#Marcy: 'she don't bite'

[hunnylagoon]

The Killing Moon

PT1: Camp Spirit

Ellie Williams x Reader

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.

Premise: You are a camp counsellor who comes back year after year to be at peace in the one place you love the most. Though there is something different in the air, could it be love or maybe an ancient evil you’ve mistakenly awakened?

Warnings: slight mentions of violence / mentions of monsters and cryptids / raunchy humour / spooky?

The Killing Moon Playlist

PART TWO: The Colour Wars

Week One of Summer Camp

Camp Honey Hills is what you could call 'off the radar'. It sat way up past the hills and forests of Oregon, relatively untouched by the urban nightmare of the city. It stayed peaceful and undisturbed as leaves shed from trees and snow covered every inch of ground, but the camp was alive for one season of the year. Even in the quietness of preparing for the campers to arrive you could still hear counsellors laughing with one another and that's how you could tell the camp was waking up from its ten-month slumber.

"Anyone in the White Tail Deer Cabin, over here!" I held my hand up and waved to the kids piling out of the buses, carrying duffle bags bigger than themselves. The first day of camp was always the most stressful, the only thing to get you through was the idea that it would be over soon and we could get to the fun part of summer.

I already had a handful of girls crowding around me, all of them were either ten or eleven; depending on how you look at it, I either got blessed or cursed that I was assigned to a cabin of older girls. While the younger ones were wild and untamable, the older ones tended to be snarky and standoffish, these girls we’re leaning toward wild.

"Hi," I look up from my clipboard to see a scrawny girl, she has long black hair in two French braids, a summer camp staple. "My thing says that Ellie is my counsellor and I don't know who that is."

"All good," I bend down to her height, "It's that pretty girl over there," I point at Ellie, she's talking to one of the girls in her cabin, and her dark eyebrows are furrowed at what I can only assume to be an absurd question. "You're in the Grizzly Cabin, looks like I'll be seeing a lot of you."

The girl doesn't answer me with words, from the way she's looking at me you'd think I just told her that I sat on her hamster. She gives me one last side glance before she struts off and lugs her duffle bag behind her. "That weird girl said I was in your cabin," I hear ever so faintly in the distance, Ellie bites back a laugh.

I shake off the not-so-subtle cruelty of a pre-teen and go back to yelling for all of the girls in my cabin. So far I had seven of the eight campers I was supposed to have, I was in the lead and if I collected all of the girls in my cabin first, that would be more points towards the camp cup. You should know that I take the camp cup very seriously, it really isn't anything more than a trophy that Tommy and Joel give to a cabin but I haven't lost it in the past five years that I've worked here. 

"Is your name Tamar?" I point at a stubby ginger girl, "You look like your name is Tamar," I was on the hunt for the eighth girl in my cabin so I could win the arrival day points. 

"Uh, no," She said, looking as muddled as scrambled eggs "My name is Marcy."

"Then get out of here, Marcy," I look past her and nod at a girl with skin the colour of ebony wood "Are you Tamar?" This girl looks around to double-check that I'm talking to her before she shakes her head no.

"Who's my counsellor then?" Marcy who stands at a maximum of what looks to be a mighty 4'3 is peering into my soul with her icy blue eyes and I almost shudder, all I could think is that someone needed to get this four-foot-nothing girl some contact lenses.

"Your counsellor and cabin should be on the slip of paper that administration gave you."

"I lost my paper."

"Um," I glance around at the other counsellors, collecting their campers. My eyes settle on Abby, she's wearing a Camp Honey Hills T-shirt. She looks like she's got everything more put together and organized than any other counsellor so I decided to dump this kid on her. "It's that blonde girl with the big muscles, you better hurry because she'll crush you if you aren't there in time."

Marcy looks at Abby and then back to me with wide eyes at my words before she scurries away. As I watch her roll up to Abby's group, I quickly realize that there is no way she is in that cabin. Abby got the oldest group, consisting of fourteen and fifteen-year-olds and I was sure that Marcy, with all of her missing teeth, was no older than nine. I avert my eyes to avoid any wrath.

I spot Jesse who is trying to wrangle up his boys who are already rough housing and throwing each other in the dirt. Somehow he always ends up with the returning campers or the savage ones who would surely put my head on a stick before taking a shower. 

"Is this the White Tail Deer Cabin?" A girl with pale skin and brown hair stares me down, she's tall for her age and lanky.

"Are you Tamar?"

"Yeah," She says it like she's annoyed.

"Perfect," I smile, turning to my group "Alright girls, that's everyone," I turn to look in Tommy's direction "I said that's everyone," I enunciate louder to be sure he can hear me, each of my campers gives one another a snide glance. 

Tommy presses his lips together in a thin line and answers me with a thumbs-up. He already knew I would be the first to get my group together, I always was. He and Joel are the camp directors, they were talking about something before I called their attention.

Marcy points at me and Abby looks in my direction, her eyebrows knit together. Great, now I was being snitched on my nine-year-old. Abby calls out my name but I'm already ushering my girls towards the cabins "Who wants to see the cabin?"

In just moments, I'm long gone and walking the trail to the girl's cabins. Breathing one last moment of peace, the earthy bitterness in the air, droplets of last night's rain slipping off leaves. It made me want to savour every moment in the forest I had before summer ended and I had to go back to stuffy dorms and lectures along with people as boring as the city itself. I've never been able to fathom why anyone would dream of the city, of the drug users and creepy men roaming the streets. Concrete everything and headaches from blue light, every day that I was away at college I dreamed of coming back here, I counted down the days I could turn my phone off and disappear from the world for a while.

The boys may have had a shorter walk to their bunkhouse but the girls definitely got the better view. It also didn't hurt that the circle of cabins was right beside the pasture so we woke up to watch horse grazing, unless you don't like horses, then you can just ignore them I guess.

"Okay, ladies," I open the door to our cabin, a little carving of a doe above the doorframe. "This is our cabin, go ahead and claim your bunks, I don't care who goes where, just don't fight about it and no one set up on my bed."

"How do we know which one is yours?" One of the girls, Leslie, asks. 

"Because it's the only one that's set up," I say, bluntly and I see the realization hit her like it was a math equation that finally clicked in her head "You guys can unpack and I'll go over the cabin constitution in a minute."

As my campers piled into the cabin, ravenously fighting over who got which bed, I saw Ellie walking up with her girls. Our cabins were right next to each other, we shared a little porch that Maria decorates with plants while Ellie and I neglect them until they're wilted and we try to save them so we don't get yelled at. Alternatively, dump the responsibility of nurturing plants on one of your campers, kids love to water stuff and feel important.

Ellie's campers begin to walk up the porch and into the cabin, one of her girls runs up to me "I wanna be in your cabin again," Lana pouts, I had her last year and I can't say that I have a least favourite camper but if I could, it would definitely be Lana. "Ellen is so mean."

"Well, maybe she would be nicer if you said her name right." I look up to see Ellie who mouths a 'Thank you'  "Call her Ellie and maybe you two can be nice to each other."

Lana looks between the two of us before wordlessly walking into the cabin in trail of the other girls. "It's shaping up to be an interesting summer."

"We've survived worse," I cross my arms "Do you remember Tucker? That kid Jesse had who managed to tie a piece of dental floss around a wasp and carry it around with him all day like a balloon."

"He was a little weird but he was chill," Ellie jokes, like every other counsellor, she's wearing the Honey Hills T-Shirt and Demin shorts, her auburn hair pulled back into a half up half down style "How about that girl in Dina's cabin who wrote Reid letters pretending to be Priya?"

I laugh "I can't believe it went on so long."

"I can, Reid's a fucking idiot." She says "He pronounces chutney like chut-uh-ney."

"Oh my god, I hate that so much," I was obviously dragging on this conversation, hunting for reasons to talk to her "And the way he says Ibiza and Cuba and like everything." 

"Do you remember when he joined the women supporting women club in high school?"

"Please don't remind me, that was awful," I chuckle "The worst part is that he ran that shit like the navy."

"Are you coming inside?" Chloe pokes her head out the door.

"I guess so," I answer "Uh, I'll see you at the campfire," I tell Ellie before stepping into my cabin and seeing pure chaos. The four bunkbeds that were pristinely set up just hours ago were now clad in each girl's personal bedding, ranging from Chloe's neat colour scheme of light blue and white to Kim's mismatched quilts, fuzzy pillows, and bright orange sleeping bag. They were still working on getting everything set up, specifically getting the fitted sheets onto the twin-sized waterproof mattress. Some of the girls were even beginning to tape up photos of their friends and family from back home. "Wow, looks great girls."

"Can we go to dinner yet?" Leslie asked, her twin braids hanging over her pink hoodie.

"No, it is three o'clock but we will go over the cabin constitution."  A couple of the girls let out groans of disapproval "First you always listen to me, do as I say not as I do. Respect others and their belongings, please don't hurt anyone or yourself. Maintain personal hygiene and do not go anywhere without telling someone where. Also, we have shower schedules, showers are absolutely mandatory, and no one will talk their way out of it. On Friday's we have tuck shop, and everyone gets a twenty dollar allowance for that, no you do not actually touch the money it's part of the camp package, I take your orders and come back with candy. We have campfires every night, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are mandatory to attend even if you don't eat which I strongly encourage you do."

"Do we have to go if we're sick?" Tamar asked me.

"No."

"But you just said it was mandatory."

"It's mandatory if you aren't sick."

"But you said-

"Stop," I clasp my hands together "I know I'm older than you guys but I promise you can tell me and ask me anything." I smile, looking around "Any other questions?"

