without a word she put it back in place and quickly left the room, shoving her hands into her shorts pockets to keep them from shaking.

Luckily, nobody seemed to have noticed, as they simply restarted the scene without saying anything to her about anything. Taking advantage, she rushed to the bathroom, locking herself in one of the stalls.

'-shitshitshitshitshit-' Was the current commentary going through her head at the moment as she paced in the small space. Her hands covered her mouth to keep the sobs in as tears streamed down her face and she tried to will herself to stop crying. 'I can't! I can't stay here! Oh god...' She sniffed, rubbing at her eyes and sitting on the closed toilet lid. 'I want to go home...'

"Hey! Hey, Human!" Stacy's head snapped up just in time for something to fall on her face. She flinched and it slid off, landing on her lap and giving her a good look at it. It looked like a rather large hand puppet, like the ones given to the guest children at the end of filming. Only this one was moving on it's own, like Riley and, possibly, the others.

"Uh..." Was all Stacy could think of to say. It had snapped her out of... whatever that was, but this was yet another Puppet. Granted, it was certainly more adorable than the others, but still...

"Why are you in here? Shouldn't you be out there, doing Human stuff?" It -she, she had a female voice- asked, "standing" up in her lap. When she started to tip over, Stacy reached out a hand to help keep her steady.

'I felt like I was literally going to die because I discovered you guys have no puppeteers.' Yeah, no. She wasn't going to answer with that. "Well, this is the bathroom, so..."

"Yeah, but you aren't doing bathroom stuff. You're just crying." The Puppet dismissed, and Stacy felt vaguely offended at being called out so bluntly. "Why were you crying, anyways?"

"No reason..." 'That I will ever tell you or anyone ever.' She rubbed at her eyes, trying to get rid of the tears. "Where did you even come from, anyways?"

"The vents." She pointed up, and Stacy looked to see an open vent right above her. She would've said something about it, namely how creepy that was, when the Puppet spoke up again. "Anyways, my name's Scout! What about you?"

"Uh, Stacy. Stacy Al-Stein! Stacy Stein..." She looked back down at Scout. "What were you even doing up there?"

"Escaping, duh!" She then covered her mouth, looking almost sheepish. "Uh, please don't tell anyone, though. I'm not actually supposed to be out here right now."

"Don't worry. Nobody will hear about it from me." The girl promised. 'Not that anyone would even believe me, anyways...'

"Awesome!" The Puppet gave a open-mouthed grin that, in Stacy's opinion, killed any cuteness she had. "I'd still better go, though. Just, like, close your eyes or something."

Stacy did as asked, and felt the light weight vanish. She looked up in time to see the Puppet disappear from sight. '... That was really weird. I kinda hope I see her again before I leave, though...'

Feeling somewhat better, thought not really knowing why, the girl finished up and left the bathroom. Somehow, she felt confident enough to try and finish out the day. And, with any luck, she could convince Mary not to make her come back ever again.

Moving quickly, she managed to find Lydia again. To her relief, nobody seemed to have even noticed she was missing. Thus, she was able to smoothly rejoin Lydia as she led the kids over to the next segment.

"Ah, there you are Stacy!" She was greeted cheerfully. "We're just setting up for the next next segment. Then we've got Daisy's bit, and then it'll be time for lunch."

"Okay..." Stacy helped get the kids in place at the many different easels, making sure everyone had their markers and pads of paper. She paused briefly, staring when she saw Nick Nack helping a girl set up her paper. He was leaning over the table, showing her the proper way to put her pad on the easel. It was almost sweet, watching the usually stuck up Puppet help a kid out.

But knowing what she did now, Stacy found it pretty creepy.

But she ignored it. She helped Lydia make sure everyone had what they needed, and then moved off set so the cameras could get rolling. But even though she wasn't on set, she kept as close an eye as she could on the Puppet without being obvious. Danny was around somewhere, and like hell would she let these things get him.

The segment went as they normally did. The kids drew something and Nick Nack sang some stupid little song about being creative or something. It made Stacy scoff internally. 'I could write a much better song than that. I thought Nick was supposed to have standards.'

"Hey, kid." Lydia leaned in, trying not to be caught by the mic. "Head on over to the kitchen set and help Daisy get set up." Stacy gave her a horrified look, but it was misinterpreted. "Look, I know you're supposed to stick close to me, but she always needs the extra help. So if you could give her that today, I'll make sure she saves some pie for you, okay?"

'It's not like I have much of a choice, do I?!' The girl nodded mutely, and quietly started to sneak over to the proper set. She paused when she reached the edge, the angle allowing her to watch Daisy without being seen herself.

So far, it didn't seem the Puppet was doing anything sinister. She was just "pacing" back and forth behind her counter, setting out ingredients for whatever she would be baking on the segment. Most likely it would be pie, but from what Stacy knew she did occasionally make cake, and at one point she made donuts. She was also humming the theme song as she worked, which made her seem just a little bit more... human. At the very least, it gave Stacy enough courage to actually approach, making sure to make a bit of noise as she did so.

"Oh!" The Puppet jumped as the girl kicked a pen someone had left on the floor, turning to face her. "Well hey there Stacy! I didn't expect to see you here yet."

"Uh, Lydia said that you, y'know, might need help getting set up before all the kids showed up." She couldn't quite keep her voice from shaking, and prayed that it wasn't too obvious. Luckily, the southern belle didn't seem to notice, though Stacy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Well shoot, I sure could. Some of these assistants just put my things far too high on the shelves." She pulled a pad of paper and pen from her apron and scribbled out a quick list. "If you could just get me these out of the storage closet, I'd be ever so grateful." She handed over the list,, which Stacy took with some hesitation. "The closet is right over there, sugar. Shouldn't be too hard to find it."

"Yeah." She said, but Daisy had already moved on, disappearing from sight as she ducked under the counter. It left the girl feeling very much like character from a video-game. Still, she shook it off and went over to the closet, finding it easily as it said Kitchen Storage on the door.

Entering with only a brief hesitation, she found the entire small room completely unorganized. "Jesus Christ! Did a hurricane come in through here?!" She glanced between the list and the mess piled around her with a heavy sigh. Even though there were only three items on it, she felt her heart sink as she looked around the room. "This is gonna take forever..."

"Stacy!" Came a cry from above, followed by something soft landing on her head. The girl gave a stifled scream as the Hand Puppet from before slid off her head onto a box in front of her.

"Scout?!" She struggled to keep her voice low. "What the hell?!"

"Are you getting stuff for Mom?" The Puppet asked, "hopping" from the box she was on to a lower one.

'... Mom?' Stacy's mind went blank for a moment, trying to figure out the logistics. "Uh..."

