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voidpetrova · 9 months

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best friend's brother — jeremy gilbert x reader

a/n: this is a requested fic, but i lost the inbox that was sent to me :( so here's a big shoutout to the sweetheart that requested a smutty BFB!jeremy fic, bless their heart <3

☄. *. ⋆

content warnings and genre: clichés, mutual pining, jealousy, p in v sex, unprotected sex, size kink, soft sex, slight degradation — smut

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

synopsis: your best friend's brother is the one for you, punk rock drummer and he's 6'2

✧.*

girlhood thrived in its purest form in the quiet, cozy confines of elena gilbert's room. the two of you were ensconced in an atmosphere of comfort, sporting matching pajamas—tank tops and shorts—a testament to the close bond you shared. you'd spent countless nights like this, painting your nails vibrant shades of red and talking about everything and nothing at all, all while the dulcet tones of green day provided the perfect backdrop.

tonight was no exception, and the room was bathed in a soft, warm glow from the fairy lights strung across the walls. elena's laughter filled the air as you swapped stories, occasionally sipping from your martini glasses. ot was a time when worries melted away, and you cherished these moments of simplicity.

just as you were discussing the latest school gossip, the door creaked open, and jeremy gilbert slipped inside. he claimed he was looking for a book, but it was no secret that he often used any excuse to check you out. elena, always the protective older sister, shot him a playful glare. you and jeremy had been seeing each other rather discreetly, but had yet to put a label on whatever it was you were doing. you did your best to hide it from elena, due to the unwanted presence of awkward tension and tense family game nights that were sure to follow.

“jeremy, seriously? can't you see we're having a girls' night?” elena chided, but there was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. he pretended innocence, his lips curling into a half-smile. “sorry, just passing through. carry on, ladies.”

as he lingered for a moment, elena decided it was the perfect time to drop a little bombshell into your conversation. “oh, by the way, tyler lockwood has been asking about you.” jeremy's scoff was almost immediate, and he couldn't resist adding a snarky comment. “tyler lockwood, really? what's he after now?”

elena raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. “jeremy, are you jealous?” she teased. he blushed slightly, but vehemently denied it. “of course not. i just think he's not the right guy for (y/n).”

with a sly grin, elena decided to stir the pot further. “well, (y/n), maybe you should give ty a chance. what do you say?” jeremy excused himself from the room, muttering something about needing to find that book. but before he left, his eyes locked onto you, his jealousy thinly veiled behind a casual facade.

after elena drifted off to sleep during a particularly dramatic scene in twilight, you felt the way your phone buzzed softly. it was a message from jeremy, and the anticipation of sneaking away to his room sent a thrill through you. you tiptoed out of elena's room, careful not to wake her, and made your way to jeremy's. as you entered his room, he greeted you with a sly smile. “so, tyler lockwood, huh? you really considering going out with him?”

you couldn't help but chuckle at his obvious jealousy. “oh, come on, jer. you're not fooling anyone. you're totally jealous.” jeremy feigned innocence once more, but his eyes betrayed him. “me? jealous? please.”

you moved closer, enjoying this playful banter. “i think you're just worried that tyler might steal me away.” he rolled his eyes, a grin tugging at his lips. “as if anyone could.”

you laughed as you playfully poked his chest. “well, maybe you should be more convincing next time.”

jeremy's expression softened, and he pulled you closer. “you know i don't want anyone else. i just can't stand the thought of you with someone like tyler.” you leaned in, brushing your lips against his. “don't worry, jeremy. you're the only one i want.”

your words were convincing—convincing enough for him to finally press his lips against yours, the hours of built-up tension finally exploding. one of his hands dropped to cup your cheek, a subtle way to pull you in closer, your lips melting into one another with a sweet tenderness, while his other freely trailed down your collarbone, tracing the delicate structure of your body, caressing your neck and throat before sweetly dropping down to the valley of your breasts. for a split second, he felt his eyes open. he couldn't control himself, he just had to look at you, admiring the way your tits were peeking from your tank top—the one that was just a bit too tight and a bit too revealing.

a wave of possessiveness crashed over him, even when he shut his eyes once more. he couldn't bear to imagine anybody, let alone tyler lockwood, getting their hands on someone as perfect as you. he couldn't imagine someone admiring you the way he did—not your face, your mannerisms, let alone the way your tits were out for him, or how your ass was arched back, peeking through the incredibly short shorts. it made him furious, and he let you know it.

“you're so fucking perfect,” he murmured as he pulled away from the kiss, the taste of vodka and mint lingering on his tongue as he dropped down to your neck, attacking the sensitive skin with his lips as teeth as he grabbed your hair, pulling you further into his touch. “won't let anyone else have you.” his words made you shiver, practically. your own hands found themselves tangling into the threads of his silky, dark hair as you moaned his name.

he loved every second of it. he knew it the second he saw you, and all he could do was savor you. his lips left brutal marks on your neck, providing you with an excellent problem to deal with before elena woke up. they travelled down to the valley of your breasts, nipping at your tits through the thin material of your top. all the material did was piss him off, arousing growls at the unnecessary barrier of clothing. he practically tore it off, leaving you in nothing but the incredibly slutty shorts. “jer,” you whined, glossy eyes locking with his as he continued to toy with your breasts, fingertips twirling your nipples as he licked at the fat. “elena's gonna kill me.”

he didn't pay much attention to the future consequences of your doing. “it's all good, baby,” he muttered quietly, the rough surface of his tongue drawing circles into your nipple, before sliding down your stomach gracefully. he only stopped to discard his own clothing. “just another reason to get you into my clothes, so what?”

you didn't even have time to laugh, not while he was in front of you, body seeming to have been sculpted by greek gods. you admired his toned muscles, the way his biceps were bigger than your head, and the way his stomach carried muscles that hinted at hard work—blood, sweat, and tears put into transforming his frame. “almost like you're afraid to touch me.” he taunted, but he knew you weren't. not with the ways your hands subconsciously caressed his frame, small hands wrapping around his biceps and tracing his abs. he was so much bigger than you, and he absolutely loved it.

you knew it the minute he started fucking you—he was truly twice your size. with his throbbing, long cock splitting your tiny, tight pussy open, you knew it. he knew the moans that left your mouth, however a turn-on, were also a potential danger, threatening to awaken elena from her peaceful slumber. his hand covered your mouth, your eyes shutting tight at the way he fucked you, nice and hard. you bit down on his hand, similarly to how your pussy clenched his pulsating dick, and he felt as if he were about to lose it.

“so fucking tight,” he attempted to silence his own moans, speaking through pants and gasps as his gaze dropped to your swollen cunt, greedy and desperate as he watched the way it swallowed him whole. it made him want to ruin you in the best way possible. “who's my greedy little girl, huh?” you whined at the pressure, at the way his words sent slick down his shaft, and he damn well noticed it. his free hand dropped to your lower stomach, pressing against it as he fucked himself deeper into your slippery cunt, the juices threatening to slip his dick out of you completely. he watched the way he could practically feel himself in your stomach, your tight little pussy barely taking what he had to give to you. it encouraged him to fuck you as he leaned back, giving you all the more of his cock.

your eyes rolled into the back of your head at the sensation, his balls the only part of him that had yet to slip into you. “too much, jer,” you whined against his palm, but it was too much for him, too. he knew he was close, watching the way your tits bounced with every forceful thrust of his, the way yours thighs shook under his touch, and the way your pussy fluttered, barely allowing him to pull out. he knew he was done for.

in fact, there was no way he was pulling out, but the two of you were too entranced to care about it. his thrusts grew more sloppy and desperate, hips pounding into your pelvis as he chased his own orgasm. his fingers finally left your mouth, your moans under nobody's control but your own as he rubbed at your clit gently, thumbing the wet and sensitive bundle of nerves as he continued to pound into you. you were close, and he knew it.

it was the first time you had came at the same time. you felt the way hot, thick spurts of cum shot into your wet, sweet cunt, and at the same time, your own orgasm washed over you, juices flooding out of you, coating his angry cock as moans left your mouths, the ability to control yourselves long gone. he pressed his forehead onto yours, placing sloppy kisses onto your lips as his cum pooled inside you, unable to slip out of you as his dick softened from inside your pussy. there was truly no way for you to feel empty with jeremy by your side.

“does this mean you won't go out with tyler?” his hands pushed away your loose strands of hair, ones that had been tainted with sweat and saliva. you smiled, small fingers wrapping around his wrists as you placed a sweet kiss to his palm.

“no, actually, my best friend's brother is the one for me.”

#tvd #the vampire diaries #tvd smut #tvd angst #tvd fluff #the vampire diaries smut #the vampire diaries angst #the vampire diaries fluff #jeremy gilbert #jeremy gilbert imagine #jeremy gilbert fluff #jeremy gilbert fanfiction #jeremy gilbert x reader #jeremy gilbert smut #jeremy x reader #jeremy gilbert angst #best friend's brother #bfb #i love jeremy gilbert

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valkyriexo · 1 month

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You have the Flu | Felix

ᑉ³pairing; Felix x Reader

ᑉ³genre; Sickfic, Comfort, Fluff,

ᑉ³warnings; use of pet names

ᑉ³Authors Note; Other members coming soon!

As you leave the office, the weight of the day begins to lift. You're looking forward to heading home, maybe even curling up with a good book or binge-watching your favorite show. It's been a long week – Thursday afternoon, the anticipation of the impending weekend is palpable, yet one more day of work still looms ahead.

The rain catches you off guard, a sudden onslaught that seems to mirror the weight of the week you've just endured. Dark clouds hang low in the sky, casting a somber shadow over the bustling streets below. The sound of raindrops hitting pavement fills the air, drowning out the usual cacophony of city life.

You hadn't expected rain today – hadn't bothered to check the weather forecast, too consumed by the demands of work to think about anything else. Now, you find yourself standing on the sidewalk, unprepared and unprotected against the elements.

The air is thick with the scent of wet asphalt and the sound of rain hitting the pavement is a constant, soothing rhythm.

With a heavy heart, you reach into your pocket for your phone, hoping to call for a taxi and escape the downpour. But as you bring it out, you notice the battery icon blinking ominously – a glaring red warning that it's about to die.

You curse under your breath, frustration mounting as you realize the extent of your predicament. Without a working phone, you're stranded in the rain, with no means of summoning help or seeking shelter.

Reluctantly, you tuck the phone back into your pocket, resigned to your fate. The cold seeps into your bones as you huddle beneath the feeble shelter of an overhang, watching the world pass by through a curtain of raindrops.

Minutes stretch into what feels like hours as you wait, the anticipation of a taxi's arrival your only source of hope amidst the relentless downpour. With each passing moment, your patience wears thin, your spirits dampened by the relentless assault of rain.

Finally, a taxi pulls up to the curb, and you practically leap inside, grateful for the warmth and shelter it provides.

As you settle into the backseat, you let out a long exhale, feeling a chill creep into your bones. The sound of rain against the windows is muffled now, replaced by the hum of the engine and the soft patter of droplets on the roof.

You give the driver your address and sink back into the seat, closing your eyes for a moment of peace amidst the chaos of the storm. The gentle rocking of the taxi lulls you into a state of calm, the tension in your shoulders slowly melting away.

Outside, the rain continues to fall, a steady rhythm that serves as a backdrop to your journey home. But inside the taxi, you're safe and dry, cocooned in a bubble of warmth and comfort. And you watch as the city lights pass by in a blur of color.

But as the night wears on, you start to feel worse. Your head throbs, your throat feels scratchy, and your body aches all over.

As you stumble through the door of your apartment, you can't shake the feeling of exhaustion that weighs heavily upon you. But you're grateful for the familiar surroundings of home.

Dragging yourself to the bathroom, you strip off your wet clothes and step into the warm embrace of the shower. The hot water soothes your aching muscles, but it does little to ease the pounding in your head or the scratchiness in your throat.

After what feels like an eternity, you emerge from the shower and clumsily towel off. You're too tired to bother with your nighttime routine, so you simply crawl into bed, shivering despite the layers of blankets.

You glance at the clock on the nightstand, its glowing digits informing you that it's now 9:26 PM. Your phone, now charging, sits on the nightstand, but you can't summon the energy to check it. Instead, you drift off into a fitful sleep, the fever burning through your body like wildfire.

As you slowly awaken from your fever-induced slumber, you're greeted by the persistent pounding on your door. Every muscle in your body feels heavy, and the thought of moving seems impossible. You try to call out, You try to call out, but your voice comes out as nothing more than a raspy croak, barely audible even to your own ears.

The persistent pounding on your door feels like a distant echo, a sound from another world intruding upon your fragile consciousness. With each thud, your heart beats a little faster, a sense of unease creeping into the edges of your mind.

The pounding grows louder and more urgent, reverberating through the room like a drumbeat. Then, above the din, you hear the unmistakable sound of keys jingling in the lock, sending a jolt of adrenaline coursing through your veins. Your heart skips a beat as anticipation and anxiety intertwine within you.

Suddenly, the door bursts open, and Felix rushes into the room, his face a whirlwind of emotions – concern, relief, and something else that you can't quite place. His eyes lock onto yours, searching for reassurance amidst the chaos of your fevered state.

"Felix," you manage to croak out, your voice barely above a whisper. Relief floods through you at the sight of him.

"You didn't answer any of my messages or calls," Felix says, his voice tinged with worry as he rushes to your side. "I got really scared when I went to check up on you at work and you weren't there, so I came straight here. Are you okay?"

"Felix," you whisper. "What time is it?"

"It's 3 PM," he replies. "I've been so worried about you. Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

You manage a weak nod, reaching out to grasp his hand. "I... I think I caught the flu. I feel awful."

Felix's expression softens with concern as he feels your forehead. "You're burning up. Let's get you some water and medicine, okay? We'll make you feel better."

You nod gratefully, letting Felix guide you to sit up as he hurries to fetch a glass of water and some fever-reducing medication. As he fusses over you, you can't help but feel overwhelmed by his care and concern.

Felix's brow furrows with concern as he settles beside you, his worry evident in his voice. "How long have you been feeling this way?"

You sigh. "Since last night. I... I think it's because of the rain," you admit reluctantly. "I got caught in it on my way home from work yesterday, and I didn't have an umbrella or anything. By the time I got home, I was already feeling sick."

Felix's expression darkens with concern and a hint of frustration. "You were out in the rain without proper protection, and you didn't say anything?" he asks, his voice tinged with worry and reproach.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," you mumble, feeling ashamed for not taking better care of yourself. "I thought I'd be fine, but... I guess I was wrong."

Felix's features soften as he reaches out to cup your cheek, his touch gentle. "You should have told me, sweetheart," he says softly. "I would have come to get you, or at least made sure you got home safely. I hate seeing you like this."

You nod, feeling tears prickle at the corners of your eyes. "I'm sorry, Felix," you whisper, feeling overwhelmed. "I should have said something. I won't do it again, I promise."

Felix pulls you into his arms, holding you close as he presses a kiss to your forehead. "It's okay," he murmurs, his voice warm and comforting. "Just focus on getting better now, alright? I'll take care of you."

With a tender smile, he rises from the bed and heads to the kitchen, returning moments later with a steaming mug of his favorite tea. Its aroma fills the room, carrying with it a sense of warmth and comfort.

"Here," he says softly, offering you the mug. "This always makes me feel better when I'm under the weather. Maybe it'll help you too."

You take the mug gratefully, the warmth of the tea seeping into your hands.

As you slowly try to drink the tea, your hands trembling slightly from weakness, Felix notices the sadness etched on your face. then, he suddenly disappears into the other room.

A couple minutes later he returns with BbokAri cradled gently in his arms, a soft smile gracing his lips as he approaches you.

"Here," he says gently, placing the plush toy in your hands. "This little guy never leaves my side, but tonight, I want him to keep you company. I thought he might help cheer you up too."

Taking the plush toy into your hands, you can't help but marvel at its softness and the love that emanates from it. As you hold it close, feeling its comforting presence, you notice Felix's gaze lingering on you, filled with concern and tenderness.

Seeing your body tremble with chills, Felix's heart wrenches with concern. "You're so cold," he murmurs. "Let's get you warmed up."

He quickly rises from the bed, leaving you momentarily bereft of his comforting embrace. However, he returns moments later with an extra blanket, which he wraps snugly around you. Then, he retrieves a heating pad, placing it gently near you.

As you shiver from a combination of fever and cold, Felix notices your discomfort. Returning to your side, he slips under the covers beside you, wrapping his arms around you in a gentle embrace. He holds you tightly, his own body heat radiating against yours, as he murmurs soothing words of comfort.

You snuggle closer to him. Felix holds you close, his steady heartbeat a reassuring rhythm against your ear. You hold BbokAri close to your chest, feeling its softness against your skin. Felix wraps his arms around both you and BbokAri, and you feel a sense of safety and security wash over you, banishing the cold and the fear that had gripped you moments before.