"Can we swear?" Valentina asks, she's kicking her feet off her bed on the top bunk. Her skin is the colour of copper and she has a little dusting of freckles over her button nose.

"I don't really care just don't do it around other adults and don't tell them that I told you that."

"What's the wifi?" Morgan was typing something on her phone which was by far more expensive than the model I owned. Dina had Morgan in previous years and I wasn't too thrilled to be in charge of the (as she claimed) disrespectful blonde monster sent from hell to ruin her life.

"We don't have wifi, we hardly have service," I tell her "And you aren't even supposed to have your phone here but you can't do anything on it anyways so it doesn't matter."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Leah chimes in, she's sitting on the ground with Oliver and slowly but surely braiding her friend's hair.

"Not at the moment, no."

"So are you a lesbian?" Olive follows up for her friend.

"Um," I press my lips together, my mind failing me, "I think we're good on questions, who wants a camp tour?" No one says or does anything, they just kind of look around awkwardly "That's too bad, you're getting one."

Everyone gathered around the crackling fire pit on splintered wooden benches. The warm glow of the campfire flickered in the midst of a cool summer night, casting dancing shadows on the faces of worn-out campers who were ready for bed. 

Tommy had given his speech to sike up the kids for the rest of the summer, he made sleeping in the woods sound like a lot of fun. "We're giving you tonight to settle in but I promise that starting tomorrow we are hitting the ground running, activities from morning until dark, this will be a summer to remember," He smiles brightly "I don't wanna babble too long so I'm gonna give the attention to Miles who is going to kick off our campfire by playing the guitar for us."

Miles sat directly across from me in the first row of benches so I could only see him through the orange flames of the fire. "This is an original song I wrote, so far it's untitled but I'm open to ideas," He made himself comfortable with the guitar, readjusting it to sit in his lap properly. 

"What do you wanna bet it's about?" Ellie whispers into my ear from beside me. Since the day cooled into the night, she's thrown on a gray hoodie to keep herself warm. You would be an idiot to ignore how pretty she looks illuminated by nothing more than stray stars in the sky and a campfire.

"I'll put five bucks on sex,"

"Sex?" She raises her eyebrows "I don't think he's stupid enough to sing a song about sex in front of kids, I'm gonna say it's about being a tortured artist."

"It could easily be both," I look down and see Ellie's muddied converse "We break even if he does both." The fire roared before us like our own miniature hell.

Miles clears his throat and lets his curly blonde locks fall over his forehead. Beginning to strum, he made that weird face he makes every time he plays guitar, where he scrunched his eyebrows together "Baby, maybe, I just wanna do you, do you, do you wanna do me? do me underneath the moonlight," He's too lost in his song to see the horror on every counsellor's face "Baby, baby, maybe I will steal you, steal you, just so I can feel you, feel you, maybe that would heal you."

I cover my mouth with my hand to stop me from cackling. The older kids were on the verge of laughing themselves while the younger kids seemed utterly confused. "Holy shit," I mutter so quietly that my words got blown away with the wind.

Ellie didn't try to stop her laughter, just hide it, she buried her head into the crook of my neck so no one could see how red her face was. She was far better off than Dina who was laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach and nearly falling over, Miles seemed to be oblivious to all of this. In Dina’s defence, it was difficult not to laugh at a song so wildly inappropriate and bad in general.

Miles had far from the best voice, he just sounded like every other white guy who sang Wonderwall at a girl, not to her but at her "Sticky thighs are you wild now or just a memory? I heard your broken cries and looked into your eyes under the moonlight, so do you wanna do me, do me, so I can heal you, heal you, from the inside-

He stops abruptly when Joel takes the guitar away from him "How about Sawyer tells us the camp legend instead."

Those who knew who Sawyer was looked towards him, Miles was trying helplessly to get his guitar back from Joel who was holding it just slightly out of reach. "It's been a while since I've told this so forgive me if-

"No one cares, just tell it," Ashlynn said. She was one of the counsellors who clearly didn't want to be there, which meant all of the campers thought her to be the coolest; in all fairness, she was cool. Ashlynn had bleach blonde shaggy hair, so light that it almost looked white. Her eyeliner was always a little smudged and she was only there to keep the kids alive, she tended to be the first to opt out of group activities and go to bed early.

"Okay well, it starts way back in the sixteen-hundreds, on these very grounds there was a small village," Sawyer put on his best storytelling voice which was just him lowering his voice an octave. "They lived in peace for decades, and throughout all of those decades there was a woman named Abigail who never seemed to age, while all of her friends and family developed wrinkles, their hair turned gray, and their bodies sagged, Abigail still looked nineteen even at her alleged age of sixty-seven." 

The new campers seemed enraptured but returning kids and counsellors seemed bored out of their minds, I even spotted one boy who's been attending this camp longer than I have, mouthing the words of Sawyers tale.

"They accused her of witchcraft and she was shortly exiled far up the hill into what we now call the Honey House. They left her with nothing more than a hunting knife, a canteen of water, the clothes on her back, and a small portion of seeds. The villages burned down her home in town along with everything inside it. If you think that is the end-

"Think again!" Dina cut in, getting up from her spot and squeezing herself beside Sawyer. "With Abigail gone the villagers thought they would be safe but just days after Abigail was exiled, anomalies began to appear-

Sawyer chimed back in "At first they were harmless, pixies, gnomes, jackalopes, nyiads by the rivers and dryads in the trees. The creatures appearing slowly began to appear more and more dangerous and at last, the snatchers arrived-

"Like a muscular and tall emaciated human. The most terrifying creatures to ever be seen, they roamed just outside of the village and lured children in, they slurped the flesh right off of the children's bodies like prey and wore the clothes of their last victim. They have no lips just a bloody gash and when they don't eat, the gash begins to reseal, leaving nothing on their gray faces but large and pale sunken eyes the size of my fist!" Dina clenched her hand into a fist and held it up for everyone to see.

"Their fingers are long and rotted, long curls of claws on each of their ten spindly fingers. The males are devoid of all hair and the females hardly have hair at all, just small plugs of greasy and matted strands. Their teeth are sharper than fangs and are rotten black and yellow, a foul odour escaping each time they open their disgusting gashes of a mouth. Though the snatchers were the most feared among villagers, they were also being terrorized by other creatures, such as pine devils who slithered from the forests at night and attacked families. There was ghouls who would take on the form of the last corpse they devoured and of course, the wampus which was half-man and half-cat, would stalk villagers.”

"Like a furry?" One of the boys from Jesse's cabin peeped.

"No," Sawyer exasperated "Like a scary and intimidating cat-man."

"So does it look more like the Cat in the Hat or like Cats the Musical?"

"It doesn't look like either, it's a terrifying man that is covered in fur and looks like a cat but is also a man."

"So Cats the Musical?"

Dina ignored the comment and continued with the story "After a year the village population had been cut in half and everyone thought it to be the witch, they figured that Abigail had cursed them for exiling her so they lit up their torches at sunset and marched up the hill to the Honey House. Abigail pleaded with them and explained that she hadn't cursed them but during her residency in the village she had warded off each evil spirit and creature with her witchcraft but she no longer could protect the village after they burned her home down and all her supplies inside of it."

After muttering to Jesse to get his cabin in order, Sawyer picked up when Dina left off "The villagers begged for her forgiveness and apologised for their cruel acts in the hope that Abigail would rid them of the monsters, Abigail said she would but in return they grant her return to the village, so the townfolk agree-

"With all her supplies to ward off the creatures gone, Abigail resorts to a blood ritual. She tells the townfolk that they must complete the ritual before sundown. She creates five pentagrams made of sticks and twine. Abigail races around the village to place the pentagrams and avoid the creatures while she does so, the villagers ward the monsters away from her with their torches. At each pentagram, Abigail slices her palm open and squeezes her fist to drip blood onto each one, then she ignites the pentagram with a torch and utters an incantation. She slashes her thighs and calves to get enough blood and in a last-ditch effort, she cuts her wrists open to finalize the ritual," Only the younger kids had been paying any attention to the story, they seemed downright terrified, clinging to one another but trying to play it cool.

"I fail to see how this is any less inappropriate than Miles's song," Cat mutters with one girl huddled into her, her arm slung over the little girl and rubbing her back to soothe her.

"Once she had completed the ritual, Abigail said that no creatures should return to the village. She is bleeding out in the middle of the town square but the town doctor only watches her, and refuses to help so she begs the appointed mayor to bury her beside her mother, he answers by saying 'The graveyard is sacred and we will not let it be tainted by filthy witch blood' in her final breath she plunged for the mayor and drags her bloody palms down his face, cursing him. Once she is no longer breathing her body begins to rapidly age into the appearance of the sixty-eight-year-old woman she was supposed to be. The townsfolk cut Abigail's body into five parts, two legs, two arms, and the torso with the head still attached and buried her on the border of the village."

Everyone sat in silence "Is that the end?" someone asked, though they were in the back row of benches and I couldn't see who it was.

"Yup," I answer "Abigail gets renamed as 'the girl that time forgot' in folklore and she never gets revenge on the townsfolk for betraying her after she laid down her life for them." I had never liked the legend. Young boys thought it was cool and gory and fifteen-year-old girls thought it was poetic and tragic but I hated it to death. Other camps have fun light-hearted legends about playful forest spirits or secret villages of fairies deep in the woods but we got an edgy story about a woman who just wanted to be loved.

"I wish she let the snatchers eat them all," Ellie said the same thing that she says every year, she wasn't wrong, that's how I wished it ended too. 

"Just wait until one eats you," I joke.