"Cause I know where everything is in here." She climbed up onto a set of boxes set up like stairs, ending up at almost eye level with the teen. "Sometimes Bonzai likes to hide stuff, but I always know how to find it. Just tell me what you need!"

"Uh, okay!" Stacy perked up, not one to ignore a miracle when it happened. She looked over the list again to make sure she got it right. "Okay.. First thing she needs is a hand mixer."

"Over there!" Scout pointed to a shelf and Stacy made her way over. Right there, underneath a box meant for a set of mixing bowls was the mixer. She picked it up, then looked at the list again.

"She also needs some measuring spoons, and some sort of special rolling pin, I think." Stacy scratched her head, confused, but Scout nodded.

"I know what you mean! The spoons are in here, and the rolling pin is way up there." Stacy could feel her hopes shatter once again as she looked up at the tall shelf the Puppet pointed to. "But don't worry, I can get it for you. You grab the box of spoons!"

"But-" Stacy looked back, only to find Scout had vanished. "Okay, then." She picked up the box and put the mixer in it. After a moment, she also dropped the list in too, in case Daisy needed to double check.

"Look out!" Stacy caught the falling objects in the box as well, said objects being Scout and the rolling pin. "Awesome catch! Totally saved my life there." She climbed out of the box, and the girl watched in concern as she dropped to the floor.

"Uh, don't you want to, I dunno, come with?" Stacy asked as the Puppet crawled away behind some boxes.

"Nah, I got stuff to do, vents to map out." She answered flippantly as she disappeared from sight. "I'll see you later, though!" Stacy looked behind the box, but couldn't see the Puppet despite there being nowhere she could go.

"Huh..." She chose to ignore that for now and left the closet, not sure if she was leaving or entering the Twilight Zone. She went back over to where Daisy was, hefting the box up onto the counter. "Um, here you go. This is everything you needed, right?" She backed away quickly as Daisy sped over to where she was, rifling through the box.

"Yep, sure is sugar!" She had a beaming smile on her face, but it just made Stacy uncomfortable, so she looked away. "Thank you so much for your help. Now I can get everything all set up before the kids get here."

"No problem..." Stacy muttered, backing up slightly. She watched as Daisy set everything up, unsure of whether to help or not. On the other hand, it felt wrong to simply stand there doing nothing. On the other, well...

Stacy had seen the older episodes of the show. One wrong move, and she was "burnt toast, sliced thinly" as the quote went. So she just stayed back and watched, waiting in case she did need help.

In the end, however, she didn't make a move to help. Not that it mattered much, as soon Lydia had showed up with the kids, and Stacy had her hands full helping get the in their places and sitting still.

"Thank you so much for doing that." The woman muttered as they helped everyone get set up for recording. "Seriously, it's making everything go so much faster."

"No problem..." Stacy said, wondering how much worse things would've been if she hadn't helped. 'It really didn't take that long. Although Scout did help me out. Maybe they should ask her for help next time they need stuff from in there.'

She helped finish getting things set up, then hurried out of the way so they could film the segment. She sat nervously next to Lydia, watching as the kids ran around "helping" Daisy bake a pie while she sang about it. It was all very typical for the kid's show, and Stacy found herself bored again very soon.

"Y'know, after this it'll be lunch time." Lydia whispered when she noticed her fidgeting. "Why don't you head on over to the cafeteria and get something to eat. I'll meet you over there when this is done."

"Are you sure that would be okay?" Stacy questioned. It wasn't that she didn't want to leave, but what Mary or Lydia's boss might say if they saw her just "wandering" around.

"It'll be fine. If anyone complains, just tell them that I sent ya on ahead to save me a seat." The woman told her with a wink and a grin which Stacy hesitantly returned. "It's down that hallway over there, and is the big room with the big windows. You can't miss it!"

"Okay." Stacy went off in the indicated direction, dodging around a few other workers. Nobody said a thing, or even seemed to take notice of her as she made her way down the hall, easily finding the cafeteria. Looking in the large windows, she saw a buffet style set up, not unlike the one at her school. The only difference was that it looked, and smelled, far more appetizing.

She was just about to open it, when she heard voices coming from the room across the hall. Before she had even registered who exactly was talking, she was already making her way over to listen in. Carefully, she opened the door just a crack, then crouched low to look through the opening.

"I can not believe those children! They ruined my set, and refused to listen!" Stacy watched as Riley wheeled back and forth, looking and sounding madder than Stacy would've thought possible for the seemingly nice Puppet. Nick Nack also watched her from where he was leaning against a desk, looking quite bored.

"Riley, please, he knocked over one empty beaker. The new girl even picked it up for you. It's fine." He sounded exasperated, but quickly backed up with an almost fearful expression as the scientist got in his face.

"Shut up you paint covered fool! I value each and every tool!" She shouted, making Nick and even Stacy flinch back. "One day a brat will make a mistake insurance can't cover! This is why I prefer working with children that are older." She hissed out.

"Yes, well, these segments are still integral to the show. The parents love them, more than the kids I think." The artist had recovered quickly, now looking unfazed by the rant. He took a paint brush out of his pocket and examined it, making a show of not looking at his fellow Puppet. "Besides, we're recording the actual story after the humans eat, and you're on first again. So surely you can keep a hold of yourself until then."

Riley just grumbled, crossing her arms. Nick sighed, putting his brush away, and Stacy ducked to the side when he turned to face the scientist and, consequently, the door.

"What do you think of the new girl, anyways?" He asked. "She seems rather shy to me."

Riley scoffed. "It's her first day Nick Nack, and she's being taught by Lydia of all people. Just give her a week, and I'm sure she'll, uh..." Riley trailed off, and Stacy found herself trying to think of what could possibly rhyme with "people".

"Talk yourself into a corner, did you?" He asked smugly, and Stacy looked back to see the absolute smirkiest smirk on his face. Riley was on him instantly, smacking him with both hands.

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" She snarled with every hit. "At least I actually try! Not my fault you can't continue the rhymes!"

"Now you wait just a minute there!" The artist snapped as he backed away from her, but anything else he would say Stacy didn't hear, as something - or rather, someone - once again landed on her head. She snapped her head forward and caught Scout as she fell.

"Hi Stacy!" The hand Puppet greeted, a little too loudly for the girl's taste. She felt her heart stop as the argument beyond the door did, and quickly backed away.

"Hey, Scout..." She said quietly as she hurried away. The cafeteria, while not full, did have people in it. Which meant it wasn't a good hiding spot so long as she had Scout with her. Instead she ducked around the corner, hoping the two Puppets wouldn't be curious enough to look very far. Her heart sank when she noticed it was a dead end, but she ignored it for the moment. "What were you up to?"