Felix presses a kiss to your forehead, his lips lingering as if to convey all the love he holds for you. "I'll do whatever it takes to see you smile again," he murmurs, his voice a gentle caress against your skin. "You mean everything to me, and I can't stand to see you like this."

"Do you want more medicine, or is there something else I can do to ease your discomfort?" he asks gently, his voice filled with a desire to help.

"Having you here, holding me like this," you say softly, "is all the medicine I need."

Felix's smile is tender and full of affection. "I'm glad I can provide some comfort," he replies, brushing a strand of hair from your face. "But if there's anything else I can do, just let me know. I'll bring you more tea, medicine, anything you need. Or we can go on a walk? Get some sunshine and fresh air."

"You already bring the sunshine with you, right here in this room," you say, your voice soft with love.

Felix's eyes shimmer with warmth at your words, a soft glow of affection enveloping him. Pressed against each other for warmth, you drift off into a peaceful sleep, the sound of Felix's steady breathing lulling you into a sense of calm.

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dearanakin · 8 months

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Same girlie here who requested part 2 of Eddie and pregnant reader, thank you it was soooo sweet 🥹💕 Imagining a little Munson is the cutest thing ever.

I was wondering if you’d ever do first time dad Eddie talking to his infant while rocking them to sleep as he paces in their nursery? It’s Eddie’s turn on the night shift of baby feeding and he takes that time to tell the baby whatever is on his chest at the moment.

Just a thought! Thanks so much 💕💕💕💕💕💕

Hii!! You're very welcome and thank you so much for supporting me!!

This one got me in the depth of my heart, I just couldn't bear to not think of him as the greatest dad, even if he was messy sometimes!!

Warning: None, just a whole lotta fluffiness

In the nursery, a clock read 2:30 AM in soft, red digital numbers. Eddie sat in a comfortable, padded rocking chair, his eyes heavy with fatigue as he wrapped your hungry baby in his arms. The room was bathed in the faint, soft glow of a nightlight, casting gentle shadows on the walls.

His movements are slow and deliberate to avoid any sudden jolts, lifting the baby to his chest. He grabbed a small nursing bottle with breast milk, gently offering it to the baby, who immediately started suckling on it. Eddie's mind wandered as he stared into the night, his thoughts a mixture of exhaustion and profound contentment.

He thought about the challenges of parenthood, as his first time being a father, and the deep bond that was forming between him and his child during these late-night feedings. As the baby finished feeding and their little tummy felt full, Eddie carefully burped them, the gentle patting motion lulling the baby into a state of drowsiness. With great care, he repositioned the baby in his arms.

The room was dimly lit, bathed in the soft glow of a nightlight that cast a gentle, warm hue across the nursery. The air was filled with the hushed sounds of a lullaby playing softly from a nearby speaker. Eddie stood by the crib, his tired eyes reflecting the weariness of a long day, but his heart brimming with love.

In his arms, he cradled his precious baby, who was nestled snugly in a cozy, pastel-colored blanket. The baby's tiny fingers curled around one of Munson's index fingers, a sight that never failed to melt his heart.

Eddie's free hand gently supported the baby's head, ensuring it was cradled securely. As he began to sway gently back and forth, his movements synced with the rhythm of the lullaby.

The chair beneath him creaked softly, a familiar sound that had become a soothing backdrop to these late-night rituals. Eddie's voice, a soothing baritone, filled the room as he softly started a conversation with his infant.

His words were gentle and tender, a promise of love and protection. The baby's eyes, still so round and innocent, gazed up at him with a mixture of curiosity and trust. "I am so thankful your mommy trusted me with this. She's absolutely one hell of a woman for doing that".

While he still looked at the small child in his arms, he couldn't help but smile at his thoughts. The very day you called him, a nervous tone in your voice as you told him you wanted to have a conversation, made him feel nervous. He thought about all the possibilities the subject might be, making him almost sick.

"And she made sure you're going to be a Munson too, it just made me love her even more", he chuckles lightly, shaking his index finger slowly. Outside, a gentle rain began to fall, and the pitter-patter of droplets against the window added a comforting layer to the ambiance.

Eddie's lips brushed against the baby's downy head, and he breathed in the sweet, milky scent that was uniquely their own. The world beyond the nursery seemed to fade away, leaving only the two of them in this quiet, intimate moment.

Munson's heart swelled with love as he watched his baby's eyelids grow heavy, the tiny lashes fluttering before finally closing. With each gentle sway, the baby's breathing grew slower and deeper, a sign that sleep was approaching.

Eddie continued to rock, his movements a tender dance born of love and exhaustion. In that serene room, time seemed to stand still, and Eddie knew that he would cherish these moments forever.

As your baby drifted off to sleep, he whispered sweet nothings and promises of a bright future, knowing that he would always be there to protect and care for the precious life in his arms.

You walked in on him holding your child and you instantly smile at the scene. God, you loved watching the way he would effortlessly paces your baby. Eddie caught your glance and opened the biggest smile, using the index finger the baby is holding to wave at you in the sweetest way as possible.

You mutter the words "I love you" and he mirrors you, blowing you a gentle kiss. Before leaving the room, he made sure your baby was safe in the crib, well-fed and quietly sleeping. Munson never thought, in a million years, he would become a father that soon, without a warning. But the efforts and the promises he made you were the only support he needed to stand by you.

Every time he was there taking care of the child, he couldn't help but to imagine how the next years would follow. He was still 19, a long way ahead of him, an unexplored future he had no idea about. But those moments in the present already made him feel fulfilled.

#dad! eddie munson #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson imagine #stranger things fic #stranger things #anonymous #ask

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occasionally-good-ideas · 1 year

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Void hopper

The Infinite Realms: the ‘void’ that separates dimensions, and the home of The Dead.

A boy sits alone in the void and writes about his travels

—————————————————————

It really is infinite!! time is non linear over all and all the realms/zones have their own ‘land’ formations and colors

so far I’ve seen:

—the classic green ‘ghost zone’ [that names a little bit inaccurate; there’s ghosts everywhere] green, a bit slimy, flouting islands, doors, ghosts with strong obsessions

—the ‘furthest ring’ that one’s mostly blank with… frogs?? And really BIG anncient entity’s [are they a specific type of ghost?] that blow bubbles into the void, ghosts that look eerily human sometimes make it out of the bubbles… don’t know what that’s about.

—the ‘Phantom zone’ (lmao) couldn’t get a real good look it’s gaurded really well, I saw clouds? Pilers and.. living? Villains?? Not dealing with that.

—one that’s all fire and rock, it’s inhabits are mostly skeletons and demons… I’m pretty sure it’s straight up Hell but I didn’t stick around to ask for a name.

——————————————————————

Danny closed his journal, he’s been wandering the Realms in both his forms for almost two years now, and it’s fun! Don’t get him wrong, it’s just- when there’s no ghosts around the silence gets… disturbing. So he goes about in human form! Thinks out loud and listens to his organs work. There pretty noisy when you’re not used to it.

Before he left His Realm, all those months ago, he packed a duffel bag with nonperishable food, under clothes [thin long sleeves, leggings, tang-tops and sweats] tools, weapons [blasters and knives mostly] and a blank book/writing stuff.

He’d put on a hazmat/jumpsuit like the one he died in, steal toed boots, and modified fenton phones he calls ‘coms’ and headed to the Ghost Zone. On his travels he picked up a black coat, utility belt and a cool viser that gets compacted into his coms

He hasn’t visually aged past 16, he’s got no idea if that’s cause he’s in the Zone or it’s All Him. still 5’3 and well- not ‘baby faced’ but not all that sharp.

Right now, he’s sitting on an empty island, watching the swirling purple, pink and orange sky as he picks at the dull red grass after finishing his latest little journal entry.

“Huh” the ‘clouds’ of this place shift abruptly as they hit a wall-like membrane on the far side of this… area/realm/zone “It kinda looks like a wall…” a cave? he looks more closely at the horizons around him “yeah there’s another one… walls…” walls between what?

He packs his book and writing stuff into its pocket of his bag, gets into a crouch at the edge of the island he was sitting at and kicks of, watching his black hair drift around his face as his momentum carries him towards one of the ‘walls’.

When he’s close enough he reaches out a hand, the wall is… soft? Like rubbery- not so much a WALL-wall but like a lining, kinda flesh-like and living “Woah…” awe and intrigue lace his voice as he presses and runs his hands over the barrier to feel it move. Some areas seem… thinner? Easier to move deffinetly, one part in particular feels about as thick as a half filled water balloon, so thin “what if iiiii”

he pushed into the thin spot, not expecting much when he felt it give, a deep hum filling the air around him the smell of rain filled his nose and static ozone filled his mouth as a force pulled him forward by the hand that used to be on the wall “Oh FU-“

He’d torn a hole through the barrier and was now /Free-falling/ on the Other Side.

Rain pelts his face as he falls, so that’s where that smell came from! He wills off gravity in order to slow his fall.

Now he’s falling at the same speed as the rain instead of faster, he opens his eyes to see- the rain drops. At this speed they look still, suspended in air refracting the dappled light of the sun through the clouds. Like silver stars on a backdrop of gray clouds and green- green?? What’s green?

He looks up- or, is it down… towards the ground. Which is still rapidly approaching! Turns out rain drops fall pretty fast. He quickly scans the forest for a good place to land… “that’ll do”

He lands in a bush that splinters under the force of his fall, some of the sturdier branch’s don’t snap and end up stabbing Danny through his right leg, the skin of his waist- no guts thank the ancients, and two places in his right arm. “FUCK WHY?! AUGHCK” he takes a deep breath in, holds it then lets it out “huuhhhh this looks so much better in cartoons- ooookay how do iiiiii-“ wait a minute.. he’s a ghost! He turns intangible, falls through the Death Bush and rolls on to his back in the clearing the bush was bordering.

“Well that… could’ve gone worse! At least the rain feels nice..” and the rain does feel nice, refreshing in a way that’s hard to come by in the realms, it drums gently on his face and suit as he calms down, rinsing the blood away from quickly healing wounds.

As he lies on the grass catching his breath, rain soothing his scratched skin, breathing in the smell of mud and wet leaves, blood long washed away, tasting fresh water as the rain seeps into his mouth.He feels Alive.

He lets gravity push him into the mud “hehe squish” he laughs at the sky, giddy and a bit out of it as the adrenaline settles.

“Ha! how far did I fall??” He sits up clicks the button on his com to activate his visor. The screen materializes in a wave of rectangular pixels from one com to the other. Looking up, now he can see the tear about ehhhh four story’s up? Pretty dang high to get Launched from.

“Huh I… tore a hole through a ‘wall’ in the zone… and ended up in the mortal world… was that the veil?? I thought that was a metaphor..” he mumbled that last part.

That hum when he broke through, it resonated in his core like intangibility cranked up to 10, a familiar frequency kind of like when wulf would open portals- “Ancients I made a portal!!! Wow that’s really obvious. How did I not get that until now?!?” If he could make a portal out. That means he can make one going in.

Reaching for that Hum, he feels himself shift through the planes of reality like turning a nob to find the right radio station. He focuses on his core, feeling himself pass all planes of human perception -he closes his eyes as the world around him becomes a flashing mess of unknown colors and seemingly meaningless shapes- Trying to get it to match the Hum from before- There!

Eyes still closed, Danny listens closely… that’s it! That bone deep Hum. When he opens his eyes the first thing he notes is that the world has reformed from that splotchy haze it was before, the second thing is The Veil, translucent Walls criss crossing over Everything like a spider web made three-dimensional. “Woah…”

He slowly reaches out a hand to touch one of the walls- part of The Veil man that’s so cool! It feels… less fleshy, more flexible, it has more give without breaking. “Cool!!” Now to make a portal back, he pushes on the veil like before and… it just stretches. Hm.

Maybe it just takes more effort going this way, he pushes harder on the stretchy membrane, nope it just stretches! “Hm. Okay” Danny takes a few steps back, “how about, this-“ he runs headfirst into the wall, and promptly gets thrown back by said wall. “DANG IT man it was so easy to get through the first time what gives!?” He punches the wall, nothing. He kicks it, nope nothing. He starts clawing at the wall trying to dig through it but nothing is WORKING- he slammed both fists into the veil and they bounce back and hit him in the face. “AUGH”

ok this isn’t working. He takes a step back and takes a breath, he looks around at the shattered glass like walls around him, some are thick, others thin. They reach up into the sky and don’t seem to rely on anything physical to keep them in place… nothing physical. how about non-physical?

He gatherers plasma in the palm of his hand, when the Plasma Ball is about as big as a tennis ball he chucks it full force at the section of the veil he’s been abusing for the last ten minutes, the wall makes a sizzling sound as the plasma makes contact and then the plasma- gets absorbed?? Soaked up like coffee on paper, “well. It did something at least”

What about electricity? The black haired boy walks up to the flimsy, deceptively strong membrane, he squares his shoulders, places his left hand on the veil. he lets the energy build for a moment before sending it running. It shoots past his shoulder and races down his arm in arks of electric yellow/green till it shocks the barrier. The veil goes stiff like brittle rubber under his fingertips -now-

Hand still on the wall he curls his fingers and claws into the weakened veil. It crumbles under his hand, releasing the acidic smell of the pure ectoplasm of the realms, an opening. He quickly gets his other hand in the tear and struggles to pull it open, he can see reality fold and ripple as the hole in The Veil opens into a portal just large enough to fly through.

He takes a step back, eyes wide under his visor, he lets out a deep exhale that frosts the air around him “woah” breath heavy with adrenaline he looks at the portal, small oval shaped and swirling electric green and ice blue. He looks down at his hands electricity still sparking between them and his just-now-noticed claws. When did that happen? His usually blunt nails have grown to sharpened points, pressing against the tough rubber of his gloves but not breaking through.

A mischievous grin split his face revealing sharp fangs, “oh this is gonna be fun”

#danny phantom #dp fanfic #dp crossover #writing prompt #danny fenton #I will do a q&a if anyone asks #the potential shenanigans #alternate universe

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msookyspooky · 1 year

Text

Fours a Franchise

Part 9

Wordcount: 8,831

"This the place?" You mumbled as you and Randy drove down an old back road near Woodsboro you never even heard of. You weren't at Woodsboro long but you still couldn't believe you had never even heard this old road existed. Especially on all those rides or hangouts years ago!...Well...That is, before Billy and Stu went crazy on everyone. It was definitely off the beaten path with tree lines on either side of the road and no houses.

"Looks like it." Randy replied as he pulled up to an old but long gravel driveway where cars as far as the eye could see lined the yard and a big barn with a few smaller barns surrounding it. Teens coming and going. A 'Stab-a-Thon' banner on the biggest barn with lights and Stab props all over the place.

"Holy shit." You mouthed out as he pulled up and parked in an open area where you couldn't be blocked in. Every teen in Woodsboro had to be here right now!

He shut the car off and told you with a slight smirk. "Yeah, too bad the owners were alive and lived here when we were teens or else parties would've definitely been happening here in the 90's." He lost the smirk and sighed. "Sure, we're gonna do this?"

You huffed, smacking your hands in your lap. "I didn't want to! You're the one that insisted we come here!-"

"Okay, okay!" He exclaimed with a huff. "Alright, we stick together. We find Kirby. We get out...Seems simple enough, right?"

"...And what if Kirby IS the killer? Then what?"

Randy cringed with a shrug. "Well...Wouldn't be the first time someone close to us was the killer. Regardless, we gotta try. Besides I have the feeling we'd be dead at the house if we stayed and this was our only real option anyway."

"Yeah, what was that noise anyways? Could've been a racoon but...Still...I really think we just need to go to the police station and wait it out or say fuck it and drive endlessly tonight!...Something is off about tonight.... It's the final act..."

Randy looked at you with wide eyes and mumbled. "You feel it too? That impending doom feeling?"

"Yeah, I do which is even more of a reason to not fuck around. This shit ends tonight." You checked the bullets in Dewey's revolver he gifted you, making sure it was fully loaded.

Randy whistled. "Okay, glad you're on my team... Time to kick some ass." He gave with a wag of his brows.

You didn't feel good about that but nodded in agreement before you both got out of the car. Looking to hear the music, the dark woods surrounding the lot, the creepy abandoned barns turned Stab fan-mania, the isolation of all the scattered vehicles. You sucked in a shaky breath, gun loaded on your leg and knife in your pocket. It felt like the perfect storm for disaster.

You heard a pop rock type of song blaring and a big bloody photo backdrop as well as red lights inside and Ghostface masks galore.

Randy came up beside you. "Jesus, these kids really went all out. Like fucking Christmas for Horror nerds...Kind of jealous I never thought of this." You slowly turned, giving him a disbelieving look as he huffed out. "What?...This is awesome! You gotta admit it."

