#yeah like again Juste gets a pass he is a wonderful pure boy in this instance

[luvwestwood]

"Head Empty" - Gojo Satoru

3,043 words.

warnings. nsfw (18+), satoru is your tutor, resolved sexual tension, semi-public sex, he fingers you so you could focus on your studying, sex depr!ved reader, oral (under the table), he eats you out again, library setting, unprotected sex, praising, creampie, fucking you against the library shelves.

notes. i'm literally dripping like a waterfall as I write this. ugh I wish gojo was my tutor, I'd pass all my exams to make sure I receive that good dicking as a reward when I get an A++++.

art used is by @/yunonoai!

The days would only and inevitably count-down until the start of your finals week. You realised you were too much of a procrastinator - someone or something had to tell you to get your shit together to start studying, or at least to receive that ounce of motivation.

You knew who to call for that. A high grade achiever, ladies man, and the college's example of an ideal student. Gojo Satoru. Oh, and boy was he fine. Maybe, getting a little too fine.

You were majoring in law and history, and fuck, was it doing your head in. Luckily, your classmate Satoru offered some help - free of charge. Knowing you were in a sticky situation, of course you accepted the offer. I mean, who wouldn't? Tutoring from the smartest guy in your year is like learning a ground-breaking ability from a top class sorcerer.

Although, you were starting to regret it at some point.

Being with Satoru in the library - almost all day, every day of the week. Your thoughts were clouded with him. Filthy, or pure, the scenarios were endless.

Chin on your palm, eyes dazed into his own. Head empty. You would find yourself staring at his lips for too long, just to be able to hear him scold you playfully for not paying attention. But then having regret when you had to review the same day's topic for the third time cause you just wouldn't listen.

Nothing he taught you would go into that little brain of yours. Not one bit.

You wondered if he was a different type of smart. Intelligent enough to notice how you'd stamp your thighs together after thinking such vulgar thoughts. Like him bending you over the library's table, then and there, just pounding into you in front of ev-

..A slender hand waves in front of your face. "Hey, are you listening?" your train of thought had come to an end as his voice broke you out of your trance.

Your eyes widen, turning to the white haired man beside you. "..Yeah, of course I am." you quickly pull away your chin off your palm, picking your pen up just to stare blankly at the case study in front of you.

He groans, over the fact that this is a recurring thing every time the two of you study. "Then tell me," he continued, "What was I talking about?"

Your eyes flicker into an eyeroll in defeat, and Satoru just grins. Unfortunately you were unable to catch that.

"..Alright," He gently sighed. "Let's just do some quick drilling questions to get you more warmed up."

You stay quiet, mentally slapping yourself before you think; how does he even put up with me.

You fiddle with your biro as you watch his every move. The filthy thoughts come flooding in again as you watched his fingers turn the pages, and you just imagine that the pages were your fo-

"So, tell me. What was the inqu!s!t!on during the Reformation?" Satoru's lips pursed together in hopes of a correct answer from you.

"..That's easy. It was a court..” Developing your answer, your heart thumped as you awaited a 'correct' or 'wrong' result from Satoru. Why were you nervous anyways..? Were you.. seeking validation from him?

He smiled as you gave him the answer, which was in fact, correct. "Good girl," Satoru put a small tick beside the question to note you had it correct. "I knew you had it in you."

You just smile back, no verbal response. His praise towards you immediately had your legs clamped together like always, making you move around in your chair. Fiddling with the fabric of your mini skirt that you just put on for him to see your bare legs.

Satoru goes off on a tangent about another topic in relation to the reformation, and so forth. The words coming out of his mouth just ran straight through your ears, and to some trash can in the library. The thought of him praising you as you please him kept replaying in your head like a broken record player.

Feet tapping out of nervousness underneath the table, your poor biro was so chewed to the point it didn't look like a pen anymore.

A slam of a book was heard on your left, and it was Satoru. Luckily a few people have left the library, so the only person left was someone on the far end of the table, with their headphones on too.

The tapping of your foot had long ended, as you were faced with a distressed Gojo. His hand remained on the cover of the textbook.

"Okay, I know this is hard. You accepted my offer to tutor you, but if you wanted to study on your own that's fine with me." You weren't sure if he hated you, or was just fed up, but no response came out of your mouth.

His hand leaves the cover, and instead his whole body turns to you on the chair. "It always seems like- you're distracted. You're barely listening to me 70% of the time, could you tell me why?" Oh God, if only he knew why.

You lied, hoping you could get away with it. "I'm just tired. Finals week coming up just has me stressed, so I can't sleep." You mutter under your breath, but the library was quiet enough for Satoru to hear it perfectly fine.

"I don't think that's the issue." He slightly leans in closer to your face to whisper sternly. "You act like I don't see you biting your lip, squeezing your legs together or fiddling with the ends of that tiny skirt of yours every time you look at me."

You could've sworn that your throat went dry as your skirt hypothesis was proven true. "..I swear.. I'm not lying."

Satoru pinches his nose bridge in denial. "Look, I doubt that you would want to fail your finals because you were horny the whole time you were being tutored."

I honestly hope there's something playing in that persons headphones.

The two of you take a few breaths to recollect yourselves, until Satoru quietly speaks again.

"How about, we just ease back into reviewing the same material. Just please, give me your undivided attention. Just for now."

With Satoru knowing your dirty little secrets, there's no hiding now. You had no choice but to oblige. "Yeah okay. I'm all ears."

He opens the textbook again, returning to the same chapter. This time he goes on about the results of the reformation.

But something was different.

His warm hand rested on your bare thigh, almost under your skirt. Dangerously creeping into your inner leg, to the point that his pinky finger could graze against your underwear if he wanted to. Your feet tapping also managed to stop. This was enough to form a pool between your legs.

He paused his reading for a moment to turn to you. "Are you alright with my hand there? I mean, this is the only way I could get you to listen." Satoru caressed the soft flesh of your leg with his thumb. All you were able to do was nod, like an obeying puppy. "..Just, follow along with your textbook like a good girl."

Satoru's fingers brushed against your cotton underwear. He whispered under his breath, "You're so needy, aren't you huh?" Your hand swiftly held onto his wrist out of nervousness, his index finger toying with your panties to move them to the side.

"Just relax, and give me a summary of what you had just learnt."

You coughed, clearing your throat. "W-well, I believe it was for a good cause.. and..." Your breath suddenly hitched, stopping you mid-sentence. You felt Satoru's fingers slide between your folds, only slightly pushing his middle finger into your dripping hole.

Words couldn't describe how embarrassed you felt about the fact you and your panties were absolutely soaked.

Faint squelching noises were heard as he slowly fucked at this rate, two fingers into you under the table. Your words caught up in your throat one after the other, "..And.. attitudes to trade.."

You stopped talking, and your hand rested against your forehead as you felt his fingers curl up inside of you. The way you were squirming about in your chair, and the fact that your slick was fully coating his fingers had Satoru's cock straining against his pants.

"That's it.. you're 100% correct. Keep going." The curling of his middle and ring finger picked up its pace, his thumb now lazily rubbing circles on your clit.

You pulled away your forehead from your hand, moving to place it back against his own arm. "Satoru..I can't.. you're gonna.. make me cum.." You swallowed your spit to suppress a moan.

As soon as you said that, he pulled his fingers out. You could almost whimper out loud at the sudden emptiness in your hole, and that he denied you from getting off on his fingers.

"..What the fuck, Satoru?" You whispered angrily, a grin curling up on his face.

You watched as he wrapped his mouth around his fingers, sucking your juices off them before looking around the library. He pulls out a few papers from his backpack, which was another question and answer activity sheet.

"Do these for me, and by the time I'm back it better be finished, and I expect it to all be answered correctly." He slid the sheet to your side, before glancing around the library again.

Confused, you questioned him. "..Where are you off to?"

You could only see another smirk form on his face before he went underneath the table, disappearing off to somewhere. Oh no. You cautiously looked around your surroundings too. Still that one same person from earlier sitting at the end of the table.

A yelp escapes your mouth little too loudly as you felt him tickling the sides of your thighs with his hands, a creaking noise ringing throughout the library as he dragged your chair closer to the table and to him. Luckily no one regarded that.

Trying not to be obvious, you carried on with your work, making an attempt at the questions.

You could still feel him moving about underneath the table, his hands taking a hold under your thigh, placing both above each of his shoulders.

A playful giggle came out of your mouth as his soft hair tickled your legs, your hand sliding down his arm as they made their way behind you on the chair, cupping the back of your ass. His head now underneath your skirt, his pointer fingers going back under as well to tug on your panties, pulling them off and down your legs.

A wet kiss was immediately planted on your bare pussy, your legs jittering about on his shoulders at the ticklish feeling.

Another creak of the chairs legs against the floor was made as Satoru moved you closer to the edge of the chair to have full access to your pussy.

At one point, your thighs almost locked around his head as soon as his tongue made contact with your clit, and as he sucked on it with his lips before using his tongue to fuck your hole.

The writing on the activity sheet turned in to squiggles, now illegible. Your fingers instead twisted the corner of the paper, ruining the quality all together as it became wrinkly.

Your mouth formed an 'O' shape as you felt him fucking you with his fingers, and lapping at your clit at the same time. You had only covered your mouth with your fist to mask it as a yawn.

Meanwhile your other hand repeatedly tapped on his sculpted shoulder, letting him know you were about to cum. And if he didn't move, there'd be a mess all over the library hard-flooring.

The coil in your stomach had finally snap, your silent orgasm washing over you as Satoru lapped at your juices underneath, making sure not to miss a drop.

Satoru's face so messy and wet, it dripped down his chin as he sucked on your clit one last time for good luck.

You felt Satoru gently grab your thighs, placing them back down on the ground and off his shoulders. You honestly felt like you were gloop, your legs felt as if they were made of dough and unable to stand up on their own.

He crawled back up onto his chair, I don't know how the person on the other end of the table didn't suspect anything like at all. Maybe they're just acting dumb or perhaps just genuinely focused on their work.

You slightly looked down underneath the table, seeing your poor underwear left on the cold ground. I'll.. get that later.

"So, did you finish the sheet?" Satoru glanced over to the sheet, wiping and licking around his lips for any excess on his face.

He almost chuckled out loud as he saw the squiggly lines all over the answer boxes. "I'll take that as a no."

You roll your eyes, unamused. "I couldn't focus."

"Really? Well, that beats the purpose of me trying to help you less than thirty seconds ago." Satoru teases, turning around to the book aisles around him. "Ah- think we need to get a certain book. Come with me."

The two of you immediately knew what that meant, and at the speed of light you both got up from your chairs. The textbooks, bags and stationary were just left on the study tables. You remembered to tug on your skirt to make sure your ass wasn't on show before getting up.

Both you and Satoru scurried away into a book aisle deeper into the library, far away from where everyone was studying. Luckily the library was quiet today, and there are literally no cameras here. You always wondered why, but at this moment there was no way in hell you were complaining.

Reaching the 'Ecology' aisle, which was completely irrelevant to what both of you were studying, the two of you jokingly went separately on each side of the shelf, your eyes watching each other like a hawk through the gaps between the books.

Your heart was about to leap out of your chest as you got closer to the other end of the entire shelf. The last step, and Satoru comes jumping at you, pushing you against the entire shelf and started sloppily kissing each other. Almost like you both were yearning for this.

A whimper and grunt came from yours and Satoru's lips as you both melted into each other, a string of saliva connected your tongues as soon as he pulled away.

Your hand quickly snaked down to the waistband of his pants as he planted hot, wet kisses down your neck making you both giggle.

You just couldn’t believe this was happening right now. His heavy cock hanging and pre-cum leaking from the tip as you pulled it out from his pants. Picking you up, Satoru's hands cupped beneath your bare ass as your legs wrapped around his waist.

His weight fully pressed you back against the shelf, to be able to use his free hand to align his tip with your hole before slowly sliding in. You let out a gasp, you imagined him to be big but not so big in girth, as well as length. His cock stretched you out enough that it will probably remember his shape, and only his.

A long grunt came from his mouth as he felt you sink down on him, sliding in and out slowly - allowing you to adjust before immediately rutting into you at an inhumane pace, the shelves slightly shaking from how hard he was drilling into you.

Satoru's hands now had full support on your legs behind your knees, an 'Ecology 101' book falling off the shelf behind you as you moaned his name into his ear like it was a prayer, only to result in him panting against your neck.

"You drive me crazy," Satoru moans out, sounding feral as he panted between each sentence. "Got me pounding into you against the shelves at this library?" The two of you fucked like rabbits. His lips couldn't last ten seconds without yours.

Your ass would ripple each time he deeped into you, noises of your skin slapping against each other echoing throughout the library.

At one point, he thrusted deep enough to hit your sweet spots that you moaned a bit too loud. The two of you just bursted into a small giggle as he placed his palm over your mouth.

Another book, "All about Aquatic Ecology" falls off the shelf behind you. You wonder how someone hasn't check on you two yet, thinking the falling books were a sign of paranormal activity. I mean, you guys chose the shelves far away from people for a reason.

"F-Fuck, Satoru- I'm gonna.." Beads of sweat were starting to form on your forehead from how hard he was fucking your brains out, you were bound to cry, but you felt him place more kisses against your jaw. "Too fast.. Satoru-"

"I know baby, tell me," Satoru whispered, his thrusts getting slow and staggered. "What is it, you gonna cum?"

Your hands moved from behind his neck to clutching onto the fabric of his shirt on his shoulders. "..Please... let me cum.." Your head fell back against the wooden panel of the shelf. "And your cum.. I want it in me."

You felt Satoru give you one last deep thrust into your pussy, bottoming into you as he let out his thick load into your hole non stop, some of it leaking out and dripping down his cock.

The two of you moaned as quietly as you can as your orgasms washed over the both you, Satoru resting his forehead against your chest, his balls throbbing as his cum pumped into you continuously.

His arms still underneath your legs, Satoru slowly slid his cock out before grunting at the cum that dripped and leaked out of you, onto the library floor. What a mess.

He planted another kiss on your lips before gently placing your legs back down onto the ground, holding your hand for support.

"Fuck, Satoru. You literally blew my back out."

You could feel his warm cum slowly trickle down your inner leg, regretting the fact that you said you'll pick up your panties later on.

Satoru slapped your ass, grabbing a handful afterwards. "Think we'll need to start tutoring back at your place."

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ⤳ © luvwestwood ‘24. all works are owned by me, and originally come from my own head. please do not re-post on a third party platform without my permission!

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ⤳ as always, thank you for the love on each and every one of my posts. 🎀🩷

#gojo satoru smut #jujutsu gojo #satoru gojo #jujutsu kaisen gojo #jujutsu kaisen smut #gojo x you #jjk gojo #gojo smut #gojo x reader #gojo satoru #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen

[choccy-milky]

I know there's some parts of your fanfiction where Clora has some passing feelings of jealousy because of a comment or two made by background characters towards Sebastian, but I was wondering how you think Clora and Sebastian would genuinely react to a situation where someone was actively trying to pursue him? I was just curious since the raven and the snake have a good bit of people chasing after Clora and Sebastian being jealous (cough physically violent cough)

BAHAHA seb doesnt get physically violent when he gets jealous, he just gets irritated and petty LOL. gotta defend my boi for a sec, hes only gotten physically violent twice, and once was when clora was being blackmailed/SA'd, and the other was when he was corrupted by the relic, so it wasnt REALLYYYY him.

BUT to answer the question, this is what happens when clora gets jealous LOOL basically its: she gets jealous > knows that its unfounded and seb wouldn't reciprocate, so she keeps her feelings to herself > but still cant help but feel down about it > seb catches on and makes sure to reassure her. and seb would 1000% be willing to just never talk to the other girl ever again if thats what it took BAHAHA but obvs clora would reject that and tell him thats way too extreme. and altho seb thinks its cute when cloras jealous, he also doesnt like making her feel that way, since he considers it a sort of failure on his part (like, if ur feeling jealous, it means im not proving that i love you enough LMAO) whereas for when seb gets jealous, its: he gets jealous > tells clora of his suspicions / that the dude is trying to get with her > clora tries to reassure him that its nothing, and that its all just platonic (bc it IS from her POV, whether the dude actually likes her or not, bc shes naive af) > seb has no choice but to put up with it LOL bc he's self-aware and knows he gets jealous easily, and accepts that he might be overreacting, but he'll still keep an eye on it regardless. he trusts clora but he doesnt trust the guys, and unlike seb, clora wouldnt stop talking to someone she considered a friend just bc seb THINKS they like her. unless the dude is straight up asking her out/being super bold and obvious about it, clora would just default to 'oh hes just being friendly😇 LMAO. basically seb is too jealous and clora is too naive and they both know this about themselves and each other, so they kinda have to meet in the middle on these things HAHA. for seb its like yeah fine, i might think every guy has nefarious intentions, but YOU also think every guy is completely pure and has absolutely NO romantic intentions ever LOL. but they know this so it works out LMAO (plus even if it is slightly infuriating for each other at times, seb still finds cloras naivety/innocence endearing, and clora also finds sebs possessiveness/jealousy endearing as well🥰) also unrelated but i finally changed my pfp after a year and its cracking me up. that is all

#damn i sure rambled huh..its funny cuz clora and seb kinda have this convo in my most recent chap about how theyre basically opposites LOL #and how bc of it they make 'quite the pair' LOL #i have another jelly clora scene coming up and i think thatll be the third time in my fic cloras gotten jealous #once from the girls watching him play quidditch once from natty teaching him magic and now the MYSTERY THIRD TIME #its rarer for clora to get jealous bc she doesnt jump to conclusions like seb LMAO. and also bc seb is too clingy to give her a chance LOL #ask #choccyart

[iovetecchou]

tecchou with prompt 6 and 7 from the smut prompts please!!

prompt: "You like it when i fuck you like this? yeah you do."

“You can take it.” / “Look how good you take it.”

NSFW Content. AFAB Reader.

1.3k words.

You had been riling up your sweet boyfriend, Tecchou all day. You see, Tecchou was a kind and gentle lover. Always putting your needs before his own, especially when it came to you both being intimate. Constantly choosing to take things slow, and you loved him for that so much. But, there was another part of you that wanted to see a different side of him in the bedroom. A wilder side.

You were a part of the Hunting Dogs division, working alongside your wonderful boyfriend. Sometimes you would be paired up together on missions, and when a perpetrator would get on Tecchou’s bad side, it always seemed to turn you on. The way his face would become so sharp, and calculated. Voice dropping a few octaves laced with pure venom, directed at the lousy criminal at hand. Knowing that your boyfriend had a rougher side to him had you wondering what it would be like if he acted that way when you two became intimate.

The thought alone got you so worked up. But, your sweet Tecchou could be so dense at times. When you brought up the idea to him, it would always fly right over his head.

“Baby, why don’t we spice things up tonight! You can do whatever you want to me, treat me like I’m one of those filthy criminals we always take down at work!”

He just stared at you, with no thoughts behind his eyes. Tilting his head before saying,

“Huh? why would I do that y/n? You’re not a criminal.”

It didn’t matter how you spun it, he never understood what you were asking for. So, you decided you would have to just… do this the hard way. You had been clinging to Jouno the whole day. Laughing at everything he said, wrapping your arms around his waist as you hugged him from behind. And Tecchou didn’t like this, not one bit. He was glaring at the two of you all day, staying quiet and keeping his distance nonetheless. You were picking up on his irritation. Every time you would praise Jouno, or brush up against him you would look over at your boyfriend. And boy, was he seething.

Your plan might just work after all. But, the last straw for Tecchou was when you all were going home for the day. As you were saying your goodbyes to all of your colleagues, you stood on your tippy toes in front of Jouno, placing a chaste kiss against his cheek as a parting gift. Tecchou was fuming. He was silent the whole ride home, barely even passing you a glance. It was all going according to plan!

The moment you two stepped into your shared apartment, Tecchou was on you. Pressing you up against the door, his face only centimeters away from your own. You could feel his breath fanning against your lips. “Baby w-what are you-“ But you never finished your sentence, you were cut off by Tecchou. His lips were now pressed into your own. He wasted no time slipping his tongue past your lips, you gasped at the suddenness of his actions, giving Tecchou the perfect opening. You didn’t even fight for dominance as his tongue explored your mouth. You were enjoying the feeling of him kissing you with so much fervency to want to take the reins.

He pulled back a few moments later, leaving you gasping for air as he spoke up. “I don’t like when you kiss Jouno, angel. I don’t care if it was just on his cheek, don’t ever do that again. You understand me?” His voice was low, with no trace of your usual sweet and tender Tecchou. You were trying to hide your excitement, choosing to feign innocence. “Huh? but Jouno and I are just friends… why are you getting so worked up over him baby?” You tilted your head up at him slightly. Trying to play it off as though what you pulled was completely harmless. But Tecchou wasn’t having that, not even for a second. He wasted no time picking you up and hoisting you over his shoulder. Walking you over to the kitchen counter before placing you down. You were now sitting against the cold granite as Tecchou caged himself between your legs.

His fingers swiftly traveled up the hem of your skirt flipping it up and pulling your panties down before you could even process his movements. Without missing a beat, Tecchou pushed two lithe fingers into your sopping pussy. Not giving you a second to adjust before he started stretching you out at a relentless pace. “Baby ahn… t-too much!” He brought his free hand up to cup your jaw, forcing you to look him in the eyes.

“You can take it.“

His irises were drawn into slits, lips pulled into a straight line as he continued to plunge his deft fingers into you. He tilted your head down with the grip he had on your jaw, forcing you to take in the scene of him completely stirring up your insides.

“See? Look how good you take it.”

You couldn’t help the breathy moan that slipped past your lips at the rough treatment you were getting from your boyfriend. Watching him stretch you out on his skillful digits made you clench around him harshly. You loved this side of him, so fucking much. Without warning, he pulled his dripping fingers out of your cunt, pushing them past your parted lips to keep you quiet. He moved the hand that was placed against your jaw to his trousers now. Making quick work at freeing his aching cock. Your eyes were glued to the sight of him, eagerly waiting for him to finally fuck you senseless.

He swiftly guided his length to your slick pussy. Pushing in with one swift motion. Giving you no time to adjust before he started jackhammering his hips against your own. Your legs wrapped around his frame, pulling him in even deeper as he continued to fuck your cunt at an ungodly pace. You were a whining whimpering mess, drooling all over his fingers that were still resting against your tongue. Your eyes rolled back at each inward thrust he made into your pussy, clenching around his throbbing cock so sweetly. He grunted at the feeling.

"You like it when I fuck you like this? Yeah, you do."

He was smirking now. Enjoying how wrecked you were becoming, and it was all for him. He pulled his fingers out from your mouth, moving both of his hands to hold your waist. He was fucking you on his dick even fiercer now, making you see starts as you whined out his name. “Hiro… b-baby… m’ gonna cum! Don’t stop m’ cumming!” You were spasming around his length, gummy walls gripping him impossibly tighter. He let out a delicious moan of his own, plunging into you harshly a few more times before he reached his own high. Spilling his load into you with one final groan of your name.

You could feel his cock twitching inside you as you both came down from your highs. You were panting harshly as you brought one hand up to stoke Tecchou’s cheek. Caressing your thumb gently against the markings under his eye. “I should get you riled up more often baby… that was so sexy!” You excitedly exclaimed, leaning in to leave a loving kiss on his lips. Tecchou broke out of his daze now, the post-nut clarity hit him like a ton of bricks. “Wait, is this what you meant when you asked me all those times to “Treat you like one of those lousy criminals?” You just giggled at his words as he began to soften inside of you. His cum was beginning to drip out of you, spilling onto your kitchen countertop below.

Ah, your gorgeous, airhead boyfriend would surely be the death of you.

i kind of got carried away with this one! feral tecchou>>> anyways, thank you so much for your support, i hope i was able to fulfill your request to your liking!! (:

#bsd smut #bsd imagines #bsd tecchou #bsd #bsd x reader #bungou stray dogs imagines #bungou stray dogs x reader #tecchou x reader #bungou stray dogs smut #suehiro tecchou #tecchou suehiro x reader #tecchou suehiro #suehiro tecchou x reader #tecchou smut #bungou stray dogs #bsd tetchou #suehiro tetchou #tetchou suehiro #tecchou suehiro smut #iovetecchou 100 followers event!

[dreaming-of-lu]

Heyo💖 I hope you are having the bestes time!

I was wondering if you can write a scenario of reader trying to hold the boys hands!

It can be anyone, but like either the reader is upset and is getting stuck in their head. They need one of the boys to ground them, but like they don’t want a hug, just need a hand.

Or

One of the boys just woke up from a nightmare and they can’t stop seeing the images from the dream. Reader notice this and is trying to comfort or ground them.

Something like that!