"Looking for you." The Puppet said. "How'd Mom's part of the show go?"

"Uh, good?" She winced at the questioning tone. "I don't really know, Lydia sent me over here, so I didn't get to see all of it."

"That's too bad." Scout said, then almost deflated as the squeaking of wheels approached. "Oh no."

Stacy felt everything go cold, and started to hold Scout tighter. Her heart pounded, and she backed up as Riley came around the corner with a glare.

"Scout!" She snapped. "We have told you before, during the day you're not to venture beyond your door!"

"Indeed." Nick said as he joined the scientist. Together, they managed to block a good portion of the narrow hallway, blocking any escape. Stacy felt her throat constrict, heartbeat quickening as she realized she was cornered. "You should know better by now."

"But I wasn't seen!" A pause as the small Puppet glanced at the human holding her. "By more than one person. But Stacy's my friend! She's cool with it! Right, Stacy?" Scout looked up, frowning when she gave no answer. "Stacy?"

Pupils shrunk and breathing quick and shallow, the girl was staring straight ahead and clutching the Hand Puppet in an ever tightening grip. It was starting to hurt, actually, and Scout was beginning to worry about her new friend. "Um, Stacy..."

Riley ignored the girl and simply sighed, approaching and reaching for the Puppet. "Enough of this nonsense! It's time to-"

Stacy shrieked, flinging Scout at Nick and catching him in the face. While he stumbled back, scrambling to grab the Hand Puppet, she shoved Riley to the floor and bolted. The three of them watched as she vanished around the corner, the sound of her footsteps fading fast as she raced away.

"Well." Nick said, holding Scout as he stared after the girl and Riley struggled to pick herself up off the floor. "That was certainly... something." He cleared his throat, desperate to think of what he should do, but nothing came to mind.

"Man, I can't believe you two chased off my only friend!" Scout lamented, interrupting his tumbling thoughts. He stared down at her as she flopped over in his grip in the most over dramatic way possible. "She was so cool! Didn't talk down to me or anything. And now I'm never going to see her again!"

"Er..." He blinked, now even more confused. He wanted his paints back, as at least he understood those. 'Blasted humans, making a mess out of everything. Father, at least, was never this bad!'

"Just help me get off the ground!" Riley demanded, shaking the artist from his thoughts and confusion. "And don't worry about the girl Scout, I'm sure we'll see her around."

"But, not you." Nick told the Hand Puppet as he helped Riley up. "You, I'm sure, will be grounded."

"Boooooooooo!" But Scout didn't complain beyond that, letting Nick haul her back to Daisy's room. Riley, meanwhile went in search of another human. There was a human child now lost somewhere in the studio, and proper procedure was to tell the adults so they could handle it. And Riley wasn't one to ignore proper procedure.

#hello puppets #scout #riley ruckus #nick nack #daisy danger #stacy stein #lydia harris #happy times at handeemen hq #htahhq

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sinfulbrothers · 4 years

Text

You got the letter I sent you a few weeks back.

I have to admit I didn't expect you wouldn't receive it, I had a demon drop it off to wherever the hell you were staying at.

I imagine it's a crappy motel with shitty TV stations, ones we used to stay at all the time when we were kids.

Remember when dad would get angry every-time he came back to the motel room and see we were up sleeping? Remember that?

He'll he'd probably still yell at us for being such fuck ups.

You can ignore my texts and calls as much as you want Dean.

But we both know you have to come home sometime.

I'm getting tired of this cat and mouse routine.

I hunt you down, you run off to god knows where and then I'm stuck trying to find you again.

But I have a feeling I won't be the cat for long.

-Sammy W.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Three more calls and four texts, he still hasn't picked up," The youngest winchester glanced over at the male across the table. Castiel sat there hands resting on the table looking over pictures from different traffic lights, cameras and whatever else he could find. "The son of a bitch thinks this is some sort of game. Anything, Cas?" He raised an eyebrow at the used to be Angel.

The male shook his head, "It is just the same old stuff, Sam. No clue of where Dean would be hiding out. The only person that knows where Dean is hiding would be Crowley. And he and I aren't on the best of terms.." He made quotations around the word 'terms' and 'best'. He still really wasn't the best at English. "Maybe we should wait until there is a police report on a Chevy Impala. On baby."

Sam shifted in his seat frowning, "Dean is smart enough to not get caught doing something illegal in baby. If there was a police report it would be at some bar or store. Like the gas station that was robbed." He slid his laptop over to the male, "Check out some things while I go on a run. There isn't much you need to know about computers." He smiled softly sliding his phone into his pocket, heading out to his '65 mustang, light blue. A beautiful car. He jumped in and he was off to the nearest store.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A familiar '65 mustang pulled into the Save-A-Lot parking lot, he couldn't help but smirk. Seeing his big bulky dork of a brother climb out of the drivers seat. It was a wonder how he fit his big moose ass in there. The car was shorter than Sam was tall. He snorted sitting back in the drivers seat of the impala, hands on the steering wheel. "Here Sammy Sammy Sammy." He whispered whistling, pushing the drivers seat door open he climbed out. Cracking his knuckles following up behind his brother. Wrapping an arm around Sam's neck yanking him to the ground with inhuman strength.

"De--" Was all the young winchester got out before the lights went out for him. Dean lugged the tall male over to the impala, throwing him in the back seat among the other beer bottles and trash.

——————————————-

"Wakey, wakey, Sammy."

"You wanted your big bro back, well you got 'em."

"Sam."

"Sammy."

"SAMANTHA."

Sam's eyes shot open, his ears ringing, what the hell? A frown plastered on his lips as he tried to sit up, a force was holding him down. He heard it again, "Sammy." That was Dean's voice, what the hell was going on? Wasn't he supposed to be at the shopping center? "Aww look Sammy is confused again. How cute. Let's cut to the chase," The eldest winchester spoke up, his voice rough like a rocky road. He came walking out of the corner of the motel room swinging a baseball bat. Twirling it and throwing it in the air, only to catch it again. "You," He pointed the bat at Sam, poking his nose with it lightly. Sam pushed it away giving his demon brother a face.

"Need to stop looking for you. Yeah I caught the jiff." Sam stood up brushing his brown hair back out of his face.

Crack.

Dean swung the bat, smacking Sam right in the shin. For a second Dean swore the bat had snapped, then he realized it was Sam's shin. "Sit down." He growled at his younger sibling. Sam obeyed. "Obey like the good dog you are. Isn't that right, Sammy?" He chuckled, gripping the baseball bat tight. "You either stop looking for me or I'll put you down right where you stand, got that? I won't hesitate to tear your pretty little head off with my teeth. Bet it'll taste real good. Have some actual freedom from all this hell around ya, Sammy." He winked at his brother.