"Nah, I'd kick it's ass."

"I'm sure you would but right now you owe be five bucks.”

"No, we didn't pick this legend, it's true," I heard Jesse's voice cutting through the conversations of the crowd.

"Bullshit," Mordecai said, he was one of those kids who thought it was cool and edgy to be an asshole and act older than he was. He despised summer camp but every summer his parents forced him back much to our dismay.

"It's not," Bowie jumped in "The snatchers come back to visit us sometimes." 

"Yeah? I thought Abigail banished them with blood magic."

"The spell is growing weaker with time, it's slowly wearing out and there hasn't been a witch to revive it," Jesse was a good storyteller, he should've been the one to deliver the camp legend. He found a way to enrapture people with his words.

That's when I decided to call it a night for my girls, the longer you stayed at the campfire, the more outlandish stories the guys would tell and I learned my lesson last year that it is very easy to give ten-year-olds nightmares. "Whitetail deer, we're heading out," I stand up.

A few of the girls had groans and complaints while others seemed happy to leave. Ellie looked up at me from where I stood and did the same "Grizzlies, we're leaving too,"

"You're just saying that because you wanna hit it, Williams," Dean said between obviously fake coughs into his fist, causing Ashlynn to bite back a smile and Miles to playfully punch him on the arm. 

"Dean," Tommy gave him a stern look and said nothing else, Dean took the hint and ceased his laughter.

"Headcount," I say looking at the girls in front of me "Chloe, Leslie, Kim, Leah, Tamar, Morgan, Valentina, and Olive." Each of them stands in a close-huddled bundle "Alright, don't go off trail."

The walk back from the campfire was gorgeous during the day and borderline mortifying at night. Since the foliage was so thick you could hardly see the sky if you looked up and at night the little piece of clearing that was the trail was pitch black, we were guided by nothing more than mine and Ellie's flashlights.

The two of us had been trailing behind the girls in silence to keep an eye on everyone until Ellie felt the urge to speak up "Uh, by the way, that thing that Dean said about-

"I don't care."

"You don't?"

"Yeah he's a dick and his cabin looks like a wooden prison cell." 

"It does," She furrows her eyebrows in thought "It’s like he's conditioning his campers for war."

I didn't notice when I did this, it must've been a subconscious thing but I mindlessly reached for Ellie's hand to hold. I used my free hand to keep the flashlight focused on the trail and campers ahead of us. "Sawyer has to walk back to the bunkhouses across the camp with those little monsters."

"Payback for all of the pranks he's pulled with Bowie," Ellie mutters. Sawyer took pride in initiating the prank wars every single summer the same way I strove to win the camp cup. His pranks weren't also lighthearted and fun, he and Bowie organized this prank where Sawyer put a bag over Tyson's head and dragged him to the administration office in the middle of the night and then pretended to shoot Bowie dead in front of him. Tyson quit the next morning and Sawyer got a hefty write-up.

"So are you still talking to Cat?" I ask.

"Nah, that was never gonna work out."

"Because she's too hot for you?” I joke.

"What? No," She whipped her head to look at me "Why? You wanna get with her or something, you have my blessing."

"I'm good, I'm a little preoccupied at the moment."

"Who with?" Her voice dripped with accusation. Ellie's hand clenching just the slightest bit tighter on mine.

"Work? You should know that I don't date at camp, to think that I thought you knew me," I tease her.

"What about that summer with Chandler?"

"That doesn't count," My smile drops and I fight the urge to shiver at the memories. Before I was a counsellor at Honey Hills, I was a camper and I happened to have my first kiss at age thirteen with a boy named Chandler, our braces got stuck together.

"Everyone saw, so it counts," I can't quite make out Ellie's face in the dark but I can hear the smile in her voice "Remember how Joel had to pull out the pliers."

"You need to stop before I sacrifice you to the Honey Hills Snatchers," I look ahead on the trail and I could've sworn my heart stopped "Stop!" I yell and all of the girls look back at me, I drop Ellie's hand "Where is Olive?"

All of the campers look at each other for answers, and then Leah opens her mouth "She saw a rock that was shaped like a heart and when off trail to get it."

"Well I'm not seeing a heart-shaped rock or Olive but it's super safe in these woods so no need to panic." 

"No one's panicking," One of the girls in Ellie's cabin says, she was the same one who called me weird during arrival.

I run one hand down my face in exasperation, using the other to keep the flashlight trained on the girls "Everyone, stay here with Ellie, I'm going to be right back," I look at Leah "How far back did she go off trail?"

She shrugs "How am I supposed to know? I don't have a tape measure."

"Sweet," I answer before marching straight into the pitch-black woods. It was almost scarier to be in the dark with a flashlight instead of no light source, it felt like I had been in a video game or horror movie and I was about to get my throat slashed by a maniac in a mask. 

Every rustle of leaves or snap of twigs made me feel uneasy. I knew the woods were safe like I had told the girls but that didn't stop irrational fear from bringing up stories of cryptids and cuts from murder podcasts. If you ever played that shitty Slenderman game, you'd know exactly what I'm looking at; not Slenderman himself, just an eery forest.

I called out for Olive, my imagination running wild with thoughts of unseen dangers lurking in the shadows. The forest seemed to come alive around me, its inhabitants whispering secrets that only the night could hear.

"Olive?" My voice echoes into the night, I did what I could to ignore whatever fear I was feeling. I had walked through these woods a million times, I knew every pathway better than I knew the city. This forest was like home to me, it didn't feel right to be so on edge.

I couldn't help but jump when something loud snapped beneath my sneaker, instinctively I brought my flashlight down to look at it, moving my foot out of the way. It had been a pentagram made out of sticks, wow really funny, it might've scared me if Ashlynn and Bowie hadn't made dozens of them and laid them around camp last summer to scare the shit out of kids. It had broken in half beneath my weight.

There was a possibility that I was going crazy in the five minutes I was alone in the woods because I thought I heard a rustle but the beam of my flashlight revealed nothing but the dense thicket of trees and the inky blackness beyond.

Something charged behind me, wrapping its skinny arms around my torse and I couldn't help but flinch. "Olive," I turned my head and brought the flashlight to shine down on her "Don't run off in the dark ever again, you scared the shit out of me."

"I'm really sorry, I won't do it again," She said. I tried to pry her off me but she was hanging on like a Koala, eventually, I got her to settle for just holding my hand. "It was stupid."

"Don't beat yourself up too much, you're ginger and that's punishment enough," I was hastily yanking her along so we could get back on the trail and shortly back into the comfort of the cabin "Did you get your rock at least?"

"Yeah," She held her palm out, the rock was an oval with the littlest indent in the middle, but I let her act like it was shaped like a heart. 

"How'd you get so far out?"

"I grabbed the rock and then I saw a cat and I followed it."

Cat? "You must've seen Buckley, he's friendly," I tell her. Buckley was the resident dog at camp, he was probably older than me and wandered around before settling at Tommy and Maria's cabin for the night.

A moment after I dragged the little girl along we broke past the tree line and into the clearing of the trail. I looked around and spotted Ellie and the girls a good 40 yards or so behind. Clutching Olive's tiny hand in mine I walked towards them, flicking my flashlight on and off to catch their attention.

"Finally wrangled her," I let out an almost nervous laugh.

"You said not to go off trail," Tamar wrinkled her nose.

"Yes, Tamar, I know."

I don't know how late into the night it was when I was awoken by every girl in my cabin squabbling with one another. I got up and turned on the flashlight that I kept on my dingy bedside table "What's going on girls?"

"The snatcher is coming to get us!" Leslie cried, and I mean cried. Her face was red and puffy, her eyes were so glassy that they reflected any and all light, hot tears streaming down her round face.

That's when my annoyance turned to concern. Oh god, I was going to kick Sawyer and Dina's asses tomorrow morning and Joel for even suggesting the camp legend even though it made my campers too afraid to sleep year after year. "No, snatchers aren't real, they were made up in the sixteen hundreds to keep kids away from the forest."

"We heard it!" Morgan chimed in.

"Guys it's just the placebo effect, you've convinced yourself that it's real-

I froze when I heard a long scratch down the door and a wet guttural growl. It was low and deep, shaking me to my very core. Whoever was on the other side began to scratch harshly on the door, jiggling the locked door handle. When the handle didn't budge it began to slam itself on the door, each thump louder than the last. It was still groaning and grumbling in a harsh, awful voice.

The girls screamed, Olive and Leah, were hugging each other tightly, clenching their eyes shut. Valentina had a bottom bunk and slipped beneath the bed, covering her eyes with her hands. Leslie (like I had mentioned) was a blubbering mess, crying and hyperventilating too hard to get any words out. It looked like Morgan was trying to call someone on her phone and Tamar had her knees tucked to her chest, hugging herself. Both Kim and Chloe threw their blankets over top of them, pretending to disappear.

The voice sounded again except this time I realized it wasn't just a growl, it was a word "Girrrrllllls." Then it began to scratch the door all over again. When I tell you this voice was the most unsettling thing I've ever heard, I mean it. It was wet and phlegmy whilst being course and grumbly. From the very beginning, I had known it was a prank.

I marched towards the door flicking on the light in the cabin on and dropping my flashlight, before hammering my fists on the door "Fuck off!" I kicked the door, the sound stopped for just a moment before it slammed itself against the door.

Each thud against the sturdy wooden door reverberated through the night like a thunderclap. Whoever was sent to scare us was sure doing a good job. Their breathing was low and heavy almost as loud as the banging of the door itself. "Don't open the door," Leslie heaved out between sobs.

