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puckinghell · 4 years

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The Plus One Pact | William Nylander | Part 2

Summary: Your ex is getting married, and you don’t have a date, which means the unavoidable “why don’t you have a boyfriend” question is about to haunt you for the rest of eternity. But then there’s Will, who could be the answer to all your problems. A simple business pact, no feelings involved: that won’t be hard for you, because you really don’t like him anyways. Except pacts were made to be broken… or something. Right?

Note: This is part 2. Click here for part 1.

“I’m sorry I bailed.” Zach is sitting on the couch, his leg up on a pillow. Lady is laying on the floor, and both of them are looking equally guilty.

You think maybe Lady puked in Zach’s shoes somewhere again, and maybe he kinda deserved it.

“I hate you,” you tell him, but there’s no heat behind it. Alannah comes out the bedroom holding a pair of shoes.

“See if these fit you,” she orders, giving them to you.

“I like your wife more than you,” you say to Zach, who just laughs. He knows that’s not true: you love them equally.

You may love Lady a little more than both of them combined, however.

“I think it’s good that you’re going with Willy,” Zach says. “You can practice looking like you don’t hate him.” He holds out your cup of coffee, and you take a sip before handing it back to him.

If he’s not going to this wedding with you, he might as well hold your drink.

“I don’t hate him,” you mumble. “I just don’t adore him like you do. You worship the ground he walks on.”

“I think you’d get along great, if you tried,” Alannah says, although you can’t remember asking for her opinion – fine, maybe you’re a little grumpy about it all. “He’s very funny, and he’s easy to chat to. Your family will love that.” She grins. “Besides, he’s hot.”

“Very hot,” Zach nods in agreement, and it would be weird if it wasn’t how everyone responded to William Nylander.

It’s exhausting, to be honest.

Zach, being the great friend that he often is, must notice your reluctance, because he smiles, and his voice is gentle when he says: “Hey, you look beautiful, Y/N. Honestly, nobody is gonna believe that you brought Willy, you’re way outta his league.”

You’re about to tell him to stop lying – you’re not stupid, thank you very much, and William Nylander is still very much not in your league, maybe not even in the same sport - when there’s a knock on the door.

“Must be him.” Alannah fixes your hair and your dress, and Zach gets up and hobbles towards the door, Lady on his heels.

“It’s gonna go great,” she whispers with a wink, and you wonder if you look that nervous, or if your friends just know you very well.

It’s just…

Fine, normally you don’t like Will, but you can stand him for an hour or two. Especially because you’re never alone with him, so you just plaster yourself to Zach’s side, or Mitchy’s, or Dermie’s, or…

Well, anyone, really.

But now you are alone with him, and for multiple hours at that, and you’re going to have to convince your boss and your colleagues that he’s your plus one.

How on earth are they ever going to believe you? Worse, what if someone recognizes him?

“Wow, you look great.”

You turn around to see Will staring at you, a genuine smile tugging at his lips. He’s cleaned up nice, to be fair; his grey suit fits just right, hugging his muscles in all the right places, and you can tell he’s actually put effort in his hair today.

“Already told her she’s out of your league, buddy,” Zach jokes, slapping Will on the shoulder the way bro’s do, sometimes, and then there’s some pleasantries exchanged and Alannah fixes your lipstick and then suddenly you’re in Will’s car.

It’s a nice car, but it’s not overly posh or flashy, and it surprised you a little. With Will’s ridiculous clothing choices something – Balenciaga socks, really? – you’d expected him to have some sorta matched car to Mitchy’s stupid sports car.

“You look like I’m putting you in a tractor,” Will laughs, as he starts the car. You must’ve been looking around a little dazed, and you feel your cheeks heat up at the notion that you’ve been caught.

“Sorry,” you say. Then, because you wanna start this day off on the right note: “It’s a nice car, just not what I expected from you.”

Will hums. “Usually when people say that, it’s not a compliment.”

But he doesn’t say it in a malicious way, just very matter of factly, so you don’t bother to defend yourself – he’s kinda right, after all – and just listen to the music that he puts on.

“Country?” you feel yourself smile. “Where’s the ABBA?”

“I was born in Calgary,” Will rolls his eyes in a playful way, then turns up the music.

It’s not until you’re almost there that Will speaks.

“So, how do you wanna do this?”

For a second, you wonder what he’s talking about; you were lost in the music and staring out the window at the beautiful scenery surrounding you. Your boss is getting married in an old, beautiful mansion somewhere in the countryside, and you’re surrounded by green fields and scenic streams.

“Oh, I thought we’d just go in and like, see what happens. We’re only gonna go to the reception, not the ceremony, so it should be good. Drinks and food and music, and stuff.”

“I meant more in regards to the fake dating stuff.”

“Oh.” Now your cheeks are truly flaming. “I mean, I guess I could just introduce you as my plus one and they’ll assume we’re dating?”

Then, - and you have no idea where this came from - you add: “We could try to look flirty, so it makes more sense.”

Willy nods in agreement. “You’re a smart one.” When you snort in response, he raises an eyebrow. “What, I can’t say that?”

“No, you can.” You decide to tell him the truth. “It’s just funny cause the one thing I never liked about Noah was that he would always compliment me on my appearance when I was dressed up or whatever, but he would never compliment me on any accomplishments or my characteristics or just, anything other than my body, basically.” You look out of the window. “I’ve been thinking a lot about him because of this wedding stuff, and I guess it’s just one of those things that tells me it was never meant to be.”

It stays quiet in the driver’s seat, and when you glance up at Will he’s frowning.

“Literally everything you’ve said about this guy makes me want to punch him in the nose,” he finally says, and there’s an edge to his voice. “You deserve so much better, Y/N, and…” He cuts himself off, settles on; “He just sounds like a dick.”

You must be staring at Will like he grew a second head, because that’s not what your… acquintanceship, has ever been like. You’re not even really friends, and Will has never said anything to you that wasn’t a mere observation – “nice restaurant” – a question about logistics – “did you wanna hop in this Uber or are you going to ride with Matts?” – or, well, a chirp.

But he seems genuinely offended on your behalf and you have to admit it warms your heart a little.

Maybe, just maybe, you kinda see why Zach likes him. This type of loyal, fierce protectiveness reminds you of your best friend a lot. Maybe Will isn’t so bad.

“We’re there,” Will says then, and the mansion that dooms up in front of you is big enough to be classified as a castle, you think. Will parks the car, but doesn’t get out. “So,” he asks, eyeing you carefully, “you ready?”

Not really.

But you nod anyway.

As soon as you walk into the building, which is massive and beautiful, one of your colleagues comes running up to you.

“Ellie,” you greet her with a smile, and she kisses your cheek quickly.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she beams. “It’s just no fun without you.”

Ellie is one of your favorite colleagues, always down to go on coffee breaks with you and talk about whatever is on your mind. If anyone would know that you were going to take Will to the wedding, it would’ve been her, except she hadn’t known, so you’re not surprised by her wide eyes as she takes Will in.

“Hello?” she asks, an obvious question mark at the end of her sentence.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Will’s smile is bright and polite. “I’m Will, Y/N’s plus one for the night.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Ellie smiles, then turns to you and hisses: “You didn’t tell me you were gonna bring a hot guy!”

Except she’s not being quiet or subtle at all, and a smug smirk appears on Willy’s face.

Just when you thought his head couldn’t get any bigger.

It turns out to be way easier than you thought it would be, to go around and introduce people to Will.

Nobody mentions that they recognize him and you’re glad for it, because the one time someone stared at him a bit too long Willy started shuffling on his feet and staring at the floor, as if the attention made him uncomfortable.

You know it doesn’t, because you’ve seen him with fans before, but you can’t help but be glad that he doesn’t have to be William Nylander from the Toronto Maple Leafs, tonight.

It’s not like you would really know how to handle that.

Apart from that moment, Will fits in like he was always supposed to be there. He charms your coworkers, your boss, and it doesn’t surprise you because you don’t think you’ve ever met anyone who’s not been charmed by him, but it still lifts a weight off your chest.

At first, Will follows you around the room while you talk to people. He stays close enough that his shoulder keeps brushing yours, and every now and then his hand lays heavy on your lower back.

You suppose it’s better that way, to make people think that you actually like each other.

Somehow, though, and you really don’t remember the exact time you lost him, Will ends up talking to some people you’ve not even ever met before, while you’re standing by the bar with Ellie.

“So,” Ellie says, and the knowing tone in her voice puts you on edge. “You forgot to mention you have a smoking hot boyfriend.”

Immediately, you go into defense. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s a friend of Zach’s, and he’s come as my plus one as a favor.”

Ellie knows Zach from your birthday dinners, and she nods knowingly.

“I figured. He plays hockey, too, right?”

How the hell does she know that?

The question must show on your face because she laughs. “It’s not rocket science. Have you looked at his ass?”

You can’t say you’ve never looked at it, but you haven’t looked at it today. However, now that she’s mentioned it, you can’t stop yourself from letting your gaze travel.

His ass looks really good in that suit, you have to admit.

“If you thought he was my boyfriend, why were you looking at his ass anyway?” It’s mostly teasing, but Ellie hears the underlying edge under it and rolls her eyes.

“I don’t have to drive the car to admire the engine.”

It such a ridiculous comparison that you burst out laughing. You’re still giggling when Ellie adds: “However, if you’re not dating, maybe I’ll go shoot my shot.”

Something twists in your stomach, but there’s absolutely no reason for it. Why would you care if she flirts with Will? He’s not actually dating you.

“You do that,” you tell her, and you ignore the heavy feeling in your stomach as she winks at you and saunters over at Will.

The thing is, Ellie is exactly the kinda girl you’d expect Will to be interested in. She’s beautiful, with long legs and long hair, and she’s witty and funny and smart. She’s also actually good at flirting – you’ve seen her in enough bars to know that.

You watch as Will turns to her, welcoming her with a sly smirk and a hand on her elbow. She throws her head back when she laughs, and suddenly your wine doesn’t taste so good anymore.

You don’t really see Will – or Ellie, for that matter – the rest of the evening. You go around and mingle with people you don’t really care about, congratulate the happy couple and drink a little too much wine.

It’s a lot later when suddenly, a familiar hand lands on your lower back.

“Don’t kill me,” Will’s voice sounds low in your ear. “But I did something kinda dumb.”

Oh no.

You put on your fakest smile as you excuse yourself from your conversation and let Willy pull you with him through the crowd, until you’re in an empty hallway that you think leads to the kitchen.

“What did you do?” you hiss, and Willy’s hand drops away from you as he stares to the floor.

“First, you need to promise not to get mad,” he says.

You really can’t promise that, but Will has crossed his arms and is stubbornly staring at you, and you know Will is used to getting what he wants and won’t tell you unless you agree with him. So you do.

“Fine.”

“So your friend Ellie was flirting with me,” he starts. Instantly, your blood runs cold; if he did something to upset her… “Fucking hell, Y/N, I didn’t hurt her.” Will rolls his eyes. “What kinda jerk do you think I am?”

He seems genuinely offended and you chide yourself for rushing to conclusions like that, when you’ve never known Will to be that kinda guy.

Sure, he’s annoying, cocky and loud and flippant, sometimes, but he’s not evil. He’s one of Zach’s best friends, after all.

“I was nice to her,” Will continues, “and she was nice, too. Super hot.” His eyes twinkle, and you have to shove back the flash of annoyance that tears through your body. You don’t need Will to see that.

“Anyway, I’m here supposed to be dating you, so obviously I didn’t flirt back, but she wasn’t giving up and it was getting a bit much, so I thought, if I just talk with someone else she’ll get the hint. And I was just being nice to that other girl, but I guess it looked like I was flirting.”

The most horrible thought crosses your mind.

“You didn’t flirt with the bride!”

The sigh Will lets out is heavy. “No, obviously not. You have a really low opinion on me, huh?”

You kinda do, but you just stare at him blankly.

“It was just some girl who maybe kinda has a boyfriend, and now that boyfriend maybe kinda wants to break my face.” His eyes widen comically. “I have a very nice face, I don’t want to break it.”

You can’t help it; immediately, you’re snorting out laughter.

“Willy,” you giggle, “are you telling me you’re about to get beat up at a wedding?”

Will huffs. “It’s not funny. He was massive.”

Suddenly, you think of something. “Oh my God, please tell me it’s not Rick from finance.”

“What does Rick from finance look like?” Willy’s eyes are wide and a little wild.

With every detail you describe, he gets paler, until he nods. “Yep, I’m pretty sure it was Rick from finance.”

“Rick from finance does MMA fighting in his spare time,” you tell him, finally feeling a little sorry for him. “He could destroy you.”

Will reaches out and grabs your hand, squeezes it tight as if that will somehow keep him safe. “We have to get out of here.”

Maybe, if you were a lesser person, you would’ve stayed, just to see Willy sweat. But you do feel bad for him and to be honest, you’re tired and kinda done with the wedding, anyway.

“Okay, let’s go home,” you promise him, softly patting his hand with yours. “But when we get home, I’m so gonna tell Zach you nearly got beat up by some guy in finance.”

“Don’t you dare,” Will threatens, but he’s smiling again and you won’t admit to yourself that you’re glad for it.

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“I really wasn’t flirting with that girl, or the other girl. I wouldn’t do that when I came here with you.”

And it shouldn’t matter, it really shouldn’t.

It kinda does, anyway.

#william nylander #william nylander fic #nhl fic #toronto maple leafs fic

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kabutots · 7 years

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Berserk modern!AU Disney Trip

it was Griffith’s idea

Judeau winning any and every carnival game

Judeau giving Casca, despite her refusal, a prize after she has trouble winning anything

it was the biggest prize he won

Rickert being too short for the bigger rides

Pippin holding onto Rickert so he doesn’t get lost in the crowd

Charlotte making a beeline for the princess makeover

Casca secretly wanting to get one too

Guts promising her that he’ll take her to the park again just the two of them for that reason

Griffith challenging Guts to the same carnival game

Griffith winning and letting Charlotte pick the prize because carnival games are how you woo a lady

Guts demanding a rematch

Corkus having difficulty finding any place that serves alcohol

him finding some place eventually and camping out there the entire time

no one is impressed by the Haunted Mansion ride

except for Charlotte, who clung to Griffith basically the entire time

Guts joking and asking Casca if she wanted to hold onto him

Casca elbowing Guts in the stomach

that’s all I got right now lol

#is it obvious I’ve never been to Disney World before?#I looked some of the stuff up like the seating for the Haunted Mansion ride to see if Charlotte would be able to cling to Griffith #and to see what would happen if you punched someone at Disney World #but I didn’t get any results for that #berserk #guts #griffith #charlotte #casca #princess charlotte #judeau #pippin #corkus #rickert #berserk au #band of the hawk #gutsca #griffith x charlotte

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orangeoctopi7 · 4 years

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Family Fun Day

The latest chapter of the Spider Stan AU is here!

Stanford came down to breakfast well-rested and refreshed Saturday morning. Fiddleford was supposed to get back tomorrow night and while Ford was still hurt that his best friend would lie to him, he was eager to finally start making some headway on the portal project. Stan, on the other hand, came into the kitchen looking as disheveled as his brother had ever seen him. There were dark bags under his eyes, and he was still wearing the same clothes he’d had on last night, now wrinkled as an old man. Ford figured this was approximately what he himself had looked like during finals week in college.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” The researcher asked his brother.

Stan gave a negative grunt and made a bee-line for the coffee maker.

“What kept you up?” Ford asked curiously.

His brother shrugged. “Readin’.”

“That’s… not like you.”

“Uh… couldn’t sleep. Started reading through some of your nerd stuff, hoping it’d bore me to sleep. Didn’t work.” Stan crossed his arms and glared at an innocuous spot on the ceiling.

“Oh. Well, if you need help sleeping in the future, I’ve developed some meditation techniques that have helped me.”

Stan took several long slurps of coffee and a few mouthfuls of cold cereal before responding. “Nah. I’m just too stressed.”

“Yes, meditation is meant to help with that.”

“We both been workin’ too hard! We needa take a day off and have some fun!” Stan continued right over his brother’s comment on meditation. “McWhozit’s been havin’ fun in California this whole time, playin’ with his kid, makin’ love to his wife. We deserve a break too!”

“I thought we had fun the other day while we were weight-testing the web shooters.”

“Well, sure, but that was mixin’ work an’ pleasure. I mean actually taking a break . No tests, no studies, no scientific observation. When’s the last time you did that?”

“Well, there was the night I spent at the Corduroy's cabin… although, it turned out to be haunted. I learned a great deal about ghosts, though.”

Stan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, that. That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m talkin’ about. Even when you’re supposed to be takin’ it easy, you end up doing research and/or almost dying. But not today! I officially declare this Family Fun Day! I’m gonna make sure you take a break. What do you do for fun in this hick town?”

Ford rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well… there’s an arcade downtown. I hear they just got a new, cutting-edge game!”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Ugh, nerd stuff.”

“Oh, come on, there’s plenty of games where you punch things! You’ll love it!”

“Alright, fine. If that’s what you really wanna do, I’ll give it a shot.”

* * *

The arcade was small, dark, and noisy. Stan was honestly surprised his brother liked it here. He remembered his brother liking quiet, brightly lit places, like the window seat at the library, or an empty beach. The arcade was… overstimulating.

First, Ford dragged him over to what was apparently the newest and most popular game in the whole place. The art on the side of the cabinet showed a gorilla carrying off a damsel in distress, chased by a guy with a red hat and big mustache. It reminded Stan of one of his favorite Harry Claymore movies. Unfortunately, it seemed like every kid and nerd in town wanted to play this game.

“They really should devise a system where they can call up your number when it’s your turn to play.” Ford grumbled as he looked at the long line crowded around the console. “Well, I’m fairly sure that’s just a single-player anyway. Let’s find something cooperative.”

“Um, ok.” Stan followed his brother to another cabinet with no line. It was painted black, with the words BIRD FIGHT written in fancy script at the top, and a knight riding a beautiful white bird flying across the side. Stan watched the pixels move across the screen. “So in this game, you play as a sword-wielding knight… riding a swan?”

Ford scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “I know it’s silly, but it’s a really fun cooperative game.”

“Are you kidding?” Stan laughed. “That’s the most intimidating thing I’ve ever seen! I tried to break into a mansion with swans on the grounds once. They gave me way more trouble than any guard dog ever did. I almost lost an eye!”

Stan struggled to learn the controls, despite Ford’s efforts to explain them to him. It had a control stick, but it only went left or right. To fly, you had to repeatedly tap the button to flap the swan’s wings. Stop flapping, and you would slowly descend.

“This is dumb.” Stan complained as he died a second time. “Why can’t I go up and down usin’ the stick thing? And how’d my guy get all the way on the other side of the screen all of a sudden!?”

“It’s a wrap around.” Ford replied, as though that meant something.

They made it through the first wave of enemies, mostly thanks to Ford, but it wasn’t long until Stan lost all four of his lives and he was stuck just watching his brother play, because he refused to waste more quarters on this thing. “This is too complicated.” He huffed.

“Well, let’s play something a little simpler.” Ford suggested. They wandered to the back of the arcade, Ford looking over all the different options, trying to decide which one Stan would enjoy. A light gray-and-black cabinet in a dark corner caught his eye. “Hmm, I haven’t seen this one before… Corner of Contradiction? Looks like a beat-em-up, I’m sure you’d enjoy that.”

The controls were certainly more straightforward than Bird Fight. There was a control stick to move your character around the screen, one button labeled “PUNCH”, the other labeled “JUMP”. Enemies always came in from the right side of the screen, so Stan didn’t have to split his attention as much either. He definitely took to this one much more quickly than the last game, but he was still clearly lagging behind Ford in skill. They made it through a whole level before Stan finally ran out of lives again, and Ford knelt down to add some more quarters to allow him to continue playing.

“Oh, what’s this?” The researcher paused when something caught his eye. When he stood back up, he was holding a small scrap of paper with some sort of symbols scribbled onto it. “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A…” He read out loud. “I suppose B could be the jump button…” Ford input the code, and suddenly both of their life counters read 30. “Fantastic!”

Stan groaned. “We’re gonna spend all day playin’ this game!”

“Aren’t you having fun?” Ford shot him a concerned glance.

“Well sure, but I don’t wanna stay here playin’ this one game through 30 lives, even if I am losing three of them a minute!”