By the way you look gorgeous today💕💕

A/N: I am! Also thank you for being patient and shhiiieeettt, why thank you, you look gorgeous too doll 😘 Buckle in. CW: Gore, body horror and vomit (Hyrule), Panic attacks

o(〃＾▽＾〃)o Part 1 of 3 (Twilight, Hyrule, Legend)

Twilight

The cold feeling of ice that slithered down him had encased his entire being, freezing everything within him, from blood to veins to nerves. He stood rooted to his spot at the sight of all the portals opening right before him. What was clouded previously in purple smoke and shadows was now standing a pure crystal blue, beckoning them to step through to come home. There would be no more fighting, no more monsters to deal with, no more shadows, no more nothing. The journey was over, they were free to rest now, but an ache deep within his heart tore at the flesh, tissue, and muscle.

It was too good to be convincing, but it meant goodbye to everybody, especially you. You, who came bounding up to him, your face so giddy that it stung deep in his heart. You, who smashed your way through his heart and now leaving him; cold and all alone.

"Well," you excitedly bounced on your feet, beautiful colored eyes that stared into his own, making him weak in the knees, "this is it!"

"Yeah, haha."

Twilight gives a shaky grin, masking the feelings that rose deep in him; his inner voice and nerves yelled at him and begged him to beg you to stay with him. He wanted to be selfish, just this once; he wanted to be absolutely heedless, but he couldn't bring himself to do that to you.

"It's time for me to go; it was a long journey, but I'm glad I got to know all of you!"

'Please, don't leave me! Please!'

"I love you all, do take care of yourselves!" The sight of your bright smile made his chest clench to where he felt as if all the air was sucked right out of him, the feeling of being sucker punched hard in the gut. Sound slowly dispersed as his ears loudly began to ring; it was deafening. He didn't notice that one by one, all of them left except him. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he stood rooted to the spot.

Every sound made it sound like he was underwater, feeling chained to the floor as he watched the portal you went through disappear.

His eyes watered, the feeling of his heart threatening to burst through his chest as he heavily breathes, hoping to will himself around to head into the portal to his home. He couldn't shake himself out of it even as darkness began to edge along his vision. You were gone. Gone. He was all alone. Again. He whimpers, feeling like a child, lost and afraid, without the person they clung to. He sobs and sobs, begging loudly to the heavens for you to come back.

"Please," he keens, "don't leave me all alone."

Shadows encased him; a voice so faint yelled his name. It grows louder and louder, shaking him deep into his core.

"Link! Wake up!" His entire body jolts up, heart in his throat, panting wildly with wide eyes as they searched frantically. Body hunched in defense, ready to leap into a fight. He flinched at the feeling of a hand that quickly receded. So many thoughts and questions ran through his mind. Where was he? Who woke him up? They ran for miles.

"Link," the voice sounded so far away and warbly, "you need to breathe."

He greedily sucked in the air, heaving deep breaths before the heart in his chest began to slow from the terror that took him. With a blurry sight beginning to clear, he sees you. You. You sat before him on the bed in the shared bedroom in the same home, staring worriedly at him. Hair was a mess, your sleep-riddled eyes, and you were wearing one of his tunics; it slowly slipped off your shoulder, yet you still looked so gorgeous to him. The gentle feeling of your hand on his cheek made him sigh blissfully, nuzzling into your palm at the peace you held.

"Want to talk about it?" you voice nothing more than a whisper to his ears, soft enough to not shatter the air that overtook the bedroom. Twilight weakly shook his head,

"No," teary blues gazed into yours, "can I hold you?"

"Yes, always, darling."

Hyrule (Warning if you haven't read it in the note: Gore, Body horror, and vomit. Please skip if you are uncomfortable with this.)

"No, no, please!" Hyrule sobbed, his hands frantically pressing against the wound. Violently sobbing as he watched hopelessly at the blood that stained his hands, staining yours and his tunic, the smell of iron that made his stomach churn on the spot when it began to leak past his fingers. You swore you would stay out of this fight! You swore! Why did you have to be so foolish?! He can handle his own in a battle; Hyrule's like the other Links, always comes out victorious in the end. He was shaking. Shaking so bad.

Yet you don't know when to call it in when they are out of your zone. You weren't like them, any of them! You don't hold a triforce, you're not a holder of the master sword, and you're not a reincarnated Link!

"You are," Hyrule choked on his spit, "such a fool! You know we had it handled!"

He could use his magic! Hyrule closed his eyes, willing forth the ability to heal the wound.

Why? Why was his magic not working? Why does he not feel it? Hyrule looked panicky at his hands, hoping to see the familiar glow, only for the same red liquid that dyed his hands to glare right back at him. His brows furrowed, mind racing, digging into his memory at anything that could help heal you. A movement under his hands caught his attention.

He stared in horror as the wound widens before his eyes, skin and tissue peeling back to reveal organs. He felt his hands slowly sink into you; the blood stuck his hands together, forming them almost like crystallization; no matter how hard he pulled, they didn't budge. Your intestines began moving, wrapping around his wrists, tightly squeezing them, and bile rose in his throat at the feeling of them.

He began to yell loudly with the hope that somebody in the group would come to his aide, only for silence to answer him. He looks over his shoulder to see darkness staring back at him.

Hyrule jolts at the feeling of a hand clutching his arm; static crept up his arms and down the back of his neck.

Your wild, bloodshot eyes stared back at him. Your hand aggressively grabbed his tunic, forehead against forehead. Blood, spit, and bile spew from your lips and spat across his horror-stricken face.

"YOU COULD'VE SAVED ME!"

Hyrule's body shot forward, his legs scrambling out of his blanket, stumbling over his feet to book it little ways from camp. He fell onto his knees harshly, his body lurching forward, dry-heaving until vomit came out, crying harshly at the burn and the haunting image that never left his mind, burning into his lids.

"-ulie!" He sobbed. Everything hurt. His gut felt like it was squeezing the life out of him, eyes and nose burning. He couldn't stop crying; he cried harder when a hand rested on his back.

"Rulie, Hyrule," the voice sounded so far, yet it was near; he clung to it like a lifeboat upon the roaring waves of the angered seas that never ceased its brutal pounding. It was his anchor when the voice repeated itself,

"Hyrule," oh, so soft, so sweet, "you're safe; it was just a dream."

"Please," he whimpers, "please, don't leave me alone."

"I won't, Link. I won't."

Legend

Everything was screaming at him.

The endless tyrants, the never-ending feeling that he was in danger, consistently in fight or flight mode. Shadows lurked on the edge of his vision, threatening to completely shut the light out as his sight blurred. Everything was spinning; the breath he had escaped him, short gasps left his lips, and the sounds of the forest were drowned out by his own heartbeat pounding loudly with his ears.

'It's not safe! We're not safe!' His brain screamed at him, emotions going wild, flickering like a lit candle between every feeling. Not stopping on one or two, just continuously speeding rapidly like his eyes that ran back and forth in the haze of colors that overwhelmed him.

"Please," he gasped, "make it-"

He felt caged within his mind, feeling like he was stuck in his rabbit form, bouncing off the steel walls, hoping that he'll escape. How many minutes has it been? Two? Elven? He wasn't sure anymore, but the feeling tightened its hold on him, never letting him loose, just as if a Hinox had him in its hand.

"-end," it sounded so far and muffled. Feeling a hand land on his clenched one, he opens his and quickly traps it in his. The buzzing of his nerves vibrated through his hand, and he clenched it tighter, holding the person's hand to his beating chest.

"-end," muffled, "ca- -u -ar -e?"

"NO!" He sobs.

The voice sounded so far; he felt like he was head-first underwater again, relieving the nightmare he witnessed when Koholint Island disappeared and he woke up on a raft in the ocean.

"Please, don't let this be a dream!" He sobbed harshly.

"I got you, but I need you to breathe right now; can you do that? Follow my breathing."

In.

Out.

In. 2. and out. 2.

In. 2. 3. 4. and out. 2. 3. 4.

In. 2. 3. 4. 5. and out. 2. 3. 4. 5.

His sight clears, the first thing he sees was your eyes and your gentle smile.

"Hey there, bunny."

#.bea's writing #linked universe x reader #lu twilight x reader #lu legend x reader #linkeduniverse x reader #lu hyrule x reader #lu x reader #cw: gore #cw: panic attack #cw: vomit #cw: body horror

[givemea-dam-break]

Hello! Could you do a Lockwood x reader where it’s like an enemies to lovers please? Thanks :) ❤️

a/n: abso fucking lutely i'm obsessed with this idea omg thank you, this is a long one, so be warned. i hope you enjoy! it doesn't have much of the 'lovers' part, so i'd be more than happy to write a part two if anyone wants :)

warnings: language, mentions of abuse (for a case, not the reader) gn reader

full series collection: here

Doughnuts. All you wanted was some goddamn doughnuts from your favourite bakery, but even that had to be ruined by some stuck-up, arrogant boy who had a penchant for wearing obnoxiously long jackets that were surely impractical.

Breathing a sigh through your nose, you gratefully take the box of glazed doughnuts from Arif.

He's striding towards you with those concerningly long legs, and it's only when you get closer to the door that you realise he's on a mission. If he'd wanted to make some snide remark, he would've done so in passing, but, no, he's making a beeline straight for you.

"Lockwood," you say tightly, gripping the box hard.

"(name)," he says, plastering on that infamous 'Lockwood Grin' that you cannot stand. "I was wondering if I could speak to you."

"Isn't that what you're doing now?"

If you didn't know any better, you'd think the sarcastic comment hadn't bothered him, but a muscle ticks ever so slightly in his jaw. Almost unnoticeable.

"I mean, out of the way of customers," he says, gesturing behind him to the line of people at the till. "Mind if we sit?"

You really don't want to, partly because he's a pompous ass that screwed you over a year ago, but also because you would much rather be sat in your flat, stuffing your face with glazed doughnuts while reading that new book your flatmate lent you. But something in his expression, his posture, tells you that it should wait and, against your better judgement, you trudge over to one of the small tables.

"What do you want?" you ask, crossing your arms. "There are things I'd much rather be doing than speaking to you."

Lockwood sits across from you, and that face of his - oh, how you want to punch it. It's as if his resting face is just one of pure confidence and arrogance, and you hate it.

"What? Sitting home doing nothing until you get a call for a job?" His brow raises in question. "Yeah, well, I've got a job for you. Lockwood and Co need help on a case."

You scoff. "And why would I help you? Last time I did that, you stole the job right from under me. DEPRAC rules, you said. Bullshit."

"Look," Lockwood says, "I didn't mean for that to happen. New rules had come into place that I didn't know about. But we need you, (name), even if it pains me to say."

"Well, it doesn't pain me to say no." You slip your bag on, which had been sitting on the ground by your feet, and stand, grasping your doughnut box. Then, sarcastically, "Have a great day, Lockwood."

"Wait, please."

For a moment, you hesitate. The way he said please tugged at something in you, something deep down and buried. One of his hands has reached across the table as if to grab yours, and you frown.

"Listen, I know we don't get along anymore, but this case... We need a Listener, a good one."

"Thought your Listener was the best in the country, or did you scare her off, too?"

He looks a little pained at that, but only for half a second. Then, he gestures for you to sit again. Reluctantly, you do so, but only because that little part of you, the part that you buried the last time you trusted him, is screaming at you.

"Lucy is out of action for a bit," Lockwood explains. "She's visiting family up north, but this isn't a case we can pass up. We need a Listener for it, and you're the next best thing. This time, I'll make sure you get your cut of the pay. This one is under Lockwood and Co, not DEPRAC."

You shouldn't accept the offer, you really shouldn't. Last time, he had taken the whole share for his company because "Whoever secures the source gets the pay", and you'd been left living on scraps for a fortnight until your next case came through. He'd promised you countless things before the case, after the case, and he'd fallen through on all of them.

But this... It's been a while since you've been on any case but some measly Type Ones, and you have to admit that you're itching to have a challenge, to really put your Talent to good use.

"Tell me about the case, and I'll think about it."

He perks up a little at that. "From the description the woman, Mrs Wyatt, gave us, something her granddaughter told her, we assume it's a Type Two, but a strong one. George can't find much, if anything, about the home to help us understand the purpose of the ghost or what a possible source may be, hence why we need a Listener."

"Right." You take one of the doughnuts from your box and take a bite out of it. "How much of the cut will I get? I understand you have a company, and that'll inevitably cost more, but I have bills to cover, too, and freelancers don't get nearly enough work."

"Forty percent," Lockwood offers.

You pause, taken aback. In all honesty, you would've accepted twenty-five percent - it was reasonable, and jobs with Type Twos often earned a lot more, so it's not like you would be going skint, but forty? It's more than you could've hoped for in a situation like this.

That doesn't mean you'll turn it down.

"Alright," you say. "Deal. Give me an address and a time, and I'll be there."

--

The house that looms over you is tall and foreboding despite its sandstone exterior, framed by beautiful flowering plants and some kids' tricycles and bikes in the driveway. It's a two-storey house, not overly large, but something about it has dread coiling in your stomach.

After the meeting with Lockwood, you decided to do a little bit of research yourself, and it turned out that he was right. Obviously, your research skills were nowhere even close to the standard of George's, but there was nothing except for some building plans for the house dating back to the early twentieth century.

So, here you stand, confused and annoyed, checking the watch on your wrist impatiently.

Late. Lockwood and George were late.

You expected as much, but it doesn't mean that you're not irritated. The sun is making its descent in the sky, and, although it's summer, the creeping darkness that is miles away from overtaking the sky still gives you a chill.

A Type Two in a house with no known malevolent history or any kind of strange deaths. Strange, but not entirely unheard of.

"(name)! So sorry we're late."

You turn, scowling. "You realise we now only have, what, twenty minutes to scout out the house and set up defences?"

Lockwood and George stumble to a stop in front of you, panting from running and carrying their heavy gear.

"Again," Lockwood says, "we're sorry. Let's get in there, shall we? Make a start?"

He makes for the front door and, begrudgingly, you follow shortly behind, George trailing after.

The interior of the house is cosy, with warm-toned flowery wallpaper and photographs hanging in frames from the walls. Children laughing in coloured photos, or black and white polaroids from even further before. A few plants are scattered, on the table lining the wall, in the corner of the hall beside the stairs. A patterned rug lines the hardwood floor.

You take it upon yourself to set up an iron chain circle in the hallway, setting a lantern in the centre for dim light while George and Lockwood explore the kitchen and living room, setting up circles there, too. All of the rooms are the same - warm-toned walls, photos everywhere, soft-cushioned seats, and the soothing scent of lavender and, strangely, bergamot.

"Sixteen degrees in the hall and the kitchen," George calls.

"Fourteen in the lounge," Lockwood replies. "You hear anything yet, (name)?"

"About to try."

Taking a deep breath, your senses begin to fade away until all that's left is silence, thick and heavy. There's nothing, no traces of sound, until... Tapping, like a walking stick on wood. Ever so faint, but persistent, followed by slow shuffling feet.

"I've got something," you say. "Upstairs. Someone walking, using a walking stick."

Lockwood appears from the living room, donning that annoying grin of his. "Perfect. George, you stay down here and monitor the rooms, make sure nothing is down here. We'll go upstairs and see if we can find a source of some kind."

He strides up the stairs, and you follow, making sure to keep your senses open. The tapping is still going, but it's slowly getting louder. There's something more behind it, something you can't pick out.

"Lockwood, wait."

He stops short, turning back to look at you. "Everything alright?"

"Wait here a minute."

You pass him on the stairs, cautiously stepping onto the landing. There are three bedrooms and a bathroom, but one door hangs open slightly. You inch closer, but find yourself pausing a few feet away.

Shouting. It's muffled, but you can hear it well enough. A man and a woman, arguing furiously, and then, a sharp crack, like something being hit. There's a loud cry of pain, and you flinch, stumbling backwards. Then, a cry of anger, the sound of a woman's rage, another loud crack, and, finally, silence.

"(name), what's wrong?" Lockwood's fingers brush your arm, and, usually, you would've scowled and shrugged him off, but to have the comfort of something living nearby calms you a little.

"It's only ever been Mrs Wyatt's family living here, right?"

"That's what George says. Why?"

You swallow the lump in your throat. "I think she missed out on some important details."

"Such as?"

"I think she killed her husband."

Lockwood chokes on air but regains his composure quickly. "What?"

"In her defence, he was an abusive prick, I think. And, if my guess is worth anything, his walking stick is the source."

You're glad that Lockwood doesn't ask you how you know that. Instead, he draws his rapier and checks the temperature outside the bedroom door.

"Nine degrees and falling," he says. "Growing malaise... It's still early for a ghost to be this strong."

"Set up an iron circle outside the door," you suggest. "I'll watch your back, then we can open the door and look in. One of us hunts for the source, the other keeps watch."

"You know," Lockwood says while pulling iron chains out of his bag, "I'm hiring your services. I should be making the plans."

You shrug. "I'm a freelancer. I go by my own rules and strategies. Now, I'm going to go inside and search for the source. Watch my back."

He's about to protest, but you draw your rapier and step into the bedroom before he can.

If not for the chill that cuts straight through you upon stepping into the room, it would have been lovely to see. The walls are a pretty shade of green, and the bed is made - untouched. A massive mahogany wardrobe towers in the corner beside the large window.

"Be careful," Lockwood says from the circle. "There's a deathglow by the wardrobe. It's bright."

Slowly, cautiously, you make your way over to the wardrobe. The scene from earlier replays in your mind, but the tapping of a walking stick has gotten louder. Nothing happens as you inch closer, but dread and tiredness make your limbs heavy - Lockwood was right, it's too early for the malaise to be this strong. It's not even entirely dark outside.

"(name), watch out!"

A chill cuts right by you, and a bright light glows as the ghost, appearing from god knows where, launches itself in your direction. You leap out of the way, falling backwards onto the bed and swiping your rapier in a figure-of-eight motion. Lockwood runs from the iron circle, throwing a salt bomb at the ghost, which disappears momentarily.

He grasps your hand, pulling you off the bed. "At least we know who the ghost is now. Mr Wyatt."

You breathe heavily, eyes widening before you push Lockwood out of the way. The ghost of Mr Wyatt, a middle-aged man - maybe in his late fifties upon his death - dressed in a shirt, dress pants, and a patterned sweater vest, rages over and would've ghost-touched Lockwood if not for you moving him. You duck out of the way, slashing with your rapier again, but the ghost reforms quickly, pushing you backwards.

All of a sudden, your feet are separated from the ground, and you're thrown backwards. Your back slams through the glass of the window, shattering it, and, for a moment, you think you'll fall to the ground, breaking every bone in your body and dying a horrible death.

It would certainly be a way to go, falling from a window, but your fingers latch onto the window frame, pierced by the sharp glass still attached. Your grip is weak, and your arms are shaking badly. The ground is so far below...

"(name)!"

"Get the source!" you shriek, trying not to look down. "Wardrobe!"

"George!" Lockwood shouts.

You can't see much of what's happening, but you can hear it: Lockwood's feet dancing across the ground as he fights off the ghost. As you slowly pull yourself up, not to much avail, you catch a glimpse of him nearing the wardrobe, pursued by a very angry ghost.

"Hurry!" you cry. Blood seeps down your hands, your grip slipping on the window. "Lockwood!"

Another few seconds and you'll fall, but the room is suddenly silent, filled only by Lockwood's heaving breathing. His footsteps hurry over, and then he's leaning out of the window, grasping your arms in a strong grip. He pulls you through the window, and your faces are too close for a moment. You're acutely aware of the warmth of his hands through your jumper, of the sound of his heartbeat, so close, so loud. You swallow hard and stumble out of his grip onto the bed, breathing heavily and trembling.

"Was I right?" you ask, trying to hide your fear. "Was it the walking stick?"

Lockwood pants, sitting on the bed beside you. "You were right."

Heavy footsteps sound on the landing, and then George stands in the doorway. "Did you get the ghost?"

"Yes," Lockwood says, his voice angry. "Where were you?"

"I couldn't hear you," George said. "It was like there was some sound block or something. I've heard of ghosts doing that before."

You take a deep breath. "Either way, it's gone now."

"Thanks to you," Lockwood says. "If not for you, we wouldn't have known what the source was, or where it was."

It hurts a little to stand up. "Long as I get paid, I'm happy. Now, can we get out of this house?"

Lockwood's eyes linger on you a little too long. "Come back to Portland Row with us. We'll get you patched up."

You want to refuse the offer, but your fingers are torn up, bleeding, and there's glass stuck in some parts of your flesh, plus, Portland Row is closer than your flat.

"Fine."

--

It's safe to say that ghost hunting was the best career path for Lockwood - he'd be a shit doctor, to put it simply.

"You don't have to put that much cream on the cuts, you twat. It'll all just squeeze out of the plasters and go all over my hands."

Lockwood's grip on your hand is gentle as he begins applying plasters. "It's supposed to help fight off the chance of infection. Surely more is better."

You groan, but there's not much else you can do. Your other hand has already received the Doctor Lockwood treatment.

You've never really spent this much time this close to Lockwood, but part of you - one you want to tear out, rip up, and burn - doesn't mind it. That part doesn't mind the scent of tea and cheap shampoo, or the feeling of his hand enveloping yours in a grasp so soft that it's barely there.

Get it together, you tell yourself.

You have to remind yourself of why you two don't get on in the first place: the last case you worked on together, the snide remarks made since, but... is it worth keeping that up? Yes, you were hurt, and, yes, it still stings thinking about your trust in him a year ago being betrayed in a way that might seem small to most, but is it really worth keeping it up? All the anger?

Your flatmate has told you on multiple occasions to move on, to forgive, even if you don't forget, and now, watching Lockwood tenderly patch you up as if the last year of arguing and avoidance never existed, you almost want to listen to her.

Lockwood tilts his head up to look at you, and you freeze, having been caught in the act of staring at him. His cocky grin appears, and you groan, looking away.

"Thanks," you say, pulling your plastered hand out of his grip. "I better head home."

Lockwood hesitates. "Why don't you stay? It's late, and it's a half-hour walk to your flat from here. Lucy's room is free."

You scoff. "Today's case may have gone well, but that doesn't mean I want to stay under your roof for the night. You'll probably poison my tea."

"Alright." Part of his tone sounds disappointed, but the expression on his face shows none of the emotion. "I'll get the money sent to you as soon as."

"Good." Standing, you pluck a biscuit from the tin on the kitchen table. "And, uh... Thanks for saving my life."

He grins wide. "Any time."

Hesitating, you watch him for a second longer - the way he moves as he packs away the first aid kit, the way his eyes flick from the table to you.

Something about your relationship has changed. Even now, you no longer feel the burning hatred for him. No, it's simmered down a bit. Now, it's a mild dislike with a touch of... what is that? Admiration? Gratitude? Ew.

"See you around, Lockwood."

"See you, (name). And, again, thank you, for helping with the case."

"It was whatever."

#lockwood x reader #anthony lockwood x reader #lockwood and co #lockwood and co x reader #lockwood and co fanfiction #george karim #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #givemea-dam-break #fanfiction #x reader #lockwood and co netflix

[meili-sheep]

So on my No Bad End fic I mentioned doing a Crepus approval scale because It was the closest to the Diluc Harem I'll be writing so as a reminder

The Kaeya Scale of Approval Thoma (9.9) Wriothesley (8.5) Xiao (8.4) Itto (6) Eula (5.6) Al Haitham (4) Kaveh (3.5) Albedo (3) Childe (2.6) Ayato (1) Donna (0.5) Zhongli (0)

And now introducing!!

Crepus Scale of Approval!

So starting right at the top, kind of surprise to Kaeya is Al Haitham (9.0). So yeah he's not really a romantic type up he's got a stable job, a house. Good things. But what Crepus likes Is Al Haitham's very "Take care of myself first" mind set. He really wants that to rub of more on Diluc, and he's hoping that together they'll balance each other out.

Right under him is actually Zhongli (8.0) Because like Al Haitham he seems to have a stable job and is well respected in his community. Defiantly gets dinged point for forgetting his wallet. But he's respectful and treats Diluc well. Now if Crepus learns he's an Archon he gets a little torn because suddenly he feels like he's much too old for Crepus's baby, but Diluc deserves the best and how better can you be than a literal god?

After that is a tie with Wriothesley and Ayato (7.5) Like those above them, Crepus like their stable and high ranking positions. They both get dinged though because Crepus would be worrying too much about Diluc feeling like he was fighting for social standing.

Under those two is Albedo (7.3) He's got a lot of going for him, being a knight and having Alice's backing behind him. He just gets knocked down a lot of points because he's a weirdo. And Crepus would constantly be asking Alice "Are you sure your nephew is ok?"

Next up, Kaveh (6.0) Just barely hitting the pass in Crepus's book. He's saved by his pure passion and genuine expression. And I think he'd be the best at really showing Diluc how loved he is. So Crepus can't be too made at that.