The girls huddled together in terror, their breaths hitching in fear as they strained to discern the source of the horrifying sounds "Girrllllllssss," It grumbled again "GIRRRLLSSSSCOMMOUT," I could see the door moving with the force of whoever was deeply committed to this role. The growling slowly morphed into a screech or maybe it was something more like a hiss.

I was almost at my breaking point, the first day of camp and I already had to deal with these bullshit pranks. I decided to slam my body against the door, matching whoever was on the other side "Go back to your cabin, you piece of shit!" I kept banging my fist and slamming my palms against the door until I heard them scuttle away. 

Reaching for a baseball out of Valentina's open duffle bag, I swung the door open and saw the slender figure of what I assumed to be a teenage boy running to the pasture "Tell Sawyer to eat shit!" I yelled before throwing the ball at the figure, it hit them but it didn't do much, they just stumbled for a split second before disappearing into darkness. 

"What the fuck is that noise?" Dina shouted from her cabin, I could tell I had woken her up from a nice sleep from the way her puffy eyes were squinting in my direction. A few girls poked their heads outside from the doorframe behind Dina.

"What happened?" Now Priya was walking towards my porch. Her long black hair was braided perfectly and she had her silk sleepmask pulled onto her forehead. She still looked put together in a hoodie and bunny pyjama pants.

"Can you guys shut the fuck up?" Ellie opened her door and looked me up and down.

"Be quiet!" Abby shouted from an open window in her cabin. By this point, I was sure everyone in the girl's bunk houses was wide awake and I would be getting a stern talking to by either, Tommy, Joel, or Maria, honestly, I didn't know which was worse. 

Confusion quickly grew on Ellie's face, she lowered her voice "What's going on?"

All eyes were on me for answers but I didn't have any. Despite convincing myself it was a prank, that didn't stop my hands from shaking. "It was one of the boys playing a prank, don't worry about it, he's long gone by now."

"Fucking Sawyer," Dina murmured walking back into her cabin and slamming the door behind her. 

"Are you girls okay in there?" Priya asked, looking at the mortified girls in my cabin, concern etched across her bronze face. "It was a dumb joke, you're all okay now." 

Priya had invited herself into my cabin to offer her solace to the probably traumatized little girls, while she was doing so, I pressed myself flat against the front of the cabin, between mine and Ellie's doors, trying to process how I was going to find a way to make these girls unafraid.

"They do that prank every year and it's almost crazy how it's literally never been funny," I tell Ellie while I stare straight ahead at the pasture they faded away into.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Ellie stands next to me, leaning against the wall "We'll get them back tenfold."

"Those girls are all gonna wanna call their parents and I'm so fucked," I drag my hands down my face. I didn't want to see the look on Joel's face when I tell him about this. There's gonna be sixteen parents who will spam call the camp and verbally harass me over the phone, this wasn't my first rodeo. Sure the prank was shitty but I guarantee no one is leaving this summer with newfound trauma to tell their therapist in a decade. 

"Relax, he's just gonna chew out the boys for pulling this shit again."

I looked at her for a moment, the silence hung between us like birds on a wire before I lunged in for a hug. She was a little taken aback but didn't seem to mind "I just need a hug, don't make it weird."

"Okay, wasn't planning on it," She teased. I took a deep breath in and caught the scent of firewood, petrichor, and axe body spray, an Ellie classic.

“I'm really glad I have you as a friend," I mutter into her shoulder, so quietly that I wasn't even sure she heard me. I let us stay like that for longer than I probably should've before breaking away "Okay, I gotta be a grown-up and deal with this instead of letting Priya do recon."

She nodded pressing her lips together in the same awkward way the socially inept guys from high school did "See you for breakfast?"

"For sure," I smile and walk back into my cabin to see Priya sitting next to Chloe with one soothing hand rubbing her back. "Thanks, Priya, I'll take it from here, you outta get back to your girls."

Priya had this maternal way about her, I wasn't sure what it was but she sure had the ability to nurture. She started at camp last year and I was happy to see her return. She gave her farewells to all of the girls who had only met her minutes ago and were already attached.

"Can I be in her cabin?" Kim asked, she had finally calmed down.

"No, you're in my cabin where we have fun like this every night!" I forced a smile on my face trying to get the girls back into a good mood.

"This isn't fun at all," Tamar, said, bluntly may I add.

"Yeah, this sucks," Morgan added on.

"Guys, listen," I began "I'm super sorry this happened, I need all of you to know that it's just a really bad prank, it happens every year to different cabins. Boy being boys- sorry I shouldn't say that because you guys are young and I know their gender shouldn't excuse their bad behaviour but what I'm trying to say is guys are assholes."

"Yeah, they're assholes!" Olive repeated.

"Maybe don't shout that," I pointed at her "But they are and if you want I will storm down to their cabins right now and yell at them until they cry."

The cabin began to erupt in shouts of no, little girls with wide eyes, frantically shaking their heads. "Please don't leave us alone," Leah pleaded. 

"Okay, I won't, I'll yell at them in the morning. Do you guys want me to leave the lights on?" Everyone answered with a 'yes' to my question.

"Where are you going?" Valentina asked me, peeking out from beneath her thick layers of blankets.

"To my bed?”

"That's too far away from us."

I let out a deep breath "Alright, I'll just bring my sleeping bag onto the floor and I will sleep in the middle, okay?"  Nothing better than sleeping on the hardwood floor in the middle of four bunkbeds and eight ten-year-old girls.

Surrounded by the shallow breathing of girls far too startled to sleep, I decided that tomorrow I would wake up dressed in adventure, straddling a star. Every day that follows I will guide these girls to the moon and back.

A/N: Hi y’all, I’ve been gone a hot minute because of medical issues and whenever I have time to write, I’m too tired to. Anyways, we’re back and better. I know I should probably finish my other series but I’ve had this one drafted for a while and since I’m super sick and basically confined to my house for the next week I’m hoping to get this series done. Thanks for reading!

@readbydayana

#ellie williams #ellie williams fluff #ellie williams x you #the last of us #the last of us ellie #tlou #ellie the last of us #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams x reader #abby anderson #dina woodward #dina tlou #jesse tlou #joel miller #joel and ellie #tommy miller #ellie x y/n #ellie williams au #ellie x fem reader #ellie x reader #ellie tlou #ellie x you #ellie williams x reader fluff #ellie williams x reader angst #ellie williams angst #cryptid #summer

[threewaywithdelusion]

Alec Lightwood Not Giving a Single Fuck About the Law

(Spoilers! So many spoilers! For everything except Secrets of Blackthorn Hall, because I haven't read it yet)

I'm not too clear on what the Accords say about Shadowhunters policing Downworlders/what Downworlders are not allowed to do. But I'm pretty sure all of these must be illegal (or at least frowned upon):

Not reporting that Magnus started a joke cult that turned in a real cult that was killing people and worshiping a Greater Demon

Letting the person actually running said evil cult go free after they had captured her because he knew the Clave would execute her and even though Shinyun was literally responsible for several murders, he thought she deserved a second chance (and Magnus related to her, and Alec wanted to spare Magnus pain)

Never reporting Elliott of the New York Vampire Clan for literally everything he has done, including biting several Downworlders at a party, having multiple incidents with faerie fruit, "accidentally" biting 17 mundanes while under the influence (including at least one time where Lily had to stop him from killing the mundane in question), and cheating on two Selkies who then caused property damage in a fight with each other

relatedly, not reporting Mordecai, the faerie fruit dealer

(I just love this entire exchange: "As the current head of the New York Institute," Maryse said, with an attempt at firmness, "if there is illegal Downworlder activity happening, it should be reported to me." "I do not talk to Nephilim about Downworlder business," Lily said severely. The Lightwood parents stared at her, and then swung their heads in sync to stare at their son. Lily waved a dismissed hand in their direction. "Except for Alec, he's a special case.")

Watching Juliette, Werewolf Queen of the Buenos Aires Shadow Market, kill a Shadowhunter and just lightly suggest she try to take the Shadowhunters alive (and then not punish her in any way for killing that one guy)

Not reporting that Ragnor Fell had found a realm for the Greater Demon Sammael and also worked for him for a period of time (I don't think the Clave would care that Ragnor didn't had a choice because of the sventhorn)

Suggested in the final battle in Queen of Air and Darkness that an effective way to render opposing Shadowhunters unconscious would be to have vampires bite them and drink enough of their blood that they passed out

Protecting Marcy, the werewolf who transformed at a club during a full moon, and never reporting her for almost revealing the shadow world to Mundanes and injuring several of them

Breaking the Cold Peace several times by visiting several Shadow Markets, interacting with faeries, and pretending not to know about multiple illegal Shadowhunter-faerie relationships (Tian/Jinfeng and Mark/Kieran/Cristina)

Not illegal but probably seen as outrageous by other Shadowhunters:

marrying Magnus in Shadowhunter gold

traipsing into a hell dimension to save Downworlders

letting a vampire (Simon) drink his blood

offering his blood to a different vampire (Lily)

raising a Downworlder child as his own (and also training that child like a Shadowhunter)

raising a Shadowhunter child that has a Downworlder parent

Basically, Alec Lightwood is a badass and the fact that he went from the type of guy who said "sed lex, dura lex" to the man who did all of this is the reason he is one of my favorite characters ever

#Alec lightwood #alexander lightwood #unless we're using that tag for Cecily's son? someone let me know #the shadowhunter chronicles #the mortal instruments #the eldest curses #Magnus bane

[monikashinswife]

Laurrr it's me hi I'm the problem it's me jokee I trulyyy love your story please I'm obsess 🥹

This is my another request hihi uhm monika and the reader is in public relationship she's part of prowdmon like during the evaluation they're targeting the reader, and the whole group prowdmon specially monika is fuming while reader is like chill something like that btw the reader is like soft spoken person and like super light vibe person, very comforting looking person, so when she dance everyone was shocked because she's the opposite when chilling 🫶🏻

Show Them

(Monika Shin x Reader)

➺ thank you saur much Anon, here is your request. I apologize because this took way too long. Anygays I hope y'all are doing well.<3 You can skip to 2:00 mins to get the vibe of the battle ♡

It's been a while since I made appearance in battles and made noise in the dancing scene. But my presence is always mentioned even though I don't appear. It's not gonna be easy for them to get rid of my name. Especially with how many I contributed to the community.