Ford smirked. “You’re just jealous that I’m actually better than you at fighting for once.”

“Please.” Stan scoffed. “Pushin’ a button isn’t fighting. If any of these games were anything like real fighting, I’d cream you.”

Ford’s face lit up. “I think I know just the game!” Once again, he led Stan through the arcade, this time coming to a stop at a very old game cabinet decorated like the American Flag. Instead of buttons or a control stick, it had two red boxing gloves attached to levers. PIXELWEIGHT CHAMP by SHMEGA the sign at the top read.

Stan grinned and cracked his knuckles. “Now this is more like it!”

The gloves were a little small, obviously meant for children, but Stan managed to squeeze his hands in. It wasn’t exactly like real boxing, but he still preferred it to the clunky control sticks and buttons of the other games. This game could tell if he was punching up, down, or even swinging a hook! Ford, for his part, seemed happy to just stand and watch his brother play for a while.

Stan made it through several bouts before finally reaching the final boss. It was the first opponent the game had thrown at him that really gave him any trouble. It kept on dodging every blow he aimed at the computerized contender. Finally, in a fit of frustration, he fell back on his signature move.

“Left Hook!” he shouted.

The left-hand controller ripped out of the cabinet with a metallic shriek and a sputter of sparks.

The twins gaped at the broken and now lightly smoking game before them.

“Time to go.” Stan said quickly, dropping the broken controller on the floor.

“Agreed.”

* * *

“Welp, that was a disaster.” Stan grunted as they sped away in his car. “Hopefully nobody calls the cops.”

“Perhaps, but at least I finally found a game you had fun with.” Ford smiled as he jotted down the cheat code he’d learned earlier in his Journal.

“Yeah, but now we got nothin’ to do for the rest of the day. Yeesh, this car is like an oven.” Stan griped, rolling down the windows. “There a pool in this town?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t recommend we go there.” Ford made a disgusted face. “It’s not exactly sanitary and I have reason to believe one of the life guards is a berserker.”

Stan grimaced. “Yeah, public pools are basically like underwater public busses. But it’s just so stinkin’ hot!”

Ford flipped absentmindedly through his Journal, suddenly stopping when a particular page caught his eye. “We should go to the beach!”

“I ain’t drivin three hours back to Portland just for the beach.”

“No, the beach at Lake Gravity Falls. It’s not exactly like the beach we grew up with but… it does remind me of home.”

“Alright, beach it is! Let’s swing back to your place and grab some swim stuff.”

* * *

The lakeside beach was very different from Glass Shard Beach. For one, it smelled a lot better. The shade of the surrounding cliffs and trees were much welcomed relief from the burning sun. Still, the gentle lapping waves of the lake were nothing compared to the majesty of the ocean. Ford didn’t have an extra pair of swim trunks, so Stan had to acquire some from the nearby bait and tackle shop while his brother wasn’t looking.

“Strange.” Ford mused as he observed the deserted lakeshore. “Given the extreme temperatures and the impending start of the school year, I expected this place to be packed.”

“It was, this mornin’.” The grizzled old lady who ran the bait and tackle shop wheezed ominously. “But somethin’ washed ashore that spooked ‘em all away!”

“What was it?” The researcher asked excitedly.

“Oh no you don’t!” Stan grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. “Family Fun Day, remember?”

“A giant tooth!” The woman cackled.

“Stanley, come on!” Ford pleaded.

“You need a break, genius!”

“Wasn’t this morning at the arcade enough?”

“Nope. Not for how long you’ve been without one. Now put on some sunblock. This tooth thingy will still be there tomorrow.”

“I bet you twenty dollars it won’t.”

“You should really know better than to bet against me by now.”

* * *

Stan found them a spot on the beach with plenty of shade from a large tree, with plenty of branches hanging over the water, and a couple of large fallen logs that made a good place to sit and leave their stuff without getting sand in everything.

“Y’know, it’s a good thing nobody else is here. Cuz look what I brought!” Stan pulled out one of the web shooters. “The world’s greatest rope swing!”

When Ford didn’t answer, he looked up to see his brother standing on the taller of the two logs, a pair of binoculars in hand, staring at a spot about a mile up the beach where Stan could see the giant tooth the old lady had mentioned. It was easily the size of his car. Ford stuffed the binoculars in his pocket, started a quick sketch in his Journal, and picked them up again for another look. Stan rolled his eyes with a sigh, put on the web shooter, and thwiped a line onto the binoculars, yanking them away with a flick of his wrist.

“Hey!” Ford whined.

“Hey yourself. We’re here to have fun, remember?”

“This is fun to me!” the researcher steamed.

“I know, nerd, but if you keep on working every day without takin’ a break every once in a while, even if it is fun for you, you’re gonna run yourself ragged!”

Ford grumbled, but he couldn’t help but see the sense in his brother’s words. He really hadn’t stopped studying and exploring and theorizing in the past six and a half years, not even for a day. And yet before Bill had proposed the idea of discovering the dimension of weirdness, he’d felt stuck in a rut. He still did, in some respects. Could it be due to burnout?

Still, he wasn’t about to tell Stan he was right. He put his Journal down with a beleaguered sigh. “It’s probably just something to do with the height-altering crystals.” He then looked up with a grin. “So, are you proposing a jumping contest?”

“You know it!” Stan shot a line up to the highest sturdy branch he could find hanging over the lake. “So, has this gauntlet got like, I dunno, a quick release button or something?”

“Actually, it should be waterproof.”

“Should be?”

“Well, I never got around to testing it.”

“Why does that not surprise me? Alright, I’ll take first swing.”

“Why do you get the first swing?” Ford protested.

“Because I’m the one who’s used these things the most, and I’m the most likely to survive if something goes wrong.”

The researcher rolled his eyes, but let his brother proceed with the first swing. Stan ran down the beach, lept off one of the logs, and let the line swing him over the water, where he released the line and sailed forward into the lake with a resounding splash.

“How was that?” Stan asked as soon as he poked his head back out of the water.

“Amateurish!” Ford grinned smugly. “You weren’t even close to the maximum distance of your swing, and your release arc was shallow.”

“Alright, Dr. Physics, let’s see you do better!” Stan splashed him and then threw the web shooter to the shore.

Ford ran along the largest log, leaping off the end towards the water before firing the web shooter up at a high branch. The line held fast, and whipped him out over the water. Just at the farthest point of the pendulum swing, Ford swung his legs out for a little more momentum, then released the line, throwing himself in a long arc before finally crashing down into the lake. He’d almost doubled Stan’s distance.

“Hah!” Ford laughed triumphantly as he swam back to shore.

“Pch, I can do that.” Stan scoffed.

“Well then, why didn’t you?”

“Cuz I didn’t know how until you just showed me, genius.”

Stan’s second attempt followed Ford’s example. He ran along the log and jumped into the air, but he could jump much higher than his brother, and his enhanced senses allowed him to pinpoint exactly where the best place to anchor for his line would be in that split-second of air-time. As the line stretched over the water, Stan shifted his weight and his grip, basically throwing himself off the end of the swing. He practically flew over the water before splashing down, easily doubling his brother’s distance.

“The student has become the master.” Stan grinned when he saw Ford’s shocked expression. They continued to use the web shooters as a rope swing for another couple of hours, each of them improving their techniques to go higher and farther each time, although Ford could never beat Stan’s distance again. Eventually, the researcher gave up on improving his own distance, and set about figuring out how to help Stan break his own record.

“It’s all about momentum.” Ford explained. “You’ve already perfected throwing yourself off the line at the farthest point of the pendulum’s swing, in order to produce the farthest arc you can. In order for you to reach even further into the lake, you’ll need more momentum, and at this point, the best way to add more momentum is to chain together more swings.”

“So, like we were doin’ in the forest a few days ago?”

“Exactly.”

Stan felt his stomach churn at the memory of how the branch had snapped, how he’d unexpectedly started falling. He wasn’t exactly afraid of heights anymore… he was just afraid of being up high and something going wrong. Still, he’d really gotten the hang of swinging today, and chances were even if something did go wrong, he’d just splash down into the lake. That would be fine.

“Ok, I’ll give it a shot.”

Stan climbed up one of the big pine trees a few yards back from the beach, found a sturdy branch to stand on, picked out his first anchor, and leapt into the air. Time seemed to slow down as he reached the end of his first swing. He picked out another anchor over the lake, released his first line, and swung out above the water. He could feel his own weight pulling him forward even as he came to the end of his rope, the momentum Ford had been going on about. Stan just shifted to let the weight carry him on further, and let go of the line. The air rushed past him as he continued up another foot before gravity finally started to overcome his forward motion. When he finally splashed into the water, he was so far from the shore, his brother looked like a little doll.

“Hah, I’m gonna be half-way into the lake if I go any further!” Stan laughed when he finally made it back to shore.

“You probably could, if you got swinging fast enough. Or if we added more weight.”

“More weight, huh?” Stan mused.

“I suppose we could stick water bottles to you, like we did with the car, although I fear that may increase the risk of a bad belly-flop….” Ford trailed off as he saw his brother grinning mischievously at him. “What?”

“I know a way we can double our weight.”

“‘We’? Oh no, no, no, no. No!”

* * *

“The greatest mystery is how I let you talk me into these things.” Ford grumbled, clinging to his brother’s back like a baby monkey.

“Quit your whining, I’m the one who’s afraid of heights.”

“...I honestly thought you were over that. What with the climbing buildings and all.”

“Eh, it’s complicated. I’m still not great with heights, but if I have something sturdy to hold onto or a reliable way to catch myself, it doesn’t bother me as much.”

They reached the large branch that Stan had used for a jumping-off platform before. Stan lined up his first anchor while Ford tried his best not to throw his brother off-balance. “You ready?” The Spider Man asked.

Ford took a deep breath before nodding. “Ready.”

At first, it wasn’t too different from the rope swing, except now he was holding onto his brother’s shoulders for dear life. Then they reached the end of the first pendulum swing and Ford felt his stomach leap up as they briefly achieved weightlessness. Then the forward yank of the next line set his heart racing as they shot up, over the water. There was one final moment of weightlessness, and Ford let out a holler of delight before finally dunking into the water.

It was better than any roller-coaster.

They came up out of the water gasping and laughing, splashing and shouting with triumph. It wasn’t exactly half-way into the lake, but they’d certainly gone farther than ever before. Unfortunately, that also meant it was a much farther swim back to shore. By the time they got back, the sun was starting to set.

“Welp, better lay down and dry off in the sun while we still can.” Stan mused, pulling off the web shooter and trying to find a spot on the log that wasn’t covered in shade.

“Actually, I think I know a faster way to dry off.” Ford picked up the gauntlet and gave his brother a significant look.

“Really, you wanna go again?”

“Just the swinging bit. The air rushing past us will dry us off in no time.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Alright, if you’re sure.”

The second time wasn’t nearly as scary to Ford, although he got the feeling Stan was still a little apprehensive about swinging with a passenger. Still, they swung through the trees together with little problem. It was thrilling. And while it certainly dried them off, the rushing air coupled with the dropping air temperature presented a new problem.

“Cccold!” Stan stuttered as they came to a stop back at the beach where they had left their things. He quickly changed back into his jeans and a jacket.

“We’ll have to remember to do this to dry off while the sun is still high, in the future.”

“Oh, so you’re sayin’ you’d do Family Fun Day again?”

Ford rolled his eyes, but smiled. “I’m sure you’ll force me to take breaks more often than once every six years.”

DOG KLJQ TTIE Y KUZ LLW? BHMB L QSODM QCXT! U KLL’Y WMQE RT FUVLJQY EPZU DOGZ HMWLP PZU YO DMLJQY BICRD!

#Gravity Falls #Fanfiction #Stanley Pines #Stanford Pines #Spider Stan AU #My Writing #Spiderstan AU

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crypticcatalys · 4 years

Text

Dreams Ive had involving Avatar in no particular order or context.

(This is super long btw)

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

11/1/18

I was a na'vi and i was with neytiri and jake at some waterfall. We were Parachuting i guess because we parashuted to the end on the fall and into a lake. There was a barrier at 8 feet so we swam to a car in a parking lot and bille joe Armstrong was there and we drove to a gas station, i woke up.

11/9/18

I was a na'vi. I was jake and neytiri's kid apparently. And tsu'tey was alive and said he was my weird uncle super loud. We were at some seafood restaurant and it was beside the animal kingdom park. These people where being jerks to us and being racist because we were na'vi. There was a tornado for a second then someone yeled that grace was dying so we started running and hopping animal habitat fences and lines while someone was narrating then the girls from despicable me were there. The park was different the floating mountains were still there but it also looked like a mall. Rumpelstiltskin was there and being evil. And something was at stake? I woke up

11/14/18

I was in some warehouse at first then I was at home. Then me and my friends were walking to my grandmas house. I was a na'vi again i think, and they mentioned we were going to go see another na'vi that looked female with a Hispanic accent named Alex i think and that he sold Rick and Morty balloons. My friend said that he wasn't nice and that the last time they saw him he crapped himself? I woke up after that.

11/23/18

I was in some house and there was a guy there he was abusive so I threw a chair at him and my grandma was there. We ran and then we were at some bridge leading to Flight of passage. The bridge was like a rollercoaster because when i crossed it it kept moving. In the ride queue there were Toruk the First Flight performers and it was actually cool. But the actual ride/link area was like a movie theater and it wasn't even flight of passage. It was a 'modern disney character life' simulation movie thing. I woke up from anger.

11/27/18

I was na'vi and i was in this building (our home?) And it was collapsing. Fire was everywhere and when it was destroyed everyone was holding each other and crying.

12/2/18

I was at the store with my mom and my friend was there. I could fly so i picked my friend up and we were on top of the aisle. Some couple was fighting and me and my friend went back to the floor and we ate these heart shaped sugar cookies. Then i heard the song 'Direhorse' and there were Toruk performers there. They were on this stage type thing that sorta went into the ground. I got excited and one of the performers gave me a spear from the Tipani and it was cool. Then i was Booker Baxter and i was telling raven that i could not tell nia that i could fly because she would be sad? I woke up after that.

12/12/18

I was a avatar driver this time. I was with Grace in her avatar and we were in some auditorium type place. We had left on grace's ikran(i guess she had one) and we went to 7-eleven. Grace was looking or was doing something and she had mentioned her old middle school. Some kid was on the roof of the gas pump area and they hung up a couple of laminated song lyrics. Me and grace went back to the auditorium and it was nature-y all of the seats were gone and it was like a outdoor elivated buffet on a waterfall and the roots of this willow tree at the top of the waterfall sorta made seating areas. Me and grace were at a table across from some Korean group from YouTube rewind and jackie chan was there. They all had twins and they were eating cake. One of them gave me a na'vi doll like the ones at Disney. I started eating then i woke up.

12/18/18

I was in some medieval park? And on some sort of field trip. Some couple was mad and calling for someone to come and pick them up. Then something happened and everyone was yelling and causing chaos. The bus/picnic bar thing we drove there had tables full of cake but the benches were gone. Then grace and jake were there and grace told jake that he needed to eat and he said "ok mom" grace smiled and then i woke up.

12/22/18

I was at my school but it had voltrons colors everywhere and I was helping this one kid in a wheel chair get down the stairs but the first time I went down them it didn't work? We went outside and there were busses that were the color of the lions and we had to get on a certain bus. I put the kid on the yellow bus and I got on the black one but it was purple. We drove somewhere shady and then we were in this haunted house above the floor from another dream I had like 2 months before and it was exactly the same except there was this ghost lady robot thing and she was following us and she touched my friends shoulder, and then I was the only person on the ride. Then I was on the floor and there was this mickey mouse stuffed animal puppet thing and it was sorta bouncing in front of me. Then I sorta went Lucid and made the area change to the Tree of Souls from Avatar. I woke up for a second then I was on the side of some highway and I was on a farm in some tribe. Someone shot a arrow through my finger so this nice old lady and her granddaughter broke the arrow and healed me and it reminded me of the Tawkami. Then there was random klance in this old apartment then I woke up again.

12/28/18

I was in a goldfish commercial area under the bed, then i was in a mansion in pixie hollow and the main cast and queen clarion was there. There was a parade sorta and then a buffet with rainbow fruit on pancakes and sugar. I went through some doors and i was home? But it was different. My room was set up like my grandmas and there was some person in there and then i was in the hallway bathroom at my grandmas and some boy was in there. Then I was on a human vacation base on Pandora with some family. I was a avatar driver and there was a field trip group and a class. Music from Toruk was playing and it was the Tipani's theme. Then me and the family went to this cafe type thing and we were beside Na'vi river journey and i could hear the Shaman singing. I got a chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream and when i started eating i woke up.

1/1/19

Sam Worthington was giving me a tutorial on how to draw Jake but the nose was weird.

1/8/19

I was watching this park and jake was there. He was in his human body at first with max and grace in some lab and grace took his phone. Then jake was in his avatar body and he was playing a game with the omyticaya he said something about the color yellow and everyone jumped and laughed. Some amusement park was being shut down then I woke up.

1/17/19

Connie from SU was playing hidden valley but the characters were the diamonds. Then i was in my culinary class and i was talking about someones mom and saying that she was racist. My teacher got mad at me then i was behind a curtain on a stage and this woman was dressed in leather and talking to a crowd. She was with a guy with a cheap looking ikran mask. Then i was at church and it was my school again. Then my friend was there and I fought her and won. Then i was in the office and was getting writen up but mom wasn't. Then i woke up.

1/22/19

James Cameron and Sigorney Weaver were directing Toruk. I was looking for them in the crowd and fangirling. Toruk looked weird with arms instead of wings. Sigorney said hi to me from the technician booth that was beside my chair. Sam Worthington was there and he and sigorney had a scene in the play as their Avatar characters. Jake had accidentally stole a bow and arrow and grace went 'mom mode' and got mad. Then someone had shot a arrow and it hit him in the head but he had protective gear on so he didn't really die. Then i was back home but my living room window showed the stage of the show an sigorney said hi again and i got really happy. Then i opened my dryer and it was full of nickelodian stuff.

2/4/19

Neytiri and jake were role swapped so he was a born Na'vi and she was a dreamwalker. I was a dreamwalker and neytiri's adopted daughter for some reason. We were talking to Quaritch and he was threatening us because he was about to bomb hometree. We convinced him to let us talk to the na'vi and get them out in time. I woke up in my avatar's nivi and jumped to the branch neytiri was on and we went to go find the others.

2/6/19

Hometree was about to be attacked. The RDA was using these weird missiles underwater and flooded Hometree. Avatar Norm was hanging on somewhere near the top of the tree watching toruk fly through a waterfall that formed while saying "come on, where are you" then the water drained and jake and neytiri floated out of the tree base and jake was dressed in his tawtute clothes and Neytiri was a Tessa Thompson look alike in a purple glittery suit and black heels. They started breathing again and jake said something about being relieved.

2/10/19

I was in some field with my Chromebook and on the Avatar website. It was really colorful and pretty. The trailer for the second movie was up but before i could watch it i had to play this mini game. I was Tsu'tey and i was at this river and Mo'at and Eytukan were on a dock on the otherside. This boat had floated towards me and it was full of tools and weapons and Mo'at said I had to find 3 spear heads. I found them and then i was following the river until i was on a dock. I walked to the end of it and i thought i was at the Metkayina clan and i thought i was going to see Bailey Bass' character but i just saw irl her and a bunch of tawtute. Apparently it was a human village and i was the only Na'vi there. I got scared i think and ran. Then some characters from bunkd were there and Mateo was embarrassed about something so he left and was making his own camp when destiny took a tarp/map and gave it to him so he could make a tent. And the camp was by a cornfield.

3/24/19

I was watching Toruk live and i was onstage. Entu, Ralu, and Tsyal were there. The left part of the Hometree stage was deflated. It was really colorful. The tipani spears were on the center stage area. The omiticaya were harvesting something (maybe fruit)from the still standing part of the Hometree and music was playing but it wasn't from the show's soundtrack. Then there was water and something happened and i was in my room and mom told me to wake up. Then my alarm clock wole me up irl.

4/17/19

Jake and neytiri were hunting a angsìk. Tsu'tey and two other hunters were there. One was Na'vi and one was Polynesian. Jake had went to do his plan and Tsu'tey told neytiri it would not work. But they heard something and when they turned around jake was covered in mud and three angstìk were dead. Tsu'tey said that he was surprised and neytiri was dragging jake to a river to make him clean the mud off.

