#if we could borrow the car. no he didn't say why. yeah I'm sure he has a driver's license he was like in the army or something | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aalyssah · 10 months

Text

Defend You

Pairing: Billy Loomis x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Fluff!

Word Count: 1,318

Summary: Billy defends you when a guy harasses you at a party.

A/N: Haven't wrote for slashers in a while, so here I am. Hope You Enjoy!

You smoothed out the dress on your body, turning to the side you smiled at yourself in the mirror. "God, you look good." You jumped slightly at Billy's voice. "Babe, you scared me!" You said with a laugh.

Billy came behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you back into him. "Are you sure we have to go to that party? We could stay here and have a party of our own." He began kissing up your neck, erupting a giggle from you.

"Yes, y'know we promised Stu we would go." Billy let out an annoyed groan. You moved out his hold to grab the red lipstick. "Just let me do this and then we can go." You put the lipstick on and went downstairs.

"I'm ready!" Billy gave you one last look over and shook his head. "Babe, don't you think you should wear something more...longer?" You looked down at the dress, seeing it just above your thighs. "But you said it looked good." Billy nodded his head. "Yeah, for my eyes only!"

You rolled your eyes, pushing past him. " Forget it, we don't have time, let's go." You walked out to the car, hearing a groan from Billy. Probably by the way you swayed your hips when you walked.

Billy drove you both to the house and before you could turn in the neighborhood you could hear the loud bass of the music, bumping through the air. "Ugh, I know I'm gonna have a headache after this." Billy parked the car in a spot as he nodded his head in agreement.

"That's why we should've stayed him, but no, 'we promised Stu we would go.'" You gave him a death glare at his impression of you. "I don’t sound like that!" Billy got out of the car and walked to the other side and opened the door for you, putting his hand on the small part of your back.

You both walked up to the front door and before you could knock it swung open. "Billy, Y/n, come in!" You smiled at Stu and walked in. Instantly, y'all were met with bright lights flashing everywhere, loud music playing, the smell of alcohol in the air, and much more.

Stu guided you and Billy through the massive crowd of sweaty bodies to the mini bar. "I didn't think y'all would make it!" Stu exclaimed, grabbing 3 cups. "Drink?" You shook your head no, but Billy got some. Stu poured Billy some halfway, while he took a swing from the bottle.

You cringed at the thought of how his throat felt. "Don't you get tired of all that alcohol?" Stu began laughing as if you told some joke. "Nah, how could you? You should try some, loosen up y'know?" Stu was about to say something, but Tatum came to him.

"Babe, let's go back up to the room." She looked at you and smiled. "Oh, hey Y/n and Billy. Sorry, but imma borrow Stu for a couple of minutes or hours." Your face scrunched up in shame as you shook your head. "Those two can't keep their hands off each other."

You looked around the big house in amusement. "This house is beautiful. We should ask Stu how he got this, so we can get one for ourselves!" Billy chuckled. "You think this is Stu's?" You gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean? This isn't his?!"

Billy shook his head at you how shocked you were. “Baby, you need to calm down, loosen up like Stu said. Let's go dance." He stretched his hand out, waiting for you. You took his hand and went to the dance floor.

You both dance to the song, feeling everything fall away from your mind. Billy had a huge smile on his face as he saw how happy you were. He twirled you around, but you went too far when you bumped into someone.

You turned around ready to apologize. "I'm sor-" You stopped mid sentence when you saw who it was. "Oh look who we have here, bro. Billy and his freak girlfriend Y/n." You looked down at the ground, feeling somewhat hurt, but it didn’t surprise you that you would run into these two.

Ace and Max were two people you’ve known since elementary school. Ace was a bully. Saying anything he could where and whenever, no matter how the person feels, while Max is his sidekick, always hyping him up.

“You wanna talk shit, say it to my face." You perked up at Billy's voice almost forgetting he was there. "No, it's fine." Billy still stared at the two, ignoring your voice. “Awe look at that, Billy defending the freak.”

Ace laughed at Max’s remark, dapping him up. “Shut up Maxi Pad, no one’s talking to you.” You tried not to laugh at Billy’s clowning. “If I hear you say one more word about Y/n, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to speak.” Billy gently grabbed your arm and you both began walking back to the bar.

“Leaving so soon? It’s too bad Y/n’s with you otherwise I would come over there and show her what a real man’s like.” Billy tensed up at Ace’s call, ready to turn back and teach them a lesson, but you stopped him.

“Don’t. Let’s just go get some more drinks.” You both kept walking, but stopped when the sound of a loud smack noise echoed around the house. You jolted forward, eyes growing wide, your hands coming to your butt.

Ace just slapped your ass.

Billy didn’t hold back, finally letting out his rage. He quickly turned around, throwing a bone sickening punch to Ace. Ace fell to the ground, holding his hands over his face to shield himself. “Max, help me!” Max looked down at Billy seeing his friend getting beaten to a pulp.

Billy stood to his feet, getting in Max’s face. “You got something to say, huh?” Max shook his head, running out of there fast. “Billy, watch out!” You called out as you saw Ace swing. Ace managed to get up and land a good punch on Billy.

Stu came flying down the stairs with his short halfway buttoned. “Stu get them apart!” You begged. Stu pulled Billy off Ace, holding him back. “Just get outta here!” Stu yelled to Ace, watching as he scrambled up and ran out the house.

Stu let Billy go, looking back at everyone. “Keep partying everyone, it was just a little moment.” Fortunately, everyone started dancing again, bringing life back to the party. You grabbed Billy’s hand, guiding him upstairs.

You looked through each door in the hall until you found a first aid kit under the sink. You took it out, getting some stuff ready. “Can’t believe you did that, causing a scene.” You mumbled under your breath while cleaning up his nose.

“Well maybe he shouldn’t be talking shit about us and then slap your ass.” You scrunch your eyebrows down. “Now look at where that got you. You’re bleeding!”

Billy felt anger rise in his body at how you’re defending Ace. “Yeah because I defended you! I love you Y/n, and I’m not gonna let ANYONE disrespect you like that. I don’t care who it is.”

It was silent as you cleaned up his injuries, small cuts and bruises on his face, arms, and knuckles. You finished up, cleaning up your mess. “You wanna go home?” Billy nodded his head, taking your hand in his.

You both found yourself driving in the car. “Thank you for being here for me.” Billy looked over at you, a hand coming to your thigh, rubbing soothing comforting circles. “Of course. How else am I supposed to defend you if I’m not there?”

You were glad that he was here with you, otherwise you wouldn’t know what would’ve happened that night.

#billy loomis #billy loomis fluff #billy loomis x reader #billy loomis imagine #billy loomis x female reader #billy loomis x you #billy loomis x y/n #billy loomis fanfiction #billy loomis smut #slasher fluff #slasher smut

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runningfrom2am · 9 months

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this is why we can’t have nice things - (r.c)

summary: You have no intentions of telling Rafe that he got you pregnant, but someone else tells him for you.

This can be read as a stand-alone but it's technically a part three to getaway car and big reputation

pairing: rafe x reader

wc: 2.6k

tags/warnings: mean!kook!reader, bullying i guess?, highschool!au, swearing, teen pregnancy (STAY SAFE Y'ALL), fighting, implied sexual content (but definitely nothing explicit)

requests

nav/masterlists

You shuffle quickly down the empty hallway, clutching your bag to your chest out of anxiety. This isn't a feeling you're overly familiar with. You look back over your shoulder and you quickly make your way towards Bella's classroom, remembering she has math this period. It's just after lunch, and you couldn't make it in the morning, you just weren't feeling very well. Something felt off. That's when it hit you.

You knock on the open door frame, scanning the room for your best friend when your eyes land on Rafe. Fuck, you forgot he was in this class. He gives you a smug smile and a wink, making you cringe inwardly at the situation as the teacher acknowledges you. "Miss Y/L/N. Something I can do for you?"

"Sorry to interrupt, I need to borrow Bella." You say, glancing over at her. She can sense that something is off, and she's already grabbing her stuff and standing up.

"Woah, did I say you could go?" He says to her and she freezes.

"It's really important." You cut in before Bella has to. "It's, uh, girl stuff. I just need to grab something from her locker." You lie, avoiding eye contact in attempt to feign embarrassment.

The teacher sighs, nodding at Bella who resumes packing up her stuff. "Don't be long." He says, and you avoid Rafe's eyes on you as Bella makes her way up to the door, quickly following you away.

"What's wrong?" Bella whispers as you quickly walk down the hallway, heading towards the girls locker rooms. No one uses those during class time, so you like to have meetings there when you have something urgent to discuss. Something like this.

"Shh, wait." You whisper back, walking down the stairs into a smaller section of hallway and into the locker room, closing the door and locking it behind you.

"Please, Y/N/N. You're scaring me a little." Bella asks again and you throw your bag down.

"I'm pregnant." You say, locking eyes with her as her jaw drops.

"Wait, I- you're sure? Because we've both had scares before-" Bella tries to rationalize it and you shake your head, reaching into your bag and pulling out the ziplock with the three positive tests you took this morning, practically shoving it into her hands. You can't even look.

"Shit..." Bella mumbles, looking all of them over carefully. "..Rafe?"

You swallow thickly and nod, chewing on your nails. "Yeah, yeah it has to be." You confirm, continuously nodding to yourself.

"Are you gonna tell him?"

"No! No- definitely not." You are quick to shoot that down. "I mean, do I have to?"

"I don't think so." Bella agrees, putting the small plastic bag down on the bench next to her. "Not unless you plan to keep it."

"Oh, god no!" You scoff, pacing back and forth now.

"I didn't think so, no..." Bella nods a little, thinking it over herself. "This weekend we'll get you to a clinic. Is that soon enough? When did you sleep with him last? We just need to do a bit of math."

"Like, a month ago? We only like, actually did it once. After that party. So... yeah, three and a half weeks, ish." You tell her.

"Okay, that's plenty of time. You're fine. I'll take you to the mainland this weekend, it'll be like a little girlies trip! We'll go to that cute coffee place, maybe Target, make an adventure out of it, yeah?" Bella suggests, smiling as she tries to make you feel better.

"Yeah! Yeah. We'll do that. I'll sleep at yours?" You say, smiling at her knowingly.

"And I'll sleep at yours." She nods, reaching out and you do your handshake, one you made up a few years ago.

You pull her into a hug, and she rubs your back gently. "You'll be okay. I won't tell a soul." She assures you, knowing you well enough to see how scary this is for you even if you have a solid plan on how to handle it.

"Thanks, Bells." You sigh, pulling away and quickly fixing your hair in the mirror, grabbing your backpack and following her out.

"We'll get coffee after school, right?" You say, dropping Bella at her math class.

"Yeah! Can't wait." She smiles. "Should we invite Rafe?" She whispers, nudging you gently.

"No thanks." You giggle, waving as she walks into the room. This time you're definitely avoiding looking at Rafe, especially now that someone else knows. You can feel his eyes on you as you stand briefly in the doorway, giving Bella a quick wave and nodding a thank you to their math teacher before walking away. You know Bella will be able to play it cool, even around Rafe. She'll take all your secrets to the grave.

You straighten your uniform as you walk and quickly make your way to your class, anxiously waiting on the weekend to come.

The next morning, everything seems to be going well. You slept well knowing you and Bella had a plan, and honestly you did look forward to the weekend and getting to have a "girlies weekend", as Bella put it.

You get to school just on time, rolling up your skirt and fumbling to pull up your socks as you approach the doors with your bag over your shoulder and a coffee in your free hand.

"Hey! Hey, hey, Y/N! Wait!" You hear someone calling out to you, looking around and cursing internally when you realize it's Rafe, running towards you across the parking lot.

"Hey, Rafe." You call back, giving him a quick wave and trying to continue on your way.

"Hey, uh, can we talk, real quick?" He asks as he makes it up next to you, gently grabbing your arm to stop you.

"Uh, yeah, course..." You agree, eyeing him suspiciously. There's no way he knows, right?

Rafe nods a little, looking around before pulling you away from the door and just behind the building. "I, uh- shit. Uhm... So..." He stammers and you roll your eyes.

"Well, this has been riveting. Always a pleasure, Rafe Cameron!" You grin, turning on your heel to walk away. You don't need to be late to class again.

"You're pregnant?" He gets out just as you get to the corner of the building, and it came out weaker, more concerned than he intended to sound. He had this plan to try and be cool about it, not take it that serious, but he honestly was a little hurt that you didn't reach out to him. You freeze, sighing and groaning as you turn back to face him.

"Maybe." You answer, avoiding eye contact with him. "Well, yeah. Uh, I am." You mumble, realizing you at least owe him honesty.

"Right..." Rafe nods, tilting his head at you. "And you think it's mine?"

"Oh, god-" You laugh, shaking your head and making a disgusted face. "Don't say it like that, it's not- it's not like, alive. But do I think you're responsible? Yeah. Definitely."

"Are you sure?" Rafe asks, raising an eyebrow at you and you gasp dramatically, covering your mouth with one hand.

"Wow, Rafe, are you 'slut-shaming' me?" You ask, hardly able to stifle a laugh.

"I don't know what a pretty girl like you gets up to in her free time! I was just wondering!" Rafe says with a smirk, raising his hands defensively. You're honestly glad you can playfully bicker through this rather than it being any kind of serious.

"Well, thank you for thinking I'm pretty, but unfortunately you are the only boy I've slept with in the last three months so yeah, I'm pretty sure." You reply, taking a sip of your coffee. "How did you find out? I had no intention of telling you."

"Ouch." Rafe chuckles, clutching a hand over his heart. "Well, I'm glad you're sure because at three am I got a ransom demand for your right to privacy about it and I paid someone a grand to not tell anyone."

Your jaw drops at this, and you almost drop your coffee. "I'm sorry- what?"

"Listen if it was you, you can just ask me for money if you need it I'm more than happy to help-"

"Of course it wasn't me! God, no, I'd never-" You quickly defend, absolutely in shock at the situation. "I'd never do that to you. I'll pay you back, it was never meant to be your problem, like I said I wasn't even going to tell you-"

"Hey, no, it's okay. It's okay." Rafe assures you, stepping closer now and resting a hand on your shoulder in an attempt to calm you down. "I'm not mad. I don't give a fuck about the money, I want to help." He insists, nodding at you slowly.

"Sorry, sorry this is embarrassing.." You laugh slightly as you realize you're starting to hyperventilate. You were cool about this whole situation up until now, but suddenly you're overwhelmingly terrified, especially since someone knows. "My parents can’t find out- they'll kill me, they'll kill you! God, I just-"

"No, you're fine. We'll figure this out." Rafe says, gently rubbing your shoulder and taking your coffee from you before gently placing it on the ground. You just nod a little bit, closing your eyes and desperately trying to regulate your breathing. "We just.. we need to figure out who it was, yeah?"

You nod frantically, taking slow breaths and trying not to panic. "Did you tell anyone?" He asks.

"Only Bella," You say, nodding a little bit. "And Bella didn't tell anyone, obviously."

"Obviously.” He agrees. “So, how could someone else find out?"

Then it dawns on you as your stomach drops. "Oh, shit... The tests- we left them in the locker room yesterday." You say, shaking your head and laughing a little at your own stupidity.

"Yeah, yeah they sent me a picture of them. But they could be anyone's, come on, in this school that means nothing." Rafe chuckles, trying to cheer you up. "They must have heard you."

He's right, someone must have been in there. They should have cleared the room before she spoke, but you were panicking, at the time it didn't even cross your mind to check all the shower stalls that sat vacant at the back of the room, rarely ever used. "Yeah.. they must have. I've got an idea, though."

By third period, it's time to put your plan into action. Rafe agreed to meet you outside the girls locker room exactly thirty-five minutes into class, both of you coming up with a good excuse to leave.

You walk up to where Rafe is leaning against the wall next to the door in the secluded hallway, gesturing for him to follow you as you open the door, letting him in and quickly locking it behind you.

"Woah, I've never been in here before." Rafe chuckles, looking around.

"We're not here for fun." You say back quickly, starting to shuffle through the bags of all the same girls who would have been in gym yesterday, looking for the tests. Rafe just stands there staring at you. "Are you gonna help? There's like forty bags and we only have a few minutes."

"Oh, right-" He nods, looking around before deciding to start on the opposite side of the room. "I don't feel right going through girls bags." He laughs a little, already onto the second one.

"It's fine, we're only looking for one thing." You reply, tossing another bag to the side. No luck so far. About ten minutes and thirty bags later, you're starting to stress that you won't find it, that they weren't dumb enough to bring them back to school, when Rafe laughs.

"Hey! Here!" He says, and just as you turn his tossing the ziplock bag at you and you fumble to catch it.

"Which bag was it?" You ask, rushing over as he hands it to you and you start to basically tear it apart to find some kind of identification for who owns it. You find a wallet and smile, quickly opening it and checking the ID.

"Ally." You scoff, dropping her bag on the ground.

"What a cunt." Rafe mutters, kicking it to the side. You quickly shove the tests into your bag at your side and take a few bills out of her wallet, handing half to Rafe and pocketing the rest before zipping it shut and throwing it on top of her bag.

"We're stealing now?" He smirks, putting the money in his wallet anyways.

"What? No, that's your money. She's just paying you back, like, partially." You shrug, smiling back up at him. "And for me it's damages."

"Right, fair enough." He chuckles, looking down at his watch. "We've got twenty minutes left before class ends, want to..?"

"No! I'm not fucking you in the girl's locker room." You shove him back playfully. "Also that was a one-time thing."

"Whatever you say, Y/N/N." Rafe chuckles. "Just thought I'd offer."

"You lost that privilege when you got me pregnant." You giggle, crossing your arms as you stare at him.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" He defends. "Won't happen again. I swear."

“Yeah, it won’t.” You roll your eyes and head for the door, stopping abruptly as Rafe reaches in front of you and grabs the handle first. You turn your head to look up at him and you don't get the chance to before his lips are pressed against yours, his free hand landing on your hip and holding you against the cold, blue-painted metal of the door.

Despite your protests earlier, you don't hesitate to kiss him back. You're quick to bring your hands up to his cheeks, pulling him closer for a moment before moving your head back and gently pushing him away. "One-time thing, huh?" He chuckles and you nod, biting your lip.

"Yep, not happening again." You confirm, turning and unlocking the door before pushing it open and walking off down the hall.

"Wait, what are we gonna do about Ally?" He says as you walk away and you turn, pacing backward to look at him when you respond.

"I've got it from here. Thanks, Cameron."

When Rafe walks out of the building later that afternoon, he stares in confusion at the small crowd that's formed just on the other side of the fence marking the edge of school property. "Rafe! Rafe, help!" He hears Bella before he sees her, pushing her way through the crowd and frantically waving for him to come over.

He picks up his pace as he jogs over, dropping his bag and pushing his way through again after her. He's met with you straddling Ally's back as she screams and cries, you holding her face down into the dirt by her hair. "Say you're sorry! Say it!" You scream in her ear, absolutely irate at this point as everyone watches in horror. Rafe is quick on his feet to wrap his arms around you and lift you off of her, grabbing your hand and tearing her hair out of your grasp. He’s holding you back as you continue to yell over her sobs, and you struggle to get back to her shaking body on the ground.

"Hey, hey! She's had enough, Y/N/N." Rafe chuckles, holding tightly to your waist.

You push your hair out of your face, both of you watching as some of Ally's minions are quick to try and help her up. Her nose is bloody, makeup and uniform absolutely ruined. You smile as you look at her state. "Not gonna tell anyone now, right?" You ask her bitterly, Rafe finally letting you go.

"God, you are crazy! You'll be hearing from my lawyer, you psycho!" She cries out, wiping her face.

You lunge at her again and she's lucky that Rafe noticed this the second before you moved, grabbing you again and pulling you into his chest. "Hey, woah, don't bother." He says to you.

"Yeah, muzzle your fucking dog." Ally mutters, brushing off her clothes.

"Says you, you actually look like one so watch your mouth.” He scoffs at her, spitting at her feet. “Extortion is a crime too, by the way." He adds cooly, raising an eyebrow. "So I think we can keep legal out of this, don't you?"

Ally huffs and quickly walks away, pushing her way past everyone gathered there to grab her bag which you had thrown into the street during the confrontation. Bella quickly runs up to you, grabbing your face to look you over the second Rafe lets you go. "Are you okay? God- that was scary!" She exclaims, satisfied though that you only have minor scratches and bruises.

"I'm fine." You smile at her, shaking your head a little. "Sorry, I just kind of blacked out for a minute." You joke, gently hugging her.

"Yeah, it was hot." Rafe adds, arms crossed as he stands behind you. You roll your eyes at him, hiding your blush in Bella's shirt.

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#obx fanfic #rafe cameron #rafe obx #rafe fic #rafe fanfiction #obx #outer banks #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron fluff #rafe x y/n #rafe x you #rafe angst #rafe x reader #rafe outer banks #rafe imagine

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punsmaster69 · 4 months

Text

11/JAN/20XX

"But do you even NEED to?"

"why wouldn't we?"

"I can kiiinda see why Papyrus has to brush 𝘩𝘪𝘴, but does food ever actually interact with 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 teeth?"

"gets converted directly to energy."

"But does that involve it touching your teeth?"

"depends."

"𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴???"

"yeah."

"I've watched you eat-"

"far too closely."

"-And I still hardly understand how it works for you."

i shrugged.

"some things are better left unexplained."

"Going back to the teeth brushing."

"great."

"You need to."

"sure."

"But, if your teeth are always exposed and out and stuff..."

"albeit not wrong, something about that phrasing is off-putting."

"Wouldn't showers count as cleaning your teeth as well?"

"........"

"The soap gets on your teeth when you're in there, right?"

"......"

"Wait, can you eat soap?"

"i think-"

darkness befell my screen as their phone toppled onto their bedsheets for a moment.

"Whoops."

"i think most things could eat soap if they tried."

"Could you eat rocks?"

i heard flowey from somewhere behind them.

"Not this again!"

"If you talk about eating rocks one more time I'm going to HIT you with rocks instead."

frisk whipped around.

"I'll open my mouth."

"...What??"

"I'll just eat the rocks as they come at me!"

"I."

"..."

even from behind a screen, i could feel the dumbfoundedness coming from flowey.

"Go ahead. Do that."

"It'd be fun to shatter your teeth with those rocks!"

frisk slowly turned back to the phone.

"Hey."

"hey."

"Flowey says he's gonna shatter my teeth with rocks."

"i heard."

they looked at flowey again, then at me.

"You should ground him."

"he's always grounded, but i can look into a different soil for him."

"Saaaans-"

smack.

"AGH-?!"

something hit the back of frisk's head. they snapped to flowey.

"WHY?"

"WHY DID YOU THROW THE CAR AT ME THIS TIME?!"

"I didn't even MAKE the joke. He did!"

"I'm blaming you for the setup."

suddenly the phone camera faced the ceiling, and frisk was out of sight.

i heard stomping, a loud clatter,

"Your aim sucks."

and the sound of something breaking.

"Good job, idiot!!"

one or both of them shouted something they definitely shouldn't, and a panicked face reappeared far too close to the phone.

"HOW DO YOU FIX A LAMP?"

"is there broken glass?"

"Um."

glancing behind them.

"WAIT."

a table lamp, raised victoriously.

"The lamp isn't what broke!"

"woo."

"Wait. What DID you break, if not the lamp??"

"Uhhh..."

"I don't know. Do you see any car pieces?"

"FRISK!!!"

"DID YOU BREAK MY CAR?!"

"YOU THREW IT AT ME FIRST!"