And for that people recognize and appreciated me. I appeared in battles globally and gave recognition and wins while representing my country. I made way for them to be recognized, and even though I took a hiatus. Because of an injury, it was not lethal but it required me to rest for a while.

People still wanna get involved in me. And my business and personal relationships. It's not a secret that I am in a long term relationship with who is known as the Professors of Dancers. They constantly wanna get updates about what's happening with our relationship.

While we're in the middle of our dinner date, in our favorite restaurant. Monika suddenly opened up about the new opportunity. "So I was offered to create a crew and participate in a new show." She said, not beating around the bush.

"That's great love!" I said enthusiastically, still enjoying the food. "Can I?" I asked softly, knowing from her expression that my question is bugging her. I observed her hesitant face.

"Sooni knows right?" She nod, almost hesitantly. She gave me the look. The look that's telling me that this is bothering her. But there is still something inside her that wants me to join."Please?" I reach for her hand to further convince her.

"You're injured" She finally let out, I let out a small sigh. "I wouldn't wanna risk your health." I just stared at her, Monika started to bite her lips as she observed my reaction. She waited nervously for any answer, her grip on my hands tightened as worry seeps inside her.

"Darling? Say something..." Her voice so small, she doesn't know why she's feeling nervous. Probably it was because she still didn't know if I would or could continue dancing.

"I'm already healed... Please Monika, I'll be very careful" the look of anticipation spread all over my face as she played with my fingers. A moment of silence passed between us before I asked.

"What's the show?" she almost relaxed and explained what show it is. And that confirmed my question. As the producer also contacted me about it but I still haven't responded. Because I know that they'll contact her and I wanna be with her in this competition.

It's heartwarming that they are finally recognizing dancers. "Alright, I'll do it with you." I squealed and kissed her in celebration. "You promise to be careful?" She asked, the doubtful thoughts made its way because of my situation.

Suddenly, the people in the restaurant is forgotten, Monika placed her chair next to you, she took both of your hands with hers.

"You deserve to be there Y/n. You could be the judge because of how big of a contribution you made. And I know this has always been your passion, but I wouldn't want you causing yourself harm because of doing something you love. So promise me, please?." She begged for my safety, she knows how carefree I can be when I'm in my element.

But for her, I'll be careful so I wouldn't worry her. I nodded sincerely at her. Promising her wholeheartedly.

"So what's next?" Just then the mood shifted into something lighter. We're already suggesting ideas with each other. Picking the crew member and the name of the crew.

The competition came sooner. Luckily, years of experience came in handy. You came back to practicing and even teaching classes at Monika's studio, trying to get used to it again so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. And it's honestly good to be back.

And into the dance battle you go. When you descend down the stairs. You look at each crews there. PROWDMON's presence is certainly overwhelming, you can see how nervous the other crew are. But PROWDMON greeted them with energy, especially Monika who's making jokes as we made our way to our seat.

"I like this." I blurted out to Monika. While smiling at the crews. Monika's arm is wrapped around my waist as we settled. I am honestly happy. I was about to point out the energy when our crew performance is flash on the screen.

"That's us." Monika pointed, and we immediately payed attention to the screen moving closer to see it better. YGX was the first to comment, and it was safe. The other crew pointed out MoLip's career and mine.

It was all jokes and laughters between other crews because of their comments about the age. But then it took a completely different turn.

When other crew mentioned my name, I remained focus. My eyes on the screen as I listened to what they are saying after complementing me and my contributions.

"But y/n saem, has been on hiatus." Other crew pointed out and the rest of the other crews followed, "so I'm really curious to see her."

"I wonder if her skill reduced"

"Would she still be the same after that injury and break? I doubt that she'll still be the same."

"She looks far too soft here."

I nodded calmly at their words. In my peripheral vision I can see that those who said their words were nervous. But I gave them an assuring and comforting smile. But Monika is certainly not happy with their words.

Disbelief noises left PROWDMON's members they all commented and defended me proudly, looking at crews who said those words as they stare at them in warning.

Monika and I remained silent, me because I was still focused on the screen while Monika because she did not like their comments. Not one bit. The look on her face changed, and she would voice it out.

"I hate that." Monika's authoritative voiced echoed around the room. Suddenly, the air was tense. When the energy of PROWDMON changed. They all remained silent, some not meeting our eyes. They have all the nerves to say those words when we are not in front of us.

But where did those nerves go?

Before Monika could say something else. It was my turn to wrap my arm around her waist. Finally, the torture has ended and we returned to our seat with the members heavy footsteps. Monika looked at the crews once again, warning them with her commanding eyes.

"It's fine" I took her hand and kiss it to calm her down. Her breath heaved as she tried to relax. "Calm down babe, it's chill." I calmly stated but Monika would not tolerate such behavior.

The other crews saw the interaction you both are having, they gulp as they saw you tame the beast which is Monika. Some of them whispering how you prove their point about you being "too soft" because of your attitude this time.

The show's MC was introduced and the program continues. And the no respect battle was introduced. Dancers are given some time to change into something comfortable that they can dance while wearing.

Prowdmon are in their hideout doing their own thing, you're fixing your sleeves when Monika made her way closer to you. She present her arm, and you chuckle before helping her fix her white sleeves.

"Don't mind them okay?" She tuck your hair behind your ears before she caress your cheeks affectionately. But your serious gaze made her say something, "I don't like their words towards you." You gave her a soft smile before Hyo Won came for your defense.

"They don't know what they're talking about." The other members chants follows "Show them! Show Them!" We all gather together for a group hug before the screen told us to go back.

Once the crews are settled. The battle began, and as much as this is a competition. It is also a show. And the crews enjoyed the performance of those in the battle ground.

"The dancer that I can beat is..." there was a long pause in Rihey's words as she scan the crews one by one. Until our crew name PROWDMON came out. I smiled, knowing who it is already. It was expected as she was one of the many that says a lot about me.

"PROWDMON Y/n." They let out collective gasps and wows. My team stayed silent with proud faces as they know what's bound to happen. I just smiled as I walk to the stage.

Just happy to be back. I nodded my head at Rihey not dropping my smile. The MC introduced us before the song started playing. I gave her a nod, acknowledging that she will go first.

Her body started following the rhythm as she started dancing. The look on my eyes and face changed. Suddenly the tension became heavier as they thought that this would be a light hearted moment.

I tilted my head, my face stoic as she tried to taunt me while dancing. I gave a small smirk while she bounced and dance desperately. She is good, I gave her that.

I approve but I'm not her to evaluate her. I'm her competition and Competition I am.

"Switch to PROWDMON Y/N!" Loud cheers erupted, I let myself soak in their cheers. Completely turning into the person that they all know.

"Make it bounce up, Make it bounce up" the crowd cheered as I lip synced the lyrics. I step up. Calm before the storm.

Then, me and the music became one. I managed to kneel in the first few seconds. Bouncing while on my knees as I popped.

As I move my whole body. The audience move with me. The unity and cohesiveness of my dance is undeniable and unmatched.

There was no denying that when you dance, you stole the whole room's attention. Your presence demanded and attracted them. And it doesn't help that your expression is perfect. The way you convey the mood through your face.

The way your body sways with the music. You flow like a wave, smooth and hard, your moves crystal like the water. And your dance range wide like the ocean. You orchestrate the room with your movements.

They all scream when they saw how impactful you are. You gesture to the now mesmerized Rihey. Making her dance like she's someone being sway by the wave. Your influence and presence is totally unmatched.

You look like a different person. You, but still different. Whoever underestimated you is now proven. You did not grow weaker. But you came back stronger despite having something that would make you weaker.

Your audience screamed and clap once you're done. You bowed in respect. You heard them talk and they were overwhelmed with the battle. Rihey and you put out a legendary fight.

You laugh when they threw their shoes and some threw their banner. Rihey makes her way closer to you and she bowed. You gave her a sweet smile before giving her a hug.

"That was WOW" the Daniel shake his head and let out an impressed noise. "Indeed it was, I can't believe I'm blessed to witness that" Boa added, your eyes twinkling as you wait for their vote.

Monika's voice is the loudest when she saw how you won with unanimous vote. You bowed to your opponent and hopped back to your teammates.

"I'm so proud! I'll definitely treat you later" she marveled with you in her arms. You melted into her arms for a moment before the rest of PROWDMON went in for a group hug.

You laugh altogether before you settle back to your seats, faces all proud. Victory is certainly a good look in your team. And not only were you marveling in victory but also you were all genuinely happy to be there.

Once the episode shoot is finished. You said goodbye to the rest of the crew with the next mission in mind. You all decided to have dinner together some other time.

Your smirk went back on your face as you look at Monika mischievously. You brought your face closer to her ear, making sure to caress her hand as you whisper, voice slow and low.