4/25/19

Backstage of Toruk. Friends with Tsyal and the Tsahìk. Cannibal Hotel.

4/27/19

Broke into some guys house with me grandma. Backstage performing TORUK at school on stage. Changed from Tipani to Omiticaya. Found a green chest cover.

5/22/19

I was in ponyville looking for fluttershy's house then i was on the street that connected mine and my Grandma. It was a part of a dream i had before. A pallulukan was there and my grandma kept talking and it almost heard us. Then Neytiri was there and looking for a kid version of Peyral who was hiding in the house we were beside. It was raining so we went in then suddenly Neytiri was dressed as Tsyal.

6/13/19

I was taking a bath and washing the dishes at the same time. Then I was a Na'vi again and we were preparing to fight the RDA. Except we were hiding in my grandads basement/garage and it was huge. There were 2 separate sleeping areas with over 100 bunk-beds in each area and a cafeteria. It was like the Avatar long house but bigger. Norm was there and he was my uncle and he was in his avatar body. The other clans started arriving and going to find beds and get food. I was embarrassed about something. Neytiri was a human/avatar and toruk makto and my mom again in this dream. She was coming back from somewhere but I woke up before seeing her.

7/8/19

I met James Cameron and talked to him about how much I love Avatar and how many times I watched it this year. And at some point Ralu and Entu were involved.

7/14/19

I was selling newspapers at a grocery store when someone made fanart, and a fanvideo of Asal (my avatar oc). But they shipped her with Entu. But I still left a like because it was nice.

8/2/19

I was in the AVATAR program but everything looked different. The technology looked more alien than human. The sleeping areas were just these bunks cut into walls with glass doors so there was no privacy or quiet because they were in a busy hallway. The base was confusing to walk through. Everything looked the same. The link room was smaller and had three link chambers. But they looked different and were glowing orange and black, or purple. Only jake could link completely. Mine and Norm's wouldn't work. Until mine did after a few tries. I could feel my tail move but then I was put back in my human body. We didn't go outside. Then I was in Neytiri's body and i was flying around the Pandora theme park. I was flying around the floating mountains before I was in the line for flight of passage with my friend. The line queue had a Quaritch robot talking about something and part of the millenial falcon in it. We got on the ride and the chairs were like a movie theater and the screen mention a patronus bracelet. Then I woke up and it felt like I was unlinking.

8/10/19

I was in the school and I had to use magic to change a sink full of water into Vodka but I turned it into champagne. I was being graded on it and I got a B. Then I was on a alien planet with two other people. We were found and brought to a base that was playing Christian Horror movies as a joke. We were taken to a back room were they gave us Toruk makeovers. I had started to put the suit on and and had just started to paint my face when I woke up.

#omatikaya #pandora: the world of avatar #na'vi nation #dream #dreams #dream diary #my mind did this #james camron avatar #toruk the first flight #na'vi #confusion #avatar 2009 #avatar #avatar dream

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cncobby · 5 years

Text

CNCO at Disneyland/California Adventures

as a native californian and an avid disney lover writing this WRECKED me so i hope you all enjoy~

JOEL

cali boy obviously loves his disney

u guys are season passholders duh

always there right when the park opens

he refuses to let go of your hand the whole day

“babe you don’t have to hold my hand all the time ya know? its not even that crowded today”

“nah i gotta or else you’ll get lost”

*eye roll* “yeah ok dork”

being so cutesy in line

all the smooches??

just like small ones when you’re leaning on him since the lines are long

forehead ones

cheek ones

so many smooches all over ur face

forcing him to wear the minnie ears

“they look cute i PROMISE”

“can’t i just wear the hat??”

“uh no this is what the people want”

taking his sunglasses for yourself

“baby this is why you should just let me buy you new sunglasses”

“why when i can just wear yours??”

so. many. selfies.

i mean what else is there to do in line???

cute ones, funny ones, gross ones

he’s really good at taking candids of you

attempting to do cute poses when the cameras take pictures of you at the end of the ride

him being pouty bc the ride messed up his hair

“baaaaabe can you fix my hair again the ride messed it up”

taking the cutest couple pics in front of the castle

watching the fireworks together!!!

u guys are just talking when u absentmindedly note that your dream proposal would be at disney

he’s like “noted as FUCK” to himself

CHRISTOPHER

he’s SO EXCITED

being the big kid he is he’s so excited for all the rides

also just spending a day with his baby?? his favorite activity

tbh his favorite part is all the food

you guys probably spend more time eating than on rides

seeing his face when u buy him that giant turkey leg is PRICELESS

u have to stop him from stopping at LITERALLY every cart/restaurant

“baby if you eat that rn you’re going to vomit on the ride”

“BUT ITS BLUE CHURROS”

has the most fun on autopia and the cars ride tbh

(since he gets to drive like a fucking maniac)

he LOVES all the characters

fuck the princesses he wants pictures with pluto and goofy

he screams louder than you on rollercoasters

buying matching couple stuff

matching hoodies

matching bracelets

matching mickey and minnie ears

he surprisngly loves the train that takes you around disney

(also gives him an excuse to smooch you during the tunnel parts)

he falls in love with toontown

loves how cartoony everything looks

once u guys go over to california adventures he literally is exploding with excitement

end up spending the rest of the day there

(not that you mind he’s so cute how can you say no)

literally squeezes ur hand to death on california screaming

he’s also fascinated with soaring over california??? “AMOR IT SMELLS LIKE ORANGES”

you end the day on silly symphony swings overlooking how pretty everything looks at night

“lets do this again baby”

“yeah? you liked it that much?”

“yeah i also like how happy you look when we’re here”

that makes u have the BIGGEST smile

ur so in love w this goof

RICHARD

took you on a surprise date!

he knows how much u love it and he FINALLY had some free time

woke u up at the ass crack of dawn

“baby wake up i have a surprise for you”

ur like ???? bro its SEVEN IN THE MORNING

so u just throw on a oversized shirt and leggings

and then all of a sudden ur in the car???

u see the disney hotels suddenly and ur like ... wait

“YOU DIDNT”

he smiles that cute toothy smile he has

“i did baby, we’re going to disney!”

you’re literally bouncing in your seat

he’s laughing at how adorable you are

u guys go during christmas disney and everything is so pretty and magical

homeboy came prepared with a whole bag of snacks and drinks

also bough matching ears beforehand that say “mr. and mrs,”

you’re like huh foreshadowing are we???

he just winks at you

*swoon*

going on all the rides but also just walking around looking at how beautiful everything is??

he is the perfect insta boyfriend taking cute pics of u in every possible angle

starts calling you princesa throughout the day bc he see’s how much u love the princesses there

he also got u guys a reseravation to the blue bayou???

wow this man really owns ur heart

also u guys may have made out on the pirates ride

(who doesnt lets be honest)

giving you piggyback rides when your feet get tired

“cant let mi princesa have sore feet”

buying souvenirs for aaliyah

“do u think she’d like this??”

“maybe i should buy both”

you’re like babe i think she would like the stuffed turtle and the stuffed fish but do u

stay really late and ur both pooped at the end of the day

he’s like one more surprise!!

ended up getting you a suite at the disney hotel

“nothing but the best for my princess”

u really have found the disney prince you’ve been searching for

ZABDIEL

u guys go during halloween disney!!

couples costume as harry and ginny

(yes i know they arent disney characters)

forces u to go on haunted mansion twice

“babe its literally just looking at stuff”

“yeA BUT ITS HALLOWEEN STUFF”

“ohmygod”

eating everything and anything pumpkin

buying all the halloween treats!!

“zabdi that looks nasty plus we have enough food”

“theres never enough halloween food”

he’s so sad tower of terror isnt actually tower of terror anymore

watching live shows together!!

he ends up loving mickey and the magical map

taking a boat ride on mark twain riverboat to take a break from walking

cuddling together and just being happy bc its halloween and your with ur baby what else is better???

you guys end up sitting at a restuarant and just people watching

looking at all the cute couples costumes

and all the little kids who are dressed up

he casually just like ... drops a BOMB

“when we have kids they can go as lilo and stich and we can go as nani and david”

u look at him like uh what did u say

just winks at you and is like

“yeah i said it amor i wanna have kids with you”

takes every ounce of self restraint to not jump out of your seat and give him the biggest smooch

bc hello family friendly park fellas

when u guys watch the parade or the fireworks he always hoists you onto his shoulders

“can’t let my little shortie miss out”

buying matching pins!!

u guys start collecting and trading pins together

so now everytime he’s free in california u guys make a point to try and go to disney at least once

ERICK

baby is soooo excited

they rarely get time off and its been TOO LONG since he’s visited disney

u guys legit get there as the park opens

he has SO MUCH ENERGY

running around and dragging you to every ride

his favorite is astro blasters

also loves the bugs life section in california adventures??

runs around to all the little rides and games

posing and taking cute photos together with the different characters

showing him all the “secret” disney food

he LOVES the light show at the end of the the night

sharing frozen lemonades and ice creams

u guys go to all the less crowded/less known places in disney

he loves the goats near adventureland

u end up getting SOAKED on splash mountain

literally RUSHES to get u a new outfit bc he cant have his baby being cold thats a no no

ur just standing there giggling as he’s running around the gift shop trying to find clothes in ur size

u end up in an overized tie dye shirt and basketball shorts

“erick i look ridculous”

“i think you look beautiful cariña”

“ur just biased”

*him being fake offended*

“are you saying i dont have good fashion sense???”

“yes thats exactly what i’m saying”

“...you make a good point”

he loves watching the frozen show

(even tho a part of u is heartbroken aladdin isnt showing anymore)

(he’d make such a handsome aladdin)

you guys end up strolling around main street near the end of the night

just taking cute ass pics together and looking at all the cute souvenirs

he gets u a cute little heart bracelet

engraved is his initials in it

“there mi vida, so my heart is always with you”

#cnco #cncowners #cncowner #cnco imagines #cnco fanfic #cnco headcannon #joel pimentel #christopher velez #richard camacho #erick brian colon #zabdiel de jesus

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miafic · 5 years

Note

mrs wood taking otto and awsten to disneyworld (idk if this would happen in the mia universe but lbr imagining them both just going absolutely wild upon finding out is brilliant). ALSO mrs wood comforting otto (or awsten) on his first day of school UwU

yessssss. yessssssssss. some eighth grade-era disney hcs from me:

mrs. wood insists on buying mickey ears for both boys. otto genuinely likes them and isn’t embarrassed. he takes his time looking at all of his choices and then picking out the coolest ones. awsten gets a sparkly blue pair with the sorcerer hat in the middle even though he’s “wearing them ironically” cause he’s Too Cool. (he silently loves them and would 100% feel like he missed out if he didnt get to have any.)

the boys keep running ahead of mr. and mrs. wood, but they dont get in trouble.

by the end of the three or four days they’re there, test track is easily awsten’s favorite ride. he likes haunted mansion a lot, too.

he’s surprised to find that he genuinely likes talking to the characters. he doesn’t care that much about the parades and character breakfasts and stuff, but he does think it’s funny and fun to have conversations with cartoon characters in real life.

awsten decides that space mountain is superior to the rock n rollercoaster, which he wasn’t expecting

mr. wood buys the boys light-up light sabers before a fireworks show one night, and while they wait, the two have a full-out sword fight in the middle of the crowd. awsten’s yelling stuff like, “you blasted jellyfish! smelly scoundrel, you are!” and all otto can do is hysterically laugh and try to block his best friend’s attempts at whacking him with the toy. mr. wood shakes his head at mrs. wood, but she just laughs and does her best to take pictures in the dark.

dont even get me started on how much he loves the food (mr. and mrs. wood are careful not to let him see ticket prices or reciepts for anything)

look at 0:29 on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4S2EkSt3VI

additionally:

otto is a little worried about the first day, and he has to take the bus, so mrs. wood takes his new lunch box out of his backpack and lets him hold onto it. it has a cool ocean scene on it, and he traces his fingers over the raised sea turtles and waves and dolphins and coral.

he’s pouty and his eyes get a little watery as she walks him to the bus stop, but she promises that kindergarten is going to be so much fun and she can’t wait to pick him up at lunchtime and hear all about it.

otto is very confused by this, and after a few minutes of asking him questions, she deduces that otto thinks he’s leaving for several days. “no, baby,” she tells him with a little laugh. “it’s just a few hours. like vacation bible school.”

otto looks relieved. but then he gets worried again. “how come you made a lunch box with lunch in it?”

“it’s just a snack in case you get hungry.” she brushes his hair back and smiles at him.

“oh.”

she can hear the bus coming, so she gives him a big kiss on the cheek. “okay, my baby. you have a good day.”

“okay.”

“remember, it’s everybody else’s first day, too.”

he nods solemnly, and her heart aches. this day seemed impossibly far away, but here he is. her big kindergartener. off to school.

“okay,” she whispers, and she kisses him again as the half-bus slowly screeches to a stop.

a man waves down at them from his spot in the drivers’ seat.

“why don’t you go ask him his name?” she prompts, and otto shyly obeys, walking up to the steps and asking.

the man responds with a smile and then asks otto’s name. otto replies.

“otto?!” a small voice pipes up from a few rows back. “he’s my friend!”

otto turns back to mrs. wood. “who’s that?” he asks, his eyes wide with curiosity.

“i don’t know! you’d better go see!”

and with that, otto clambers onto the bus, lunchbox still in hand.

mrs. wood thanks the driver and watches the bus until it rolls all the way out of sight. as she walks home alone, she wipes at her eyes, feeling sadness but excitement, too.

#<3 #otto #awsten #mr. wood #mrs. wood #hcs #THANK YOU #didnt proof this at all tbh im sorry #hope you like it anyway <3

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writerman · 5 years

Note

Modern elronbarduil. Bard is a cab driver, Thran is a the CEO of his own company, who just happens to be blind, and Elrond is an ER doctor. Now Thran some how gets injures at work but instead of call an ambulance, he calls a cab because he doesn't want to make a fuss. Bard is the cab driver and is worried about Thran, so offers to help get him inside the hospital and stays with him. Elrond is the doctor attending Thran.

//I am sorry but I didn’t make Thranduil blind in this one. I did, however, have a lot of fun writing this so this is where my confidence crashes and burns because now the world wide web get to read it... or ignore it ahahaha.

Enjoy, friendo!

THIS IS THE LONGEST PROMPT I’VE WRITTEN TO DATE!

Honestly, Bard had not expected his first fare of the afternoon to be a man bleeding from the temple, a well dressed, suited and booted kind of high flying exec kind of man… He was really bleeding, and from the rear view mirror he could not quite see where the blood was coming from but it ran down the man’s face with ease and dripped onto the grey suit he wore steadily.

“Uh… I know you’re not ok but are you ok?” Bard asked turning round to look at his customer properly, the guy was beautiful, angel fallen from Heaven masquerading as a man, beautiful.

Long straight blond hair, nearly white, piercing blue eyes and flawless skin, a jaw that could cut glass and all those other analogies that described the classic beauty of men.

Pale as milk though, either he had been bleeding for quite some time or he did NOT like the sight of blood, either way it was concerning.

The blond looked startled when Bard spoke, as though he had expected the cab to be self driven rather than by a flesh and blood human with thoughts and feelings. He lifted his hand to touch the blood and it smeared over his fingers staining the pale skin easily, all the while nodding slowly as though this was common place and he bled all the time from the head.

“So… Where do you need to go?” His whole body felt tense, this kind of felt like one of those scenes from a movie where he is infected by a virus and becomes a zombie because he just HAD to help the pretty one.

That’s how they get you, the zombies, they show up being pretty humans all the while the virus is working through them and suddenly you turn around to check on your passenger and BAM Zombie time and you’re dead.

He reeeeally hoped this guys asked for a doctor or a ride to the hospital because, damn, he was losing blood like no tomorrow.

Bard made the executive decision that he was taking the man to the hospital regardless and put the car in motion, not explaining his actions though he realised he was not asked any questions, or given any instructions… it was then Bard realised that the guy must have been in shock.

Once at the hospital Bard parked up, threw some money in a parking meter and eased the silent, still bleeding, man from the car, he spoke softly as if to keep this blond stranger at ease, as though he was some kind of easily spooked horse.

He looked like he owned horses, like 10 of them and had a son called Tarquin and they placed croquet on the lawn of their massive mansion.

Probably had house staff too.

Bard realised that was unfair, just because he wore a nice suit didn’t mean anything, he had a nice suit too, it was reserved for funerals and weddings, he had one and only one and when he wore it people thought he was important too, and not a cab driver in a city where his face blurred together with thousands of other brunet men with beards….

Further problems arose when he tried to check the man in to see a doctor, he had no idea what his name was, or even some semblance of an address, he barely registered the street he had been on when the blond had climbed into the car.

So far the only thing that had shown Bard the guy was aware of anything was when he nodded earlier, and he was sure that was just an automatic response to the question ‘Are you ok?’, because most people nod when asked that question.

Apparently standing at the reception of a hospital was good luck because a doctor ran towards them yelling something that was probably a name, ah, yes it was a name.

“Thranduil, oh Gods, what happened to you?!” This doctor was handsome, did beautiful people just attract other beautiful people, was this a cult?

While Bard stared at the two of them in bisexual, the brunet doctor that had jogged toward them turned to Bard for an explanation, and all Bard could do, and he did it so eloquently, was shrug.

“He got into my cab just bleeding like crazy from the head, he hasn’t spoken a word so I thought I would just bring him here…”

“You did the right thing, I will take things from here, thank you for your caring for him-” He was cut off as he tried to lead Thranduil off, the blond reached out and grabbed Bard by the wrist and would not move until he did.

“Ah, it seems you are coming with us, even in shock he recognises a catch when he sees one.” Inappropriate time to flirt when his friend was just stood silently bleeding like some kind of silent haunted house actor…

Were they friends?

Still, someone thought he was handsome, even though they both looked like Gods walking the earth amongst mere mortal men. Bard realised he had to take what he could get, even if it was a fleeting flirting opportunity from a doctor.

Before he could speak Thranduil, weirdly nice name, tugged at Bard and pulled him closer to his side, he slung his arm over his shoulder before his legs gave way and both Bard and the handsome doctor moved to steady him.

“Maybe he needs to sit down…?” Bard suggested and the doctor, who had the humility to look embarrassed, nodded and steered the weakening man toward a private room.

Thranduil was put on a bed and the doctor, who finally introduced himself a Elrond Peredhel, saw to the wound, he explained that wound was not deep but were it was situated was causing the blood to flow easily, the skin on the scalp was thinner he said.

Bard had no idea about any of this stuff so he just nodded.

“This man is not supposed to be working, this man is meant to be on bedrest.” Elrond quipped, the dig at his patience apparently brought him back to himself and Thranduil managed to roll his eyes, he looked to Bard and gave a soft smile.

“Thank you.” He whispered, his voice so damned deep and velvety and amazing, oh man, Bard needed to sit down after two words. He pulled himself round long enough to pull a chair up to the bedside and sit by the blond.

“I admit, you scared me back there in the taxi being all silent and bloody, I had visions of you trying to slit my throat or something.” It was a ridiculous thing to say and he regretted saying it instantly but the sound of Thranduil’s quiet laugh eased his insecurities for a moment.

The blond winced as though laughing hurt him, and Elrond placed a hand on his shoulder to soothe him as he worked on cleaning the wound, some of Thranduil’s hair was now stained red from the blood, but he did not seem to care all that much, or he hadn’t realised.

“I owe you so much, I could not speak and yet you brought me right where I need to be with who I need to be with.” Elrond and Thranduil shared a loving smile between them and Bard put the pieces together.

Husbands. Probably.

Well, they had flirted with him so they seemed relaxed so maybe very long time husbands?

Not that it mattered.

“Also thought you might have been a zombie.” Bard admitted quietly, which had Thranduil laughing again, and Gods it went right to his centre.

He suppressed a pleasant shudder, ignoring Elrond's knowing look.

“A zombie only before his morning coffee,” The doctor started, he rested a hand on Thranduil's shoulder before he spoke again, “Did you just swoon?”

This time Bard was the one to have the decency to blush and look away from the two.

"Ah, I thought so, he has that effect on everyone. Though so far you are the only one sensible enough to grab a chair and to respect that he may be in a relationship.

It's alright, you can flirt with him.

You can flirt with both of us."