"I DIDN'T THROW IT WITH THE 𝘍𝘖𝘙𝘊𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘈 𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘜𝘚𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘚𝘜𝘕𝘚 AT YOU!!"

"you're gonna wake your mom at this rate."

"......."

"I didn't throw it THAT hard."

"Well OBVIOUSLY you did?!"

"Toy cars don't just shatter!"

"Have you considered that yours 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥."

"It did NOT suck!"

"Well it-"

frisk's mocking look dropped in an instant after seeing flowey's expression.

investigating the car remnants further, regret struck across their face.

"...That was.."

"One Papyrus gave me."

"....."

"You wanna tell him that his gift sucked, Frisk?"

".........."

"We can put it back together."

"Some super glue and paint, and we can make it good as new!"

"We don't have super glue."

"I'm sure Mom has some we can borrow."

"Good luck finding the pieces of the car. It's shattered everywhere."

"Not 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦."

"Just..."

"In the carpet, mostly."

"...."

"I'm sorry, Flowey."

"......"

"You need to stop throwing things so hard."

"In all fairness, you DID throw it at me first."

"I didn't think about 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 I was throwing. It was just the closest thing I found to hurl at your head."

"stop throwing things."

"that sounds like the takeaway here."

"He's still here?!"

"Wh-"

"Why would he not be??"

"I didn't hang up or anything."

flowey appeared in front of the screen.

"You've just been listening to our shouting match this whole time?"

"and wondering how tori's not come in to scold you two yet."

"Are YOU gonna scold us instead?"

"...."

"yeah, i am."

"frisk. c'mere."

after some repositioning of the phone, it was finally sat so that they could both be in frame.

"first off: flowey."

"gotta stop resorting to violence on instinct, kid."

"there's not been one time where you being violent hasn't ended up being a bad time overall."

i can't explain the expression that flickered across his face.

"try n' tone it down a little, yeah?"

"Fine. Whatever."

"cool."

"now, frisk."

they sat straighter and tensed up.

"you're notorious for your peaceful conflict resolution skills."

"why'd you go and do all that?"

"......"

"i'll let you off the hook 'cuz it's late, but you two have got to work on the fighting thing."

"goodni-"

grabbing the phone and getting all up in the camera once more.

"NOOoo."

"Yeah, I agree. I'm not telling him goodnight either."

"Not that."

"I'm not tiiiii-"

leaning back.

"-iiiiiiiiiii-"

leaning back too far.

"-iiired-!"

frisk fell backwards onto the floor with a thump.

limbs flew in front of the camera, and i soon saw the floor.

"the way things are going, your phone's gonna shatter too."

"Golly, Frisk!"

"Are you trying to break 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 in the room?"

"Breaking myself does not count."

"goodnights returned or not, i'm hangin' up now."

the phone was flipped over to give a frown.

"hey. it's still past your bedtime, you weenies."

"oughta get some sleep too."

"NOoOo-"

"would you rather it be toriel telling you right now? i can message her if that's what-"

"NO. No."

"I'll go to bed."

"alright. sleep well, fartface."

"You too, bonehead."

"goodnight, flowey."

"Bye, trashbag."

"if tori doesn't end up having any, i've probably got some spare super glue lyin' around somewhere that you can borrow."

"...Thanks."

#undertale #journal #sans #frisk #flowey #frisk and sans #sans and frisk #toriel #papyrus

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ghostfeather · 1 year

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so! i spent the weekend in sf visiting my baby sister and also making the last minute decision to go to the ooo meet & greet event because i couldn't handle the pcd. here's how it went :)

since it was a ~fan chat~ or whatever, the process worked totally different than the concert fansign. i checked in and then a little before 12, they started calling people by queue numbers to line up outside. why they did that? i don't really know because when they let you into the venue, they said it didn't matter what your queue number was so sit wherever you want in the first 5 or 6 rows, and fans behind me were running to fill up the first row. i didn't particularly care that much to be at the very front because i needed to mentally prepare myself so it was fine. the venue was so incredibly tiny and intimate, so there was no bad seat.

also i met an older lady right in front of me in line who was also from atlanta which was super cool! she was super sweet and gave me extra freebies, and it was nice having someone to talk to because there was A LOT of waiting and they were VERY strict about having no phones out for the m&g portion. kind of wish i'd gotten her contact info. she was fun. i hope her and his husband have a safe trip home.

anyway it was set up like a typical fansign and worked like you expect fansigns to work. they called 6 people up at a time to sit with each member for a minute and get their poster/album signed. i had literally packed a seOul cOllectiOn album to have signed in my luggage and then realized halfway on the drive to the venue that it was still in my luggage in my sister's apartment 🥲 if i had borrowed her car, i'd have gone back to get it, but i wasn't going to pay an uber to make another round-trip.

so yeah staff explained the rules and then the boys walked in and it got started immediately. the fansign order was yoojung, nine, mill, kb, rie, and junji. i had a ways to wait because i was in the 4th row on the left side but i was right at the aisle with nothing obstructing me so i was pretty visible, or at least my nagongie was because it definitely caught nine and rie's attention. i could see their eyes widen when they saw it lol. the nice thing about the fansign being longer was all the fanservice the boys did in the downtime at the beginning and end, especially yoojung and nine who were on my side. it was my turn after maybe an hour.

yoojung: since he was first, i was not prepared so it was kind of awkward. the nice thing about traveling for a show is that it's a talking point so i just started off with that, but then fumbled over everything else i was trying to say. he's not the most fluent in english so i don't think he understood me and i did not make myself easy to understand. i apologized for being nervous, and he said "why nervous?" and i didn't tell him it's because he's so fucking intimidatingly pretty that it rendered me speechless but i sure did think it. so he did make an effort to ask me questions instead. he asked me what my favorite ooo stage was, and i said all of them because it's true but i feel like maybe i should have been specific instead of giving a cop-out answer. then he asked if i ate breakfast. i told him i ate cereal and he was genuinely upset that i ate such a pathetic breakfast but well. there was a mishap that morning with a quesadilla and cheddar cheese and carrots that i just could not begin to explain. he told me he ate pancakes though. i told him pancakes were good but i lied. i only like waffles.

nine: my nagongie made him SO happy. for some reason, he thought i had a drink in it and before i even could say anything, he immediately, without asking, grabbed it and opened up the zipper. then he saw my wallet in there and apologized PROFUSELY. i don't know why he did that, but i'm kind of glad because it really helped dispel the awkwardness because i wasn't nervous at all after that. we had the most chill conversation and i could've kept talking to him forever. he told me his nagongie is smaller and only comes up to mine's chin, so i said mine is the big brother and he said it could be nagongie's dad. so yeah we're more than besties now. we're family. the rest of the conversation just flowed so naturally. he was the only one i ran out of time to talk to. i forgot to show him my daisy manicure which i got for the m&g 🤦‍♀️💔

mill: he asked me for my name, and for those who don't know, my name is maryam. so of course he turns it into a pun and begins to fucking serenade me?? something like "oh, marry marry marry me." like i know it's extremely typical yongsoo behavior but the AUDACITY to do that to my face??? i told him i think i'm too old for him. then he asked for my favorite song and i said dOra maar so he started singing to me AGAIN but it was the english version 🙃 i really adore mill's tone while singing and it's genuinely my favorite of the whole group so it was a nice moment even if it was so embarrassing for me. someone gave him a stuffed baby cheetah (or snow leopard?) to wear on his wrist and i wanted to pet it SO badly. i should've pet it.

kb: he also asked for my name and how to spell it. luckily my atl seatmate had a sharpie and i'd written my name on my lanyard in case there was moment like this, so i just showed him and he wrote my name on the poster. he kept telling me over and over that it was a beautiful name and that...it sounded like marry. so naturally he asked "will you maryam me?" it actually took a while to register because he's pretty mild-mannered and he just...said it so casually that i missed it and just started telling him about how i go by mary at sbux since they never know how to spell maryam. i don't know why i told him that, but then he apologized to me i think either for the pun or for not knowing the spelling either. i'm not sure 😔 but he said again that he thinks it's a beautiful name.

rie: i went in prepared for him this time. or so i thought. he held up both hands when he greeted me, so i went in for a double high five, but then he laced his fingers with mine 😰 like...sir, i don't know you like that. then he asked me what my favorite ooo choreo was, so i said designer because it was the first thing to come to mind honestly. but then he asked me WHY and suddenly i was afraid he was going to quiz me on the finer points of the choreo? i just said i liked the formations, fully terrified that he'd ask me to specify which particular formation i liked. so terrified that i didn't see this coming-

rie: i like angel choreography

me, wishing i'd said angel: oh angel is good! i love angel too!

rie: do you know why?

me: why?

rie: because you're my angel.

😑

friendship ended with rie. now nine is my best friend. i also told him i saw him in atlanta which he was really excited about. he told me the atl crowd was very energetic. he told me the steak he had in atlanta was the best thing he'd eaten on the entire tour. he also grabbed my hands one more time before i left. now i'm just like...what are we?

junji: he's probably the least fluent in english so it was a bit difficult to communicate. he said my nagongie was cute and pointed out that he and i had matching hair. i mean, mine was dark blue back in july and i just haven't touched it up since then so it's a very faded green-ish color? and junji's hair is also a very faded green-ish color right now so i guess we are technically matching. i tried to explain it to him as simply as i could but i'm sure he didn't understand a word so he just smiled and nodded. i told him about seeing him in atl and i wanted to bring up his birthday but i think we spent too much time in awkward silence so we ran out of time 🥲 at least he was nice to look at.

after all that was over they did group photos but this time they had fans sit in chairs and the boys stand behind. i sat in front of junji but i didn't do a pose with him because he didn't offer and i was afraid to make a request but it's whatever because it was the last thing i cared about.

after that, they performed seOul drift, did a short q&a session, then did a sOng of ice & fire, which i didn't expect, and then it was over. i kind of wish they just did a q&a for the whole time and just saved their energy because they absolutely did not hold back for those two songs.

at some point during the q&a, they were asked what concept they wanted to try, and i forgot who responded but they said whatever concept lyOns wanted, and a lot of people started shouting for cute concept to which nine IMMEDIATELY went "no cute! i am not a teenager!" so it's confirmed, we're never getting another blOssOm.

mill performed a snippet of bOss and junji did a bit of picassO and i love them both so much for that. junji also did gaslighting and rie tried to strip him multiple times 🙃 nine talked about the four maple syrups he bought from canada. rie made sure to tell the whole venue about the steak in atlanta. one of the questions was "what would you do instead if you weren't an idol?" and nine said "i'd be bored." he's so valid.

and then it was snapshot time. i was lucky to get snapshots with everyone but nine and yoojung. someone was offering to trade a nine for mill but i couldn't give up mill 🥲 but maybe next time.

i went to kb first and at that point after seeing him face-to-face four times, i wasn't nervous at all. the most nerve-wracking part was choosing a pose because making decisions gives me anxiety. there was a bad glare from the window so i got to go back and take another picture with him which was nice bc i looked awful the first time but great the second time.

uhhh rie called me baby as i was walking up to him 🙃 i am once again asking...WHAT are we???? and yes i did do the cheek poke.

junji's line was long as fuck and never ending. i felt bad about having to go back to take another because the first was super blurry. he fist bumped me both times as i was leaving, and i truly appreciate that. yes, king, set those boundaries. friendzone only 🤜🤛

mill was, of course, the sweetest and cutest and loveliest person and i love him forever and ever. he had his arm around me while we did the M pose and then..as i was saying goodbye, he took that arm and reached up and he. PET MY HEAD LIKE A DOG. COMPLETELY UNPROVOKED. LITERALLY GAVE ME HEAD SCRITCHES. WHY DID HE DO THAT? I'M STILL SO BAFFLED. like i literally walked away with this reaction. how could he disarm me like that twice? next time i meet him, i have to assert my dominance 😤

so yeah that was a really fun experience, and i'd totally recommend it to anyone if the chance ever comes up again. i think i would do it again in a heartbeat if it were held in atlanta.

#don't even bother reading this y'all i'm just trying to preserve the memories #i still can't believe i did this #but i'm about to be miserable doing grad school homework this summer so i deserved it #onlyoneof #ooo in sf

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knickynoo · 1 year

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BTTF: The Animated Series, s01ep02, "A Family Vacation" Review and Commentary

Previous episodes will get linked HERE. (top of page)

I didn't mention in my last post, but I have seen the first season before--about 2 years ago. I have basically no memory of it (I guess my brain was like, "yeah, no, we don't need this" and just dumped it), so this is a lot like watching again for the first time. Never seen the second season, so that'll be all new to me.

In this episode: We travel to England, Doc duels with one of Biff's ancestors, and we meet Marty's goofy relative Harold McFly.

Ok, let's jump in.

Interesting. I thought all these episodes began with Real Doc in his lab, but this one seems to skip that part and goes straight to animation. Christopher Lloyd is narrating, though, which is nice, I suppose. Still not as good as getting to actually see him. Automatic points deducted from this episode for not immediately showing me Doc's face. More Real Doc, less cartoon, please. Thanks.

I am thrilled to announce that we have found Clara! (she did not appear at all in episode 1) She's voiced by none other than Clara herself, Mary Steenburgen.

As you may be able to tell, she's shed her 1885 attire in favor of modern clothes. And right away, we learn that she's become super tech-savvy as well. The Brown house has many futuristic features to it (either from Doc's travels or his own inventions) and Clara is using two of them here. The device on her leg allows her to work out without actually having to move, and the thing on her finger has some sort of laser feature that allows her to grade school papers on a screen across the room. And I can only wonder how it is that Clara has managed to get a job teaching in a modern school—not so much because of any gaps in knowledge she may have (Clara's super smart, I'm sure she could catch up) but because I'm wondering about the interview process. Surely she must have had to show identification and fill out forms. I can only assume that Doc has gotten forged documentation somehow for his entire family with made up birth years, medical records, etc.

I would have liked an episode about that. Kids would've enjoyed an episode all about Doc creating fake birth records for his wife and kids, right? Right??

Elsewhere in the house, Jules and Verne are busy playing with remote control cars and an elaborate model train set. Hmm...seems like this episode is setting up lots of scenes with technology in preparation to give us the ol' "too much tech is bad for you" lesson.

Our good buddy Doc is even in on the tech craze. He's busy building robot arms that will turn newspaper pages for him so he doesn't have to do it himself, lol. Unfortunately, this causes a power surge, and all the lights in the house go off. The family is not happy. Doc comes to the realization that they've all become spoiled by technology. He declares that they all need to take a vacation to a time without electricity and ushers them to the DeLorean.

As the car flies off into the sky, Marty and Jennifer are walking down the street.

Um. That's—that's Jennifer. Yeah. I don't know what happened there. Her design upsets me. Marty is still in his silly letterman jacket. I'm thisclose to photoshopping a denim jacket onto him. Why is he wearing high-waisted jeans?

As they watch the car, Marty tells Jennifer, "I don't guess we'll be borrowing the car tonight." So, apparently, he's allowed to take the DeLorean through time all willy-nilly whenever he wants? That sounds like an absolutely horrible idea.

Doc takes the fam to England in 1367 because I guess he figures a good dose of dysentery will help put things in perspective for them? Anyway, he uses this high-tech camera thing to "change" all their clothes into Medieval ones. He says it's only an illusion that lasts a few hours, though. Idk, don't think about it too hard. To ensure the family all stays put and "enjoys" the trip, he programs the DeLorean to fly away, back to present day, and return later on to pick them up. There is no way that can possibly go wrong.

Clara is not happy with her husband.

"Of all the pig-headed, insensitive, macho things you've ever done, this takes the cake," she says. And. Can we just talk about how un-Doc-like those descriptors are? Insensitive? Macho?? OUR DOC? Cartoon Clara and Doc have a weird dynamic in this so far. I don't like the exasperated wife with a bumbling, inconsiderate husband trope.

We soon meet Lord Biffingham, Earl of Tannenshire. If you read my episode 1 review, you know that Thomas F. Wilson voices all Tannens in the show. He's really a bright spot in this series because the guy can do so many fun voices. We'll meet many more Tannen relatives in the show—Biff evidently has family roots all over the globe. Lord Biffingham orders Clara to be kidnapped by his cronies. Uh oh. Doc is also kidnapped. Double uh oh! It's up to Jules and Verne to save the day now.

They soon meet one of Marty's relatives! Harold McFly of the Sussex McFlys. Here they are all hanging upside down in a tree because they got caught in rope traps.

Those are traps Harold set, btw. He caught himself in his own trap. I love him already. Harold tells the boys that he's vowed revenge against Biffingham for stealing away "his lady" Jennivere (assumed to be one of Jennifer's relatives due to the name and fact she is literally just the Jennifer character from the earlier scene but in Medieval clothing). They team up to try to sneak into Biffingham's castle to rescue Doc, Clara, and Jennivere.

Meanwhile, Lord Biffingham asks Clara to marry him. First, though, he has to kill Doc. Yep. So far, we've had a Civil War episode featuring guns being pointed at Jules and Verne, and now a murder plot. Very fun.

Doc, however, isn't too concerned with his predicament. He's locked in a dungeon, having a grand ol' time identifying various bugs and rodents by their scientific names. And while I can't see Real Doc being quite so calm in such a time of crisis, I can see him taking breaks from his panic to be like, "Oooh, rattus norvegicus." (That's literally just a Brown Rat, btw. Doc is fascinated at seeing it.)

We go back to Marty Harold, Jules, and Verne, who are enacting their plot to infiltrate the castle. Harold sings and says some things to the guards, but I can only understand like a third of the words coming out his mouth because of his exaggerated accent. Harold what are you saying.

Lord Biffingham prepares for a jousting tournament against Doc, during which he plans to "eliminate" Doc. Biffingham has this massive horse, tons of fancy armor, and a huge sword thing. Doc has this:

I mean. I dunno, I believe in you, Doc.

Jules and Verne show up just in time to rig Doc's pathetic little "horse" with their motorized car that they snuck on the trip, which makes it go super fast. He's able to avoid Biffingham's attacks for a while, but eventually gets captured. Biffingham orders Doc, Jules, Verne, Harold, and even poor Einstein to be executed.

Doc makes a joke about himself and the boys being the first people to ever die before they were born and I just. I feel like this isn't the time for jokes, Doc? Your children are about to die and also—ALSO!—one of Marty's relatives, thus causing him to never be born in the future. Your vacation is destroying entire family lineages, Doc. This show belongs in the horror genre.

It's Clara who ends up saving the guys just in time! She and Jennivere use a ton of fabric to somehow make a hot air balloon, and they throw ropes down and fly the gang away.

With everyone free, Harold and Jennivere are reunited! He says it isn't safe for them to stay in England but he doesn't know where they can go. Doc suggests *drum roll* Ireland! And there are several things that come to my mind here.

One of Marty's relatives and one of Jennifer's relatives got married in the 1300s, moved to Ireland, and had kids—establishing the McFly family line in Ireland.

According to this, Doc is the one who caused the McFlys to even go there in the first place. So. How did they end up there originally? I guess Harold and Jennivere eventually decided on Ireland as well on their own.

It's Clara who helps to free Jennivere from the castle. Who got her out in the original timeline? Maybe Harold?

Shhh, Nikki, it's a cartoon

Anyway, Harold and Jennivere fly off to Ireland right that very moment in the hot air balloon.

Byeee! Goodbye Harold and Jennivere! Enjoy life in Ireland, you crazy kids.

I miss Seamus. I wish he was in this cartoon. That would make it better, I think.

Wait, wait. I just got sidetracked looking at the Animated Series wiki, and it turns out the opening live-action segment of Doc from this episode was cut from the DVDs, which is where I'm watching this on. It was apparently of him flying above Hill Valley in a hot air balloon. Why was this stolen from me?

Let's wrap this up. We finally get to see Real Doc! We also get one of my absolute favorite gags in all of media. And that is: when a character falls from a big height or is getting dragged or spun around and it's very obviously a fake, stuffed dummy. I cannot describe how much this gag amuses me. It is the peak of comedy, and more shows and movies should use it. Look.

It is hysterical. I watched this gif loop upwards of 15 times.

Based on the context I now have regarding the removed opening segment, it appears that Doc fell from his hot air balloon. He recovered from the lethal plummet like a champ. Must be due to the medical overhaul in 2015.

Bill Nye then shows us how to make our own hot air balloon using a plastic bag and hair dryer. That's basically the end of the episode.

Overall, I'd rank this episode as being better than the previous one. I did miss Marty, though; he was only in those 10 seconds at the beginning. But Harold was a fun guy. I like that they're keeping with the "all of Marty's relatives look just like him" thing. (Except for Arthur and George, of course)

Join me next time to see dinosaurs wearing clothes.

#back to the future #bttf #bttf: the animated series

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tenebraevesper · 5 months

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Five Nights at Freddy's: Salvaged, Night 25: Circus Of The Dead

''The show must go on! Hit the lights, we're going till there's no pulse left; This masquerade of souls needs a victim, won't you be our hopeless guest? But if it helps, you can pretend, it's make believe inside your head. This nightmare's as real as it gets in the circus of the, in the circus of the, in the circus of the dead!''

– Circus Of The Dead by TryHardNinja (Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location)

xXxXxXx

Springtrap tilted his head, surprised that the person in the kitchen wasn't Emma, but Sam. It was early in the morning and she was preparing some sandwiches.

''Hello, you're up early,'' he told her. Sam leaned against the counter.

''Well, let's just say that it's going to be a long day,'' Sam replied, smiling. Springtrap frowned, having a bad feeling about this. A few minutes later, Emma had joined them, seemingly just as surprised as Springtrap was when she saw Sam at the kitchen counter.

''Hi, Mum! May I borrow the car today?'' Sam asked in a cheerful voice. Emma turned to Springtrap, rising an eyebrow, with him being a little confused. She then turned to Sam.

''Sorry, but no. I need it today,'' Emma replied. Sam pouted.

''Seriously?''

''Well, I asked you yesterday and you didn't want it.''

''Yeah, because I didn't need it yesterday. However, I need it today,'' Sam replied. Emma shook her head, clearly not wanting to borrow the car. ''Okay, then. Could you drive us there?''

''What?'' Both Emma and Springtrap were confused. Springtrap actually didn't know what Sam had planned for today, having decided to go with whatever she wanted to do, as usual.

''That would work for everyone,'' Sam added.

''Well, if you say so…'' Emma muttered.

''Great!'' Sam grinned, leaving the finished sandwiches on the kitchen counter and going upstairs. ''I'll be back soon.''

Emma rose an eyebrow, a little surprised by how cheerful her daughter today was, especially in comparison to how she behaved yesterday. She glanced at Springtrap, who gave her a curious look.

''I assume you two had a talk,'' she said.

''We have figured out what the problem was,'' Springtrap explained. ''Rest assured, she feels better now.''

''I'm glad about that,'' Emma said, smiling and crossing her arms. ''You've done a good job, Afton.''

''Is that it? No snide remarks?'' Springtrap asked, a little confused.

''Do you want me to make a comment?'' Emma asked. Springtrap shook his head frantically. ''I thought so.''

She then took the ingredients Sam used to make her sandwiches and made herself one. Sam joined them a minute later, holding her backpack and stuffing the sandwiches into it.

''So, where are you going?'' Emma asked the two, mostly looking at Sam.

''I want to go back to the Sister Location,'' Sam said. Both Emma and Springtrap gave her a confused look, until Springtrap realized what Sam meant.

''Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, right?'' he said, with Sam nodding. Emma frowned, giving them an irritated look.