Again, Barely passing to everyone's surprised Thoma (5.8). Yeah, he's got a stable job and is really nice and a house husband. But he's a just a housekeeper and defiantly couldn't afford to keep Diluc's lifestyle. And while he's nice, Crepus would worry that he's too passive and that he'd again act more like a servant than a partner.

So jumping right down is Xiao at a (3.8) Crepus would not be impressed, not even after learning he's a Yaksha because how is that going to support his son? He only gets points because ya he could protect Diluc

Itto (1) lives up to his "numero UNO" Because that's all he's getting from Crepus. Where Kaveh could win Crepus's over this his devotion, Crepus draws that line at gangs. At least an architect is a respectable job!

Eula (0.2) Hanging on by a thread. And honestly, it's only because Varka has faith in her. So that does mean something to Crepus. But her behavior would totally turn him cold.

Then with at the bottom Childe (0.1) No way in hell is a crazy harbinger like that going near Crepus's baby boy. But here is the thing. I think Childe would be the most likely to change his score once Crepus's See his devotion to his family. Because... Crepus would want that for Diluc. He wants Diluc to have a big happy family, He'd love going to visit Childe's family with Diluc. But... being Fatui is too much of a risk. Because while Crepus does think Childe is an honest man, he still can be used by other people, and thus they'd use Diluc so no way.

Honorable mention Donna forgetting a negative score Crepus would see her following Diluc around and just ask Varka to keep an eye out.

And for those wondering about the Varka scale for the No Bad End Varka. The answer is they are all zero. You express interest in Varka's godchild, his opinion of you jumps right into the trash.

#diluc ragnvindr #diluc #crepus ragnvindr #crepus #Varka #grand master varka #diluc harem

[trashbag-baby666]

okay okay heheheh trans cros idea

just the weekly after care period between him and bubbles after his top surgery 😭😭😭 bubbles just about chains him to the bed cause he’s always so restless and fidgety despite not being able to do much. and he brings him his meals in bed and bubbles playing nurse for him and he’s just so sweet and of course cros cries cause “you’re so sweet to me bubbles.”

oh and and and once he’s more healed bubbles helping him get dressed in a muscle tee like he always has wanted to and when he looks in the mirror at himself he breaks down but it’s cause he’s happy!!!

STAWP I LUV ALL OF THESE SM!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺

MOTA Masterlist!

But you’re right! Croz would NOT sit still the first initial week. After they’re home Bubbles gets him all tucked into bed to take a nap. But suddenly Croz is like up trying to do something else. Granted he’s a little loopy from the pain meds.

Croz is trying to find his cat and Bubbles has to wrestle him back into bed.

“Harry, what’re you doing? I left the room for five seconds.”

“I want Bitsy to cuddle.”

“We gotta go lay down and nap first, sweetie.”

Bubbles definitely helps Croz with his drains…we’re talking about Harry Crosby here just the thought of it makes hime woozy and nauseated.

By the second day he knows Croz is in a little more of a worldly pain. He wakes up before Croz and just lays next to his boy till he wakes up. He’s raking his hands through Croz’s soft, dark brown curls. He isn’t sure if he’s seen Croz actually rest this much since he passed out during SAT’s week.

When he wakes up he gets him his pain meds, helps him adjust or use this bathroom. Bubbles is there just to wait on him hand and foot but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Believe me Croz is eating Kraft Mac and cheese for each meal. It’s easy enough for Bubbles to make the cups of it in the microwave for him. There’s some emotional tears on day two from Croz😭

“Alright, here’s your Mac and cheese and I refilled your glass of water. Anything else?”

Croz stuck his bottom lip out watching Bubbles lay another blanket ontop of him tucking it around his legs. Then the hot watery tears of emotion and Croz’s pain meds are mixing.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong, Harry? Anything hurt?”

“No,” he shook his head tears spilling from his eyes, “Bubs, you’re just so sweet to me.”

When Croz is cleared to shower again, Bubbles puts a step stool in the shower for him. Bubbles makes him sit there and just relax while he massages the shampoo and conditioner into his hair. He helps him shave the stubble off himself. Yeah he could do it by himself but Bubbles touch is just so silky soft. Bubbles is having a wonderful time playing nurse for Croz

What makes it all the more worth it is just seeing the pure joy and happiness across Croz’s face when he sees his chest. Bubbles agreed to take him shopping after he healed. But now that he’s wanting to wear something other than button downs and it’s been a few weeks.

Croz is standing at his closet looking through his clothes and finds a muscle shirt he had for dance. But he didn’t like the side boob action it’d give him and he kind of just tucked it away for the post top surgery days.

“Help me get dressed?”

Bubbles heart does its little flutter seeing the excited wide smile and glint in Croz’s eyes. He could never say no to those soft puppy eyes.

After he helps Croz change he walks him over to the mirror in his room and tells him to open his eyes. Croz almost loses it just right there, he’s looking from different angles and poses. Bubbles is watching excitedly seeing Croz’s pure euphoria of his flat chest. His slightly muscular dancers arms are teasing the ever loving shit out of Bubbles.

“You been working out?” He softly squeezes Crozs bicep softly.

“What are we, Buck and Bucky now?”

#thanks for the ask! #masters of the air #mota #mota hs au #trans!croz #harry crosby #bubbles x crosby #bubbles payne #crubbles #modern au #mota headcanons

[flashfuture]

The like fandom idea that Jason became a problem child in order to make Dick the golden child are kind of wild. Because like... read the golden and silver age comics. Dick is the golden child. He is the most coddled and adored batkid purely by the metric of writers used to want Batman to be a hero and a good man plus it’s forty years of Dick being the only kid that exists. Bruce will never ever again be caring a child to bed when they fell asleep studying or making a whole day planned around their birthday or putting off a case to take them out to the beach house for a weekend or crying his eyes out as they go off to college. Like none of those traditional fatherly things are gonna happen because that Bruce is dead the writers made sure of it. Now he’s far more likely to clock one of his kids in the face then start a pillow fight. 

Read the two years of Jason comics. He started off the bat in reboot as a problem child. You have a little thief stealing tires and smoking? Not supposed to be your all around good american boy like Dick Grayson was. (I say this as a Roma person, Devin Grayson included that Dick is Romani for purely racist reasons it was not always intended in canon and I do not see Dick as representation. If you are Roma and want to go for it. But if I read one more google translated story of Dick speaking Romanian for some god forsaken reason I’ll break my laptop) 

Think about the world in which they were made. The 1980s were not in need of the same boy wonder as the 1940s. Robin was supposed to be what saved Jason from delinquency. And in the end the writers had him unable to be saved. He became aggressive against people like the Black Mask. The age old did Jason push that guy or watch him fall and does it even matter if he just watched because Batman and old Robin would have jumped after him so what is Jason’s deal? On to the end of his life with running away to find his birth mother and happening to run into Bruce who was looking for a nuke. Jason died in the end a hero to save his mom true but it is made clear in the narrative it was his own fault for not listening to his dad. 

^ All of that written of course by a known hater of Robin who wanted to kill the symbol but couldn’t have touched Dick Grayson a far too beloved character. And like I said the 1980s. ‘Listen to your parents or you’ll be in trouble punk’ is not a crazy far out there narrative for them to have spun. 

Back onto Dick he was made to make the little boys of America feel good about themselves like they could do anything. He listened to his dad and he was a stand up citizen who was all about justice! Go to the 1960s when he goes off to college. The first thing he does is get involved with a protest. He was calling Bruce up asking him to host a Beatles knock off in Wayne Manor. Bruce was always telling him to worry about his studies. That was what their first big fight was about! Bruce even explicitly tells Dick at one point to worry about himself and the Titans more than him ! The era a character is written in is reflective of the message they send and with time passed it is easier to look back and contextualize what the message was. Like modern day comic writers since Jason have been trying so fucking hard to ruin Dick and Bruce’s relationship but outright changing canon so that Bruce was a worse person in every argument. It’s not even funny at this point like every year down to the fucking weeks of Dick Grayson’s child hood was written out in succession and these modern writers are like we get it we do But what if Bruce also didn’t care about Dick. Like where am I???

The solution to Bruce Wayne and Batman not being a very good person is obviously in their minds make Bruce a horrible dad to Dick that way it evens out his shit behavior across the board. If there is no glaring example of how good Bruce has and could be then no one would think he should be like that. So we’re supposed to just nod along and be like Yeah i think Bruce would beat Jason up and smack Tim around and tell Damian he doesn’t like him. Seems fair to me. Which???

Anyways all this to say. Dick Grayson was always the golden child the writers just want you to forget Bruce was a good dad once.  

[pro-mammonologist]

The Mini Mammon

Written based off this ask!

Summary: Mammon and you have had a child and now you look back on all the times Mammon was made to be a father.

No warnings or anything like that! Purely fluffy and adorable!

—————————————————————————

Though it was such a new feeling, Mammon felt like he was made for it.

He held your infant in his hands, having never held anything so fragile or precious, he was scared to hold it too tight. The child looked up at him, their eyes just as blue and gold as his. Mammon stared down at the infant, wondering just what its future holds. You lied in the hospital bed, drifting off to sleep after labor exhausted you wholly. He briefly glanced at you, in awe of your strength and the fact that the two of you, together, made this beautiful creature now in his arms.

Months had passed now, and you were staying at the HoL with the boys, keeping to yourself and devoting all your time to your child. Each time you glanced at the beautiful baby, you could see their father ingrained in every part of them. In their personality, their skin, their eyes, and the way their cute little nose looked just like Mammon’s. He had a mini me! You couldn’t be jealous considering having two Mammons was actually kind of a delight.

Mammon came home from work, a blessing that he no longer was trapped at RAD because of his new found full-time job aka your child. He immediately rushed to you and your baby and swooped them out of your arms. He held his baby in the air and then kissed their forehead, making cutesy noises. You grinned at your happy Mammon and giggling baby, knowing that you were the happiest you could ever be.

Mammon sat next to you, holding your baby in his lap and playing his hands. The baby made incoherent mumbles to which Mammon responded “uh huh? Oh yeah? How could Mama do that!” You shook your head and pinched your baby’s cheeks, prompting the infant to extend their hand attempt to pinch Mammon’s cheek. Mammon’s eyes watered at the attempt, his heart skipping a beat at the undeniable presence of cuteness.

“Look! He’s copying you!” He whispered, shook to his core.

You pinched Mammon’s cheek, assisting the infant’s gentle grip. “They’re obsessed with his daddy.”

“Nah, they just like to copy his mama! Ain’t that right, sweetheart?” The baby blinked at Mammon before extending their hand toward their papa again.

“Mm..Pa.” The baby murmured and you and Mammon nearly lost it.

“You hear that, Mc?”

“Yeah!”

The baby continued to make noises all while Mammon repeated ‘papa’ hoping the baby would repeat him. The baby giggled at your faces as the two of you continued coaxing them to say their first word.

“Pa! Pa!” Mammon almost bursted into tears. You actually did burst into tears. Wait. No that’s Mammon’s tears somehow reaching you as well. Or maybe the both of you were crying?

Mammon shot up and immediately raced to all of his brothers rooms with you and your child in tow. Each room, he coaxed your infant to say his name succeeding after minutes of Mammon forcing the baby to. Beel and Asmo were in awe whereas Lucifer, Satan, and Belphie were laughing at Mammon’s struggle while Levi was somewhere in-between. Either way, it was a great day for the two of you and the whole house.

A little while after that, Mammon was determined to get the baby to crawl, accompanied by everyone else of course. Mammon got on his hands and knees and moved across the room, turning to see if your baby would follow. When they didn’t, Lucifer and Beel hyped the baby up along with you, hoping to convince it to follow Mammon.

“Maybe we should all crawl instead of walk what if the baby is getting confused?” Beel asked aloud to which Lucifer was the first to respond.

“As if I’d ever drop to my knees and crawl.”

He was wrong. Mammon has quite the presence as a father, soon enough the whole HoL was crawling in the presence of the baby. You were the only one not forced into crawling but you still did to support him, obviously. Soon enough, the child was crawling and everyone was jumping with joy. Probably because they were on their feet now and not the floor.

As more time passed, Mammon was leading the child along, happily and proudly. Showing off his baby 24/7! Bringing him to work! Out shopping! Across town! To RAD! He never wanted to be away from your baby, he was just as obsessed with your baby that he is with you. He would record each milestone, writing it down in his “Mini-Mammon Storyline” complete with pictures, detailed notations, and what he thought your child was thinking along with notes from you. By the time your child was a year old, he already had one full scrapbook, prompting him to purchase a lifetime supply. Also around this time, Mammon was already questioning you about having another.

Now, for the baby’s first steps. That was more of a subtle lesson for Mammon to teach, considering everyone was already walking. You would hold your baby up with Mammon in front of you, outstretching his arms. Mammon would occasionally wiggle his chains in front of the child, convinced that his baby had expensive taste like their daddy. He wasn’t wrong, considering that’s when you’d see the most progress.

“Come on! You can do it! Once you do, I will take you and Mama to the jewelers and we can get you your first necklace!”

“Mammon, they can’t—“

“I know they can’t wear it! Not until they’re old enough. They can look at it though.” He continued waving the baby over and you shook your head, enamored at your husbands stupidity which Lucifer reassures you that your child did not inherit.

Now, laying next to an exhausted Mammon, half-asleep with your now toddler sandwiched in between. The two of them were sleepy soundly, Mammon’s arms wrapped around them. You stroked his head and moved the hair out of your toddler’s eyes. Mammon smiled at your touch, leaning into your hand. Sometimes, he’s more like a child than your kid.

Of course, his childlike nature helps him as a father. When your child wanted to play hide and seek forever then of course Mammon would. Or if they were running from the tickle monster (cough cough you) then Mammon would help by trying to tickle you so you wouldn’t terrorize your child. Or if they wanted to play fight, then Mammon would gladly tussle.

And every day that went by, you were happy. You felt loved, you felt thankful. You would watch Mammon fulfill some deep ache in his heart that he never thought he’d remedy through his child. You even find yourself healing wounds you never thought you’d heal. Each time your child grew and developed, you discovered how lucky you were to have Mammon as a husband and as your child’s father. Each moment and each milestone was something you’d always treasure for Mammon’s and the child’s sake. And as every day passes you discover that the worries you once had going into having a child with him, none of them mattered. Because now you are confident that you married and had a child with the greatest father and husband there ever will be.

#obey me #mammon x mc #mammon #obey me shall we date #mammon fluff #mammon is flawless in all forms

[will-continue-livinglikeimtrying]

I have few nimona fic request

1. Mermaid bal in the little mermaid au either disney, HCA or your version

2. Bal as the sleeping beauty

Hi! Thank you so much for requesting from me! I decided to go with number 2: Ballister as Sleeping Beauty.

I hope you enjoy!

Here's the link to it on AO3:

Once Upon a Dream

Ballister walked across the beautiful green grass of the forest, his long black hooded cloak dragged behind him as he passed over logs and bigger rocks while he held up his basket.

A little, pink bird flitted around him, a whisp of light occasionally twirling around him in an excitable manner.

He would occasionally look back from towards where he came, constantly checking if any of his three aunties were following him, knowing full well that they’d try to make him stay out longer so they could finish whatever they had planned for him back home. However, as much as he loved them, his personal time with his friends was important to him as well, and, though he didn’t know why, the soon to be 21-year-old wasn’t really allowed to converse with anyone outside of his family.

It might have something to do with what happened to him when he was younger, though he doesn’t remember the ordeal at all, he knew it was the reason for his missing arm and that had scared his aunties terribly.

It’s a fair fear really.

Ballister just wished they’d trust him more to care for himself though.

He wasn’t a child anymore after all.

He sighed and looked at his small flying friend, as he noticed many other of his animal companions were also following. He smiled at them as he finally made it to his spot near the river, sitting on a giant bolder found underneath an old, ancient tree where the roots near the stump spreading out to wrap around the rock as nature took over and set his basket aside.

“No matter how old I get, they’ll always treat me like a little boy. They never really want me to meet anyone, especially not on my own.”

His animal friends gathered around him, and looked on in sympathy as he leaned against the old tree and closed his eyes. The little pink bird, now a human, sat down next to him and gave the young man of almost 21 a light nudge. He looked to see all his companions looking on at him in worry and chuckled softly. “Don’t worry for me my woodland friends, for you see, I’ve fooled them,” it was almost like he could hear their gasps as he finished, “I have met someone.”

‘Who?’ Friend Owl cried.

“Yeah, who?” His dearest friend Nimona, now a raccoon on his shoulder, asked.

Ballister simply stood up while grabbing his basket and continued his way into the woods, all of the rest now following in curiosity.

‘Who? Who?’ Friend Owl flew near his head.

“Oh, you know, a prince.”

Ballister could have laughed with the way his friends began to chitter, and Nimona- who was once again a bird- fluttered all around him and began questioning all his actions and choices, while everyone was wondering who this prince could be, as there had not been a prince in the land for a very long time.

“How is he? Well, he’s tall, and handsome, and- and oh so very romantic.”

“And what, exactly, is it you do with the ‘prince’?” Nimona tweeted into his ear.

Ballister brought the hood down from his cape and opened it more so he might move better. “You know, the usual.” He began almost dancing on air.

“We walk together,” he twirled one way, “and we talk together,” he twirled another, “and just before we say goodbye,” Ballister stopped to look at where someone, his prince most likely, would be standing right in front of him, “he takes me in his arms,” he said wrapping his own arms around himself gently, “and then!”

All his friends were leaning in now, every bird and little pheasant, every dear and bunny and other little critters, even a few turtles from the pond looked on with pure hope and awe. Nimona themselves were in the edge of their seat on a branch near Ballister, almost on the edge of falling of as they all waited in want to hear what this prince did with Ballister in his arms-

“... I wake up.”

Those three words had all of them, Ballister including, deflating in their spots. Nimona actually fell off the branch in disappointment for their friend.

“Yes,” Ballister sighed, “I’m afraid, it’s only in my dreams.”

His animal friends gathered around him then as he went to sit on a nearby fallen branch, moving closer in sadness for him. Some even placed their paws on his hands and feet in a way that said, ‘don’t worry’ and, ‘please don’t be sad’. “But don’t feel bad for me my friends,” he tried to comfort them, not noticing when Nimona got themselves back on the branch and freeze when she saw, in the forest, a golden hood, tough brown boots, and a single feathered traveler’s hat basically hanging from a near by tree and smiling when a plan formed in her mind.

“You see,” Ballister went on, completely oblivious to some of his friends, including Nimona, disappearing behind him. “They say that, if you dream something more than once, it’s sure to come true.” He laughed dreamily as he leaned back on the long and looked up to the heavens. “And I’ve seen him so many times before.”

-

On the other side of the woods, not too far away, a tall young man of 19, with hair of gold and eyes of amber brown, stood over a river with his horse, letting his loyal steed rest and drink from the stream as the man stared off into the distance, right in the direction of the kingdom of the land.

He bit his lip pensively as he pretended to wash one of his gloves for the hundredth time.

He heard a horses’ snort and huff next to him, and he noticed his fellow companion staring at him in concern.

Who knew horses’ faces could hold so many emotions?

“Hey buddy, it’s okay, I’m fine! It’s just... I don’t... I haven’t even met him yet, you know?”

The ‘him’ the young man was referring to, was the reason he was in the land of his Queen’s Realm in the first place and not exploring the world with Francien, his horse.

His so called ‘Future Husband’.

Even the thought of him had the man sighing in destain.

It was his parents’ idea, and everyone else’s in both kingdoms. They wanted the two princes to wed and unite the Kingdoms together to bring peace and prosperity by marrying the two eldest of each family and having them rule together. Unfortunately, his eldest brother and sister ran away from their royal duties a long time ago, so it was up to him to uphold the family name.

He sat down close to the riverbank on one of the nearby rocks, scratching at his palms as he contemplated what to do next.

He... He didn’t want this. He didn't want his life, his future, his dreams and wishes to be over so soon when he barely even began to live any of them.

He felt a heavy weight rest on his right and looked up next to him to find his steed resting its head on his shoulder and smiled at his only friend. “Oh well,” the prince whispered and rubbed at Francien’s snout, “it’s for the good of my people after all. I guess I’ll just... have to hope he isn’t someone boring.” He laughed bitterly as his horse nuzzled him.

Before he could get up to continue his journey to his kingdom, he heard rustling from behind them and turned to see a group of small critters and birds being led by... a pink badger? Stealing his-

Were those his things?!

“Hey!” He yelled after them, tripping over his feet at how quickly he moved and Francien helped lift him up with her teeth by his shirt. “Get back here!”

-

Ballister exhaled as he continued to fill his basket with different assortments of fruits and berries from the forest, his friends helping him and gathering other nuts and vegetables for him, until out of nowhere they all suddenly ran away causing him to pause and look at the direction they were running away from and snorted loudly at the sight of Nimona, along with many of his other friends, adorned with a cape, boots, and a single feather traveler’s hat.

“W- What-” Ballister tried to get out, but he couldn't stop laughing, “what are you lot wearing?”

Nimona just smiled proudly and turned from a badger into a bird to be able to lift Friend Owl up by the cape, while the sweet thing wore the hat on his head and smiled so proudly doing so. When Ballister looked down he saw that in the shoes were two little bunnies making the feet of the figure walk. The young man could do nothing but laugh at this point. “This is- oh you’re all just wonderful. But Nims? Why aren’t you just wearing everything?”

Nimona rolled her eyes and shot a glare towards the owl and bunnies. “They called dibs, and I pulled the short end. Anyways, Mr. Woodsman, meet your dream prince!”

The owl proudly cooed proudly, puffing up his chest as Nimona carried the bigger bird forward.

Ballister chuckled and took off his hood, revealing his simple but lovingly made attire. “Why, what a handsome prince you are. You know,” he said jokingly, walking to his friends and lightly booping his friend on the beak. “I’m not really supposed to speak to strangers, but we’ve met before, haven’t we?” Ballister grabbed the tips of the beautiful golden cape and opened his mouth to release a beautifully haunting melody.

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream

He danced joyously with his friends, all of their other animal companions joining in.

I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam

Oblivious now to their surroundings, no one seemed to notice the other young man in the woods almost falling out from behind as he was following behind the thieves that stole his times.

Yet I know it’s true

The prince paused then at the sight of the most gorgeous man with the loveliest voice he had ever seen in his entire life (yet he felt like he had seen him somewhere before), dancing with the thieves who were now decorated in his things.

that visions are seldom all they seem

The prince didn’t even notice Francien behind him, reaching with her snout towards him and pulling him back behind some trees and bushes.

But if I know you, I know what you'll do

Ballister continued on without a care or a thought towards the stranger he didn’t know was there.

You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream

Ballister completely lost himself in the dance, moving along to an unheard song except only to himself and those stuck with him in the moment.

But if I know you, I know what you'll do

Suddenly another voice joined him as the prince shrugged off Francien’s concern of this stranger and went to join him, like this was a song he himself knew by heart.

You'll love me at once

Ballister slowed his singing at the handsome voice and came to a stop to see a young man standing not far from where they stood and finished his part.

The way you did once upon a dream

Ballister went straight at the sight of the other man. A tall and very dashing, very handsome looking man (oh wow), with golden hair and a white and blonde steed.

He looked... almost familiar...

His animal friends, including the bunnies and Friend Owl, ran to hide behind Ballister while Nimona turned into a cat that sat on his shoulders. After an awkward silence of the two, Ballister and Nimona, glaring at the stranger, the other on the opposite side began to speak. “I- I’m really sorry sir, I didn’t mean to intrude I swear.” The young man stuttered taking a step closer, but thinking better of it when Ballister took a step back and stood immediately back. “You’re singing, it’s very lovely, I just... I think your friends might have taken my things?”

Ballister, without turning his head away from the young man, shot Nimona- who at that point was glaring at the intruder and was now pointedly looking away from both men- a look.

“I’m- uh,” Ballister started hesitantly, he’d never spoken to another person other then his aunties and Nimona until this point, “I’m ver- very sorry for- for this... uhm... here, let me just...”

Ballister turned around and reached down towards Friend Owl and the bunnies, who all tried hopping away, and attempted to grab the cape, hat, and shoes. “Oh you lot! Please come here.”

The other man laughed behind his hand politely as he watched this funny, handsome man run around after two little critters and a bird who were currently wearing his things as a bunch of other animals stared on not helping while the pink bird-turned-cat glared at him from a rock.

“Here, do you mind if I...?”

And so, he helped the man in their endeavor to retrieve his stolen items.

“I am ever so terribly sorry for this,” Ballister apologized to the man once more when they were finally able to get the pieces back from his friends, “for my friends’ apparent thievery, and my weary behavior of you it’s just that I...” Ballister thought to explain as he handed the man’s cape back to him. “Well, I’m not really... It’s just you’re a... a...”

“... A stranger?” The man finished for him, smiling warmly with kind humor at Ballister as he finished putting on the last item on his person while Ballister nodded.

“Well, yes.”