"But Dea--"

Crack.

"Fuck! Stop hitting me with the damn bat!" Sam cursed loudly attempting to take the thing from Dean, it was a lousy attempt but at least he tried to do something. "I'll fucking stop looking for you. Just tell me one thing...why are you doing this? These crimes? The killings."

"The killings? Those are all angels. All 14 of 'em. Of course we aren't counting the humans, right?" Sam didn't even recognize his brother behind that wolffish grin. His gaze dropped to the floor shuddering in major discomfort. "Crowley sent a few demons to try to take me out. Not even the king can contain this beast." Sam opened his mouth to speak, "Ahh except..you have a body behind your little adventure. The man you made sell his soul so you could find me. Naughty naughty sammy. Put him through that and he still gets killed, just sooner. Oh by the way...tell angel wings I said hi."

Dean swung the bat hard.

"Fucking Hell that's gonna leave a nice bruise."

———————————-

He awoke to a dog sniffing at his jeans and clawing at his jacket, attempting to locate anything edible on him. Or maybe it was getting ready to eat his face off. It didn't need to happen either way. Sam shoved the creature to the side earning a Yelp/Whimper from the creature as it bolted down the alleyway and out into the streets. An on coming car stated, 'Stupid animals! Should all be killed!' Speeding by the creature. People had no respect for these animals, or much of anything in that matter. He pushed up sitting up against the wall, yanking his phone out of his pocket, "Cas? Yea. I need a ride back to the bunker. Think I'm by the barber shop and the tattoo parlor east of the grocery store. Yep..it was Dean. No he didn't say anything about you. He did break my shin. Just..get here as soon as you can." He sighed shutting the phone tossing it across the alley way.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>

"They have towed your car away," Was the first thing the used-to-be-Angel said to the male, helping him up to the car. "You will have to get it another time we need to get back to the bunker. There is something you need to see. It's important." Cas walked around the other side of the car jumping in the drivers seat, starting up the piece of crap he began driving off in the direction of home. But it wasn't home for Sam. Not without his brother. His brother was his home and would always be.

"So what's this thing and why is it so important?" He raised an eyebrow staring Castiel down.

The Angel sighed gripping the wheel loosely as he leaned back getting comfortable, "It's Dean. He was by the bunker while you were out. This was after I was told to look up things on the inter webs. The bunker door flew open and before I knew it I was on the floor. He took something from your room but I cannot figure out what." He sighed heavily, frowning immensely, "I was thinking it was some books...or maybe the tracker you had put on him.."

"The only thing in my room was papers and books, he would've had to taken some books. If not then..pictures? That wouldn't make any sense." He shook his head staring out the window, wincing. "We'll figure it out later. Right now I need to get my leg fixed up. Can't do anything on a broken bone."

"Alright. I will get the supplies while you stay put." Cas climbed out helping Sam down into the bunker, making sure he stayed sitting down before wandering off to gather some supplies.

Sam fiddled with the loose pieces of paper on the table, sliding them over the edge watching them float down to the floor. Something he would do as a kid, watch paper float down to the floor. It didn't sound fun and it wasn't. Sam chuckled remembering when Dean got angry when Sam would cover the motel room in paper. The crinkling noise always annoyed the shit out of Dean. He slid another paper across the wooden surface, catching it right before it fell.

'I sure enjoy your love letters, Sam. But has anyone told you you're not my type? Tall and lengthy isn't my thing. By the time you read this I'm sure I already broke one of your legs. Told you to leave me alone and then you're back here planning something again. As usual. For every time I catch glimpse of you I'll kill someone. Child, adult, elderly. I'll kill them. This is a warning. One slip up and someone is going ten feet under. Oh..I left a bit of a surprise under your pillow. Hope you enjoy it. It seems you need a girlfriend if you catch my drift little brother.'

He really didn't even want to know what Dean had left him under his pillow, probably some sex toy. He shuddered quickly shoving the paper into his pocket. "Find everything okay?" When Castiel nodded he smiled softly, sliding his pants leg up, hoisting his injured leg up onto the table. "I was thinking, maybe we can take a break for a bit. Let Dean cool off before we try to find him again. He seemed pretty pissed off. Sure the mark is the cause of that but Dean sort of always has his panties in a bunch."

The Angel simply nodded, "Okay." After that the room remained silent.

—————————————————

He had the right plan, all he needed was for Sam to take the bait. Hell he wished he would've stuck with killing people, been more fun and the police would've been involved. Sure they were a pain in the ass but still. He found it funny as hell to watch Sam struggle to get around the cops when they got suspicious of him asking "too" many questions. Whatever the hell that meant.

Dean brushed a hand through his ever so growing hair, sitting back in the bar stool. Sam had just found the the toy his older brother had left him. "Get a girlfriend," Dean scowled taking a long gulp of beer, spinning in his chair and sliding off. He pushed by a few customers walking out, climbing into his "baby" he drove off.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>

Fool me once

Shame on you

Fool me twice

You're probably dead

He was correct about Sam, the man really was trying to locate him again like the crazed idiot he was. Damn. Dean threw the impala door open walking over to his brother gripping his shoulder tight, a faint crack starting. "Whatcha doing Sammy? Looking for me again? Did you not get my letter? Man I know I'm not good with the whole pen pals thing.." He sighed heavily cracking Sam upside the head, sending him stumbling into the side of the tow truck building. Sam felt a hand wrap around his throat, then black eyes meeting his. "You won't stop until I'm back, guessing that means I have to kill ya."

Sam's vision darkened as the grip on his throat tightened, then everything went black.

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yrpspiritsintheshadows · 4 years

Text

After the Rain

Hikaru yawned, making his way downstairs, still pretty out of it from the night before. As comfy as it was, sleeping in a pile with his family… he did not find waking up with the family dog laying across all of them to be very appealing. He was the last one out of bed, once Ken woke up and shot off like a rocket.

He was relieved, though. The dream therapy was working well, it seemed. Ken was back to his usual energetic self.

What time is it even?

It was Saturday, that much his half asleep mind was aware. He just didn't care what time it actually was.

"Morning, Hika!" Hideki called, looking over from the stove, a bright smile on his face.

Hikaru smiled tiredly, walking by his brother, ruffling up his hair.

"Mornin, Deki."

"Hey, you." Eiji greeted, stirring a pot on the stove. "Hope you're not sick of our little weekend tradition."

"Nope." He sniffed the air, sighing happily. "Is that broth with the leftover fish bones from yesterday's supper?"

"Well, yeah, can't let a good aji head go to waste."

"You're the best, Dad." He smiled before going to sit down.