You sighed, shaking your head and started moving. A few kids whispered as they saw you but other than that they were too involved in their red cups and the party to give a shit. You and Randy walked around the barn before going in.

"See her?" You whispered.

Randy tsked with a deadpan expression your way. "If I saw her, YN, I'd say it...No, she's inside."

"Oh fine, well let's just go-" You turned and jumped with a yelp, grabbing for the knife in your pocket as another person gasped and stepped back. You groaned and put your knife away when you saw it was Gale.

"Goddamn, what the hell is wrong with you?" Gale huffed out, flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

"What the hell is wrong with me- What is wrong with you?! Sneaking up on us like that!"

Gale scoffed. "Hey, I was going my way and you're in my way. Move it-" She shoved past you both.

"So you're gonna do this alone, huh?" You threw out your arms. "Just stalking around, planting cameras and trying to get your next big gig?"

Gale stopped and turned back to you, shoulders square. "Listen here, YN. I am...I was..." She struggled to get it out. "I miscalculated in my first book, okay?! And I should have pulled out of the court deal, okay, I'll admit it! I was wrong." She leaned forward, whispering harshly to you. "...But I am making sure I get it right this time."

You scowled and shook your head. "Gale...This isn't the way to do it. This is a bad idea and you know it...You're gonna get yourself killed over fame." She turned and you yelled after her. "You're not invincible, Gale! IN FACT, you're being stupid!"

She flipped you both off, putting on a mask and going in.

Randy rolled his eyes. "Forget her. We'll just have to drag her out dead or alive; cavalry to the fucking rescue."

You sighed but nodded. Gale was out of your control now. "Okay...But you better keep that attitude with Kirby too. If she doesn't come with us; we leave regardless. Like, 10 minutes from now max; we get in that car and we drive either out of town. Laws be damned or go to the police station and stay there till sunrise."

He nodded as you both finally walked inside. The music was loud and kids were dancing or talking. It wasn't long before you were spotted by none other than Charlie and Robbie as they handed you both red cups.

Charlie smiled. "YN! Randy!...I see you found our little shindig. Whaddya think?"

Robbie put an arm around Randy with that geadset on blinking in Randy's face."Isn't it perfect?"

Randy glared at him and moved away from Robbie. "Great, kid. It's a pretty decent party for an old timer like me."

Robbie tilted his head with a chuckle. "Oh come on, we were just joking!...How uh...How did you find this anyways? Just curious."

"We're looking for Kirby. Have you seen her?" You cut him off.

They shook their heads with goofy looks on their faces and you knew they were lying. Just not wanting Kirby to leave for whatever reason.

You grabbed Randy, shoving your cup on the table and leaving. "Come on, Randy."

"Yeah, let's go. Wouldn't wanna cramp you kids' style or anything!" Randy jeered over his shoulder before mumbling. "Little assholes."

He went to drink and you smacked the cup outta his hand. "DON'T. I don't trust them one bit not to drug us or something."

His eyes widened in realization. "Holy shit...You actually knew a horror rule before I did! I feel like you need a golden star sticker on your forehead or something." He joked with a smirk.

"...Let's just try and spot Kirby." You huffed, both of you reaching the corner of the barn as you felt anxiety hitting. The noise, crowd, everyone in a Ghostface mask. You felt like a caged animal and wanted OUT. "Ray, can't you call her or something?!"

"I don't have her number."

"Look her up on facebook or something! Message her."

Randy looked at you with wide eyes. "Damn smarty pants, got it!" He went to get his phone and furiously felt his pockets. "Fuck."

"What?"

"My phone's missing!"

"Did you leave it in the car??"

"No, negative. I definitely had it when we walked in. Shit."

You nodded and got your phone out. "Alright, let's not panic. I'll just call it. If you got it on silent, I swear to God-" You dialed Randy's number, seeing if you could hear it but couldn't over everyone talking and the music.

Randy ran a hand over his hair. "YN, we gotta find it! I don't have a password or anything and my wife is on there! What if the killer gets it and-"

You put a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, okay, breathe. It'll be alright...We'll find it."

"Find what?"

You both turn to see Kirby. A red cup in hand as she smiled. "About time you guys made it here. I was beginning to think you all were gonna stay home."

You breathed a sigh of relief. "Kirby, we came here to get you."

She came closer with an odd look. "Me? Why?"

Randy huffed. "Why? Kid, because this is act 3. The killers are gonna strike at this party and you need to get out of here."

She rolled her lips but you chimed in as you told her. "I'm so serious, Kirby. We've been through this 3 times now...Multiple people in your circle or ours are dying tonight especially at this party. Just please, let's go. We can all go back home, you can stay with Jill or go to the police station with us but we need to get the fuck out of here."

She stared a moment, seeing how serious you both were before nodding. You smiled in relief as she nodded. "Okay...Okay, whatever. This party is lame anyways and the movie hasn't even started. Besides, fucking Trevor won't leave me alone. He keeps hounding me for info on Jill."

"Stay away from him." Randy warned. "He is my number one suspect other than either someone on Dewey's police force or Charlie and Robbie."

Kirby smirked. "So, four contenders then?" You all went to walk.

"Looks like it. One problem." You told her. "Randy dropped his phone somewhere in the barn...I say he just leaves it and gets it shut off by the phone company or something." You grumbled.

Randy huffed with an eyeroll. "I will IF I can't find it. 5 minutes of searching and then we'll go."

Kirby nodded. "I can help with that."

They walked ahead of you and you gasped when someone's shoulder clipped yours. You both locked eyes on each other, time slowing down as you saw those impossibly dark eyes widen in surprise as he saw you. He had on a leather jacket and his hair back a bit like what he had in High School. He instantly grabbed you and dragged you close to him, back facing Randy as he hissed out. "You dumbass, what the fuck are you doing here?!"

You spat out low with the same outrage on your face as well. "Firstly dickhead, what the fuck are you doing here?! Is Stu-"

"Shh! Yes, now get out! We have a suspect and we're watching him and we don't need you getting in the goddamn way."

"Who?"

Billy exhaled through his nostril, lips in a thin line. "...Not here. I don't want to say it here where he's probably got a rat listening in."

"I can't leave Randy!"

"It'll only take a moment! As long as Meek Geek stays in the center of the barn with that girl there; he's fine."

You looked back to see him and Kirby talking while looking. In the lights where a killer would have to be stupid to attack him. Billy turned so a barn pillar obscured him as you shouted to Randy. "I gotta go find Gale real quick!"

Randy exclaimed. "What?! I'll go-"

"No, stay with Kirby! I'm the most armed, I'll be fine! Be back in 5."

You hated lying but you needed to know this new killer so you could end this before they ended you or someone you cared about. To your surprise, Billy grabbed your jacket sleeve near your wrist to lead you out of the crowd.

Randy threw up his arms in exasperation as you left...His brows furrowed as he caught a glimpse of the man you were with. Realization dawned on him as not only a bit of anger over you lying seeped in but that deep anxious thought that Dewey shoved into his brain earlier...Who was this man you were clearly seeing? Why was it a secret?

✦

Billy took you outside where Stu stood near a barn in the dark, a surprised look on his face as he exclaimed. "Sweetcheeks! Whaddya doing here?!"

Billy finally let go of your sleeve as you told them. "Kirby Reed. Me and Randy came here to get Kirby and get out...We heard something at Randy's house and had to come here."

Stu scoffed with a comical look on his face. "You risked your life for some teenage girl that's probably dead meat anyways?"

You glared. "You don't know that and she's like a little sister to Randy, okay!? Now we're just looking for Randy's phone that somehow fell out of his pocket."

Billy shook his head, arms folded. "Killer did it. Can guarantee it. It's a trap and you idiots are falling for it."

You nod before you swore you saw Gale and ducked, shoving them both to the nearby smaller barn. "I get that but first; We can't talk in the open like this!"

They agreed as you went to a smaller barn where you all were greeted by a teen couple doing it on a hay bale. You blinked in surprise and Stu chuckled.

Billy rolled his eyes and ordered them. "Alright, get out. Go fuck in the car or something."

The teen guy got off the girl. "Or what, asshole? You gonna do something?"

Billy got that deadly smirk on his face and you instantly grabbed the girl and shoved her out as she yelped and tried putting her pants back on. "Get the hell out of here! Now." You demanded, trying to save these stupid kids lives from two serial killers.

The guy still stood tall glaring at Billy like he had a death wish. "Or what? You can't hit me, I'm 17! I'm a minor! I can hit you though-" He reeled his arm back.

The hit never came as he gasped from Stu picked him up by the shirt collar and dragging him with a smirk. Walking him like a dog out the barn as the guy was struggling to keep up.

"Nah, that's just a minor offense, bitch." Before tossing the kid out and seeing him roll a few feet on the grass before shutting the door. You gave him a look, trying not to smirk as he threw his hands up. "What? We're alone now, aren't we?" He shoved a heavy metal container at the door so it would take a harsh shove to open it.

Billy smirked a bit before getting serious again. Looking at your face. His brows furrowed as he pointed at your cheek. "...That from an attack by this new killer?"

You touched the bruise on your face as Stu whistled. "Yeah, babe. Did the killer give you that shiner or do I gotta kick Randy's ass?"

You huffed with an eye roll.. "Please, Ray would never...No, someone's Mom did this; believe it or not. An angry mob of parents formed outside the school today wanting to attack me because where I go, the killer goes. Everyone would be fine if I was dead at this point because to them that means no more kills. No more Final Girl; no more Ghostface. "

Billy huffed. "That's...Damn." He didn't seem to know what to say.

You lightly glared at him. "You should be elated, Billy. Isn't this what you wanted? If I don't die then I have my life ruined. Can't even go outside without someone threatening me."

He faltered, eyes narrowed as he frowned but said nothing. You shook his head and told you. "Let's get to the fucking point. Some kid named Trevor Sheldon is definitely Ghostface. He's been stalking around here, stalking near Randy's house. It's obviously him...Kill him, we'll be home free."

You rolled your eyes. "Not saying he ISN'T the killer but he's not stalking Randy's house. He's stalking the Neighbors; Jill Roberts."

He raised a brow and Stu leaned against a pillar with a perplexed look on his face as he asked. "Jill? Who the hell is that?"

"A teen girl that's friends with Kirby, Charlie, Robbie and that Olivia who got killed. She's apart of this new group that we think might be the targets. Trevor is her ex."

Stu mumbled. "Still Suspicious. It's always the boyfriends." He gave with a smirk.

You hummed a bit. "... Something feels deeper than that. If it is Trevor, he has help...Randy thinks it's Charlie and Robbie; the film nerds that hosted this party. Anyone who hosts a party during the final act is suspicious." You pointed at Stu who grinned.

Stu chuckled. "Guilty. It was a real Scream too, huh baby?"

You lightly glared at him before turning to Billy. "I think we're dealing with a Franchise like Randy says-"

Billy rolled his eyes and interrupted. "Who cares? Just tell us the suspects already."

You huffed but listed on your finger tips. "Trevor Sheldon...Charlie Walker and Robbie Mercer...Judy Hicks."

Stu raised a brow." Judy?...Judy Hicks?...She sounds familiar."

"She apparently went to school with us and now she's a deputy here in Woodsboro. "

Billy huffed in mild amusement. "A cop as the killer? That's a first. But if she knew us in school, she's definitely a suspect. That actress in Hollywood all over again."

"Yeah well, it's 2011. The most outrageous ideas don't seem too crazy anymore and you're right; she has the motivation."

Billy shook his head, going to say something when the barn door opened. You all jumped as you heard someone shove the metal container away with force. Clearly determined to get inside...They went to hide in the barn till whoever kicked it. They knew you were in there and determined to get in. You all got on alert, thinking the killer was ballsy enough to do it. Billy and Stu hid in opposite direction.

...

Time slowed, your heart thumping in your ears as you felt your face twist in horror. The voice made your heart drop to your stomach and a chill ran down your spine...

"Okay, YN. I found my phone so let's go!" Randy scowled as he stood in the doorway. Throwing his arms up with a bewildered look. "What the hell are you doing out here for?"

You swallowed hard, trying to look calm. "Looking for Gale, she's not here...So we can go."

You went to go to the door before asking him with an odd look. "Why the fuck are you practically kicking the door down to get in for anyways? I could've shot you thinking you were the killer!"

Randy gave you an annoyed look before sighing heavily and closing the door behind him as you raised a brow.

You asked. "...What are you doing? We need to leave."

"No, first we need to talk. This place seems safe enough I guess..." He was struggling more than Stu but still putting that metal container in front of the door. Ge stood back up fully and frowned. "I barged in because I'm irked right now, YN...I'm disappointed and pissed and a little hurt, honestly. You're lying to me...Gale's not here and you knew that...You're not looking for Gale, are you?" He folded his arms with a raised brow.

You stared trying so hard to keep your nerves in check. "W-What?" You forced yourself not to look at Billy behind the hay bale and Stu behind the pillar. "Lying?"

"Yeah, lying!...YN..." He sighed again, seeming to dread it himself before gesturing to you with a glare. "Look...I didn't want to bring it up but I'm kind of bothered by it more than I thought. Especially with you lying to me AGAIN at a time like thid!"

"Again?!...What are you talking about, Randy?"

"...Dewey showed me the photo... I know."

"Ph-Photo?" You drew out, genuinely confused but getting a bit nervous.

"Yeah...There's no easy way to say it but apparently, you lied to us a decade ago and you're lying to us now." You felt a sweat break out on your palms and a chill down your back as he continued. "Dewey found a picture of you with two men in your motel room at the crime scene where Neil was staying. Now I told him it's none of our business and it's not! But now he has evidence you went and saw these same men last night...You snuck out while I was gone and lied to me about it."

You barely heard him, your ears were ringing and your body was frozen in place.

"Now, why lie? Especially for a whole decade! Look, if these guys are booty calls or you're in some brother husband poly type of thing or they deal you drugs or something; you don't need to hide it! You could've gotten hurt! I just can't imagine you hiding these guys from us unless they're bad news or you're that scared of how we'd react which kind of sucks. Just...Just tell me the truth."

You swallowed, brain still stuck on the factor that could ruin everything as you mumble, "Dewey...Has evidence?"

"Yeah, he does. No more lying, okay? Just be real with me right now."

"T-T-Theyre my...The ones a mechanic and the other is um a friend-"

Randy gave you a disappointed look. "And you're lying again...I thought it was crazy but...That guy is Dennis Rafkin, isn't he? You hooked up with that actor on Stab 3. He's uncanny in the picture and it would explain why you acted weird watching Scooby Doo the other night."

You couldn't keep a pokerface at that and you knew Stu was probably sweating bullets too...Randy knew too much. What do you do? What do you say?

Randy pouted a bit. "And the other guy? Is he really your mechanic that you keep calling?...Or is that a lie too?" His eyes widen in realization. "...He's hiding in here, isn't he? HEY! HEY, COME OUT! I'M SERIOUS! WE CAN MEET AND GET THIS OVER WITH AND MOVE ON WITH MORE IMPORTANT SHIT AT HAND HERE!" He yelled out so the 'mystery man' could hear.

You shhed him, panicking now. Because Billy and Stu WERE nuts enough to pop out just to kill him. You couldn't contain the panic. "RANDY! What I do is none of anyone's fucking business and...Even though I DIDN'T do that; what if I decided to met a fling out here for some quick bang?!"

"Uuh...BECAUSE THE RULES, STUPID! I have nothing against comfort sex but not right fucking now when a killer is on the loose! My God, what if he's the killer? Ever think of that? You making us worry by getting some in the barn with a potential suspect?...I DON'T CARE IF YOU HEAR IT BY THE WAY, BUDDY! You're a SUSPECT!!" He yelled out with a sneer.

"Randy, just...Stop! Okay, you have your life here in Woodsboro and I have mine. I'm sorry for lying and I'll tell you one day but not right now...But no one is here! I didn't meet a guy here, damn it!" You couldn't help getting angry out of blind panic taking over you. You wanted him out of this barn..NOW. "Goddamn it, let's just go, okay?! We can argue in the safety of the car."

Randy glared before giving a condescending smirk. "Okay, FINE! Even though you're lying again and I SAW you walk out here with him! God, do you think I'm dumb or-" He turned before he tripped over a pitchfork on the ground. You saw it was near Stu who tried to move away but hit a lantern hanging off the pillar. Randy saw him, huffing in anger, clearly thinking he was just some guy or Dennis till his eyes traveled up with Stu having nowhere to go.

You froze...You saw it on Randy's face. 'Dennis' with the Shaggy voice and long hair or wig or whatever could be dismissed...But...Stu's hair, clothing style, his looks...Up close...Randy knew. He knew that wasn't 'Dennis' or just some guy and you felt like your heart was just gonna stop beating.