“Hmm,” the prince hummed thoughtfully as he finished tying the last of his boots. “Please forgive me for being so forward if you can but, though we are strangers,” the stranger looked straight into Ballister’s eyes now, holding him with a beautiful amber gaze and red cheeks, “I feel like, mayhap, we’ve met before?”

“We- we have?” Ballister felt his face warm a bit at the thought, because no, he’s sure he would remember such a handsome stranger, though the man did seem oh so familiar.

“Maybe it’s possible, as you said, once upon a dream.”

I know you

The man bowed to Ballister in such a genteel and polite way, it reminded him of royalty, especially when the man stood up and offered his hand to Ballister.

I walked with you once upon a dream

Somehow, for some reason, Ballister- though he did stare at the hand for a moment- without further waver, took the offered palm as the man brought him to a respectful distance and began dancing with him a sort of waltz.

I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam

Yet I know it's true

Ballister joined him, bringing the man a bit closer so as they could both dance in a proper waltz across the forest ground to a song and music only their own hearts could here.

That visions are seldom all they seem

But if I know you, I know what you'll do

You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream

After their dance the two walked the forest together for hours, the man, ‘Rose’ he said as a nickname Ballister could call him, helping him gather the remainder of the fruits and vegetables he needed while they talked, and laughed, and teased, and danced.

It was almost like a dream, a wonderful dream, only this time, Ballister knew it was much more than that.

Ballister breathed deeply and yawned while he leaned his weight onto the warm side of the other man, who seemed to happily take it as he stood strong so Ballister could rest against him. “What a wonderful day it’s been.”

Rose nodded in agreement with him, leaning his head down to rest it on top of Ballister’s. “Yes, it has.” But then he sighed in a way, so sad and tired, that it startled Ballister from the peace he found himself in. “It was... a very nice last day of freedom, I suppose.”

Ballister looked up at the man in alarm.

‘What?’

“What?”

Ballister pulled away to look at Rose’s downcast face, an expression- Ballister thought- that should never be on his face. The presence of Nimona and their other friends, whom never really left, was a nice feeling behind him.

“Tomorrow evening,” Rose explained, “I am to wed with a man I have never met, and rule beside him for as long as my family’s name lasts in meaning, or until I myself perish with age.”

“What?”

This appalled Ballister, the very thought of marriage, such a romantic and loving notion and ceremony in his eyes (as shown by his books) used to simply, what, force two people who don’t even know- let alone love- each other to be bound together for the sake of a family name?!

How ridiculous!

However, before Ballister could say anything, his own rules and responsibilities came to mind, and he held his tongue. “... I understand.” Ballister slowly and reluctantly stepped away from his new friend, almost taking it back at Rose’s saddened, but understanding eyes at the action. “I... I myself am not meant to be speaking to you... I think, maybe, it’s best if I...”

Rose caught on quick and nodded solemnly. “Yes, of course.”

Rose helped Ballister carry his basket all the way back to the clearing where the two had met only hours ago.

What a shame it is.

To have met someone you feel like you’ve known all your life, though you met only a short while ago, who makes you feel like you are whole and truly free, only for them to become just another dream. To have met the one- the man of your dreams- only to know that he is promised, by the choices of others, to another.

Such is life, Ballister lamented bitterly.

He and his stranger turned friend, Rose, looked at each other for what felt like the last time before Rose bowed to him and such a manner it would have made Ballister’s heart flutter if it weren’t already as heavy as stone in a river. “What a gift it has been, and a true honor,” Rose spoke his goodbye, “to have met a man so charming, he put even the highest regarded royal princes to shame.” His friend reached for Ballister’s hand carefully, giving the shorter man time to pull away if he so wished, and brought it up to his lips so he may place a sweet, gentle kiss upon his knuckles. “I hope, one day, we meet again.”

“Yes,” Ballister answered, his eyes pricking a bit at the thought of losing something that didn’t even get a chance to begin. “I hope so as well.”

Ballister watched mournfully as the stranger, Rose, disappeared into the woods with his steed, never to meet, and never to love, again.

“Once upon a dream.”

-

-

-

-

-

Rose, or Ambrosius, as his parents called him stopped suddenly in his tracks. Francien, who walked next to him, stopped abruptly as well and huffed at him, almost as if asking: ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Ambrosius, ignoring the tugging and pulling from his horse, made a last second decision and turned around, running back into the direction where he had left his first second friend ever.

He couldn’t, no, wouldn’t, let it end like this.

“Wait!” He yelled out, hoping upon hope his friend was still there. “Wait, please!”

Ballister, who was just about to go home, looked swiftly to the direction where his newest friend called to him from the woods, jumping a bit as the man seemed to burst out of the flora, gasping for air.

“Please.” The taller man pleaded through shallow breaths. “Please, I... I don’t want it to end like this, not- not when I don’t even know your name.”

Ballister simply stared at him for a moment, in complete awe and bewilderment at this strange and yet wonderful man he’d just met, who didn’t want to leave just because he never got Ballister’s name? How silly.

How absolutely, remarkably, so adorably silly.

“My name is-”

The man raised his hand up cordially and shook his head with a smile. “No, not yet.”

Ambrosius took a few steps forward, so as to be a good 3 feet away from Ballister and grinned down softly at the man. “Tomorrow. Please tell me tomorrow morning. Right here.” He suddenly pulled out a rose he had had for his mother from out of nowhere on his person and offered it shyly to his first second friend. “It’ll give me a reason to come back.”

Ballister was so distracted by the gift, the first ever from anyone other than his aunties, Nimona, and their animal friends that he’s ever received, that he didn’t even notice the other man bend down slightly.

But he certainly felt it when a kiss was placed delicately on his cheek.

He looked up to find the man already leaving, smiling giddily and waving his hand enthusiastically as his horse appeared to almost drag him away.

Ballister touched to spot on his cheek where the kiss was laid, and while ignoring Nimona’s judgmental stare from where she stood on a rock, couldn’t help but dance and wish that tomorrow would come quicker.

Speaking of which, he should probably go back to his aunties’ home before he stays here until tomorrow and tell them everything about his day.

Oh yes, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

#nimona #fanfic #fanfiction #nimona fanfic #nimona au #nimona 2023 #request #requests #ambrosius x ballister #ballister x ambrosius #ballister #ballister boldheart #ambrosius #nimona ambrosius #goldenheart #I hope you enjoyed!!!

[kazosa]

Wildwood Sequel: Interlude

Summary: Jensen and the reader are in a soft, blissful part of their relationship before reality fully kicks in. They go back to Y|N’s house, with the touches she added with Jensen in mind, to slowly ease back into the swing of their lives. They have a lot to do before they go to Texas, like breaking the news to Y|N’s mother and brother. Jensen still has some secrets to reveal.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x female reader

Word count: 18429

Warnings: really covers the gammut... swearing, drinking, yelling, jealousy...

a/n: this is pure fiction in regards to the real life celebrities. They are merely a face-grab for characters of my creation.

Tags: @coffee-obsessed-writer   @leigh70  @sandlee44  @coldhearted93  @djs8891  @magssteenkamp  @babykalika2001  @ladysparkles78​  @supernatural3002

The dog days of summer were ending and it felt more like fall the morning when they left Wildwood. He’d taken care of the cabin the night before and even cleaned out the fireplace. It meant there would be no heat running in the cabin, but he and Y|N had found ways to stay warm. Going back to reality would be an adjustment to both of their lives and he was confident they would figure it out together.

Before Y|N got to the cabin, he’d been so out of sorts. He couldn’t make any sense about what to do about his situation. Then, as time passed, he was beginning to wonder if she would find him. When he finally realized it was her walking down his road, the relief set in. The giant, swirling abyss dissipated. She, somehow, always would show up when he needed her most. Sure, he’d given her a clue, but she showed up. She still cared.

He looked over at the passenger seat where she sat in his truck. She’d only gotten more beautiful as time had passed. He couldn’t stop sneaking glances at her and she’d caught him more than once. Y|N would smile a little, tuck her hair behind her ear and look down. When he would catch her watching him, he knew she still had some kind of feelings for him, too. Even if it was pure lust, or just pent-up years of desire, he would take it because he had been holding them in, too. He really couldn’t get enough of her.

They were basically driving into the sun, but it didn’t bother her too much. She had her head down, writing in the notebook she’d forced him to stop to buy. It was bright enough that she still wore sunglasses as she wrote and the sun gave her hair a halo. His angel. Once in a while, she would whisper two sides of a conversation, or other bits of dialog before putting the pen back to the paper to continue the flurry of writing. She went on like that for a couple hours before she lost some speed.

She turned yet another page in the notebook and wrote something at the top of the page before she finally gave him her attention again.

“Okay, we need to talk about some stuff. I need your opinion on things,” she said.

“God, finally,” he said. “You’ve been so quiet, except for whispering dialog, I thought you forgot me.”

“Oh honey, I could never forget about your fine self. Look at you, you sexy sonofabitch,” she said. She smirked when she saw how pink his ears got. “I was writing so I could get the scene out of my head so I could get to you.”

“Get to me?”

“I’m starting a new book in a series I do and I want your input,” she explained.

“I thought you were never going to use me as your smut muse?” he said. “I think we have a pretty good story going.”

“Oh my sweet boy,” she said, “you really are adorable. Let me ask you this, have you read any good books lately?”

“Not lately, but yeah. It’s this guy, a lawman, who fell from grace, gets a job as sheriff in some backwoods area during prohibition, tries to take down bootleggers and other bad guys…”

“... encounters some weird shit in the woods and has an eye for the lady that runs the diner?” she finished for him.

“Yeah, you know the books?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, it hit him. “Are you telling me you’re Ross Black?”

You laughed, “Yeah. Honestly, I thought you knew. I did kind of make it obvious.” You waited as he thought it over. “It’s basically you and all of the cool western lawmen and broken lead characters. Dean, Clint, you, Longmire. Rolled ‘em all up to make Hobart Gibson. Hell, I even gave him your physical description.”

“Hold on,” he raised his index finger at you as he drove. “I need to process this.”

You patiently waited for him to think it all through.

“So, you’re Nova Scott, who, from what I can tell since I’m not allowed to read the books, is on par with Nicholas Sparks and Danielle Steel, and have published however many of those…”

“...about a dozen,” you answered.

“A handful have been made into major motion pictures. Not only am I not in any of those movies, I’m also not the muse. And yet, every single one had some big name in it and made a shitload of money.”

“Are you telling me you want to do a romance movie?”

“No. …I don’t know… maybe?”

“Well, what do you think of Whiskey Hollow and Bart Gibson?” you asked. You’d spent a lot of time and energy getting the character just right.

Jensen looked at you a moment, “He’s a total badass. I love how salty he is, but is soft for Lill.” He paused, “You ever gonna get them together?”

“Do you think they should?” you already had it in the plans but you wanted to hear his opinion.

“She’s obviously in love with Bart.”

“It’s obvious?”

“Every time Bart goes to the diner, Lill personally makes his favorite sandwich and gives him a cookie. If she didn’t love him…”

“... no cookie?” you grinned.

“No cookie,” he tipped his head, his eyes still on the road. “Sugar was precious in the depression. You don’t just slip random people a cookie.”

“Unless she’s in love?”

“Unless she’s in love.”

“Is that why you give me ring-pops, ‘cause you’re in love with me?”

He looked directly at you before switching back to the road and back to you again, “Are you fucking with me right now?”

“Depends on your answer.”

“Have I given you more than one?”

“Jay, you don’t forget much. I know you remember.” There have been many over the years.

He sighed. “I knew it was a trap,” he muttered. “You already know I love you.”

You nodded, “I know that.”

“Is Bart going to make a move on Lill? Are you getting any movie options offers coming in?” he asked.

“Lillian isn’t going to make the first move, I can tell you that much. If he has any kind of warm fuzzies for her, he has to tell her. Cookies and ring-pops won’t cut it. They’re gestures, she wants to hear him say it.”

“He’s not going to say it just because she wants to hear it. If he’s going to tell her he’s in love with her, he’ll do it when he’s ready.”

“Nearly three decades isn’t enough time to work up the nerve?”

“I knew we weren’t talking about Bart and Lill anymore…” he let out a sound of annoyance.

“Who do you think Hobart and Lillian are, Jay?”

“We were only able to get together a few weeks ago. I hadn’t seen you in person in over three years. If we, you and I, are going to be together, I want to do things the right way and that means taking things one step at a time, getting familiar with each other again.”

“Don’t I get a say in this? Relationships are give and take and I feel like I’m doing all the giving. I left my job to come find you. I know I don’t need the job, but that isn’t the point. That’s a burnt bridge.”

“Just like you can’t demand I tell you I’m in love with you. If I want to say it, I will when I’m ready. Individually, you and I have been through too much shit to not try to give us the best shot possible and that’s exactly what I want to do. Are you going to do the same or are you going to keep fucking pushing?”

“Knowitall,” you grumbled.

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means you’re the same way. You’re one of the smartest people I know, but you also know you’re smart and don’t leave room for other people’s opinions.”

“Even if they’re wrong?”

“See?” he raised his index finger and wagged it in your direction. “That right there. That’s why it’s an opinion. Just because it’s different from yours, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”

“Oh really? You sure were vocal when you thought I was wrong about things,” you countered.

“When?! Examples.”

“Every single guy I dated was either an asshole or a douchebag, as you were all too happy to point out.”

“But they were douchebags and assholes. Knew from the start Grant was a manchild freeloader.”

“That may be true, but in that case, your opinion was irrelevant because he was my choice. And not all of them were bad guys, they just weren’t a good match for me.”

“And that’s what makes them douchebags.”

“You married the one I told you was a stuck-up, snobby-assed bitch. What’s really got a bug up your ass, Jay? Seems like we both made dumb choices in the name of love.”

He went silent. You weren’t entirely sure if you’d really made him mad or not. He had both hands on the wheel and slightly tipped back, the expression on his face was changing from annoyed to resolve over and over again.

“Jesus, I can see you thinking in there. You're gonna say what’s on your mind or do you need to pull over and walk it off?” your tone was still snotty.

He clenched his jaw and you decided, maybe too late, to shut up and cool off, yourself, while you rode in silence. He needed to do the same, you supposed. You forgot that he liked to take time to think things through. You should have known not to push him so hard. He needed the time to consider all options and you were more in the moment and needing immediate action.

“Hey,” you wanted to apologize, but the truck began to slow down. He might have needed to walk it off after all. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t say anything, he only pulled over and stopped the truck, putting it in park. He got out and you watched as he walked around the front and came to your door.

He flung open your door, “I take it back.”

Confused, you asked, “Take what back?”

“When I said we shouldn’t try to be together because of our careers. When I said it wasn’t “our time” I was full of shit then and I knew it. I wanted you. I always wanted you. I knew that Christmas at my parents’ house that I didn’t want to let you go. When you told my mom we were just friends? I didn’t like it. All of those boyfriends you had were douchebags because they weren’t me. No one would ever love you, or treat you as well as me.”

He stepped on the running board, leaned in and unbuckled your seatbelt, then turned your knees toward him as he stepped down.

“I should never have let you get on that airplane. I knew I was in love with you then, just like I’m in love with you still.”

He took off his sunglasses and looked up at you in the truck.

Your hands went to his face and neck, touching him wherever you could reach.

“Promise me one thing?” he asked.

“Anything,” you whispered.

“Never be away more than a couple days,” he said.

You nodded.

“Honey, I need you to say it.”

You slid to the edge of the seat and out of the truck. Jensen kept his hands on you, helping you down to the ground, his arms around your waist.

“My sweet boy, I promise, never to be away more than a couple days,” you managed to say while looking into his beautiful green eyes.

The intensity that Jensen exuded could often be overwhelming or scary depending on the situation. He wasn’t one to throw away words. He said what he meant. He was in love with you. 

His forehead rested on yours as you stroked his head and neck. “I could never give my whole heart to someone because you had it, Jensen, my whole heart, since the day we met. I was so scared I would never see you again. I cried when we left the hotel, just like I did when I got on the airplane. I shouldn’t have left.”

If he hadn’t been holding you so tightly to his body, you might have started crying. As it was, you felt like you could barely breathe. Putting words to feelings you’d held down so firmly and for so long seemed to have robbed you of oxygen. It was amazing to finally be able to say it out loud and to the man you’d loved since he was a boy.

He tipped his head down and to the side, his lips meeting yours with subdued passion. The occasional car driving by reminded you both you were still in public. Jensen had been extremely private in his relationship with Danneel. Making out with him on the side of the road felt somewhat out of character. It wasn’t until the last car that went by and honked their horn that he decided to come up for air.

“We’ll finish this later,” he said.

“Jay,” you stopped him. He came back to you, his hand cupping your face. “I’m sorry for pushing too hard. I didn’t mean to upset you, that was the last thing I wanted. I just get hyper aware of what I want and get too focused on it.”

“Mhm,” he grumbled, “you’re forgiven.” He gave you a quick peck.

“Hey Jay, remember when we did the photobooth?” He nodded, stroking your cheek with his thumb. “I was really glad to have you as a friend, but that’s also when you were more than a friend. No one has ever been good enough since then, because, whether I knew it or not, I was in love with you, too.”

“Now you’re just sucking up so you can see my half of the photo strip.”

“Please, can I see it? I didn’t even know you still had it,” you said. “I didn’t take you for that kind of sentimentality.”

He went to the back of the truck and hopped in with his usual athletic grace that still irritated the crap out of you. He barely put any effort into staying fit. Minimal cardio, minimal weight training, and he was good at everything. He went to the box you hadn’t even noticed he’d put on the truck. It was inside a bungee’d bin and he pulled out the box you’d seen at the cabin with “Nova” written on it. Sliding the box to the end, you were there to open the tailgate and join him when he sat down.

He opened the box for you to see all of the contents loose inside. Most of the letters that he kept were in their envelopes and only a few loose cards and pages. He’d kept a few things you’d given him, including a bottle of sand from the lake trip when you were kids, to the trinket you won at the arcade in Dallas. Something caught your eye at the bottom of the box, though.

“Are you kidding me right now?” you couldn’t believe your eyes. You immediately recognize the white and black material and black nylon straps.

“I guess it wasn’t so bad after all,” he shrugged.

“Now I know why you wouldn’t let me dig in the box at the cabin,” you said. “But why now? And how did you even sneak this out of my apartment? How did you find it?”

“When I was looking for stuff that belonged to fuckface to throw out. I had a moment of weakness. Look inside,” he said.

After you unzipped the main pouch, you looked inside to find a piece of folded paper. Opening it, you saw what might have been the first letter you ever wrote Jensen. You remembered the aquatic stationery that you’d been so happy to find. In the folds of the paper was the bottom half of the photo strip. The edges were worn and some of the edges of the pictures were damaged, but the important parts were still there.”

“I think you were laughing at some dumb face I was making. And that bottom one, that’s my favorite,” he said, shyly. “You still look at me like that, you know.”

It was the picture of your forehead on his that got you, the bottom picture. Your face had a happy smile, your hand on his chest next to his neck and your other arm around his shoulders. The look on his face and the body language of you both spoke volumes. You put the picture down and looked up at him, speechless.

“I thought about it… kissing you… really wished you had tried. I was too shy and scared of your dad to make a move,” he admitted.

You wiped your eyes, “Honestly, I wish I had too, but I was too scared and I didn’t know what the hell I was doing to even attempt it.”

“Me either,” he admitted, “but I was willing to find out, if you were.”

You couldn’t stop looking at the pictures. The top half was in your house and you’d seen them many times, but the bottom half was so different. There was an undeniable shift in the bottom. The top was just two kids having a good time. The bottom was two kids having a very intimate moment.

Jensen started putting things back in the box and gently took the photo strip from you. “Alright, let’s just pretend you didn’t see those.”

“Nope, too late. I already know the truth.”

“What’s that?”

You watched him put the box back in the bin and secure the bungee cords.

“Despite years of blatant denial, you are, in fact, a hopeless romantic, Jensen Ackles.”

He hopped down from the truck bed and stood directly in front of you, pushing your knees apart to stand closer. You locked your legs around him as your fingertips went under his shirt to caress his warm belly. His skin shuddered at your touch, his breath catching.

“Sweetheart… you tryin’a jump my bones on the side of the road?” he asked, not hating it.

“Maybe.”

“How long to your house?”

You eased up on him, but it was hard to not keep going.

“Not sure, but I think we’re at least four hours away, still,” you said.

“Grab on,” he said, then quickly added, “around my neck.”

You did as he asked, then he did the rest and carried you to the passenger side of the truck where he put you down. He did it like it was nothing, not even so much as a grunt. He took a moment to give your ass a smack before moving on to close the tailgate and get back inside the cab of the truck.

When you were back on the highway, your mind went back to Bart and Lill.

“Jay…I do need to talk to you about Whiskey Hollow and…” you trailed off. It wasn’t like one of your books hadn’t been turned into a movie before, but this time was different.

“Shoot,” he replied.

“You do like the series, right? And the characters? I mean, I did write Bart for you, specifically…” you really needed the validation from him.

“Yeah, I really do. Bart isn’t strictly me or any of the people you mentioned, but an amalgamation. I like him a lot. A good man who does the best he can and isn’t perfect. Bart’s backstory is good and it definitely explains why he is the way he is.” He gave you a pointed look, “I’d tell you if I thought it was shit.”

“Okay, good. Please always give me your honest opinion… when it’s work-related.”

“And if it’s not work-related?”

You smiled, “I always look good in whatever outfit I choose.”

He nodded once, “That won’t be a problem.”

“So… my agent was begging me to write a script for Whiskey Hollow rather than have another writer do it. She wants to shop it around to studios and see if anyone will pick it up. But I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I’ve never written a script before and have no clue about what’s important. I want to do a good job and I need your help. I don’t want to embarrass myself, especially on my own story.”

“You won’t embarrass yourself,” he said. “Alright, hit me. How can I help?”

Over the next two hours, you wrote as fast as your brain and hands would allow. Thankfully, you’d adapted a shorthand method that made getting your flow of words out quickly without losing anything. Eventually, Jensen needed to pull over for gas and you both took the opportunity to use the restroom and grab some food for the ride, especially since you were sure there wasn’t anything to eat at your house.

“What’s all this?” he pointed at your purchases on the counter.

“Milk. Bread. Jelly. Peanut butter. Chips,” you said. “Pretty standard stuff.”

“How are we going to make sandwiches in the truck?”

“Very carefully.”

You pointed him in the direction of the paper plates and plastic cutlery to complete your grocery shopping. You paid for all of the food and gas for this stop and were back on the road fairly quickly after. Jensen held out the keys to you and told you he needed a nap. Gladly, you took the keys and got comfy in his truck. It never failed to amaze you at how quickly he could shut off his brain and go to sleep. Before he was totally out, you let him know you needed to make some calls and he gave you a thumbs-up without opening his eyes.

When you got your earbuds in, you pushed a button on your phone, then said, “Call Jen.”

She picked up on the third ring.

“Where the hell have you been?!”

“I told you,” you spoke quietly, “I needed to find Jensen.”

“That was almost a month ago, Y|N.”

“It took a minute.”

“Does that mean you found his fine ass?” Jen asked.

“I sure did,” you still kept your voice low. “About three weeks ago.”

“Three weeks ago?! So you found him almost right away? What the hell were you doing? Were you doing him?”

“Shh! Yes, we were making up for lost time. I’m with him right now, in his truck, and we’re going to my house. I know I don’t have to remind you, but please keep this quiet. We’re going to need to go to Texas at some point.”

Jen was only just beginning to process what you’d told her. “How was the sex? Was he any good? Did you scream?”

“Jen!”

“I can hear your friend,” Jensen said, quietly.

“Oh my god, he can hear you,” the blush quickly rose to your cheeks.

“No, go ahead, tell her. I want to hear your answer,” he paused. “Tell the truth,” he cracked open an eye.

“I’ll talk to you later, Jen,” you were mortified. “I need to call Janice, too.”

You disconnected the call and turned down the volume in your earbuds. You were about to call your manager, but Jensen was curious.

“Well?” he asked.

“Do you really want me to tell you?” you countered, hoping he would drop it.

“I can take constructive criticism,” he said.

You decided to just say it. “You are the only person to crack the code. A few have gotten close, but you… are masterful,” you couldn’t bear to look at him.

He gave a sleepy little fist pump and grin before crossing his arms over his chest again and closing his eyes. You waited a good twenty minutes before you attempted to call your agent, Jan. The two of you discussed the books you had going and what you’d been doing, then caught her up to the details about the script she wanted you to write.

“Sweetie,” she began, “you know I love that you have two secret identities, but you need to give me more to do. You have phenomenal numbers in BOTH fan bases. When will you let me get you on TV for some promotion? We really need an author reveal. Also, I have a big-wig on the hook for your script, really need you to get that to me as soon as you can, sweets.”