"Anything for my boys."

Hideki gave his brother a confused look before a smile came to his face.

Awww Hika. I'm proud of ya.

Ken tugged on Hideki's night shirt, giving him a puppy eyed look.

"What do ya need, Kenny?" Hideki asked, looking up from his whisking.

He was just glad the power had come back on by the time they had all woken up.

"Can we play in the pool again?"

Hideki grinned.

"But of course!"

Eiji chuckled, looking behind him at his family. Carmen and Hikaru were talking quietly while Ken was trying not to get in Hideki's way too much.

It was looking to be a good day… until Eiji looked behind him to where his duffle bag of soaked equipment was.

His shoulders sunk, sighing heavily.

He still, had to fix that. It wasn't that he couldn't afford to replace it but he didn't WANT to. A good few of those pieces weren't under warranty anymore… He would worry about that later, though.

Just focus on your family.

oooooo

That, was how Hikaru found him a few hours later. Eiji had his tool kit spread out on the family room floor, several pieces of equipment strewn about on a tarp. He was sitting cross legged in front of the coffee table, tinkering at one of the cameras.

He watched him silently, mostly out of sheer curiosity.

Eiji wasn't an expert at tech repair. He knew enough to keep his equipment from failing, enough to repair a great deal of it…

But after awhile, Hikaru was uncomfortable because it was clear Eiji had no idea what to do with this amount of damaged equipment.

"Oh Titan-Move!" He hurried over, nudging him aside. "Let me!"

"I got this, you can go have fun-" Eiji tried to insist.

"Nope." Hikaru looked up, smiling. "This is my fun."

Eiji decided to work at a different piece of equipment, keeping an eye on Hikaru out of the corner of his eye.

The boy's hands were quick and precise, repairing the SLS camera in his hand with ease. His posture was relaxed and calm as he tinkered, a smile ever present on his face.

Eiji smiled before going back to his own work. If this was what he wanted to do, he was happy for the company.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

Hikaru smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment.

"Actually… that was the best sleep I've had in over a month." He admitted before going back to work. "Okaa-san and Otou-san, we used to sleep in piles like that sometimes before. Especially when we were living underwater for awhile… Namely, when we first came to the states."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mm-hm." Hikaru was nostalgic as he turned the camera over in his hands. "It was fun but I missed having stuff like my games or my toys that ran on electricity. Can't exactly plug that stuff in under the waves."

Eiji chuckled before a thought came to him.

"You have all that equipment in your room and those little things you're always tinkering with… you ever consider joining the school robotics club? When you're ready to go back, of course."

Hikaru froze up a little before frowning.

"I used to… I think I've been away enough that they'd kick me out." He murmured, looking back down. "No one wants the guy who was basically dead."

"I doubt that. You got skills, kiddo. Serious skills that any robotics team would want for themselves." Eiji squeezed his shoulder. "I'm not pressuring you… but think about it."

HIkaru smirked a little.

"Are you going to go to every competition and be a total embarrassment?"

Eiji smirked.

"I'll be doing my darndest to be the most embarrassing dad ever."

"Then I'll think about it." He frowned a little. "Will I have to go to a school counselor too?"

"Only if you're comfortable. No one's gonna make you do anything you're not okay with."

"Okay, Dad."

Eiji's heart warmed, hearing that once more.

"Love you, Son."

Hikaru smiled.

"Love you too. Think we could have tinker time together more often?"

"I don't see why not. You having fun?"

"I like this. It helps my mind quiet down more." He replied. "I like fixing things… and making new things."

Eiji reached over, ruffling his hair, earning a small laugh from the boy.

"Hey!"

"And I like, hanging out with my son and working on things too." He smiled softly. "This can just be our thing."

Hikaru perked up, joy coming to his eyes.

"I'd really like that."

"Than it shall be."

oooooo

"Heee! Up again, again!"

"Alright, up you go!"

SPLASH!

Carmen looked up from her laptop as Ken emerged from the water, giggling up a storm before trying to climb on top of Hideki to make him go under the water, trying to dunk him in since he couldn't throw him into the air.

Even in his powerful, tiger shark form, Hideki was still as gentle as ever with his little brother. He was just content, to be able to change and swim any time he wanted to without issue.

"Mommy, Mommy!"

Carmen was snapped out of her train of thought, seeing Hideki swim by with Ken on his back, the youngest waving to her.

"Hey, Mijo!" She waved, giggling a bit. "You two having fun?"

"Yeah-"

Hideki lunged up as Ken was knocked back into the water with a large splash.

"EEP!" He popped up, grinning playfully. "Hey!"

"Gotcha." Hideki grinned. "Alright, how about you work on that butterfly stroke huh?"

"Okay!"

Ken swam off as Hideki floated to the other side of the pool, content to relax for a bit.

Carmen set her laptop aside, going over to the side, sitting over the edge.

"So, be honest, is he driving you crazy?" She whispered.

Hideki chuckled, leaning his head back.

"Nah, never. It's nice to be the older brother. Been the "youngest" my whole life - even if it's just by five minutes." He replied. "I honestly love every second of it."

Carmen smiled softly, stroking his head fin, eliciting a loud churr from him.

"You are too cute." She chuckled.

"Even for a shark?"

"You are the cutest, shark ever."

Hm… I wonder…

She poked his snout, eliciting a squeak from him.

"Eep!"

"Boop."

He blinked before laughing, shaking his head.

"Whaaat?"

He smiled up at her.

"You're so silly, Mom."

Carmen's eyes widened a little, smiling.

"That's just how it is. You got a silly mom and a massive dweeb for a dad."

"And I love you both." Hideki reached up, hesitating a bit. He knew this form wasn't exactly the cuddliest.

She probably doesn't want a hug while I'm like this. Later.

Before he could lower his arm, Carmen pulled him halfway out of the water in an embrace, kissing his head.

"M-Mom?"

"Never think I don't want a hug, okay?" She moved him a bit to arm's length, giving him a gentle look. "I'll always want one. Claro?"

"Claro…" Hideki's eyes were misty before hugging her again, churring up a storm.

Carmen kept him close, nuzzling the top of his head. His tail swished in the water below them as he curled up a little.

"This really okay?"

"Always." She gave his snout another poke as he squeaked.

"Moooom!"

She hugged him tightly, tucking his head under her chin… trying to hide the tears of joy welling up in her eyes.

He called me mom… He's calling me mom…

"I love you, Deki."

Hideki relaxed against her, hugging her tighter.

"I love you too, Mom."

Carmen was content to be right there. Work could wait. She wanted to savor every moment of this.

Ken quietly snuck up by them, tapping Hideki's tail to get his attention. He blinked. giving him a confused look.