''You're going back to the place where you got injured so badly you had to be sent to the hospital?'' she said. ''I thought you had learned something from your experience.''

''Yeah, I did,'' Sam replied. ''I won't touch stuff that is probably too dangerous for me to handle. Can we go now?''

Emma rolled her eyes, with Sam giving her a sheepish smile. She glanced at Springtrap, giving him a death glare. Springtrap was confused about why Emma was glaring at him, giving her a nervous look.

''Fine, but I don't want to have you drive to the hospital again. Stay out of trouble,'' Emma told Sam. She then turned to Springtrap. ''You make sure she stays out of trouble.''

''Consider it done,'' Springtrap replied. Emma rubbed her temple, sighing.

''I guess at least I'll know where you two went,'' she added. Sam and Springtrap just exchanged glances.

xXx

''So, this is it? It doesn't really look impressive,'' Emma said nonchalantly as she parked in the lot at Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental. She noticed Springtrap's annoyed look when she looked at the rearview mirror.

''Maybe it's because it hasn't been used for a long time,'' Springtrap replied dryly. ''Besides, the main part of this location is underground.''

''I won't even ask you why,'' Emma said. ''In any case, Sam, give me call when you want me to pick you up.''

''Okay, see you later!'' Sam replied, getting out of the car along with Springtrap. The two watched Emma leave before finally going inside.

''Do you have anything particular in mind for today?'' Springtrap asked Sam as they entered the location, going towards the elevator.

''Well, perhaps we could clean up this place a little,'' Sam suggested. Springtrap tilted his head, looking at her, then nodded.

''I guess we should make sure that more people don't come into contact with all the stuff that is lying around here,'' he said. ''Especially since they wouldn't know what that stuff is.''

Sam smiled, stepping into the elevator. Springtrap followed her, glad to see her smiling, but also thinking about their plans for today. If there was anything he needed to deal with, it was the remnant. He knew he couldn't let anyone else get into contact with it, whether accidentally or them wanting to use it. Not to mention, this was his personal discovery, and he wasn't really willing to share it with anyone.

''Anyways, Will, considering you're more familiar with this place, you should be in charge,'' Sam said as they waited for the elevator to reach the bunker-like area where the animatronics used to stay. Springtrap gave her a curious look, with Sam shrugging. ''I mean, just tell me what I should stay away from or what I shouldn't handle.''

''How am I supposed to know you will listen to me and not wander away?'' Springtrap asked.

''Don't worry, I have learned my lesson,'' Sam replied, then hit herself softly on the head, winked, and stuck her tongue out, adding while smiling, ''I'll do my best not to be one of those people who try to pay attention to something, then go 'Ooh, shiny!' and get distracted.''

''Hopefully, you won't,'' Springtrap said, a little sarcastic. The elevator opened, with the two exiting it and Springtrap showing Sam the door hidden behind it. ''Anyways, I want you to pick up all the suits that were left by the animatronics when they decided to use their endoskeletons to form Ennard and put them in one place.''

''Okay,'' Sam replied as they entered the Funtime Auditorium. Sam went over to the private room to leave her backpack there, while Springtrap turned the power on. The lights flickered, illuminating the rooms. He then went straight to the room with the scooper, finding it exactly how he left it.

The scooper was still dismantled, lying on the floor. He picked up the excavating arm that was attached to the injector and ripped the injector out, with the cable that would transfer the remnant hanging out of it, still attached to the reservoir. He then looked at the reservoir, a little hesitant about his next move.

He knew that he had to destroy whatever remained of the remnant. He couldn't let someone like Connor get their hands on it, even if they had no idea what it is. However, a part of him wanted to tear the scooper apart and take the reservoir with the remnant, hiding it somewhere or taking it with him in case he would need it. It wasn't as if he wanted to continue with his experiments, but still, there was a lot he didn't understand about the remnant and he felt that, perhaps, he could at least use this sample for research purposes.

With this in mind, Springtrap suddenly found himself reaching for the reservoir, only to suddenly shake his head, as if waking up from a trance-like state. He stepped back, reluctant, only to frown and reach for the scooper. He then opened the reservoir, looking at the container with the remnant. Next to it was an built-in device that would not only show the temperature, but also prevent the container from overheating. His eyes flared purple as he took it out and turned the heating on. He then placed it on the ground and stood up, observing it as the temperature started to slowly rise.

Was this really the right decision?

He knew that he could still save the container as the temperature hadn't reached its critical point yet. It would take a while for that to happen and even then, it would take a while for the remnant to completely break down and become unusable. He flexed his fingers, itching to grab that container, but didn't. He just stared at it blankly, not even seeing the container anymore, but flames suddenly erupting from the entire area.

He stood calmly, remembering the fire that had consumed him. He never thought that his arrogance would cost him so much. He believed that he could escape any trap, but this time, it was Henry who was always one step ahead of him. Not only had he constructed an inescapable maze, but he also tried to lure his William into it by taking advantage of his greatest flaw – bloodthirst. He succeeded.

Willliam remembered that one of his thoughts, as he walked through the maze, was that Henry was planning to only destroy the animatronics. However, when he heard Henry's message during the fire, he knew that Henry had been planning his own death all along. He decided to keep on living long enough to take William down with him. If he hadn't been too occupied with the fire, William would've commended him on his acceptance of death.

The container with the remnant was heating up, having reached the temperature necessary for the substance to be malleable. However, Springtrap didn't touch it. The desire to take it was still there, but it was waning. He did feel a little weird about it, as he was basically destroying something he was working on for a long time.

But, this is for the best, isn't it? He snorted. Ironically, I'm basically finishing what Henry had in mind. Who would've thought I'd ever find myself in this situation?

Springtrap sighed, unsure how to feel about this.

''It's strange, isn't it?'' He turned around, only to see Sam joining him. She gave him a sympathetic look. ''You didn't look like you really wanted to destroy it.''

''I hate to admit it, but you're right,'' Springtrap replied. He glanced at the container, noticing that it was close to overheating. He could still take it. ''Still, this is necessary, isn't it?''

''It is your decision,'' Sam told him. Springtrap glanced at the container, frowning. It was overheating, with the remnant breaking down. He knew that now, it was too late for him to save anything. However, even though there was a part of him that wanted to save it, there was also a part of him that was glad that it was gone.

''I should've gotten rid of it much earlier,'' he said, looking at Sam. ''At least you wouldn't have gotten hurt.''

''Maybe, but at least I can now help you deal with that kid,'' Sam replied, noticing the gloomy look on Springtrap's expression. She knew that he appreciated her help, but he still hated the fact that he brought her into this situation. ''You know, I'm proud of you.''

''Really?'' Springtrap looked stunned. Sam nodded, smiling.

''You wouldn't have done it if you still had the same mindset you had before we met, right?'' she added.

''I probably wouldn't,'' Springtrap said in a quiet tone. He glanced back at the container, which was now filled with an useless substance that used to be remnant.

''It must've been weird to see destroying something you created,'' Sam said as she stepped right next to him, looking at the container. ''Even if the methods were more than questionable, you still put a lot of time and effort into it.''

''I guess that that's another reason why it was necessary to get rid of it,'' Springtrap replied, walking over to the container and turning the power off. All he could do about it now is to throw it away. As he looked at it, his eyes started to glow again in a soft purple. ''Although, it wouldn't help at all…''

''What do you mean?'' Sam asked, with Springtrap turning to her.

''There might be another reason why that kid wants to get rid of me, aside from trying to 'protect' you,'' he added the last part in a sarcastic tone. ''Even though the remnant is destroyed, the person who created it is still here. I know how to recreate it, and there isn't really anything preventing me from doing it again.''

''Then, why don't you?'' Sam asked, rising an eyebrow. Springtrap tilted his head, knowing exactly what she was implying.

''I don't have any interest in recreating it,'' he said. ''I… changed, I guess.''

Sam smiled, looking quite satisfied. Springtrap shared the same feeling, although there was still something that was bothering him.

''Still, they're not happy with it,'' he said. ''In their opinion, this curse that I created will end once I'm gone. As I had already said, I could just repeat the past if I wanted.''

''However, you decided not to,'' Sam noted. ''Instead, we have Connor, who is operating without relying on any of your discoveries. For all we know, he just heard the rumors about the haunted animatronics and decided to make something similar. You're not responsible for what is currently going on and I'm quite sure that it is a good thing that you're here, especially since you know better than anyone how to handle this.''

''Right, but you should explain it to that kid,'' Springtrap replied dryly. ''They probably wouldn't care about what Connor is doing as long as I'm gone.''

''I do kind of understand that mindset,'' Sam said in an apologetic tone, her arms crossed. ''After all, they only had to deal with you, while we're both stuck with Connor.''

''That, and they're fixated so much on the past that they refuse to acknowledge the present,'' Springtrap added, crossing his arms. He then went quiet, realizing that the children may not be the only ones who focus too much on the past. However, he drove that thought out of his mind. If I had refused to change, I wouldn't be here now.

He did feel a little more confident about being here. Even if there were things that reminded him of the past, he wouldn't let it overwhelm him. He still had a good reason to continue with what he had set in his mind.

''Anyways, shall we explore the rest of this circus of dead?'' Sam asked.

''Sure,'' Springtrap said, only to register a second later what she had said. ''Circus of the dead?''

''Well, it kind of fits…'' Sam replied. ''You know, with the carnival theme…''

''I know. I was just wondering why I didn't come up with that name,'' Springtrap replied, with Sam chuckling.

Rest assured, it would be a long day.

xXx

Connor pinched the bridge of his nose, staring at the screen. He still had a lot of time to spare before he would go to work, which was why he decided to focus on his current project, as well as the side-project he had finally decided to continue.

He remembered the conversation he had with that girl the previous evening, and even though she had been constantly denying everything, he expression and behavior confirmed some of his theories. The fact that he saw that green-golden bunny animatronic again did help, but he was stuck trying to figure out who this bunny was, why he seemed to show so much interest in that girl and why he seemingly hated Connor so much. However, Connor had quickly figured out the answer to the last question and a partial answer to the first.

He knew that the bunny had to be an animatronic from Freddy's, as they already had a bunny animatronic named Bonnie. He had figured that this animatronic was probably a variation of Bonnie, but he didn't have much information about it. The articles he had read about Freddy's only had the blue version of the animatronic. If anything, it felt as if Fazbear Entertainment tried to erase the existence of the golden-green bunny for whatever reason they had. Still, there had to be something left.

Concerning the hateful look the bunny had given him, Connor knew it was because he made that girl uncomfortable. Obviously, she meant a lot to the animatronic and he seemed to appear only when she was also present. This was essentially the reason why he had decided to intimidate her, hoping that the animatronic would eventually show himself. However, before Connor could approach him, he had vanished again.

Connor felt a little frustrated that he couldn't get any more information about the past events. Sure, there had been another Freddy's location, but it had perished in a fire and the owner had mysteriously vanished. They didn't put his name anywhere, though, with Connor suspecting that Fazbear Entertainment was attempting to cover something up. After all, they had a long history of doing that at every location. He had read an article about a person having their frontal lobe damaged by an animatronic in 1987, but there wasn't a follow-up to this incident, except for the fact that the restaurant had closed.

Connor leaned back in his chair, looking through the window. He noticed dark clouds passing by, wondering if it would rain tonight. Now, that would ruin the show for him, as not many people would want to be outside due to the rain.

He glanced back at the laptop screen, wondering what he was missing. There had to be more articles about Freddy's, considering that those murders were quite a shocking event for a small, quiet town where hardly any crime happened. He frowned.

Did I even cover everything? There's no information about the murderer either. No names were released, despite the fact that they had a suspect and he was supposedly charged with the murders… or was he?

He knew that there was something he didn't know about, something that he couldn't find in old newspaper articles. He was quite frustrated about not having that information, feeling that it was incredibly crucial to his current situation.

Was there more than just the Freddy's location?

He remembered his conversation with Bran, that he heard how Freddy's didn't start out like this. Apparently, it was a small establishment under a different name, with several different locations, which closed one by one as more and more accidents occurred until only one remained in 1993. However, to Connor's frustration, he had forgotten what the names of those locations were.

He sighed, knowing that he didn't know at the time that he would need that information. Now, he was regretting that he didn't listen closer to his old partner.

xXx

Sam was looking at Funtime Freddy's torso, inspecting the hole in the chest where the speaker used to be. She was a little disappointed about the lack of mask, but considering it had been incinerated alongside the rest of Molten Freddy, nothing could be done. She did, however, find Bon-Bon, even though the hand puppet didn't work anymore.

She glanced back at Springtrap, who was putting away endoskeleton pieces into a huge box. She wasn't sure where they would place it or what they would even do with the parts, but she figured that Springtrap had some kind of plan. She tilted her head, noticing how focused he was on his work. She then smiled mischievously, grabbing the hand puppet. Springtrap, who was crouching and arranging the parts in the box to create more space, suddenly saw Bon-Bon popping up in front of him.

''So, what's the plan, Spring?'' Bon-Bon said in a high-pitched tone. Springtrap turned to Sam, who was standing next to him, holding the hand-puppet. She grinned, playing with Bon-Bon as if it were a doll. ''You look lost there.''

''I guess I am,'' Springtrap said, a little amused by Sam's attempts to cheer him up. ''Anyways, I was planning to put this at the scooper room.''

''Okay,'' Sam muttered, walking over to the box and attempting to lift it up. However, it was quite heavy and she quickly gave up on it. She noticed Springtrap glancing at her, still looking amused.

''Maybe you should leave the heavy lifting to me,'' he told her.

''Yeah, I should,'' Sam replied, with a sheepish smile on her expression. She then looked around. ''You know, it's still exciting being here.''

''Really? I thought that the word you'd be using is 'dangerous','' Springtrap replied sarcastically.

''I don't think so. I mean, the scooper is gone and what is left of the Circus Gang are just those pieces,'' Sam said as she pointed at the box.

''Okay, you have a point,'' Springtrap said as he got up and picked the box up with ease. He then took it to the private room, placing it under the desk. He went back to the Funtime Auditorium, seeing Sam placing Bon-Bon into another box. She then took out her phone, looking at it, with Springtrap realizing that they had no idea how much time had passed since they were busy checking every area for parts, taking them and storing them away. Sam then walked over to him.

''I think we should take a small pause, I'm getting hungry,'' she said, taking her backpack. Springtrap nodded, with the two walking over to the stage and sitting on it. Sam took out one of the sandwiches, unwrapped it and took a bite, glancing at Springtrap, who was staring at her. ''Do you want a bite?''

''Seriously?'' Springtrap's tone was a mix of annoyance and amusement.

''You do look hungry,'' Sam replied, a mischievous smirk on her expression. ''So, what are we going to do next? I mean, after we store the rest of the animatronic parts.''

''I am not really sure,'' Springtrap replied. ''My main focus was the remnant, and that's gone now. Honestly, we don't really have much to do here, unless you want to explore the place a little further.''

''Sure,'' Sam said, nodding. Springtrap noticed her smile vanishing and her expression turning to contemplative. ''Say, Will, about this place… What comes to your mind?''

Springtrap gave her a curious look and then looked at the Funtime Auditorium. He sighed, closing his eyes. I guess she wants to know how I feel about this place, how I feel about what had happened. He opened his eyes, frowning.

''I… I am not sure,'' Springtrap said. ''It feels empty, in a way.''

''You mean, just like this place?'' Sam asked, glancing at the Funtime Auditorium. Unlike the warm and colourful lights and smell of Henry's Freddy's location, even if it was fake, Circus Baby's was cold and sterile, completely devoid of life. Even the cheerful posters of Circus Baby and the Funtimes didn't help improving the creepy atmosphere.

''Exactly,'' Springtrap replied. ''After all, this location had been created for a different reason, just like Circus Baby's Pizza World. It was supposed to be a trap just as much as Henry's fake location was. Of course, you know as much as I do that it didn't work out the way it was supposed to.''

''Yeah, and it was all because of your own selfish desires,'' Sam said in a rather cold tone. Springtrap nodded, not really perturbed by the sudden change in Sam's attitude. As much as she cared about him and even defended him from that kid, he still knew that she wasn't happy about that part of his past.

''That selfish desire cost me the life of my own daughter,'' Springtrap said in a resigned tone. A flash of blood, metal, pieces of clothing and flesh appeared in his vision, with him closing his eyes, hoping it would fade away. ''I should've stayed with her.''

''What was Elizabeth like?'' Sam suddenly asked, with Springtrap giving her stunned look. He wasn't really sure whether this was a topic he wanted to talk about. His children were gone, after all, and even then, would he really be able to remember any moments with them that weren't a complete nightmare?

''Elizabeth was…'' His eyes were starting to glow in a soft purple colour as he focused on his memories of a little girl with light brown hair, green eyes and a shy smile. ''She was a cheerful kid.''

''Really?'' Sam said, with Springtrap, strangely, feeling encouraged to talk.

I know I said this already, but it's been really long since I had someone to talk to like this.

''To be honest, Lizzy always tried to make me proud, despite the fact that I was quite distant and neglectful towards her, Sammy and Michael,'' Springtrap added in a heavy-hearted tone. ''She would try to get my attention with any means possible, often following me around or trying to show interest in what I was doing, even if she never understood it. She was quite innocent and naive, but also quite stubborn. I found her roaming through my workshop numerous times, especially when I had started working on Circus Baby.''

''Seems like she admired you a lot,'' Sam noted. ''Even after her death.''

''Yes, and I was too much of an idiot to notice that,'' Springtrap said, sighing. He thought about when he met Elizabeth again, this time as Scrap Baby.

''I want to make you proud, Daddy.''

In a way, she did make him proud, but he had never acknowledged it. Now, he wished that he had never dragged her into this whole situation.

''The sweet girl she used to be had slowly vanished after her death,'' he added. ''Her state of mind had just continued to deteriorate, until only the desire to make me proud was left. At least, she's in a better place now.''

''Will?'' Sam noticed the strange look on Springtrap's expression as he glanced at her.

''I don't want you to end up like them,'' he said in a quiet tone. ''I can't let that happen.''

''I know,'' Sam said. ''That's another reason why I trust you so much.''

''Sam…'' Springtrap tried to protest, only to be cut off by Sam.

''I know that you want to tell me that you cannot be trusted, William, but whenever you attempted to hurt me, you were suffering from some kind of hallucination,'' Sam said, only to see Springtrap attempting to interrupt her. ''Also, I do not count our first encounter.''

''I wanted to point out that, when I attempted to harm you during our first meeting, I wasn't suffering from any hallucination,'' Springtrap said. ''Who says I won't hurt you again like that?''

''Well, you did,'' Sam pointed out. ''You just told me that you don't want to hurt me.''

''True, but…''

''William, I have already told you that I'm completely comfortable in your presence. I am not afraid of you, but I fear what might happen in case you lose yourself again,'' Sam interrupted him again, only to fall silent. Springtrap noticed the somber look on her expression, with her seemingly being a little lost in her thoughts. She then glanced at him, giving him a sympathetic smile. ''We're both afraid of losing each other, even though we made it clear we don't want to live in such fear.''

''You're right,'' Springtrap said. ''Besides, the times I would suffer from hallucinations often happened when I was in a state of stress, despair or fear. Keeping on worrying like this doesn't do any of us any good.'' He then frowned. ''Still, there isn't really a solution to this problem, right?''

''No, there isn't,'' Sam replied, with Springtrap giving her a questioning look. ''Yeah, I know. You expected me to be a little more optimistic, but let's be honest here – we both know that that's the truth. It would be rather easy to just pretend that there's no problem, but just pretending something doesn't exist won't make it go away. While we both did acknowledge it and even talked about what could be done, we also know that it will take a while to find any kind of solution, if there's any. Besides, I don't think that just leaving would solve the problem.''

''That's why I told you to make the decision whether I should leave or not. My main concern is your safety and if you feel threatened, I will leave. However, none of us want that to happen, which means that we're basically stuck in this situation,'' Springtrap said, sighing. He then noticed Sam smiling. ''Sam?''

''You know, when you remove the fear of abandonment or harm, the situation doesn't look that bad,'' she explained. ''I'm enjoying every moment we spend together.''

''You're not the only one who feels like this,'' Springtrap said, noticing that Sam was beaming. He felt a little annoyed for having to ruin this moment. ''However, we still have another problem to deal with. Or rather, two problems.''

''Well, we haven't heard anything from that kid and I seriously hope they'll stay quiet, because I don't want to listen to another rant about why you're supposedly a 'bad friend','' Sam said. ''Connor, on the other hand, is a different matter. I sincerely doubt that I want to know what he's going to do with those animatronics he's building.''

''Not to mention, what might happen if he figures out how to tie a soul to an animatronic,'' Springtrap said, crossing his arms. ''There's no need for another murderer to walk around in animatronic form. I'm not keen on sharing the spotlight.''

Sam chuckled, much to his delight. Sometimes, it surprised him just how easy it was to make her happy. She didn't really need any kind of over-the-top gifts, and was perfectly satisfied with just having a simple conversation with him. Still, he felt that he could do a little bit more for her.

After all, doesn't she like exploring new places, especially if they're connected to Freddy's, or rather, my past?

He could still remember the look she gave him when they had arrived at Fazbear's Fright, even more when he let her enter the office. Not to mention, there was also her reaction to entering Circus Baby's for the first time. He wondered how she would react to this one. He got up, noticing Sam giving him a curious look.

''You said that you wanted to explore this place,'' he said. ''There is something I'd like to show you.''

''Sure,'' Sam said, putting the rest of her sandwich into the backpack and following him to the private room. They then entered the corridor on the left side, with Sam looking around, knowing that this was where Ennard would've been stalking Mike had he actually found the private room. They then entered another hallway, which had a bunch of boxes stacked on each other.

''I think it was here,'' Springtrap said, removing the boxes. It was quite dark inside the hallway and there were pipes placed across the wall. However, there was one part of the wall that was rather clear. Sam noticed a faint line, realizing it was actually a hidden door.

Springtrap opened it, with Sam glancing inside. The corridor was quite barren, with Sam wondering where Springtrap was leading her. She had to use her the flashlight function on her smartphone to see where she was going, although it didn't take them long to arrive at their destination.

''So, what is this place?'' she asked as he opened another door.

''I'm quite sure that you will recognize it once you see it,'' Springtrap told her, stepping away from the door and letting her inside first.

Sam walked inside, only to find herself in a different corridor. However, it was quite different from the Sister Location, with the first thing that she had noticed being an old grandfather's clock. There was also furniture in the hallway and some pictures on the walls. She was stunned, turning to Springtrap, who gave her a confident look.

''This is the house with the Nightmare Animatronics, isn't it?'' she said. Springtrap grinned, his eyes flaring purple.

''Correct.''

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#Five Nights at Freddy's: The Untold Story (Masterlist)

#Five Nights at Freddy's: The Untold Story #Five Nights at Freddy's: Salvaged #william afton #springtrap #fnaf sl #fnaf sister location #five nights at freddy's sister location #fnaf 4 #five nights at freddy's 4 #nightmare animatronics

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borahaerhy · 2 years

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Gone (9) - jjk

Summary: You and your childhood best friend, Jungkook, have grown apart over the years, although you still have the same overbearing fun-loving bestie, Aria, that really wants her best friends talking again, something neither of you really want to be apart of until Aria goes missing, and the only other person that could help you find her is the one you've spent years avoiding.