Well, that was… interesting. So far Elrond had been quite vocal about his interest in Bard but Thranduil hadn’t said anything, and Bard was not sure it was alright for Elrond, even if he was married to the blond, to just offer the others affections so easily.

While in thought the two took the opportunity to whisper between themselves, some sort of debate, Bard wasn’t actually listening.

Eventually he made the decision that it was time for him to go. He had to earn a wage and sitting around in a hospital was losing him rent money for the month.

“Now that I know you’re alright I should probably go. I still have a job to do and while I do not necessarily have a boss I still need to make sure I make enough that I don’t have to work too late tonight.

It was great meeting you both even given the circumstances.

I hope you manage to keep him on bedrest this time.” Bard looked to Elrond as he said the last part and he got to his feet ready to depart.

“Thank you, again for bringing him here. I truly hope we meet again.” Elrond spoke with as much sincerity as he could muster without it sounding as though he was mocking Bard.

With that they parted ways.

It was a month after that Bard saw the two again.

He had been playing a zombie apocalypse game while the car idled at the side of the road, there didn't seem to be much foot traffic where he had parked up so he took the chance to try and level up his mobile game.

When the door opened behind his seat and someone slid in he paid them no mind, he was going to wait until they'd settled before he gave them any attention, that was until…

A pair of hands slid to his shoulders and squeezed almost pinching him.

Then a rumbling voice in his ear spoke.

“Still hoping for zombies, are we?” The tone amused and, dammit, the shiver that spiked down Bard's spine… the hairs on his arms stood on end and his heart beat leapt to a pace faster than he believed ever possible.

“Thranduil, leave him alone, he looks like he might have a heart attack.” Oh, yeah, it was definitely the dream duo he had absolutely NOT been thinking about since they first met… Elrond Peredhel and his husband Thranduil.

Two fantastically beautiful men that had taken a shine to Bard as though he wasn’t some grimy cab driver with untamed curls and bags under his eyes that could fill a baggage claim at Heathrow.

Doing his best to calm himself before he looked round, he sighed inwardly when the blond let go of his shoulders to sit back in his seat, Bard took a cleansing breath as quietly as he could and turned to offer the couple a bright smile.

“Well, hello, you two. Long time no see… so, where am I taking you tonight?” It was 6pm and the sun was sinking behind the high rise buildings around them- the night would come alive soon enough and Bard actually wanted to get home before any party-goers tried to hail him for a ride.

“Well, we were just going to go home but maybe coffee first, we’d love it if you could join us?” Elrond slid an arm around Thranduil’s shoulders as he spoke and pulled him so they were right up against one another side by side, their shoulders right down to their feet touching down one side.

“Uh… well, I was just going to go home after this fare…” Bard trailed off at the, frankly sorrowful, disappointed look he was given from both of them, so rather than argue he just nodded. “Alright, where would you like to go?”

They ended up in a small coffee shop, it advertised that it was open all night long and so far it was fairly quiet, Bard suspected the usuals that haunted the place would show up at the wee hours of the morning, sporting smudge make-up, tousled hair from brief intimate encounters and being more than just hungover as they sipped hot coffee full of sugar and cream before they could even begin to think of heading home…

It seemed like a trendy spot, Thranduil and Elrond stood out like peacocks against the vintage surroundings in their crisp fitted shirts and, what was probably, ridiculously expensive slacks and boots.

Smart casual.

Yet they looked across as Bard as though hungry hyenas and he was dinner for the night.

Hadn’t they just eaten?

“You don’t have to look so scared of us, but… we did have a proposition for you if you would be so kind as to allow us a moment to explain?” Thranduil began, he picked up a drinks menu from off the table in front of him and perused it casually, his eyes flitting to Bard occasionally and he offered a very sultry smile.

Bard felt nervous, like a bug near a venus fly trap but he was also a little hot under the collar, he didn’t image a look could ever have that effect on him but… well… there he was flushed.

The ye olde expression of ‘Mark me down as scared and horny…’.

“I’ll cut to the chase, let you breathe a little afterwards. We like you Bard,” Elrond began, he waved away a waitress that approached with a genuine smile before turning back to Bard. “We are a couple but we were hoping your interest in us was not solely a fanciful day dream. Thranduil and I would like to take you out and, perhaps with time, you would accept us, even love us and let our duo become a trio?” There was a long pause after Elrond said his peace and so Thranduil and he ordered drinks, and after a moment coaxed an order out of Bard.

He felt as though a hurricane had rushed over him and he was left windswept and out of breath.

Were they suggesting a three way relationship?

He had to admit, and admit it very quietly, even in his own head, that he had thought about that would be like… they seemed fun and flirty, but what were they like behind closed doors?

He didn’t feel threatened by them or actually afraid, and gods, he had seen the look of love they had shared between them back at the hospital.

Could that be him?

“I want to get to know you both better.” The words blurted out, his mouth and brain had not discussed this and yet there he was talking, all the while his brain is in disarray ‘We talked about this mouth, you have to run things by me first!’ but again his mouth ignored his brain and he spoke again.

“I am interested in both of you, I want to try this.”

All hope was lost for his mouth and his brain logged out for the rest of the evening.

With his acceptance of the couple, Elrond and Thranduil moved to sit next to him, one on each side, they wrapped their arms around him and welcomed him in to the fold.

“We shall show you a good time, so much so that you could not imagine being without us, let us love you.”

...and so, he did.

#long post #thranduil #bard the bowman #barduil #bard #elbaruil #elrond #the hobbit #writing prompts #writing #mypackpride

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allthoserandomthings · 5 years

Text

Q&A

“I hate your job.” you said to your friend before continuing, “How are you supposed to write a halfway decent article about the movie when all these people are only asking about workout routine or diet or muscles.”

The D23 Convention was at full blast and one of the more popular events that the fans are flooding to is the Marvel stars’ Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, and Sebastian Stan’s panel. You were accompanying your childhood friend, Mike, in his assignment.

“This is a public Q&A so we can’t do anything about them, Y/N. I have a 15-minute interview with them later so I can still get something worthwhile for my article. Besides, I work for a men’s magazine, they dig this stuff.”

You continue to listen to the endless stream of nonsensical questions and your displeasure might have shown on your face because Mackie called you out.

“Hey, there Princess Megara. We’re the ones getting all these slambook questions, why are you the one looking frazzled. Come on up, ask us something nice, will you?” he raised his eyebrows comically while the rest of the hall including the stars on either side of him burst out in laughter.

Thinking how much fun lining up at the Space mountain would be compared to this panel, you went to the nearest microphone, tugging at your Megara ponytail all the while.

“Hi” you started, smiling. “Unfortunately, I ran out of questions about muscles and workout so I’ll have to settle by asking…Would you say that the narrative of Civil War was written in such a way that the viewers would be more sympathetic to your choices, Chris, since you are the titular character or it was more of an equal footing between the two opposing sides?”

“Thank you, sweetheart, for not failing me. Let me have Hercules over here answer your question. Come on, man, show Megara some of that super-soldier serum.” the hall laughed again.

Chris laughed before answering, “Thank you for that excellent question. Um, I would say, that the best part about this movie is that with how it was written, people would be able to identify with one of us because of their past experiences. Emotions play a huge role in this movie, not just of the characters but of the viewers as well. You could go into the movie expecting to support Team Cap but seeing the decisions of Stark as the movie plays out could sway you to shift and vice versa. But…you still gotta support Team Cap!” he smiled and winked at you causing your heart to skip a beat.

“Thank you,” you muttered softly into the mic and went back to your seat.

The host wrapped up the event and you accompany your friend to the assigned room for the interviews.

“Mike, why do you look like that?” you asked. Your friend was pale and covered in cold sweat. It was starting to worry you.

“Um, I kind of had a bad stomach bug. That’s why I’ve been going out frequently during the panel.”

Well, that sounded bad. His turn was next and you doubt that the organizer would allow pushing back his schedule.

“Please, you have to do this for me. It could cost me my job if I lose this interview.” he pleaded while clutching his stomach.

“Go.” you sighed. he handed you his notebook filled with questions and ran towards the bathroom.

You looked at his cameraman and asked, “Is this okay? Won’t he get in trouble?”

“He’ll get into more trouble if we don’t get this interview. It’s too late to get somebody else as a replacement.”

The organizer asked you to go inside and fix your things. So you and Harry, the cameraman, went in. You opened the notebook to look at the questions and immediately gasped.

“Harry, what the fuck are these questions? I can’t ask these.”

“Yo! It’s Princess Megara.”

You turned your head towards the entrance and Chris, Mackie and Sebastian entered seating at their assigned chairs.

“We’re rolling.” Harry said from his corner, motioning with his hand for you to start.”

“Um, I’m Y/N sitting in for Mike Finkley. Smooth Men’s Magazine.”

“Wait…wait…wait. Hold up! You work for a men’s magazine?” Chris asked incredulously, his coffee held suspended in his left hand.

“Well, no. My friend does but he’s sick and I’m covering for him as of five minutes ago.” You looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Well, this is interesting,” Seb smirked.

“I know this magazine. I had an interview with them last month that made me blush and that never happens.” Mackie told Chris.

By this time, your entire face is burning with embarrassment and you closed the notebook in front of you. There was no way you’re asking those.

“Why are you closing your notes? We’ll play nice and answer them for you.” Chris said sympathetically while Mackie and Seb were elbowing each other.

“I don’t think you want to hear them,” you countered.

“So, to get things started, what are some of the changes your characters went through from the last movie to this one?”

They took turns answering your questions. As Chris said earlier, all of them were nice and answered without much prodding.

With some minutes left in your schedule and nothing left to ask, Chris again noticed your notebook.

“Maybe you should ask some of those questions now?”

Before you could even reply, he leaned forward and snatched the notebook from your lap. He opened it and his two co-stars leaned in over to read the questions.

“Oh..I like this one. What do you think makes women thirst after superheroes? Is it the suit? Is it the superpowers? I don’t know about you but my Falcon outfit is very sexy, chicks dig that.”

“Maybe they like my brooding nature as Winter Soldier. Smoldering eyes and a mysterious mask. That’s hot apparently.”

You just swallowed your embarrassment and looked at Chris waiting for his answer.

“Hm, for Cap, I think his very rigid nature attracts girls. He’s one to take relationships seriously.”

Mackie continued to read the questions, “ Will wearing a superhero outfit in the bedroom excite the girls. Ooohh.”

“Only if the girl likes it, bro, don’t make it too weird. Keep it simple, you know.” he finished looking straight at the camera. You just hope the camera wasn’t focused on you considering how red you are.

“Which superhero would perform excellently in the bedroom? DC or Marvel?”

“I mean we got the Falcon right here. What do we need them DC guys for?” said Mackie.

“Trust me the winter soldier is not frigid. He’s smokin’ hot when he wants to… ‘ya know.”

Chris started grabbing his chest and laughing. He took a couple of seconds to compose himself before looking at you in the eyes.

“Captain America would outperform anyone, including you two,” he elbowed both guys, “Remember, I can do it all day.” He winked at you again and smiled.

You were saved from fainting by a knock on the door, “Time’s up. Next room please.” said the organizer.

You thanked the three of them profusely choosing not to make eye contact with Chris. That guy is making you feel all sorts of impure emotions.

“Thanks, Y/N, see you around,” Chris said before exiting the room.

You bid a quick farewell to Harry and sent a quick text to Mike that you are going straight to Disneyland. Maybe a quick tour of the Haunted Mansion will stop you from thinking some steamy scenes with Chris Evans.

You went straight to Disneyland eating some Churros alone while lined up. A staff approached you and asked, “Ms. Y/N Y/L/N?”

“Yes?” you swallowed the last bite of your churro.

“Please follow me.” she looked official enough so you followed her to the VIP entrance.

“Wait, miss, I don’t understand…I don’t have…” you started to say but your words drifted off as you saw who was standing behind her.

“Hey, mind if I join you? I have extra VIP passes?” Chris said.

“What about the interview?”

“I only had one after yours and it was over quickly. I’m here to enjoy the rides now.” He brought out a Minnie Mouse cap and plopped it on top of your head. You fixed it so that your Megara-style ponytail won’t be ruined.

“Well sure. I was lined up at the Haunted Mansion. If you want, that is.” He took your hand and followed the woman that led you to him.

“Oh, by the way, I still have your friend’s notebook.” He said giving you the notebook opened to the page with the questions.

Upon closer look, you see that every single one of them had been answered.

‘Lights on or off?’ On.

‘Top or Bottom?’ Bottom has a better view.

‘Boobs or Butt?’ Apparently, I’m an ass man.

The entire page had answers from him.

The very last question goes ‘For Chris, you apparently like Disney a whole lot. Which Disney princess will you take to bed?’ Megara.

That one made you blush even more and you closed the notebook abruptly.

“Not until after a few dates, Y/N or should I say Princess Megara?”

#chris evans #chris evans x y/n #chris evans x reader #chris evans birthday #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #allthoserandomrambles

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truxi-twice · 5 years

Text

Whoo. Back from Disney. My phone wasn’t functioning properly for most of the week either. What did I miss?

Disney was fantastic! It was Sterling’s first time ever going, and I’m just really glad I got to show him all sorts of things I knew he’d love. After almost ten years living together, I thiiiink I’ve got a pretty good idea of what his cup of tea is.

And in this case, his cup of tea was definitely getting to meet Alice at the UK pavilion in Epcot. And Launchpad and Scrooge in Animal Kingdom. And dancing with José and Panchito in front of the castle (maybe. A little bit. He’s not big on Big Displays, but I think he liked that last one. Definitely more than the time the Majesty Makers made him try to pull the sword out of the stone). And just the entirety of TomorrowWorld and Future World.

I really want to do a write-up of the whole thing while it’s fresh, but I don’t even know where to start. Let’s try some highlights

- Dinner at the California Grill our first night in before even getting to the parks. We finished dessert (a s’mores-ish thing with a banana-jam cream puff, a chocolate-filled cream puff, a graham crisp, and marshmallow ice cream, which is officially the greatest marshmallow flavor) just in time to go out on the balcony and watch the fireworks, and no lie, I straight up cried. And I don’t mean I teared up. I was just covering my mouth and almost sobbing once they started up with “Touch the Sky.” I think it’s just that that’s when it hit me that we were really there, and that literal months of planning had finally come to fruition and that we were getting to do one of the Big Things I’d been looking forward to for over half a year. Plus, they were beautiful. THEY HAVE FIREWORKS SHAPED LIKE BLOCKS AND MAUI’S FISH HOOK!

-Started off in the parks with Haunted Mansion. Sterling’s call since Peter Pan was closed. Turned out to be a good’un. No matter how many times I ride that ride, I love it.

- It rained all day the first day. While that kind of sucked because it meant we were wet and cold, and no one noticed our Darkwing&NegaDuck Disneybounds, it meant that we literally just walked onto a lot of rides in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Including Slinky Dog Dash. Which, just... I have never seen a wait time of less than an hour, usually longer. I didn’t even bother booking Fastpasses because it looked like an ok kiddie coaster. It was a blast! And the theming was so cute and clever! So we immediately got back in (the very short) line to do it all over again.

-Epcot was wonderful. Epcot is always wonderful. I could easily spend two full days in Epcot, and with the festival going on, I wish we’d gotten even more time.

-We Disneybounded José and Panchito in Epcot and actually got some recognition--mostly in the Mexico Pavilion. One of the castmembers let us use the hats in his stand to take photos!

-(they really need to #bringbackDreamfinder tho. Or do literally anything else with the Journey Into Imagination. It’s just so...dated and unpleasant, and generally just...unwhimsical it is. I don’t want it to go away. I just want it to go back to being a true journey into imagination.)

-We wore our Legends of the Hidden Temple t-shirts for our Animal Kingdom day, and everyone recognized them. Got a lot of compliments, but the best was truly Launchpad at the character meet-and-greet. He pointed at Sterling’s, then mine, then back again for a bit like he was thinking. Then he made Sterling pretend to be sneaking and he grabbed Sterling from behind like he was a temple guard.

-Also, just...Animal Kingdom. That was probably the best day where Everything Went Right. We rode Everest six times. Near close we just kept getting back in line, usually with a lot of the same people, and you could just tell everyone was so psyched up. We just barely squeaked onto the ride before it officially closed for the night, and got to see the start of Rivers of Light from the top. It was beautiful. Everyone clapped and cheered when the ride was over. Then we got out with enough time to scurry to the bridge and watch the rest of it. (Also, Sterling bought an adorable plush yeti. We’ve named him Spag. Spag Yeti.)

-Actually, speaking of people being excited, that’s something else I love about Disney. Everyone’s just so nice. Not just the cast members. Even the guests. It’s like we all feel like we’re part of the experience, so everyone’s just a little more pleasant to everyone else.

- We rode Rockin’ Roller Coaster three times in a row on our second-to-last morning and then swooped on over to Tower of Terror.

- The last night there was kind of rough (I thought we could make Fantasmic and Illuminations. That was foolish. We got to Fantasmic late, so even with fastpasses, we had lousy seats, and then we booked it to Epcot on aching feet just in time to see the last bit of Illuminations. In retrospect, we should’ve just done Illuminations, since that’ll be gone soon, which is a shame. It’s beautiful). But on a whim I asked about pin trading at our resort and found a Horizons pin--Sterling’s favorite attraction he never got to see. It kind of made the night a little better.

-...maaaaybe I went overboard with pin trading after that. I found one of the José construction pins tho!

- Our last go-through of the Haunted Mansion, the ride broke down. But it broke when we were in front of the ballroom scene. Specifically in front of the dueling portraits. It was kind of cool to really got to look at everything thoroughly.

- I still love It’s a Small World.

- I left some Disney Art Drops around the park. Most got picked up without a word, but two people did actually tag me in a post with their finds, so that’s nice. A little girl found my Basil of Baker Street in the hedgemaze! ...Figment didn’t get picked up tho, which made me a little sad, because I wanted him to find a good home. I didn’t feel good about leaving him where he was overnight (it was in some bushes near the color-change tiles), so he came back home with me.

- Actually, speaking about those color change tiles, I’m so glad I saw someone talking about them online. That’s another thing that just about made me cry when I found them. They’re very simple, but something about them plus Spaceship Earth all lit up at night brings me right back to the very best of childhood.

So...yeah. Eventful week. I am exhausted. And dreading the thought of Doing Anything. But also wanting to get back to drawing stuff again.

One little Spark of inspiration...

#disney2019 #my stupid life #pardon me while I have a strange interlude

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ohnoboho · 6 years

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ghosts in the flesh 1 (let’s meet our lovely contestants)

Dear reader, welcome to part one of my newest punk!Sanders multi-part fiction. A few of you voted for it, so here it is! @asofterfan‘s fantastic punk!Sanders Sides boys are going to go ghost hunting, eventually. For now, they are just going to be sassy at lunch (also a little glimpse of what’s to come for poor Virgil). It’s been a struggle to say the least with this, but I hope you will enjoy.

much love, boho

Virgil watched the beam of the flashlight twist and spiral lazily as it fell through the air below him. The light swept over the decrepit walls of the shaft, deceptively slow. Only the deafening rush of air by his ears gave away how fast he was really falling. And something else, a voice hazy between the wind and his own blood pounding noisily in his throat he couldn’t quite make out.

Below him, the flashlight finally made contact with the floor, the beam of light violently flailing as it bounced and rolled around the debris. Virgil squeezed his eyes shut and let the terror run swift and frigid through his veins; one raw, guttural shout echoed off the metal walls before the ground rushed to meet him. He knew he was going to regret going that night.

Two weeks prior...

It had started off much the same as any of their other adventures, with a friendly argument.

An offhand comment during lunch hour from a passing student calling Roman a ‘banshee’ for his excessive wailing at the tragedy of dropping his bag of chips sparked it really. After the soda can Virgil had hucked made contact with the back of the offending student’s head and sent the group scurrying off, the punk grumbled something under his breath.

“What was that, Virge?” Patton looked up from his backpack. He tossed Roman a spare bag of cheez-its; the other boy caught it with a thrilled gasp.

“He was just stating that it’s incorrect to call Roman a banshee, because he’s not female. The term banshee translates literally to ‘fairy woman’ and he is neither of those things. Although….” Logan glanced up from the homework he had been working on with a smirk, locking eyes with the other boy. It took only a moment for Roman to catch on to the joke. The two actually laughed together.