He motioned as if he was pushing someone before pointing to their mother, a smirk on the six year old's face.

Hideki smirked.

"Hey… How much do you love us?"

Carmen didn't like how that voice sounded. That tone reminded her too much of her husband when he was being sneaky.

"... A lot. How much is it gonna cost?"

The boys snickered before Hideki threw himself backwards… pulling Carmen into the water with him as she let out a shriek of shock.

SPLASH!

"HIDEKI! KEN!"

The boys swam backwards as Carmen rose out of the water, her hair sticking to her face, her clothes totally soaked.

She grinned wickedly.

"I'm gonna get you! C'MERE!"

"EEP! MERMAID MOMMY!" Ken squealed, climbing onto Hideki's shoulders. "Dekii-nii haaaalp!"

"Mermaid Mom's gonna get her two little pups!" She swam after them.

Their laughter was echoing off the walls. She could care less about her clothes.

Her children were happy… and so was she.

"What the heck are you three doing?"

They froze up, looking up as Eiji and Hikaru looked down in the pool.

"Do you have any tech on you?" Hideki asked quickly.

"No? We left all that upstairs, even our phones-Oh no." Hikaru trailed off as his twin grabbed his ankle. "Dad-DAD HELP-"

Eiji grabbed his arm two seconds too late as Hikaru was yanked into the water, his form shifting immediately… the extra weight of his tail causing Eiji to stumble forward into the water as well.

SPLASH!

"ACK!"

"Well, now you both HAVE to take a break." Carmen swam up to Eiji, pecking him quickly on the cheek. "C'mon you."

"Yeah! Come play with us, Dad! Mom is!" Hideki grinned.

Eiji was very, very glad he was already covered in water, the happy tears already welling up.

"Sure… Why not?"

Work could wait.

#Spirits in the Shadows #Spirits in the Shadows Eiji #Spirits in the Shadows Carmen #Spirits in the Shadows Ken #Spirits in the Shadows Hikaru #Spirits in the Shadows Hideki #Hideki Miyamoto #Hikaru Miyamoto #Carmen Miyamoto #Ken Miyamoto #Eiji Miyamoto #Storm Arashi #Yellow Rose Productions #literature #original work #original characters

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darkredehmption · 5 years

Text

Meet the Brotherhood

#SL #MeetTheBrotherhood

Written by @DamagedBrother and @PanwerePredator

*~*~*~*

Zsadist: [We all drove over to the building in the SUV. It was quiet and awkward as hell. Vishous was in the driver’s seat while Butch sat beside him in the passenger. Behind them was Wrath in the middle squished in between Tohr and Rhage. While me and Phury rode in the back.

I watched as Rhage blew hot air onto the window to fog up the glass. His hand lifts to draw a penis. Of course. Smirking, I shake my head as I hear Butch. “I just fucking cleaned her, could you not?” Rhage makes a face at him then flops back. “I’m bored...we should of brought snacks. Fuck can you at least bump some music? I hate how quiet it is.” Butch leaned in to mess with the dials, soon enough Jay-Z’s voice filled the Escalade. I watched V and Butch have a silent conversation with their eyes. Wonder what the fuck that was about. Were they contemplating not doing this?

Turning to look out the window as we moved through downtown Caldwell. It felt weird to have Wrath out with us. Made us all on edge. Not that he couldn’t handle himself it’s just that...he was too important to lose. Hell, what if fucking lessers show up. Then what? Pushing that thought from my head as we arrive at our destination.

Vishous and Butch got out first. Butch opened the trunk and Phury and I climbed out from the back. I scanned the area around us before Vishous left to do a perimeter check just to make sure nothing was going down. When he came back he gave a thumbs up and Phury moved to open the car door. Out slid Rhage first, followed by Wrath, then Tohrment behind him.

We surrounded our King and moved with him inside the building. There was a table and some chairs that V had set up. Once inside, Vishous moved to stand guard at the entrance. He had cameras set up so he could watch the outside for Hadrian. Wrath sat down in a chair while we all stood around him. “Relax...he’s not even here yet. I’m fine.” He seemed annoyed. I knew Wrath missed being a brother. Being King is not something he truly wanted, it just was inevitable.

Rhage flops down in a seat and puts his feet up, followed by Butch. As for Tohr and Phury they just continued to stand next to Wrath. “Yo Z. This him?”

Moving over to the entrance by Vishous. I peer at the monitor and nods at Vishous.] That would be him. [V snorts. “He doesn’t look like much. You sure you saw him shift?” I roll my eyes.] Check the footage at Havers. You would learn a lot, brother. [I saw a twinkle in V’s eye as if that was the first thing he was going to do when he got home.]

Alright he’s here. [Butch gets up and smacks Rhage to do the same. This was it. Hadrian was finally going to meet my brothers.]

Hadrian:

I blew out a breath of the Caldwell night air and drew in another. This one I took my time to process, breaking down the familiar scents and the unfamiliar, categorising them. As the wind shifted, I got a whiff of several vampire males, and then…

“Zsadist,” I breathed, some of the tension easing in my chest at the familiarity.

That was the only way this meeting was happening, after all. The scarred Brother had stuck his neck out for me and worked hard to make amends from the night of the Lesser attack - if he hadn’t been attending this little tête-à-tête I would be about as far from it as the city limits allowed. Meeting a ‘collective’ of vampires, when I’d spent the past few years avoiding them, seemed counterproductive to my survival instincts, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility of an alliance. What if these vampires could shield me from those who sought to hobble me?

Eyeing the SUV parked nearby as I approached the building, their scents were painfully strong around it, and I detected at least six other scents with Z’s. There was a sweet fragrance, like candy, and turkish tobacco, and designer cologne. Then there was just… a raw, masculine scent that was at the same time intriguing and fierce.

Five bucks said that scent, that essence, was this King.

Pausing just before the door, I took another deep breath, not to process the building, but just to calm my racing heart. Then I was stepping inside. I didn’t flinch as a male loomed at me out of the dark, my eyes adjusting, my nose letting me know he was there before he’d reached out to yank me inside.

Z had warned me about this part, so I didn’t resist as the towering hulk of a guy patted me down and frisked just about every square inch of me for a weapon. The tattoo at his eye was… well, eye-catching, and I caught the hint of the turkish tobacco again. He grunted when I proved to be unarmed, though we’d leave mention of my claws and fangs for later date. If someone produced a muzzle I was fucking /done/ with a capital ‘fuck you’.

Looking into the expansive room, my eyes went from all the assembled until they landed on Zsadist. I nodded my head at him.

“Evenin’, sunshine. Quite the place you guys’ve got here. Seems a little… middle class for a King though,” I add, deliberately poking to see if there were any feisty ones among them.