You all just stood there. Wide eyed, staring at each other. Everyone held their breath as the worst possible thing other than death could happen...You finally all got caught. Billy and Stu tried to hide but it was too late. You all were so careful for so long but you were finally caught. Not only that, but you were caught by an original survivor to Woodsboro. A guy that knew Stu and Billy from childhood practically ... Your mind was racing.

"Oh fuck...fuck...No fucking way-" He mumbled in shock.

You tried stammering out. "I-I-It's Dennis that actor, okay?! You were right, Randy! You were right! I'm sorry!-" You were babbling now, trying to find a way to fix this.

Randy's eyes were saucer plates. Stu just HAD to be Stu. Giving a cringe of a grin. His mannerisms very very Stu Macher. His smile, his teeth, his facial expression...Even without talking; Randy knew.

Stu spoke in that cheesy fake Australian accent, moving forward to try and defuse the situation. "Hey there, mate. Just wait a-" His knee hit the pillar as he moved and hissed out in his normal voice. "Ow, shit man!"

Randy's face widened in horror as he yelled, "OH FUCK!!" Going to run to the door when Stu grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back. Shoving him against the pillar he hid at.

Stu had a sadistic smirk on his face as he told him. "Hold on there, Ray! Let's chat, for old times sakes, pal! It's been 15 years, man." While shoving Randy against the pillar while Billy came out of hiding with a dark look in his eyes.

You instantly whipped your gun out, pointing at Stu as your hand shook with adrenaline. "Let him go! NOW!"

Randy looked white as a ghost when he heard the other voice behind Stu. "He saw our faces, he knows we're alive, I say we have no choice now but to kill him." Billy leered before smirking. "This was a long time coming, Randy. You got lucky with the first shot I gave you...My mistake, kid." As he got his knife out of his jean pocket, twirling the hunting knife in his hand like an expert at this point.

You aimed your gun at Billy as he looked offended before a dark look crossed his face. "You got one pass at Windsor, you aren't getting that pass ever again YN!"

"Yeah? And you're not making threats on our lives, Billy!" You spat out his name accidentally. Cursing under your breath realizing it was all far too late to hide now. You glared right back at him and yelled in a more urgent voice at Stu. "Goddamn it, I said drop him! NOW, Stu!! DROP HIM OR ELSE I SHOOT AND DRAW A LOT OF ATTENTION TO US!"

Stu let him go with a grin, literally dropping Randy like a sack of potatoes and stepping away. Stu and Billy begrudgingly stood back.

Randy stood up, fear and shock on his face as you got closer to him. "Ray...Randy, listen to me." You went to touch his shoulder and he jerked away from you in outrage...Hurt, anger, betrayal, shock all written on his face.

"You..." He shook his head still trying to process all this.

"Ray...Randy, come on. They won't hurt you if I'm here, let's just talk, okay? It's okay!" You tried reasoning. Whether to yourself or him was debatable.

"You...You fucking lied. All these years...All these years you've been fucking lying to everyone!" He growled out with a heavy voice as he backed away, grabbing the nearby pitchfork on the ground as a weapon. "All this time, you were hiding them! All this fucking time!"

Billy and Stu seemed amused by this. Their sadism to this made you grit your teeth as you told Randy, your voice heavy as well. "Randy, I didn't! I swear!"

"Then what the fuck is this?!...Oh my God...Oh my fucking God-" He looked faint, sick, like the worst news he could ever hear was told to him and punched him in the gut with the hurt of it all. That his closest friend was what everyone said she was, that she lied.

"...All this time. All this fucking time." He mumbled, covering his mouth with wide eyes while looking away.

"Randy-"

"And...At Hollywood...The photo was them! The other night was them!...Windsor? Oh Jesus Christ...Jesus Chrriisstt!" He looked ready to have a breakdown as he yelled it out.

You felt burning in your throat as you softly told him. "Randy...No. Not Windsor."

He shook his head with a pained look and wide eyes. "And when we dated...A-And I thought your feelings were occupied with Derek and that's why you seemed distant and I wanted to just be friends when really...I was right and your feelings were for....Oh, God I think I'm gonna be sick." He clutched his stomach supporting his weight on the pitchfork. Utter shock and devastation on his face.

"Ray, just calm down a second-"

He jerked around to yell at you. "Don't tell me to be calm about this, YN! You've been lying for 15 fucking years! Our whole 'friendship' you hid this from me and you want me to be calm?! You've been lying since the beginning!"

"It has NOT been 15 years!" You desperately yelled back.

"The hell it hasn't!" His voice was deeper than normal, so distraught over the information bombarding him...He looked up at you with a devastated glare. "...You were in on it, weren't you? Gale was right...You helped them. You..You helped kill our friends." I growled out, teeth geitted and pain on his face.

"No, no listen!" You held up a hand with wide eyes and a deep frown on your face. Feeling like you might cry with your eyes burning. "I did not lie at Woodsboro, okay? I swear to God! I swear on my life, on anything, I did not lie to you about Woodsboro! I didn't kill our friends! I didn't help them!...Randy, you know me. Please, you know me." You felt your voice cracking, tears in your eyes over how one of the few people you had in life was looking at you now.

He huffed and shook his head, putting a hand over his mouth before narrowing his eyes. "Oh, okay...The liar claims she didn't help them. So when EXACTLY did you start hiding the fact YOUR FRIENDS MURDERERS ARE ALIVE?!" He shouted.

Stu huffed. "So dramatic-"

"STOP!" You screamed at him behind your shoulder, gun still in hand as he and Billy looked a bit shocked at that. "Can't you give me the most basic human decency of letting me talk to him without your smartass remarks?! Just this once?!" You felt the tears starting to form in your eyes as you felt backed in a corner.

They both stared in surprise but said nothing. Faces souring as you turned back to Randy.

Randy gritted his teeth and forced it out again. "How...Long?"

You stared at Randy, cringing inwardly at the number you had to say. "...10 years."

"...10 freaking years." He repeated in disbelief huffing with his brows up and a bitter smirk on his face.

You looked down with a hard swallow and a frown. "...Technically, 13...If...We're counting how long I knew they were alive..."

He threw up his arm and walked away from you with the pitchfork in one hand and a hand over his head. Close to breaking down. "Wowww...Fucking wow."

"I tried telling you at Windsor but you didn't believe me! I tried to fucking tell you all!"

Randy shook his head. "Oh, so I didn't believe you one time and you just decide to never mention it again?!...And they're here, and you're meeting up with them, and talking to them!"

You rushed over to him to talk to him closer, keeping a foot of distance no matter how much you wanted to hug him and beg him for forgiveness as your best friend. "Listen to me Randy. When you confessed to me at Windsor behind the building, you know, before you were attacked? I wasn't lying! I was attacked by them and I wanted them caught!...But...After that night, Stu helped me and Billy left and things just...Changed."

He shook his head with scrunched brows. "W-What? That doesn't even make any-" His face fell in realization as he pointed at you. "...It was them, wasn't it? Tim and James were fucking Billy Loomis and Stu Macher; you were fighting them on that stage and they killed Derek and-"

"No!...No. " You held up a hand trying so hard to tell the truth while keeping him from exploding. "Mickey and Halie and Billy's Mom killed that couple at the theater and Cici and Derek, Mrs. Loomis attacked you and me, Halie killed Louis and Murphy. Billy and Stu killed no one that time-"

Randy's face contorted in an outraged smile that faded as soon as it came. "OH! Oh, so they got a pass then, huh? He was probably helping his fucking Mom!"

"Randy." Billy growled out his name in warning as Randy stiffened and you could see the fear he had for Billy and Stu clear as day. Billy continued, taking a few steps forward with a menacing glare. "...I wasn't involved with helping my Mom. She didn't even know I was alive. Just so we don't have a damn blood bath here to rival Texas Chainsaw Massacre; keep my Mom's name out of your fucking mouth."

You quickly ignored Billy, urgently telling Randy. "They didn't kill anyone at Windsor and they let us go. I couldn't call the cops after that!"

Randy glared back at you. "No, you let them go and called Gale a liar! All because they didn't kill anyone THAT time?...Is that what you're telling me right now?"

"Because Gale was a liar! I didn't help them, okay?! I NEVER helped them kill! I had to let them go. Ray, you know how dangerous they are!"

Billy and Stu nodded with smirks, not seeming too empathetic of this situation. Taking your comment as a compliment while watching.

You continued. "So, why would I risk getting killed to get them caught? They were long gone, Police would have never found them, they already almost assaulted me behind stage and Gale was itching to get leverage to put me away-"

"So, you did this for yourself? Is that it? Just so you won't get caught up in a scandal?" He had disgust and anger on his face.

"No!" You shook your head and felt your heart shatter. "How can you fucking say that? Do you have any idea what I did after I saw you getting wheeled away in that ambulance?... Do you know I took a knife and hunted them down and tried to kill them because I thought they were the ones to do that to you? I did this for us, Ray! You were in a coma on life support in the hospital. I wasn't risking getting the police involved so they could get revenge by sneaking into the hospital and taking you from me! I'd never forgive myself!" You felt tears pricking your eyes and slowly rolling down your face as he stared at you.

Randy seemed hurt by that, faltering with a frown before shaking his head with a glare once more. "Okay...So, you lied and acted like they didn't exist. You let me and Dewey believe that too...You hid their existence from us since Windsor."

"...Yes." You shook your head, voice heavy. "Okay, yes! I did!...I'm so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing, I'm sorry!"

You caught a glimpse of their expression by accident as Randy kept pacing and you turned your head to follow him...Seeing you cry made Stu look..Surprised and even Billy seemed to have a poker face but his brows furrowed.

"So, how long have you been in contact, huh? Because you LOOK like you're in a fucking relationship with them like everyone said you were-"

"STOP." You snapped, voice cracking. "I am NOT with them, okay?! Do you think I'd do that?! What Gale said was a lie! I was not in a relationship with them behind Sid or Tatum's back at Woodsboro and I was trying to get them caught at Windsor when I realized they were alive."

Randy threw up his hands. Both of you were so heated its like Billy and Stu weren't there as Randy demanded. "So what is it? Why? Why are you talking to two guys that killed your best friends and tried to kill you?"

"I...Stu was persistent after not wanting to kill me after Windsor and...I...I needed the company, okay? Is that what you want to hear?. After Gale did what she did, I only saw you and Dewey here and there with this GIANT secret I hid to protect you both! Stu saw the worst parts of me and didn't care...I needed that after the fucking Court case and he forced his way into my life anyways! I didn't have much of a choice so might as well make the best of it. And Billy? He didn't come after me anymore after Windsor so we said fuck it and called a truce. That's all! I haven't seen either one in over a decade, Randy! Not until the last night or two!"

"Hold on! 10 years?...Windsor wasn't 10 years ago...But that photo sure was." He pointed an accusing finger your way and you deflated.

You sniffed and drew out. "...We all...They stayed with me in Hollywood and we helped take down Roman and Neil."

"Are you fucking kidding me?...Listen here, YN. Maybe you see some bullshit 'my hero' crap towards them for killing James who was abusing you and that probably was the only semi decent thing they ever did or maybe Stu just whispered the right bullshit in your ear and Billy lied through his teeth to you but they are MURDERERS. They killed your best friends! Sidney...They killed her in front of you. They tried to sexually assault you in the theater, at least, that's what you told me. They tried to kill you AGAIN. They made me hate you for 2 years till I saw you at Windsor but we still won't get our senior year back we could have had together because I couldn't rationalize how you could save Billy fucking Loomis over her... They took Dewey's little sister away, dangled her in the garage like a bloody piece of meat on a hook. They ruined our FUCKING LIVES, YN!!" He screeched, voice cracking as he hung his head again and leaned against the pillar.

You frowned, lip quivering. "Randy, I-I know that. I swear not a day goes by that I don't think it but it was better to let them go and let them get caught on their own. Okay, there were no attacks from them after that because of what I did! I haven't talked to them in a decade till I came back here and these new murders happened...They're not involved."

"That's what you think-"

"No, I know. I know for a fact because..."

He jerked and glared up at you with tears still in his eyes. "...WHAT?"

You sucked in a shaky breath. "...Because...At Hollywood...The reason Neil targeted us was because he knew. He knew I let them go at Windsor and he wanted revenge. That was the entire reason he attacked us...It's why they were staying in my motel. They had ample opportunity to kill me but didn't and vice versa...We made a pact to kill any new Ghostface killers if they showed up since then for our own safety so the secret doesn't get out."

"...And how did he know?" Randy demanded, still not looking at you.

"What?" You asked with a confused face.

"Where was his evidence? HOW did he know that they were alive and you were hiding them, YN?"

"I-I don't-"

"Don't lie to me." He growled out before you heard the tremor in his voice. "Don't...Lie."

You almost lied but the more you lied, the more you dug a hole. You wanted to tell him everything and pray one day he'd understand...So you were. There was no going back now.

"...Because he tracked down Stu through Roman...And then me through Stu because...Because Stu was staying at my house and he saw it." You gave, forcing it out. "He found me through following Stu. That's how he found out where I lived."

Randy slammed his hand against the pillar with enough force to break his wrist or hand. He quickly tried rushing away to the door and you chased after him. "Ray, please!"

"DON'T!" He yelled, shoulders stiff. "Don't fucking call me that."

You felt your heart sink so low as you shook. Terrified at what he was about to say before a voice ran out behind you.

"Or what, RAY?" Stu jeered finally after probably struggling to stay quiet. Jead tilted with his brows raised. Randy slowly looked over his shoulder and clenched his fist as Stu continued with a smirk. "It's true. I was at her house."

You looked at Stu with you knew were tears streaming down your face, silently begging him not to lie and build up something that wasn't there just to get a reaction.

Stu stared back at you before sighing and saying. "...And nothing happened. YN was beyond generous and probably because she was scared to death of me hurting her or killing you and Dewey. I kind of threatened her if she didn't let me crash once in a while...You don't know the full story, man. She wasn't helping us. She was trying to keep you and herself from getting killed." Randy glared at him as he continued. "Man, just...Don't take this out on her. I twisted her arm behind her back, okay? She didn't have a choice. She didn't have choice in Ohio, she didn't have a choice in between that and Hollywood...The only choice she had was after Hollywood and she didn't call me for 10 freaking years."

Randy sneered at him. "Yeah?...She still lied. She hid this for years, doesn't matter the years, it was years..." He looked at you. Blue eyes were boring into you even in the dim lighting of the barn. "...I trusted you all these years. We all did! I defended you for years just to find out there was truth to it. Even if Gale wasn't completely accurate, she had it right...You lied about everything..." He looked away with a pained expression. "We're done."

You stared, feeling something in you break. "...What?"

"We're done. I don't want you in my life after this...I don't want you near my kids...If you can hide this, I just...I don't know who you are anymore. I can't trust you. I can't even trust that what your saying is true...You're selfish YN. You did this to save yourself. "

You stared in shock, he went to leave and to your even greater shock, you heard Billy scoff loudly.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Randy looked back with his shoulders squared as Billy stepped forward. If anything, he was more intimidating now then as a teen as he berated Randy on your behalf which had you...Lost for words. Stu was surprising but this was shocking to say the least.

"This...Woman has saved your cowardly ass and Doofus and Reporter Barbie's lives more times than any of you fucking dunderheads could've ever done! You all think you'd be alive if it wasn't for her?!" He stood beside you, jaw clenched as he pointed at you. "This crazy bitch threatened me with a knife when she thought I had attacked you. Okay, she hunted us down to threaten us. US and she didn't care. THAT is the type of girl she is...All for you. She would defend any of you! She's only risking her life at this fucking barn party for you, you dipshit! She would probably jump in front of a train if it meant saving you or your kids, she has risked her life so many times to save yours and your gonna throw her aside because she lied trying to save your ass?"

You were shocked...Completely shocked of all the people, Billy was defending you...He was actually defending you.

Randy turned around fully. Rage on his face as his jaw ticked and his lips formed a thin line.

Billy stared him down, continuing after releasing a huff. "Ya know what?...She deserves better than you, better than Sheriff Riley as scary as that title is, definitely better than that twat Gale...She deserves better. I couldn't be so goddamn lucky to have someone like her in my ballpark like she is for you...What?" Billy gave a disbelieving smirk. "Was Sidney that worth it? Huh? She didn't even know you existed, Geek! You were a lost puppy following her around. The loser she didn't even pay attention to! She talked to you because she felt sorry for you. Do you think she'd hang onto your death like you have her's? HUH?!" Billy demanded. "Tossing a friendship with this one that for whatever reason actually interacts with you for some dead chick that didn't know you existed?! Sidney wasn't your best friend, she was the girl you were never gonna have and you fucking know it! Trust me...I had that. Wasn't that special."

Stu chimed in.."No shit, Sid was hot but she wasn't all that...Dumping YN? Now, you need your head examined for that one."