Pairing: Jungkook x Female Reader

Genre: Best friends to enemies (ish?) to lovers, High School AU, eventual smut, slow burn

Warnings: What actually happened the night Aria's mom died, Some unaliving, some blood, Aria drops a lamp and probably wishes that she didn't, Y/n is OUT OF IT, and also not at all the main character rn, Some people get arrested, an FBI raid, Y/n blatantly disregarding anything an authority figure says.

Word Count: 2.7K

Note: In honor of Jin joining the military, I thought I'd get my shit together and actually finish this chapter.

I'll have an actual update posted tomorrow about where I've been and hopefully, I'll be getting a schedule started to make sure I'm posting somewhat normally again.

Barely proofread, if there's a mistake no there's not.

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“Are you fucking kidding me, Carl? How do we owe ten thousand dollars to a fucking cop?”

“Where the fuck do you think I’ve been getting your drugs, huh? Do you think I just found that duffle bag?” The screams got louder as what they were screaming about had gotten more and more muffled in the ears of Aria. She sat up in her bedroom on the second floor of the house, her parents arguing just at the bottom of the stairs that her bedroom door was adjacent to.

“So you stole from a fucking cop?!”

“I didn’t steal shit! I went to him with a business proposition, and I just haven’t exactly carried out my end of the deal yet,” Lillian scoffed, running her fingers through her thin hair as she walked away from her husband, anger consuming her.

“So, long story short, you borrowed from a cop knowing full fucking well you couldn’t pay him back?”

“Fuck, Lil, I fucking guess, yeah!” The screaming resumed, the two of them at the other’s throats so loudly that they couldn’t even hear the glass breaking in the back of the house.

Bennett had only coincidentally picked the night the two of them had been at each other’s throats. In fact, he didn’t think anyone was home, which was why he broke in. The car wasn’t in the driveway, none of the lights were on, all the curtains drawn and all the light on the porch was off; something they did on purpose to avoid the confrontation of Bennett showing up and asking for his money back.

As he fell through the window and onto the carpeted floor, he cursed himself as the voices of Carl and Lillian filled the house. He stood from his position and brushed himself off, before he pulled the curtains back over to cover up the mess he’d made.

He pulled the gun from the waist band of his jeans and began walking slowly toward the source of the yelling. He peered through the cracked door and spotted at the end of the hallway a woman who he had not recognized. She had been the one screaming at Carl; the man that owed him money. He opened the door wide enough for him to fit, thankful that the creakiness was only apparent when they were at their loudest points.

“We barely have thirty dollars to our name, how the fuck are we supposed to get ten fucking thousand dollar-” Before she could finish her sentence, Bennett grabbed her from behind, gun to her head and hand covering her mouth. Carl’s eyes went wide as he saw the very man he owed money too how holding his wife hostage.

“You’re gonna listen very closely, Carl,” No one dared make a move, Lillian had stopped struggling as soon as she felt the cool steel of the gun to her temple. Carl nodded softly, beckoning Bennett to continue. “How much of the drugs do you have left?” Carl only swallowed at the question, eyes wide as they swiftly moved back and forth between the pleading eyes of Lillian, and the cold ones of Bennett.

Bennett cocked the gun, as if a threat to Carl saying “if you don’t respond now, my gun will do the talking”.

“None,” He spat out as fast as he could, taking a very small shuffle forward with a hand outstretched, as if trying to reach out to his wife. Bennett took a step back, pulling Lillian along with him. She stumbled back into his body, his grip on her mouth strong enough to keep her standing until she was able to rebalance herself. “We did it all, we don’t have any of it left,”

“Do you have anything of value in this shithole? Any jewelry, electronics-”

Carl very swiftly took off his wedding band and held it out for Bennett to look at. “That it?” Carl nodded, his wife not even having hers; they’d pawned it seven months ago. “How much did you pay for it?” Carl swallowed.

“Ninety-nine dollars,”

“Ninety-” Bennett sighed, eyes clenched in tension as the smell of cigarette smoke permeating off of Lillian’s hair was beginning to nauseate him. “Jesus, you got any fucking kids?” The color drained form both Carl and Lillian’s faces, a horrible fear striking them both down to their core as Lillian’s eyes darted toward the stairs.

“No,” He answered almost too fast. “No, we tried, but we were never able to have any. Let’s strike up a deal, huh? Let’s start a payment plan and-and you can charge me interest. I’ll end up giving you twenty thousand total, double what you lost. What do you say?” Bennett’s face turned to a scowl, pissed at even the thought. He had people that he owed money to, he couldn’t take a payment plan.

“Carl, just shut the fuck up for a se-”

A loud bang from the top floor startled them. A loud bang that had been caused by Aria knocking over her lamp. She bumped into her bedside table as she was trying to get a better look out the window, to see if you were there yet, and her lamp fell. Her heavy, glass lamp fell so hard onto the wood floors that it made everyone in the house jump.

Bennett included, though he jumped a lot more than anyone else. His hand squeezed the trigger of the gun a little too hard, a little harder than he had intended and another, much louder bang rang through the house, and the woman he was holding suddenly fell limp in his arms.

She slumped to the ground, covered in her own blood as Carl fell to the ground on top of her, holding her in his chest screaming her name, screaming for someone to go get help. Seconds later, siren’s could be heard going off in the distance, along with the sound of his phone ringing.

He ran from the house back the way he came, dropping the gun in the bushes as he hurried away seconds before you and the cops showed up.

He ran back to his car, took off his bloody jacket, and drove up to the crime scene, entering it as if he was just a cop that got called in to the scene. The gun he was able to take care of, but the bullet casing of the round he fired was never found.

“I’m sorry,” Your voice was shaky and much softer than you had intended as you finally were able to bring yourself to speak. “Jungkook’s blood?” So many questions were screaming, loudly ringing in your head but the only thing you could even manage was to clarify that it was really his.

“We ran some tests, and no doubt, it’s his. There was a lot, but there was also a trail of it that led to the garage where it suddenly stopped, presumably from when they put him into a car. From what we can gather, he got shot, likely in the abdomen, and was still alive when they took him from the scene,” She paused, watching you as you fell back into your seat. Almost all of the muscles in your body had gone limp as your eyes started blankly at the cheeseburger in front of you. You weren’t able to comprehend the emotions going through you, all feeling having left your body as you tried to comprehend the words spoken to you, but were completely unable to.

“We don’t know where he or Aria are, but we are doing everything in our power to find them. We’ve checked all his listed residences, but none of them are anywhere in the area. We have officers posted everywhere, and everyone at the police station he worked at has been made aware of his crimes; we even had to make a couple arrests from in the station because of their affiliation with him.”

She kept droning on for what felt like hours, but you never managed to pick up anything she’d said after “he got shot”. She left at some point, you have no idea when, but could assume she left once she noticed you’d checked out.

You sat emotionless at the table, completely unmoving as you sat and looked at the unfinished food sat in front of you. Nothing was anything. No thoughts ran through your head and no movements needed to have been made except for the slow in and exhale of your lungs, and the occasional blink of your heavy eyelids to keep your eyes from drying out.

You said nothing, did nothing, thought nothing until everything fell onto you all at once.

Fear hit you in one powerful swift motion; as if someone had hit you in the chest and knocked all the air out of you. You were gasping for breath as you clutched your chest, leaning as far forward in the chair as possible, silent sobs ripping through you as your whole body began to shake.

You had always been afraid, sure. There was always something to be scared of, or to be anxious about. There was never a moment in your life where you felt completely calm; completely at peace. You’d always been anxious. The fact that you always had been and always would be afraid was something you’d grown to accept a long time ago.

But this?

This was a fear you’d never even come close to feeling.

Even the past week that you’d been more terrified than you’d ever been in your life was nothing compared to the fear that consumed you right now.

At least when Aria was missing, you could do something to try to find her. You had Jungkook. You were doing something to get her back, and you were there to protect him, and he to protect you.

But now you sat alone in a cold sterile room, the pane of glass reflecting your own image back at you was taunting you. You’re here. You can’t help. You’re the only one that’s safe; the only one whose whereabouts are known.

They only one alive, for all you know.

And all you could do, was sit alone in a room, waiting for news on the only two people that ever mattered in your life.

You sat alone in that damned room for hours at least, days probably, weeks even possibly, you had no idea. Time was a concept that had completely left you at this point. The only things that you could think of were your friends and whether or not you'd have to bury them.

Your pulse had grown almost unbearably loud in your ears, the only noise audible otherwise being the occasional muffled door closing from on the other side of the wall.

Your food had long since been eaten, and after Kendrick had taken away your trash and brought you a water, no one had been in to see you.

You sat at the table unmoving for hours, occasionally adjusting slightly to relieve your aching spine in the uncomfortable chair.

Jungkook was dead.

There's nothing else that was more apparent in your mind. You'd been sitting here for so long that they'd already found his body and buried him. He was shot, strangled, stabbed, drugged, hanged even. Gutted laying across the basement floor as Aria sat and watched, her voice raw from screaming out in fear, tears stained on her cheeks.

There were hundreds of possibilities running through your mind, but the most prominent ones had always been the most gruesome worst-case scenarios.

Suddenly your door was open, and Kendrick was leaning halfway in, a large commotion going on behind her as you furrowed your brow, trying to see behind her.

"We found your friends," She paused, the smallest of smiles on her face as she waited for you to have any reaction. Your eyes began to well up with tears, relieved to hear something, anything. No matter if it's good or bad, it'll be over soon and you'll have something new to worry about. "You coming with?"

You quickly stood and followed her out of the dastardly room, walking swiftly behind her as people rushed around you.

Less than a minute later, you were in the front seat of a squad car she was driving, sirens blaring as you both sped down the road. Neither of you bothered putting on your seatbelt, both far too focused on what was about to happen to worry about your own personal safety.

The longest and yet the shortest car ride of your life ended abruptly, as Kendrick slammed on the brakes and slid into position, filling in the last open space around a house that was now completely surrounded - no way out.

"Stay here, I'll let you know when it's safe to come out," You nodded and she got out, pulling her gun out of its holster and getting into position as a group of officers began breaking down the front door.

Aria was immediately on alert, the loud banging of the door being broken down shaking the house around her. Her first thought was that it was Bennett again, probably hurting or killing Jungkook.

But then there was another loud bang.

And another.

Jay was in the room with her and was already on high alert before the door was being broken down. He moved slowly over to the window and peered out of it, his heart dropping to his stomach as he saw the police cars and ambulances completely surrounding the house.

The worried look that spread across Jay's face met the tear-filled smile on Aria's. This was all over, just a few more minutes, and she'd be free.

Jungkook's thoughts closely matched Aria's initial ones as he sat in the basement, just waiting for something to happen. The banging continued and his anxiety only grew, not being able to see anything to clue him in on what was going on around him.

It didn't take long for his anxiety to subside, as the police broke in, FBI agents swarming the house and flooding into every room. Everyone was arrested and brought out one by one and set into separate vans, as more officers untied the two hostages held in different corners of the house.

You watched as Bennett, along with several other men get escorted out of the house, handcuffs on their wrists and fear plastered on their faces.

Your eyes however never left the front door for very long, waiting for when they'd bring out your friends - your family.

You didn't wait for Kendrick to tell you it was okay to get out of the car. You didn't even wait when she yelled out your name, or when one of the twenty other officers called after you as well.

Aria was out of the house.

Aria was safe.

You ran as fast as you could, through the hoards of officers, and as soon as she saw you, she started running too.

You meet in the tightest hug you're sure anyone on the planet had ever been in before, falling to the ground as you sobbed in each other's arms.

You were pulled up by some officers, Aria needing to be checked out by one of the paramedics at the very least before anything else happened.

You went with her, standing a few feet away as they examined her. You turned your gaze back to the front door as Jungkook was being wheeled out, laying flat on a gurney.

You moved toward him, only to be stopped by one of the paramedics.

"We need to get him to a hospital, you can speak to him once-"

"Y/n," Your eyes left the paramedics and landed on Jungkook. He looked exhausted and pale, covered in a layer of sweat, with the biggest smile you'd ever seen spread across his face. His hand reached out to you, and you pushed past everyone to grab it.

"You're okay," You couldn't stop smiling while looking at him, alive and safe.

"I promised you I would be, didn't I?" You gripped onto each other as he tried to pull off a cocky smirk. The gurney stopped moving as they situated him to get loaded up into the ambulance as you took the opportunity to push the hair from his face, letting your hand rest on his cheek as you both looked back and forth between each other's eyes.

With all the strength he could muster up, Jungkook pulled you down to him, your lips meeting his briefly before you were pulled back, and he was loaded up into the ambulance.

You watched as they climbed in after him and closed the doors.

"C'mon, hon; I'll drive you to the hospital."

Note: ffs FINALLY. There will be another chapter, don't worry loves, but I'm glad I finally got this one to a place where I actually feel proud of it.

Taglist: @koobsessed@mwitsmejk@roxy1205@yoon2jk@pamzn@drmrastraea@bbl32@softforpj@lpgirl2324@astoriasx@mooncuddler@theaufanartist@petalsofink @unsureofwhathappens

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lulubelle814 · 6 months

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Just Dizziness - Chapter 26

I woke up in the middle of the night again, gripped with fear, unsure of where I was or might be. Bolting upright, I looked around the room, seeing flowers all around before I felt a hand on my arm. It took me a moment to realize someone was talking as they turned me.

"Hey, it's ok. It's okay." I fell into his arms, crying. "It's alright, my love. I'm right here."

Looking up, there was Tom. "I'm sorry. I didn't know…."

"It's okay. You don't have to explain." He pulled me close, holding and reassuring me until I finally fell asleep, waking a few hours later in the same comfortable position, him snoring lightly. I couldn't help but lightly brush my fingers through his hair, moving a few stands out of his face. His hair was getting long, not that I cared. When my hand landed on his cheek, his sleepy face leaned into it, still snoring. I couldn't help but smile a bit at this incredible man.

Rather than risk waking him up, I laid my head back down on his chest, listening to the soothing rhythm of his heart. After a while, he began to stir. "Good morning, my beautiful wife." He brought a hand to smooth down my hair and stroke my cheek which I couldn’t help but lean into.

After giving a soft kiss, we untangled so that we could relieve our respective bladders. It's not long after we get comfortable back in bed that Dr. Shepherd made an appearance.

"Good morning! And how are we doing today?"

"Ok, I guess. About the same?" I'm not sure how to answer, but Tom elaborates for me. "She seems good for the most part. Another friend came by yesterday. She didn't remember her but knew she was familiar. It was the same in the hospital garden. Said it felt familiar which is when I realized it looked a bit like mum's garden. In fact, we're going to take a drive there when we're back home and settled."

"I would say that's a good sign, a step in the right direction."

Tom continued. "She had another incident last night though, not quite the same but like she wasn't sure where she was for a moment."

"That's ok. Like we talked about yesterday, that may happen for a while due to the nature of her case. The good news is the MRI scans look good. That along with how well you’ve done the past couple days, we can get you discharged this afternoon."

Sure enough, I was discharged a few hours later. Tom already had everything packed up, and the hospital was kind enough to let us borrow a cart to get everything easily moved to the car to get it loaded up. Ben and Sophie had Bobby at the moment but offered to bring him over tomorrow to give us a chance to settle in first which was very kind of them.

Settling back in at home had some comforts but also felt like a chore. There were familiarities in a number of pictures and some of the furniture, but it was also not the same home I remembered, and I wasn’t sure why. We had agreed on the drive home to be open and honest about how we both felt, and I told him I would let him know when it felt like I was missing something or maybe not remembering something. Although I did not remember the house in general, it felt bizarre having him give me a tour of the place we had been living in for the past few months.

I was excited to see the couch in the living room. “This I definitely remember.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Oh yes. I remember we had an impromptu date that ended up lasting an entire day. Luke dropped off a picnic at the park, and it started to rain. We ended up back at your place cuddling each other on this couch under blankets for warmth and falling asleep.”

“That’s one of my favorite memories of us. That was a fantastic day.”

“It sure was.” It felt nice to have some concrete things to hold on to. With all the excitement, we were both tired and ordered pizza, cuddling up on the couch and watching random TV. Glancing around the room, it felt somewhat like home, and I hoped that would change sooner rather than later; however, when we retired to bed, that felt somewhat strange, but I was able to relax and fall asleep in Tom’s arms.

Chapter 27

#tom hiddleston #twh #tomhiddleston #twhiddleston #damn hiddleston #hiddlestoners #thomas william hiddleston #hiddleston #hiddles #tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom hiddelston imagine #tom hiddelston x reader #tom hiddelson #tom hiddleston x original female character #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston x ofc #tom hiddleston x you #just dizziness

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lydiaisgeeky · 2 years

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Meant to Be

Jason x Reader Fanficton

2. Studying (w.c. 1686)

Outside the school was a car and a butler waiting for them. Jason ducked into the car quickly thanking the butler. Dick was casually chatting and explaining the whole ordeal and I was looking at my phone. News of a super villian isn't unusual in Gotham especially on my street but it getting to the point where it's shut down and completely evacuated that is a little more uncommon. Dick turned back to me "Ready to go y/n? Oh right um Alfred this is Y/N, Y/N this is Alfred" I greeted him and got in the car. Jason was keeping his head down and he was turned away.

"So y/n how late can you stay? Did you want to stay for dinner I'm not sure if Bruce will be home for it or not you probably shouldn't stay after nightfall things do get scary after that."

"Umm I don't really know it just depends on how much work gets done I probably won't stay for dinner though."

Dick was just ecstatic and kept rambling on. I felt bad for disliking him in the past. He was just so eager for life. When we pulled up to the manor my jaw dropped. I had no idea people actually lived in these things. Dick turned to me and laughed at my reaction "That was my exact reaction too" I gave him a questioning look "I was adopted a few years ago - Jason was adopted last week" I nodded. "Wait until you see the inside". Dick was right the inside was stunning. Walking through the front door was something from the movies. The tall hallways were memorizing, the entryway done in the most careful fashion. Stairs on both the left and right side of the house and so many doors and archways. I held my books close stood maybe a bit to close to Dick.

Dick put his arm around me and guided me through the house until we made it to the kitchen. There was a small table with some snacks on it. It felt very reminiscent of a normal home. "Feel free to eat what you want. We have plenty. Anyways you and Jason can work here. I need to get some stuff done too but I can work on the island." Dick winked at me and sat down. I was a little confused but I wrote it off as just his flirty nature. Jason slipped into the chair next to mine and opened up his math homework. He finished it quickly same with English, Science, and History.

"I guess you didn't need my help" I said.

"No your notes helped a bit but most of this I already did back at my old school"

"Oh" I grabbed my notes and started to shuffle it all together. I hadn't been over for even 30 minutes. I checked my phone and I saw my street was still shut down and I didn't have any communication from my parents.

"I need a break" Dick whined as he walked over. "Wanna go down to the gym I can try and teach you some tricks... shit no not like that. Like acrobatics."

"Smooth" Jason said while moving to leave.

"Nah you too Jay. You could probably do with something to put your aggression into- do you have any sweats that y/n could borrow"

Jason sized me up "she'll be swimming in them but it will probably work"

"Oh no I couldn't possibly" I chimed in and both Jason and Dick rolled their eyes. Dick and Jason left to go get changed. Jason was the first back tossing me a pair of sweats and a t shirt. "Um is there a place I can change?"

"Right um maybe you can change in my room. I'm sorry I still don't really know the place. We could wait for Dick if you'd like."

"Sure um maybe this is personal and maybe I shouldn't ask but why did Bruce Wayne adopt you and where are you from?"

"Yeah well thats a good question. I'm from Gotham the other side though. I guess Bruce thought I was a good charity case after my dad ended up in jail and my mom passed away."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that"

"Sokay. I should be happy that this happened a better chance at life and all but I can't help feeling like I just don't belong. This world isn't mine. Mine is the streets of Gotham. Crime alley and all."

"Dick says you drive a motorcycle? I live on the other side of town I just know if I showed up in a fancy car"

"You'd be a target. Along with the books. Wait what's your address?"

"Xxxx Main St. I understand if you can't get me all the way there and it's still shut down you know but it's fine even a close bus stop should work."

"Nah I grew up around there. I can get you home even with the whole shut down. Do you see Batman and Robin in your area often?"

"Yeah I see Robin pretty regularly. I've talked to him a few times too. He's nice wants to help. He says I shouldn't live where I do. I can't help it though."

Dick walked in "Change of plans, y/n Bruce just called you gotta go home. I'm sorry I didn't realize he was planning on having guests. Jason you good to get her home. Front door and everything?"

"If y/n allows me I will walk her in even". Dick gave Jason a look. "How soon do you need me back?"

"You should be fine to comeback whenever. Bruce isn't too concerned about us but his friend wants to meet someone specific and I'm gonna hang to make sure it goes down the right way. Y/n you'll have to come over another time maybe over the weekend and we can have a ton of fun." I turned to leave making it out of the kitchen but not much further. Jason was a few minutes behind.

"Sorry uh this way" He led me out to a garage. "Are you hungry? I just miss this diner on your side and I'd live to go back it's been a couple months going through the legal process and I haven't made it back. I'll pay you don't have to worry."

"I guess but if we do this can you teach me what you did in the math homework. I don't get it." He laughed the most beautiful laugh I had ever heard.

"I think I can manage that". He tossed me a helmet and one of his jackets. "I think Dick might actually kill me if you got even a scratch."

Driving to the diner was uneventful but it was nice to have to hold Jason as we drove. He pull up to a hole in the wall diner. After we sat down I questioned Jason "What did you mean by Dick would kill you if I got a scratch?"

"I haven't known Dick all that long but your name is the name he says most often. And frankly I understand why but you've got him wrapped around your finger. You're smart, pretty, but I know your type isn't either one of us. You are probably in love with a guy who doesn't know you exist"

"That sounds more like a book troupe" I laughed. We chatted over dinner and he taught me the math hack. Before we left my place was still shut down. Jason assured me it would be a non issue. We got closer and I saw Batman and Robin and most of my street on fire.

"I understand that but I think we can make an exception... Put B on the phone... I'll wait I'm not taking her any closer until it's handled and safe for her... She can't get ahold of her parents... That's what I was thinking... I'm just saying what kind of people would we be... you're sure? ... I will see." Jason turned to me covering the microphone of the phone. "How opposed would you be to me staying with you until the street clearance ends or your parents come home?"

"Not at all. I'm not really sure I should go in there"

"Cool let's do it. You could help me with some of my electives if you want Dick told me you took them before. Hold on. Yeah... no I will stay with her... just keep me updated" He turned back to me "Okay we are going to do this. Don't let go of me please."

He quickly pulled us through the insanity and drove the motorcycle up the stairs and pull it into the apartment and proceeded to go around and lock every door and window in the place. My parents were nowhere to be seen. Jason pulled me into the closet and began to explain his electives like there wasn't insanity going on. He did everything he could to distract me from the outside world. Once we exhausted school he painted images from his favorite books. He stayed with me the entire night huddled in the closet.

When I woke up I found it crazy that just yesterday we were strangers. Robin opened the closet door and Jason almost attacked him Robin escorted us out of the building it was maybe 4am. Jason decided to take me back to the manor. He wouldn't let me out of his sight. Almost as if he was studying me. When we got back Jason snuck me into his room through the tree. And showed me the bathroom keeping guard in front of the door. I changed into the sweats from earlier and was eternally grateful for Jason and Dick because without them I probably would have spent the night on the street. We got to school early and Jason stuck by me. Protective like no other. Dick hung around cracking jokes and for the first time I didn't mind. My heart was content being near these people. I was safe with these people.