“Roman would be a specter or a wraith.” Virgil continued, sliding back into his seat after retrieving the empty can. “I mean really, if he were anything, Roman would be an incubus. A very confused incubus, who’s shit at his job.” Patton and Roman exchanged puzzled glaces as Logan and Virgil elbowed each other cheekily.

“I don’t know what the hell that means, but since you villians seem to find it oh-so amusing, I’m guessing I should be offended.” The steampunk pouted as best he could between fistfulls of cheez-its.

Patton leaned forwards and rested his chin in his hands. “Gosh, Virgil, sounds like you know a lot about spirits and stuff! What would I be?” Virgil had to stop himself from laughing at the juxtaposition of the pastel punk’s very serious expression with his delicate sipping on a juice box.

“I think you’d probably be a brownie.” The punk fiddled with his hoodie string as he spoke, shifting uncomfortably as his stomach let out an audible growl.

“oH MY-”

“He’s not referring to the fuckin’ baked good, Patton.” Logan cut off the boy’s cheery giggles, pushing his glasses further up his nose. “Brownie used here refers to a type of house gremlin.”

“Gremlins?” Patton cocked his head with a frown. Without looking, he plunged a hand into his backpack again and fished around. “Aren’t they usually mean?”

“In some cultures, but not brownies.” Virgil explained, absently accepting the orange Patton slid across the table to him. “They are little fae that pick a family they like and live in their house. They help out around the house with chores and shit and the family leaves them treats and toys to say thanks.” The dark boy kept his eyes on the orange as he carefully pulled at the peel and shrugged casually. “Seemed like a good fit to me.”

The pastel boy cooed, clapping his hand together excitedly. “Awwww, I love them!” Tucked under his hood and his bangs, a small smile crept across Virgil’s face.

Roman finished shaking the last crumbs from the cheez-it bag into his mouth, before tossing it aside. “Well, aren’t you just a regular Necro-NERD-icon! I mean, is anyone really surprised that Sabrina the Emo Witch here knows so much about ghosts though?” Virgil only stuck his tongue out in response.

Logan offered an explanation distractedly as he scribbled away at the margins of his notes. “When we were kids, we used to go ‘ghost hunting’ around town quite often. To be honest, it was always less about the ghost hunting and more about creatively trespassing into ruined buildings.” Virgil munched on an orange slice thoughtfully and gave a hint of a smile at the precious memories of the little delinquent children they were.

“Woooow! Didja ever contact any ghosts?” Patton gasped eagerly.

“What? No, of course not!” Logan scoffed, tapping his pen sharply on his glasses frame. “Paranormal and supernatural creatures aren’t real, Patton. Although, it did take me quite a while to convince this idiot of that.” He jostled the boy next to him with his elbow and received a sound smack to his shoulder in return.

“You didn't convince me of anything, ass. I just stopped arguing with you.” Virgil grumbled sarcastically, flicking a pip directly at Logan’s glasses. It bounced off with a ‘plink’ as Logan started to squawk angrily.

“That’s just ridiculous! It's an absolute fact that ghosts aren't real and you know that, because there is no way that my best friend is as fucking dim as Dumb and Dumber over there.” Logan pointed sharply at the two punks across from table who froze in place right in the middle of Patton attempting to spit some juice from his straw into Roman’s open mouth.

“Excuse me!?” The steampunk sputtered, slapping his hands down on the table. “First, Specs, how dare you? Puff and I are creative geniuses.” The smaller boy echoed his assertion with a small 'yeah!’. “And second, Nerd, how dare you? You assume that I believe in the supernatural? Why? Because I have a deep appreciation for fairytales? Because I happen to have an undying love for Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride? Everyone knows the ghosts are projections, Logan! Another fabulously clever way that Disney’s magic comes to life for little princes and princesses and other young royalty! ” Roman gestured about wildly as he ranted. His voice boomed through the courtyard where they sat as his armful of bangles rang noisily. The other students groups perked their heads up at the sounds of a possible fight, but quickly went back to their lunches as they realized it was just Roman.

Logan was taken aback for a moment before he leaned in with a raised eyebrow. “Wait, you don’t-”

He was cut off by a whine from Patton. “Roman?! You don't believe in ghosts? How un-BOO-lievable!” The pastel punk pressed his palms to his chest, miming being shot through the heart.

“I believe in using them as a clever literary device to force a character to confront their baggage from the past.” Roman said with a chuckle, reaching over to ruffle his friend’s colorful curls. “But no, Patton, ghosts and goblins and demons, they’re not real. They’re just fantastic stories!”

Logan blinked rapidly, removing and replacing his glasses a few times. “I’m agreeing with Roman? About ghosts?” His voice was distant and quiet.

“But you can’t know that for sure…” Virgil spoke up, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, I don't know if I believe in supernatural shit, but there is always the possibility…”

“What?!” Logan balked, dropping his pen with a clatter. Suddenly his closest friend seemed to sprout another head. Another head that was spouting nonsense.

“Yeah!” Patton jumped in, nodding vigorously. “Virgil’s right! You can’t be so sure they aren't real! What about all the people that have had ghost experiences?”

“Oh, Puff, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but people lie, cutie pie!” Roman laughed loudly, striking a dramatic pose. “It’s all just theater. You know, con people are some of the greatest actors! I can’t say I haven't given it some thought for myself. I could make millions!” The steampunk preened.

“I’m agreeing with Roman….” Logan repeated like he was practicing words from a different language, trying to decipher the meaning. The other boys ignored him, intent on their conversation.

“Not everyone is a big fucking fraud, like you, Roman.” Virgil gruffed. He picked at his nail polish, trying his best to sound nonchalant. “And not everything can be explained away, so, fuck it, maybe it's worth it for people to study ghosts and stuff. Someone could find some evidence that changes everything.”

“That’s right! People thought atoms were made out of pudding before they saw them in microscopes!” Patton asserted proudly, crossing his arms resolutely across his chest. Virgil and Roman shared a bewildered look, while Logan just slowly removed his glasses from his face and took a breath.

“PATTON-” Logan erupted loudly, before he was cut off again.

“Yeah, we definitely don’t have enough time for you to dive into whatever the hell that was, Lo. Let’s make a wager.” Roman leaned in over the table. “I’ll bet that we could go a full night in a ‘haunted’ location and not find a single piece of evidence of any of your ‘ghosty friends’.” He chuckled smugly and bounced his eyebrows at Virgil.

Patton lunged forwards to clasp one of Virgil’s hands in his own. “Ooh! The Boo-lievers (that’s us, Virge) versus The Debbie Doubters (that’s you two)!” The table nearly shook as he wriggled with excitement. Virgil held in a laugh behind his free hand.

“The Debbie Doubters?!” Roman scoffed, feigning great offense. “Logan, you will have to help me come up with a better team name than that if we are to win this. Here, I’ll start a list!”

Mercifully, the bell rang before Logan could full come back to his senses. Virgil, grateful for the distraction, tugged at Patton’s sweater to drag him along to their art class, while Logan waited impatiently for Roman to join him on their way to chemistry.

“This isn’t over, you dastardly Boo-lievers!” The steampunk yelled after the other two boys, giving Logan a hearty slap on his back. “The Science Studs will school you!”

“That is the stupidest fucking name...” Logan grumbled, shoving Roman roughly with his shoulder in the direction of their class.

“How about The Eclectic Skeptics?”

“No.”

“The Para-No-mal Punks?”

“Fuck no.”

to be continued...

Taglist:

@funsizedgremlin

#punk au #punk sides #thomas sanders #sanders sides #ghosts in the flesh #fanders

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laurenovercalifornia · 5 years

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None of you asked for this, but y’all probably know as someone who grew up in SoCal, I am keenly defensive of our coast’s disney park. As such, here is my official ranking of which rides are better at which parks:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Winner- Disneyland. Look, I’m going to say this a lot, but ours is the original and the best. The theming of the queue and load/unload area is better, the bayou scene is better, we have the Blue bayou restaurant and we have two drops. We’re better. Plus, the ride’s outside facade and the placement in New Orleans square is more thematic and special than it is in WDW.

2. Haunted Mansion: Winner- Disneyland. This is actually a tough one, but I think the facade and queue are more thematic on the west coast. It’s more enclosed and run down, and other than the occasional screams from nearby Splash Mountain, it’s pretty spooky. The Florida queue is too open and sunny for my tastes. And as fun as the interactive tombs are in the Florida queue, it’s almost too goofy. Florida does have two additional scenes than the Cali one, but they don’t add much. Plus, we have the cool portrait gallery in Cali that again, adds to the atmosphere.

3. Jungle Cruise: Winner- Magic Kingdom. This was tough as I’m not particularly attached to the ride itself and I’ve only ridden the WDW version once, but the inclusion of the temple scene really adds to the ride. Queue-wise, I want to say I Iike Cali’s better, but really as long as they both have the old timey radio spiel, we’re good.

4. Splash Mountain: Winner- Disneyland. I’m not sure what it is exactly that I Iike more about ours, but I think it’s better. Our ride feels like it has more animatronic characters, larger show scenes, an additional song (the one the possum? Sings to the kids on the way up the lift hill) and you aren’t outside for too long after the big drop. Florida has the cool jumping Br’er rabbit figure but the laughing place scene isn’t nearly as terrifying and chaotic in Florida as it is in Anaheim’s.

5. Big Thunder: Winner- Disneyland. I don’t know if Florida’s has been redone with the new finale like ours has, but I think ours is better because it’s been redone and “plused” with the new finale, which is way more fun than the shaking walls of the old scene.

6. Space Mountain: Winner- Magic Kingdom. Look, I don’t exactly keep quiet about how underwhelmed I am by our space mountain. I def don’t think it’s worth it unless you can walk right on. But that being said, I like the track layout and vehicle better in Florida. I recently learned that they took the Matterhorn track layout and put in Florida and made it space. So that’s probably why I like it more, it’s way more rough and the individual seats with the T-shaped lap bar means they can do sharper turns and sudden drops in a way they don’t do in Cali.

7. Radiator Springs Racers vs Test Track: Winner- DCA. Look man, Test Track is a super fun ride and it goes really fast, but RSR wins because it has the fun racing element, amazing theming, and some really impressive dark ride elements. I don’t even like Cars and I try and ride this every time we go if we can because it’s fun. Plus, Test Track, while it does have the really fun interactive element of designing a car, just screams too much Iike an ad for me (which it is).

8. Mission Breakout vs Tower of Terror: Winner- DHS. You all know I am not a fan of the new overlay of our tower, but that fight is over now, so I guess I’ll stop complaining. Well, that much, anyway. But obviously the tower in Florida is the OG and it’s still really cool. As a horror fan, it’s hard to find spooky theme park attractions that aren’t cheesy, and the OG tower is spooky without being outright scary. It’s a master of theming and atmosphere, has a killer soundtrack and pays tribute to a show I grew up loving.

9. Matterhorn vs Expedition Everest: Winner- AK. This is not remotely a fair comparison, and I adore both rides, but comparisons must be made regardless. The 2015 refurbishment of the Matterhorn saw the placement of some amazing Harold animatronics and some cool new scenes and effects. I love this ride and try and ride it every time I go to DLR. But Expeiditon Everest is such an awesome ride. So thrillling, so well themed, and it has a cool environmental message. Even with Disco yeti being a disco man since like, 2006 or whatever, it’s still a must-do ride.

10. Incredicoaster vs Rock n roller coaster: Winner- Incredicoaster. This was hard for me because I still miss Screamin (rip) but I have to say the fact that it’s an outdoor coaster really helps. I like Rock n roller coaster and both rides have really well themed queues (and honestly, not that great of a storyline) but there is something about riding Incredicoaster at both nighttime and daytime and feeling the wind on your face.

11. Indiana Jones vs Dinosaur: Winner- Disneyland. Listen. Dinosaur is a disgrace of a ride. Tbh if they redid that whole area into an Indiana Jones themed South American land like the rumors, I’d be fine with it. Dinosaur is SO BORING. It’s dark. It’s loud. There is zero tension. Oh no, the dinosaur is chasing us, what will we do?? I assume the ride was more fun when it first opened but Eisner neutered it and here we are. Oh well. Anyway, Indiana Jones is probably the greatest American ride they’ve ever made and it’s immersive-ness and theming and everything else is SO GOOD and honestly I think Disney should lay off the screens and go back to that (here’s hoping the new rise of the resistance ride is more like this).

12. Star Tours: Winner- DHS. The rides are basically the same but the outside queue for the Florida version is way cooler. So that’s a plus. even though you can see the lights and the support structures (because “studio park”) its’ still super cool to hav the Ewok village and the giant AT-AT outside.

13. Toy Story Midway Mania: Winner- DCA. I haven’t been to the new Toy Story Land yet so this might change next time I go to Florida but I just love the Victorian midway boardwalk theming of the DCA version so much. The ride is pretty much the same regardless but it’s so charming. And I love our Potato Head being an actual barker on the outside a whole lot.

14. It’s a Small World: Winner- Disneyland. Ours is the original and the thing that makes it better is that it’s an entire giant facade. It’s gorgeous. The small world facade being hidden in Florida really cuts down on the iconic parts of the attraction.

15. Peter Pan: Winner- Magic Kingdom. Personally I think both versions of this ride are overrated, but the one in Florida seems a little cooler, if I recall right. Idk, man.

16. Buzz lightyear: Winner- magic Kingdom. I don’t remember this too much but I think it’s cooler in Florida? Regardless, I don’t ever do this ride because I’m usually prioritizing other stuff.

17. The Railroad: Winner- Disneyland. I Iike the OG railroad because we got those cheesy dioramas left over from the world’s fair. Nice. Plus, I don’t remember if the WDW version cuts through any rides like the DLR one does, but seeing Splash mountain is fun.

18. Grizzly River Run vs Kali River Rapids: Winner- DCA. Dude, come on. As someone who grew up going on Grizzly, sometimes 5 times in a row, that ride is great. Great soundtrack, great queue theming, great theming on the ride itself, and it has Iike, three drops and several parts where you can get wet. So imagine my surprise when, after waiting for like an hour in 80 degree heat, listening to the sound of chainsaws the whole time, I get on Kali only to discover it has one measly drop?? So weak. WEAK. Although I do appreciate the environmental message, even if it’s like, super creepy to hear chainsaws in the distance in line.

This is all I can remember off the top of my head so that’s where I’ll leave off. If I missed any, let me know!

#long post #text #disneyland vs disneyword stuff #west coast best coast

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oopsitsmyfandoms · 6 years

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The Squip Squad goes to Disney World

This is a random list of head canons i compiled. i could literally go on for sooooo long about them and disney cause i practically live there but i thought that might be excessive

so lets start off with them flying to disney from new jersey and how much of a train wreck that would be

the only one of them who has ever flown before is chloe. she went to visit one of her relatives in CA before in like 6th grade so obviously she's an expert on flying because of that one experience

christine is the mom of the group, texting all of them beforehand giving them lists of what to pack

she goes through everyone's suitcase before they leave for the airport

this is why they're behind now as they scramble through the airport trying to find the security check

"Chloe i thought you knew where the hell we were going"

"I do!"

she doesn't. she has no clue

they end up getting stuck at the metal detectors because OF COURSE brooke brought her opened starbucks and they wouldn't let her through the checkpoint with it and she REFUSED to go without it

so she's standing there and they all wait on her before going through the like (rookie mistake)

once she's done with her venti-whatever-frappachino, they go through the line

and just their luck the metal detector is like freaking out when rich goes through the line halfway through their entire group

and he starts freaking out cause what if its the squip and what if they're not going to let him on the plane and this is going to ruin his magical fun time with his friends that he rightfully deserves

but its not the squip. he didn't take his belt off and they're all gucci.

his tiny mistake cost them an extra 30 minutes wasted though

so yet again they're scrambling through the airport trying to find terminal 13B

they finally find it and just their luck the flight was delayed 40 minutes

"it's all good guys!" the ever so optimistic christine says, "now we can hit up the food court!"

cue the entire squad cheering for food

jake flips his shit when there's a sabarro in the food court. he drags rich with him but all rich wants is a cinnabon

"jake its 9am why the fuck do you want sabarro instead of breakfast? c'mon man"

the girls wander around looking for a healthy snack place

they end up finding a really cute one with a little coffee shop and they stock up on snacks and drinks for the plane ride

brooke finds the pinkberry and literally cries because holy shit she's going to disney and the airport has a pinkberry this is the best day ever

michael and jeremy get burgers and find themselves wandering around the gift shops and little boutiques

jeremy realizes he left his earbuds at home and then they go on an adventure to find him a pair that aren’t ridiculously expensive (which is nearly impossible but chloe finds them in a store and finesses her way into getting him a deal)

they all end up getting back to the terminal just before their flight lands

brooke has a mental breakdown cause they're supposed to board the plane in 5 minutes and her venti-whatever-frapp just hit her and she REALLY HAS TO PEE but airplane bathrooms terrify her

so her and jenna SCOOT to the bathroom cause no girl ever goes alone and the rest of the squad gets everyone's carryons ready

as soon as brooke and jenna get back they get to board

jenna is decked out with her travel pillow, eye mask, and earbuds

she puts on a netflix series and legit shuts herself off from the rest of them the entire flight because they're loud and rambunctious as hell

christine gets a window seat while jeremy sits between her and michael. they're the most sane of the group.

jenna also has a window seat a row up from them with chloe between her and brooke.

chloe had the isle seat but brooke gave her the puppy dog eyes cause she wanted to be able to talk to rich and jake across the isle

THANK GOD the seat between rich and jake was empty because those two literally sprawled out across it the entire time (brooke would occasionally hop over there to chit-chat when chloe would doze off)

CUE A LIZZIE MAGUIRE PLANE MOMENT BETWEN ALL THE PRECIOUS COUPLES AT ONE POINT IN TIME

the almost 3 hour plane ride actually isn't so bad. jeremy's anxious self almost had a panic attack at take off, but michael and christine were able to calm him down.

when they land the entire squad is very cranky from being cooped up side by side for such an amount of time, but as soon as they get off the plane and into the airport their attitudes get better

they're at the airport ready to get on the magical express transportation when michael sees the disney store and forces everyone to go inside

they easily blow some money between the NASA, disney, & universal stores in the airport and then they go get in line to get on the magical express

it takes them to their hotel (they stay in art of animation resort and i know thats hella expensive but let my kids live this is a hc so anything can happen)

they end up staying in the cars themed suites because rich and jake DEMANDED it

they won't stop making 'KACHOW' noises the entire fucking trip

so they all unpack their stuff and get ready to go eat dinner in the parks. they decided to go to magic kingdom the first night because it has the most food options

they end up going to cosmic ray's starlight cafe and the entire time the whole group is rich's impulse control so he will refrain from jumping up on the stage with the animatronic alien and dancing cause it is his first day and they do not want him getting kicked out of the park

so they finish eating and go get in line for rides with smaller lines since they're all tired and want to make the most of their time since its like 8pm by the time they're done eating

they ride pirates of the carribean and thank god they were the only ones on their boat because it erupted in a splashing war and they almost got kicked out but somehow they miraculously didn't

cue christine becoming a total mom saying 'if you don't keep your hands in the ride at all times we are going home immediately"

they then go over to the haunted mansion

michael and jeremy are fascinated the entire time about all of the eye tricks the ride plays on people

when they're walking through the interactive graveyard brooke and christine act like little kids, touching all of the interactive stuff they can and squealing when water or air puffs out and sprays them

when they get into the ride chloe is the one that screams just to scream and fuck with people

she thinks its funny but when jake gives her a death glare to knock it off cause he's seriously scared she stops

jenna is the person who tries to take pictures with the flash on and the entire group of people around them (including the rest of the squad) tells her to knock it off

they end the night with some shopping in the main street USA giftshops

brooke and chloe find matching minnie ears and vow to wear them the rest of the trip

this vow ends 15 minutes after they put the ears on cause damn those really hurt your head

the entire squad established that each day they would all disneybound a certain movie and they surprisingly pull it off and it looks AWESOME

like its so good people come up and ask for pictures with them

jenna is the self proclaimed artsy photographer of the group and gets roped into taking all of their pictures

she doesn't mind though cause they're her friends and she enjoys taking the pictures just as much as they enjoy getting them taken

christine has a backpack with extra money, sunscreen, water, portable phone chargers, and snacks just in case anyone needs anything

jeremy and michael do in fact blow all their money at the star wars launch bay

jake and rich blow all theirs on food. like all of the mickey mouse themed snacks? yeah they've each had at least 12 of every kind

brooke and chloe spend their money in epcot going around the pavilions buying trinkets and snacks

christine gets all the plush toys she can get her hands on. jeremy has to cut her off at some point

jenna spends her money at downtown disney at all the stores they don't have back at home

rich and jake definitely buy two of the big turkey legs and try to sword fight with them just cause they're dorks

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yumotohakone · 6 years

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Haunted House Hang-up (Voltron-SS) (Klance fic)

My @voltron-ss gift for Nicole!! (@nsart ) I hope you like it!! This monster of a fic is like,,,,,12k words somehow wtf

Read it on Ao3 here!! (please read it on Ao3; my italics don’t paste over right onto tumblr–the fic is the same but I just feel like it’s missing something w/o the emphasis,,,and it’s much, much too long to go through to put them all back)

Summary: Keith runs a paranormal YouTube channel with his friend Pidge. Pidge is friends with Hunk, who is friends with Lance, who is very very haunted. And also very, very pretty.