Zsadist:

[I was relieved to see Hadrian enter by himself. Not that I really thought he would set me up and have some ambush attack on the Brotherhood. Hell, I felt like I could really trust him. I watched as Vishous patted him down. Making sure to check every fucking spot on this guy’s body to make sure he was clear of any weapons. Not like he needed them. The male could turn into a big tiger remember?

When our eyes meet I give him a nod. Letting him know that all was good. Well that was until he opened his mouth. Smirking as I turn my head away so the others couldn’t see my expression. Growls are heard and Vishous pushes him forward towards the table as Rhage maneuvers his ass into a chair. “I like him.” Butch said and I turn to gaze at the cop.] At least someone does. [I mutter watching the others shake their head, not quite convinced.

Wrath clears his throat and the room grows quiet. “My apologies for the building. If it’s not up to your standard you can get the fuck out.” Rubbing my fingers along my jaw as I study the shifter. I wouldn’t expect him to act any other way, and to be honest you had to have balls to hang out with my brothers.

“Now...Zsadist here tells me you are a shifter and that there are other vampires that want to hunt you?” He still sounded skeptical on it. Not that he thought I was lying, but more so it was hard to believe that there were others. And even if there was, it was odd for the Brotherhood not to know about it.

The sound of Vishous’s bic flicking fills the air as he lights up. Inhaling as the Turkish tobacco clouds around me. Everyone seemed on edge. Ready to take you down at the moment they sensed a threat. Wrath seemed...curious, not really concerned with the fact that you could shift and lunge at him. It was Hadrian’s time to speak. Share knowledge about himself to save his ass.]

Hadrian:

I let them push me into the last available chair with a smug sort of smile. The fact Zsadist had had to work to hide his let me know that giving as good as I got was A-O-Fucking-Kay with this lot. I had the growing suspicion that if I didn’t stand my ground their size twelve and then some shit kickers would walk all over me. Gesturing toward the door I’d entered, I flashed a winning smile.

“I assume the GTFO is valid for that door and not some seedy back door like I’m your two dollar mistress slash whore?”

More growls. FYI, almost ALL of them were feisty. With a rueful smile I raised my hands in surrender.

“Aight, aight, geez. Lighten up guys. I use humor to hide how deeply troubled I am. Coping mechanisms.” My gaze flicked back to the King, those black wraparounds locked on me, and yet… I suspected he didn’t see me. Not like they saw me. “Seeing as how I’ve spent the last few years of my life hiding from vampires, pardon me if I’m a sarcastic shit when I walk in to have a confab with a group of them.”

Letting some of the humor die away, my voice hardened, my eyes glinting in the light no doubt as one of my Beasts, the Lion most like, sniffed so close to the surface. A King to meet a King.

“I’m… a special kind of shifter,” I said finally, offering part of the truth if not all of it. I had to play ‘some’ cards close to my chest. “The kind that I am makes me valuable to vampires that aren’t affiliated with your… Black Dagger Brotherhood. They’re the kind of vampire that use their own undead magical abilities to… let’s go with ‘enslave’, shifters that resonate with their own powers. They are vampires that did die… and returned,” I add quietly. “And I know you’re all very much alive. Which I didn’t think of, when I met Zsadist. But I hear your heart beats.” I tapped at my ear.

Hope I wasn’t going to need a lie detector to get through all this and have them believe me. Normally the best way to explain… was to Change.

Didn’t much feel like being shot by these trigger happy killers either.

Zsadist:

[Oh yeah, he was going to fit in nicely here. My eyes flickered to Butch who was acting all rough and tough, but deep down I could tell he wanted to laugh. That was good. Hopefully the others could get on board with him too.

Everyone had a look of disbelief when he spoke about the other vampires. Vampires that were dead. I watched as Wrath leaned back into his chair. The action caused everyone to be a little jumpy. Then the King’s booming voice filled the air. “I find this all very hard to believe. To take your word that there are other vampires out there...Vishous...have you ever heard of such a thing?” The brother flicks his blunt onto the floor, stomping on it with the heel of his shitkicker. “No my lord. It doesn’t even sound as to something like Butch with bloodline. Then again...how can we not assume other beings are out there. I’m curious if I ever came across one in all my years.”

Trying to picture how the fuck these...creatures could of been made. Are they really vampires or some weird undead hybrids.] How much do you know about them Hadrian? Do they know about us? Do they have any enemies? [The brothers heads snap to you. Suddenly searching for answers as well. I couldn’t tell if everyone was buying the whole other vampire thing. But in reality who the fuck would lie about such a thing? What could they gain from that?

As for the shifting part that could be shown easily. Though if Hadrian shifted in this room I had a feeling that someone would get hurt. Everyone was on edge already with Wrath being outside of the mansion. We might have to save that for another time.]

Hadrian:

I kept a lid on my own irritation - convincing vampires that other vampires existed? C’mon. This was something straight out of a Spielberg playbook, and twice as fucked up.

“Can we pause for a second to appreciate the fact I’m trying to convince /vampires/ that other vampires are real? ‘Cause that level of irony is pretty fucking epic,” I mutter, tilting my head from side to side and hearing several joints crack. “Look, you guys clearly go to a lot of effort to hide yourselves? Well so do they. They burn up in sunlight too, but they only drink blood and it can only be human, and to date, as far as I’m aware, humans still don’t like being seen as anything less than the top of the food chain. So… I’m a little out of options as far as being able to find one and introduce the lot of you. I mean,” I waved a hand down at myself, “I would’ve figured the whole ‘hey look I’m a shifter thing’ might’ve leant a little weight to the story. Or do you think I’m really running from the bogeyman? Maybe those Lessers that wanted to play with me?” I mused, throwing a dart at the board into total blindness and hoping that particular point was acknowledged.

I mean… tit for tat. I’d accepted the idea of demons respawning and a race of vampires fighting them for centuries, but they weren’t keen on the idea of not being the only vampires around?

“Listen guys, the fact there are other vampires out there doesn’t make you any less special, okay?’

I grinned as the one with the tattoo levelled me with the kind of look that would make a house plant wilt, shrivel and die.

Zsadist:

[My lips twitch and I give the shifter a look even though I wanted to laugh. Wrath speaks again. “Alright smartass. I don’t know if Zsadist mentioned the Scribe Virgin.” Glancing at V, catching him rolling his eyes just a tad. “She started the race of vampires back in the 1500s. Vampires that were born not made. It’s a process of transitioning when you reach a certain age.” Butch chimes in. “Well accept for me, but let’s not bore the bastard with that story.” V lights another hand rolled as Wrath continues.