#batboys x reader #jason x reader #jason todd x reader #jason x yn #nightwing #robin #robin x reader #red hood #red hood x reader #slowly but surely

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weekend-conspiracy-theorist · 2 years

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in which bonding happens despite all of tim's best efforts (a further continuation of the tim&steph role swap au)

"Wait," Stephanie said. She stood in the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in some of Dick's jeans--rolled up four times--and a sweatshirt she'd stolen from Damian who'd stolen it from Cass who'd stolen it from Bruce. It was massive and nearly threadbare, and somehow it still smelled like the big man's woodsy cologne. "Jason's here."

"Well ob-fucking-served," the man in question drawled. He twitched up the knees of his sweats as he squatted to peer into the fridge. "I came here on the back of your bike, if you recall."

"Dick's here. Duke's asleep upstairs. And I'm here," Stephanie said, ignoring him as she tapped her fingers against her chest, her eyebrows rising.

"Been a while," Cassandra said, because of course she was the first one to understand what Stephanie was getting at. She was perched on the counter, a pint of ice cream cradled in her palms. Alfred would usually have something to say about both kitchen hygiene and appropriate post-patrol snacks, but he was on one of his ever-so-rare vacations. Besides, Cass could always get away with stuff like that. Her puppy dog eyes were legend.

"That's everybody who doesn't actually live here accounted for. I can't remember the last time we were all here for the night," Stephanie said. "Have we ever all been here for the night?"

"Not all," Dick corrected. "Babs isn't here."

Steph tipped her head in acknowledgement. "She's not really one of Bruce's brood, but, point."

"So call her," Bruce said. He was sitting at the small circular table in the corner, reading a newspaper like it wasn't 2:30 in the morning. "I'm not aware of any especially pressing Birds of Prey missions occuring at the moment, and the Justice League can make do without having Oracle on call for one night. The more the merrier."

"That is a categorically false statement, Father," Damian said sourly. He was trying to lean into Jason's side to force him away from the fridge, but Jason was refusing to budge. He kept moving the same couple of tubs around; Stephanie was pretty sure he already knew what he wanted and was just working on driving Damian nuts.

Stephanie snorted, entering the kitchen just to ruffle her Robin's hair. "Movie nights are so much more fun with more people," she promised. It was a mark of how far they'd come over the last couple years that he briefly stopped shoving at Jason's shoulder to lean into her touch, rather than slap her away.

"--c'mon," Dick wheedled, his voice low as it drifted out from the next room. "It'll be fun. Everybody's here except Alfred, which means no responsible adult to make us all go to sleep." A snort. "Yeah, like B counts. We'll watch too many movies and then crash until it's basically time to patrol tomorrow night." A pause. "It's Saturday, and you aren't working at the library tomorrow because you've got all Sundays off this month. Nice try, beautiful."

He laughed, bright, and Stephanie suddenly realized there was somebody else missing.

"Hey, Brucie baby, is it cool if I invite Boyfriend?" she asked, in a tone of voice that made it clear she didn't actually care about his response, and Cassandra perked up immediately. She loved Tim almost as much as Steph did--and she already knew what wrangling him into a spontaneous social event was going to entail.

"You'll have to borrow Dick's car."

"Why Dick's car?" Jason asked. He was slowly, insistently leaning back towards Damian; the kid's socked feet were beginning to slide across the tile, but he continued ahoving back stubbornly.

"Child locks," Stephanie said serenely, "so he can't jump out of a moving vehicle in the middle of his kidnapping."

"H--what?" Bruce finally looked up from his newspaper.

"Tim's a slippery little bastard," Cass said around a mouthful of ice cream, and Stephanie burst out laughing.

"I love it when you've been watching too many crime procedurals!"

"Still true," Cass insisted.

"It really is," Stephanie said fondly. "Boyfriend's been free running around Gotham, dodging the mafia, the rogues, and the bats, since he was like eleven; he knows the city at least as well as... we do..."

She trailed off as Dick reentered the room, looking around at all of her very talented and competent friends and family members. The idea that was crossing her mind was... oh. Oh, Tim was gonna hate this, right up until he got way too into it.

This was gonna be so much more fun than movie night.

***

The thing was that, vigilante or not, Tim wasn't useless in a physical fight.

He'd been taking martial arts lessons since he was old enough to be obnoxious enough to make his beleagured parents give in and sign him up for them, and he'd racked up first and second level black belts in a couple different disciplines over the years. He'd also taken a number of more directly actionable self-defense courses and spent his teens intermittently sparring with two of the most badass women in Gotham. Even if they'd usually been focused on fun rather than training, it was hard to walk away from those spars not having learned something from watching Batgirl and Robin at work. As a general rule, Tim felt pretty good about his chances versus one or even two of any random goons he might run into on the streets over the course of his investigations. He could maybe even bump that to three random goons if he had a bo staff on him at the time.

But the other thing was that Batgirl was no random goon.

Stephanie showed up at his door at three AM, an oh-so-familiar glitter of mischief in her blue eyes. She demanded he accompany her to a movie night at Wayne Manor. Tim said fuck no; Steph said fuck yes; Tim said how did you even know I'd be awake; Steph said are you kidding me; Tim said fuck off; Steph shouldered her way in when he tried to close the door. Because he knew exactly what was coming next, Tim threw the first punch.

He was still on his ass in the middle of his living room in under sixty seconds.

"Come on, Girlfriend, I really was trying to go to sleep," he complained, heatless, as she grabbed his boots and shoved them on his feet. He'd gone utterly boneless, refusing to help, but that didn't deter Stephanie.

"Oh, live a little," she told him dismissively. "I've been wanting to show you off for years, and now everyone finally knows who you are and that you know who we are." She yanked his laces tight, and some suspicious little piece of Tim's mind noted that these were his work boots, his favorite boots, the boots that he'd replaced over and over again since the two of them, age fifteen, had spent eight months tracking ankle injuries, blisters, durability, and overall comfort to determine the best style and brand for running Gotham's rooftops.

She knew him well enough to know he was going to make a break for it first chance he got. So why was she choosing footwear that would make it easier on him?

Tim pushed himself up onto his elbows, narrowing his eyes at her, and Stephanie just rolled hers. "Like I can't catch you anyway," she said dryly. "And this way you won't turn your ankle in the process."

"Uh huh," Tim said, suspicious. Idly, he noted that she was probably correct; Tim was sneakier, and better at basic free running, but Stephanie was obviously no slouch, and her grappling hook more than made up the difference.

"Uh huh," Stephanie repeated, mocking, and she dragged him to his feet. As she frogmarched him out of his apartment and down to a boring silver car, she kept his arm drawn up behind his back like he was a perp in a cable cop show.

"Thanks for resisting the urge to bang my head on the roof," he muttered, propping his right foot up on the dash as he slouched into the passenger seat. Despite his body language, he was watching her like a hawk.

"Hardest thing I've ever done," Stephanie said cheerfully. She threw the car into drive.

The car--because this was not Stephanie Brown's car.

Tim had been in Stephanie's car a thousand times. Tim had helped Stephanie save up for her car, during a time period when they were both determined not to use a cent of Drake or Wayne money on themselves. The thing was a shit heap, and in the three years since she'd bought it, Tim had rebuilt the engine, replaced the drive shaft, caught a bus across the city to help her change a half dozen flats, and regularly topped off the oil because it had a slow leak somewhere that, somehow, rebuilding the engine had not fixed. Point was: Tim knew Stephanie's car inside and out, and this was not it.

The mystery distracted him, briefly, from the escape plans running through the back of his mind. This car wasn't nice enough to be one of Bruce Wayne's fleet, but is was way too nice for Stephanie to have borrowed it off of Jason "I blow up my ride every other week" Todd. It wasn't adapted for Barbara Gordon, and Cass didn't have a car.

"Is this Dick Grayson's?" Tim asked, blankly, as he flipped down the sun visor on the driver's side to see if any pictures of redheads fell out. He'd win a long standing bet with himself if they included Roy Harper or Wally West.

Stephanie slapped his hand away. "Yes. I was on my bike tonight, and I didn't want to end up road pizza because you decided to be a little bitch about being introduced to my family."

"Crystal and I have a ninety-eight day snapchat streak," Tim protested.

Mystery solved, he refocused on his escape route. With another tingle of suspicion, he buzzed the window up and down and noted that the child locks were not engaged. Stephanie had another angle here. She was inviting him to run. Tim hated to play into her hands, but there was no way he was blithely agreeing to a movie night at Wayne Manor either, so he was just going to have to fuck around and find out what it was.

"My other family," Stephanie said dryly.

"You know, they say never to meet your heroes; they're always a disappointment. Nearly seven years we've known each other, ex-Robin, and--"

Red light. Stephanie was on the inside lane, with a line of traffic to her right. She'd have to wait for the green and either turn left or make her way back into the right lane to park before she could follow him.

Tim was out of the car almost before Stephanie had even hit the brakes, launching himself over the hood of the car in the next lane and sprinting for the nearest alley. Behind him, Batgirl cackled with delight. He didn't go up the fire escape--Stephanie would expect him to--and instead darted down the narrow passage from one alley to the next before cutting to the next street over.

He slowed to a walk, refusing to draw attention to himself, and jay walked at the next street corner when he had a break in traffic. This was the opposite direction from his apartment, but until he knew what Stephanie's game was--

Someone, Tim noted, catching the reflection of a tall figure in a red hoodie in a dark shop window, was following him. He probably should have been nervous, but he recognized their gait. Hell--he still probably should have been nervous.

But the pieces had just clicked into place.

Tim stopped, spinning on his heel, and confronted Jason Todd's sharp grin with one of his own.

"Modified rooftop tag rules?" he guessed, catching the domino mask that Jason tossed to him. This game was going to an occupy an interesting grey zone between Wayne and Bat--no need to attract the wrong kind of attention running around in their costumes, but no need to flaunt the skills they shouldn't have by running around as civilians either. With that mask, Tim was being invited into that nebulous space alongside them. "No grappling hooks, no weaponry, light contact. Name of the game: get Tim Drake from here to Bristol? And let me guess--there's no win state for me. If I make it back to my apartment, Steph's just showing up again."

"You might actually be a third as clever as Brown claims you are," Jason drawled. "I'm not giving you a head start."

"Thirty seconds," Tim bartered. He inspected the mask with a wrinkled nose. "How the fuck do you put this thing on anyway?"

"Fifteen. Did the Replacement seriously never slap one of these on you sometime in the last seven years?" Jason stepped forward, hand extended toward the mask--

Tim grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie and yanked, and the combination of leverage and surprise--he was stronger than he looked--sent Jason stumbling. A swift kick to the back of his knee brought him fully to the ground, and Tim was off like a shot. "Fifteen seconds!" he shouted behind himself, applying the mask as he ran.

He'd be lucky if Jason had ever intended to give him five, hence the theatrics, and Steph had to have found somewhere to park the car by now. Unless she was staying mobile, circling to give Jason a chance to grab him and toss him bodily into the trunk?

Tim pivoted to cut left instead of right, the wrong way up a one way street from where Steph would probably be coming if she was still in the car, and headed for the laundromat in the middle of the block. They had a spare key in the flower pot next to the door, roof access on the communal stairwell, and their building was taller than those to either side.

He made it three blocks south by rooftop before he noticed his next opponent. This one was short.

Tim exhaled shortly through his nose and quickly melted into the shadows, glad that the crewneck sweatshirt he'd been wearing when Stephanie crashed into his apartment was dark green. He could have used a hood to hide his pale-ass face, but things certainly could have been worse.

He hadn't realized the whole family was in on this game. Good thing he'd had the flash of inspiration to leave his phone in the car to prevent Stephanie from easily tracking him, but he'd have to be extra careful to avoid CCTV cameras in case Oracle was watching.

Tim didn't have a win state. He could turn himself over, give in before he wore himself out fruitlessly--

But, shit. Stephanie knew him too well. He couldn't resist the opportunity to test himself against the bats.

Damian hadn't spotted him yet, Tim didn't think. Despite their numbers, despite their superior training, Tim was at an ever so slight advantage against the bats for this one night, and this one night only: with the exception of Stephanie and Cassandra, they didn't know him. They had no real idea what he was capable of.

And only one bird had ever spotted him in over a decade of bat-watching.

Tim had been focused on speed more than stealth for those first three blocks, but he switched up his tactics as soon as he spotted Robin lurking in the lee of that gargoyle. He adjusted his path, giving that corner a subtle berth, and began to cut his way east instead, eyes sharp for movement along adjacent rooftops.

Ah, there--

Dick Grayson was still, silent. Experienced. Tim almost missed him, but at nearly the last second he spotted the subtle discoloration in the shadows from the bat logo on his tshirt.

Tim didn't do anything so stupid as to suddenly change direction or duck back behind a barrier, motions that would draw the eye, but he did release a silent huff of laughter. A little on the nose, there, Nightwing.

Tim wondered if he was still being tracked somehow; Dick had to have moved into that position since Tim had reached this rooftop, unless Tim had managed to breeze past him without either of them noticing. Stephanie may have dropped a tracker on him when she grabbed him out of his apartment. There could also be one in the mask. Tim ghosted a hand over it, but he couldn't feel any telling lumps.

More immediate concerns, he decided.

He slowed to a stop, footsteps silent on the rooftop, and considered the angles. The gap from this building to the next in the direction that wouldn't take him directly past Dick Grayson's hiding spot was longer than he could make both safely and quietly--it was going to require a big leap and a somersalt to absorb his momentum, and Tim's tumbling was rather less refined than the rest of his free running skills. His other two options involved passing directly in front of Dick or taking a supremely rusty and no doubt loud fire escape.

Well. Nightwing was one of the primary tacticians for the Titans for a reason, wasn't he?

Tim didn't like his odds against the Flying Grayson in a foot race. He really didn't like his odds in even a light contact spar. So it was time to get creative.

Good thing the moon was dim tonight.

So slowly he practically might as well have not been moving, Tim reversed his last few steps. Sticking to the shadows meant sticking close to cover--which meant things like, say, rooftop access doors. Once he was fully out of Grayson's line of sight, Tim leaned down to pocket the corner of a brick which had begun to crumble. Then he jumped silently, catching the top of the rough brick wall with the tips of his fingers, and easily hauled himself upwards, taking care not to brush his body against the brick for risk of making a sound.

He stayed low, grateful for his many nights of practicing keeping his steps silent while crouched, and made the jump from his rooftop access door to the one Dick was hiding behind with nary a crunch. His shadow passed briefly across the ground, barely perceptible due to the dim light of the crescent moon--

Dick probably would have seen it anyway, but Tim threw the piece of brick in the opposite direction from where his shadow would fall, the soft skitter of sound drawing Dick's attention for just that one split second.

His heart beat impossibly loudly in his throat as Tim made his way oh-so-carefully across the top of the rooftop access door, and then he lowered himself silently back to the roof proper. He paused there, straining his ears over the rushing of his own blood, and after three seconds--

With barely more than a breath of sound, Dick Grayson asked, "You sure he's on this building, O?"

Tim slipped away, back the way he'd come.

***

It took Tim another half an hour to earn himself enough distance from any of the bats to have a moment to inspect his clothing for any trackers. He found two, one randomly on the back of his sweatshirt--he suspected Stephanie had placed it while frogmarching him down the stairs--and one on his left boot. He lobbed one and then the other onto the next rooftop his current path would have suggested he was headed for, and he debated taking off the mask as well.

But it hardly seemed sporting for them to track him that way. Oh, sure, they were all misdirecting and cheating as flagrantly as they could manage, but the mask was an open invite for him to meet them at their level.

So the mask stayed, for now.

Tim had started making his way north before he strayed too close to the Alley, knowing that his extremely thorough baseline knowledge of the entire city still paled in comparison to Jason's intimate knowledge of the neighborhood of Park Row. Plus, several of the kinds of people who would be awake at 4 AM in Park Row--street kids, working girls--were the kinds of people who would both, one, know Tim, and two, know Jason. They liked Tim well enough around the Alley, his ever-blossoming reputation as a fairly cheap and very good PI endearing him to the area, but he held no delusions that they wouldn't happily sell them out to the Red Hood, especially for something as low stakes as a game of tag.

The back tracking had nearly cut the game off early as the bats were able to converge on him more tightly, but Tim had managed to give Damian the slip after a nerve racking foot race, by dint of the fact that the no grapple rule kept the pipsqueak from making the same kinds of jumps that Tim could with his longer legs.

(Stephanie made fun of him for being short, but it was only really true in comparison to the super modelesque superheroes she ran around with on a daily basis--he was five foot nine more or less on the dot, barely half an inch shorter than Steph herself. He had no delusions that he'd stay taller than Damian for very long, given that the kid seemed to be taking so closely after Bruce 6'2" Wayne, but for now, the kid remained thirteen.)

With the trackers hopefully eliminated and his muscles fully warmed, Tim was tentatively hopeful that he could keep things going for another hour, so long as he was able to avoid Cassandra.

As soon as he ran into Cassandra, that was game over. He had no delusions about being able to sneak past her, fewer delusions still about his ability to outrun her despite his legs being longer than hers, and he could only last sixty seconds against Stephanie in a fight--on a very good day, he could last twenty against Cass.

To be fair, Tim had a realistic sense of his hand-to-hand combat skill. The game would be as good as over as soon as any of them got close enough to force a spar; he just had higher hopes about his ability to ghost the rest of them.

Stephanie, he was fairly certain by now, had stayed in the car. That was a kind concession, taking the player off the board who knew him best, and he knew it was a gift he'd only get this once, so Steph could be smug about how well her bestie had run the rest of the bats in circles for the night. He'd also proven he could outrun Damian, so long as the rooftops aligned appropriately, and he knew he could outrun Jason, too. The Red Hood was remarkably nimble for a man of his size, but Tim was nimbler. More nimble? God, he'd be exhausted if he wasn't pumped so full of adrenaline.

That wasn't to say that any stupid mistake or run of bad luck couldn't result in Hood or Robin being his downfall, so much as that it was simply more likely to be Nightwing or Black Bat, unless they collectively managed to corner him. He needed to put some distance between himself and those trackers to make sure he avoided that outcome.

In a sudden stroke of inspiration, Tim took the nearest fire escape down to ground level, pulled off and pocketed the domino, walked calmly to the edge of the sidewalk, and hailed a taxi.

Was this cheating? Probably. He'd be nice enough to use his credit card so Oracle would know where he was once he got there.

***

"Yeah, I found the trackers. Just like you said, C; he found 'em and ditched 'em as soon as he had enough space to breathe." Jason huffed over the comm line, and Stephanie grinned as she idled at the red light. "I'm going to be perfectly real with you, ladies; kid really is a slippery little bastard. I thought this was going to be over a lot faster."

"We did figure he'd ditched the trackers; that's why we're already working a grid over the surrounding area," Dick pointed out.

Damian was quiet, probably pouting over having come the closest to Tim and losing him over a gap between buildings that was too long for his pre-pubescent legs to jump without resorting to using a line. Stephanie only felt a little bad. She'd warned them not to underestimate Boyfriend; so had Cass. But the boys were all just a bit arrogant about being trained by Batman, and clearly no rich kid from Bristol could have picked up enough off the street to be a threat, even though they knew he'd been running with Stephanie for the entirety of her Robin career.

Even though Batman was once just a rich kid from Bristol.

(Stephanie, maybe, had still not mentioned exactly how she and Tim had met, or that Dick, and Jason, and Bruce had all missed having a stalker over the years.)

"I just got a ping," Babs said, sounding fifty percent annoyed and fifty percent deeply amused. "Little fucker took a cab up to the Diamond District. You'd probably all best converge on Steph's position and catch a lift up there."

Steph ignored the light as it changed, since no other cars were approaching this particular corner at the moment, and pinched her nose shut and tilted back her head. Her chest heaved silently.

There was a long silence over the comm line.

"You sure it's him and not a misdirect?" Dick asked, as he finally seemed to clue in to the fact that Tim was smart enough to know they'd be watching his credit cards.

"He turned to the nearest CCTV camera and blew me a kiss once the cab pulled away."

There was another, shorter silence, and then Jason said, "In all of our strategy about the kid's training and skills and lack thereof, I think we forgot to take one very fucking important thing into consideration: he's been Stephanie Brown's best friend since he was fourteen. That kind of dickishness is contagious."

Stephanie couldn't hold it in any more; she burst out laughing.

***

Tim made his way out of the Diamond District at a moderate pace.

He'd earned himself at least a ten minute head start with the cab maneuver, and he'd politely balanced it against choosing a corner of the city which was difficult and dangerous to maneuver without a grapple. The glittering skyscrapers were too high and too far apart for free running, so Tim stuck to the streets, doing his best to avoid the abundance of cameras in the area.

It would be easier once he hit Little Italy, and easier still once he hit Chinatown.

Of course, the sky was also starting to lighten ever so slightly, and whatever negligible crowd-blending advantage Tim would gain from the increased number of people on the streets was going to be far outweighed by the lessening of the shadows he relied on for cover. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Duke Thomas yet, either, but he suspected Steph had a plan to pull him in--and maybe even Harper Row--as soon as they awoke. Tim's sweatshirt would quickly become a liability if this dragged on too long, too; it was that time of year where the nights were cool but the days were hot, and even pre-dawn there was unlikely to be an abundance of sweaters or jackets along the street.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just ditch it. He'd been dressed for bed when Steph kidnapped him; he wasn't wearing another shirt under it.

He'd helped Stephanie prove her point by now, hadn't he? And for all that he loved her, and for all that he was touched by the faith she had in his ability to fuck with her beloved and beloathed vigilante family, the fact of the matter remained that this sleepless night was one hundred percent, completely and totally, her fault.

And there was no fucking win state for him, he reminded himself with a surge of annoyance.

Not unless he made one for himself, anyway.

Tim made his way back to the rooftops and picked up his pace as soon as he hit Little Italy, favoring speed over stealth once more as he put distance between himself and the last camera Oracle would be able to track him to.

And then Tim found his way to one of Gotham's few remaining pay phones. He dialed a number he knew by heart.

***

It was quiet. Too quiet.

By the time they'd made it to the Diamond District, Babs reported that Tim had made his way back out of it and taken to the roofs of Little Italy. It was harder for her to track him there, but the lack of cars on the street this time of day meant they were moving significantly faster than he was by foot. Babs suspected Tim had at best a five minute headstart at this point, and she was able to direct them to four or five square blocks, at which point the boys and Cass hit the streets by foot once more.

It had been ten, maybe fifteen minutes since then, and Stephanie was starting to get a niggling suspicion in the back of her mind that Tim had found a way to reverse the stacking of the deck.

"Cass," she said, dubiously. "What did I forget?"

The silence on the other end of the comm was contemplative. Finally, Cassandra said, "Tim's competitive."

Stephanie huffed, tapping her fingers restlessly against the steering wheel, and shook her head. "This whole game was predicated on Tim being competitive enough to take on an unbeatable challenge."

"Tim's very competitive," Cassandra said dryly. "And he's mean. You didn't even give him a way to win. So he's going to change the rules."

"What does that mean?" Dick asked.

"No idea," Cassandra admitted. "Stephanie?"

She shook her head, pulling into a parking space and throwing the car into park so she could take a moment to just think. "The goal of the game is getting Tim to the Manor. He could undercut us and get himself to the Manor."

"Boring," Cassandra asserted.

"He could go to his boyfriend's place and count on us not being big enough dicks to kidnap him from it."

"He'd be wrong," Jason said. "And you'd be the first one busting down the door, so he definitely knows it."

"Um," Stephanie said. She knew how that little gremlin brain of Tim's worked. She knew she did.