"Shut the fuck up...Shut the fuck up, Loomis. Both of you. You don't get to talk about what happened. You ruined our lives, you sick fucks." Randy hissed out in both rage and fear.

You were still shocked, trying to process all this. You should be snapping at Billy and Stu but you were too shocked to do so.

Stu grinned darkly as Billy snickered and told him. "Make me, Geek. Aww...Boo hoo. She's dead and I gave you a bullet wound which is the only interesting thing about you. Get over it. Because I'm here...And she's not. And it's staying that way."

Randy sneered at Billy. "I have a wife I adore, okay? This has nothing to do with Sidney or Highschool drama bullshit. This has everything to do with you being an annoying thorn in my side and ruining Dewey and YN's lives! She can't even live life because of you and Dewey lost his baby sister!"

Billy huffed. "Tough. Because ya know what? I don't care...You all deserved it." Billy had that dark, challenging look in his eyes and you knew he was baiting Randy.

You jumped. Randy charged at Billy. All those years of rage and hurt building up as he raised the pitchfork that Billy easily swatted aside and shoved Randy against the pillar. Knife at his throat as Stu quickly cornered him as well. You snapped out of it, cocking the hammer back and pressing the gun at Billy. "Let him go! He didn't mean it!"

Billy raised his brows at Randy who jerked and struggled against him in rage. "Deja vu, huh? You're a lot stronger than you were at the lockers that day." He gritted out as he shoved Randy harder. Making him hit his head and falter a moment.

Stu laughed a bit. "Well shit...Look who's balls finally dropped."

Billy chuckled as well, a dark look in his eyes. "Yeah...Too bad it was at the wrong time."

"LET HIM GO OR I SHOOT!"

Billy gave you an annoyed glare. "You're gonna shoot me over him? The guy that's tossing you aside?"

"He's my best friend, Billy! You don't need to like me, I know you don't. But if you respect me, even as an enemy...You'll let him go...Please...Please...If you have any respect for me at all." You felt your resolve finally crack after all these years. Finally admitting it. "I don't want to kill you...I don't want you dead, Billy. But I can't let you hurt my friend."

Billy slowly looked at you...Finally, some shock on his own face at the realization. Randy used the opportunity to shove away and bolt for the door. They went to run after him and you intercepted the gun in their faces. "DON'T! Just because I don't want you dead doesn't mean I won't shoot if I have to!"

They glared at you. Stu yelling. "He's gonna rat us out!"

"And I'll deal with it, now back off!" You yelled back.

Stu relenting first with an eye roll as Billy huffed and backed down for now. You ran after Randy and so did Billy and Stu.

"Ray!" You called out desperately.

"Stop! Don't follow me...Just don't. I can't even look at you right now." Randy didn't even spare you a glance as he stalked to the main barn. His voice cold and his shoulders square.

You faltered, standing outside the barn with nothing but utter devastation. What do you do?...What can you do?" You sucked in a breath, pain on your face as you saw your best friend leave knowing...Nothing would be the same ever again. He went to the main barn and you could do nothing about it. His friendship, your friendship with Karla, your relationship with your God kids...It was all gone just like that.

You felt a hand on your shoulder, turning to see Stu looking down at you...He looked genuinely remorseful as he tsked and gave you a thin lip frown. He pulled you into a hug before you could think, sighing heavily against you. "Damn...I'm sorry, girl...I really am."

Despite yourself...You gripped onto him. Feeling your face screw up into a quiet sob. He gripped you tightly...It was the first true hug like this you had in entirely too long as he held you close...It was like at the cemetery all those years ago only this time you were the one that needed that embrace.

You allowed it for a moment before hearing Billy clear his throat. A frown on his face with his arms crossed. "...We gotta go. Randy is gonna inform Dewey..."

You nodded and gently pushed Stu. "Go on. Both of you get out of here."

They looked at you in confusion as Stu mumbled. "And you-"

"No, Stu. It's my word against Randy's. Just...Get out. Escape. I'll deal with whatever happens."

Billy stared at you with some newfound respect in his eyes. "You'd take the fall for us?...Don't be stupid. People will hate you, Gale is gonna have a field day, you'll lose your house...You might even lose your life."

"Just go! Damn it, go." You screwed your eyes shut and ran a hand over your face at how bad this was. How awful this was.

Stu protested. "We can't leave you here alone with the killer! Are you freaking loco or something?!"

"Stu!...Go. I'll be okay...If not...Well, at least you both got away. You are two terrible, horrible, low down monsters. Randy's right, you ruined so many lives but...I don't know your lives now but...Go home. The killer doesn't seem to even know you're here so go home and forget me and Woodsboro exist...If I go, they'll find me and it'll lead me back to both of you. Just get out of here...And...Thanks for defending me..." You almost whispered that last part with a hopeless sad smile.b

Stu shook his head, panic and outrage on his face. "No, fuck that! I'm not letting you get killed or sent to prison after everything all because you didn't let us kill Randy! Fuck that!"

Billy tugged at his sleeve. "Come on, Stu-"

He jerked his arm away. "No! She has no one now, you heartless prick! She needs us!"

Your heart broke at his words as you closed your eyes.

Billy had more emotional understanding and maturity than Stu but Stu tried. He frowned but tugged at Stu. "We can't help her in prison...We gotta get out before cops come and we'll figure this out afterwards. " He looked at you with a firm nod. "Good luck...Just don't do something stupid because I'm gonna be pissed if someone kills you before me." He offered a slight smirk and you nodded in return.

Billy dragged Stu as Stu reluctantly went. Watching you the whole time as you stood there near the barn. Leaning your head back to look at the night sky with tears streaming down your face and a choked sob trying to come out...You quickly wiped your tears. Knowing now wasn't the time. You needed to think. You needed to make it look like Randy was confused. You needed to get away and find Randy and hopefully he'd at least try to hear you out again...Tonight was the Final Act and someone was dying.

#God this is getting intense 😭#scream #stu macher #billy loomis #my writing #scream fanfiction #yn fanfic #she her yn #my stories #scream 4 #fours a franchise

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elysiaaurea · 1 month

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Hunter

‘Serials' - a type of nutcracker with no ‘parasite’ in them. War machines who turned against their human creators, and were made for the sole purpose of killing. Paul, one of the handful of surviving models, demonstrates his prowess in this matter against the Eyeless Dogs - to the awe of his involuntary companion; one (un)fortunate employee (you).

Owner of oc: @sodabranch my beloved <3

Serials concept belongs to: @hashal-nutcracker my beloved <3

Warnings: Violence (against eyeless dogs), mild blood. Mild threat of death Word Count: 1485

You hold your breath as the dog closes in, willing your hands to stop trembling as 2 enormous rows of razor-sharp teeth swallow your vision. Back against the wall with no sign, shovel or shotgun, the very real threat of death has you clenching your teeth bitterly. A pang of regret hits you that you won’t be able to keep your promise to Paul. His words come to mind one more time.

"Your life is mine. Don't you dare die."

You apologise silently, suppressing the delirious chuckle threatening to spill out when you realise that in spite of everything he’s done — the belligerence and hate, almost killing you several times, the promise to do so in the future — that you would've liked to see him again.

Absurd.

The dog's pointed teeth are inches from scratching your visor, spit dribbling from its maw. It won't be long now. You squeeze your eyes together and try with all your might not to think of what the next few seconds of agony will feel like. Nothing, as it turns out, for nothing happens. You wait a few more seconds before cracking open an eye and see the dog has paused its advance. Why?

Thump

The sound of something dull hitting the sandy rock, somewhere from behind the dog, to the confusion of both of you. You'd crane your head to see what it was if you weren't afraid of being torn to shreds. The dog withdraws a bit as it turns its head, listening for the sound, giving you more room to exhale a breath you didn't realise you were holding.

THUMP

Louder this time. Closer perhaps? Your brows are furrowed as you play the sound in your mind once more. It's familiar, and your heart quickens when the answer comes to mind. Was it really?… As the dog growls and swings its head back around, for a brief second you see him, the spot of blue against the orange backdrop. Standing 30 feet away with eyes gleaming red, glaring at the dog with the sharpest, coldest expression you've seen on him since he threatened to take your life. He lifts his right leg up and stomps down.

THUMP

With that the dog roars, spins its whole body around and charges at him. You duck to avoid its tail as it hits the stone wall, and catch a glimpse of the action once the pebbles finish falling: He lists right and twists out of the way of the beast’s open mouth at the last second. He stops to face it as it rushes past, watching it bite down on air before rearing its head at the sound of his metal boots scraping against rock as he backs up. The screeching sound of metal sliding out of its sheath rings through the air as he draws his sword.

It dawns on you that you have never actually seen him fight. You mean, properly fight. The average employee was hardly any effort at all for him to kill, and none of the mansion’s monsters ever seemed to want to challenge him when they were around. An itch in your brain tells you that you are about to see why.

The eyeless dog charges him again as he crouches - and leaps.

He shoots up just as it snaps at him. Easily clearing the height of the dog, he tilts forward as he sails through the air in a smooth arc. And for a moment he’s suspended mid-air, hanging upside down just above the dog.

A gasp escapes your lips as you watch 400 pounds of metal and wire move with the grace that would put an acrobat to shame. His legs, arms and chest swivel together in one perfectly coordinated movement, cape and tassels swirling around him as his eyes — never once breaking line of sight of the creature — find their target. He kicks and flips himself upright again, tucking his legs in with weapon poised to strike as gravity takes him.

In the glow of the dying sunlight, the reflected shimmer makes the blade glow with fire as he plunges it into the beast’s skull.

The ground explodes upon his landing. The deafening howl that follows pierces through your suit. Instinctively, your hands come up to cover your ears, only to find themselves pressed pointlessly against the sides of your helmet. Thankfully, it stops and you force your eyes open to see the silhouette of the beast within the dust cloud thrash on the ground as it tries to throw him off. But Paul holds fast to the handle, boots planted firmly on its back as it lurches in circles, roaring turning into a groaning cry, each snap at him weakening; and as fruitless as the last.

After a few seconds, it staggers and drops: dead.

Mouth agape, you stare on as in one fluid motion, he wrenches his sword from its corpse, a trail of blood following his blade as he flicks it off. He turns, facing you while he regards the blood with a subtle look of disgust until he looks up.

His eyes meet yours and your heart stops. He pins you with an impassive stare and under that gaze you feel yourself simultaneously freeze and set on fire.

This was a predator. A being made specifically to kill your kind. He wants you dead. He stopped you from dying. He protected you. A machine that hates you just protected you.

The maelstrom of thoughts spins violently in your head as you try to process it all.

Mercifully, his eyes slide off of you to glare at 2 other dogs that appeared, likely drawn in by the commotion, tails raised and growling. You find that you can breathe again, watching enraptured as he hops off the corpse and meets the first with the same vicious elegance as before, spinning to the side when it charges and slicing off its front paw. It cries out in pain, and brings its other leg down at him, to which he promptly hacks off with a swing. The creature hobbles backward, emitting a sharp whine of fear you’ve never heard till now while Paul closes in. Your own mortal peril forgotten, its pathetic whimper makes you cringe with a twinge of sympathy. Ceaseless, Paul takes his chance and delivers a clean slash across its jugular, effectively silencing it to gargling blood, dying as the other did.

Then his head snaps to the last dog, who breaks out into a run. Pivoting on his heels, he bursts from the ground. It takes him all of 5 seconds to close the distance. A shiver creeps up your spine as he lifts his arm, unable to look away as you just barely see him sweep the blade across its hind ankles. It collapses and skids to a stop. Yowling, its front paws dig frantically against the rock while kicking out its legs, now-useless feet flopping behind it.

Paul advances — slowly.

Soon, it too, is dead.

Through it all a thought screams at you that you should not be finding this horrifying display of skill as beautiful as you did; yet you would be lying if you denied it. He scans the area once more, eyes stopping on your rigid form, having not moved from your spot since the slaughter started. He steps away from the corpse and stalks towards you, bloodied steel still in hand. And when he’s in front of you, you meet his gaze as before, not hiding the look of awe that bleeds from your widened eyes.

Aside from the splatters of blood not his own, he does not look worse for wear. You expect him to say something, gloat or be angry, but instead, he regards you through impassible narrow eyes and raises the point of the sword just under your chin. If you were to look away now you’d skewer yourself on it, yet you’re too stunned to really notice or care, mind still reeling from the fact that he saved you. In the few beats of silence, you can almost hear the cogs of his brain turning as he considers.

Finally, he speaks.

“Impressed?”

He asks, the hissing rattle of his metallic voice is tinged with what sounded like amusement.

“Very.”

You respond with a breathy whisper. Anything else would have been a bald-face lie and both of you knew it.

He snorts, eyes blink to green again. He lowers his sword and flicks the residue blood off before sheathing it; it’s your cue to breathe again. You gulp down the retrospective fear, suddenly aware of how exhausted you are. The adrenal high of it all must have worn off.

“Get back in the ship, unless you want to get eaten alive.”

He orders with a growl and saunters off towards the sun as it dips below the horizon.

Wordlessly, you follow.

#lethal company #eyeless dog #lethal company eyeless dogs #lethal company nutcracker #lethal company oc #lethal company writing #Oc who is both not my oc but also totally my oc??#we shared a single braincell between the 3 of us #mostly me and soda going feral #Hashal is still sane bless them #i was supposed to be working on my own oc story whoops #the brainrot is terminal #im so scared posting laijewnkqweoijq

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thatrickmcginnis · 4 months

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LYDIA LUNCH, Toronto 1988

The closest thing I had to a photographer's studio in early 1988 was an unused room behind the bar at the Silver Dollar Room, a former showbar-turned-strip club that was reopened as a rock club the previous year. This was where I'd do a series of portrait shoots that turned out to be pivotal in my early career, beginning with Lydia Lunch, who came to Toronto on January 26, 1988 on a spoken word tour. Lydia was a star in my little world, famous since her band Teenage Jesus & the Jerks had four songs on the landmark No New York compilation album a decade earlier. She was by this point known as a force of nature, making records and films and publishing books, with a personal style that was as influential as Siouxsie Sioux in that every town's scene had at least a couple of dozen young women who looked exactly like her.

Lydia Lunch showed up performing the material she'd later release on her Oral Fixation record, a pioneer of the spoken word genre (along with former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins - more about him shortly) that would turn out to have real longevity. My photos of her were meant to accompany an article my friend Tim was writing - a paean to the woman who was a kind of nihilist sex symbol in the underground subcultures that had formed since punk rock. So I tried to approach the shoot as something like glamour photography, not dissimilar to the photos I'd take of actress (and onetime Bond Girl) Jane Seymour for a fashion magazine a couple of weeks later. Bringing along my little portable studio - a light stand and umbrella bounce, a portable flash and a big white painter's tarp I carrried around in a gym bag - I cleared a space in the storage room at the Silver Dollar and found an unbroken bar stool that I place midway between my tarp backdrop and my flash.

Delivering a decent shot must have been a priority when I photographed Lydia Lunch because I shot two whole rolls of 120 film that evening hoping for something worthwhile. If you know anything about Lydia you'll have some sense of how intimidating she can be, by choice. (I don't think she'd have a problem with that statement.) My contact sheets show me moving closer with my camera as I got a bit more confident with my subject, who (perhaps accidentally) presented a bit more than her usual defiant face as we talked and took pictures. Lydia had just released Honeymoon in Red, working with guitarist Rowland S. Howard (about whom more soon) and members of The Birthday Party; when I told Howard (in the same back room at the Silver Dollar) that I'd photographed Lydia just a few weeks later, he asked how she was, and I said that there were occasional frames where I got a glimpse of the Catholic girl from upstate New York. He smiled and agreed, laughing that while he'd seen the same aspect of Lydia, he was sure she wouldn't be pleased about it being revealed.

#portrait #portrait photography #photography #black and white #film photography #lydia lunch #punk rock #musician #author #early work #some old pictures i took #photographer #mamiya c330

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sevikasleftpussyflap · 2 years

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Okay but like...

Not the Reader getting sloppy drunk and trying to hug Sevika's butt because she loves it so much sslkdfjldsjfl.

Not her trying to sleep on Sevika's ass bc it's so plush and full, better than any pillow.

sdfkljdslfkjldskjflkdsjf I'll see myself out.

See yourself back in! Also this is ALL OVER THE PLACE im sorry

Sevikas card games are boring af to you so the night usually ends with you really drunk or really high

Y'know that disgusted look she gives the head-licker? If you're an asshugger, that will be paired with a "the fuck are you doing"

If you try to sleep on her ass, she'll pull your complaining body into her arms because frankly, she's embarrassed for you

Will hold you there until you sleep that shit off

Of course, you love all of Sevika so much so none of her body parts are safe

You're at the card table in the brothel, high af in her lap and your face is just buried in those milkers

You've been there so long she's actually concerned because you haven't come up for air

Soft, supple skin overlaying hard muscle pressed against your cheeks. You could barely draw breath, but it didn’t stop you from cupping her breasts and pressing them closer to your face. A hand tangles itself in your hair, firmly but gently pulling your face up to gaze at Sevika's mildly vexed one. “Time to breathe, dumbass.”