"I can't wait for that treat"

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

(not proofread)

#prowdmon #street woman fighter x reader #swf x reader #swf2 x reader #monika shin #monika shin x reader #street woman fighter 1 #swf imagine #shin monika #shin monika x reader #street woman fighter 2 #monika shin imagine #monika shin fanfic #monikashinswife

[magicalqueennightmare]

Jealousy

After falling into bed, neither you or Billy are sure where you stand

Miserable. There was no other word for it. What made it worse was that you couldn't talk to the one person you always turned to because he was the reason for the misery.

You were laid across Karen's couch, watching her pace the floor as she talked to someone from the bulletin. They were stressing about the evening edition and Ellison was out for a couples days due to his daughter's wedding. You were glad she had seniority meaning you could just watch her bitch at the interns and not have to intervene.

You turned until your feet was over the back of the couch and your hair was touching the floor. If nothing else you managed to pull a smile to her face when she saw your current position. She made a few more loops before hanging up. She cocked her head to the side staring at you "Honey? Something wrong?"

You shook your head. How the hell were you supposed to tell her that the previous week you'd spent Friday night and most of Saturday in Billy's bed? The first night could've been blamed on the alcohol but when the two of you woke up the next morning you weren't sure what the excuse could be for the other two rounds you went for in the bed or the one in the shower or the one on his couch.

She studied you for a moment "Bullshit. Spill" she crossed her arms and you grinned slightly "uh oh. I've instigated Miss Page" she shook her head and motioned with her fingers for you to turn the correct way on the couch. You turned slowly, steadying yourself before patting the cushion next to you "I want to tell you but you and Frank have one of them annoyingly close and trusted relationships where you don't hide anything from each other"

She sat down and you saw the tiny crease between her eyes which meant she was trying to figure out the meaning behind your words "Did something happen while we were gone last weekend?:" you groaned before burying your face in your hands. Maybe if you weren't looking at her it wouldn't be as bad? "I slept with Billy" you mumbled.

After silence overtook you both you weren't sure she'd heard you. The moment you pulled your hands down you knew she had because she was staring at you open mouthed "What?" You let out a long sigh "I had sex with Billy, a few times actually over the course of Friday night leading into Saturday afternoon"

She looked nearly comical the way she opened and shut her mouth a few times before finally asking "Well was it good?" "Karen!" You scolded and she cracked up laughing "What am I supposed to say here? I mean are you two like together now?"

You shrugged "I don't know. I mean we've talked since then but not about what happened.Billy has always been flirty with me and he's big on physical touch so I have no fucking clue where I stand because I mean he's Billy. He's my friend and means a lot to me but I know he's not the settle down one woman type. I don't want to bring up the elephant in the room just to get shut out you know?" She nodded slowly, a sigh escaping her. "Christ I'm glad Frank had to work late. My poker face is shit if I don't have forewarning"

You laughed lightly "Also explains why I've been avoiding direct conversation with Frank. He can see right through my bullshit" she nodded again "True. I mean, we're all going out tomorrow night for Foggy and Marci's anniversary. You'll have moral support. I think Curt has a date but everyone else will be there even Claire and Jess are coming. Test the waters maybe?"

You slouched down further on the couch, nearly hitting the floor "What if I just hide under your bed and refuse to come out?" She laughed "Well I mean you could but do you really want to be under and listen when.." "No!" You cut her off mid sentence sliding on down to the floor "Fine. I'll go but I'm sticking close to you and Frank so no funny business until I head home got it?" She nodded, biting her lip to keep from laughing at your distress "Yes ma'am"

Frank walked into the bar with one arm around Karen who was holding your hand. You knew you shouldn't be feeling like this. It was Billy. You'd known each other for so long, a part of you wasn't surprised that you fell into bed. The attraction had long since been there you just never meant to actually give in to it.

----------

A part of you wanted to just hide behind Frank all night but he'd know something was up if you didn't socialize at least a bit. As much as you didn't want to face an awkward conversation with Billy, one with Frank seemed even worse somehow.

The moment you walked into the door the music hit your ears. It was a song you loved, that calmed your nerves slightly. Frank stopped before turning to you and Karen "You two want your usuals?" You nodded so he kissed Karen's cheek before heading to the bar. Karen pulled you closer to her, wrapping an arm around your shoulders "Breathe. It'll be fun. All our friends are here. It's gonna be a good evening"

You looked around and spotted Foggy dancing with Marci. They both waved when they saw the two of you. You heard your name being called and saw Jessica and Trish heading their way towards you and Karen. You smiled seeing the two of them, Jessica was a little rough around the edges but you'd known her for some time. "Hey Jess! Hey Trish!" You greeted.

"Good to see you Y/N, you too Karen" Trish greeted as Jessica pulled you into a one armed hug. She glanced around once she released you "Where's Castle? I know him and Russo are around here somewhere" Frank walked back up about that time "Dunno where Bill is but how ya been Jess?" The two of then started talking so Trish grabbed your arm "Care for a dance?" You laughed cutting your eyes at Karen "I'll be back and don't worry you're still my favorite blonde"

Karen's laughter trickled to your ears as Trish pulled you onto the dance floor.

----------

After about half an hour you figured Billy just wasn't coming. He'd yet to show up so you had relaxed into the evening, even venturing away from Karen and Frank a few times. You were waiting at the bar for another drink when you had that hope squashed. You felt someone step up next to you, a hand brushing against your lower back and spun to tell whoever it was to give you some breathing room. Instead of some random drunk though Billy was leaning on the bar with a grin spread across his face "Easy there Y/N"

You let out a breath because even though you hadn't looked forward to facing him the thought of some overly enthusiastic drunk asshole made your head hurt. "Hey Billy" you greeted with a small smile. He looked good as always, black jeans and a dark green sweater. His eyes bore into you slightly and you had to resist the urge to fidget in your seat from the weight of his stare.

When the bartender came over with your drink Billy reached over your head before you could pay to hand him a twenty. "Rest of her drinks go on my tab" you raised an eyebrow at the bartender "No they don't. Keep that twenty as a tip" then passed over the amount for the drink in your hand.

The bartender looked a mixture of amused and not wanting to get into whatever you and Billy had going on. He passed Billy a beer then walked off. "So I can't pay for your drinks?" "I've never asked for you to pay my way Billy. I have a decent job, might not be a ceo who wears custom made suits on the daily but I get by well enough" he chuckled lightly "You have always been so damn independent. It doesn't hurt to let someone help ya"

You shook your head, staring up at him as you said "If someone is harassing me hell yeah I'll ring for help, my car break down and it's more than I have at hand I will call but Billy I can buy my own drinks" he smiled broadly "Ok darling. At least you've agreed to let me help with anything big"

You pushed away from the bar and felt him follow you. Billy's presence was something you couldn't very well ignore even if you wanted to.

When you got closer to the table you'd been sitting at with Karen and Frank she cut her eyes up and you knew the moment she spotted Billy behind you because they got wider. You slid onto the chair next to her so Billy took up residence in the chair on your right. "Damn Bill. Didn't think you were gonna make it"

You turned towards Karen begging for conversation when Billy said "That meeting with Samantha Milton ran longer than I thought" Frank made a noise which was a mixture of a scoff and a laugh. You knew what that meant. Samantha was gorgeous and eyeing Billy, probably vice versa as well. "Yeah I bet it did"

You felt your entire body stiffen when Billy's leg bumped against yours and prayed he didn't notice. He reached his left hand out to rest on your knee but you moved away quickly, nearly knocking into Karen.

"Y/N you good?" Frank asked and you smiled "Yeah. I um I gotta use the bathroom. Karen wanna come with me?" She smiled at Frank "We'll be right back" she grabbed your arm and the two of you slipped away into the crowd. God you were an idiot. Why did you think it would change anything? Yeah the sex was amazing but it was just sex, that much was now blazingly apparent.

----------

"So what's the play?" Karen asked after clearing the bathroom to ensure it was in fact just the two of you. You stared at her blankly "What play Kare?"

She motioned towards the door "Billy and the Milton chic?" You smiled despite everything. Karen was a one in a million friend, willing to go to bat even when you weren't. You shook your head "There's no play Kare. Me and him had a drunk night that washed over into the next day. I shouldn't let it effect years of friendship and I'm not going to so please just act like you know nothing? For my sake, for Frank's sake"

She rolled her eyes but nodded "Fine but I'm accidently kicking him at least once tonight" you laughed and grabbed her hand to head back out "I'd expect nothing less"

----------

By the time the two of you made it back to the table Frank was talking on the phone while Billy was peeling the label off his beer looking borderline annoyed. "Something wrong?" You asked once you were sat back down next to him.

He cut his eyes at you "Could ask you the same" "I'm good" you replied and held his gaze. He nodded slowly "Good" Frank hung up then looked at Karen "How long you wanna stay out?" She shrugged "It's Friday night. None of us have to work tomorrow" he grinned "Good. Remember Rumlow?"

Your eyes shot up at the name. Brock Rumlow. He was a couple years older than Frank and former army rangers. He'd gone into working for shield and last you heard worked close with Darcy Lewis and Jane Foster. He was pretty chill and not bad to look at either. "Brock’s in town?" You asked and he nodded "Should be here in a few minutes" "Awesome. Glad I decided to come out tonight then"

You missed the look that passed between Billy and Frank and the way that Billy's jaw clenched at your words. So you had been on the fence about coming out, even though it was originally for Marci and Foggy. Now you were excited to see Rumlow of all people?

He was sitting right next to you, within arm's reach. If you wanted anything all you had to do was ask. He thought after the hours you'd spent together the previous weekend that it was a step towards him and you being more than friends. He'd done everything in his power to show you how good he could make you feel, how much he wanted you. He could still feel your nails biting into his back, hear the way you moaned his name. What the hell had he done wrong?