"I see movement on an adjacent rooftop," Damian said suddenly. "I will intercept."

...Tim knew that Steph knew how his little gremlin brain worked. And underneath how much fun he was having with this game of tag, he was definitely pissed (in a loving way) at her for dragging him out of bed at 3 AM.

"Oh," she said, resignation flooding her tone. "I know what I forgot. There's a player we left off the board, and Boyfriend's had his phone number memorized since he was nine and figured out that his next door neighbor was the Batman."

The passenger door opened, and Tim dropped gracelessly into the same seat he'd so abruptly vacated nearly two hours earlier. "We'll make a detective out of you yet, Stephanie Brown," he said cheerfully, ringing in stereo across the comms, and then he shot her with one of the bat symbol emblazoned paintball guns that Bruce kept in the cave to practice dodging projectiles.

***

Tim went quietly--and smugly--to the Manor in the end. He rode shotgun with Bruce in the Corvette, because everyone else was forbidden to come near it with wet paint still dripping off of their clothes. Even Cass had gotten hit, one graze out of almost an entire belt of paintballs, because Tim had helped Bruce corner her after he'd finished sending a Snapchat of Steph's grumpy face to her mother.

He leaned against Stephanie's shoulder after she made it back to the kitchen after her shower. Her hair dripped down over his sweatshirt, but he didn't seem to mind. "I can't believe you didn't even ask him if he wanted to play."

Stephanie threw her hands in the air. "He thinks rooftop tag is stupid and distracting!"

"On patrol," Bruce said, mildly. He was back at the table, reading the newspaper again like it was two decades ago. Barbara sat across from him, looking distinctly disgruntled.

She'd been kind enough to Tim to play hard mode, opting to set up with a laptop in one of the Manor's living rooms rather than use the Cave or remain in her Clocktower, and as such she had managed to miss both Tim's phone call to Bruce and the Bat himself sneaking down to the Cave to grab the paintball guns. The only person taking the whole thing even more personally was Damian, who was off sulking in his room while Dick tried to convince him to come back downstairs.

Stephanie glowered at the side of Bruce's head, but she peaceably accepted the pint of ice cream that Cass pressed into her hand.

"Oh," Tim said blithely. "Live a little, why don't you."

She shrugged her shoulder, a half-hearted attempt to dislodge him. "I should've done more than broken your nose the first time we met."

Tim laughed.

"You broke his nose?" Bruce asked, sounding disapproving.

"With a brick," Tim confirmed.

"Nice one, Replacement."

"I felt your angelic hands guiding me in that moment," she said sweetly, and Jason flipped her off.

Bruce's eyes fluttered closed, and he lowered the newspaper to the table. "A brick," he repeated.

"Right to the face. It was a lovestory for the ages," Tim said wistfully.

"Two Kinsey fives against the world," Steph agreed, leaning her head onto his. She hung her spoon from her mouth upside down, speaking around it with a sigh. "Aw, Boyfrien'. Wha'd we h've t' go 'n' grow up f'r?"

Tim's shoulders shook as he laughed, silently. "Beats me, Girlfriend. Think Bart could take us back to that time if we asked him nicely enough?"

"There's two of them," Barbara told Bruce, sounding the most long-suffering that she had ever sounded. "What did we do to deserve this, do you think?"

"None of you deserve her, actually," Tim said flatly. "Except you, Cass," he amended, as her head jerked up.

Cass nodded, satisfied, and returned to her ice cream.

"You're gonna make me blush," Stephanie muttered, and to her horror it was true. She hid her face behind her pint of rocky road.

"Do you understand how lucky you got when you found her?" Tim demanded, jabbing a finger at Bruce.

"I do," Bruce said, gently, and Tim hesitated, the angry wind abruptly gone from his sails.

"Good," he said awkwardly. "I wouldn't want to have to fight you over it, because quite frankly you'd wipe the floor with me. You all would. My primary tactic tonight was distance."

"I could have caught you a couple times," Cassandra confirmed apologetically. "Just didn't want to spoil the fun." She winked.

"That's my job," Stephanie agreed automatically, and Tim snorted. It was a pity snort, but she didn't care.

"Mm." Bruce returned to his newspaper. "We'll have to do something about that. You've certainly got potential. An innovative thinker with a strong moral compass, and god knows Gotham can use all the reputable private investigators it can get, to help fill the gaps that we can't address and the cops won't. It'd be a shame if you got in over your head and weren't able to keep yourself safe."

Tim blinked. "Girlfriend, did the Batman just offer to train me?" he asked weakly.

Cassandra and Jason laughed at him, and Stephanie reached up to pat his cheek sympathetically. "He didn't offer, Boyfriend. You ain't gettin' a choice here."

#stephanie brown #tim drake #cassandra cain #bruce wayne #and others but I'd say they're the most important #the tim&steph role swap au #I wrote this #too lazy to copy edit; ignore any typos lol

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sweettoothedtrickster13 · 10 months

Text

A Second Look Chapter 6

Fandom: Elementary

Tags: Female Sherlock Holmes, Soulmate Identifying Marks, S1 Ep 13 (The Red Team)

Summary: Gregson is forced to let Sherlock on a case.

Notes: So I may or may not be procrastinating on a few (yes, a few) projects. But I had this written already and decided to put it here and hope that it helps me not procrastinate. Enjoy!

AO3 Portal

Bell walks into Gregson's office, and the man looks up from paperwork. "What's up, Bell," he asks, seeing his detective's nervous face as he closes the door. He starts to think of what Bell could possibly want to tell him. But there's been nothing in his professional life he needs to talk about. He worries slightly if it's personal- he's always encouraged his people to come to him if they need support, but he's been distracted lately.

"You know how we got a call from a neighbor, said they hadn't seen Pontecorvo in a while, asked for a welfare check?"

"Yeah? He's dead?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, good thing they called." That can't be what's making Bell so nervous. "Murdered?"

"Not sure." Ok, that's weird. "But that's not really why I came in here. No neighbor called." Gregson frowns, confused.

"Then who," he starts, then scowls. "Holmes?"

Bell nods.

"I suspended her. She shouldn't be anywhere near any crime scene. Let me guess," he says as he leans back, paperwork ignored. "She 'let herself in.'" Meaning she picked the lock. He hates when she does that, makes it a little hard to explain. But she normally got results, so he looked the other way.

"I'm assuming."

Gregson drops his pen and rubs his eyes. He has a headache starting. "Anything interesting," he asks reluctantly after he drops his hand.

"Guy was a conspiracy nut," Bell shrugs. "That was the only interesting thing about him."

"Alright," Gregson nods. "Work the case. And keep Holmes away," he orders.

"You got it, Cap." Bell leaves his office and Gregson fumes.

A few hours later, Gregson gets up to get more coffee. As he's doing it, Joan shows up.

"Captain," the woman says.

"If you're here on Holmes' behalf, I don't want to hear it," Gregson says as he pours himself a cup and doesn't look at her.

"Sherlock feels terribly about what happened!" Gregson picks up his mug and starts to walk back to his office. If they're going to have this conversation, they need privacy. "She'd tell you herself, but you know how she is," Joan continues as she closes the door behind her. Gregson sits behind his desk.

Gregson laughs dryly. "That's right, Joan; I do know how she is." He looks at her. "And I bet she doesn't feel bad at all."

"What would it take for her to come back," Joan asks. "Is it a matter of waiting it out or do you want a formal apology?"

Gregson stares at her for a second, incredulous. "You make it seem like she borrowed my car without asking," he says, really starting to get pissed. Joan doesn't deserve his anger, he knows rationally. But she's in front of him and pleading Holmes' case, so she gets the brunt. "Holmes planned to torture and murder someone on my watch."

"Sherlock thought that Moran murdered the woman she loved," Joan says quietly.

"Joan, look. If she had come to me, said what happened, and gave me the picture, I would have gone and slapped cuffs on him myself." And he would have- Holmes didn't deserve that pain. But she can't come back. "But she didn't. She kept evidence to herself. Evidence we wouldn't have even known about if you hadn't found it," he points out.

"Captain-"

"I get that she lost someone she loved, I do. But that doesn't make what she did ok. Trust me, Joan, this is for her own good."

"Her own good, or yours," Joan snaps.

"Don't pull that with me," he scoffs. "I'm pissed at her, yeah. But now that I know what she's capable of, I can't ever really trust her again." It breaks his heart to say that about his soulmate, but it's true. "You have to see it from my side, Joan."

"I'm seeing it from hers. She needs this job."

"I know it's your job to make sure she doesn't use," he says. "But it's my job to keep my people in line, and to protect this city. I can't do that if I have a loose cannon running around."

"She's not a loose cannon," Joan exclaims.

Gregson just looks at her, unamused. How stupid does she think he is? "She breaks into homes. She calls in anonymous tips when she doesn't have evidence but wants us to look at someone." Joan looks sheepish. "Like I said, Joan. I do know her." He opens a file. "You can let yourself out."

Joan sighs but goes, closing the door as she does.

Pontecorvo's murderer turns himself in, and Gregson thinks they should all be that easy.

"Captain," a uni says, poking his head into his office.

"Yeah," Gregson asks, looking up.

"Holmes is in Interrogation."

"You're fucking with me."

The uni shakes his head. Gregson scowls and gets up. The officer wisely gets out of his way. He opens Interrogation One and Holmes is standing inside, talking with Sullivan. He gestures for her to come to him, and she does. She steps out with him, shutting the door behind her.

"Well, it's obvious that that man is not the mastermind of anything," Holmes remarks, looking over her shoulder to the closed door. She's acting like they're still working together. It's infuriating.

"What are you doing here," Gregson asks, keeping his voice level instead of yelling at her.

"I'm trying to figure out what happened," she says, flippant, as she meets his eyes. "Now, Pontecorvo's murder may have been happenstance, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong about the Red Team." The what? "If Carlo Anillo was poisoned," she continues.

"I mean why are you in this building when you're suspended," he cuts her off instead of asking her what the fuck she's talking about. Who the fuck is Carlo Anillo?

"Captain, lives may be at stake," Holmes says, meeting his eyes. "We need to find the members of the Red Team and warn them."

"The department appreciates your tip in leading to the arrest of Gary Sullivan," he starts in an intentionally flat voice, and Holmes looks flabbergasted. "Concerned citizens such as yourself-"

"Why are you talking like that-"

"-play an important role in keeping this city safe."

"Are you listening to me," Holmes demands, like she has any right.

"Lives are at stake, every day, Holmes," Gregson says, just barely managing to not yell at her where everyone can hear him. "And yet," he says, calming himself down. "We had a department and a city before you got here." He glares. "You talk your way into that interrogation room again, and I will have you arrested for trespassing." He walks away before Holmes responds.

Bell walks into his office a few hours later. "Don't tell me Holmes is here again," Gregson says. He would have to carry out his threat, and he really doesn't want to.

"No. But you'll want to hear this." Gregson listens. "Now she asked me to run a tox screen on some guy named Carlo Anillo." Gregson sighs as he recognizes the name from Holmes' speech outside Interrogation One when he caught her.

"Marcus," he starts.

"I know, I know," Bell nods. "I figured if it was nothing, she'd give up. Turns out, it wasn't nothing."

"Excuse me," Gregson asks, slowly straightening.

"Anillo was poisoned with domoic acid."

Gregson furrows his eyebrows. "The crap you get from bad sushi," he asks, confused. That can kill someone?

"Yeah. It causes memory loss. She thinks Anillo was on the Red Team."

"Call her in. I want to hear everything."

Holmes walks into his office with Joan, a visitor's pass clipped to both their coats. Gregson looks at Sherlock's, unamused. "You did say I wasn't allowed," Holmes says. "I figured I would make it a bit more formal."

"Talk," he says, folding his arms from his place in front of his desk, and Bell closes the door.

"I believe that Carlo Anillo was a member of the 2009 Red Team, along with a counterinsurgency expert named Martin Nagowski, who was murdered during a mugging."

"What the fuck is the Red Team?"

"Every year, the Army War College stages a series of war games. Players consist of military personnel, as well as civilian experts. Those representing the United States and its allies comprise the Blue Team. Ergo the Red Team," she says.

"Are our enemies. Got it."

"The players change every year, as do the scenarios being tested. But every year, the results are published in trade journals." Gregson is really starting to hate Holmes' long-windedness right now. What does this have to do with a poisoning and murder? "Except for 2009. Those were immediately classified."

"What was so special about that year," Gregson asks.

"No one knows. That year's game was designed to test the military's response to the activation of a sleeper cell in New York City. The Red Team's goal was to cause maximum destruction and chaos with minimum resources."

"So you think these Red Team guys thought up something so bad they didn't want it to get out."

"Precisely, Captain."

"You don't happen to know the rest of this Red Team, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Of course you do, Gregson internally gripes.

"Care to share with the class?"

“Veena Mehta, professor of anthropology, expert in Middle Eastern cultures. Harold Dresden, mathematician. Sheldon Frost, cartographer. And finally, Walter McClanahan, systems analyst and Lieutenant Colonel, retired.”

"Go round them up," Gregson directs Marcus. He goes to Holmes, taking her visitor badge off. "For this case only," he says firmly.

"Of course, Captain," Holmes says casually.

They get them all in the conference room. Holmes walks the last one, McClenahan, in herself.

"Who are these people," McClenahan asks in a rough and pissed-off voice. But Gregson's been a cop for a long time- he's scared.

Holmes introduces them. "But I suspect you already knew that. Gentlemen. Ms. Mehta. I know that I'm addressing the members of the 2009 Red Team." They stiffen.

"I'm a free citizen of the United States and I'd like to leave now," McClenahan announces.

"Shorn sheep look like uncooked chicken," Gregson greets.

"I'm a free citizen of the United States and I'd like to leave now," he repeats.

"Nobody's holding you here, Mr. McClenahan," Gregson tells him.

"Walt," Dresden says before McClenahan leaves. Dresden comes close and touches his arm. "These people aren't with the Army. Let's just calm down." He gently tugs his elbow and McClenahan lets himself be pulled to the table. The standoffish man sits and Dresden retakes his seat. "Let's just hear what they want."

"I believe that you're all in danger," Holmes says. "Some of you may know that Martin Nagowski is dead. I believe his murder was planned." The Red Team members look at each other, shocked and scared. "I know for a fact that Carlo Anillo was poisoned. You lot are here because the four of you are the remaining ones brilliant enough to develop a plan that paralyzed the Army with fear. I'm hoping that one or more of you might be able to provide some insight as to who's trying to harm you."

There's silence. Then Frost pipes up. "We should talk, but I'm not going first." Gregson is relieved.

"We took an oath, Sheldon," Dresden says, annoyed.

"If we all talk, no one can report anyone else," Mehta says.

"Saying a single word to these people is treason." Holy shit. What the fuck did they think up?

Silence reigns for a few moments. Then once again, Frost breaks it. "I'm not comfortable with this." He stands and heads for the door near Gregson, the opposite direction from Holmes.

"This is not something you can run away from," Holmes says.

"I'm very sorry," Mehta says, and follows Frost. The others leave without a word.

"We warned them at least," Gregson says, disappointed. There's nothing more they can do. Not without the Red Team's help. "Maybe one of them will change their mind, tell us something later."

"I think maybe one of them just did," Holmes says. She straightens from her position half sitting on the desk the phone rests on. She crosses the room and takes something from the trash. Gregson reads over her shoulder.

'Army intel Captain. Codename Yossarian. Find him.' Thank God for Sherlock Holmes, Gregson thinks. He gets angry at himself. Stop that.

Gregson stays late at the office, working with Marcus to see if they can find anyone who would want to hurt the members of the Red Team. It's hard when everything's classified- Gregson had a few detectives who are former military pull strings, but nothing turned up. The files weren't even sent, let alone redacted. Marcus' phone rings. "It's Holmes," he says.

"My office," Gregson says, and they go there.

Bell answers, putting it on speakerphone. "Holmes, you got me and the Captain."

"Well, as it turns out Yossarian is Todd Clark. I met the man earlier today when I tracked a bug put in Pontecorvo's home. He introduced himself as Bill."

"Great. How'd you find out his real name," Marcus asks.

"Two people came to my door tonight. They didn't greet or introduce themselves, but suspected that I was the one who shot and killed him at seven this evening. I was not." Gregson is shocked.

"So we're no closer to finding the murderer than we were before," Marcus asks.

"Not quite," Holmes says. "We now have another murder on our hands. That might loosen the Red Team's tongues."

"I'll gather them up, put them in protective custody in the morning," Gregson says. "For now, I'll just post unis in and outside their homes."

"A fine idea, Captain. I'll see you both tomorrow." She hangs up before Gregson can refuse her.

"Go home, Cap, I'll take a look at what we have," Marcus says.

Gregson nods and goes home.

When he gets the call the next morning that two of his unis were pumped full of rock salt at McClenehan's home, he goes there himself to meet Marcus. He ducks under the wire that was hooked up to the shotgun, examining the damned contraption.

"How're Polk and Mahone," Marcus asks.

"Lucky that the shells were packed with rock salt," Gregson replies. "They're not happy, but they'll live. They and the super will be laid up for a while, but then they'll be fine."

"That thing's not the only weapon we found in the place," Marcus says. "Assault rifles, knives, and a 9 mil."

"Todd Clarke was killed with a 9, wasn't he," Gregson asks.

Marcus nods. His phone chimes, and he reaches for it as he talks. "We'll run a ballistics test to confirm, but I'd say we found a promising suspect." He checks his phone and sighs.

"What," Gregson asks.

"Holmes," he says, showing him his screen. On it is a picture of the contraption Gregson's standing next to, along with a simple message. 'omw.' "I didn't call her," he says.

"Who the fuck is sending her pictures of crime scenes," he asks, glaring around. No one looks his way.

"Probably called in a favor from CSU. I'll figure it out," Marcus promises. His phone chimes again, but he doesn't reply. "We put a BOLO out on McClenehan. Hopefully-" another chime, and Marcus glances at his phone. "Hopefully he hasn't left town yet, but-" another chime. "I'm sorry," Marcus says. Gregson leans over to read the latest text Holmes sent. 'Found McClenehan!'

"What," Gregson demands.

Marcus' phone rings in his hand, and he puts it on speaker. "How'd you find him so fast," Marcus asks.

"I didn't, I just needed you to pick up the phone," Holmes says. Gregson scowls. "Are the others safe?"

"Yeah," Marcus replies. "Mehta and Frost are at the hotel already. I guess Dresden is taking a while to pack but he's got our people with him."

"I'm not coming any longer. Don't wait for me."

"We weren't," Marcus starts, but Holmes hangs up. "Probably would be easier to fire her if we ever actually paid her," he remarks, pocketing his phone. Gregson sighs.

They keep investigating, and a uni finds McClenehan- dead in an alley three blocks away.

"Call Holmes," Gregson instructs Marcus. He leaves before she gets there- he needs to do some paperwork at the station.

Just before he gets there, he gets a call over the radio. Dresden tried to kill Mehta. "What made the uni think to watch out," he asks dispatch.

"Holmes called in the warning."

"On my way."

He curses and praises Holmes in turn until he gets to the hotel. When he does, he finds out his officers already evacuated Mehta and Frost. But he learns something gut-clenching. Harris is in there with Dresden.

"Is everyone alright," Holmes asks, getting out of Joan's car and walking to him.

"Yeah. We evacuated the rest of the Red Team, but he's got one of my detectives hostage in there." Gregson watches the SWAT team approach the door.

"If Dresden intended to sell the Red Team's plan, his motive would be money. but if that were the case, he wouldn't have tried to assassinate the others in a hotel he knew was being controlled by the police. I think I know what his game is."

"What is it?"

"He doesn't want the secret to get out, he thinks it's too dangerous. It's practically a suicide mission."

"You may be right," Gregson admits, hating that she is. "Our negotiator called the room phone. Dresden gave us his demands. Normally a guy wants a helicopter or bus. All he wants is the remaining Red Team members delivered to him, then he'll let Harris out."

"I need to speak to him."

"That guy has one of my detectives," Gregson snaps. "This requires finesse. I'm not putting this in the hands of a suspended consultant."

"And I can often be uncareful, I know. But I know why Dresden is doing this, and I know what to say to make him stop."

Gregson weighs the options. On one hand, Holmes is suspended. But he knows she's good- if she says she can do it, she'll do it. On the other hand, he doesn't want to send his soulmate into danger.

"Captain," Holmes says, touching the crook of his elbow. He looks at her. "I'll get your man out," she promises. Gregson nods. Holmes drops her hand and Gregson walks to the negotiator.

"Give Holmes the number."

Gregson calls the SWAT team off and Sherlock goes to the door. She's let in. Gregson's heart pounds in his throat. Joan touches his arm, and he looks at her. "I'm nervous, too," she admits. "But I trust her." She smiles softly. "And I know you do, too." He does.

Gregson sends the SWAT team back up, ready to get his soulmate, his detective, and Dresden out. The door opens, and he tenses. Sherlock comes out first, and he breathes a sigh of relief. Then Dresden, his hands up and empty. The SWAT team takes him into custody and two lead him down while the others clear the room. "Clear," Gregson hears from upstairs. "We got Harris! He's not hurt!" But God help him, he doesn't care about that. He goes to Sherlock when she comes down the stairs and touches her elbow, feeling her alive under his fingers. Joan joins him.

"Are you ok," he demands.

"Yeah," she nods.

"How'd you get Dresden to come out?"

"Well, I knew the Red Team's plan and I told him that." Sherlock starts bouncing on her feet, nervous.

"How'd you know the plan?"

"Well, I thought very quickly and very carefully."

"YOU GUESSED?!"

"Yes." Sherlock breathes out while he has a minor panic attack. "Gun to one's head is a rather powerful stimulus."

"Sit down," he says, pulling her to his car. She opens the back door and sits. He nudges her over enough that he can sit, too. Joan goes in the other side and lays her head on Sherlock's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're ok," Joan says quietly.

"As am I, Watson. As am I." She pauses. "Captain. I think you and I owe each other a conversation." Gregson looks at her.

"I gotta deal with this first. There's a place called McNabb's at 43rd and 12th." It's a bar he goes to sometimes, but not his usual cop bar. "Meet me there in an hour." He gets up and walks away.

He's done sooner than he'd hoped and is two drinks in when Sherlock walks in. "I'm not really supposed to be spending much time in bars," she remarks as she approaches him.

"Tonight is not about you," Gregson snaps. Sherlock nods, accepting his anger. "If I'm gonna have this conversation, I'm gonna have a drink to go with it," he tilts his whiskey. "Talk."

"I regret that circumstances caused me to endanger our relationship," Sherlock says. "It was a price I was willing to pay for revenge, as was the likelihood of going to prison. But it was what I had to do."

"No. You didn't have to. You wanted to," he corrects, turning on the chair to face her. "God knows I've wanted to take justice into my own hands after I lost friends on the job, but I didn't. Because I'm a cop."

"I'm not."

"When you work with me, you work under the ideals of the New York City Police Department," he says firmly.

"And usually I do. Just outside the bureaucratic nonsense." Gregson rubs his face with one hand. "Captain, there is no logical reason to keep me from my work." Gregson slowly drops his hand and looks at her.

"I saw you work in London. You were good. And you're good here. God knows you're special. But fuck you for knowing it, too." Sherlock waits- she knows there's more. "I want an apology and an explanation."

"What," she demands.

"You heard me."

"Oh, bloody Hell. Can't you just punch me and get it over with," she asks, exasperated. He stills and looks into her eyes.

"Punch you?"

"Yes, I know you want to," she rolls her eyes.