Okay, but the nose you love to ride so much? That's getting raspberries blown on it while she keeps her poker face for the boys

Her jaw and neck are sloppily kissed, covered in saliva. Y'know how a dog slobbers?

It’s the third time you’ve missed her lips. Excitement at the cigar finally leaving her mouth may have muddied your coordination because once again, your lips found their way to her jaw. You hope that it looked natural (it did not) and that she was too focused on her card game to notice (she was not). To you, her eyes not leaving the game meant that she had decided it was more important. You begin sucking on her jaw, seeing how much you can get away with. After about thirty seconds, you forget your purpose and start nibbling out of boredom. Sevika’s eyes look down at you and find you with your teeth on display, closed around her jaw, staring wide-eyed up at her. She grimaces slightly when you pull away, a string of spit connecting you two until it breaks. “Wow! That’s really big.” The dark bruise stands out against her skin and you excitedly go to make another.

Also, you're still annoying even though you should be passed tf out by now

"Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry-" “Can you go like,” your eyes are captivated with the glowing tip of the cigar as she gestures with it. “Five minutes without being a brat.”

Randomly rag dolling in her arms

Anyway you're being an annoying, distracting little shit but she lets you bc she has a soft spot for you stoned and bc you're her baby

You can't understand a word of the convo she's having but you giggle when she does. And when she blows smoke in your face, you think it's the funniest thing ever

"That funny, baby?"

Okay BUT HER BEING PROTECTIVE OF YOU IN THIS STATE

Your adorable antics are attracting attention and she'll snap if anyone gets too close

The fabric that clothed your upper thigh felt as if it were set alight by the hand that was resting on your backside. A hard-muscled body against your front was the only thing in focus, the Brothel and its inhabitants were nothing but a blurred backdrop that could’ve been on a different planet for all you knew. You sure felt like you were floating in space, weightless enough where you would lean back only to feel a hand push you back onto your rock. Every so often one of the prostitutes would approach the gambling table with drinks and they no longer cooed at you in fear of the harsh dismissal your girlfriend would give them. The only thing you could focus on was the delicious looking liquid, rudely kept out of your reach and replaced with a scarred hand offering you water. Dazed, red eyes trail from the glass to Sevika’s face, specifically the seldom smile enclosed around a cigar. “Bottoms up.” “Can I have tequila?” Smoke blows from her nostrils in an amused huff. “Hell no.”

#sevika x reader #arcane sevika x reader #sevika imagine

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ursafootprints · 4 months

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all your WIP ideas are amazing, I can’t wait to read them all once you get around to write them. please do somewhere in the middle + lucky break too!

Thank you so much!! I also can't wait to read them once I get around to writing them lmao

somewhere in the middle: my omegaverse dystopia AU where alpha Tony and mid-teens omega Peter are married purely as a matter of mutual convenience and Peter is very confused about why Tony (who has, like, morals) won't sleep with him, as a backdrop to the plot of Peter still being Spider-man and Tony secretly becoming Iron Man to keep an eye on him. Getting to know each other on more equal ground where there's finally no weird alpha-omega power dynamic bullshit at play throws some ~complications~ into their relationship.

(Romance. The complication is romance.)

"Hey, big guy. Pick on someone your own size." Peter glanced toward the window, his concentration broken, and he only just had time to glimpse the red and gold-- robot?-- standing in front of the broken window before his senses screamed at him to dodge. The lizard guy's fist still connected hard enough to rock Peter back, but not enough to send him flying the way it might have otherwise-- shit shit shit he was going to bruise-- and Peter reacted on instinct, grabbing for the robber's arm and using the momentum from his swing to throw him over his shoulder to the floor. "Shit, are you-- wow," the distracting, unhelpful robot said, and Peter snapped, "The show costs five bucks or an assist, Sparky!" "I deserved that," the robot said, but it did fly forward to grapple with the robber as he started to heave himself out of Peter's grip.

Lucky Break: Spiderio sex pollen fic! Handwavey AU where Mysterio is just a part of Spidey's usual rogues gallery rather than being FFH related; Beck comes across a sex pollen'd Spidey and plays it up like he's helping instead of taking advantage.

Beck sucked in a breath and looked up to the ceiling as if in prayer-- like he believed in that shit, seriously, but he figured the kid would eat it up-- and said, "I can't say it's my favorite crime I'll have ever committed, but, needs must. What do you think, kid? How do you want to do this?" It wasn't a real question, and Beck knew it. The drug wouldn't let the kid say no-- he was trembling violently as it was, visibly hard through his suit and panting with desperation, but if Beck was going to play up this crook-with-a-heart-of-gold angle, he needed to pretend to ask. Just as Beck expected, the kid moaned and shifted his grip on Beck's arm, tucking Beck's palm against his face and nosing into it, skin feverishly hot. He said, once more, "Please."

Thank you for playing! 💖💖💖

#ursa asks #ask games #wips #starker #spiderio

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pudding-parade · 11 months

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Hi! I'm not dead! But, it is our brief summer here, so I'm not sitting in front of a computer much. And when I do, I've been poking at Planet Zoo.

I decided to try to build a naturalistic zoo with no artificial-looking barriers anywhere. I'm not sure my building skills in this game are up to it yet, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Can't hurt. It's going to be a small zoo, built in sandbox mode so I don't have to worry about money or anything, with maybe 15 habitats, focusing on colder-climate animals from North America, Central/Northern Europe, and Central/Northern Asia. Everything from bison to Siberian tigers to Bactrian camels to red pandas. There's no animals in it yet, though, because I decided I wanted to try my hand at extensively sculpting the terrain, so this is what I've got so far. The idea is to make a sort of "backdrop" of mountains for some of the animal habitats that will (hopefully!) blend (more or less) with the "real" mountains in the distant terrain. I think it might look all right once I get it properly painted and tree'ed/rocked-up and all that. Maybe. And if it doesn't? Hey, it was good practice with the terrain tools. LOL The water is very much just a rough-in, though, so don't pay too much attention to it. Anyway, there it is.

The reason I'm posting this is that doing this took me right back to my TS2 days, when I'd spend many, many hours pains-takingly editing neighborhood terrains, tiny square by tiny square. It was something I really enjoyed doing, believe it or not, and sculpting in Planet Zoo is a lot like it. Only the controls are 10,000x better, and there are more of them. And there's an "Undo" button. LOL It's almost enough to make me want to try to get TS2 running on this machine...but not quite. :)

#non sims #planet zoo

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itsaash · 7 months

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Hamptons Cubs AU: Rainy Day

AHH thank you for all your support with this AU !!! Today it's raining on Finn a bit, I'm afraid. Also, when I posted the parts of this au that I had written for O'knutzy week on ao3, I did some editing and adding. Specifically I added a little bit of plot in the form of Leo getting an offer to have his food featured in a magazine. Catch up on that here, but that's probably enough to understand what's going on today.

@noots-fic-fests for prompt and cover credit and eternal character credit to @lumosinlove

Rated somewhere between teen and mature, 2500 words, also on ao3

Tuesday brought Finn working away on his laptop in the early afternoon. But he was having trouble concentrating. It was raining today, he had this music on a speaker so it could mix with the sound of the rain. The air was thick and humid, even inside, and the soporific effect was part of the problem. But mostly, it was his squirrel brain jumping back to yesterday approximately every 117 seconds.

They had gone to the beach. Finn had printed off a chapter and brought only the essential pens and highlighters, and they’d walked down the old wooden boardwalk to the white beach, scattered with driftwood and rocks. Leo’s hair had shone in the sun just like Finn knew it would, his eyes the same colour as the water. Logan had big smiles and soft touches for Leo as he showed him beach treasures he found. Finn had walked and talked with them about nothing and everything for awhile, but when there was a bench he claimed his work as the reason he needed to sit and they should keep going. The casual loving touches and, if he was honest, eye fucking, the other two were doing was making the tight feeling come back. He sat, and focused on work as best he could, red lines, blue notes, green highlighter, blue eyes, green eyes, windswept hair… no, he wasn’t watching them. He was letting his guests have their vacation day at the beach.

The sweet day under the sun had been knocking at the edge of his mind all morning. Leo and Logan were out for lunch together to a place Leo wanted to try, and Finn stood up and shook out his arms and legs, bent backwards, touched his toes. He needed to work , he liked his work. He changed the music and the location of his laptop and papers to try and start fresh, and finally slipped into the peaceful zone of editing.

Sometime later, the music and rain still his backdrop, Finn heard the front door opening. He glanced at the time, realized hours had passed. Deep voices drifted down the hallway, talking and laughing, and the sound of the rain got louder until he heard the door click closed. From where he was Finn could tip his chair back on two legs and see down the hallway to the front door. He finished the paragraph he was on, and then leaned back, meaning to say hello.

They were kissing.

Leo had Logan pressed against the wall, Logan’s chin was tilted up, Leo’s hand against his jaw. Leo’s other hand was braced against the wall as he leaned down to reach Logan’s mouth. Finn watched as Logan reached his hand up to tangle in Leo’s hair, dark from wetness.

Finn clunked his chair back down, looking straight ahead. He dropped his head into his hands and forced himself to breathe. He expected jealousy. He couldn’t help but replay the image in his mind, knowing it was still going on right over there. So he tried to examine it logically. If it had been his brother Alex and someone, he’d tease them, be happy for them. As amazing as Leo and Logan looked together, Finn didn’t just feel happy for them. If he liked Leo, he should want to imagine himself being pressed into the wall, boxed in by those long arms. And, ok, that did sound pretty great. But he had felt Logan’s lips before. He had traced his fingers across that jaw, plunged his tongue into that sweet mouth. He didn’t think about that kiss all the time, but he could draw back the memory now easily enough. And it was delicious.

So then he should be jealous of Leo. Right? But as he forced himself to stop imagining kissing either of his houseguests, he didn’t feel any envy. No bitterness. Mostly, turned on. He could acknowledge that fairly obvious fact at least. But his heart felt stretched out, like it was reaching for something. Longing. Some prickles of guilt. Or was it shame, maybe, for the impulse to imagine himself in each of their places.

He would not look again.

He was not thinking about where Leo’s hands might be roaming by now.

Ok yep, there was guilt.

As he named the specific feelings Finn felt a bit better, more organised. Of course he felt guilty for being turned on by seeing them together. That made sense, he just had to give them their space.

Finn tried to get back to work, he really did, whether any work was actually done, well that’s between him and his laptop. Some indefinable time later Logan came into the kitchen, smiling, grocery bags loaded in each hand. Leo followed, carrying a box of peaches.

“Oh hey Finn,” Leo said, setting the peaches down on the counter. “Looks like you’re hard at it.”

Finn laughed his hands through his hair and leaned back in his chair.

“Oh yep, you know it. Like they say, being a writer is enjoyable... but the job of editor is more rewording .” He emphasised the pronunciation of the last word to sell the joke and Leo snort laughed as Logan rolled his eyes and smiled at the two of them.

“How was lunch? Whatcha got there?” Finn asked.

“Oh, it was great. Good little cafe with some unique stuff and good drinks. I got my boy a nice sweet cocktail, which is very fun for a random Tuesday,” Leo said, taking the peaches from the box, lightly squeezing them each and separating them into piles. Finn looked away from that activity. Logan came up behind Leo and wrapped his arms around Leo’s waist, settling his cheek against Leo’s shoulder blades.

“Mmhmm, I had two. Then we went to the farmer’s market and this one talked supply chain and picking dates with every stall we stopped at,”

“Not every stall, just the peaches,” Leo interrupted.

“And he got stuff for a yummy sounding dinner,” Logan finished.

“And some ingredients for practising for the magazine,” Leo added.

“You’re going to make dinner, Leo? You sure? You want any help? Are the peaches for dinner?”

“Of course I’m making dinner, Finn. I’ll let you know what needs doing. And no, the early Georgia peaches are for a cobbler for dessert. I think there’s just enough that are ripe now to get that going first. Then we’ll have kabobs and biscuits. It’s all easy. So then there’s time to practice too.”

Finn and Logan both laughed at Leo’s nonchalance using words that were more theory than real to them, and caught each other’s eye with a laugh.

Finn stretched his arms over his head and pulled his glasses off and put them in their case. “Sounds amazing, Le. I think I’ve done enough for today, my eyes are done with screens for the day.” He looked up from his glasses case. “Wait, sorry, that just came out. Is it ok to call you Le? Do you like that?”

Leo smiled a soft smile at him over the last of the organised peaches. “Yeah, absolutely fine. Can I, um, well do you like the nickname Harzy from me? Or is that in the past for you?”

Finn cocked his head at them, Logan’s arms still around Leo’s body, but both their eyes trained on him. “You know, I think this part of the past is ok to come back around. Like 90s fashion, the old is new again.”

“Well, Harzy,” Logan said, “happy hour?”

Finn smiled and joined Logan in the kitchen, each taking out bottles and different glasses and Finn got out the good ice cube tray with the big ice. “Can a peach be sacrificed to the quest of a cocktail, love?” Logan asked Leo.

“Course. Here, this one, and let Finn peel it, yeah?” Leo said, handing Finn a slightly bruised peach. Finn and Logan debated and taste tested and ended up with a very serviceable drink of the day, laughing over silly suggestions of combinations. Logan made one for Leo and set it by his station of peeling and cutting fruit with a kiss to the cheek.

They weaved and worked around each other in the kitchen, Leo directing the troops according to their skill. Logan was sent to the stools on the other side of the counter after dropping a knife attempting to cut up peppers.

“It’s the weirdest fucking thing,” Leo laughed to Finn. “He’s completely coordinated in every other situation. But put him in a kitchen and he’s a menace.”

“Good thing he has you then, huh?” Finn laughed.

“Yep, Leo’s my best thing,” Logan said, matter of factly.

“Aw, thanks sweetheart. You’re my best thing too. Especially when you keep yourself safely out of my kitchen.”

Finn took the kabobs out to the barbecue with just a hood covering him from the rain. Predictably the barbecue was reluctant to light in the rain, but Finn didn’t mind the extra time in the fresh rain. It really did make the colour of the grass pop a bright green and the smell of the flowers was permeating the air.

When Finn went back in, Leo and Logan were talking menus for the big dinner on the weekend.

“I’ve got to stick to my southern staples, right? If I were getting into catering, I’d be doing some of that stuff, so it makes sense to cook it for Pandora. Rice and beans though? That’s not going to look that great in a photo though. Or something with fried chicken, or maybe I can see what I can get fresh around here for gumbo? Or boudin balls and some side dishes?”

“Whatever you make, they’re all going to be lucky to see and eat whatever you choose,” Logan reassured, rubbing Leo’s neck as he was bent over the counter, fiddling with a pen poised over a blank piece of paper.

“Peach cobbler, of course, just double checking my recipe here today and then make it again Sunday. Ok, I’m thinking the boudin. They can be arranged nicely in photos and they take time but they’re not too fiddly. Or maybe two things?” Leo was mostly muttering to himself now, writing down a few ingredients as he spoke.

“Planning for Sunday, Leo?” Leo looked up at Finn, who was shaking the water out of his hair by the patio doors.

“Oh, yeah! I’m trying to balance something that’s a crowd pleaser, something I’d be happy to include in any catering I do, but also photographs well, and definitely isn’t too temperamental. I can’t pick foods that’ll go to hell in a handbasket at the smallest mistake.”

“Wow. Yeah, totally. Do you want to get into catering, Leo?”

“Hmm?” Leo hummed, breaking his eye contact with his grocery list that had already claimed his attention again. “Well, it could be a good option. I know I want to cook, and I don’t want to work in a restaurant. The hours are too crazy, it’s too intense.” Leo started gesturing with his pen as he thought about the future. Who knew if that pen had originally been Leo’s or Finn’s at this point, their supply was hopelessly intermingled. “Catering, or this kind of personal chef thing is really ideal. Or maybe if I had a kitchen space in the city, I’d make meals to pre-portion for people, like meal planning.”

Finn smiled. “That sounds amazing. You’d be so good at that kind of thing. And you don’t want to miss out on weekends in the summer with Logan forever I suppose.”

“Oh!” Leo’s eyes opened wide, “I don’t mean I’m leaving working with your family, Finn! This has been such a good job, ideal. I love spending time out here. But…” he looked at Logan.

“I do miss you on the weekends, love,” Logan smiled. “But, yeah, no changes planned for like tomorrow.”