“As for you being a shifter...the staff at the hospital was enough confirmation on that.” He stands slowly causing Tohr and Phury move to his sides. “Though I am curious as fuck about that. Does he have control over it? Or is it like the beast where we are in more danger dealing with it?” Rhage shifted a little uneasy. Poor man couldn��t help the beast inside of him.]

He did give the staff quite a scare, but he didn’t look like he was going to attack them. Hell I came in and he sorta asked me for clothes then turned human. Much like Rhage he was out of it and huddled in a corner then. [Nods watching Rhage quickly look at Hadrian. His teal eyes widening and I couldn’t help but feel a small victory. Okay so Butch found him funny, and Rhage could relate. That’s two.] Honestly if it can be controlled can you imagine him ripping off the limbs of lessers. Be pretty epic if you ask me.

[Vishous tosses his blunt. “And yet didn’t he get brought to the hospital for one blade in his chest? Doesn’t sound that powerful to me, and I’m not babysitting the tiger.” Gritting my teeth slightly before I look at Hadrian.]

Hadrian:

“No, Z didn’t mention any virgins to me, and side note, they’re not really my thing? I prefer someone with a little experience, personally. But hey, if she got all of you off the ground creation wise then good for her. Is… is she really a virgin though? How does that work?”

The one with the diamond eyes and hardcore tattoo took a step toward me and I held up my hands.

“Eeeeeasy.” I looked back to the King, though everyone was side eyeing the gorgeous looking blond as I answered. “I am in full control of my shift, by the way, but coming out of it has varied results. If I’ve used the shift to heal an injury? Then I’m coming out of it exhausted. If I’m shifting because of the Moon? I cannot stop the Change but I am still in charge of my mind when I’m an animal. And coming out of /that/ is like a bad hangover. Any other time? It’s a little like changing clothes.”

And of course, Mr. Turkish Tobacco over there had to weigh in again. Either I stopped pissing him off or I found his breaking point. With his little smart ass input I was tempted by the latter. Rolling my eyes, I adopted a sardonic smile as I leant back in my chair. I sensed Zsadist looking at me, but I kept my gaze on his jewel-eyed Brother.

“So, I’m curious, if one of you had a dagger courtesy of one of your Brothers basically dissecting your aorta, you’d be peachy keen? I mean, how long does it take vampires to heal from that?” I looked around. “Five minutes? Ten? Wait, lemme guess, it takes hours and probably a feed of some kind, right? Well, once the blade is out I just have to shift and I’m good,” I countered coolly, bringing my gaze back to Vishous. “Your boy Zsadist proved his skill with a blade and nearly took out my heart. Pretty sure that’s a serious injury for /both/ our kinds. But I’m not holding it against you. Or the fact you can’t get a tan.”

Zsadist:

[This was all good. I mean the shifter’s backtalk was digging himself deeper into a grave, but it also showed that he had enough balls to hang with us. Which was a key thing. I could see him growing on Vishous. Fuck I should of brought a bottle of goose and we could of really got this party started.

Snorting at the thought before my attention is pulled to Rhage. He looked both happy and sad at the knowledge the shifter just dropped. Happy that maybe he wasn’t the only one who goes through a transition like that. But sad to know that Hadrian could control his change while Rhage could not. Finally Hollywood speaks.

“I mean...it would be like having the beast out on rotation more often, but better. Not worrying that he was going to take out one of you guys in the process.” Butch clasped a hand on Rhage’s shoulder. Giving it a squeeze. I knew what the cop wanted to say. What we all wanted to say. But we weren’t about to have a heart to heart in front of the shifter.

Wrath cleared his throat in the moment of silence before speaking. He didn’t comment on the crack about the Scribe Virgin. “Alright.” His voice was commanding and we all turn our direction to the King. “Let’s see how he does fighting. I don’t know what kind of training he’s had, but lessers are different. I think we need a trial run first. Training that can be held here, followed by a test in the field. See how you hold up, shifter. While that is going on Vishous you can pull a background check.”

V smirked wide at the thought of digging into Hadrian’s past. The King rolls his shoulders. “No offense, but I don’t trust nor let people near my family so easily.” He barely gives a shrug. “Zsadist you will be in charge of that during your time off. If another brother wants to volunteer to help with training they may.” This...could work. But who would volunteer to help? Rhage maybe? Cop? Would Phury? Maybe Tohr? I would have to have a discussion on the matter later with them.

My thoughts are cut off by the King’s voice. “Now...it is time to go. Zsadist will contact you when to meet here for training.” The brothers moved when Wrath started to head for the door. My eyes met Hadrian’s. Lips twitching slightly before I speak.] Keep a lookout for my message. See you soon shifter. [Giving him a look that I hope showed that we had his back. Well as long as he didn’t fuck it up all would be well. With that I turn and follow my brothers out.]

Hadrian:

Well… that was more than I’d expected, and suited me just fine. The King didn’t want me on his turf and that was good for me. They hadn’t asked about my shifting, and that was fine with me too; they were having a hard enough time just accepting me as a shape changer - if I admitted to being able to change into more than any other average shifter could, they might get a bit… wary. Probably think there was something wrong with me, just like everyone else…

My eyes flicked around to the assembled vampires, thinking of training with them, how each one would be. The plus side for them was it wasn’t like I was a novice. Taking my freak show on the road had allowed me to train with some pretty impressive fighters, learn how to use and control the strength of my Beasts to better master having so many. I was deadly fast like them, strong like them, and I knew how to handle myself without ever changing shape.

I actually grinned. This could be fun…

The King made his exit, and rather than rise and set the group off I remained seated, watching them file out. As the diamond-eyed vampire beelined it for the door, I called to his back.

“Last name is Augustus, bright eyes. Hadrian Augustus. The fam had a thing for the roman empire. I’m sure it’ll be a riveting read.”

Sarcasm. So much sarcasm. Hadrian Augustus had been an honor roll student as he went into med school, with both parents deceased and a sister that was still alive. He’d inherited money he didn’t touch, and had never had so much as a parking ticket in his life. Then about five years ago he’d dropped off the radar, dropped out of school, and ghosted the life he’d known. Because about five years ago, Hadrian Augustus’ life as he’d known it had ended, and I’d been born in blood and pain in his place.

To be honest, the idea of being an intern right now, some doctor making bank as he worked in the best hospitals and became a pro surgeon… it was hard to believe that had been me. Not now.

Looking to Zsadist as he walked out, I inclined my head in acknowledgement. True to his word, this had gone pretty well for both of us, and I was relieved to know that the faith I’d put in him hadn’t been misplaced.

“Looking forward to it, Zsadist. This… should be a lot of fun.”

#MeetTheBrotherhood #SL

#SLS

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