"I'm not gonna hit you. You thought I was gonna?" He's slightly hurt.

"If I were a man, you would have."

"You're also my soulmate. I'm not gonna hit my soulmate." Sherlock looks shocked. "So. Apology," he says, putting up a finger. "Explanation." He holds up another.

Sherlock grits her teeth and seems to search for words. Gregson knows this is hard for her, so he's willing to wait. "I...am not a warm person," she starts. "I never have been. Human connection always eluded me. Until Irene." She sighs the name. "With her, I could see why someone would get married." Gregson can't hide his shock, but thankfully Sherlock seems to be...somewhere else. "People always talk about finding 'the one' when they meet their soulmate. I always thought that was a load of rubbish. But when I met her," she trails off. She shakes her head. "I understood. She might not have been my soulmate, but she was the one." She pauses. "And then Moran killed her. Or...I thought he was the one who killed her. For one year and six months, I thought that. And I plotted my revenge. One year and six months." She sighs. "And when I finally had him, when I said that name to his face, he said he didn't kill her. That he'd been in prison. And when I confirmed it," she shakes her head. "I still had all the anger, with a new but mysterious target. But I had my old one, a real one, right there. Tell me, Tommy," she says, and Gregson stills at hearing her use his first name. She never has before. "If you weren't a policeman, and you had the people who killed your friends in front of you with numerous weapons at your disposal, what would you have done?"

"I don't know," he admits. "But I can't think about that. Because I am a cop. And so are you." He holds up a hand to stop her protests before they start. "Yeah, you may not carry a badge, but you are a part of our precinct." He drops his hand. "Sherlock, come on. You hid that picture from me. You didn't tell me about Irene, let alone that she was murdered."

"Talking about her is painful," Sherlock admits, looking at her shoes. "Watson barely knows about it. It was my fault she'd been killed. Entirely my fault."

Gregson puts his hand on her shoulder. She doesn't move. "It wasn't. It was that guy, Moriarty's fault. He did it."

"But he did it because of me."

Gregson nudges her chin up until she looks at him. Her eyes are filled with tears but they don't fall. "It's not your fault," Gregson says quietly. "And I'll say that. Every day. Until you believe me."

"I won't ever believe that."

Gregson cups her cheek. She leans into it. "And you're wrong, you know. You can make connections, I've seen it. With me. With Joan. With Marcus. And you still have one soulmate left to meet, right?"

"Tommy, that isn't the same," she protests.

"Isn't it? A connection is a connection, Sherlock."

"Watson's leaving soon. You and Bell are coworkers."

"Joan and I are also your soulmates," he reminds her. "Talk to us. Please." Sherlock sighs.

"I'll try," she nods.

"Good." Gregson lets his hand drop, puts money on the bar and reaches for his coat. Sherlock picks it up and holds it open for him. "Thanks," he says, letting her help him into it. He turns to face her. "Welcome back."

#trickster tales #elementary fanfiction #elementary fanfic #elementary #female sherlock holmes #soulmate au

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im-an-anxious-wreck · 2 years

Text

Memories Aren't Important... Right?

Chapter Two • Virgil

Word count: 2003

MAI...R? chapter collection

First/Previous | Next

Virgil wasn't quite sure what to expect from Roman when Patton had said that they hadn't gotten along before, but he really hadn't expected this.

He wasn't quite sure why it bothered him so much. Honestly, it probably shouldn't this much. Why did it matter that Roman was ignoring Virgil?

Roman was a grownass adult, and if gold didn't want to even look at Virgil then that was just fine. It was… fine.

Virgil scowled and resisted the urge to turn his head and scream into his pillow.

It didn't even matter. Roman could hate him. Ah, but that was the problem, wasn't it? Roman didn't hate Virgil, if gold did, Virgil could deal with that, and while it wouldn't be ideal, it would be okay. But Roman was ignoring Virgil, and that… that was something that Virgil really couldn't cope with.

Virgil was already enough of a people pleaser, but when someone was ignoring him, he got almost desperate.

He didn't even know what he'd done to make Roman not be able to look at him, let alone not have an actual conversation with him.

Virgil had an idea, a stupid one, but an idea none the less. Perhaps he could get Roman to hate him, or at least be pissy at him. Sure, it'd be negative attention, but it'd be better than no attention. It'd be better than the head-jerks away so Roman didn't have to look at him, it'd be better than the obvious seat changing so they weren't on the same section of couch. It would be better than the cold space between them.

He'd seen Roman banter with Remus yesterday, it wouldn't, couldn't be that hard to say similar stuff and then just… take it a bit too far.

Virgil threw up his hood, leaving his room with his new plan in mind, and walked down the stairs, seeing Roman and Patton on the couch.

Patton looked up from the cartoon that was playing on the TV and waved at Virgil.

Virgil gave a small wave back, trying —and failing— not to let Roman's obvious ignoring get to him.

Maybe Virgil wouldn't say the borderline mean stuff in front of Patton though. That was a surefire way to get the 'I'm disappointed in you' look, and a mini lecture, and there's no way Virgil could survive those. He'd crumble for sure.

"Good afternoon," Virgil tried but Roman pretended not to hear him and just continued to stare at the TV. Virgil stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Patton sighed and turned the TV off. "Kiddo…"

"You're right, Patton!" Roman forcefully exclaimed. "We should take a screen break."

"Roman, that's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Yeah, King. You scared of me or something?"

Roman pursed his lips, finally looking at Virgil, perhaps for the first time since this whole mess started. "I'm not scared of you, you're just like an emo racoon. The worst you could do would be to get on the cast of The Walking Dead."

"Hey!"

"Alright, Roman. That's enough. You two need to stop fighting."

"We're not even fighting! I just stand here and King either ignores me or insults me."

"Okay, Roman, stop antagonizing Virgil."

"But—"

"Actually, you know what? I was going to go grocery shopping, but why don't you two go instead," Despite the wording being that of a question, Patton said it very much like a statement. They were going to the store, whether they really wanted to or not.

"Shouldn't that have been a question, Pat?" Virgil nervously asked.

"It really wasn't."

"Oh, well… I mean, if you're gonna make us, fine." Virgil turned to Roman. "I'll meet you out at Jan's car."

"No way! We're driving my car!"

"Pff, like I'd trust you to drive."

…

As it turned out, Virgil had to trust Roman to drive as Janus wouldn't let him borrow his car, claiming that he might need it. He probably just thought it was funny that Roman got to drive.

But whatever, it didn't matter. Roman seemed to drive safe enough, although Virgil was still a bit anxious, he always was in cars, even if the other person was as careful as possible.

Somehow, they made it to the store, and after a brief argument over who got to push the cart —Virgil won—, they began walking through the store, getting the stuff on their list, and maybe some that wasn't (but they weren't about to admit that).

"Ooh, we should get some Pop-Tarts."

"It's not on the list, and besides, I've already let you get like, three things that's not on the list already."

Roman scoffed. "And I've already sung your praises for that."

"You didn't even thank me directly! You just put it in the cart and said 'thanks for not being a complete stuck up, I guess.'. That doesn't even really count!"

"I… well, what? Do you expect me to literally fall to my knees in praise?"

"No! Just a simple thank you would be fine."

"So I can get some Pop-Tarts?" Roman asked, holding up a box.

Virgil sighed. "If you share, and say thank you."

"Ugh, fine. Simple thank you."

"That's—" Virgil took a deep breath. "Fine, whatever, just get them."

"Yes!"

"But you have to give half of them to Remus."

"No!"

"Yes."

"Ugh, fine. I guess I'll just have to get two boxes and then it'll be half."

"No."

"Ugh, you never let me do anything."

"King, this isn't even our money."

"Oh, yeah. Wait, is Logan or Janus paying this time?"

"Janus, why— oh, yeah, fine. Get both."

"Yes!"

Virgil cleared his throat, trying not to let the small smile that threatened to break out take over.

"He has like, what, thousands at this point?" Roman offhandedly asked.

"Millions actually."

"What! That's ridiculous. I see why you're fine getting a few extra things."

"Yep," Virgil said, popping the 'p'.

"I wonder if he'll buy me a new phone."

"Wow, just use him, why don't you?"

"Okay!"

"No, that's not— ugh, whatever."

Roman was completely and utterly hopeless.

It was now the next day, Monday, and Virgil hadn't slept well, what with procrastinating on bedtime until four AM, and then waking up at seven AM for absolutely no reason. He tried not to seem too grumpy, but he was also trying to save his energy for when he'd need to teach some kids the piano.

It was times like this that'd made him glad he'd spend so much time around kids growing up —being the town babysitter and all—, so surely he could handle a few kids for the afternoon. Besides, how advanced could they be? He'd probably just watch them plunk along and gently correct them a lot.

So, the thing that actually was going to be a problem was transportation. Patton and Janus had both already left by the time Virgil was awake enough to consider asking for a ride, and not only did Logan not have a car —and was apparently banned from driving—, but he had already left with Janus as they worked together.

Remus was still here but had also been banned from driving (his driver's license had actually been taken away, unlike Logan, who still had his for emergencies), which only left Roman, because of course.

Now Virgil would have to beg and/or bribe gold into taking him. Which he really wasn't looking forward to.

Virgil walked into the kitchen where Roman was eating a bagel and staring off into space.

"Um… hey, King."

"Actually, it's your royal majesty."

"Ugh, no. First of all, it'd be 'your majesty' and second, that's just your last nam— you know what, it doesn't matter. Are you busy?"

Roman ate the last bite and looked at Virgil suspiciously, chewing for a moment before shallowing and saying, "No, why?"

"Just…" Virgil sighed. "Just wondering if maybe… you could drive me to the music store where I work. That's all."

"Sure!"

Virgil squinted in suspicion. "Wait, really?"

"Yep! It's not like you have any other choice and you probably had a lot of anxiety about asking me. I don't need to be a jerk on top of that."

"Well, I don't know about a lot…"

"Mm, right," Roman said, clearly not believing him. "Besides, I have nothing better to do and I wanna see where you work."

Ah, so that's what the catch was. "Please don't embarrass me in front of my boss! ...Whoever they are."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it."

…

Much to absolutely no one's surprise, Roman did in fact, dream of it.

First suspicious action was that Roman went in with Virgil and couldn't be talked out of it. Which would've been fine, except Virgil knew gold was up to something. There was no way that he wasn't going to do or say something, even if gold hadn't planned so, but Virgil was almost certainly sure that he did have a plan.

"Ah! Hello!" Roman boomed and Virgil had to resist the urge to groan. "Are you the owner of this fine establishment?"

"No," Said the young woman behind the cabinet, her expression nothing but pure amusement. Virgil quickly read her name tag that said 'Hello! My name is Camilla'. "Why're you looking for Mr. Brennan?"

"I just wanted to tell him what a fine employee Virgil is!"

"Oh my god, please don't," Virgil said, absolutely not begging… yet anyway. "I swear to god if you get me fired—"

"Aww, I'm not just gonna fire you out of nowhere, Virgil," A middle aged man said as he walked out of the back of the shop. "I've known you for too long for that."

"Oh! Mr. Brennan, um… hello."

"Hey, kid."

Roman sent a brief questioning glance at Virgil.

"Oh! Right. This is Roman, and Roman, this is my band teacher, er, was my band teacher, I guess."

"Eh, once your band teacher, always your band teacher." Mr. Brennan extended his hand to Roman. "Nice to meet you, Roman."

"Nice to meet you too, sir!" Roman firmly shook Mr. Brennan's hand.

Virgil was just about to rush Roman along to get gold to leave when a young boy ran out of a side room. "Mr. Virgil!"

"Oh, um… hello."

"I practiced the warm-ups just like you always tell me to."

"Uh, good job! I'll be right there, okay?"

"Okay, Mr. Virgil! Bye, Mr. Virgil!" The kid ran back to what must've been the music room.

"Inside feet!" Virgil called after the boy, who instantly slowed down. Virgil blinked, not even quite sure where he'd gotten that phrase. Maybe it was a subconscious habit from a time he couldn't remember.

"Kids are always trying to get everywhere fast, huh?" Mr. Brennan asked.

Virgil huffed lightly. "Sure are. They'll slow down though."

Mr. Brennan hummed.

"Well," Roman began, "It was lovely to meet you, sir, but I should be on my way. I'm sure you both have things to do as well."

"Nice to meet you too, Roman. Feel free to stop by again!"

"Yes, sir!"

Well, that hadn't gone completely, horrible wrong.

"Oh, I should go help…" —Shit, Virgil didn't know his name— "The kid with his lesson.

"Yes, you should, now shoo! Go away, you bother me," Mr. Brennan jokingly said.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going, old man," Virgil teased. Damn, it was nice to see a familiar face.

"Old man!" Mr. Brennan exclaimed, shaking his head, and went back to the backroom where Virgil could spot some instruments in the process of being repaired.

Virgil smirked at Mr. Brennan's antics, and started towards the music room, catching Roman standing in his peripheral.

"Goodbye, Virgilius!"

"Not my name!" Virgil called behind him, rolling his eyes.

"Ah yes, my most sincere apologies, Lord Virgilius! Anyway, have fun being a music nerd."

"I will!"

Roman stopped for a moment and Virgil turned, an eyebrow raised questionatively.

"Uh, in all seriousness, good luck."

"I— thanks."

Maybe Roman wasn't quite as hopeless as Virgil had initially thought.

#sanders sides fics #sanders sides #vee's writing #ts virgil #tss virgil #ts roman #tss roman

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metalbuckaroo · 3 years

Text

Birthday

Summary: Toby invites Bucky to his 11th birthday party.

Warnings: good bit of sexual tension, rude ass parent, cursing, I think that's it???

AU: Babysitter!Bucky x Fem!Reader

AN: I waited soo long to finish this that I couldn't remember exactly what I'd planned for it, so I winged half of it.

THE FILL IN MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

Moodboard by @bucksdolll

"Toby seems to be warming up to the temporary pretty well." One of the Moms whispered to yours. "Bucky? He's a sweetheart. Isn't he, dear?"

You looked away from where Bucky was being swarmed by the younger kids and a couple of their older sisters you'd went to high school with; your mom giving you a sweet smile. "A big softie."

"He's great with Toby, and is sweet on a little miss someone." She grinned, poking your side as you got two bottles of water from the cooler. "Well, aren't you lucky." One of the other mom's chided. "Extremely."

"Go save him, poor boy looks like he's ready to combust." Your mom sighed, fixing a few things on the table that held cake and various types of snacks.

Turning on your heels, you went to where he was stood letting Toby babble on about his arm. "Can I borrow you for a sec?"

Bucky gave a bright smile and nodded, letting you guide him to the open back door. "I think he's have a good time showing off his super cool babysitter." You teased, handing him some extra drinks for the cooler. "Does he ever run out of energy?"

Shaking your head, you looked over the way the dark blue t-shirt clung to his skin, the dips of his muscular torso visible even through the wet fabric. "You're not gonna take that off are ya." You said, tugging the hem.

He pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head. "Nothing wrong with being a little modest, Buck." You smiled, noticing how he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Don't wanna, uh, scare a bunch of kids."

"Or have their dads chasing you down because, the wives are gawking at you." You said, scrunching your nose up at him. He breathed a laugh and shook his head again, leaning down to peck a simple kiss to your lips. "Yeah. I don't think that's gonna happen."

After presents were opened and cake was ate, you and Bucky hid away in the kitchen again for a few moments away from the crowd of kids and parents. "You look beautiful, sunshine." He said, adjusting the thin strap of your dress. "Don't look too bad yourself, Buck."

Your fingers wrapped around the cool metal of his dog tags, tugging them so he'd lean down; his lips ghosting across yours when he turned his head to the opening back door.

"James! There you are." Your mom breathed, pulling the door shut behind her. "Mallory just extended her vacation for another 3 weeks. Please, tell me you're available?" She clasped her hands together and gave him pleading eyes.

"Yeah, of course." Bucky smiled, nodding his head. "Great, perfect. A few of Toby's friends are staying, so I hope they don't bother you too much." She said, looking to you.

"I'm sure Bucky wouldn't mind staying to help, right?" You looked up at him, patting his chest lightly. His eyebrows raised and he nodded, swallowing thickly. "I'll stay."

"Miranda, I've been looking for you." Darlene, one of the most judgemental moms, said, Toby and her son following in behind her. "I've been meaning to ask you- where's Matthew? Shouldn't he be here instead of-" She stopped when she saw Bucky, still standing very close to you.

"He had work." Your mom said with a forced smile. "No wonder it didn't work out, that's all he thinks about." Darlene said clicking her tongue. "Now, you're stuck having to pay a babysitter who-"

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there. Toby, go play outside." Bucky looked down at your hard expression, putting his hand on Toby's shoulder to walk with him into the backyard. "That's not an appropriate thing to talk about at a kid's birthday party. He is eleven, he doesn't need to know why his dad didn't show up."

"It's just- this new babysitter of yours is so-"

"Sweet? Shy, handsome, good with kids? If none of those are what you are about to say, then don't say it." She looked at you dumbfounded, glancing at your mom. "You're not gonna let her talk like this are you?"

Your mom shrugged, leaning against the kitchen counter. "She's grown. I don't dictate what she says. Besides, she's right."

"Unbelievable."

As the families dispersed, going home once the sun started to set, your mom looking exhausted as she cleaned the kitchen. "I've got it, go on to bed. You've had your stress fill for the day."

She gave you a soft thank you before shuffling away to the hallway, Bucky walking in from the chaos filled living room. "Make it out alive?" You teased, picking up the trash that littered the counter. "Barely. Need help?"

His hand rested on the small of your back, pink tinting his cheeks. "You could move the couch for me? Put this to use." You teased, fingertips running up the dark metal of his left arm before wrapping around his wrist.

You finished cleaning the kitchen and went to check on the state of the living room; Bucky laying out the blankets and pillows on the floor for the kids.

"Can we watch Nightmare on Elm Street?" Toby asked, looking up at you with hopeful eyes as you picked up the remote. "No, it's too scary for you." You said, clicking through the movie selections. "Please?"

Bucky chuckled when you rolled your eyes and nodded. "One scream out of any of you and I'm switching it to lullabies."

It didn't take long.

Not even 30 minutes into the movie you were switching it to Toy Story, ignoring the protests that sounded from them.

Another 30 minutes and they were all passed out, sprawled out on the blankets and snoring as you tugged Bucky with you to the kitchen.

"Knew that was gonna happen." You said, breathing a laugh and lifting yourself onto the counter.

Bucky moved to stand in front of you, your knees parting on instinct to let him stand between them. "Steve said he'll have your car done in a couple days. Want me to take you back to your apartment tomorrow? So, you don't have to take the train."

Nodding, you wrapped your arms around his neck loosely; pulling his lips to yours. You all but melted completely in his touch, cool, smooth metal on your right thigh a beautiful contrast to the warm skin on your left.

"I'm so fucking lucky..." He muttered against your lips before pressing his tongue against yours.

"Ew, stop eating my sisters face." You breathed a laugh at Toby's tired voice, looking over your shoulder at him. "Whst are you doing up?" You teased, turning slightly to see him better. "You know I don't like to admit when you're right..."

You were getting restless. Wanting more every time you'd get near Bucky; more of the sweetness of his kiss and gentle, adoring touches.

But hwahented things taken slow. Which you fully understood; and with the group of kids in the front room, it wasn't going to go far anyways.

"Scared?" He nodded softly and you slid off of the counter. "Calm that down and come watch some tv." You smiled at Bucky, gesturing to the strain against his athletic shorts.

Bucky's face burned as he watched you usher Toby back into the living room, staying back for a moment before following.

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this." Toby said, pointing a finger at Bucky that made him look to where you were holding the boy's hand from your spot, laid on the loveseat. "You're about as threatening as the neighbors ankle biter." Bucky retorted, sitting in the recliner.

You had turned some random TV show on, suddenly becoming extra quiet within an hour.

Bucky glanced from the screen to see you sleeping peacefully, Toby's hand barely hanging onto yours as Bucky stepped over one of the kids to grab the blanket from the back of the loveseat.

Gently laying it over you, he leaned down to press a kiss to your cheek; biting back a smile when you subconsciously tilted your head to follow his lips.

There's always tomorrow.

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

Taglist: @likeahorribledream @cxddlyash @iwannabekilledtwice @bookstan0618 @marvel-3407 @glxwingrxse @yliumy @pineprincess @makbarnes @cupcakehinch @doasyoudesireandlive @magicwithinnightmares @preferredrealty @andy-is-gay @stucky-my-ship

#bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky fic #bucky x reader #bucky imagine #babysitter!bucky fluff #babysitter!bucky

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toomanyfandoms02 · 3 years

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The Gala -- JJ Maybank (Part 1 of 2)

Summary - JJ loves to pretend he is someone else, so going to a gala and pretending to get engaged ( for free drinks of course ) is just his speed

Word Count - 1.5k

There will be a part 2 to this :) probably post that in a few hours.

SEND ME JJ REQUESTS!! If you look up 'prompts' or 'dialogue' in my search bar it can give you some ideas!! I need some :)

JJ and I *love* going to parties and pretending to be something else. We had done it since we were kids. It was just a silly thing that we did. It all started when we pretended to be the kids of some rich guy at a country club. We ate like royals that day. Usually, I came up with the ideas, but today JJ had one.

"Alright, so I heard about this massive gala going on in Figure 8, you have to be over 21 to be in there so we have to bring our fake IDs. But I think we should have a lot of fun with this. This also makes it so we can't be ratted out by any kooks because any kook that knows us won't be there." He had a *very* accomplished look on his face.

"Alright deal, I'm gonna borrow one of Sarah's fancy dresses."

"Okay, so here's the background. We are friends with the cousin of the man who is throwing the gala. We can get drunk and dance all night." Before I could reply with my name he had something else to say. "Oh! And we are married." He smiled sweetly, leaning back in the chair he sat in.

"Married huh?" I giggled, lightly kicking his foot from my standing position. He nodded enthusiastically.

"I think we can pass as a married couple right? I mean people already think you're my girl." I could feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks so I swiftly turned around.

"Do they now? I wonder what would give them that idea." I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't know, maybe it's just our energy." He replied dramatically. I turned back to him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Alright, I'm gonna go pick up that dress then I'll meet you back at your house okay?"

"Okay, then we need to pick you up a wedding ring." He shimmied his shoulders at me. I rolled my eyes playfully at him.

"Okay dork, I'll see you soon." I blew him a kiss.

"I wonder why people think we are dating?" He tapped his chin mockingly. I waved him off and hopped in my car, heading to Sarah's house.

Soon enough I was on her front porch, knocking on the Cameron's door, Rafe answered.

"Hey pretty lady, what are you doin' here?" He asked with a smirk, I was unamused.

"I'm here for Sarah, not you." I pushed the door open further so I could squeeze past him.

"She's in her room." He huffed, shutting the door hard. I trotted up the stairs and came to her door, knocking lightly.

"It's Y/n." I said, the door swinging open immediately.

"Hey! What's up?"

"I wanted to know if you maybe had a fancy dress I could borrow?" I tilted my head with a hopeful smile.

"What for?" She asked, letting me in her room. I plopped onto her bed.

"JJ and I are gonna sneak into this gala tonight and I need a dress for it." I shrugged. "Obviously I don't have one." She gave a mischievous smirk.

"Oh, so you and JJ are going to a gala, huh?" She shimmied her shoulders at me (much like JJ did earlier that day). Sarah knew lots about me, even when I didn't know them myself. She had told me months ago that I surely had a thing for JJ.

And she was right, but that's not the point.