“No, I get it,” Finn said. “It’s always a thing , where to work, where to live. Don’t worry, I’m not offended that you aren’t planning on coming to my parents house every weekend forever.”

Leo quirked a smile. “When the company’s this good, it’s easy to stay,” then turned back to his grocery list. Finn's eyes followed Leo’s long fingers as they finished writing, crossing off, circling. He felt himself bite his bottom lip before he shook himself and went back outside one more time, getting the last of the kebabs that had been taking longer to cook. He took a few deep breaths under the drizzling rain. His eyes felt strangely hot under the cool rain. He thought about the facts, the indisputable parts of the story that the rest would be built on. He and Logan had taken one class together, years ago. One night, with one (amazing) kiss. Neither of them had taken all the steps needed to keep in touch or keep their friendship going. That must mean something? And Leo, Leo worked for his parents. And Finn had enjoyed the past few weekends, and had known that he was inviting Leo and his boyfriend for the week. He hadn’t known how much it would tug his heart to see the two of them together. Again, not in a jealousy way, he didn’t feel any anger or negativity towards them. But, sadness? Longing? It was something that wanted to pull him closer to each of them.

But they were already together. Leo and Logan were boyfriends and had been for years. And zero fucking percent of him wanted them to break up.

So, there he was, that was the scaffolding to build the story on. He could be their friend who they visited in the Hamptons amidst their love story. He could be the character who helps build connections for a new career. He could be the one to note the physical fucking heart eyes between the main couple so the audience knows how much they're in love. When he saw them look at each other, he felt like his heart was flying. Ok. Friend. It was a special role, an honour. He’d go back in and be their friend.

Finn gathered the rest of the kebabs onto a plate and turned back to the patio door. His movement was gentle enough, and he had been standing there long enough that the motion sensor light had turned off and hadn’t been triggered again. The light from the house poured out, and now that he was listening, he could hear soft music but couldn’t quite place it.

Leo and Logan were slow dancing. Finn froze as his stomach dropped yet his heart leapt. Logan’s head rested on Leo’s collarbone, their arms wrapped around each other. It didn’t sound like that slow of a song, but they were just swaying. Logan’s dark curls fluffed over Leo’s chest and his eyes were closed. Leo’s chin was propped up on Logan’s head and it was the cutest, most fucking devastating sight Finn had ever seen.

He decided maybe he’d just stay out in the drizzling rain just a bit longer.

#characters by lumosinlove #coast to coast #o'knutzy #Hamptons AU #fic o ween 2023

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why-so-serious-lucifer · 6 months

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K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Dreamcatcher (Part TWO)

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. All this to say, for the love of god, I’m a sleep-deprived student and I don’t have time for internet hate, so don’t kill me. With that being said, enjoy!

Here are my credentials: I’m a huge fan of Dreamcatcher, and have been an Insomnia since mid-2021 or so, just after the release of BEcause. They were actually the first concert I’ve ever been to, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for that. They totally gave their all for those two hours and I ended up loving them even more afterward. I’m even considering going again if they have another tour.

So, we left off after the end of their nightmare arc and a few special singles. Scream begins their next work, the dystopia trilogy, focused on hate speech and cyberbullying. This was the first DC song I heard, and god what a starting point. Those flashes of angry guitar and drums that pound like a heartbeat lead into a soft pre-chorus that lulls you into a false sense of security before that chorus just destroys you. The song is just so done, fitting for a person driven evil by cruelty because they simply couldn’t take it anymore, and its expansive string section adds layers of drama, especially with the distorted (kind of demonic) voice that echoes throughout the post-choruses. Overall, one of their best, though I wish that Handong (who, as mentioned before, was on hiatus during 2020) was there too,

The Tree Of Language is their first full album, and it’s so tough to pick a hidden gem. I know a lot of people love Red Sun but it’s a bit too vibey and meandering for me; it’s never been my favorite. Sahara is a total head-banger and I hope that they take its harsher rock for a title track again sometime. Black or White has some great Michael Jackson energy with its sharp moves and equally sharp chorus, letting the rock take a backseat. Jazz Bar is softer than I expected, with the jazz being more of an undertone and a nice backdrop with the dancy piano for the “I think I love you, oh I love you.”

Paradise is the last song on the album and is a solo for Siyeon, which makes sense given that she’s their main vocalist. It’s a bit calmer of a ballad than usual for DC, who often favor power ballads, but her vocals bring some great depth and emotion to what could be an average b-side. Also, shout-outs to the distorted strings in In The Frozen and the great energy in Tension.

BOCA is part two of the trilogy, and focuses more on the cyberbullying part than the hate speech as Scream does. It’s probably their most popular song overall, breaking into a k-pop market that, in 2020, was much more willing to accept rock than it had been at their debut. BOCA starts muted with a common-for-the-time tropical house beat, which should feel out of place but doesn’t. It then begins to build, as all their best work does, to a power ballad above an insistent electric guitar. It wasn’t one of my favorites at the beginning, but there’s no denying that it’s grown on me in the years since. Coming right on the heels of two tragic suicides in the k-pop industry (Sulli and Hara), which were partially due to immense amounts of online bullying, the lines of “Why do you fill your precious time with hate?” and especially the soul-piercing belt after “Too many angels dying now, I’m gonna change your mind” never fail to get me emotional.

From Lose Myself, despite the sweetness of fan-song Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind, I can’t think of a better hidden gem than Break The Wall. In K-pop, it’s common to decry “ugh this should’ve been a single”, but this should’ve been screamed from every rooftop in the galaxy. From start to finish, it’s a full-on alt-rock anthem that riles up its audience to stand together, rise up, and break the walls of prejudice with all of their strength. Seeing this in concert and screaming the words with thousands of teenage girls and the assorted parents, partners, and siblings that they dragged along (who ended up loving it) was what I might call a transcendent experience. For a couple moments, one would be forgiven for thinking that we could’ve really saved the world.

Odd Eye is the final part of the trilogy, and the return of Handong! It’s a great song, especially in its building pre-chorus, its cathartic bridge, and its distorted background mixed with traditional rock elements, but it’s never been one of my favorites. Unlike with You & I, where I had a very specific reason for feeling meh? about it, I don’t really know why I’ve never connected with this one. Even so, I do love how it ends the series, with the phrase: “in the end, the Dreamcatchers couldn’t find the Utopia they were looking for”, a surprisingly dark finish. When asked about this, member JiU said that they were trying to communicate that a perfect world doesn’t exist, but that the imperfect one we have is still worth fighting for. So, I have to give the song massive props for that.

From Road To Utopia, my hidden gem was Wind Blows. It maintains Dreamcatcher’s essential energy, but both slows it down for a hand-clapping pre-chorus and then ratchets it forward with an EDM-driven chorus that decides to end with a chant-filled post-chorus (that I don’t hate? I know, shocking). I also liked Poison Love, although a lot of that is due to the absolute hilarity of its music video, which is basically a 4-minute soap opera. New Days returns to their early years’ anime soundtrack energy, which is always appreciated.

BEcause is a special single in between the Dystopia and Apocalypse trilogies. It’s technically a love song, but I really like how it plays into many k-pop cliches—cutesiness, love, doll-like aesthetics—but in keeping with DC’s dark concepts, it’s actually about a stalker. The verses are understated, quite upbeat, and poppy, before the pre-chorus figuratively (and literally, in the music video) turns that calm feeling completely upside-down. The vocalizing and the “Be…cause I like you” in the chorus is chilling, and the song goes from 0 to 100 so quickly but so well, as you immediately get the sense that something is very, very wrong.

This EP is, hilariously enough, called Summer Holiday, as though the title track wasn’t one of their most horrifying. It does have some very upbeat tracks that are a rarity in DC’s discography, most notably Whistle, which turns its namesake into a recurring underscore and makes a quite catchy hook. Overall, though, this isn’t one of my favorite albums of theirs.

MAISON is both the beginning of the Apocalypse trilogy and my first Dreamcatcher comeback as an Insomnia (since BEcause came out when I was just becoming a fan and I wasn’t really “aware” of it at the time). Full disclosure, this was the song that made me buy tickets to their concert, and in hindsight, I’m not surprised. Unlike many of DC’s songs, it comes out of the gate swinging. There’s no slow first verse, no ballad to be found, and no way of reading its message as anything other than it is: a vicious criticism of the leaders who stand there doing nothing while climate change ravages the earth (“Oh no, you can’t fool me anymore. It’s weirdly warm, right? The planet, and your conscience drying up”), (“Pretending not to know, you can’t make it disappear”). It ends with only a simple plea: “Please, someone fight for us.” This song remains, to this day, my mom’s favorite Dreamcatcher song. (Hi, mom).

Apocalypse: Save Us is another full album, and has a lot of great songs (some we’ll get more into in a minute). I particularly liked the fun, boppy synths of Starlight, the choppy jazz-meets-alt-rock energy of Locked Inside A Door, and the very sweet Always, which is a song written for fans that they performed near the end of the concert.

Apocalypse: Save Us also contains a solo song for each member, which each of them got to write, and I was lucky enough to see them perform a medley at the concert I attended. First is JiU with the bouncy, retro Cherry, which is a love song written for JiU’s pomeranian Cherry. Yes really. It’s utterly delightful. Second is SuA with the EDM No Dot, which totally fits her role as main dancer because she performs the hell out of it. Third is Siyeon’s traditional Entrancing, which is quite soft and lovely, and makes the best of her excellent vocals.

Fourth is Handong’s quiet Winter, which is a fairly standard k-pop ballad but gives Handong a chance to sing a short a-capella section in her native Mandarin, which, as a linguistics major, I really loved. Fifth is Yoohyeon’s smoothly jazzy love song For, which is the rare k-pop song in English that I don’t mind. Sixth is Dami’s pop-punk Beauty Full, which has some great 2000’s energy and always gets me head-banging. And seventh is Gahyeon’s upbeat and youthful Playground, which is about holding onto childhood. These are all good songs and reflect their own styles well, but my favorite would either have to be Beauty Full or Cherry. I’m a huge fan of artists writing their own tracks so I’m so glad they got to do this!

After that slight digression, next up is Vision, the second song in the Apocalypse series. This one builds on what Maison began, but is resolved to take a far more involved position and not simply wait around for someone else to save them. Instead, Dreamcatcher leads the charge, giving Vision a militaristic feel with its insistent drumline, very present electric guitars, salutes, and flags. It’s a call to action if ever there was one, and features a breaking point just as Scream does, but this time it’s for good. “For your bright tomorrow, and this beautiful place,” JiU announces on the microphone, “For ourselves, give it up tonight! March! Raise your flag and fight again!” And Siyeon’s power note at the end? Excellent.

From Vision’s EP, Follow Us, I liked the synth-pop-meets-chill-rock of Fairytale, which works way better than I thought it would. It’s a sweet love song, and honestly would have made a great single for them if their singles weren’t set on storytelling. It’s very Dreamcatcher while tying that rock to another genre, which is part of the reason why DC’s work always sounds both fresh and true to their core. Some Love is more straightforward rock and EDM, and the Outro is peaceful, steering us into the next song quite well.

Bon Voyage wraps up the Apocalypse trilogy, and begins in the exact opposite way to Maison. Its first minute sounds like a classic love song, and in a way it is one, to the Earth, but I was left slightly baffled. And then, of course, that pre-chorus takes off and we’re back to classic Dreamcatcher in its excellent guitar riffs and power ballading to the stars. The bridge strikes a middle ground, keeping up the energy as the song barrels to its conclusion in what may be Siyeon’s most incredible high note yet. It may be a love song, but it’s also a promise to keep fighting for the Earth, until the day we have to say goodbye.

From the From Us EP, I had trouble choosing between Propose & Demian. Propose at first seems to be this album’s obligatory ballad, but the background crackles with an odd sound and suddenly pulls away with the “Don’t run away, you can’t escape my love,” and I got flashed back to BEcause’s stalking concept. Propose takes that and runs with it, delivering what can either be read as a creepily obsessive song or a power ballad in the name of love. Demian, meanwhile, is very disjointed, going from a usual Dreamcatcher b-side to Dami’s scream-talk sections, sharper raps, and a full-throated run into metal with a guitar breakdown that they haven’t really reached since No More. (And, as a lover of Break The Wall, I of course appreciated the shout-out.)

Reason is a special single for DC’s 6th anniversary, and starts out delightfully sappy: “Because of Insomnia, Dreamcatcher exists”. Overlaid on adorable footage of DC’s journey throughout their years in the industry is a song that somehow manages to be both a rock-metal anthem and an incredibly sweet tribute both to each other and their fans. “I will go far away, I spread out my wings to fly, I have to go on…because you are the reason.” No, I’m totally not crying right now. What are you talking about? (Cue me blubbering into a handkerchief).

OOTD came out less than a week ago, and I admit I was a little wary with its teasers. And it turns out I was right to worry. The song starts with a good EDM smash and some great vocalizing right away, and its pre-chorus’ build reminds me of Vision. I’m intrigued by its choppier editing and its commentary on the fashion industry. Overall, though I think the song has some great ideas (the nu-metal mixed with hip-hop), it goes far too into sing-talk for me and I don’t like the chorus. Honestly, the most accurate thing I could say is it doesn’t sound like Dreamcatcher. It’s not a bad song, so perhaps it’ll grow on me, but for now…I’m afraid not. I think this is the first track of theirs (in an almost 7-year-career) that I haven’t liked to some level, and as long as the issues I had with it don’t continue into other releases, I’m willing to overlook it, like I did with Birthday by Red Velvet, as a “you can’t win them all”.

Versus Villain, the EP, is thankfully as strong as always. Rising carries that great alt rock energy and DC’s signature encouragement to keep going (“raise your arms up, with all your strength, shout!”), which is always nice to hear. I loved this one from the first chorus, and immediately wondered, why on earth was this not the title, guys? It would’ve been perfect!

This may be the most fun I’ve had in my reviews so far! Besides having an excellent discography in just sound alone, they’ve covered trauma, cyberbullying, stalking, climate change, depression, hate speech, love, and hope in under 100 tracks, all while waving pride flags on stage, writing special tracks about loving their dogs, and working their way up in the k-pop world from a tiny company. Their work reminds us all that it’s okay to have bad days but that one day, we will have the strength to accept ourselves, wake up from our nightmares, and start changing the world. And really, what’s more empowering than that?

My Top 5 songs are Break The Wall, What, Deja Vu, Bon Voyage, and Maison, with Wake Up and Fairytale as honorable mentions. Dreamcatcher gets a 10 out of 10 from me, which is no surprise. I can’t really think of anything I would change about what they’ve done, and even though I have my tiny gripes here and there, none of them are enough to make me change my mind. Maybe I’ll be eating my words in a few months, so we’ll see how this ages, but for now I don’t think that there’s any group out there whose work I would rate higher. For now, I’ll end by saying that I’m very proud to be an Insomnia.

Next time, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming with another boy group of the week, this one one that I barely even know, so I’m looking forward to it! Tschüss!

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gvfgal · 1 year

Text

Bound- Chapter Eleven

Chapter Ten

18+, minors exit stage left!

A/n: Sorry for the wait, this Chapter was difficult to write. I hope you’re ready to get your world rocked because… yeah. TWO MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS 👀👀👀

P.s. Sorry in advance for the pain I may cause :)

Warnings: Heavy angst, brief mentions of suic*de (don’t worry I would never, but it deserves a warning), mentions of alcohol consumption, mentions of drug use, possible depiction of depression… just some sad shit man.

Word Count: 4K

July 1, 1972

Townsend, Tennessee

You, Jake, his guitar, and the creek. The usual backdrop of your summer that year, and it never seemed to get old.

Jake had his legs crossed as he played, and you were leaning against a tree, eyes closed with a small smile playing on your face. The sun was beginning to set, casting a warm glow over the trees and the water, and the sound of Jake’s guitar mixed with the gentle babbling of the creek.

Not much had been said since you guys arrived, simply enjoying each other's company, but after a while, Jake stopped playing and turned to look at you.

“Can I ask you somethin’ babydoll?”

You opened your eyes and sat up a little straighter, “sure Jake, anything.”

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

You stopped to think for a moment, scanning the trees in front of you, “well I don’t know exactly where I’ll be, but I do know where I want to be,” you turned to look at him as he listened closely.

“I wanna be in a beautiful house somewhere tucked away where nobody can find me, somewhere no one would think to live… like Montana or something,” you dreamt out loud as you allowed your imagination to take over.

Jake was smiling at you, “okay. What else?”

“I want the house to have huge windows so I can always have a perfect view of the mountains, and I want the living room to be one of those sunken in living rooms like all the rich people have.”

Jake nodded, “what else?”

You were looking off into the distance as you spoke, but turned to him then, “and I want to wake up next to you in that house every damn day for the rest of my life.”