Warnings: Some violence, blood/injury, mentions of death, horror elements

“Shit, shit, shit!” Keith hissed under his breath. He cringed when he heard the equipment clang noisily from where it had been thrown haphazardly back into the bag. He yanked open the drivers’ side door and barely had time to chuck his luggage into the back before Pidge was clambering into the seat next to him and screaming.

“Drive! Drive!” Pidge gasped, glasses skewed on their face.

“I thought you said the place was abandoned?” Keith yelled, foot slamming down on the pedal. The strain on the old, beaten-up truck was not lost on him, and he gave a silent apology to the well-loved car.

“It was!” Pidge said back, their face bright red. “They hadn’t been back there for at least a decade! How was I supposed to know they would take their cute little anniversary vacation at their shitty, rotting cabin?”

Keith groaned, heart still drumming with adrenaline.

“Go check the equipment,” Keith said, exhausted. “It got a little rough back there.”

“Keith, I swear to god if you broke anything I–”

“It wouldn’t be my fault! Did you want me to get shot by an 80 year old lesbian couple??”

“I mean.”

“Pidge!”

“C’mon dude! It would be so funny!” Pidge climbed into the backseat to check the equipment.

“We didn’t get any data from that, so unless we can find a new hotspot in like, two days, we’re not gonna have anything for the channel.”

Keith and Pidge ran a YouTube channel together called Paranormal_InfoDump, where they went to supernatural hotspots for evidence on paranormal activity. That, or they posted unedited, hour-long rants of them infodumping about their favorite cryptids. The channel was moderately popular, kinda, at least among the supernatural niches of the internet.

Their current attempt at a video was in an old cabin that was rumored to be haunted by some triplets from the 18th century. The legend went that they were killed in a freak horseriding accident and their father, who they were riding with, just hid their bodies instead of telling anyone the truth. So they were pissed at him. And now they were ghosts.

“We can just edit a blooper reel, or like, make it a vlog.”

“But I hate vlogs,” Keith grimaced, “Whatever. We can go back to the cabin later. What’s the next spot on our list?”

The car pulled up into the parking lot of IHOP, where the duo waltzed in for some pancakes. As usual, Matt glared at them when he had to serve them because they always went to IHOP for the explicit purpose of bugging him.

“Y’all gonna get into sugar comas.” Matt grumbled, ruffling Pidge’s hair when he approached. He didn’t even have to take their orders–they always got the same thing. Double-blueberry pancakes for Keith, and french toast for Pidge. Neither of them got sides, because sides were for posers. So were drinks, but that was where they disagreed, so Pidge would just order Sprite and Keith just ate his meals without drinking anything which Pidge makes fun of him for sometimes. It was all good though because Keith would just make fun of them back for the way their feet couldn’t touch the ground in the chair even though they were almost 17. But whenever he did, they would always clap back with–

“Yeah, well you’re 19 and you still don’t know how to swim even though you grew up in Florida.”

And then Keith would reply–

“Is it really ‘growing up’ in Florida when I was only there from ages 13 to 18?”

And then the topic would change.

“Okay, so the next place we should hit up should definitely be something big,” Pidge said through a bite of french toast, “Like, real big. Like…St. Zarkon’s Estate big…”

“Pidge…” Keith drawled, “You know we can’t. That place is too much for us. You remember what Allura said, right?”

“Yeah, but we both know you’re dying to take up the challenge–no pun intended.”

Keith sighed, knowing Pidge was right. St. Zarkon’s was the oldest building in town–a huge mansion that dated back centuries and belonged to an insanely rich family that got their fortune from some seriously shady means. There were rumors that the family performed fucked up medical experiments in the basement, and that they were teamed up with the orphanage/hospital/asylum/whatever place the source said, because the story changed all the time. Either way, that place was notorious. And also illegal to get into because of “safety regulations”–but Keith and Pidge knew it was really closed off because of the rumors.

Anyways–Allura was a psychic. They met her through Craigslist and went to her before every haunt they hit up for a consultation. That day, she told them she sensed more figures in the home than what was predicted, and that they should be aware of the color purple. Of course, they ended up ignoring the purple rocking chair on the porch that wasn’t there the week before when they scoped out the place.

When they asked her about St. Zarkon’s a few months back, she just gave them a look and asked them if they really wanted to go to a place that looked like it was gonna fall over with the next breeze. She said she foresaw the feeling of distress and injury.

Then Pidge asked:

“But do we die?”

To which Allura sighed and responded:

“No.”

They had their minds set, but then Allura told them if she heard of them going to St. Zarkon’s she would start charging them for consultations again.

“Pidge, why are you bringing this up now?” Keith said, cutting up his pancakes into little triangles.

“Ok, so I have this friend–”

“I thought me and Keith were your only friends?” Matt interrupted, refilling Pidge’s Sprite.

“You’re my brother so you don’t count,” Pidge said, “but anyways I have another friend that I met in Robotics club. He’s super cool. But the reason I bring him up is because he has another friend who is apparently extremely sensitive to ghosts. Like. They’re just somehow magnetically attracted to this other friend, and they have been since forever.”

“What does that mean for us, exactly?” Keith said, trying to catch on.

“We bring a ghost magnet to a ghost hotspot–guaranteed ghosts! Ergo: guaranteed results and proof!” Pidge chugged some Sprite and burped obnoxiously after, which made Matt cringe from where he was on the other side of the restaurant. “According to Hunk, his friend is so surrounded by ghosts that weird supernatural stuff is just kinda normal for ‘em .”

“I see what you mean,” Keith said, thinking, “How do we know it’s true though? We’ve gotten lots of bullshit stories before.”

“I haven’t asked yet, but we could probably get Hunk’s friend up for some testing. We could sneak it in with our research system, yanno?”

Keith and Pidge, before any haunt, always did extensive research to make sure they were prepared. Keith thought it over. Since they were already interested in the Estate, they didn’t have to do so much research on it, and could probably dedicate some time to running a few tests.

“Plus we could test out some new gear me and Hunk were designing,” Pidge started flapping their hands at the wrists excitedly. Pidge had designed and built all the gear themselves. “It’s so cool having another brain to talk things out with in the building process! Hunk’s an engineering major and also a cook so his mind works differently than mine and he has some really cool ideas!! He’s so fun to work with.”

“That sounds awesome.” Keith finished his pancakes. “Do you know a lot about the friend? Do you think they’d say yes?”

“I mean, I’ve already got Hunk pretty involved, so I think he’d be able to talk his friend into it. We’ve got another Robotics Club meeting in two days so I can spring the question then.”

The two finished up their food, but not before demanding Matt bring them kiddie menus and crayons, which he was lawfully obligated to do seeing as he was on the clock.

It wasn’t until four days later that Keith was woken up from his blissful sleep by the obnoxious ringtone Pidge set for themselves.

“Pidge what the fuck. It’s 7AM no human should be awake at this hour. Why are you calling me and why can’t this wait until when I get up at 11?”

…Is what Keith meant to say when he picked up the phone, but between his general grogginess and the pillow shoved over his face it came out more like: “Hnnurrrghhhh,” which, thankfully, Pidge understood.

“Get your gay ass up, Keith and get over to the cafe in twenty. Hunk and his friend will meet us there.”

Keith groaned, willing himself to sit up. He knew if he wasn’t over there Pidge would end up breaking in through his broken bathroom window again. Keith threw on some sweatpants and a muscle-tee and lazily tugged his hair into a ponytail. It was too early to put effort into his appearance, and besides, it’s not like Keith really cared about what Pidge and their new nerd friends would think about his outfit. His clothes had nothing to do with anything.

Keith skipped breakfast, knowing he could just get something at the cafe. “The cafe” was just the simple name most people gave to the one cafe in the area that didn’t have a green mermaid plastered on the front. It was mostly due to that idyllic “cafe atmosphere”. Somehow, even in the middle of spring, that place always made you feel like it was the dead of fall. Not just fall, but autumn. It was nice. Keith liked it there.

The walk to the cafe was a short one. The old metal bell gave a cheerful ring when Keith opened the door. The sunlight streamed in through the faux stained-glass windows and bathed the whole cafe in a soft, orangey-yellow light. He saw Pidge sitting at their usual booth in the corner of the cafe, looking absolutely miniscule from where they sat across from a broad-shouldered, barrel-chested man also at the table. Keith gave him an appreciative once-over. Not Keith’s usual type, but the man had thick, well-built arms and a friendly smile that was very easy on the eyes.

Keith walked up to the counter, intending to order something small for breakfast. He gave a glance to the person in front of him and immediately had to pull a double-take. The man in front of him was… pretty. Keith had never used that word to describe a man, and he didn’t think he would be, well, interested in anyone fitting the description.

The man was tall, with long, long legs emphasized by strappy white wedges and high-waisted shorts. He wore a flowy crop-top, in a pastel-pink color that went well with his rich, coppery skin. When he reached over to grab his drink, Keith could see the clean white polish on the his nails, and the many bracelets and rings he wore. What really struck Keith’s attention, though, was the crown of colorful flowers that sat primly on the man’s brown hair. The flowers didn’t have a plastic sheen, and were too smooth looking to be cloth, so Keith could only assume they were real.

Keith watched in utter horror as the man turned heel and approached the familiar corner booth to sit next to the handsome, heavy-set man that was animatedly talking with Pidge. Keith stared at the back of the man’s head, swallowing thickly, wondering how in the fuck he was gonna do this. He approached the counter and picked up a pastry, contemplating just running away before Pidge saw him. But, of course, like some kind of telepathy, Pidge chose that very moment to see Keith, and excitedly waved over at him.

Keith was intimately aware of his careless attire and suddenly regretted not dressing a little nicer. It was only when he slid into the booth next to Pidge that he was able to get a look at the man’s face.

“–this is Hunk, my friend from Robotics Club,” Pidge introduced. Keith sheepishly pulled his eyes away from the pretty, flower-covered man across from him so he could meet Hunk’s eyes.

“Nice to meet you,” Keith said, a little stiffly, but then Hunk smiled reassuringly at him, and Keith felt the tension ease from his shoulders.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Keith!” Hunk shook Keith’s hand. “Pidge has told me a lot about you!”

“Oh, and this is Lance, our resident ghost magnet!” Pidge gestured to the remaining stranger. Keith finally got a good look at the man–Lance. Along with the flowers, Lance was covered in jewelry, the soft light of the cafe bouncing off of the gemstones to dapple Lance’s skin in the reflected colors. Lance’s face tensed a little at Pidge’s words, but before Keith could analyze his expression, Lance’s face smoothed back out.

“What can I say, I’m irresistible even beyond the grave.” His voice was positively saturated in cocky confidence. “It’s more of a curse–having to fend off admirers from both planes of existence.”

Keith rolled his eyes. Lance fiddled with one of his earrings.

“Will you help us?” Keith asked, bluntly. Lance glanced at him, a thin eyebrow raised in question. “We’re paranormal investigators, and we think having you would be useful–if you’re even telling the truth about being ghost-sensitive.”

Lance bristled.

“You’re lucky Hunk talked you two up so much or I wouldn’t even be here.” Lance leaned back, arms crossed, easing into an air of cool. “You don’t even know how many wannabe ghostbusters I get trying to coax me into their bad mojo.”

“And you don’t know how many bullshit ghost stories we get from people saying they can talk to the dead or summon spirits. I can tell you I’m only here because of Pidge, because personally I hate bringing in outsiders.”

“Wow, okay, what a big hotshot we have over here.” It was Lance’s turn to roll his eyes. “You don’t even know the beginning of the bullshit I have to deal with–”

Lance was cut off by Hunk interjecting.

“Guys!” He put a hand onto Lance’s shoulder. Lance looked at his friend, then pouted and slumped back in his seat. “Lance, dude, take a breath, chill out a little bit. We already went over what they want, remember? You agreed to come.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lance mumbled. He leaned on Hunk, his cheek nuzzling into his friend’s bicep. “Sorry, buddy. I’m just gonna go to the bathroom for a sec; be right back.”

Keith, still seething from Lance’s attitude, berated himself when he caught his eyes tracking Lance’s backside when he walked away.

Pidge tugged his sleeve to pull him down and whisper at him.

“Are you okay, dude? You usually don’t get worked up like that.”

“I’m fine. There’s just something about the way he talked that got under my skin.” The way Lance kept undermining Keith and Pidge and their work made Keith see red. He poured a lot into the channel, and so did Pidge; hearing someone disrespect it was like a personal attack, somehow.

“Sorry about that, guys,” Hunk said apologetically, “Some days can be a little more rough on him than others. Last night, all the hot water in the house ran out suspiciously early, and the bulb in the bathroom shattered while he was in there too. He had to spend all night in a top-to-bottom cleanse to expel the thing.”

“There was a ghost in his house?” Pidge said, eyes widening.

“Oh god, yes there was,” Lance groaned dramatically as he slid back into his seat. “I have no idea how it got in. I think this one necklace I got from Etsy was a fucking dud so the little bastard hitched a ride. It was awful.”

“You had a ghost in your house?” Pidge repeated.

“Yeah, uh,” Lance blinked, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. “I try to prevent it as much as I can. When a spirit attaches to a home it’s so hard to get rid of, so you gotta exorcise those fuckers ASAP.”

“You’ve done that before?? You just expel ghosts often?” Pidge looked almost in awe.

“Yup,” Lance popped the ‘p’. “Hunk did tell you supernatural stuff happens to me all the time, right?”

“Yeah, but I just thought he meant, like, you go to haunted places and the ghosts come out to see you–not that they follow you around!” Pidge suddenly pulled back, “That must suck if you’re not looking for them, dude.”

“THANK YOU!” Lance exclaimed, “ Finally someone understands. Thank you, Pidgeon; I think we’ll be very good friends.”

“So will you help us?” Keith asked again.

“Sure–” Keith and Pidge sighed in relief before Lance continued, “–but only if Pidge builds me a drone that looks like the Millenium Falcon. Hunk refuses to do it for me.”

“Are you kidding? I would fucking love to do that. I can even add in a claw that you can use to pick up stuff, or like a candy dispenser.” Pidge looked giddy. Lance’s eyes lit up and he leaned over to grasp both of Pidge’s hands in his own.

“Pidge, I would die for you.”

The rest of the cafe meet was Pidge and Lance geeking out over the features to put on Lance’s drone, with Hunk occasionally butting in to keep things reasonable. Keith bit back some snarky remarks, but every once in a while one would slip out, and Lance would immediately snap back with another in reply before he was distracted away from a full argument.

It was…kinda nice, Keith would suppose. Hunk was very kind but would not hesitate to say something to passive aggressively put the others in their place. Lance got along incredibly with Pidge, but for some reason, whenever he would say a word to Keith it would end with the two of them bickering. After the tension of the first argument broke, though, none of the bickering in question would be openly malicious. In fact, it was kind of fun. It was like they would just try to one-up each other with every smart-ass one liner.

They eventually decided on a day to meet up so they could do some testing with Lance’s abilities, then went their separate ways.

The meet was at Pidge’s, because they had the most equipment set up and ready to go. They did a number of tests on Lance and gathered data in their chicken scratch handwriting, leaving the research element to Keith, mostly. Lance was pretty compliant, and often cracked jokes while having his body poked and prodded with strange tools.

Eventually Pidge decided to take Lance “on the field”, and take him to haunted spots to observe him there. That was how Lance and Keith ended up sitting on bean bags in the library while Pidge and Hunk fiddled with computers and machinery in the background. Keith was trying to get Lance to tell him more about the paranormal aspect of his life, but Lance got increasingly defensive about it and kept trying to dodge the topic.

It was kind of the cycle they got into whenever they were left to their own devices–Keith would prod Lance about ghosts, Lance would change the topic, they would bicker for a little bit before moving the conversation elsewhere. It wasn’t a bad thing by any means, they did learn a lot about each other. For example, both of them liked watching true crime documentaries on Netflix, or the fact that neither of them could ever sit still to read a book in silence.

“I either had someone explain it to me, or I got my siblings to read it aloud,” Lance said, reminiscing. “Obviously, I could read it myself just fine, I just got lost super easily, yanno? I’d end up thinking of some question or imagining a scene and next thing I know I’ve been on the same page for ten minutes.”

“Yeah, I always got antsy. Sometimes the words would get mixed up and it would hurt my head, and then if I wanted to keep going I would have to point at each individual word and read them separately but then I wouldn’t absorb anything that was going on. It’s gotten better as I’ve gotten older, though.”

“Yeah, same. Nowadays I just use audio books.”

Sometimes they would lapse into slightly awkward silences, especially when the topic of childhood came about. Keith was about to say something when Lance blurted out:

“Uh, do you know you have a ghost following you?”

“What? Wait, wait, what the fuck?”

Lance looked incredibly sheepish, hands flying up to backtrack.

“I, uh–it’s just that….shit this is weird to explain.” Lance bit at his thumbnail, which was a pale purple that day. “It’s like…there’s this…energy? Around you? I don’t know something about it feels really…protective? In like a loving way I guess…have you ever had a pet?”

Keith blinked. Lance usually didn’t talk about the ghosts he sensed. He said it didn’t really do anything but make him really sad, so he tried to avoid looking into the ghosts’ personalities or whatever. The one time they got him to mention something was when he had sat on a swingset at the park and almost burst into tears. The ghost was of a second-grader.

“Um…when I was a kid I had a cat?” Keith replied. He hadn’t thought about Red in years. She was a fluffy orange tabby with a grouchy personality who always sat on Keith’s head whenever he laid down. He loved her a lot and was devastated when she passed.

“Yeah, yeah…that’s kind of the feel I get,” Lance’s eyes went a little distant, as if he were lost in thought. “She’s…just kind of watching you…in a good way…”

Lance blinked.

“Uh, I haven’t mentioned this before but, um…if you could like, give me something of hers then the…connection, I guess, would be stronger.” Lance nervously fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “If you want.”

“Are you some sort of medium?” Keith asked, carefully.

“Not really? I mean I can’t summon just any spirit I want or anything, but if something is there then I can like sense it. It gets stronger whenever I’m in a spiritually charged area or I have something physical to hold. So, like a medium, just they have to come to me.”

Keith dashed thoughts of contacting his parents. Lance just said he couldn’t force any spirit to show themselves, and besides, that would be an incredibly awkward situation to force Lance into.

“Have you ever talked to a ghost?”

“Yeah, plenty.” Lance bit at his lip. “It was a lot easier when I was a kid, before I started trying to block them out.”

“Block them out?”

That pulled a chuckle out of Lance, and Keith was glad to have dashed some of that somber look in Lance’s eyes.

“Not all ghosts are good ones, Keithy–” Keith grimaced at the nickname. “What do you think all these pretty gems and flowers are for? I live for the aesthetic but not enough to bathe in it.”

Lance gestured to the flower behind his ear, and the gemstones on his amulets and necklaces. “All of this is for protection–the gems and the flowers. I even make my own incense and essential oils. It’s actually how I met Hunk.”

Hunk’s head popped up at the mention of his name.

“Are you telling him our meet-cute?” Hunk’s voice got Pidge’s attention too, for a short while. Lance laughed again, the former serious mood completely gone.