“I promise, I’m making progress. I bought the software. I have a consultant. I just need a few moments peace to crank the sucker out,” you liked Jan a lot, but there were times you wanted to kick her, not super, hard, but enough to leave a bruise.

“What would it take to get you out on a promotion circuit?”

“A miracle.” 

“Pretend I’m a magic genie. If we’re gonna do a reveal, let’s go big,” she said.

“I have conditions,” you said.

“Lay ‘em on me, sweetie. Genie Jan is ready,” she said.

“If you manage to sucker someone into buying the script… if the studio or producers give the green light… I will do TV with whomever is cast as Bart. I want it noted with emphasis that Jensen Ackles should be strongly considered for Bart. He is, after all, whom I was thinking of when writing Bart. I will do Seth Meyers with Jensen.”

“Jensen Ackles? Are you sure? Isn’t he kind of imploding right now? Aren’t they still looking for him?” Jan asked.

“He’s on my wishlist, Jan. He is the one who should play Bart,” you reiterated.

“Sweetie, I understand. I just want the best possible outcome.”

“Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be found soon. That woman’s story isn’t ringing true, either. I think she was just trying to scam money out of him.”

“And you want Seth Meyers? Why not one of the Jimmy’s?” she asked.

“I’m a fan and I dated a Jimmy, It didn’t go well. Besides, Seth is funny and the only late night show I’ll watch,” you explained.

“If I can get you on Seth’s show, you’ll do it and not back out?”

“My conditions are simple. I will do it, but it must be like that.”

“Alright, I can work with that,” she said.

You ended the call shortly after that and felt a lot better about things moving forward, not just with your career, but also with Jensen. When you did get home, you were going to look into that “hussy”, as Donna called her, and see what you could find out, maybe enlist the help of Shelley. You just wanted to ask the woman why she was targeting Jensen. You drove on in silence thinking of all the things you wanted and needed to do when you got to the house. Before you knew it, you were driving 25 mph down the main drag of your hometown and Jensen stirred awake at the speed change.

As you got closer to your old apartment, you looked up and noted the light was on in the living room.

“Mom is still up,” you looked at the clock, 10:09 PM.

Jensen looked up at the windows as you stopped for the stop light. “It’s weird not going to your apartment.”

“I know. Before today, now, it didn’t bother me, but it does feel strange.” The light changed and you drove on toward the bridge. “I hope you like my house, though. I did a couple things with you in mind.”

“You did?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s for me, too, but I thought you’d find them appealing,” you said.

“You didn’t have to do that. Your apartment was great though,” he said. Curiosity got the better of him, “What things?”

“I’ll give you a tour when we get there,” you said, crossing the bridge that went over the river. “I’ve had to buy a lot of stuff just to maintain the land, it’s ridiculous, and I had to have out buildings built. I’m a proper adult.”

He snorted, “Do you use the equipment?”

Sometimes it was annoying how he could see through your bullshit so easily. “Sometimes. Shut up!” you laughed. “I hired a guy I went to school with to come out to mow and plow once a week and as needed. I use the mower to keep my trail growth down and the snowblower is hella cool.”

Jensen just stared at you as you turned onto your road.

“Stop looking at me like that, weirdo,” you pulled up to the gate and entered the, very particular to you and Jensen, code. You’d embraced your secret life, the one where you were a notable author with a hot and famous best friend, who had become your boyfriend. It was something like your own inside joke. If anyone had ever guessed how you were able to buy land and build a house, no one ever said anything to you. You found most people didn’t ask questions if they got paid well for their work and you were a generous tipper. Every little bit helps.

The gate came to life and rolled open, enhancing the anticipation. You really wanted him to like what you had created. When it opened and you pulled ahead and stopped for it to close before moving on. The driveway to your house was lit with small lights to lead the way. The house itself wasn’t visible from the road and you followed the driveway to the left and through the trees around a small hill. After the trees, the land opened up into a clearing where your house stood. Every time you drove through the trees and the house appeared, it struck you that the modern appearance of the home was so well complimented by its surroundings.

“Whoa. That’s… I don’t even know what…” Jensen sputtered.

“Good, though, right?” you were quite proud of your home.

“Yeah, I like it. I honestly didn’t know what to expect.”

You pulled around to the side where the garage doors were and parked in front of the middle door. When you hopped out and went to the hidden keypad by the door, Jensen crawled into the driver’s seat and pulled into the open garage space when the door fully opened. You went to the inside control panel to close the garage and turn on the lights.

The stark white interior was nearly blinding from driving in the dark for so long. Jensen had gotten out of the truck by then and was looking all around the inside of the garage. It didn’t take long for his eyes to land on the classic car in the third stall.

“What have we here?” he said, admiring the car.

He was about to cup his hands around his eyes to peek in the window when you said, “My dad’s car.”

Jensen immediately stood up straight without touching the car in the third stall. “Your dad’s?”

You nodded, “Mhm. I started looking for it before the pandemic. It was a bitch to do, but my aunt works in the treasurer’s office and hooked me up with the VIN. Made it a lot easier to track down.”

“Wait, this is his actual car?” You nodded. “How long was it gone? And what condition was it in when you got it?”

You sighed heavily. “It was in pretty bad shape. Dad sold it before I was even born. He loved it.” It was impossible to not be a little sad and a lot mad. You had put these details in letters you’d sent to Jensen in Austin. “She kept a lot more from you than I thought… I put all of this in the mail, Jay.” You tried to keep the anger out of your voice, but you knew it seeped in. If anything, you understood why she did it. You and Jensen were so close, but it still made you mad since you both had tried so hard to stay platonic.

He stood silent for a few moments, “Alright. Can we go inside and talk about this?”

He grabbed the bags out of the truck and followed you inside. You led him through the laundry room and into the main house. You noticed he looked around to take everything in. The house itself wasn’t huge, but you’d also gotten creative with the design. Hidden spaces, secret doors, everything you’d ever wanted in a house when you were a kid. 

Jensen put the bags on the counter in the kitchen and started putting things away. You got out a couple plates and started making the two of you something to eat. Silently, you handed him a plate with a pb&j on it.

He sighed loudly, “I asked her if she – misplaced anything from you. She denied it. It wasn’t just her jealousy. It was the lying and manipulation that hurt the most. I’m ashamed to say that I started to believe it. There was a lot more I wasn’t even aware of.” He took a bite of the sandwich. “I asked what her relationship with Dan was,” he continued. “She insisted nothing was going on and that he was stalking her.”

“Did you believe her?”

“At that point, I didn’t know what was real and what was a lie. After that, I knew not to trust her word.”

“I wouldn’t believe a single word that comes out of her mouth in the future, either.” Jensen looked at you with an expression that told you he was done for the moment.

“Finish up and I’ll show you around the house,” you told him.

He took another bite and talked with his mouth full, “All I’m interested in is the bedroom.”

“Your mother will be shocked at your table manners, sir,” you said. “Also, you’re a perv.”

“Stop. You’re the perv. I was sweet and innocent until I met you,” he countered.

“So now it’s my fault you’re like this?”

“I said what I said,” he smirked, looking you over, his eyes resting on his favorite places.

You didn’t know what to say either to his words, or his scrutiny. “Alright then,” was all you could muster.

Jensen woke you up in the morning in the most pleasant way. Eventually, you both made use of your extra large, spa shower. You couldn’t help but stare at him. You stood in the shower and stretched as the hot water ran over your body. You could see the reflection of Jensen behind you at the 2nd separate shower. He was already looking at you like you were his next meal…again. You turned to face him and returned the gaze. He’d always been fit, but the muscle he’d put on for The Boys, and the work on the mountain had maintained it, was something to behold. He stood staring back at you as he washed his torso, a little, pleased smile on his face.

“You’re staring,” he noticed.

You rinsed your hair, “It’s like looking at a marble statue.” You stepped across the stall to where he stood, reaching out to trace the lines of the muscles on his arms, shoulders, and torso. “Are you going to keep these?”

He stepped backwards into the water to rinse the soap. Stepping forward again, he flexed a little, “You like ‘em?”

“I don’t mind ‘em. It’s kinda hot, but you’re just hot anyway,” you said. Your fingers traced the ‘V’ that formed at his waist, loving the sounds it elicited from him. “Love the hair and beard, too. The beard needs a bit of a trim, but still, dirty hot look for you definitely works for me.”

“Depends on the next role, but the beard is driving me crazy. Takes too much damn time to maintain. Same with this mop,” he said finishing up his routine. He suspected if he didn’t get out of the shower soon, they would need to wash up again.

“Such little butt, though. Nice shape. Not flat, but little,” you observed.

You turned to grab your conditioner and Jensen shut off the water on his side.

“Do you want me to keep it?” he asked.

“It’s good for ‘sports’ but I would have climbed that scrawny kid I knew way back in the day,” you said. “That sounds terrible.”

“Not everyone can have a perfect ass like you,” he said and gave your butt a solid smack, the sound amplified by your surroundings.

Reeling, not only from the stinging of your buttock, but also from the rush of heat to your lady parts. Rubbing the now hot skin on your butt, you called after him, “I still have you!”

He just laughed and added, “Touche!” as he wrapped a towel around his waist and left the bathroom. Almost as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, something felt off. His clothes were in the bedroom and needed to grab the bag. Brushing the feeling aside, he walked through her closet into the bedroom. His peripheral vision caught the small dark figure near the door at the same time as a soft gasp met his ears, making him freeze in his tracks. His hand immediately went to his towel to make sure it didn’t go anywhere.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my daughter’s house?” the woman asked.

He pushed his shaggy hair back off his forehead with his free hand and turned to look at Y|N’s tiny mother.

“Hi Deb,” he said, feeling very, very self-aware as it took her a moment to recognize him.

“J-Jensen?! Oh my god!” She quickly covered her eyes. “I didn’t know you kids were back in town. I was just coming over to check on the house, water the mail and check the plants. Oh god, you know what I mean! Where’s Y|N?”

If it had been happening to anyone else, he might have found it funny how Y|N clearly got some of her more amusing traits from her mother. Instead, he was beyond mortified that her mother had now seen him nearly naked and obviously sleeping with her daughter. “Finishing up in the shower,” he hated the awkward pause. Pointing back toward the bathroom, he said, “I’m just going to go…” he trailed off and took long strides back through the closet to the bathroom.

Y|N was out of the shower in a robe and was putting her hair up in a towel when he walked in.

“Babe,” he waited for her to look up. “Your mom is here,” he pointed, “IN your room.”

You looked at Jensen and how pink he looked and nearly naked. One plush towel was the only thing saving his modesty. The image of your disheveled bed flashed into your mind’s eye and you��d obviously just gotten out of the shower right after Jensen.

“I guess I don’t have to tell her we’re together,” you chuckled.

“Do you have another one of those robes?” he asked.

You shook your head. “I’ll be right back,” you told him and gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t worry, Mom loves you.”

Quickly, you went to your room and gave your mom the “one second” hand signal, grabbed Jensen’s bag and took it to the bathroom for him. He mouthed a relieved “thank you” and took the bag from you. Back out in your room, your mom was still standing by the door waiting for you to return.

“Oh my god, honey, I didn’t know you were both here. I came in through the front door, I didn’t even know you were home. What happened out there? Is he okay? I think we were both pretty shocked,” she said all at once.

Your mom was well aware of what had been going on in Jensen’s personal life. Donna and she still talked fairly regularly. “It’s okay, Mom, he’ll live,” you chuckled. Your mom had a funny smile on her face. “How about you? Are you okay? Did you get an eyeful?” you teased.

She put her hand on your arm, “Honey.”

“I know,” you chuckled again.

“So you two got together finally?” She looked hopeful.

You smirked and thought of all the inappropriate things to say. “Yeah, we’re finally going to give ‘us’ a try. Please, don’t make a thing of it. I don’t want to jinx anything.”

“Y|N!” she smacked your arm. Her eyes went wide then a little teary. 

“You’re making it weird,” you told her. “He wants me to go with him to Texas and wherever else he needs to go. Guess I can quit the grocery store now.”

“You could have anyway. You don’t need that job at all,” she reminded you.

“I like the structure,” you told her.

“You know, I tried to call you.”

“I know. Soldier Boy threw me in the river and it was in my pocket,” you explained. “I made him buy me a new one.”

“Soldier Boy?”

“The reason he looks Hulked out. He was at his batcave and the physical work kept the muscle. It’s kinda hot.”

“I’ll say,” she mumbled.

“I’m telling him you said that.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Okay,” you laughed. “We’ll meet you downstairs, okay?”

You shuffled her out the door and gently closed it behind her. When you heard her on the steps, you went back to your bathroom. Jensen stood in there, fully dressed, looking like he was finding stuff to do until it was safe for him to step out.

“Smells expensive in here. Did you try all of my products, or just the ones that you thought smelled nice?” you asked.

He was studying the bottles of perfume. Finding the one he was looking for, he picked it up and showed it to you saying, “This one is my favorite. Warm and spicy, like you.”

“That’s my favorite, too,” you admitted. It was one you had found in one of the little shops near your hotel when you visited him in Rome. “I told my mom we would come down to talk with her. She’s going to want to know what the plan is for Texas and after.” You took the bottle of perfume from him and opened your robe to spray it on your body and put it back on the vanity.

“If we make it out of this room,” he said, snaking his hands inside the robe and pulling you to him. His hands moved over your bare skin.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, Ackles,” you warned him.

His full lips met yours, parting for his tongue to gently mingle with yours, stoking the embers that seemed to always be threatening to ignite around him. His right hand went up your back between your shoulder blades while his left reached down to grasp your ‘perfect’ flesh. Your heart raced in your chest despite the somewhat tender moment. He broke the kiss, but held you still, not wanting to fully break the moment.

“Love you like crazy, Nova,” his eyes were closed, forehead touching yours.

Despite the heat from your body and his, his deep voice and breath on your face gave you goosebumps. “Love you so much, my sweet boy.” You smiled with your eyes closed as your hand went up the back of his neck.

“You better put some clothes on before we go down,” he said, sounding a little like Dean, his lips brushing your forehead before he kissed you.

He left you standing there in a little daze to collect yourself and get ready as quickly as you could to meet with your mother.

Mercifully, by the time you and Jensen went down to the kitchen, your mother had rallied and was pretending like she hadn’t just seen Jensen nearly naked. She was looking through the cupboards for something.

“Honey, where’s your Keurig pods?” she asked after hearing you enter the kitchen, but she still kept opening cupboard doors.

You went to the pantry and showed her what you had for your selections.

“You don’t have any coffee?” she asked.

“I only keep that around for you. When you were here last, you used the last one. We only got here last night, so I haven’t gone to the store yet.”

You thought you heard a grumble from behind you.

“I didn’t know you would be here either,” you said over your shoulder to Jensen.

“Well, how long are you kids going to be in town? Do you want to put in an order at the store? I could go pick it up for you,” she offered.

You moved to the end of the island to stand next to where Jensen was sitting.

“We haven’t really talked about how long we will be here. Jensen needs to go back to Texas to deal with some stuff and I want to go with him. We’re not in a huge rush to get down there, but we do need to go, soonish.”

Jensen nodded. “We didn’t get much of a chance to talk about it on the way here. I was thinking we could ease into it. Take care of as much as we can here, then go down, maybe in a week or less.”

“I think it’s going to be crazy once we get into the full swing of your career,” you looked at him.

“Um, your career is doing pretty well. I’ll probably be the one keeping up with you,” he said.

Your mom looked at you with wide eyes. “Are you going to go public? You, Y|N, with who you really are? I mean about your writing.”

You nodded. “At some point. That’ll make my manager and agent very happy…and publisher.”

Your mom clasped her hands together. “Oh thank god. Please do it soon! It has been so hard to keep this a secret for so long, especially from your brother. I think he suspects something but I don’t know what.”

“Drug dealer,” you joked.

Jensen perked up, “You didn’t tell him that, did you?”

“No,” you admitted, “but he probably thinks that.”

“No, he doesn’t,” your mom admonished, “but he will draw that conclusion soon if you don’t tell him soon. He wondered how you were able to build this house. So far, he’s buying your NRC cover.”

“The government pays well,” you noted.

“Be that as it may, you’ve got to at least tell your brother the truth,” she said.

“So he can ask for even more money?” you grumbled. “It would be one thing if it weren’t so frequent.”

“I’ll handle him, even if you don’t tell him. His feelings will be hurt if you don’t tell him before you go public.”

You looked at Jensen. He shrugged, “Deb has a point.”

“Yeah, I know,” you admitted. It had been a long time since it all began. He didn’t really ‘deserve’ to know, in your opinion, but he should know, you supposed. “I guess I better make a to-do list of shit to get done while we’re here.”

“I know, and he’s terrible about keeping a secret. Anyway, I should go,” your mom said. “You two probably have a lot to take care of while you’re here.” She picked up her purse. “Let me know if you need me to run any errands for you.”

“Thanks, Mom,” you said.

She patted Jensen’s shoulder, “I was always rooting for you kiddo. I’m happy for you both.”

Your mom was going to leave it at that, but Jensen turned toward her. “Thanks, Deb,” he said and hugged her. “I feel like we’ve gotten closer today.”

They parted and your mom was blushing again.

“I’m so sorry, I was just so surprised,” she said.

Jensen chuckled, “Don’t worry about it. It was good to see you.”

“It was good to see you, too,” she said innocently. Then the realization of the double meaning washed over her features before she practically ran to the door.

“Now I understand where you get it,” Jensen smiled.

“She’s my mom, not blind. She’s always appreciated a hot guy,” you told him. You reached out to touch his neck. “This grizzly look is working, big time.”

“I don’t know if I can wait for Texas to get this cut. Do you have any scissors, razors, clippers or anything?” he asked.

“I do, but you’re getting the dullest ones I have,” you told him. You sighed, “We can probably get some at the store when we get groceries.” 

You could feel the cosmic pressure to get back to work coming from your agent, publisher, and manager. You gave Jensen a quick tour of the house but you eventually ended up at your desk in your office. You tapped the ctrl button a few times to wake up your system. Jensen left for a few moments while you opened your emails. You knew he’d noticed your secret, but you waited and kept reading.

After you answered a couple emails, Jensen reappeared to ask, “What’s with this wall?”

You tried to look confused, “It’s a bookshelf? I think I need one of those cool rolling ladder things.”

“You should definitely do that,” he pointed a finger at you for emphasis, but turned back toward the wall of shelves. “But…something is off…”

“What do you mean? Is something out of place?” you got up to join him. He was so close to discovering your secret.

Jensen scanned the shelves until his eyes fell on a book that seemed out of place from the others.

“Nova, you are the coolest chick I’ve ever known.” He stepped forward and tipped his head to the side to read the spine of one of the books. “Aerospace Engineering. Now I know you do a lot of research, and are smart as hell, but I read all of the Whiskey Hollow books and Bart wasn’t engineering shit.”

“Okay, smartass. How about you check the inside cover. It’s inscribed to me,” you gave him a playful shove.

Jensen reached for the top of the book to pull it off the shelf. When he grasped the top corner of the book and began to pull, there was a soft click and the bookshelf moved.

“No you did not do a secret library door! Where does it go? Can I go in? There isn’t a trapdoor for me to fall through is there? I can’t believe you Scooby-Doo’d your office.”

You went to the bookcase and pushed on the right side while pulling on the left. The bookcase moved easily and quietly opened like a regular door. It locked into the open position and the lights inside the room turned on to reveal both a spiral staircase going down and a room you had turned into a quiet office for your zoom meetings. It worked great for the meetings where you needed to focus and not get distracted, looking out the window.

It was cute to watch him. He looked like a kid in a candy store. The walls in the open space of the room were covered in a mural of muted greens and grays, displaying a misty forest scene and the lighting was adjustable to your mood.

Jensen stuck his head inside the booth and poked around looking at the mic and camera, but his eyes kept going toward the staircase.

“There is a trapdoor next to the staircase, but it isn’t a drop door,” you said as you motioned to the stairs, “After you, sir.”

Jensen went to the spiral staircase and looked down into the darkness.

“Make sure you use the handrail,” you told him.

Eager to discover more surprises, he rested his hand on the rail and began the descent. The lights turned on and got brighter as he went down each step. He immediately stopped, lifted his hands and took another stop to test his theory. He then ran his hands up and down the rails and the lights dimmed or brightened with the motions.

“Coo-ooo-ool,” he said then ambled all the way down the stairs which ended facing directly into the big surprise you’d incorporated into your house, just for him. “You did this for me?”

He went to look at each guitar, instrument and piece of equipment you had gathered for his in-home recording studio.

“How? Why? Babe… this is too much,” he said, though his voice was still far away, exploring and marveling at the gift.

“I hoped,” you began, “I hoped, that someday, you would be here and could use it. And… that you and I would be where we are now… You probably don’t even know you sing along to the radio, like, all the time. If you’re not singing, it’s humming. I wanted you to have a place like this where you could be creative if you wanted to. You never know when inspiration might hit.”

He was still quiet looking at things, “I tried to involve you in this, but I called some guys you know and they helped me pick out the right pieces and equipment,” you explained. “I didn’t mean for this to be a surprise. I just wanted you to be happy here. Happy to come visit.”

Jensen put down the acoustic guitar he’d been strumming and crossed the floor to where you stood watching him. He stood over you looking down into your eyes. You saw they had gone a deep green color as he looked into yours. His hands cupped your face and neck as he spoke softly to you.

“I want you to hear me and take this to heart, my Nova, as long as you’re with me, I’m a happy guy. I hope I never made you feel like I didn’t want to be around you. Hell, I even asked you to move closer to me,” he pulled you to him, his lips pressing to yours, one arm around you, the other touching your face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t around when you needed me, but I promise, I’m all yours.” He turned his head to the side, leaning down to kiss you again.

He broke the kiss but didn’t pull away. You were still floating somewhere close to heaven with your eyes still closed.

“It was Steve, wasn’t it?” his voice rumbled, breath on your face. His fingertip traced your lower lip.

“Steve who?” you were in a love daze.

“Carlson,” he kissed your jaw near your ear.

“Mhm,” you ran your hand through his hair, “and Jason, too.”

He moved to your neck and you wrapped your arms around his shoulders. “You’re mine.”

“They really liked helping me,” you prodded. “They’ve even been here before you. …and stayed overnight.”

“Never again,” he said against your neck, his beard scratching your skin.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” you asked, playfully.

The way he rocked and swayed with your body, it almost felt like you were dancing.

“You’ll never have to wonder where I am, or how much I love you, ever again,” he said.

“Why are you so sweet to me?”

“I give back what I receive,” he said simply, kissing you softly. “You set a high bar.”

You composed yourself and remembered you needed to get back to work.

“Hey, give it all a try and the amps. I won’t be able to hear a thing with the soundproofing,” you went back toward the stairs. “I really need to get back to work.”

He gave you a look of longing, but also a thumbs-up as a signal that he heard you and was already looking at his options. When you got upstairs, you left open the bookcase so you could hear him anyway. He could sing the alphabet and you would want to hear him. Steve and Jason had both been at your house at the same time for one visit and they had their own little jam session down there to test out all of the equipment. With all of the soundproofing, being in the basement, and closing the bookcase, you’d forgotten they were even there until they emerged several hours later.

Once you’d gotten resettled at your desk, you were disappointed to find that your unread emails and open documents were still there, unread and unfinished. Resolving to at least get through your emails, you trained your focus to your computer screen.

When the emails were all read and responses sent, you decided to take a break at your desk and listen to the music coming from below. You heard the last of “The Sounds of Someday” before he started “City Grown Willow”.

The lyrics to “City Grown Willow” had always resonated with you and you didn’t know why. It just felt like it was mean for your ears. It just hit differently now. The video he and Steve had done… the lyrics… it was almost like he’d been calling out to you with the song. You passed off the notion as wishful thinking and got back to work on the screenplay. It would be the introduction of Hobart and Lillian to the viewers who may not be familiar with the books, but also, you wanted to stay somewhat true to the first book, while assuming the viewers half-way know what’s going on in the universe.

The software package you bought was a life-saver and you were flying through pages and pages of script. Dialog had always been easy for you. Hearing the character’s voices had always been very clear for you. Thankfully, describing setting didn’t need to be wildly descriptive and it was the content of the scenes that were more important.

Whiskey Hollow had lived in your mind for years, but it was somewhat difficult to reintroduce the characters because they had come so far since the beginning. Thankfully, you still had your written notes and outlines from your original book and that was an incredible help. With your notes handy, you wouldn’t reveal too much, too soon.

It wasn’t until Jensen arrived with a bowl of cereal and a drink that you realized how much time had passed or that he’d even left the studio.

“Figured you might need that,” he said, pulling up a chair to eat with you.

“I’m sorry, Jay, I got in a groove and I had to go with it,” you explained.

“No worries,” he waved you off. “I got carried away down there, too. You did great with it. Whole thing,” he waved his hand in a circle, “A plus.”