Maybe you'd gotten the wrong idea, thought it was just sex. Maybe you didn't want him the way he wanted you? Shit though, every day he had women and some days men throwing themselves at him. He was a good lucking guy, damn good job and thought he treated you well. He was also your friend, he knew you in every way. Why the fuck were you excited to see Rumlow?

You spotted Brock the moment he walked in. He was about Frank's build, black hair he always wore short but not cropped. The thing that always got you was the fact that much like Frank and Billy, Brock had this aura about him that any creep within fifty feet would immediately back off their mark. You could sense the fact that all three men were dangerous, had done unspeakable things and would do so again to protect someone they deemed worth of it.

Frank let out a loud whistle and Brock grinned when he spotted all of you. "Castle! How the hell are ya?" The two of them greeted each other with that one armed hug men do. "Can't complain man" Frank replied with a laugh as Brock drug another chair over to the table, sitting between you and Karen. "How's it going Russo?" He asked Billy who gave a sharp nod "Like Frankie said man, can't complain"

Brock nodded then looked between you and Karen "You two are gorgeous as always" you and her both smiled. "Nice to see you too Brock" she replied and you added "Yeah its been a while. I wanna hear about Darcy and Jane!"

The two of you went into a conversation, dragging Karen in as well. Out the corner of your eye you saw Frank cut his eyes at Billy "Let's grab another round" "Yeah I don't know how much longer I'm staying out" Billy replied but stood to follow Frank nonetheless.

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

Brock watched them walk away then looked back towards you "Something up with Russo? Last time I saw him like that my unit was passing his and Frank's overseas" you shrugged one shoulder as Karen leaned up to look around Brock at you "Couldn't even imagine what's wrong with Billy"

Brock looked from Karen to you "Did I miss something?" You shook your head "Don't worry about it Brock, now tell me more about Darcy"

----------

Billy followed Frank back to the table carrying his drink and yours. He could feel his jaw clench harder when he heard your laughter then got closer to see your head laid over on Brock’s arm as you both laughed.

"What's so funny?" He asked sitting down next to you. You glanced towards him and shrugged "Brock was telling us something about one of the women he works with" Brock was watching you while you talked to Billy and christ a part of him wanted to ask just what the hell Brock was looking at.

What was wrong with him? Rumlow was a decent enough guy. He'd known him for years, why the hell was he getting under his skin so much tonight?

----------

The answer hit him like a brick when a song started playing that he knew you and Karen both loved. Karen's eyes lit up "Frank wanna dance?" The two of them headed for the dance floor.

You sat there for a moment, clearly considering your next option before turning to Brock "I only see you like every six months or so, wanna push me round the dance floor one time?" He nodded "Would be my pleasure doll"

He watched the two of you head to the dance floor and silently fumed. The idea of Brock’s hands on your body was infuriating. Images of you under him flashed through his head, the way your skin tasted on his lips. Christ the way you'd felt.

When the images changed to you under Brock, clinging to him, moaning his name Billy damn near broke the glass in his hand. His eyes flew up to the dance floor and when he spotted you with your body that close to Brock’s he was on his feet without another thought. Fuck this, fuck things left unsaid. If he was going to lose any chance with you tonight, it wouldn't be because he went down without a fight.

----------

"You gonna tell me what's really going on with you and Bill?" Brock asked after a moment. You shrugged looking up at him "I can't tell you"

"Why not?" He asked with a smirk, leaning down a little closer to the point that if anyone just glanced it probably looked like a kiss had been shared. "Promise not to tell" he whispered. You laughed before burying your face into the crook of his neck "We slept together"

"What's that?" He asked so you leaned back to look up at him "We've been dancing around each other then Frank and Karen were gone and we were alone" he laughed and you weren't sure if it was how you worded things or the look you were sure you had on your face "So that's why he's plotted my murder four times?"

You shook your head "It's not like that Brock" he looked over your head and chuckled "Sure about that?" You were about to ask what he'd meant when you heard Billy's voice "Anyway I can cut in? I wanna talk to Y/N"

Your eyes widened when Brock’s reply was "Up to her man. She asked me to dance" you could practically feel Billy bristle up. Any time he got angry enough to fight he was like a tightly coiled spring, like a damn animal ready to pounce. You winked at Brock "Yeah, fine by me" he nodded then leaned down to press a kiss to your cheek before saying "In that case I'm gonna go find Nelson and his girl"

---------

You turned back to Billy and christ his eyes were pitch black. Oh he was angry. "You wanted to dance?" You asked innocently. He reached one hand out to pull you flush against his body "Can we walk outside and talk instead, Doll" the edge he put to the word doll was sharp enough you could feel a shiver run up your spine.

You looked around to see that Frank was looking over at the two of you. "Frank's watching Billy" his eyes never left yours when he said "I don't care" you pushed back from him "I do. You're not gonna ignore me for the most part then act possessive"

A groan left him "Y/N, sweetheart I have never been rough with you but this is one time if you won't stop being a stubborn ass I very well may throw you over my damn shoulder and walk out this bar, Frank be damned" you raised an eyebrow at the threat. Part of you wanted to call his bluff, the other was afraid if Frank got the wrong idea. "Fine. I'll go outside and talk to you"

His hand went to your lower back "C'mon then" you snatched away from him "I'm grabbing my jacket and telling Frank and Karen some excuse" He cut his eyes at you but nodded.

----------

Frank was watching you hard when you walked back over "Everything good?" You nodded, forcing a smile "This place is kinda packed. I need some fresh air so Billy offered to walk me outside"

Frank nodded, looking at Billy before saying "You got her?" Billy nodded "Yeah man. Always" you smiled when Billy offered you his arm in front of Frank so you took it, holding onto it until you were outside.

You snatched away from Billy the moment you were outside "Talk" he scoffed when you walked a few feet away from him. "What are you doing with Rumlow?" He knew you better than he knew himself which meant he knew exactly what button to push to make you just pissed enough that truth would come slipping out your lips.

"The hell you mean?" You asked and he smirked "Oh Brock’s coming. Oh dance with me Brock. You sound like a damn high-school kid at your first dance" you crossed your arms, glaring at him "Fuck you Billy"

He laughed at that, quickly covering the space between you. He left just enough room to not be completely crowding your space "Fuck me huh? Didn't you already do that?"

----------

How dare he be so damn cocky? How dare he know you well enough to know what would get under your skin? "Damn you" you shoved his chest when you spoke "You have side stepped for a week! You wouldn't fucking talk about it! You acted like it didn't happen! If it was just sex you could've told me Billy"

His smirk just got deeper with every word you spoke and every time you shoved against him "Are you done?:" he asked when you stopped talking. You glared up at him. He was do damn close and fuck he smelled good.

One of his hands came up to catch your face and fuck it all you nearly lost all composure then and there at the memories of his hands on your body. "Wanna know what I think?" He asked holding your face in place. "What?" He smiled before surging forward, catching your lips with his own.

His other hand went to your hip and pulled you against his body. You almost whimpered against his lips when he walked you backwards until your back brushed the wall of the bar. He pulled back just enough that you both got a breath of air before attacking your lips again.

You got your senses enough to push his chest. One movement was all it took for him to pause in his actions "What is this Billy? Between us?" He raised an eyebrow trying to catch your lips again and when you wouldn't let him he dropped his forehead to your neck "Tell me you haven't thought about us. Tell me you don't want us" one of his hands moved from your hip, down your thigh to slide under the skirt you were wearing. Your breath caught in your throat at the feelings of his fingers digging into the soft flesh.

"What about Samantha Milton?" You managed to breathe out, feeling his smile against your skin. The hand on your thigh slid up further and when his fingers grazed over your clothed center it took every ounce of will power you'd ever had to not crumple then and there. He caught your lips in a bruising kiss before a smirk slipped onto his face "You're jealous"

He let his hand return to your hip, giving you a chance to think more clearly "and you're not jealous over Brock?" You saw his jaw clench and couldn't fight the urge to make him admit it "Maybe I should go back in there to him" his grip tightened on your hips "I wonder what his tongue would feel like, how his hands on my body would feel"

He leaned down to be face to face "I don't fuckin want Milton. I want you and I know for a fact Brock ain't takin you from me without one of us getting our ass beat tonight. So either tell me here and now you don't want me and I'll go knock that smirk off his face or tell you want me and I'll take you home with me and see just how many times I can get you to scream my name. Hell ill fuck you here and now so the whole of New York City knows you're my girl"

You swallowed hard at his words whether from the fact that he'd called you his girl or that you were trying to ignore the wave of heat they pushed through you. Your decision was made before you ever spoke "Take me home"

#au billy russo #billy russo x y/n #billy russo au #billy russo x you #billy russo fanfic #billy russo x reader

[sarcastic--metaphor]

For the vamp!Simon au, have you come up with a wish that created the world?

If not, might I suggest a distraught Marcy, post-simon abandonment, finding her way to the time room and wishing for Simon to 'never have left her'?

Also, if you're willing to figure it out, how would main timeline fionna, cake, and Simon react to this world had they found their way to it?

Love this au so far !!

Honestly I haven’t even considered a wish that could’ve made my AU. Ig it was my wish to see vampire!simon lol

I like the idea of Marcy wishing she could have Simon back, something she’s canonically wanted for a long time, and getting what she wanted. Just w/ a twist

I guess i also have to say now that this is an Old Fashioned au where it's totally divorced from canon, just bc I'm trying to keep all the lore and details orderly in my brain and I don't have the time rn to explore every possibility- so I never really intended for the F&C gang to encounter this world

if they did i'm like 99% sure Marcy would kidnap canon!simon and try to bite him bc why wouldn't she want another version of her dad to keep forever?