“Yeah! You see, Hunk’s family runs half of a flower shop.” Lance waited for the inevitable questioning ‘half?’ from Keith and Pidge before continuing. “So years and years ago, the Garretts and the Balmerans had two rival flower shops that were trapped in a bitter blood feud–Romeo and Juliet style. Then one day, completely unlike Romeo and Juliet, the antique shop owner from across the street played the flower shop owners in poker. In an embarrassing, alcohol-fueled night, the two owners had accidentally made an agreement to combine their shops if they lost to the antique shop owner. And they lost miserably, because every Garrett and Every Balmeran I have ever met have zero poker-face skill.

“So now Hunk’s family is half the owner of the best flower shop in town–well, the only one in town–and I met my best buddy because I’d just been buying all of my plants like a moron and Hunk finally decided to save me and show me how to make my own garden after watching me spend–how much money was it again, buddy?”

“Oh god, it was horrible. He spent, like, at least 500$ in about two weeks. I couldn’t let him do that to himself, even if he was great for business.”

The story got a laugh out of Keith. When he glanced over at Lance again, though, he found the other just kind of staring at him with a look so soft it made Keith’s stomach twist pleasantly, and he had to bite his lip to keep from grinning like a loon. The action just made Lance’s mouth twist into a smile, and in that short, quiet moment, they were both just smiling at each other, and Keith hoped that Lance was feeling the same way, even if Keith himself couldn’t explain what that feeling was.

After running through all of their equipment at least twice–which took about another week and a half–Pidge had finally decided they were ready for St. Zarkon’s. As tradition, before they could go, they would visit Allura.

“So…we’re going to meet your psychic?” Hunk asked. Despite the fact that his best friend was a ghost magnet, he was somehow skeptical of a psychic.

“Yeah, she’s amazing. We always go to her to make sure we won’t, like, die or something.” Pidge shrugged. “She’s really accurate, but not like, telling your whole future word by word stuff. It’s mostly cryptic warnings and feelings.”

“And you’re sure she’s legit and not using confirmation bias to make you think her vague statements are predictions?”

“No, dude, she’s our friend. Plus she stopped charging us ages ago.” Pidge replied.

They entered Allura’s establishment, and immediately Lance gave a long, and particularly pleased sounding breathy noise that had Keith’s face burning bright red. Hunk turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Buddy, are you okay?”

“Hunk I have never been better. This place is so clean. There’s a lot of good feelings around here and I can’t sense a single ghost. It’s so good. Do you think she sells any of these gems?”

“I think she does, actually. We’d have to ask her though. C’mon, she should be expecting us–”

Pidge was interrupted as the clack of heeled footsteps approached them. Allura looked stunning as usual, her voluminous silvery hair framing her dark skin and shimmery clothing to give off an otherworldly feel. She’d barely looked up to greet them when Lance had gasped loudly in surprise.

“Allura??”

At the sound of Lance’s voice, Allura’s face snapped up to meet his, a similar look of surprise on her own face.

“Lance? What are you doing here?”

“Allura!! You’re psychic??” Lance approached her, going to grab her hands familiarly. Keith’s brow furrowed.

“Wait…you guys know each other?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah! We’re in the same dance class! Allura is my partner!” Lance looked positively ecstatic. He turned back to Allura, still holding her hands with a bright smile on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were psychic, Lu? This shop feels so clear I might just camp out here forever!”

Keith found himself glaring at their clasped hands and the affectionate nickname. Over the time that they had gotten to know each other, Lance had been pretty open about his affections for attractive people of all sorts. Keith may have been gay, but he knew Allura was absolutely gorgeous–he had eyes. He should’ve figured Lance would be all over her, and considering they had a history–

But it’s not like Keith cared or anything. He had no reason to care about who Lance did or did not have romantic inclinations for. Keith knew he found Lance attractive but he wasn’t dumb enough to get a crush on him or anything, obviously. He liked Lance as a friend. Strictly as a friend. A friend with a heart-stopping laugh and endless blue eyes and the lightest smattering of freckles on his shoulders and–

“Well, Lance, I can’t just go around proclaiming I’m a psychic to everyone.” Allura’s voice pulled Keith out of his stupor. She had let go of his hands, thankfully.

“Yeah but didn’t you ever, like, feel anything weird about me?” Lance asked.

“…I wasn’t sure if you were aware of the happenings around you, Lance. Most people aren’t.”

“Allura, when I was five my best friend was a doctor with a noose around his neck that only I could see. It was only when I was 13 I found out he died in the house in the 1400s. I sat on a swingset last week and saw a second-grader with the upper half of their face gone. My ‘Lita basically force fed me holy water when she met me for the first time.” Lance looked at her. “I know.”

“I didn’t realize it was that serious, Lance, I’m sorry.” Allura placed a comforting hand on Lance’s shoulder. “My visions are very weak when I’m away from my crystals.”

“It’s okay, Lu,” Lance grinned at her, “It’s not your fault. Anyways though, I’m over here with the nerd squad for some ghost hunting.”

“Oh! Lovely! Well, you all should come along with me to the back and I’ll start the consultation.”

They all piled into the darkened room behind the curtains. Allura had once told them the over-the-top decorations were more for the sake of the customers than anything she actually needed. The one prop in the room that was truly necessary was the murky, indigo-colored crystal ball in the center of a table.

“So, where are you all intending on going this time?” Allura asked. When her fingers touched the stand of the crystal ball, however, she jolted, giving them all a concerned and level look. Pidge didn’t seem to notice when they responded.

“We’re finally tackling St. Zarkon’s Estate,” Pidge said confidently, “Not only do we have Lance, but me and Hunk have been working on a ton of new tech for it! We’re totally ready.”

Allura’s face was pinched.

“Alright…I can already tell I can’t stop you this time…” She took a heavy sigh and gently touched her fingertips to the smooth surface of her crystal ball. She breathed deeply, eyes shut. After a few moments, she opened her eyes with a shuddering sigh, her hands shaking.

“This…this is not going to be easy,” She mumbled, “There will be distress, there will be injury, but there will also be catharsis, and there will be the beginning of something new. Marmora will guide you.”

The room went quiet. Allura shook her head slightly.

“I don’t like this…” her voice was quiet, “But my visions are telling me this will turn out right in the end, somehow.” She gave them all a meaningful look. “I trust you all.”

“Thanks, Allura.” Keith gave her a small smile.

“What did you mean by ‘Marmora will guide us’? Who’s Marmora?” Hunk asked.

“I am…I am not sure. My visions are usually strong feelings or images of a moment, but never detailed.”

Keith frowned. The name sounded familiar, somehow.

“Welp! Time to get this show on the road! The sooner we get there the sooner I can get home to kick Hunk’s ass in MarioKart!” Lance proclaimed suddenly, breaking the soft atmosphere. Keith turned to look at Lance but the other was already marching out the door.

“I mean…he’s not wrong,” Pidge shrugged, “St. Zarkon’s is, like, an hour’s drive away. We should probably get going before it gets too dark.”

A wave of murmured agreement washed over the rest of the group. They bid their goodbyes to Allura and met Lance back at the car.

“Lance what the hell are you doing?” Keith asked, deadpan. Lance had been halfway inside the car, leaning over the driver’s side. Keith tried to force his eyes anywhere else but Lance’s…lower half was all that could be seen of him. It didn’t help that the sheer cardigan he wore had been shucked up and to the side, leaving the long line of Lance’s black leggings on full display.

“I’m just setting up some tunes for the road!” Lance laughed, suddenly. “Hunk left the AUX cord where I could find it–so I call dibs!”

Pidge groaned. Keith knew how much they loved having control of the music.

The group piled into the car, Hunk driving, Pidge in shotgun (they called it), and Lance and Keith in the backseat. As the car started up, Lance’s grin was downright devious as he held up his phone. All of a sudden, a poppy, unfamiliar music riff began, Hunk whispered a quiet “oh god” and then Lance was screaming lyrics along with the vaguely nostalgic vocals of an early 2000s boyband.

Lance’s playlist was…eclectic at best, painful at worst, jumping from cheesy musical numbers to badly autotuned pop garbage with Lance singing throughout all of them. Every song was a performance and there was no end in fucking sight. Keith had never longed for a single moment of quietmore in his entire life.

Pidge complained every two songs and Hunk tried gently to console them. Whenever they tried to turn the music down Lance would screech at them until they stopped. Keith had seen Lance act over-the-top but this just seemed downright obnoxious. Even Keith tried to say something, but Lance just ignored him completely and kept singing.

It’s not like Lance couldn’t sing, but after belting out a few songs he got lazy and whiny sounding.

Eventually, they stopped at a gas station to refill, and Lance stepped out of the car to use the bathroom, leaving the rest of them in blissful silence.

“Oh thank god.” Pidge dragged their hands down their face. They reached for the radio, but Hunk stopped them. Pidge looked at Hunk with the most abject confusion and betrayal. Hunk tried to smile at them reassuringly, but Keith could see the conflict on Hunk’s face. Hunk glanced out the window behind him before turning to Keith and Pidge.

“Look, I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you guys this, but uh,” Hunk awkwardly rubbed his neck, looking severely uncomfortable, “…this is Lance’s happy playlist. He kind of only plays it when he’s upset or nervous. He hasn’t said anything to me, but I think this whole…St. Zarkon’s ghost thing is really getting to him. I know it’s painful…believe me, I know–”

“Yo, Hunk, it’s okay dude,” Pidge put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “You should’ve just told us that sooner. I mean, damn, I hadn’t even noticed Lance acting that weird or anything, but….I probably should’ve. At least asked him or something.” Pidge looked sheepish. “I forget, sometimes, that not everyone is as excited over ghosts like me and Keith are.”

Keith bit his lip. Knowing that Lance was nervous kind of put things into perspective. Keith probably should’ve seen it coming, as he was the one left to talk to Lance the most while the other two worked on the tech. He knew Lance wore an overabundance of protective charms; he knew Lance cleansed his house with herbs almost religiously; he knew Lance had a history with spirits getting physical with him or his stuff. What Lance didn’t tell him, Keith had guessed. Keith suddenly felt a little guilty for not thinking of Lance more.

“We’re…kind of shitty friends…” Keith said suddenly.

“What? Oh god, no–jesus–don’t think that,” Hunk sounded distressed suddenly. “Lance tries to hide these things. It’s not your fault he does it well. Hell, I’ve known him for years and even I didn’t see it. I guess he just convinced himself to do this.” Hunk paused for a second. “I know he might have a weird way of showing it sometimes, but Lance really likes you two. And I think he even likes how into ghosts you are.”

“Really?” Keith and Pidge said at the same time.

“Yeah, I think it’s just because of how much you believe in all of it.” Hunk suddenly had a look of guilt. “He, uh, doesn’t have a good history of people believing him. Even I didn’t believe him at first. I was there for him and I supported him but I think I just told myself he was making it up somehow. I only started believing him for real after, uh…let’s just say something really bad happened.”

They could tell that Hunk didn’t want to say anything more, and just left it at that.Though Keith would bet money that Pidge was dying to ask more. Before they could, though, Lance came back, with a blue slushie and a plastic gas station bag.

“Heyo, guess who brought snacks?” Lance held up the bag. “We’ve got powdered donuts for Hunk, Nutty Bars for Pidge, and some Sour Patch Kids for Keith.”

“Thanks buddy,” Hunk said pleasantly, biting into a donut as he started the car.

“Anything for you, big guy.” Lance’s grin was lopsided and showed off the dimple on his cheek. Not that there was any reason for Keith to notice that. Keith almost didn’t hear the aggressive sound of plastic wrap being shredded to pieces.

“Woah, Pidge you eat faster than my little niece on a sugar rush.” Lance raised an eyebrow at Pidge, stifling his giggles. In the short while it had taken Lance to hand out the food and talk to Hunk, Pidge was already one Nutty Bar down out of two, and was enthusiastically working on the next. Pidge didn’t respond aside from a weird growling/hissing sound they made whenever someone tried to interrupt their snacking. Keith was used to it.

Keith looked down at his own snack, fingers running along the package. He was kind of surprised Lance remembered. Looking back, he probably only ate them once or twice in Lance’s presence, and he certainly couldn’t remember saying they were his favorite–except for once in a video.

…but Lance probably just assumed Keith liked them from those few times he saw Keith eating them. There was no way he sat through twenty minutes of Keith ranting about the Jersey Devil just to get to the part where Keith said Sour Patch Kids were his favorite candy. Probably.

Keith glanced over at Lance, only to lock eyes with him. Lance jumped and looked away suddenly, stuffing his slushie straw into his mouth. If he didn’t know any better, Keith would say Lance’s face looked a little pink before he turned away…?

“How did you know to get me Sour Patch Kids?” Keith asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. He traced his finger over the serrated edge of the package, feeling the plastic on his fingertips, before tearing it open and popping a gummy into his mouth. He rolled the candy around his tongue, letting himself feel the roughness of the outside before it melted. It was always his favorite part about eating them. That, and he liked the sour part.

It took Lance a second to respond. When he did, his voice was a little timid. It was almost difficult to hear over the music, which started to play again–something peppy Keith had heard on the radio before.

“Well, they’re your favorite, right? And I mean, you are eating them so I’m guessing they still are.” Lance’s face scrunched up. “You’re not one of those people who eats things they hate just to be polite, right?” Keith rolled his eyes, laughing a little at the horrified look on Lance’s face.

“Of course I’m not like that,” Keith replied, “If I hate something, you’re gonna damn well know how much I hate it. Pidge can testify.” Keith suddenly called to the front of the car, “Pidge! Remember Thanksgiving last year?”

“Oh yeah, my gross great-aunt Sheryl kept trying to get you to eat the green beans.” Pidge turned to clarify. “Keith kept telling her he hated green beans, but she wasn’t listening and wouldn’t let him leave and she kept trying to put a spoonful onto his plate. Keith ended up yelling at her. Oh god I can still hear it now: ‘I do NOT want any of your slimy white-people food Sheryl. I’ve eaten ass that tastes better than your cooking.’ Man, Sheryl shut the fuck up after that. It was amazing.”

“You did not.” Lance nudged Keith’s shoulder in amazed disbelief. “No wait, I can totally see it. Holy shit, Keith, you’re my hero.” Lance was laughing, and his eyes crinkled at the corners, and his two front teeth were just a little crooked, and the slushie had dyed his tongue blue, and he was…beautiful. Keith couldn’t help but grin back at him, a little dazedly.

Soon, Lance finished his slushie, and was free to go back to singing along with his happy playlist. Every once in a while, Pidge would pipe in when they recognized something, and the two had a lovely duet to the PokeRap together. They took turns rapping each of the verses while the other beatboxed. Neither of them could beatbox.

Eventually, though, they pulled up to the chainlink fence encircling the Estate. High on the hill, the dilapidated mansion loomed above them, looking like every cliche from every old Scooby Doo cartoon. As they approached the fence, Keith saw Lance tense up. Hunk and Pidge were working on getting the equipment out of the car, so Keith turned to Lance, concerned.

“Are you okay?” Lance looked startled at the question, eyes tearing away from the Estate to focus on Keith.

“…Yeah, um…” Lance did not look okay at all. “I’m totally fine. I’ll be fine.” Lance sounded like he was trying to convince himself as he rubbed his own arms, as if he were cold. Keith, unused to comforting but wanting to help, put a hand on Lance’s bicep. Lance’s focus was again pulled away from the Estate and was entirely on Keith. He looked a little surprised, but not displeased, and was about to say something when suddenly a loud crash startled them both.

Lance clung to Keith’s arm, eyes darting fearfully around him. He was slouched down and pressed so close Keith could feel the rapid beating of his heart. Overcome with the urge to protect, Keith had to resist the way his arm wanted to wrap around Lance’s waist and tug him closer.

“Sorry about that, guys!” Hunk said, drawing their attention to the heavy-looking piece of machinery in front of him. Though the danger was apparently gone, Lance still hadn’t let go of Keith. Not that Keith was particularly complaining.

Pidge caught sight of them, however, and gave Keith the most devious look. Keith groaned internally, knowing already he would be forced to sit through an endless barrage of teasing when they got home.

“Okay, how do we get in?” Hunk had piled up the equipment onto a metal trolley Keith had stolen from the highschool when he was in the 7th grade.

“There’s an area of fence that isn’t in the ground properly, so we can lift it to get inside,” Keith said, casually, “I marked it off with some rope, but after this we shouldn’t need to come back, so I’m probably just going to take my rope back with me.”

“How did you find that part of the fence?” Hunk asked.

“We scoped out the place a while ago.” Pidge grinned. “Allura said not to go inside but she said nothing about just circling the perimeter. We gotta be thorough.”

The group followed Keith as he walked around the edge of the fence, looking for the knot of rope.

“Oh, there it is. Farther than I remember.” The rope was eye-level, so Keith just reached into his waistband to pull out his knife and slice it off.

“Woah! Dude! Why do you just have a knife on you?” Lance’s grip on Keith’s arm had tightened, and he jumped back a little bit–without letting go of course.

“Um…I always carry this on me?”

“Just…in your pants? You just carry a knife…in your pants…at all times?” Lance was speaking slowly.

“…yes?”

“I was going to make a bad joke right now but the mojo around this place is really getting to me. Can we just get on with it?” Lance sighed tiredly. He leaned against Keith’s shoulder, his hair tickling Keith’s cheek. Keith stiffened but didn’t move. Hunk caught his eye and mouthed ‘sorry’ at him. Apparently Lance’s touchiness got worse when he was scared…?

Hunk, being the tallest, lifted the fence so they could all walk through. From inside the gate, the Estate actually didn’t look as far away. As they made their way up the hill, they went over the gameplan.

“Okay, so I’ll start recording when we get to the porch. We walk into the house and hang around the first big room recording data with the equipment until we get something, or until we don’t get something, then we move to the next room,” Pidge explained, “Whatever we do, though, we always stick with the group. No walking around on your own. I mean, this place is old as balls and is probably rotting as we speak so it’s just safer.”

With every step they tool approaching the Estate, Lance just seemed to inch himself closer and closer to Keith. Eventually Lance had stepped on the back of Keith’s shoes one time too many and Keith had to stop, which caused Lance to walk right into his back.

Keith looked back at Lance, prepared to be annoyed, but all he saw were Lance’s big blue eyes wide with terror.

“Hey, we’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay in there. You got this.” Keith’s voice was a little too quiet and stiff, but he hoped he was able to get his sincerity across. Keith pried Lance’s hands off of his arm and instead moved to clasp Lance’s hand with his own. Having Lance walking beside him was much better.

The group stood on the front porch, Lance had intertwined his fingers with Keith’s and was biting his lip as he stared at the door. Pidge took out their camera and put a hand on the doorknob.

The door creaked shrilly as it struggled open, the rusty hinges practically screaming at the strain. Pidge’s flashlight caught on the dust in the air and the gaping, moldy holes in the floorboards. They carefully tested every step before moving forward, as if they were looking for traps in an Indiana Jones movie. Everyone followed immediately behind them, not wanting to accidentally step on a weak area of the floor. Eventually, they had all piled into the front room, with a big spiral staircase to the right and doorways to the front and left.

Pidge and Hunk set up the equipment on the trolley. Lance trembled next to Keith. A long, dry scratching noise sounded from somewhere on the floor above them, like fingernails being dragged over wood. Lance whimpered.

“Guys…I really, really don’t like this.” Lance mumbled.

“That was probably just some animal or something. Hunk and I haven’t finished setting up all the way but we don’t have any super strong readings yet, at least not from this room.” Pidge turned to Hunk. “Do you think we should move on?”

The group looked around the room at their options. They had decided beforehand going upstairs was too dangerous, and the doorway to the left was blocked off by fallen ceiling beams. The only way to go was forward.

“Keith and Lance, you guys go first to scope out the area and make sure it’s safe. Pidge and I need to make sure the equipment will be okay. Can you handle that, buddy?” Hunk said the last part to Lance, mostly. Lance nodded shakily, nails digging painfully, unintentionally, into Keith’s hand.

They slowly progressed down what was revealed to be a narrow hallway. The only light was from Keith and Pidge’s flashlights, and the murky sunlight that filtered through the holes in the ceiling at random intervals. The scratching noise started up again, this time more aggressive–starting and stopping like something was repeatedly dragging its claws over the same spot. From behind them, glass broke.

Lance grit his teeth, jaw clenching painfully. What felt like an actual, physical force shoved into Keith’s back, a chill washing over the room. Keith stumbled into Lance.

“Woah! What the fuck!” Pidge cried, “Guys! We just got a massive spike in activity!”