“Well, you can thank Jason and Steve. They were a big help.”

“It was your idea. So I’m thanking you. I can’t believe you did that.”

You only shrugged. It didn’t seem extreme to you. You’d only wanted a space for Jensen to be creative in a way you knew he would love and not be held back by anything it could be lacking…but you did realize the truth of it.

“I think that, though my brain knew we were not a couple, my heart didn’t listen and wanted…to express my love for you,” you couldn’t believe you admitted it out loud. “Some people’s love language is touch, mine is outlandish gifts.”

He nodded as he chewed his cereal. “I know you don’t love people touching you, pretty much ever, but I love that you let me. Touch is my language and… it makes me feel important, special, that you shower me with your attention.” He took another bite of cereal, “I put a lot of what’s going on in here,” he tapped his temple, “into the songs I write with Steve. It’s not a love language, exactly, but… it also is.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you’ve heard me perform. I’ve seen your vinyls of mine…” he was getting shy. “Do you have a favorite song?”

“Off My Mind,” you answered quickly.

Jensen smiled, “Yeah, that’s a good one. We ran with that one. I was feeling a certain kind of way with that one.” 

“Did you write that?”

“It was mostly Steve, but I put in my two cents. Any others, maybe off volume 2?” he asked.

““City Grown Willow”,” you answered.

“"City Grown Willow" is about you,” he said simply. 

“What?”

“Us,” he said, pointing back and forth between you and himself.

When you just sat staring at him in confusion and disbelief, he continued, “That video call, that one in December 2019.”

“The one where you didn’t get my spot on Edna Mode impression?”

“I know who she is now. Good movie.”

“I know…”

“Can I tell you this or not?”

“I’m sorry, please, go on,” you chuckled.

“After that call, it kicked things in motion. You were on my mind a lot and I needed time to process. Wrote the song to kind of push things out and into being.”

You remembered that call quite well and what he’d just said made you ask, “So talking to me made you realize that you had love feelings for me. You tried to stay with Dee, ultimately divorcing. Then you write the song. Then you go out and shag everything with boobs. Get into a situation. Text me the most cryptic text you’ve ever sent, and that’s saying something, and went into hiding hoping I would come find you.”

“When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound as good. We can edit that when our grandkids ask us about our story.”

“We’re having grandkids?”

Jensen shrugged and took a drink of the milk in his bowl. “We’ve been ‘shagging’ like rabbits for weeks…I know I wasn’t using anything, were you?”

“Holy crap,” you said. “I didn’t even think about it. I’m getting a little – seasoned. We better get to the store and pick up some tests, just in case. I didn’t think you wanted kids, Jay.”

“I didn’t think I did. I didn’t think it would be a good idea until now,” he said.

“What changed your mind?” you wanted to know.

“The right partner,” he answered. He seemed apprehensive, “I want you to know it’s okay if we don’t. I know you went through stuff with Dan…”

“For the record, before you say more, you came for me when I needed you, too. And while I was very sad to lose that pregnancy, I didn’t want to have a child with him. I felt really guilty about that for a long time, but I knew he wasn’t the one.”

“--are we doing this?” he asked.

“I don’t know. This is kind of out of nowhere, Jay. I don’t even know if my body can handle it at this point. What if I decide you’re a douchebag and kick you to the curb? What if I’m not the best thing since sliced bread and you decide you want soup?”

“Sweetheart, I’m a sandwich guy and that’s not gonna change. Not now, not ever,” he said with finality.

“You’re such a dork, though! Oh my god. What if I’m pregnant right now and this kid gets your sense of humor? I don’t know if I could take it from two of you!” 

“You’d love it,” he said playfully.

You avoided his gaze for a few moments, feeling a little overwhelmed. You hadn’t even thought about your cycle since before you left. You didn’t even know if you could have kids at this point in your life. It was possible, of course, but risky. “Jay, let’s not rush things, okay? I… I’m a little skittish after everything. Dan and Grant and all of the other disasters, I just… they all cheated on me and treated me like shit, used me for whatever reason… As my friend, I trust you implicitly…”

“I understand,” he raised a hand, as though to indicate, ‘say no more’. “I don’t want to rush either. I’m just saying if it happens, I’m going to be happy about it, and if it doesn’t, I’m good, too. I love what we have going on right now, too.”

“Are you sure?”

“Babe. I promise. You can trust me. Always.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s go get some groceries,” he said.

“Hold on now,” you said, finishing your cereal and milk. “How long do you plan on being here? I don’t want to buy a bunch of food only to throw it out.”

He leaned back in his chair, extending his legs to go across your lap. Absently, your hands rested on his legs. Jensen stretched his whole body shit his hands clasped on top of his head.

“How does staying the week and leaving on Saturday morning sound? IF we drive all day, we’d get there Saturday night.”

“Do you have your own place down there, or did you get to keep the house?” you asked.

“I let her keep the house,” he said. “It was never really mine. She picked just about everything. I got a little place on Lake Austin. It’s small, but it is secure, has a good view and access to the lake.”

“What did you do with the Impala,” you were suddenly fearful. “You still have it, right? Tell me she didn’t try to take it from you.”

“No, I made it clear there would be pushback if she tried. Clif is looking after it for me, for now. Also, she wanted a prenup and I signed it. I don’t go after her stuff, nor she mine. Another reason I didn’t want to have kids with her.”

“What do you mean?”

“If we’d had a kid, she could get half of my shit and alimony and child support.”

A thought sprung to your mind and you didn’t know if you should ask it or not.

“I can see your wheels spinning. Just ask.”

“Is there any-thing that is going to come back and bite you in the ass?” you asked.

“No?” he pulled his legs from your lap.

“Jay… I don’t trust her. I just get the feeling this isn’t over with her. She’s going to lose her mind when she finds out about us.”

“She can be mad all she wants. Divorce was final four months ago.”

“Okay, let’s go get some food,” you said, not wanting to discuss it any further. You just couldn’t shake that feeling of dread regarding anything to do with his ex wife. She didn’t strike you as one to give up on someone she wanted, or let go of a goal. She played the long-con for years and did what she could to keep you away from Jensen during that time.

“Can we make your pasta?” he asked.

You grabbed your bowl. “I told you you’d get hooked on it.”

Jensen drove you both into town to the local grocery store. Your little town has changed a lot over the years, including the grocery store. When you were growing up, there were two stores. Nowe there was only one and it was in a brand new building and location.

Jensen wore jeans, t-shirt, sneakers and a trucker hat. He looked funny with his hair smashed down and his beard sticking out. It was the little things that mattered though. He took your hand when you walked through the parking lot. Little touches as you shopped. The need to be separate, to hide your feelings, was gone.

People said hello to you both. Jensen got some second looks, but nothing to make them stop and ask questions. A few of the people you worked with stopped to chat and Jensen continued on shipping. When he found you again, your former boss, former classmate, and former neighbor, Brian was chatting you up.

“You look great, Y|N. You look really happy. What have you been doing?” he asked.

Apparently, Brian hadn’t noticed Jensen approaching. You turned at the sound of the cart and Jensen making noise as he got closer. Somehow, he’d taken on a rougher version of Dean, one who’d seen too much and he looked quite imposing.

“Me. She’s been doing me, Brian,” he said reading his nametag. 

The blush in your face was rising. He could never just be cool when a guy was talking to you.

“Brian, this is Jay. Jay, this is Brian, whom I just told I quit. I’ve also known him since we were kids,” you introduced your guy to your friend.

“Huh. Me too,” Jensen said. “Good to meet you, Brian.” He extended his hand to the other man. “Baby, I got us set for the week. Are you ready to go home?” his voice was full Dean and half an octave lower.

Dominance Asserted.

“Yes, hon, I’m ready. Did you find what you wanted?” you replied.

“Sure did,” he planted a kiss on you. He pulled you and the cart with him, leaving Brian behind you.

The two of you went to the register and a high school kid you didn’t know rang up your selections. She was quick and friendly and barely gave Jensen any attention. You paid and thanked her and left with Jensen pushing the cart to the truck.

“Jay? You good?” you were putting bags into the back of the truck.

“Do you know everyone here?” he asked.

You nodded, “Kinda. It’s a pretty small town and I did work here… Didn’t like Brian, huh?”

He shook his head, “Nope. He was looking at you like you were a full meal after being half-starved.”

“Seriously? I’ve known him since his family came to town. Literally my next-door neighbor.”

“Yep, dead serious. Maybe he didn’t ‘see’ you then, but he does now. Does Br-i-an know how you wrecked your friend’s bike when you were seven?”

Jensen put the cart away with emphasis. It crashed to a stop in the coral.

“Jay!” he stopped in front of you. “Only my immediate family, Lance’s family, and you know about that accident. My love,” you patted his chest, “wild horses couldn’t take me from you, you know that, right?”

He grumbled, “Nova, I don’t think you realize how hot you are. You could wear a burlap sack and I’d still want to do dirty things with you. People are always drawn to you. Friggin Glen practically ran to talk to you.”

“Glen is an old man,” you laughed, “and you were being an aloof mountain man. I think he was worried for me.”

“Old, not dead,” he said.

“Ooookay, I think you’re blowing things out of proportion. I know who I’m going home with and it sure as shit isn’t Brian…who is a total douche, by the way. Constantly cheats on his wife. And definitely not with crusty Glen. I’m the one who is supposed to be neurotic, not you.”

He sighed heavily, “It’s just that… I’ll tell you later. Let’s get out of here.”

At your house, you and Jensen got the groceries put away and he’d gotten back to his normal self. You hadn’t forgotten what he’d said and your curiosity was killing you. It had gotten close enough to dinner that the two of you could start preparing food.

Jensen helped cut the tomatoes while Y|N did the rest of the food prep. She hated cutting the tomatoes and it was the least he could do to help out if she was willing to do the rest. By the time the water was boiling, he had half of the tomatoes done and in the bowl where she was steadily adding the green onions and other ingredients. When the tomatoes were added to the bowl, he excused himself to get cleaned up for dinner and grabbed the bag that held his purchases from the pharmacy.

Upstairs in the bathroom he pulled the boxes out of the bag and saw the pregnancy tests at the bottom. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be a father, but if Y|N was pregnant, he was happy to be a parent with her. Seeing them also reminded him of things he didn’t want to remember. He had to tell himself that Y|N was not at all like Dee and wouldn’t do what she had done. Normally, he was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but the last few years had severely tested his resolve.

He set up the clippers and got to work. He didn’t take off too much since he didn’t know what the next job would need… if he got another job. He just hoped there would be a next job. Tomorrow, he would start making calls. Hopefully his career was salvageable. 

Y|N had asked him if he wanted to retire. He supposed she asked because she already knew the answer. He didn’t want to retire and she had already pulled him out of headspace that had been quickly going down that path. It was hard being around her again and not think about all of the things Dee had been trying to brainwash him with. Despite knowing Y|N so well and trusting her, Dee had managed to cast doubt inside him.

“Everything is going to work out,” Y|N had told him. “Tomorrow, I’m going to show you how to use everything and you’re going to get back on track. Maybe you can finally start that production company you’ve always wanted to do, too. Maybe quietly start developing shows, actively look for new ideas and writers who are also in love with you.”

Dee had never said anything like that to him, never been so encouraging. He should have known not to doubt Y|N. She was always in his corner and had never waivered. He flipped on the clippers and set about taming his overgrown beard. There was no denying she made him happy. Hell, he couldn’t get enough of her. All he wanted to do was be around her, to touch her, to love her. It was nice to shower affection on her and have it returned rather than withheld. After all she had been through, it seemed like she needed it, too. Maybe they just needed it from one another. 

You took the candle stick holders from the mantle and put them on the table in the dining room. The pasta definitely wasn’t a romantic dinner, but you wanted to make it special somehow. Jensen was probably going to be very busy in the lead up to going back to Texas and you had a lot of writing you needed to get done. That morning was a good start, but there was so much more to do.

You were busy getting the candles set up and the bowls dished when Jensen reappeared, looking very over-dressed for a simple home meal. And yet, also slightly casual. He was rolling up the sleeves on a white, button down shirt, which was neatly tucked into black dress pants. No belt. No socks. Somehow, he’d managed to tame his glorious mane of hair and had it brushed back from his face. His tan skin enhancing his good looks and green eyes.

“Whoa,” you heard yourself say.

He looked up with his eyes and gave you a wry smile as he finished cuffing his sleeve.

“I am wildly underdressed…It’s really not fair that you make this whole combo look so fucking hot. Absolutely ridiculous.”

“You can take your clothes off,” he put his hands in his pockets, not moving from the dining room entry. He could see you thinking about going to change your clothes. “No. Not change. Off. Or as you are.”

Goddaaaaaamn. He raised an eyebrow in question at you. “I choose my modesty, I guess.”

“Hmm.” He entered the room and pulled a chair out for you to sit at the head of the table. He pulled the palm of your hand to his lips, your fingers touching his beard, which felt softer.

The man made you feel giddy inside. Of course, you’d been friends forever and he’d always given your heart a rush, but your relationship had shifted dramatically the day you found him at his cabin. 

“Jay – you don’t have to try to be someone else for me, you know that, right?” you asked. “You don’t have to be Dean, or anyone else. I just want my friend and confidant.

Jensen seated himself to your right. “I’m not trying to be anyone else. Now that you and I are together, I get to show you all sides of me…the ones I couldn’t show you until you found me on that mountain.”

You took a bit of food and reached for his hand. He took it and held it on the table. “You held back?”

He nodded, “Mhm, big time.” His thumb stroked the top of your hand.

“Me, too,” you admitted. “Like every time. Was it like that for you, too?”

He nodded again, taking a smaller bite, “Had to.”

A couple of bites passed with him holding your hand on the table top. “Were you –in love–with me–the whole time, too? Cuz–I was–with you.”

Jensen let go of your hand, used his napkin, then leaned way over to kiss you. “Mhm.”

It took you a few moments to collect yourself after that. You knew you would never get tired of hearing him say things like that to you. When your heart and stomach stopped jittering, you got out your phone  and told your sound system to play music. You and Jensen chatted over your meal and you were using your elbow and the palm of your hand to hold up your head. You couldn’t help but stare at him. His skin was tan, hair somewhat lightened due to being in the sun, his green eyes shining. White button down shirt highlighting his already ridiculously good looks. The music was playing and invading your thoughts while you appreciated the view.

“Can you dance like John Travolta?” you asked.

His fork stopped before reaching his lips, “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Only John Travolta can dance like John Travolta.”

“Hmm,” you smirked. “Stayin’ Alive’ was playing when it finally hit you who Jensen had been reminding you of with his glorious mane. “Barry Fucking Gibb!”

“Maurice Gibb,” he said confused. “The hell are we doing, naming BeeGees?”

You sat staring at him, both shocked and proud of yourself for finally pin-pointing who he’d been reminding you of.

“Oh my god!” you laughed and clapped your hands over your mouth. “No! You’re reminding me of Barry Gibb!”

“That’s not funny.”

“Yes it fucking is!’ you laughed. “Oh god, do I think Barry Gibb is hot?”

“That’s it, it’s coming off tomorrow,” he grumped.

You sat considering his thick hair. You’d really gotten to like running your fingers through it. “We could really complete the look with a spectacular blowout.”

“Woman, if you come near me with a blow dryer, I swear…”

“You’ll spank me?”

He put his fork down and wiped his mouth. “You’re filthy. You’ve spent too much time around ex-cops and ex-military.”

“No, I’ve always been like this, I just couldn’t say it before. You always had a lady on your arm,” you paused, “Does it bother you?”

He smirked, “No. I guess not. Guess we need to get to know each other again.”

“In a new way,” you agreed.

When you woke the next morning, it was not to Jensen’s kisses. He wasn’t even in the bed with you. You’d reached to touch the spot where he had lain and it was cold. Still waking up. Your brain wasn’t processing information. You looked around trying to figure out where he’d gone. Only briefly, you wondered if you’d dreamed it all. Then the sound of a song softly sung reached your ears. It wasn’t quite the deeper tone of Steve’s voice, but you recognized “Off My Mind” right away. 

Getting out of bed, you went into your bathroom and found Jensen in front of the mirror with the trashcan on the counter under him. He hummed the song when he was on his neck, then would vocalize the lyrics when he cleaned the counter of the bits that missed the trash.

Catching you watching, he said, “Good morning, Sunshine.”

You thought maybe you grunted in response. Jensen asked, “You gonna miss it?” He was taking off what was left of the beard. He turned the clippers back on and another soft plop of beard landed in the bin.

Moving to where he stood, you leaned against the counter with your back to the mirror. You’d caught a glimpse of yourself and were not impressed. You shrugged slightly, “It’ll be nice to see your face again. Are you taking it all off?”

“I was thinking I’d leave some. Dean still looks back at me sometimes,” he said. “I should have just taken it all off last night. Thought I’d be able to stand it a little longer.”

“Do you miss him?” you asked.

He nodded and continued taking the beard down to a thin layer. 

“I miss him, too. It’s okay with me if he shows up once in a while. It was really hard watching that last episode,” you paused, remembering. “I probably won’t ever watch it again, though.”

“That bad?”

“That traumatizing,” you said. You could feel yourself getting emotional. “Not only did I have to watch Dean die, I felt like I was watching you die, too. You and Dean are so intertwined, it felt so real. To have Dean go out like that… the writers did you dirty. I get why they did it, but I hate it! Dean deserved to be happy and have a life, too.” The tears were welling up. “If you ever bring him back, please, let someone love him. Someone who loves him for exactly who he is.” The tears broke over your cheeks.

He took a step to the side to hold you, “Baby, I had no idea you felt that way.”

“I know!” you mumbled into his chest, still crying. “You had me on radio silence and I had to suffer alone.”

“He had to die sometime,” he rubbed your back.

“Not like that! Not so young! They barely left room for you guys to come back. And don’t give me that bullshit about COVID and needing to make changes. They did not need to kill Dean in a dirty BARN with a random piece of absurdly large rebar in shitty lighting. Give me Dabb’s phone number.”

He squeezed you once more before letting you go and resuming shaving.

“I’m not giving you his number,” he said.

“Well…okay,” you sputtered, “but I’m going to fix it. I’m gonna plot out a whole thing and my sweet Dean will live.”

“Like fan fiction?” he asked, still shaving. Large clumps of beard falling into the trash can.

“No, not like fan fiction, butthole. Like a fully plotted out, written scripts that will fucking resolve that bullshit.”

“Don’t you have a whole movie to write?” he asked.

“Listen, Ackles,” you gave him tone and he grinned knowing he zinged you. “O’ll make it happen. Just you wait.”

“Okay,” he chuckled. “You do that. Can I help plot it out with you?”

“Of course!” you were feeling better now and excited about the prospect of potentially bringing your favorite character back to life.

Jensen put the final guard on the clippers and ran it over his face. He made sure he got any long pieces he may have missed, then cleaned up the mess he’d made on the counter. You were patiently waiting for him to show you his face. It still surprised you how long his hair had gotten, though.

“How long were you growing out your hair, for real?” you asked. “You were up there a couple months, but this grow out is a good six months or more.”

“About that,” he agreed.

“Do you want me to take some length off? I have scissors somewhere,” you offered. “Can’t guarantee it’ll look good, but I’ll leave enough a pro can fix it.”

“Knock yourself out,” he agreed and sat on your vanity chair.

Grabbing a towel, all of your hair clips, brush and comb, you got ready to cut Jensen’s hair. You draped the towel around his shoulders and reached around from behind to clip the towel together in front of him.

She brushed his hair, running her fingers through with each pass. Her nails scratched his scalp as she seemingly massaged his head.

“Mm. Your scalp is tense. How is your scalp tense?” 

“Might be because I have a nearly naked woman dancing around and touching me all over,” he remarked.

She looked down at her bare legs under his shirt. “So…if I lifted my arms above my head like this,” she flashed him, “that do anything for ya?”

It really did. He didn’t know why it was so hot when women wear their partner’s clothes, but it was. The shape of her ass just barely concealed.

“Yep. Like it. Like it a lot,” he was trying not to think about it.

“Oh…okay,” she said, and he knew she would tease him the whole time she cut his hair.

She brushed it back and tried his hair in different styles. He just let her do her thing until she could picture the style she wanted.

“Too bad, Barry Gibb is pretty hot on you,” she teased and got to sectioning his hair.

When she was done, he’d gotten his face full of her at least three times, and two views of her butt in the mirror. She took off about three inches of hair from all over his head. She brushed it again and checked her work, looking for missed, long hairs. She then got out the clippers and shaved his neck and evened out the line of hair. He was then given a mirror so she could check the final product while she cleaned up the floor gracing him with one luxurious view of her backside.

“That’s a lot of hair, hon,” she said, putting the clippings in the trash. “So?”

“Actually, not bad.”

“Really, or are you trying not to hurt my feelings?” she asked.

“Baby, I would tell you,” he assured her.

“Alright, let’s get some breakfast going. Then I can show you how to use all of the equipment,” she said.

After breakfast, you showed Jensen all of the things and where you kept your cheat sheets for him to use if needed. He seemed to catch on fairly quickly and you left him to it so you could get your own work done. Almost as soon as you got on your computer, you got a zoom call from your manager, Eleanor Mitchellhill.

“It’s very early in the day, Eleanor,” you answered the phone. An icy chill flowed through your screen.

“It’s not early here Y|N,” she snipped in her British accent. “Where the hell have you been? It took you longer than a couple weeks.”

“I was in an undisclosed location spending time with my friend who needed me,” you explained.

“Does this friend have a name?” she pressed.

“Elle…,” you stalled, “I don’t think you need his name yet.”

“Oh, I see,” she drew out the word. “It’s a he. Is this man the reason you’re practically glowing?” she wanted to know.

“You could say that,” you nodded.

“Well, whatever fuels your fire, I suppose,” she acquiesced. “We will come back to this soon enough.”

“I don’t need a background check, Elle,” you said, “but you’re right, we will need to talk about him later. I need a week. He needs to go to Texas.”

“And you need to go with him?” she guessed.

You sighed, “Elle, it’s complicated and yes, I’m going with him.”

“Can’t wait to hear about it in a week,” she said, dryly. “Right, let’s talk. For the love of all that is holy, when are we going to get you in the public eye? You’re cute as a button and the people will just eat you up. And my god, when they know about the mystery series…” she kissed her fingertips. “Perfection.”

“About that, I want to go public with the mystery series pen name first. The romance one, I don’t want to do yet. And I want to go public with the mystery one when the movie is about to release. Like, on the promotion circuit.”

“I suppose you’ve already talked to Jan about this?” she asked.

You nodded, “She’s aware. I also told her that when I get this script done, I want Jensen Ackles to get a shot at playing Hobart. So if he does, you’re gonna be okay with it.”

Eleanor leaned back in her chair, “Why would I need to do that?”

“He’s my friend, Elle, and I based the character on him. There really isn’t anyone better to play him.”

Eleanor sat quietly, just staring at you while she thought. “Alright. Now get that script done. And as soon as you get to Texas, I expect a call, immediately, Y|N.”

“Understood,” you confirmed.

After a few more calls and answered emails, you were able to get in some steady work and the words flew from your fingertips into the script. It was like you were putting what you could see so clearly in your head into the script. You still had the notes from when you wrote the first book so it flowed really well. The story of Whiskey Hollow was precious to you and it would have been hard for you to let anyone take over writing the script for the movie adaptation. You just hoped that what you were creating would be appealing to whichever studio wanted the script. Jan, your agent, would be working hard to find takers and you wanted to give it your best effort.

A few days later, you and Jensen had put in three very long days doing all manner of work on your script and getting his affairs in order. You had written a ton in the script and were nearing completion, but something had come up that needed to be dealt with. Your brother and mom were coming over and you were not looking forward to finally telling him your big secret.

You sat on the couch in your living room with a notebook and pen, jotting down a few words here and there as Jensen looked around while he waited. He liked to look at your things. He did it a lot when he would visit in the past. You supposed he just liked to get to know you by the items you kept, as well.

He turned toward the mantle. The light from outside shone on some glass pieces that had caught his eye. Stepping closer he realized the sparkle came from one of the crystal candlestick holders he’d sent her as a housewarming gift from himself and Danneel. Dee hadn’t wanted to sign the card, but he’d insisted. With one candlestick was the glass orb his mom had gifted her years ago and the Swarovski star he’d left for her at her apartment. Behind the glass art was a picture frame that held multiple pictures.

He needed to step closer to get a better look.

“Need my glasses?”  Y|N asked from the couch.

“Hush,” he returned. The pictures were of his family on various occasions through the years. He didn’t remember some of them.

“Where was I for this one?” he pointed to the picture in the top right location.

She put down her pen and paper to join him.

“Oh, I think you were in …shit…wherever Dawson’s Creek filmed… North Carolina?” she put her hand on his back. “Your mom said I was welcome to come by anytime I was in Dallas, so I did.”