With a heart that was working overtime, Jake sat his guitar on the ground and pulled you into him, placing a delicate kiss on your forehead, “that sounds heavenly.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” you tilted your head back to look at him with a lazy smile.

“Yeah, it does. And I promise you I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen for you. For us.”

You extended your pinky out to him with an arched brow, “promise?”

He threw his head back in laughter before linking his little finger with yours, “I promise, babydoll,” and he sealed that promise with a kiss.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

You dabbed at your tear stained face as you stood in front of the mirror in the airport bathroom, hardly recognizing the woman that stared back at you, eyes red and glossy.

Since you’d left Montana that morning, you hadn’t been able to stop the tears from falling. You cried silently to yourself nearly the entire time you were on the plane, one of the stewardesses stopping by your seat every so often to give you new tissues and dispose of your used ones. You felt pathetic, and you thought that if that nice lady knew the real cause for your tears, she wouldn’t have been so helpful.

Towards the end of your flight, you’d manage to gain some composure, but as soon as the wheels hit the runway, the sorrow returned with a vengeance.

Being one of the first people to board, you were one of the first to get off, and you scurried into the nearest restroom to clean yourself up before you had to face August again.

“Come on, y/n,” you whispered to yourself, a sniffle following, “come on, get it together.”

You pulled several paper towels from the dispenser to finish drying your face, not caring about the way the rough material chaffed your skin. After disposing of them, you reached into your purse, retrieving the eye drops you purchased at the Kalispell City Airport and dropped them into each of your eyes.

You gave yourself one final look in the mirror, not really convinced that you were okay, but you hoped that August would be. With a final deep breath, you snatched up your carry-on and began making your way towards baggage claim where your fiancé was waiting.

Everything was a blur as you made your way through the airport, your body feeling almost too heavy to hold upright, but along you trudged. It was your hope that when you saw August’s face, that you’d feel that tingle you felt when you first met him, a reminder of why you agreed to marry him in the first place.

But as he came into view, standing among the crowd of other people waitin for their loved ones, you felt nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Even when he gave you that beautiful smile of his, nothing inside of you stirred, not even an inch. You hated to say it, but not even guilt could be summoned at that moment.

You smiled at him anyway as you approached him, noticing he’d already grabbed your bulky suitcase. Your eyes fell to it, thinking about what laid tucked away on the other side.

August engulfed you in a tight hug once you reached him, burying his face into the top of your head.

“Hey there, lover,” he cooed, “I missed you.”

You wrapped your arms around his torso, admittedly feeling comfort in his embrace, “I missed you too.”

He pulled back to look at you with a curious expression, “you alright, y/n?”

Your stomach dropped as you stared up into his eyes, praying silently that the eye drops had enough time to work their magic, “I’m fine. Why?”

You could see the gears turning in his head as he looked you over, “I don’t know. You seem kind of… out of it.”

“Oh,” you whispered, stalling long enough to find a believable excuse, “I’m just tired, that’s all,” you grinned, “flying drains me.”

“You sure?”

You urged yourself to smile a little wider, nodding gently, “yeah, I’m sure.”

He looked like he wanted to press the issue further, but instead, he grabbed your carry-on bag from your hand and slung it over his shoulder, “Okay. Well let’s get you home then.”

August took your hand in his and began leading you towards the exit, and you looked over your shoulder, swearing you could see a trail of the broken pieces of your heart being left behind.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

One Month Later…

Josh hated to say it, but he saw this entire disaster coming. When his mom called to tell him what happened, he was not at all surprised, but his heart was once again breaking for his twin. He was alll but ready to run to his aid and do his best to help him mend his broken heart, though this time around it’d be much more of a task.

Your visit to Jake was, to him, your last chance get it right, the final decision on whether you guys were meant to last, and it pained him to see that you couldn’t make it work. But the pain he felt for both of you was soon reserved only for his brother, leaving a stewing anger inside towards you.

Josh called him on the morning of your departure, and the sheer agony in Jake’s voice was enough to bring a few tears to his own eyes.

“She’s really gone this time, Josh,” he slurred, voice hoarse and muffled from crying.

“Jake, just say the word and I’ll come up there. I don’t like the idea of you sitting over there with that weight, let me come help.”

“I’m fine. I just need to be alone for awhile.”

Josh didnt like that idea, but he allowed his brother his space under the condition that he reach out to someone at least once a day fo signs of life. He’d agreed, and for the first two weeks, he kept his word.

But the last two weeks were radio silent on his end, and after waiting impatiently for his call, Josh decided o take matters into his own hands.

Which landed Sam, Danny, and him crammed in the car, winding their way through the backroads of Kalispell to Jake.

“I’ll still never understand why he chose to move all the way out here,” Sam huffed as he twisted his long limbs in the front seat, “it’s quite inconvenient, don’t you think?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s why he did it, Sam,” Danny responded, “how close are we? My legs cant take being in this backseat for much longer.”

Josh had hardly spoken a word since they’d been in route, all of his focus on getting to his brother as soon as possible. But that left him listening to his other brothers going back and forth with their usual banter, only taking breaks to rest their eyes for a bit.

“We’re only about fifteen minutes out now,” his tone was clipped, and he pushed on the accelerator a little harder, “just hang tight… and shut up,” he mumbled the last part.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

All was still at Jake’s house when they finally arrived. His truck was still parked in the driveway, a good sign.

Josh hastily made his way towards the door while the other two clambered out of the car, Jake’s spare house key already in hand.

He turned the lock, swallowing down his fear about what waited on the other side, and pushed th door open.

All was still, too still.

The smell of alcohol permeated the air, and the state of his house was pure chaos, but there was no sign of Jake anywhere.

“Jake?” Josh called out as he took another cautious step inside, leaving the door hanging open behind him. Glass from a broken bottle crunched underneath his feet as he inched forward, calling out his brother’s name again.

As he made his way into the living room, he had a moment of deja vu, a flashback from Palm Springs two years ago, Jake’s limp body passed out on the floor the way he was now.

“Oh fuck,” Josh gasped, “No. Nonononono,” he rushed to Jake’s side, lifting his head onto his lap. His body was cold but covered in a sheen of clammy sweat. His skin was washed out, and his lips were an unsightly shade of blue.

“Jake?! Hey Jake, look at me!” he shook his body roughly, but he didn’t stir an inch.

“Jake! Jake come on,” Josh’s voice was frantic as he brought a hand down across his face, attempting to shock him awake.

Jake’s eyes creaked open momentarily, only to fall shut again, his body going slack.

“Danny! Sam!”

The two rushed over to him, and upon seeing Jake’s seemingly lifeless body, they froze.

“Jake…” Sam whispered, hands beginning to tremble.

Josh brought two fingers up to his pulse point, feeling the slow labored beat of his heart, “his pulse is weak. Danny call an ambulance!”

Danny sprung into action, and Sam dropped to his knees beside his big brothers.

“Jake no…”

Josh had his head cradled in his hands, rocking back and forth slowly as Sam began trying to pat away some of the sweat rolling down his forehead. Every few seconds, a pulse of electricity would jolt through Jake’s body, the only sign of life they could cling to in the moment, because from the look of his body alone, things weren’t promising.

They could hear the faint sound of Danny panic-struck voice talking to the operator, but Josh’s ears were searching for the sound of small whispy breaths from Jake’s mouth. They were soft, and a lot less frequent than they needed to be, but they were there, and that counted for something.

“You’re gonna be okay, Jake,” Josh promised as he continued rocking him, “you’re gonna be okay… I promise.”

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

You held your breath as one of the dress shop employees worked to fasten the gown on your body. Wedding dress shopping was something most soon-to-be brides looked forward to with eager anticipation, but you couldn’t seen to summon that same amount of joy.

The first two dresses you tried on were lack luster, and you could already feel yourself giving up the short search already.

“You know, I have a really good feeling about this one,” the lady spoke as she pulled the dress a little tighter. You offered her a small grin and nothing more.

With a final few tugs, she stepped away from you, “take a look.”

You turned slowly to look in the mirror, and when you saw the flowing white gown draped across your body, your lips parted with a small gust of astonishment.

The dress was all lace, white of course, with a train that seemed to stretch for miles. The sleeves cascaded down your arms and flared out at the elbow, making you look like some sort of enchantress.

“Well… what do you think?” she spoke again when words failed to leave you.

It was beautiful, that was for sure. But you thoughts were becoming less about the dress itself, and more about everything that was to come with it. You’d always imagined this moment being reserved for when you and Jake decided to make that leap, it was occurring to you now that you’d never experience it that way.

It’d be August standing at the end of that aisle in six months. It’d be him you’d be promising to love forever, not Jake, the person you felt it was really meant to be. That familiar sadness began inching its way in, and you could feel the tears beginning to build. If they did fall, you could play them off as tears of joy.

“If- if you don’t like it we can—”

“No!” You interrupted, twirling around to face her with a tiny smile, “no I love it. It’s perfect.”

She smiled warmly at you, “I think so too. You’re going to make a beautiful bride.”

Her compliment should’ve made you happy, but it had quite the opposite effect.

“Let’s see what the other ladies think.”

She drew back the curtain that separated you from the rest of the dress shop. Your mom, two of your cousins, and a couple of your friends accompanied you there, all of them ingulfed in their own conversation, but when you appeared before them, their chatter ceased and all of their attention fell to you.

No one said a word as they stared, and it left you feeling nervous, you didn’t think you could handle them shooting down another dress.

“Well…?” Your voice trailed off, eyes finding your mom’s in a desperate search.

After several more moments of silence, your mom broke the barrier, “baby I think that’s the one.”

The other women erupted into a fit of squeals and excited giggles, all racing over to you as the same lady from the dressing room helped you onto the platform.

“My goodness August won’t know what hit him,” your cousin Liza, a proper southern belle, gushed.

“I think he might pass clean out,” your friend Rachel added.

Seeing everyone so excited about the dress had you feeling hopeful, and you joined in on their giddy banter momentarily, before the Tv hanging in the corner of the room grabbed your attention, causing the voices of everyone to fade into the background.

“And in recent news, lead guitarist Jake Kiszka from the increasingly popular band Greta Van Fleet was hospitalized and is being treated for what appears to be severe alcohol poisoning and potential toxicity from the involvement of prescription drug use. Kiszka was discovered at approximately one thirty yesterday afternoon when his bandmates and brothers went to his home in Montana after not hearing from him for several weeks. We’re unsure of his current state…”

Your mom was eyeing you cautiously as you stared at the screen in horror, the other girls still busy fussing over you, unaware of the detriment that was unfolding in real time.

The radio that was softly playing music in the dress shop switched songs. Only You by the Platters, and the room suddenly began shrinking in around you rapidly.

You could hear your mom calling your name, but it sounded like her voice was coming from the end of a long tunnel. Your heart, which hadn’t beat with any purpose in a long time began thrumming in your throat.

“I- I have to get out of here,” you muttered.

“Y/n wait,” your mother reached out to grab your arm, but you snatched away from her.

“NO! I need to leave! Please I have to go!”

Shock and confusion took over the girl’s faces as you fought your way back into the dressing room, pulling random strings on the dress to get if off of your body. You were hysterical, sobbing uncontrollably as your mom and the dress shop worker came to your aid.

“Can someone turn that damn song of please!?” You hollered as the dress finally fell and pooled at your feet.

“Y/n just calm down, just relax,” your mom attempted to talk you down, but you could hear a twinge of fear in her voice, seemingly just as worried about what happened.

“I cant!” you sniffled as you yanked your shirt over your head, “it’s my fault. It’s all my fault mom, I have to… I have to go to him.”

The words from his letter began taunting you.

Come to me…

Your mom was trying to stop you, but you weren’t listening to a thing she said, and once you were fully dressed, you dashed out of the dress shop, past your once so excited friends as you continued crying.

How had things turned so grim so quickly? It seemed impossible that the situation between you and Jake could get any worse, but here you were, at the worst point of it all.

The bell from the dress shop went off as your mom exited onto the street behind you, her head swiveling to see which direction you’d run off to.

When she spotted you, she picked her pace, “y/n wait please.”

“I- I have to go to Montana,” you choked out, stopping to face her, “it’s all my fault mama. All of this, it’s on me.”

There were fresh tears brimming her eyes, and she took a beat to compose herself, “do you remember when your father passed away? And for the first year, I’d always blame myself for what happened. Constantly beatin’ myself up… Do you remember what you would always say to me?”

You sniffled as you recalled all those gloomy days the two of you shared, and how whenever your mom needed it, you reminded her that she in fact was not at fault for what happened.

All a chapter in the story….

But there was no need for you to repeat those words, because both of you understood.

“Look baby,” your mom sighed, “why don’t you come back home with me? Okay? I- I’ll tell August that I needed your help with something, then I’ll reach out to Karen so we can figure out what’s going on.”

Once again you found yourself having your mother lie to August on your behalf, but you couldn’t feel bad, all of your guilt was reserved for Jake then.

“Please?” she begged again when you didnt reply, tears still threatening to spill from her eyes.

You noddded slowly, “okay.”

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Back in Townsend, you sat in your monther’s kitchen, grip tight on a steaming mug of Sage tea while she spoke to Karen on the phone in the other room.

You were a blubbering mess, unable to calm yourself down enough to drink, but the warmth from the cup was oddly enough to bring a wave of calm over you.

“Y/n,” your mom called out to you, “someone wants to speak to you.”

Your heart sank to the floor but that didnt stop you from all but knocking your chair to the ground in a hurry it get to the phone.

Your mom handed the phone off to you then left the room to give you privacy. You took a deep breath before bringing it to your ear.

“Jake?”

“No,” Josh’s short voice responded, causing you to deflate, “it’s me.”

“H-how is he, Josh?”

“He’s doing alright,” Josh sighed, “he’s just resting right now.”

You wiped a tear from your face, attempting to hold back the rest, “Josh… he didnt… he wasn’t trying to—”

“No, no,” Josh quickly responded, putting an end to all the terrible thoughts that were swarming in your head, “no. He was just trying to numb the pain, that’s all.”

Your hand found your chest as you let out a sigh of relief, “can- can I talk to him… please?”

Brief silence, then Josh’s voice again, “I dont think that’s the best idea right now, mama.”

“Right, no you’re right,” you nodded your head.

Neither of you said anything, now feeling the awkwardness of the situation. How had things turned so grim so quickly?

“Josh,” you whispered, “Josh I’m so sorry for everything. Yo-you know I never meant to hurt him like this.”

Josh chortled on the other line, catching you off guard, “you know, I kinda find that hard to believe.”

Your mouth dropped open in shock at the way his tone shifted, he sounded as if he were actually angry at you, and never in your life had you heard him speak that way.

“What?”

“I mean I just don’t get it. Why would you go to Kalispell, give him all of that hope, only to rip it out from under him?”

“It’s much more complicated than you’d ever understand, Josh,” you bit back, feeling your own frustration surfacing.

“Y/n,” Josh sighed, and if you didnt know any better, he was probably running a hand down his face at the moment, something he usually did when he was trying to compose himself, “not a lot of people are lucky enough to experience the type of love you and Jake have. Not a lot of people are meant to be the way you two are. You were made for each other. Bound for each other.”

“Josh I’m getting married,” your word were choked out due to the crying that had returned.

“I can tell just by the way you sound right now that that’s not what you really want,” his voice was sympathetic, “so why do it? Why subject you and Jake to a life apart from one another all because you’re afraid?”

It was a rhetorical question, you knew that. But it was the exact question you needed to be asked.

“Look, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Jake happy, I mean really happy. And I miss it. I miss who he was before everything went up in flames between you guys five years ago. And I know my brother well, he’ll never be truly happy again unless he has you. And I think it’s safe to say that the same applies to you.”

Nail on the head.

“I can’t force you to make any decision, you have to do that on your own,” he continued, sounding everything like your monther, “but I hope whichever one you make, it’s the right one. If not for Jake’s sake, for your own.”

It’s funny how certain moments can alter the complete course of your life. Like the day you first laid eyes on Jake, or the day he finally admitted his feelings for you. Like the day he left, like the day August walked into your life, the day he proposed. The day you ran into Jake in Nashville, the day you received the letter in the mail. The day you got on that plane, and the day you returned home.

All of those moments, no matter how small, were all pivoting points in your life, jerking you in all different directions. But this moment, this phone call, maybe being one of the smallest moments ever, was setting you up for the biggest pivot you had to make.

It was the lightbulb moment to top all.

You couldn’t marry August, and you wouldn’t.

Not when you loved Jake the way you did, it was impossible.

You had yet to reply to Josh, and he took this as a sign that the conversation had met it’s end.

“Take care of yourself,” Josh spoke again, repeating the words he said to you on the morning of his departure.

You said your goodbyes and placed the phone on the hook, seeing things much clearer now than you ever had before.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Chapter Twelve

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