"Yeah, he told me about it today, and you know what else? He wants us to pretend to be a married couple. You have to be 21 to be in there so, I guess it makes sense." I smiled a little at the thought of pretending to be his wife.

*Wife.*

"He's so into you Y/n. It's so glaringly obvious."

"This is just one of our things Sarah. We go and pretend to be people for fun. This one just happens to be a scenario where we are married." I brushed it off, not wanting to accept the reality that he could have the same feelings for me. No matter how much I wanted that to be true.

Never get your hopes up, that's what I was always told.

"Even if that's true I'm not going to assume anything, I'm just gonna go have fun with him. But to *do* that I need a dress." I laughed, making her go to her closet and grabbing a few hangers.

"Fine, let's get started."

After about 45 minutes of trying on dresses, we decided on one.

"This is Flowers of the Sea by Teuta Matoshi Duriqi. Dad got it for me last year but I don't have anywhere to wear it." She shrugged. "And I'm sure it'll have JJ speechless." She smiled, putting her head on my shoulder. I nodded, smoothing down the dress. It was a light teal color, with lots of tulle to cover the bottom of the dress and a layer of it to go over the deep v-neck. Over that were cascading flowers. It was truly the prettiest thing I had ever worn. I pulled my phone out to text JJ.

*Got the dress, time for ring shopping :)*

I sent the message and threw my phone on Sarah's bed. I carefully got out of the dress and put my regular clothes back on. Sarah put the dress back on a hanger for me and handed it to me as I slipped my phone into my back pocket.

"Thank you so much, seriously." I hugged her tightly.

"Anything for the love birds." She smirked. "Text me with updates!" Then I was set to go to JJ's.

I knocked on the porch door and Like swung the door open. He grinned at me, jutting his thumb behind him.

"JJ is in his room." He moved from the doorway and let me in. I took the hallway back to his room, his door being opened. I stood there for a second. He was adjusting the bowtie on his neck (horribly).

"Would you like some help?" I asked, smiling at him in the mirror.

"Yes please! I've been tryin' to get this stupid thing right for 10 minutes." He pouted, coming closer to me. We stood face to face, u kept my eyes on his tie, which he had done *all* wrong. I retied it and turned it straight.

"There you go." I smiled, just inches from his face.

"Thanks, doll-face." He smiled cheekily, looking down at the dress I was holding. "Alright go out it on! I wanna see." He shooed me to the bathroom.

'Okay! Okay!" I laughed, shifting myself in his bathroom. I managed to get it all the way on besides the zipper, which I left the bathroom to get JJ to do it.

"Can you zip this for me?" I asked, walking into his room holding the dress so it didn't fall. He nodded and turned me around, zipping it slowly. I turned back around to face him.

"What do you think?" I smiled, doing a little spin for him. He just stared at me for a moment, smiling. "What?" I judged his shoulder.

"You look beautiful." He said simply. "Sorry, I was practicing looking at you like you we the light of my life, my wife." He joked. I shook my head at him.

"You realize we've put these on and now we have to go into Walmart to look for rings, like this." I gestured down to our fancy clothes.

"Just part of the fun my love." He put his arm out for me to link with him. I put my arm through his and we walked out to my car, giving a short goodbye to Luke.

We ignored the weird looks we got as we entered the store, going straight for the jewelry. It took us no time to pick out a ring, it was a big fake diamond and looked extravagant. I slipped it on my ring finger, showing it to JJ. What do you think Mr? Maybank?"

"Also, I just came up with another very dramatic thing we can do tonight. This is of course if you wanna go all-out attention on us. I think it'll get us some more drinks too." He smirked. I looked at him suspiciously, motioning for him to go on.

"Instead of us being married," See Sarah? He changed his mind, it didn't mean he had feelings for me. "I think I should propose to you at the gala." Oh?

"Propose?" He looked at me hopefully. "Alright, I'm down." He pumped his fist in the air, grabbing an empty ring box and buying our stuff. (It came to a total of 20 dollars

"Let's go get engaged!" He screeched, hopping in the passenger seat. I just laughed, starting my car and taking us to the venue.

#jj maybank #jj maybank fic #jj maybank fluff #jj maybank imagine #jj obx #obx #outer banks #jj maybank smut #rudy pankow

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issaxcharlie · 3 years

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Ghost Of You 2/2

Pairing: Ghost! Luke Patterson x Fem Reader

Summary: Luke, Reggie and Alex have to assimilate their loss. For Luke of his girlfriend, and for the others of their best friend after suddenly learning that she didn’t have the future they imagined, and instead died 23 years ago.

Thank you to @cookiebuba for being the head of the entire idea and trusting me with it, and to Emy for almost holding my hand to force me to write🤣💜

PART 1 HERE

“It can’t be.”

“Luke, I-”

"No, Julie. You are not telling me that the woman of my life, the purest person who has ever stepped on this world, not only lost her partner and her best friends, but was only able to live her life for two more years and then ended in a horrible accident. It's as if life wanted to torture her before taking her too.”

“Love of ?... Zeppelin shirt you wore when you ran away. Of course.”

“I- It can’t be true, please tell me it’s not true, Julie.”

“Luke... she loved you so much.”

He falls on the floor. The impact is strong, as if his legs have stopped working.

"I know." He whispers slowly, his gaze empty as multiple tears fall from his eyes.

The rest of the gang threw themselves to the ground around him and hugged him with all their might, trying to unite his broken pieces without any success. Alex and Reggie each crying silently over the loss of their sweet friend.

“What day did she pass away? Alex whispers.

"Let me search, one moment." Julie gets up quickly and checks on her laptop to find a little note about the singer's death.

"The rising singer Y/N Y/L who had just released the biggest hit of her career passed away this afternoon in a terrible car accident after leaving the cemetery where her late boyfriend, Luke Patterson, was buried. Y/L was there in commemoration of the 2 years of the loss of the aspiring musician, who died from a sudden tragic intoxication along with the rest of his band. Something to rescue from this tragedy is that at least she's already reunited with her eternal love. May both rest in peace.”

“This can’t be. My Y/N can’t be gone. Not her, not like that.” Luke is still in denial, unable to believe that his little girl suffered such a terrible ending.

“Maybe she’s not. There's still a chance that she's also a ghost.”

“Yeah, Julie’s right. We need to look out for her, we can't write her off without trying to find her first.” Reggie's eyes sparkle with hope, rushing to cover Alex's mouth in case he says anything other than motivating.

Luke takes his flannel and disappears immediately. Both Reggie and Alex stare sadly at Julie who simply whispers a "go, he needs you." They nod and teleport to their friend.

As expected, Luke is in front of the window of an old music store. He met his girlfriend here so many years ago, the day his parents agreed to buy him his first guitar.

The store had a small section where customers could try out some instruments and she was playing the guitar they had there and singing for the small audience. It seemed like it was something she did often because both the workers and certain customers seemed familiar with the girl.

Luke was captivated by her from the first moment. The energy and passion that radiated from her in every move was unreal. He had never seen anyone happier, much less singing with a borrowed guitar from a small downtown store.

The store is completely abandoned, so without saying anything he comes in and walks towards the small stage.

The ghosts of two 12-year-old kids singing together into the microphone invades his memory. If they only knew.

"Do you remember what was the first thing she said to you?" Reggie and Alex sit next to him on the floor, looking straight at the very small stage. They both try to imagine what their friends must have looked like singing here together the first time. Luke totally invading little Y/N's presentation trying to captivate her with his 0% music experience and 100% of enthusiasm.

Luke laughs through tears. "You have the voice of a country singer."

Alex starts crying when he imagines her. He met her just a few weeks later so he knows exactly how she must have looked and sound.

Reggie smiles while shedding a tear, remembering all those afternoons Y/N convinced Luke to join them in their country sessions. He knows that's why Luke hasn't wanted to know anything about country or his songs since they got back. They remind him of his sweet girl.

“I was so offended. I still didn't know anything about music but I had already decided that I would be a rocker. If I hadn't already been so dazzled by her I would have left without looking back.”

“And what did you answer to defend your honor?”

"You think so?" The three of them start laughing while still crying. A heartbreaking mix of pain comes from their chests.

“C’mon guys, next stop.”

The three of them were teletransporting around the city during the day without any success. Luke's desperation increasing for every place the songwriter wasn't.

At night the three decide to go back to the studio. Luke is heartbroken, bloated after crying all day, eyes red and sore, and whatever it was that was driving him to continue, off.

His friends couldn't do much for him either because each was living the loss in their own way, concentrating on living their own pain until they could process it.

Julie wraps them in blankets on the couch and tries to fill them with love, making sure to hug Luke tightly, who seems about to fall apart.

“Does anyone want to talk about her? Maybe it could make you feel better.”

“She was my entire soul, the words and melody in each of my songs. I just, I love her more than anything in this world. I would give anything for her. My guitar, my voice, my songs, whatever it took for us to be together. I know it doesn't seem like it at this point, but we belong together.”

“We know you do, man.”

“I didn't tell you but I dream about her almost every night since we got back. It is always the same dream. She is in bed, leaving my side intact. She's wearing one of my shirts and hugging my favorite one while sobbing. She falls asleep listening to the ballad I wrote for her soaked in tears and no matter how hard I try to wake her up, I can't get her to see or hear me. I can’t get her. After a few minutes she gets up still asleep and begins to dance as we did so many times, but alone. Then she stops and starts crying again inconsolably. And that's when I wake up."

"I'm so sorry, Luke. She deserved so much more." Reggie walks over to hug him, his head resting on his arm while he sobs.

“We couldn't even say goodbye to her.” Alex cries, his eyes completely red.

“We already know that she visited your graves, perhaps we could do the same, dedicate a few words to her.” Julie offers in an attempt to help them find some peace.

Luke looks devastated, but he nods his head as tears continue to fall from his face, the ring that his girlfriend gave him going in and out of his finger. Alex hugs Julie while she strokes his hair in an effort to calm him down and Reggie runs up to get a notebook and pencil to start planning what to say to his best friend tomorrow.

The three of them hang around all night, crying, writing, hugging, remembering the spark of Sunset Curve. In the morning before going to visit her, they realize is exactly the 25th anniversary of that tragic night that changed the lives of the four forever. Luke nearly punches a hole in the wall upon hearing the sad coincidence.

Her grave is right next to Luke's, who has never been here before and can't help but feel a bit anxious.

“Don’t worry, I’ll start.” Reggie tells the guitarist as he takes a step forward, a small smile on his lips.

"Hello, princess. Long time, huh? I'm Reggie, by the way. In case you don't recognize me from the slight change in my hair. I am trying a little more gel, I want something more elegant and classic. What do you think? Yes, I also thought you would like it.” Julie and Alex smile at hearing him talk to her as natural as possible.

“I tried very hard to think of what to say, because if there is anyone who deserves my best words, it is you. And three things came to mind that I want to share with you.

First, the color yellow.

Yellow like the guitar you were saving for two years to buy. You did everything. You were a babysitter, you walked dogs, you worked in the school library, you sang with your old acoustic guitar in every cafe, basically everything that will let you win some money.

And the day before you could finally go buy it, my dad broke my bass in a moment of anger in one of his typical fights with mom that got really out of hand. At least he didn’t hurt her, huh? But when you're a kid you don't even think about the possibility that something like that could happen, you just focus on the broken instrument in your hand. I ran out and ended up on the stairs of your house with my face soaked and one of the broken pieces in my hand.

You hugged me and promised that everything would be fine. That I was always going to have you four and that we would always be family. You assured me that good things happen to good people. And I believed you, you know? You were always right. But now that I'm here, that I know you didn't have the happy ending you deserved, I'm honestly not so sure anymore.”

Luke and Alex start crying again, each hugging Reggie from one side. Reg tries with all his might to continue through the tears, while Julie looks at them with a broken heart.

“The next day when I came back from school a new bass was on my bed. You talked to Mom so she could take the credit for the gift, but coincidentally was exactly the bass that I fell in love with a year earlier when we went to check if your beloved yellow guitar hadn't dropped in price. Luke revealed to me a few months later that you had to borrow money from your mom in order to complete the exact money for that one.

How generous do you have to be in order to do something like that? how noble? How loving? How selfless? You were always more than I deserved. I was supposed to be like an older brother for you, but it was always you who took care of me. I have Julie and Carlos, and I'm trying to be with them as you were with me. I had the best step sister in the world to teach me, and I hope I can do you justice.” Julie starts crying too after hearing his words, and resists the urge to going to hug him because she knows that they need their space to let go all the suffering that they carry.

“Second, my leather jacket.

When we started the band we made a 100% commitment to being rockstars. And a very important part is the look. You accompanied me on a walk around the city looking for the right outfit to literally go sing to the people who were lining up in front of the clubs.

Anyone could have left me alone on that for multiple reasons, not even these two wanted to face the trouble. But you followed me without thinking twice.

The afternoon was over and we still haven't found anything. Our feet couldn't take it anymore and we had 10 minutes to run to the club. But we stopped by a little store that had a black leather jacket in the window and you said, Reg, this is it.

You excitedly took me by the hand and when I tried it on, the rest was history.

Then I tried to get the whole band to use them but these two boys without fashion sense didn’t want to. You, on the other hand, supported me and wore your leather jacket during all the Sunset Curve performances we had, convincing me that they were our good luck charms and that if we both used them everything would be amazing. Oh god, I miss you so much.

And third, a star.

I thought you were a star when I heard you sing for the first time.

I thought you were a star when you and Luke managed to write the whole Sunset Curve album in 2 months.

I thought you were a star when you bought me my bass, when you made Alex feel better after one of his strongest attacks, when you filled Luke with love and support when he needed it the most.

And I believe it now that I know you are gone.

If you are in heaven, you have to be a star. And not just a star, the brightest star of all. I promise to look for your light every night to wish you sweet dreams. I will also sing you some country since you were the only one who appreciated my incredible sound, I hope it makes you smile.”

“That was beautiful, Reggie. I’m sure she loved it.” Julie finally reaches out to hug him as Alex prepares to be next.

“Hey. I don’t even know where to start.

I- I guess I should start saying I could never pay you all the times you were there to pick me up when I needed someone the most. I went back to dancing a little again. It's not the same without you, but somehow it makes me feel you close. I also met someone, oh Y/N, he’s so special, I'm sure you would have loved him and I would have loved the opportunity to introduce him to you. You were always there.

You were there to support me when I decided to learn drums to cope with my anxiety. You sang the song I was practicing over and over to keep me company and reassure me that what I was doing sounded good.

You were there to support me when I told you I like to dance. We spent hours choreographing different iconic songs and just laughing and enjoying creating more memories together.

Not shocking at this point but you were also there for me when I confessed to my parents I’m gay and you gave me strength all those times that I wanted to fall because they no longer saw me the same way.

You were always my safe place. And I regret with all my heart that I couldn’t be yours.”

Alex breaks down. She kept them on their feet during her darkest days and they paid her off by causing her the most horrible pain imaginable. Julie and Reggie surround her in their arms while sobbing. The last one of the band standing moves closer to the grave and drops to his knees.

“I’m so sorry, my love. I’m so fucking sorry.” Luke tries to be strong, but tears start falling like waterfalls from his eyes, his face red in a mixture of despair, sadness and anger.

“I will never forgive myself for leaving you alone. Baby, I've been without you for only 1 month and I’m going crazy, even with the boys and Julie by my side. I don't even want to imagine what you must have been through those two years. My soul is shattered just thinking about it.

At first when we returned I imagined you were happy after having fulfilled all our plans with someone else. And I thought nothing could hurt me more than that, but obviously I was wrong. Because although it hurt me that I couldn’t be the one who was with you, thinking that you had been happy gave me the peace to be able to continue. Now that I know that life took away your opportunity, the only thing I feel is anger.

Anger towards me, anger towards destiny. Anger at not being able to be together even after death. Since we discovered where you are, I have only been able to think of cross over and finally be with you again.

Or at least go back to the night before everything turned into a nightmare. Fall asleep with you in my arms one more time.

I swear I even miss your snoring and you biting my cheek after your goodnight kiss, as you would say, in a gesture of love.”

“Hello again, my love.

I can't believe 25 years have passed. First of all, I want you to know that I'm okay. Or well, the equivalent for ghosts that are destined to haunt the earth alone for all eternity. I made a friend for several years, Rose. I told you about her, remember? I know you guys would have been good friends, she was a ridiculously talented musician. Since she died I no longer had the strength to go back to the studio, but for a long time I enjoyed her company in one of my favorite places. She promised to tell you that I'm waiting for you. I will wait whatever time is necessary, okay? I love you so much, baby.

You three are always on my mind, and I think I can finally accept that the pain is just never going to go away. But lately something super strange has happened to me, let me tell you.

Throughout these years, in the darkest days, I see you. But, they were always memories.

A month ago, I started to see you having other kinds of experiences and I honestly don't know how to feel about it. Am I going that crazy? I selfishly hoped that you too were ghosts for so many years. I looked for you 5, 10, 15, 20 years. And just as I decide to give up, my head imagines you all over the city.

The first time I saw you singing Reggie's jam on the beach. You guys looked so happy, love. It filled my heart with peace for a few seconds, knowing that somewhere up there you are enjoying life singing together all day.

Then I saw my beloved Alex with a cute boy. My heart melted, I can’t even explain how much I wanted to run to hug him and gossip about it.

Baby, he looked so peaceful. I always wanted that for Alex. I didn't know whether to be happy or cry because that didn’t actually happen, so I did both.

The penultimate time was a few nights ago when I was walking in front of the Orpheum and I heard your voices. How wicked my mind is, right? A knife to the heart would hurt less.

And now, I can't even get close to your grave because I'm imagining you all again.”

Y/N doesn't know what to do, if she gets close enough will they disappear? What If they don’t? Will she bear to see them up close? She has been dancing with their ghosts in her dreams for so many years, but It’s not the same as doing it when she is fully awake.

She is about to run out of there in fear when the silhouette of a fourth person catches her attention. She doesn't know why, but it immediately reminds her of Rose. Could it be that she is imagining her friend too?

Curiosity is stronger than fear, like all those times when she got into trouble with her boys. She walks carefully towards her grave which is next to her beloved Luke.

“I swear I even miss your snoring and you biting my cheek after your goodnight kiss as you would say, in a gesture of love.”

“I don't freaking snore, I told you a million times already... and now I'm talking with my imagination, great.”

The band turns in shock towards the fifth voice. That's when she can see the girl's face and realize who she is.

“Julie? But, how?”

“Y/N?” Alex whispers on the verge of passing out.

She starts to panic, just before the boys can do something about it, a new person appears behind her.

“Hey, you took a long time." She turns around and jumps into the arms of who has become her only friend in recent years.

“Phoenix, thank god.” Her body continues to shake but she clings tightly to her friend while crying uncontrollably.

To say the ghosts are confused would be an understatement. And apart from that, the guitarist is having many conflicts with the jealousy that he is feeling at the moment. They haven't seen each other in 25 years and when they finally do, she runs into someone else's arms and clings to him like her life depends on it.

What does that mean for them? Is it too late?

“Beautiful, what's wrong? Who are they? Oh, wait. You guys were at the club a few weeks ago, you're friends with Willie, right?”

Luke feels like dying all over again hearing him call her that. She continues to shake but finally lets go.

“What? You can see them?”

“Shouldn’t I?” He looks at her skeptical and shifts his eyes from her to the ghosts.

“I- Oh my god. I'm going to pass out.“

“Baby, look at me.” Luke’s voice is a mix between a plea and a demand. The terror of knowing that perhaps he has already lost her without having had the opportunity to fight for her clouds his judgment and tears begin to fall from his face again.

25 years. 25 years fighting not to forget his voice. 25 years having him only in dreams, in memories, in melodies. 25 years waiting for him. 25 years on her own.

She turns slowly to meet those honey-green eyes she craved for so long to see, a painful smile from Luke makes her smile through tears.

She carefully lifts her right hand and gently draws it to his cheek, almost exploding at the feel of it.

“You came back. Oh my, It’s really you.” She jumps to the guitarist, entwining her legs at his hips, her arms tangled with all her strength around him, her head buried in his neck inhaling his scent. Tears coming out as if to drown her, all the pain and suffering that she faced all these years finally leaving her body.

Luke wraps her tightly in his arms, still unable to process what’s happening.

Alex and Reggie begin to smile without fully assimilating what is happening, while Julie begins to jump of joy.

“Babygirl, I'm sorry to ruin the moment but I have to rush to the club. Will you be okay here?"

“She's always safe with me." The guitarist growls, and Y/N starts laughing when she hears it.

"The jealous, protective baby in the beanie is right, don't worry Nix. I’ll go and find you later."

Phoenix nods with a smile and disappears. Julie begins to scold Luke while Reggie and Alex approach to touch the cheek of their best friend, still in the arms of the guitarist who does not seem to have any intention of letting go.

“We should go home to catch up. Reggie and I will accompany Julie, it seems that you two should speak alone first." Luke doesn't think twice and disappears with her in his arms.

“Good things happen to good people.” Reggie whispers as he hugs his friends and they start walking home.

Luke and Y/N reappear in the studio and they are both shocked for a few seconds. The girl trembles again in fear of dreaming.

“Hey, come here baby. Shh, I’m here, I promise.”

“Don’t leave me ever again, please.” He can see that it is very difficult for her to understand that is really happening, and to think that she lived without him not 2 but 25 years makes him want to cry again.

“I won’t. I promise, beautiful. Never again.” Luke wraps her in his arms, but she lifts her head from his chest to push her lips against his. The kiss is urgent, but they both instantly recognize each other and fit in perfectly. Luke picks her up again and gently lays her down on the couch, both desperate to feel the other, to recognize every inch.

“I missed you so much baby, I love you more than anything.” Luke whispers between kisses, not willing to have her an inch away from him.

“I love you my love. I love you, I love you, I love you.” She says while kissing the love of her life, happy for the first time in 25 years.

Before things get to escalate, the rest of the band shows up in the studio followed by Julie who clearly walks through the door.

"Let go of her man, it's our turn!" Y/N gets up quickly from the sofa while her boyfriend complains and she throws herself at both of them who pick her up as best they can and spin her in the air.

They put her down and Julie and her stare each other, both raise their arms and meet in a quick but sweet hug.

“You said my name back there, how?” The question that she has stuck since she met her finally coming to light.

“I met your mom many years ago when I came to visit the studio and realized that she could see me. We were friends for many years and I had the opportunity to see you grow up, but I always made sure to be upstairs when you came in in case you could see me too.”

“Well, now I understand how Carlos felt when he found out that we lived with ghosts. And It sounds like mom watches over us both from heaven.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she does.” Both girls smile and hug each other once more.

“I can't believe I endured 25 years without having those beautiful arms around me.” She whispers as they both lie on the couch, Luke has her completely cornered in his arms.

“I’m so sorry, baby. It breaks my heart that you have suffered that much for so many years.”

“It was not your fault. You lost as much as I did that night. Besides, I always knew that you would find me sooner or later. We belong together.”

“We do. I, I k-know we have way more to talk about but, who was the dude from the cementery?”

The insecurity in his voice is evident and Y/N can't help but smile. His emotions are complex, real, and nothing can make her happier than that.

“I’ll tell you all about my friend later, okay? For now... dance with me? I want to dance with the real deal.” He smiles and they both stand up, hugging each other as they slowly move through the studio as they did many times before life separated them.

The Luke in her arms is her Luke, the same one she has been waiting for so many years, finally back in her arms. And just as she thought when she lived, she will dance with his ghost for all eternity.

Thank you for reading✨✨

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