“You did? How often did you go?” he was surprised she would go to his parents’ house without him also being there.

“Maybe once every two or three years. It was usually for work when you weren’t there. You knew when I was there for the conventions.”

He looked down at her, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“Well, I wasn’t there to see you,” she smiled. “I went to see your mom and dad…and have your mom’s cooking.” She got on her tiptoes for a quick kiss. “You’re hot as hell, but even my world doesn’t revolve around you.”

She moved to go back to the couch and her notebook. He put his arm around her to keep her close. “Hey,” he waited for her gaze to meet his, “you know I don’t think that, right?”

“I wondered sometimes,” she admitted.

“When?”

Her demeanor changed and she looked uncomfortable.

“You can tell me,” he tried to reassure her.

“That time you asked me to move to Austin, or LA, or Vancouver to be closer to you.” A harsh blush rose to her cheeks. “It felt like it was only to make you happy. You were with Dee and it made me feel like your side-piece, especially when I was sure you knew how I felt about you.”

It shocked him to hear her say it, but it was hard to deny her viewpoint. Neither one of them had been very good at concealing their feelings for each other, he was realizing. It had been selfish of him to ask, but he’d truly just wanted her closer… maybe he’d just been lying to himself a lot longer than he thought.

“I didn’t realize what I was doing. I shouldn’t have asked to put you in such an awkward position,” he held her tight to his chest. “Forgive me?”

“Of course,” she said. Her hand snaked up the back of his t-shirt, her nails scratching the skin of his back. “I was so close to saying, fuckit, but I would totally have tried to be a homewrecker.”

He remembered asking her and he remembered that they had gone to the fair that trip. “I should have done something after you kicked fuckface to the curb. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want to make things worse. I thought Danneel and I deserved a shot. I did love her, but not like how I love you. Even she knew. It’s probably why I didn’t get any of the letters you sent to Austin. She kept them from me because she knew how much I looked forward to them, even before we got engaged.”

“You were right though. I didn’t know who I was or what I needed after the Grant situation. I thought about making a move on you, too, but I didn’t know if I just wanted to feel better or if I truly wanted to start something with you.”

“Remember that night I fell asleep on your bed?” he paused when she looked up at him.

“Yeah?”

“Totally watched you change your clothes.”

“Oh my god,” she hid her face on his chest for a moment. “You dirty dog,” she chuckled.

“Worth it.”

“You liked what you saw?”

He nodded. “You were my dream girl before I even knew what that meant. I should never have let you get on that airplane,” he lamented.

He released her from his embrace and watched as she went back to the couch to wait for her brother to take his sweet time arriving. When she bent down to pick up her pen and notebook, he got a good look. She still has a great ass, he thought.

There were a lot of pictures on the mantle. Mostly, they were of their respective families and some convention photo ops. Far too many with Richard, he thought. At the opposite end of the mantle held the matching candlestick and more pictures that included her travels and himself. His eyes fell on the picture of them at the lake on the deck. They’d had such a good time that trip. Young enough to be carefree, old enough to be left to their own devices. They’d gone to the tiny amusement park and rode the rides over and over. Of course, Nova had liked the Ferris Wheel the best because it overlooked the lake. She loved the water, Ferris Wheels, and me, he thought with a smile. 

Finally, a half hour late, your brother, Jarrod, rang the doorbell and you let him into your house. He greeted Jensen and Jensen poured drinks for everyone while Jarrod got settled.

“Mom told me you two finally got together,” he said in his usual loud voice.

“Yeah, Jarrod, it’s true,” you said.

“If you two ever need security, I’m available. You know I’ve got that training…” he said.

You tried not to roll your eyes where Jarrod would notice. Jensen stood behind him for a moment and did it for you before coming around to sit in one of the armchairs and sip on his whiskey.

“Clif has his own guys that Jensen uses, but I will tell Clif that you might be interested if there’s an opening. But the reason I wanted you to come over is because I need to tell you something…”

“You’re pregnant?”

“Jesus Christ, Jarrod. No, I’m definitely not pregnant. I need to tell you that I don’t work for the government and haven’t for years. I did work for the NRC, but I haven’t for years.”

He just looked at you like it was old news. “You’ve been at the grocery store for a while. I assumed you just had a good retirement plan.”

Sometimes it still amazed you that you and he had the same genetic material.

“The government doesn’t pay well enough for me to buy a whole goddamned city block in town, Jarrod.”

“Don’t get pissy with me. So if you didn’t work for the government, who did you work for? You obviously had some serious cash coming in.”

It was all you could do to not attempt to strangle him. “I write books. Lots of them. And I sold a lot. I am Nova Scott and Ross Black.” You waited for it to sink in. All he did was stare at you blankly. Your brother was not known for quiet reflection and was beginning to scare you. A whole new list of worries sprinted through your brain. “I need you to be cool about this, Jarrod, and to keep it quiet.”

“Does Mom know?”

“Yeah, from the start. Like three people in the profession know, Mom, Jay, and my one employee, Jen. Now you.”

“He knew before me?” you could hear the anger rising in his voice.

Jensen said nothing but carefully set down his glass.

“Barely. I only just told him about Ross Black. He knew about Nova Scott a few years ago.”

“What about your dumbshit exes?”

“No, Jarrod. Dan knew I wrote, but he didn’t know what or under what name,” you explained.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner,” his voice boomed despite your plush furniture.

“I had my reasons,” you said simply.

He was obviously angry and hurt. He stood on the opposite end of the mantle from you. The sheer size of him was daunting and he scared the hell out of you when he was mad. Even if you got the upper hand, you knew you couldn’t take him. He was 8 inches taller and 150 pounds heavier, severely skewing your odds of being successful.

“Boy, nobody fucks you like family,” his volume only increasing.

“How the fuck is protecting my privacy about you?! I didn’t tell you for very good reasons.”

“You always thought you were too good for this family. Always smarter than me. The favorite child.”

“For fucks sake, Jarrod. This childish resentment needs to stop. I’m not smarter than you. I just tried harder. You’re mad at me about shit you could have fixed but didn’t and that’s on you.”

You didn’t realize you had so much built up rage.

“How long have you kept this from me?”

“Oh my god,” you were getting a headache. “I don’t have an obligation to tell you jack shit. I’m only telling you now out of courtesy because the press is going to find out about me and Jay and they will dig into who I am.”

“If you’ve been incognito this whole time, why now? You’ve known him forever. Has no one ever approached you?”

You shook your head. “What about you?” Jarrod shook his head. You sighed deeply as you told him about the plan. “If I tell you, I need to know I can trust you not to tell anyone, and I mean anyone. Not even Jenna.”

“What? Why not?”

“I’m not risking this leaking before its time. If you can’t promise me, I can’t tell you and you can leave now. Once it’s public then you can talk.”

Finally, he agreed and you told him everything. Jarrod went from fuming to understanding and back and forth as you told him your plan.

“So let me get this straight. You find out Bob is doing sketchy shit and your ‘source’ agrees to get you evidence of said shit. You find out other methods of embezzlement, not giving Dad a raise for 20 years, dad dies, you flip out at the funeral… I’m guessing that was the tipping point?” You nodded. “Debbie tries to start shit and you said what you said to her… so, are you going to do it soon, or are you just going to hold it over her, or them, or?”

“As long as they mind their own business, we’re cool. If they want to come at me, talk shit, or say any disparaging words about me and/or Jay, I will burn those motherfuckers to the ground.”

“Holy shit,” Jarrod muttered. “Still sounds like you’re the smart one.”

“No, I just hold a grudge and am willing to play the long game,” you told him.

Jarrod turned to Jensen who had been quietly listening to the exchange. “What about you? Are you good with this?”

“I know better than to get in her way. I trust her and the plan and will back her up to the end …not to mention happy to stay in her good graces,” Jensen answered, picking up his whiskey again.

“Guess I better do the same.”

The rest of the week continued to fly by. You were writing like crazy and Jensen was working with his lawyers, and team, to start getting him back into auditions for his various interests. He was collaborating with Steve, sending in voice work for his various cartoons and other voiceover work, calling all sorts of people to get his interests turned into reality. Meanwhile, you were writing, researching, asking Jensen questions and fielding calls from people like your agent, Jan.

“Hello Jan,” you answered. “What’s up? I wasn’t expecting you to call again this week.” You’d sent her what you had of the completed script on Wednesday morning and she had called Thursday morning.

“Sweetie, I don’t know what you put in that script but the studio called back already and they want to have a meeting.”

“A meeting? About what? Is that good?” you asked, worried.

“In all my years, this has only happened a handful of times. You need to get over there so they can ooh and aah over what can only be a masterpiece.”

“Or they want to tell me to my face how it’s total shit and need to redo the whole thing,” you lamented.

“Sweetie, the studio doesn’t fly you out to talk about garbage. When can you be ready?”

“Um…I don’t know…I need to talk to Jensen, but I’m thinking we can go out tonight or tomorrow morning.”

“Is this a package deal?” Jan asked. “If he’s included, I need to know now. I can try to get them to pay for the ticket, but I can’t guarantee it.”

“Book it regardless. He’s coming with me,” you told her. “We can cancel if need be.”

“Please tell me you’re going to get away from that tiny town you live in. You need to either be in LA or New York. You’re killing me with all of these connecting flights.”

You chuckled at her exasperated tone. “It may happen sooner than later. Hang tough, Jan. I want to try out the London West Hollywood this time.”

“Why not the Beverly Wilshire? You love that place and you can walk to the studio, you love that healthy shit.”

“Jan, that’s the Pretty Woman hotel and I’ll be going there with my new boyfriend.”

“So what, put it in one of those books you write. You are a pretty woman and that new guy of yours is a hot piece. You have your Pretty Woman experience, sweetie, you deserve it. And for what it’s worth, I like him and I don’t believe a word of the allegations. Nail that bitch to the wall. I did check around and couldn’t find anyone who had a bad word to say about him.”

“It means a lot, Jan,” you admitted. “I didn’t know you didn’t like the other guys.”

“Sweetie, you’re like family at this point. I tried to like ‘em, but it wasn’t my place to tell you who to love. I’ll get it set up and email you the details.”

“Thanks, Jan,” you signed off.

You got up from your computer to go find Jensen. The last you’d seen him, he’d gone through the bookcase. Inside the room, you’d expected to see him inside the soundproof room, but it was dark inside. You were reasonably sure you hadn’t missed a smoking hot man leave through your office, so you went for the spiral staircase to descend into the basement studio.

Jensen was at the soundboard with headphones on. His eyes were closed and you would have thought he was sleeping if not for his fingers tapping the beat on his chest. Your fingertips touched his shoulder first. He merely tensed his body before relaxing under your touch as your hand moved across and down his body. He held your arm against him then pulled you onto his lap. He reached for the keyboard and touched a button before turning his attention to you and took off his headphones.

“This is a nice surprise,” he held you gently as you settled. “I thought you were working.”

“I could say the same about you,” you returned.

“I took a little break to listen to some tracks and a few caught my ear. What’s going on?” he asked.

“Jan called. There’s interest in the script and one of the studios wants to meet on Friday. She’s going to book us a flight either for tonight or early tomorrow morning.”

“That was quick. Told you they’d love it. You sure you want me to go with you? I’m looking like damaged goods lately,” he said.

You touched his face and noticed the chop job you’d done on his hair. “Diamond in the rough, maybe.” You leaned in to kiss his full lips. “Of course, I want you to come with me. No more than a couple days, remember? Plus, the hotel is across the street and there’s hella good shopping all within walking distance.” You were softly touching his face all over. “Do I have to twist your arm?”

“No, just making sure.”

“My sweet boy, I will always want you. I’ve always had your back, I’m not stopping now, so will you go with me? Did you have your heart set on driving to Texas? I promise your truck will be safe here.” You paused briefly, “We still can, I just didn’t want to rush.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he agreed. “I’m so proud of you.”

His warm hand went under your shirt and up your back, expertly unclasping your bra. You pulled the garment from your body through the arm hole of your shirt.

“You’ve done that more than once,” you noted, kissing him again and feeling his lips smile against yours.

“It hasn’t been worth it til now,” his hand covered your breast, kneading your soft flesh then moving to your nipple. “Have any other hidden rooms down here…with a bed?”

His voice had gotten deeper and quieter.

“I have a sofa in my office,” you offered.

“That’ll do.”

You sat at your desk, both working and waiting for Jan to get back to you with travel plans. You were still adding things to the script and tweaking scenes here and there when the email finally dropped in. Jensen was reading a book on the sofa. You couldn’t really see the cover from where you sat, but you thought it looked vaguely familiar.

“Time to get packed,” you told him.

He closed his book and said, “I think we can go to Texas from California. My truck will be fine here. What hotel’re we staying at, anyway?”

“The Beverly Wilshire,” you mumbled.

“The Beverly Wilshire?” he asked. Reveling in her suddenly shy demeanor.

“I’m gonna tell Jan to change to the London,” you blustered.

He sat up on the couch, “The one from Pretty Woman?”

“You know it is, jerk.”

“Nice hotel.”

“Yes it is.”

“Have you stayed there before?”

“Yes, I’ve been there before,” you told him, “For the romance movie deals.”

He got up and put the book back on the shelf and you saw he was near the section that held your Nova Scott and Ross Black books, but your mind was on other tasks and couldn’t see which one he put back. You didn’t want to assume he was reading anything other than Whiskey Hollow and let it go for the time being.

“Are we going to the mighty SooFoo tonight, or in the morning?”

“Tonight,” you answered. “Jan somehow managed to get us in with only a short layover in Denver.”

You left your office to go up to your room to pack what you would need for a few days and clothes for the meeting. 

Jensen stayed behind, waiting to make sure she had gotten all the way upstairs before he went back to the bookshelf and pulled off the book he’d been reading. It was the first time he’d seen it in a long time, not since he was on set with all of the cast members reading the first #1 seller for Nova Scott. He tucked it into the back of his pants and pulled his shirt over to hide it. He thought he would bust it out on the airplane and take the consequences there rather than asking her to finally let him start reading them. 

#jensen ackles rpf #jensen ackles x female reader #spn fanfic #jensen ackles x you #Interlude #kazosa

[manikasu-nyx]

halloween activities with 5wirl

somebody take away my phone

content/characters: aether, venti, xiao, heizou, kazuha, gn reader, unviolent mentions of knives in xiao’s, my hair is being pulled like fuck so I can’t think and if I’ve missed anything important I apologize

apple picking w/ venti!

he thinks it’s one of the best things ever

he loves apples and you so why wouldn’t he love it?

manipulates the wind to get the apples at the top of the trees

“they the crispest”

“and taste the best in cider ;3”

of course.

you still enjoy it with him anyway

“venti, we have to wash the apples before we eat them!”

“y/n, it’ll be fine~”

“there are cats that hang around these trees!”

and now you’ve lost an apple to the ground.

well, you can still enjoy the rest together

just don’t let him eat himself sick

again.

“Hey, look at that tree over there! Those apples are really red! They look like they’d taste great in some cider!” He exclaimed, boosting himself up to said tree after haphazardly handing you his basket, settling himself on a branch.

“Come to… ah… ah… aCHOO!” He sneezed, rubbing his nose and leaning back. “Huh…? Wuh…?”

“Oh, hello there kitty~” you purred, leaning down to pet the feline rubbing against your leg. Meanwhile, Venti was staring down at you with a look of pure betrayal, covering his nose with his cape.

“Oh, my dearest y/n! You wound me with your newfound companionship against my greatest foe, a cat!”

“Wouldn’t that make Diona your worst foe?“

“She makes good wine, she gets a pass,” he states matter-of-factly, causing you to let out a small giggle, before standing back up, your short-lived companionship ending as the little feline scurried off.

“How about this, I’ll make you an apple pie when you get home, okay?”

“Hmm… it is a tempting offer…”

“And some apple cider?”

“Deal!”

You let out a chuckle and went back to your duty of catching apples as he dropped them from the tree. He was ridiculous sometimes, but you loves him regardless.

corn mazes w/ heizou!

ooohh boy does he enjoy these

ideally he’d be in an escape room but this works too

he tries to sound smart when leading you two out but it’s really dorky

you let him have his moment though

you’re afraid you’ll never get out if he starts sulking in the corner

“my dearest y/n, let your lovely detective show you the way out in the moonlight!”

he jumps the first time he hears a scream though

it was unexpected but you try to not laugh at him

he pouts while looking at your expression

you’ll make it up to him later with some katsu sandwiches though, so he’s not too mad

“If you look at the tracks on the ground, you can tell that the best traveled path is through here, right? Well, my intuition tells me…” you listened to Heizou ramble about how he knew the way out of the maze, even though you had been walking around for a while, and your feet were starting to hurt. You wondered how much steam he had left, until a bloodcurdling scream broke both of your trains of thought, Heizou jumping nearly a good 3 feet in the air.

“Wow, your detective sentences not pick that up, Holmes?” You quipped, a deadbeat look on your face as Heizou turned to you, a hurt expression on his face.

“I can’t believe it! My own sidekick has tuned against me! This is anarchy!” He exclaimed, a laugh leaving your lips as you wiped your eyes, shaking the teasing out as you went over to him, wrapping your arms around him.

“C’mon, Hei, you know I didn’t mean it~”

“My intuition tells me you did.”

“Okay, maybe I did, but your intuition should tell you I’ll make up for it.”

“…Katsu sandwiches?”

“Katsu sandwiches. But I can’t make them in this corn maze. Get us out of here, yeah?”

He shook his pout off, grabbing your hand and pulling you along the maze, now more aware of any screams that may come out of nowhere, and looking forward to the fried food to come as an apology from you later.

pumpkin caring w/ xiao

he thinks it’s pointless

the pumpkin’s just gonna rot anyway

but the look on your face convinced him to do it

is confused why you laugh at him when he picks up his spear

you have to explain the fundamentals of pumpkin carving to him

is a little embarrassed he didn’t know but he’ll never admit that

“i don’t waste my time with mortal activities, how would i know?”

actually has some fun carving out the little faces with you

you teach him about more intricate carvings and he actually seems interested in them

“Xiao? Are you okay?” You ask, rubbing your eyes as you walk into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. He looks back in confusion, tightly holding the knife in his hand to keep it in place, not wanting to mess up his hours of work.

“I’m fine. Why are you awake? Is something wrong?” He asked, a slight expression of worry adorning his face as you shook your head, walking over and wrapping your arms around his neck, looking down at his work.

“Oh, Xiao, are these…?” You start, before he nods, placing the knife down and holding one of your arms, leaning into your touch.

“These are… the other yaksha. I figured it’s something I could do for them, at the very least, since they’re not here for the events themselves.”

“That’s very nice of you, Xiao. I’m sure they’d appreciate it greatly,” you hummed, placing a kiss on his cheek.

He mulled over the warmth on his cheek, closing his eyes, a smile ghosting over his face. Even if the other yaksha couldn’t be here with him, you still were, and that’s all he could ask for.

costume shopping w/ kazuha

is a little confused when you mentioned costume shopping

something like that? now?

he didn’t have a problem with it, though

would absolutely go with you

probably even bring up the idea to try and make some together

it wouldn’t go too well but you two would enjoy the time together

be sure to have a first aid kit on hand though

“Ouch!” You exclaimed, pulling your finger back from the needle you were holding, pulling it to your mouth.

“Oh, love, here…” Kazuha said, reaching over and taking your hand, taking the bandages next to him, gently wrapping your finger and planting a small kiss on it, before lowering it down.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’d be pricking yourself just to get a kiss from me,” he teased, giving you a small wink, you rolling your eyes at him.

“I could say the same thing to you, loverboy~” you teased, turning his hand over to show the bandages on his own, a cheeky grin covering his face.

“Either way, I wouldn’t need to fake it, Kazu. Just ask~” you said, leaning forward and watching as he mimicked your actions, placing a soft peck on his lips.

“That’s right, darling. Now, let’s get back to work, shall we? Hopefully with less pricks this time around.”

“But I don’t see the shogun anywhere?”

“Pfft—!”

trick or treating w/ aether

oh yeah candy boys

ahem

sorry

but aether would love to go trick or treating with you

it reminds him of when he used to go with his sister

paimon would come too

you two would be pirates and she’d be a parrot

she didn’t think it was very funny

you two thought it was hilarious, however

you’d run around all night getting candy wherever you could

he’d be thinking of his sister, but what was important to him was that you were spending that night together

and that’s all he wanted

“Oooh, come on you slowpokes! At this rate all the kids will get the candy before we do!” Paimon shouted, bouncing as she floated in the air, you and Aether laughing at her excitement.

“Do you really think everyone’s gonna give the kids that much candy, Paimon?” You asked, placing a hand on your hip as you quirked your head at her, watching as she turned her brain on for one of the few times that night.

“Well… No… But… Aaahhh, just come on! She said, grabbing your hat and flying off with it, you running after her, reaching for the floating fairy.

“You come back here!” You called, Aether laughing at your antics as a flashback came to his mind.

He saw himself and Lumine when they were younger and used to take parts of their costumes from each other and run around with them, the full bags of candy they used to share, and falling asleep together after their late night sugar crashes.

The thought made him nostalgic, sending a small surge of pain through his chest, the feeling of tears coming to his eyes. The sound of shouting brought him out it though, where you had successfully caught Paimon and your hat, and you were tormenting the little fairy with a barrage of tickles.

“No-hoho! Stop it, stop!” She barked, laughing uncontrollably as you pulled her into a headlock, grinning at her state. She gave a pout, but didn’t seem to be upset about it on a serious level. She looked back at Aether, drawing your attention to him as well, the blonde now looking between both of you.

“Aether, are you okay?” She called out, a look of concern now on both your faces as you let your grip on her loose, her pulling her head up over your shoulder to look at him.

He shook his previous thoughts off, looking at the sight before him. You two weren’t his sister, but a younger sister figure and the love of his life. You couldn’t replace a family bond, but you two added to it. And that’s all he could ask for.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Now let’s go get some more candy!”

“Yeah!”

“YEAH!”

A series of laugher followed the last shout, the three of you continuing on to the night. To this Halloween, and hopefully many more.

I wrote a lot more than I was planning to for this

oh well, happy spooky month! 🎃

edit: I FORGOT THE TAGS IM SO ASHAMED

#nyx writes #venti x reader #heizou x reader #xiao x reader #kazuha x reader #aether x reader #genshin impact x reader #venti imagines #heizou imagines #xiao imagines #kazuha imagines #aether imagines #genshin impact imagines #venti scenarios #heizou scenarios #xiao scenarios #kazuha scenarios #aether scenarios

[apuckishwit]

The mortifying ordeal of realizing you're going to meet your crush in person

Steve doesn’t freeze.

He doesn’t.

He takes a perfectly reasonable moment to process the boys’ request and the fact that he just stands there with a stack of plates clutched in his hands hovering over a cardboard box while his brain basically does a barrel roll and starts screaming, “Meet Eddie? Meet Eddie? Meet Eddie?” is purely coincidence.

He puts the stack of plates down in the cardboard box and then very casually leans back against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “You guys want me to take you to Ohio this summer?” he repeats, also very casually.

“Yeah!” Dustin says, and Steve can already tell that now that the floodgates have been opened, the kid’s going to be pacing like a caged lion and vibrating like a livewire in about ten seconds. “We’ve got it all figured out. There’s a Greyhound bus that runs between Chicago and Columbus and Lucas and I have enough saved from Christmas and birthday money to pay for our tickets. Um, you’d have to buy your own but I swear we’ll pay you back.” True to Steve’s prediction, Dustin starts pacing the small length of his kitchen, his arms swinging wildly as he talks. “And then we can get convention passes and a hotel room. The actual hotel the convention is at is a little outside our price range, but Columbus has a public transport system and there’s cheaper motels not that far from the convention center, and we’d only have to stay for one night! We can get there on Friday night, stay at the hotel, go see Eddie on Saturday, and then get back on the bus and head back to Chicago!”

Steve’s not a math genius or anything, and he has no idea how much convention passes are for this thing, but he’s pretty sure there’s no way Dustin and Lucas have got enough birthday and Christmas money for bus tickets, convention tickets, and a hotel room, no matter how cheap. When he says as much, Dustin actually blushes, shrugging a little.

“I figured I could skip Camp Know Where this year. I get a scholarship for most of it, but Mom still has to pay part. It should be enough to cover the hotel and convention tickets.”

At that, Steve startles. “You love going to your nerd camp,” he says softly.

“Yeah,” Dustin agrees, but then he grins at his friends. “But I think this is more important this year…when are we gonna get another chance to visit Eddie?”

“Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the good of the Party,” Lucas says, his voice deadly serious. “I was gonna go to that basketball clinic Mr. Newby put up flyers for last week, but I’d rather help pay for our tickets.”