Lance’s unoccupied hand reached up to press against his head, his eyes clenched tightly. The scratching grew louder, closer. More glass broke from somewhere. The chill had brought wind. From behind them, the sound of footsteps over rubble. Lance groaned.

“Lance? Are you okay?” Hunk asked from behind them.

Then, Lance fell to his knees, his pained groans growing louder as he pressed both hands to his temples. Hunk tried to rush forward. The scratching stopped only to be replaced with the sounds of doors slamming shut, and the clatter of wooden boards being met with blunt force. The footsteps on rubble grew closer.

“No…no, no!” Lance mumbled, voice hoarse, “Stay out! Stay out! Get away from me!” His hands gripped at his hair. The light shone a murky gray over him, the dust spiraling around his body. All of the light disappeared for half a second–the flashlights, the equipment, the sun–

Everything came back, brighter, and less than five feet in front of them stood a massive, ancient looking floor-length mirror that hadn’t been there before.

Several things happened at once.

Lance screamed. The mirror shattered. Keith felt claws gripping his arm as he tried to lunge for Lance. The floorboards below them gave out. Darkness.

Keith felt a searing pain in his side, and a throbbing in his head. He belatedly realized he still had his flashlight in his hand and slammed it against his hand until it worked again. He stood slowly, legs shaking, and coughed when he inhaled dust.

“Lance?” He asked, voice wavering. Then, more sure: “Lance!”

Keith heard a responding groan and raced to it as fast as his injuries would allow. He dropped the flashlight and kneeled by Lance, who was curled into the fetal position, whining in pain, though he didn’t have any visible wounds. Unlike Keith, who could feel the blood warm and sticky at his side, plastering his shirt to his skin.

“Lance?” Keith asked gently, turning Lance over to look at his face. Lance was dazed, eyes glassy and unfocused. “Lance!”

Then, the room started to quake violently. Keith wildly waved his phone around him, trying to gague the room while shielding his eyes from falling debris. Around him, pantries and shelves were rattling and shaking, their old glass bottles like a sick imitation of windchimes, before falling and smashing on the floor. The wooden planks on the walls thumped against each other, splintering at every crash. Keith curled over Lance, who was still unresponsive.

Then, a voice.

A raspy voice, like a sharp stone scraping against a metal plate, ear-bleedingly shrill and gritty. The voice spoke in a language Keith couldn’t understand, yet it still made his blood run cold. He swaddled Lance into his arms protectively, cradling him, a hand going to clutch at his knife.

A figure, foggy at the edges like an old watercolor painting, appeared in front of him, glowing with a pulsing light, flickering in and out of existence. The only things Keith could make out were thin strands of stringy, messy hair and long fingernails caked with blood and dirt. The figure had no mouth. Its eyes were blank. And yet it spoke, inching closer, a twitching arm reaching towards Lance’s limp body. Keith bared his teeth, knife raised threateningly.

Lance twitched. The figure’s hand came dangerously close to brushing a claw against Lance’s face, and Keith saw red, slashing viciously at the arm. The creature gave an indecipherable sound of agony, loud and harsh and grating. Then it surged backwards as if being forcefully dragged away, a heavy wind followed their movements, throwing broken glass and rubble into Keith’s back. He hunched over Lance, who had started to shift.

When the wind died down, Keith felt Lance shiver. Then, he convulsed violently, gasping desperately like he was struggling for air. A hand gripped Keith’s arm, the other going to claw at his neck.

“Oh shit, shit shit!” Keith hissed to himself. He stuck his knife between his teeth so he could use his free hand to pull Lance’s nails away from his own throat. Keith immobilized Lance’s hand by grabbing it with his own, a facsimile of how their fingers had been intertwined before. Lance’s body spasmed a few more times before going still again, his breathing evening out.

Keith stared into Lance’s eyes and felt a wave of relief wash over him when they refocused.

“….Keith?” Lance’s voice was a whisper. “Why do you have your knife in your mouth? ….And why is it glowing?”

Keith blinked. Lance sat up slowly and Keith used the hand not holding Lance’s to take the blade out from his teeth. He turned it in his hand, quizzically. The familiar runes were glowing a neon purple–which provided them with light, thankfully, since Keith had no damn idea where the flashlight went.

“Do you remember what happened?” Keith asked. Lance rubbed his forehead with his palm, looking pained.

“I….uh…there was this presence, and it kept slamming into my head, trying to get in…it was so dark, Keith, like, usually with ghosts I feel some of what they feel but this one was nothing… it was just…empty.” Lance swallowed. “Then there was a mirror and it showed me everything. Everything that had ever happened in this house, all of the people who died here, what happened to them. The images just kept coming and coming over and over and I could hear them. Eventually the screaming stopped and it was crying but worse than that was the silence. Because when there was silence there was nothing to hide the rest of the sounds of the machines and the hacking and the sizzling–oh god, Keith.”

Lance threw himself into Keith’s arms, burying his face in Keith’s shoulder, his arms flung over Keith’s neck. Keith couldn’t imagine what Lance had been through. Lance took a few, shuddering breaths before he pulled away.

“We…should really get out of here,” Lance mumbled, not looking at Keith.

“Yeah, we need to get Hunk and Pidge and never come back to this shithole.” Keith stood, wincing at the pain in his side. Now that Lance was okay, the wound had made itself known again, tenfold.

“Shit, Keith, are you okay?” Lance tried to look at Keith’s side, but Keith gritted his teeth and shook his head. “I’ll be fine. We just need to figure out where the hell we are and how to get back before that fucking thing shows up again.”

“…What thing?”

“The fucking ghost thing, whatever the fuck it was. It tried to touch you when you were, uh, out of it. But then it left.”

“Jesus Christ.” Lance’s voice was strained. “Long nails? Ugly long hair with garbage split ends?”

“…yes?”

“Fuck. Yeah, okay, we really gotta leave.”

The two had guessed they were somewhere in the kitchen storage, and that the servant’s quarters should be nearby. From there they could find a staircase and get the fuck out. Lance mentioned Hunk and Pidge, and when Keith suggested checking their phones, Lance dejectedly told him that the ghost probably drained all their batteries.

“Tell me, doc, is it bad?” Lance said dramatically, eyes shut as he held out his phone to Keith.

“Shut up,” Keith said in lieu of admitting Lance was totally right.

The floors were littered with old junk they had to step around–bottles and furniture and broken things Keith didn’t want to compare to bones. Lance clung to him, whispering prayers under his breath. Every once in awhile Lance would cringe and tuck his face into Keith’s arm, whining quietly as they stood stock still. In those moments activity would pick up again, and Keith’s body would stiffen at every scrape, drag, and crash he heard around them. They always moved a little faster when they heard any sound come from behind them, though.

Eventually they stumbled into the servant’s quarters, which was marked with an old, faded sign on the wall.

“Yanno, this place kinda reminds me of a Skyrim dungeon, yanno? All the old wooden furniture and weird glitches from the fucking ghosts really bring that atmosphere together.” Lance muttered. While Keith didn’t see anything, Lance would swear up and down he could catch glimpses of blood splattering on the walls, old chains swinging from the ceiling, giant cockroaches skittering across the floor, doors and chairs blinking in and out of existence. He said it had something to do with the bad energy of the house messing with him–whatever was haunting the place had some real twisted visions.

Lance held Keith’s hand as they crossed the small room. Keith was seconds away from testing the first of the weak looking steps when Lance suddenly stiffened. Color drained from his face as he stared directly at Keith, whispering one word:

“Run.”

They had started barreling up the staircase, hand in hand, when the room behind them exploded. Metal cutlery and splintered wood bursting forwards, the ancient bedframes jumping from their places to shoot through the ceiling. They heard a high-pitched scream from somewhere in the house. The raspy voice came back with an animalistic screech.

Keith could see fucking light at the top of the staircase when suddenly his hand was jerked down.

“Fuck!” Lance yelled. He yanked his foot from where it had broken a hole in through the stair, but it woudln’t budge. The disaster of the servant’s quarters was drawing nearer, the cold presence of the ghost nipping at Keith’s ankles. Keith let go of Lance’s hand–noting with desperate heartbreak the sad, resigned look on Lance’s face at the action–and moved to grip Lance at the waist with both arms, wrenching him out of the floor and throwing his body over his shoulder to race up the rest of the way. The stairs they had passed started to shatter behind them, one by one, and clawmarks slowly appeared on the walls, rising along behind them, gaining more and more speed until Keith was bounding two steps at a time to avoid getting caught on the splinters. By the time they reached the top step, Keith hurled Lance into the next room and turned to slam the door behind him, his knife still clutched in hand.

Keith’s chest heaved, the pain burning sharply. He knew the wound at his side had most likely torn even deeper. Keith’s eyes caught on the soft glow of his knife as it pulsated under his palm, slow and steady. From behind him, Keith heard a pained groan.

“Oh, shit– Lance.” Keith turned to see Lance sprawled on the floor, legs thrown up against the side of a counter at the far end of the small room.

“Wow, thanks Keith. If I wasn’t injured before I sure as fuck am now. Jesus.” Lance crossed his arms, looking entirely un-pleased at the turn of events. He looked pretty silly like that, pouting and upside down. Keith laughed breathlessly, partially from the image, and partially from the sheer overwhelming emotional overload he was experiencing. Lance grinned back, laughing just as breathlessly as he laid there on the floor.

“So…” Lance started after their laughter had pittered out.

“Yeah…” Keith responded.

“Where are we now?”

“Uh, the servant’s kitchens, I think. Around here there should be a back door, but there’s gonna also be a few hallways and sitting rooms or something.”

“Okay…let’s get walking I guess,” Lance said. He reached his arms out in a grabby motion. “Help me up? The blood is rushing to my head.”

Other than some bruises, Lance was fine. Keith was praying they could finally leave without anymore fanfare. They were making their way down the only unblocked hallway, heart rates finally slowing back to some kind of normalcy, when they heard the awful, horrible, dragging of claws behind them.

“Oh come the FUCK on!” Lance cried. He and Keith started running again. “We JUST got away from this bitch!”

The hallway seemed to grow infinitely longer, the end twisting and morphing like a bad optical illusion. Keith felt bile rise in his throat. Lance groaned and clambered for Keith’s hand, trying to keep steady.

A mirror appeared in front of them and Lance screamed. This time, Keith could catch a glimpse of what was reflected. He saw a familiar set of eyes staring back at him solemnly before Lance had pulled him into a room. Another mirror appeared in the doorway before being immediately shattered, forcing Keith and Lance to step back further into the room.

The figure appeared in front of them again. Keith tugged Lance behind him. The figure once again reached its clawed arm towards Lance, and Keith growled deep in his throat. He sharply raised his knife, its light suddenly intensifying. The creature hissed, rearing back. Keith slashed towards it blindly, emboldened but not thinking properly. The creature screamed and vanished again. Keith looked down at his knife.

“I think…I think it’s afraid of my knife…” Keith mumbled, “Why the fuck is a ghost afraid of my knife?”

“I….I don’t know Keith…” Lance panted in between breaths, “Maybe…maybe I’ll fucking ask her when she’s not trying to kill us.”

“Her?”

Lance stiffened, looking uncomfortable.

“When that mirror appeared again…I saw her. She was just as pretty in life as she is now, Keith. Something evil seeped into this house a long time ago, and she became its keeper.”

Then there was silence.

“Let’s just go, Keith, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

They started walking again. The hallway had returned back to normal.

At the end of the hall, there was a massive set of double doors. There were halls to the left and right, but they were blocked by rubble and holes in the floor. Once again, the only way to go was forward. Lance swallowed thickly.

“There is something really off about this damn room,” he muttered. Keith nodded, somehow able to feel what Lance was saying.

The doors opened much too easily–smooth and quiet, as if maintained. They were in perfect condition. The room they contained was packed floor to ceiling with books, desks and corkboards and flyaway papers everywhere. The room smelled heavily of ink and chemicals.

“It’s…the study.” Keith furrowed his brow. The ceiling was glass, so the whole room was illuminated with bright daylight. Unlike the other rooms, this one was void of dust, and stood perfectly still and golden, as if frozen in time. They walked forward cautiously.

Pristinely on the back wall, high above their heads, the centerpiece of the room: an enormous, oil painted family portrait.

“It’s…the Zarkons, right?” Lance had whispered.

There had been no evidence left of the family’s existence aside from their name, and the cryptic blueprints that had been scrounged up from old records. The portrait showed a mother, father, and young child–though the faces of the father and child had been burnt away, and the mother’s eyes had been savagely scratched out.

The massive wooden doors slammed shut behind them. The ghostly figure that had been stalking them stood once again before them. Mirrors appeared around her, encircling the room. Reflected in them was the painted mother, with her serene smile and clawed x’s over her eyes.

Keith held his dagger securely. In knowing it would protect them, somehow, he felt stronger. Fleetingly, a thought crossed his mind and he quietly gave thanks to Red, who he kept thinking about ever since Lance mentioned her. He apologized for being shit at taking care of himself when she was trying so hard. Despite that, though, he knew he was at least going to go down fighting, and he was going to go down fighting tooth and nail to protect Lance.

The figure started approaching them once more, the mirrors closing in along with her creaking movements.

“Fuck! If we’re gonna die here, I gotta say something–” Lance cried. Keith wanted to tell him they would get out alive, but Lance interrupted before he could– “I love my family so much, and I miss them a lot; I wish I’d told Hunk how much I appreciate him; I should’ve reminded Pidge how fucking brilliant they are, and fuck, Keith, I should’ve told you I liked you sooner.” Then Lance did something unthinkable. He darted forward and pressed his lips to Keith’s cheek, firmly but for just a second, then hid his face into Keith’s neck again.

Keith barely had the time to process Lance’s words when a rush enveloped him–a thrumming wave, as if he were caught underwater in a storm. It pounds in his head and he could feel it down to his teeth but it was somehow empowering. Somehow familiar. And the creature drew forward quicker and Keith’s knife grew so bright it overpowered the sunlight in the room so there was nothing but a bright, bright white and Keith lunged forward towards the creature. He shoved his arm forward, stabbing his knife and pushing it deeper into something he couldn’t fathom, he distantly heard screaming but it was muted and drowned by the thrumming in his head and he felt powerful in every bone in his body, his hands gripping the handle of his blade. He felt another set of hands over his own and with that he was able to finally force his way through.

The light faded. It took awhile for Keith’s eyes to adjust, but when they did, he was faced with the unnervingly empty study, the mirrors and the figure gone. Exhausted, Keith collapsed to his knees, looking up at the skylight with glazed eyes.

“Holy shit…” Lance whispered, awe and disbelief in his voice. He kneeled by Keith, grabbing the other’s face to look him dead in the eye, an exhilarated expression on his face. “Keith…I don’t know how the fuck you did it but– you did it. She’s…I’m…she’s gone!”

Then Lance, still gripping Keith’s face, pulled that face forward to firmly press his lips to Keith’s.

“That was so fucking awesome, Keith.” Lance was breathless when he pulled back, the adrenaline mixing with their relief in an intoxicating combination that made people do stupid, wonderful things like kiss their amazing, wonderful, stupid friends.

Keith’s brain still hadn’t caught up to the events that had occured when Lance gasped and suddenly turned.

Keith’s eyes focused on another figure, this one more complete and solid looking than the last, with a face Keith had only ever seen in old photographs in the backs of closets. The new figure looked down on them without a smile, but the look in her familiar eyes was soft.

“…Mom?” Keith’s voice was so, so small. She slowly lowered to the floor, appearing weightless still. She slowly picked up the knife from where it had clattered to the floor. Keith timidly reached a hand to meet hers as she handed him the knife. She smiled softly at him, before blinking out of his sight.

Before either Keith or Lance could say anything, the wooden doors burst open again, but instead of a ghost, it was Shiro, in full uniform.

“Keith! Are you okay?” Shiro approached them, and Lance looked extremely confused and shocked.

“Woah okay, did I get knocked out in that weird blast because I can’t be having that hot firefighter dream again what the fuck,” Lance mumbled only half-coherently.

“Ew, Lance what the fuck that’s my brother.”

“Oh…oops….sorry Keith,” Lance said distractedly, watching as Shiro lifted away some heavy debris from the door.

Eventually they were out of the house, escorted safely by Shiro, who Lance could not keep his eyes off of.

The moment they stepped out onto the grass they both had an armful of Pidge barreling towards them.

“Y’all are idiots, holy shit,” Pidge had yelled at them, pounding their tiny fists into their chests angrily.

“Ow, Pidge, injured here.” Keith had muttered, still a little bitter about the way Lance’s face was bright red when Shiro went to check for injuries on him. When Keith spoke, Shiro’s head snapped up and he immediately went to his brother.

“How bad is it?” Shiro said, motioning for Hunk to come over with a first aid kit in hand.

“Uh…” Keith tried to lift his shirt and winced. Shiro’s brow furrowed.

“Holy shit, Keith.” Lance’s eyes were back on him, extremely concerned. Keith was a little smug about having Lance’s attention again, for some damn reason. Why was he–

“Oh.“ Keith’s lips slowly slunk into a devilish grin. He couldn’t mention it in that exact moment–not with everyone around–but he’d be damned if he wouldn’t say anything the second he got the chance.

The hospital was a blur, but Keith was able to zone out while his side got patched up, and was finally able to process what had happened. Sort of. He was at least able to think about it a little bit, but in the end, he boxed away thoughts of his mother for another, more mentally stable day, choosing to instead remember how Lance smelled like fresh flowers when he was near, and how soft his hands were when they held his face.

Keith shouldn’t have been allowed out of the hospital so quickly, but they made it happen somehow, probably because of Shiro. They’d all decided to go out for a celebratory picnic at the park, because apparently Hunk cooked a lot when he was stressed, and was making sandwiches nonstop for the few hours Keith was in the hospital.

Lance had already told the others what had happened on their end–with a lot of embellishment, and suspiciously leaving out the confession and the appearance of Keith’s mother. In turn, Pidge told them what happened to themselves and Hunk: they’d been chased around by the ghost, and it smashed all their equipment, but they were able to get out through a boarded up door that Hunk apparently “shredded with his bare hands”, though they panicked when they realized Keith and Lance weren’t with them and immediately called Shiro.

Eventually, Keith noticed that Lance had wandered off away from the group. Keith searched for him, also sneaking away to follow where the other was. Sitting in the bed of Keith’s truck with a blanket from the backseat, Lance was staring at the slowly pinkening sky with a far-away look on his face.

“Party too boring for you?” Keith said casually, laughing a little as Lance jumped.

“Oh, hey Keith,” Lance replied, smiling. “How’s your side?”

“It’ll be fine.” Keith bit his lip, risking a chance by moving to sit next to Lance. His legs dangled off the side, and Lance’s were curled up under him criss-cross. “So…today has been fucking insane.”

“Oh Christ. Understatement of the damn year. Worst haunting of my life, I never want to step foot anywhere near another house that’s more than fifty years old ever again.”

“I keep thinking about everything that had happened…I know it’s all over but…” Keith sighed, noting how Lance looked at him a little worried, “…I feel like there’s something we haven’t finished…”

Keith shifted to face Lance more fully, one of his legs lifting to rest on the other side of Lance’s body in the truck. Keith leaned in slowly, a crooked grin on his face. He felt Lance’s breath on his face, and the stumble in its rhythm when Keith moved closer. Looking into Lance’s pretty blue eyes he saw them focusing on Keith’s mouth before flicking up to meet his eyes.

“It might be the painkillers messing with me, but I distinctly remember it went a little something like this…” Keith gently took Lance’s hands and placed them on his own face. Lance’s tongue darted to wet his lower lip before he made a quiet, frustrated noise and pulled Keith’s face to his own–just like he did before, only this time, Keith met him with equal fervor, arms coming to rest on Lance’s waist and tugged him closer, Lance lifting onto his knees to slot in between Keith’s thighs. Their kiss was warm and slow. When they pulled back, Lance’s face had a dazed looking grin, and Keith felt bubbly and gooey in his chest, knowing he had the same goofy smile.

“So…wanna go out for some coffee or something?” Lance asked impishly.

“I just saved your skinny ass from an evil ghost, the least you could do is take me out,” Keith replied, just as playful.

“Dork.” Lance leaned his head onto Keith’s chest, relaxing like a lazy cat while Keith’s arms came to circle around him. Keith reached over to drape the blanket over both of them, and Lance sighed contently as he snuggled up closer. They whispered stupid jokes to each other as they watched the sunset.

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