“And I’ve been saving my allowance for some new paints, but, uh, I’m gonna pitch that in for food,” Will adds. For a moment, he looks a little embarrassed that his contribution is so much smaller than Dustin’s and Lucas’s, but the boys sling their arms around his shoulders, and the embarrassment quickly fades. “And! And! Mike’s pretty sure he can talk his parents into letting him come, too! Like, come up and stay with me and leave for the convention with us!”

Their excitement is palpable—word of the day, the day he finally registered for his first classes…Robin had come over and sat with him while he did it, and afterwards she’d squealed and hugged him and he could almost feel her pride and happiness wrapping around him like a blanket—and Steve can’t help the grin tugging at his mouth. Goddamn, he loves these little shits so much. The boys turn hopeful eyes on him again, Dustin bouncing a little on his toes.

“Sooooo?” he asks. “What do you say?”

“Please Steve?” Lucas says.

“Yeah, please?” Will smiles up at him sweetly and Steve shakes his head.

“When is this convention?” he sighs, nodding to himself when Dustin rattles off the dates. He doesn’t think it’ll conflict with his classes (he wonders if he’s ever going to get used to the swoop in his stomach when it hits him that he’s got classes coming up—he really got accepted to the program he wanted, he’s really going to school) and even if it does, it should be early enough that he won’t miss something earth-shattering.

Because really…

How could he say no?

He pretends to be thinking it over for a few moments, just to watch them squirm in suspense, before he sighs and nods. “All right, I’m in,” he says, and then turns back to his cabinets and pretends to ignore the hyper cheers that burst out of the boys. A second later, though, he lets out a sharp oof when he’s tackled from behind by three skinny sets of arms.

“Thank you!”

“Yes! I knew you wouldn’t let us down!”

“Oh my God, this is going to be awesome! Eddie’s gonna be so surprised!”

He manages to wrest himself around to face them, trying to pull his face into a stern frown and failing miserably if the way they’re grinning up at him is any indication. “All right, all right, if you’re not going to help me pack, then scram,” he orders, and is unsurprised when they all of a sudden need to start working on the parental pitch, now that they’ve secured a chaperone. He’s not even mad about it—he trusts Will to be careful with his things, but Dustin is often a bull in a china shop and Lucas is going through a growth spurt that has left him coltish and clumsy.

They file out of his apartment, talking about how they’re going to present their idea with the same intensity they strategize in the campaign. Dustin is muttering something about a slideshow while Lucas wonders if they can use the A/V club’s equipment as the door swings shut behind them. Steve carefully finishes packing the last of his plates away (he should probably leave at least one out, but he’s honestly too lazy…he can just eat off of paper plates for the last few days here) and manages to carry the box over to the neat stack he has going right by the door.

As soon as he sets it down, though, the full extent of what he’s just agreed to do hits him. His brain starts barrel-rolling again. And all he can do is sink down onto his coffee table and stare at his wide-eyed reflection in his dark TV screen.

What has he done?

From Ch 27 of Rolled a 1 on the Check, Rolled a 20 on the Save on AO3, by APuckish_Wit

#steddie #rolled a 1 on the check rolled a 20 on the save #fic preview #my writing #Kronk voice: Oh yeah it's allllll coming together

[anotherimaginesaccount]

ENHYPEN AS BORN PINK SONGS:

Heesung as Hard to Love :

Once again I have drawn inspiration from @missmadwoman and her wonderful smaus.

But I actually do think that Heesung would be hesitant to show any form vulnerability or genuine feeling

I have said before that comfort is important to him, but that doesn't mean it's easy for him to open up and make himself comfortable

The second he feels like he's getting too comfortable and attached, he's gonna end it.

Also this song would suit his vocals so well

Jay as The Happiest Girl

I feel like Jay would get so hurt if a relationship ended

Like he has specifically said that he wants his first love to be his last and when that doesn't happen he'd be absolutely distraught

He's another one that would put on the facade of being okay when he isn't, so everyone would think he's okay when he isn't

But I do feel like he would pull himself together and try his best to get over everything that's happened

So I think this song suits him in a breakup very well

Jake as Yeah Yeah Yeah:

Okay nobody can tell me that this song doesn't give me Jake vibes

It's such a summery song and it seems like the kind of song you would play on a road trip and Jake seems like the kind of person you would take on a road trip

This song also describes Jake when he has a crush

He would be desperate to know whether or not they felt the same and he would overthink the situation a lot before even thinking about confessing

He has also definitely been hurt before so he'd be worried about being hurt again

Sunghoon as Tally:

Man's has had enough dating rumors to last him a lifetime

Sooner or later I feel like he's just gonna snap and be like "yeah, were dating ,what about it?"

He's just sick and tired of random people on the internet thinking that they have a right to decide what he does with hisife

His dating life, his decision.

And while he may not experience the same level of slut-shaming as many female idols, he's had it up to here with it

Kim Sunoo as Typa Girl:

Can't really explain this well, but I'm mainly going off vibes here

So our Ddeonu is a man of many talents

He's very cute and sassy and adorable, which we see very often, but he's also got a very intense vibe to him yknow

Like he can definitely be the Typa boy you take home to meet your parents, while still being the intense performer on stage

So he's so multifaceted, this just makes sense to me

Jungwon as Shut Down

Okay I feel like the violin instrumental at the start gave a very classical feel, like Jungwon yknow

Like when I think Jungwon I think laid back instrumentals and chill afternoons with maeumi y'know?

But then the kickass Blackpink vibe starts and it's so unexpected but satisfying like Jungwon on stage

Our boy can do both.

He is very laid back and chill offstage and onstage he's absolutely ruthless

Ni-Ki as Pink Venom

This is just pure vibes bro

The beat, the choreo, the lyrics, Ni-Ki would eat this cover UPPP!!

Also he's got so much hate, that he would definitely be able to relate the savagery in the lyrics

Also y'know the straight to the dome part? I feel like that applies to Ni-Ki.

He always gets the most catchy parts in songs. Eg. Fever, Pass the Mic, 10 months etc

#enhypen #enhypen reactions #enhypen imagines #enha #enhyphen imagines #enhypen scenarios #ni-ki #enhypen niki #ni ki enhypen #blackpink jennie #blackpink rose #blackpink lisa #blackpink #blackpink jisoo

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

On the Same Page - a Malevolent fic

To keep a wound from festering, one must reveal it. Vulnerability is not in the nature of gods, but Sunny is willing to try anyway, and conclude this painful discussion so both he and Parker can, at last, begin to heal.

Part of the Surrogate series. Written with @sepiabandensis.

AO3

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

Parker, Sunny said. What do you do, if you're waiting for a good time to discuss something painful, but one simply doesn't exist?

Parker let out a low breath. Oh, boy. 

It wasn't that he intended to just… ignore the situation at hand. Or even that it had slipped his mind. It was more… 

Things had been good. They'd gone for a solid week and a half without a single incident, with the King checking in on them every now and then, and Parker had gotten used to taking a run in the morning while everyone else ate breakfast and doing more training at night.

Parker could handle the schedule; it was nice to be in control of most of it. Parker could handle the King; that was not a good being, he knew, but he understood this kind of crime boss: there was a weird code of honor here, and as long as Parker followed the rules, he and Sunny would be safe.

This was the part he didn’t know how to handle. "Is this because we're going to dinner with them tomorrow?" he asked, low.

Sunny was quiet. Suspiciously quiet. No, he lied. I was just wondering.

"Is that true? 'Cause it sounds like something is bothering you." Parker washed his hands in the basin of water by the courtyard door, getting the dirt out from under his fingernails.

Putting that investigator's mind to work, I see.

"Come on, bud. Rip the bandage off, use your words."

Sunny was quiet again for a long moment.

I want to talk about Arthur Lester, he finally said, his voice soft and cautious.

Parker sighed. "I figured."

We don’t have to, he said quickly, pure worry. If it will ruin dinner tomorrow, we don’t have to. I can wait. It’s not that import—

“Sunny.” Parker only rarely interrupted when Sunny spoke, and only when it was important—and the entity felt a thrill of fear at that knowledge. “We ain’t doin’ that, bud. This is important, ‘cause you’re my partner, and you’re important. Alright?”

Alright. Parker could feel his jaw set itself on its own, a nervous tic that had bled over from his passenger. Alright. I… Can we go to the water garden, and sit under the tree?

Parker blinked. “Sure, alright. Any reason?”

It’s… It’s calm there. Peaceful. I think… it might make it easier for me.

“Then yeah, let's go to the garden.” Parker shook his hands dry, slipping out of the herb garden to make his way through the winding halls of the palace. 

He was really starting to get a feel for the place, seeing the patterns within its strange architecture. Already he could get to the important places without assistance: the kitchen, their room, the throne room…

The music room.

They passed it as they walked, the sound of tinkling piano notes sweet against Parker’s ears, and it set his heart aching.

He wondered, again, if that was something Sunny could feel; the sensation of lead in his chest, heavy and dragging him downward. He could almost feel the entity cringe, shrinking away as the music grew, the sound of muffled conversation emerging when the notes stopped; and then they were past it, moving on, and Sunny was starting to relax again.

The water garden was one of Sunny’s favorites. The twin suns were shining above, the trees lining the garden cast dappled shadows across the path, and sunlight gleamed off the water between lilypads and water flowers. Parker sat heavily in the bench beneath the tree; it was a kind he had most certainly never seen before, and Sunny said did not exist outside the Dreamlands, with drooping branches and small leaves that were dotted with small white flowers.

Parker sat and watched the water bubbling down from a small, artfully arranged waterfall, and took a moment to breathe. “So,” he said, breaking the silence.

So, Sunny agreed. I think… I think I’m going to start from the beginning. Is that alright?

“However helps, bud.” Parker leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

I don’t remember anything before waking up in Arthur Lester’s head, Sunny said, his voice soft. Anything I’ve remembered since has been… Inspired by seeing something. But when I awoke—when I became —there was nothing. I was just suddenly there, and I had no idea why, and I was sharing a body with—with this— person. I… I was surprised when he spoke. I half thought he was dead.

“What’d he say?” Parker’s voice was soft, and he swallowed thickly.

He asked… ‘Who is this?’ Sunny let out a very soft, mournful sound. It’s… It’s almost funny, now. Looking back. It was almost polite. I told him I was a friend, and… end that it looked like he’d been through the wringer. When I asked him what happened, he said he didn’t remember, and… he tricked me.

“Tricked you?” Parker glanced away from the pond, focusing on the way the breeze tangled a few of the branches of the strange tree above them. “How?”

I told him we’d been in an accident. I didn’t know any better, but I needed him calm. You understand that, right? His voice was pleading. I didn’t lie out of malice. And then I asked him to look in his bag, and… And then he revealed that he knew, all along. The words were tumbling out, like stones down a hillside, and he was so afraid. He told me he knew all along what I was, told me who I was, and that he’d made a deal to bring me to him, told me I wanted this, but I wasn’t John, Parker. I wasn’t. And he was covered in blood, and there was a fucking blizzard outside, and…

“Easy, bud.” Parker reached up, brushing the curve of his jaw, and Sunny let out a shaky breath. “You’re alright. I’m listening.”

He called me a parasite, Sunny said. Like… Like it was my choice to be there. He said he didn’t care if we both died, because I wasn’t John.

Parker sucked in a breath, completely involuntarily. Flexed his hands into the dirty knees of his linen pants.

I… I’m sorry, Parker. Maybe it’s best if I—

“No, bud.” Parker fought to keep the grief from his voice; fought to keep himself from talking about Arthur, from defending him. “I’m alright. It’s just… It’s rough to hear that. But I gotta. We gotta get all the evidence, even if it sucks. Okay?”

…Okay, Sunny said, sounding not sure whatsoever.

“So he called you a parasite.”

It’s… It’s strange, that it’s stuck to me through ten years. But…

“That’s a pretty charged thing to call someone.” Parker took a moment to work at the muscle of his jaw, encouraging Sunny to release the tension he could feel building. “Especially since you didn’t choose it.”

Yes. Yes, exactly. His voice was weak. It didn’t… It didn’t get better. We fought. He begged me to remember, after threatening to kill us both, so I tried to take charge and tell him to do as I said so we would survive, and—and he threatened me right back. He said he had an artifact that would send me back to the Dark World, and… I didn’t want to die, Parker. So I cooperated. I… I hoped, in time, after my anger had died down, that I might still win him over.

He went quiet, for a long moment. 

“I take it you didn’t,” Parker said.

No, Sunny replied, voice hitching. No. I didn’t.

Fuck. "What happened then?" Parker's voice was soft.

He almost got us eaten by wolves, Sunny mumbled.

"What?"

It was a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. He stole a useless rifle, went charging blind into the snow, got chased…

“What the hell?” Parker muttered.

But we got lucky. We found an inn, the Red Right Hand, by sheer fucking luck. And then, because he couldn't control himself, he got himself fucking drunk on some nasty local concoction.

"He drank." Parker's gut twisted.

Yes. A pause. Is that… bad?

"He’d mostly given it up," Parker said quietly. "I convinced him to. He drank way too much after Faroe's death—I told you."

O-oh. Sunny went quiet for a long moment. I… I pushed him to drink. Everyone was… staring at us. He kept talking to himself. To… to me. I didn’t know what else to do to fit in.

“I get it,” Parker whispered. “You didn’t have a whole lot of choice. Appreciate the honesty,” Parker said. He reached back up, pressing his hand to his own cheek. “He could have faked drinking. He could have done a lot of things. Still his choice to swallow. You didn’t know. Okay?”

Fuck, Sunny said, very quietly.

“Hey. You’re alright. I’m not mad,” Parker sighed. “We’re talking facts—history. What happened then?”

He… he rambled about strength and being alive, and quoted some poem at me, and then pretty much passed out. It was so strange. He was strange. He was skin and bones; he looked terrible, smelled terrible. At that point, I really thought he’d get us both killed out of spite, so I… I tried to maybe convince him I was John.

Parker swallowed hard. “Okay. Okay. Bettin’ that didn’t go over too well, though.”

Sunny let out a soft groan. He saw through me like it was nothing. That’s when he revealed he’d lied about the artifact and being able to send me back to the Dark World… and being able to return me to the King. He just… I didn’t know what to do, Parker. I couldn’t trust him, and I couldn’t even see him in a mood stable enough to be able to do anything with it. Anything I said, he fought. It didn’t matter.

“Fuck,” whispered Parker. “That sounds like Arthur after losing his shit, yeah, but… this is worse than I think I’ve ever seen. What the hell happened to him before you got to him?”

I genuinely don’t know. He told me things, but I couldn’t trust anything he said anymore. There was blood everywhere when I woke, Parker. Everywhere, including on him—but the wounds were closed up. His legs… And his throat.

“That’s when he got the neck wound?” said Parker.

Yes. And someone had closed it up. Humans don’t heal that fast. He said… He said ‘he’ wanted him to suffer.

“Doesn’t make a lick of sense,” Parker murmured.

It didn’t. Nothing did. We… we tried to get out of Addison. We needed a car, and Arthur went to find some surveyor who had one, but… the man was missing. Arthur did some detective work, trying to locate him, but then we were attacked by an invisible monster in the woods. The creature nearly killed us, but Jack—Larson’s son—retrieved us, and carried us up the mountain to the Larson estate. That’s when things went… south.

“ That’s when things went south?” Parker said. “How south? Bermuda?”

Worse. I thought we were all right; our clothes were cleaned, our new wounds bandaged. But we heard a woman, sobbing, in the vents of Larson’s house, and Arthur was… irrational about it. Larson finally came and spoke to us, telling us he was Andrew—a fictional descendant to handle rumors of his longevity—and he seemed friendly. Honest. Sunny paused, and when he spoke again, shame tinted his words. I… I believed him. Arthur didn’t, and… and while we were discussing it, we heard Jack kill the crying woman. We knew it was Jack because… Larson told us.

“Jesus.” Parker took a moment to rub his face, to run his fingers through his hair and pull it away from his eyes. “Jesus fuck. He just fuckin’ admitted it?”

Yes. He… he admitted he had Jack kill her. Arthur went crazy again. We made an insane escape through a window over a cliff. We found a dead body in a bed, and when Arthur touched it, I… I saw how they died.

“What?” said Parker, startled.

That hasn’t happened with you. It seems to be something unique to Arthur.

“What in fuck?” Parker murmured. “He’s got magic powers?”

I don’t know. Sunny sounded fearful.

Parker stroked his jaw. “It’s okay. You don’t have to know. So what happened then?”

I think I may have… Seen a flash of the Arthur you knew.

“You did?” Parker straightened. “What happened?”

I apologized to Arthur for lashing out at him. Though it made no sense, though we hadn’t gotten along at all, he… he seemed to accept my apology.

Parker sighed. “Yeah. He always was a sucker for a good apology. That’s… That’s good? I think that’s good.”

It… it felt like I was finally getting somewhere. Sunny mumbled. I didn’t want to fight with him, Parker. I really didn’t. 

“I know. I believe you,” Parker said, brushing the curve of his jaw once again.

I just… I want you to remember that. Because we got caught. We’d escaped, and we’d talked, and we’d investigated, and I thought things might get better, and we might get out of there, but Jack caught us. He knocked Arthur out, brought us down to the dining room, tied us to a chair, and… and when Arthur woke up, he was weeping. And he told me about… about Faust.

“Faust?”

Their throat tightened. Parker’s tongue twitched in their mouth. Before I came to him. When he was still with John. When the King had them… captured, thrown into something called the prison pits, Arthur was starving, and the King threw another prisoner in with them. The man was a murderer; a cannibal, who planned—Arthur said—to kill and eat him.  Instead… instead, Arthur killed him, murdered him by crushing his eyes with his thumbs just like he did to Jack later, and confessed to me he… he ate Faust. 

Parker sat right down on the garden path, right on the ground, like his strings had been cut.

Parker? Sunny whimpered.

“Just… I need a second. You’re good, bud. You’re okay. I just need a second.” His voice sounded like he’d been strangled.

Their tongue twitched again.

“It’s okay,” Parker whispered, though it obviously wasn’t. “Go on.”

Sunny sat in unsteady silence for a moment before he could. It was like he was confessing this to me before we died , and I just… Sunny let out a sob. I had done my best, and he’d still... what was the point? What was the fucking point? This man, this murderer, had ripped me away from my godhood and imprisoned me within him, threatened me into cooperation, lied, and then when I thought I might have an understanding with him… he told me that . And then Larson spoke to us, and Larson… Larson knew things Arthur didn’t. He knew of the gods, of their powers, called us superior , and I…

“He knew you were there,” said Parker. “Didn’t he?”

I believe so, Sunny whispered.

“That asshole played you. Didn’t he?”

Sunny let out a sob. Yes. I was swayed immediately. I was angry at Arthur. Angry at the various ways in which he harmed himself, harmed me. Larson punished him for speaking out of turn—Jack did that to his ear. Tore the piece of it off. 

“Fucking hell,” Parker muttered. “Did all his scars come from that house?

Not all, I swear, Sunny said quickly.

Parker touched his lips this time. “I ain’t blaming you.”

Sunny’s voice hitched.

“I ain’t. It’s okay. If you need to stop—”

Sunny would not stop. When it was revealed Larson had sacrificed his daughter, Addison, to one of the gods for his longevity and power, Arthur went completely insane .

Parker got up and began to pace. “He always did when kids were involved. Always,” he said, and his voice was a growl.

Parker, Sunny whispered. Parker, I’m sorry. I should have—I don’t know—

“Just gotta move, bud,” Parker said, running his hands through his hair. “Ain’t mad at you.”

Parker, Sunny whimpered. Please, Parker, I’m sorry. I really am, I—

“Buddy, I’m not angry at you.” There was heat to his words. “Have I ever lied to you?”

No, Sunny said, voice shaky.

“Then trust me,” Parker said. “You told me about the sacrifice before. Remember? And I was fuckin’ mad then. I just… there’s more context now.”

I understand. Sunny’s voice hitched. Is it my fault?

“No, bud. No. Did you kill Larson’s kid? Did you make him kill some woman beneath the house? Fuck, did you throw some cannibal into the pit with Arthur? Fuck, no.” Parker threw his head back and took a deep breath in through his nose, and then hissed it out between his teeth—in for five, out for seven. And again, in for five, out for seven. “You didn’t do any of this, and I don’t hold you accountable.”

I just wanted to go home, Sunny whispered. Larson dangled that in front of me like a lure, and I… I bit down hard. 

Parker let out one final breath. “I know, buddy. I know.”

Sunny was quiet for a long moment before he spoke with a tiny, broken voice. Do… Do you still love me?

“What?” Parker startled, stopping dead in his tracks. “What kind of crazy quest—yes, Sunny. Yes, I still love you. For fuck’s sake, bud, I’m a bit harder than that to shake off. I mean, I thought Arthur strangled me fuckin’ dead and I still love the guy.”

But you… Sunny let out a soft, desperate noise. I… Okay. Okay, yes. I just… You really aren’t mad?

“Not at you. At the King? Yeah. That was fucked up, makes me wonder what else happened that we don’t know about. At Larson? Oh fuck, yeah. I already was, but now… I’m really wondering what to do about that guy.”

…We will need to talk about the King too, Sunny said, voice weak and completely exhausted. But I… I can’t. Not right now.

“That’s alright. We’ve got time.” Parker reached up and gently cupped his jaw, feeling the twitch as Sunny settled into the touch. “You got a hell of an introduction to Arthur. Confirmed several of my suspicions. He’s still got some stuff to answer for, with you, but it sounds like he was still in there, just… this went beyond flipping a switch. It’s like somebody ripped the godsdamned outlet outta the wall and started crossing wires.”

I can agree with that. He was in one hell of a state. Sunny let out a rumbling sigh. Parker?

“Yeah?”

Do you think… Do you think John was part of it? Arthur had told me they’d fought, badly, right before.

“I’m thinking so, more and more,” Parker said quietly. “I don’t know what’s going on with that just yet. But we’ll figure it out. Okay?”

Okay. Partner.

“This can’t have been too easy to say. Thank you, partner. This was valuable. Important.” Parker gently patted his cheek. “You gonna be okay for dinner tomorrow?”

I… I think so. I’ll be quiet, but… I just don’t know how to talk to him. I don’t want to. I thought I could move on, but seeing him again, I…

“Yeah, I understand that.” More than Sunny could ever really know. “Don’t worry; I’ll take point on that one. You just sit back and listen for me, so I can double-check theories later. Sound good?”

Sounds good. He slipped into silence for a long moment. Parker?

“Yeah, bud?”

Thank you. I… I love you.

“Anytime, bud. Love you too,” he said, taking a seat back on the bench. The words, still so fresh, did not ease the tension that had twisted his muscles tight, as much as he'd like to watch the fish in the pond until the afternoon light turned rich and golden. Parker got up and walked, pacing the gardens, following every path, and if he moved like an angry wolf while he did, it was effective, because no one—Dancer or servant or anything else—came anywhere near.

#malevolent #malevolent fic #parker yang #peter parker yang #sunny surrogate #yellow malevolent #surrogate series

[bonesandthebees]

A few more random things I forgot:

Dream putting the idea of anything can happen in an invasion in Wilbur and Tommy’s heads because he wanted to kill them that way followed by the krama of Wilbur mentally repeating that line while deciding to kill Dream.

I wonder if Dream thought it was a trap after all. That he did get outsmarted again. It would definitely make him extra angry.

So the holding pinkies think. I have made a fucked up realisation. If one of them died, would the other have felt their pinkie go slack? Because that thought hurts.

Wilbur only processing how close he got to losing Tommy once he sees the blood. Bonus: after Dream drops the knife the blood of drop is on there, we just don’t know where it came from and then we forget about it because there’s so much else going on.

I wonder what Phil and Techno thought of Eret. How they convinced them. Was Eret fully open about their intention or did they try to pass it off as just trying to save Wilbur and Tommy? Maybe just the general trying to get rid of Dream too. Though I feel like Phil and Techno would see through that. They know Eret betrayed the boys for power. They know they’ll succeed in the invasion. I wonder if they call them out. I also wonder if they keep it purely business or if they do try to get an update on their boys.

-🌲

yesss dream put that idea in their heads and that didn't work out very well for him now did it :) also yeah he definitely thought it was a trap. rip bozo

yup. if one of them had died, they would've felt the other pink go slack :(

yeahhhhh we see the blood on the knife, we just don't process it like wilbur until we actually see the blood on tommy's throat. he came so close to dying. way too close.

phil and techno didn't have a very long conversation. they just had a brief call where eret went over the details about how to land and what they were going to do to help the invasion out. they were all in a bit of a rush since the execution was impending, so yeah phil and techno didn't get a lot of time to chit chat with them.

eret didn't really go into their motivation for why they were doing what they were doing, but implied they wanted to save wilbur and tommy's lives which was true. but phil and techno aren't stupid. they know eret betrayed the boys before, so they also know their motivation wasn't completely selfless.

#ask #spruce anon #the stars and their children