It'd be a kinda terribly ironic situation tho, F&C Simon seeing a world where he's immortal and magical and got to spend the past 1000 years sane and with marcy... but utterly miserable otherwise and trapped in a dying world. Meanwhile vamp!Simon would be extremely jealous of our Simon's diverse, lively world of blue skies and free people, even if his counterpart did spend an entire millennium insane

#fionna and cake #vampire au #the vampire king #simon petrikov #marceline the star

[theangrycomet-art]

Loontics Unleashed: Tunnel Vision

The latest band climbing up the charts in Acemtropolis, they are one of the first non-human bands to gain recognition (as well as notoriety) in recent years after winning a record label with Acme Records in 2068.

They're technically a rock band, though they tend to explore genres.

They are scheduled to preform at the 2774 Basherball Championship halftime show, despite the more recent threats sent to them.

Lore Below:

Don't mess with any of the band member's equipment ESPECIALLY their instruments. Jax get's particularly nasty when her guitar is touched.

Dakota Frog

performer name: Lily Pad

she/her

lead vocals/bass

Writes most of the songs with Jax

in charge of choreography

Descendant of Michigan J Frog

used to suffer from severe stage fright so she could only sing in front of one person at a time

luckily she's conquered this fear with Tunnel Vision

cool headed though she isn't above getting into mischief

Jesse Rabbit (Rodger/Jessica Rabbit descendant)

Performer name: Dust Bunny

he/him

Speaks several languages-> translates their songs

Drummer/ male vocals

Descendant of Rodger and Jessica Rabbit

clutsiest of the group, he does the least amount of stunts during their shows

smooth talker- he manages their contracts and ensures they get paid fairly

acts dumber than he is so people underestimate him

Marcy the Martian

Performer Name: Asteroid Bebe

she/her

Proper Title: Crown Princess Mihl’ah Tyr'ah,

Keyboardist/ rapper

sound engineer with Jax

Daughter of Empress Tyr'ahnee and Commander X2, cousins with Melvin

though polite and well-meaning, she is regularly impeded by her short temper (this has improved as she has found an outlet through thier music)

initially visited Earth as a culture study

she's perfectly content to chill on earth for the next century or two

tranlsate's their songs into Martian, giving them a LARGE fandom amongst the Martian Empire

Jacqueline “Jax” E Coyote

performer name: Sandy Lane

she/

9 string guitar/ lead vocals

sound engineer with Marcy

Writes most of the songs with Dakota

See Link^^^

protective over her bandmates, she's usually the one to tell people off if they are crossing a line

Tech's sister

Albums:

2769: Sour Candy (the love song/bittersweet album going over the highs and lows of a relationships)

Tug a War

Heart Murmurs

Eat it Too

Mind over Matter

(I love you, Lady!) Buh bye!

Ladies and Gents

Double Blind Date

My Demons are my Angels

rock cover of “Hello my Baby”

2770: Don’t worry, this is Just a Test (experimental album)

No Martian’s were Harmed in the Making of this Song

What is this thing?

Pliers and Wires (the diffusing bomb song)

Murphy’s Law (The Disaster Song)

Self Destruct Button

Never Have I Ever

Never again

Zap!

Gravity (thou art a heartless bitch)

No Sounds in Space

2772: Open Season (the angry album) 

Count the Teeth

Leash Laws (This Bitch Bites)

Playboy Bunnies (Bad Hare Day)

Bring back the Noise (I hope you Croak)

Four Digits are All I Need (to Slap You)

Swallowing Honeybees

Pelt on the Wall

Feather Duster 

Dynamite in my Piano

2773: Insurance won’t Cover This (direct callout to how the comet situation was addressed)

What’s up, Doc?

Second Skin

You wanna put what in my what?

Arm Cast

Scalpel to the Forehead

Surgery won’t fix This

The Bone Doctor

Empty Vase

Blow my Chest Clean Off

Hospital Fees

Freaks

2774: Highlighter Pack (dedicated to the Loonatics)

Comet 

Start your Engines 

Let’s Jet

On my Radar 

Eye of the Storm

TNT’s the New Ibuprofen 

Dodging Bullets, Throwing Stones

Lab Safety

Highlighter Pack

#Loonatics Unleashed #LU OC #LU #Jacqueline Coyote #Jax E Coyote #Lily Pad #Dakota J Frog #Marcy the Martian #Asteroid Bebe #Reese Rabbit #Dust Bunny #Tunnel Vision #OC Lore #AU Lore #TheAngryComet ART #angrycomet rambles #Fan Relatives #Loonatics OC

[redrobin-detective]

"come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm"

Marceline woke to the smell of something amazing cooking.

Her reactions were a little less startled and a little more excited every time she woke up and remembered that Simon was back. She quickly dressed and flew down the stairs and into the kitchen as Simon was finishing whatever it was he was making. His hair was pulled back in one of Marcy's hairbands and was wearing a bright pink sweater gifted from Bonnie over top his usual white collared shirt and black slacks. He looked so different from how she remembered him growing up but he was still her Simon.

"Good morning, or rather good afternoon, sleepyhead," Simon said with a smile as he flipped something in his pan. "Sit down, I'm almost done. I have something I want to talk to you about."

"Is this something the thing you've been talking to my girlfriend in secret about for the past few weeks?" She asked playfully. Simon groaned.

"How could you possibly-"

"I've known Bonnie for hundreds of years, you think I don't know her tells by now," Marcy grinned. "And it barely took me a year to learn all of yours."

"Yes, yes, I shall always be the Watson to your estimable Holmes so here is your reward for another case brilliantly solved," Simon said with a flourish. He placed a completely red grilled cheese sandwich in front of her with a bowl of tomato soup. "Strawberry jam toasted bread with ham, red bell peppers and tomato. The cheese I soaked in the jam too, it's not as red but hopefully it'll taste better than the beet juice cheese I made for you that one time. Bon appétit, mon cher."

"That beet cheese haunts my nightmares," Marcy said, trying to act casual when she wanted to cry with how much love she was feeling. She thought she had lost this forever and having it back, it was a miracle she couldn't put into words. "You don't have to go to this much effort, I can eat anything red. It doesn't even have to be real food."

"I like to cook and I like to cook for you. Sharing a meal together is something you do with your loved ones," he smiled and sat down with his own soup and sandwich. "I have a second chance to enjoy the little things in life and I don’t want to waste it.” He said, biting into his sandwich.

“Yeah,” she smiled back as her fangs sampled the sandwich. Deliciously red and made with love. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Oh uh,” Simon looked flustered and ducked his head closer to the soup. “I hate having serious discussions over a meal. How was your show last night?”

“Fine,” Marcy said with a suspicious frown. Simon was being cagey but she’d get it out of him eventually. “It was just a small gig at Dirt Beer Guy’s new place. It would have been better with my partner there. You can’t spend all your time inside reading those dusty old books, you know.”

“I’m not your partner, Marcy, I’m your-” Simon paused and turned away with embarrassment scratching at the back of his neck. She found herself wishing he’d just say what they both felt but he trailed off as usual. “Music is just a hobby for me, I’m not nearly the professional you are. Besides I’m not really suited to the kind of music you play, trying to keep up with you would just diminish your natural talent.” 

“Dude, you’re like the best pianist I’ve ever heard and you know all those old world songs,” Marcy argued as she slurped up the remaining red in her soup with annoyance. “And you’re no slouch on the guitar or violin or drums or-”

“I don’t play the drums, Ice King did,” Simon interrupted with a flat frown. 

“Yeah, okay whatever,” Marcy grumbled as she floated up and gathered up the now empty plates to clean. “So come on, stop avoiding the issue, what did you want to talk about?”

“I don’t want to have this conversation angry, let’s relax with a little jam session first,” Simon said cheerfully. “It’s been a while since I’ve been on strings, I’ll join you today on guitar. Just like the good old days.” The image of Simon’s large, blue tinged hands on top of hers on the half broken guitar they’d scrounged from the rubble, lightly moving her fingers over the frets. His gentle voice walking her through the notes and the beautiful sounds they’d made to fill the apocalyptic silence. 

Even after a thousand years of insanity, he knew just how to tempt her.

“I’ll grab my guitar while you finish up,” he said before rushing out of the kitchen. She was drying her hands when the sound of a tuning guitar flitted through the house. Marcy had dreamed of a situation like this: her and Simon safe, with no magic or madness or sadness between them, just hanging out. But sometimes a wall could be made of other things too. She grabbed her bass as she floated into the living room where Simon was strumming his acoustic with deep concentration. She sat next to him on the couch and began strumming too, the familiar motions leeching some of her tension. 

They sat in companionable silence for a while, playing their own thing with the separate melodies sometimes coming together and harmonizing. Every now and again she’d recognize something he played, some dim lightbulb of a memory from when she was a child listening to music on the radio. Simon always got a little sad when she reminded him of the world they’d both lost. She’d mourned and moved on but it was harder for him to let go.

"Marcy, I need to move out,” Simon said suddenly, snapping her out of her head. She jerked a discordant chord on her guitar as she dropped it, causing him to wince. “Princess Bubblegum is getting me set up with a little place on the border of the Candy Kingdom," he continued awkwardly.

"Move out?" Marcy yelped, reaching over to grab Simon's hand then quickly releasing when she saw him wince. "Why? You've only been back as yourself for six months! You're- you're not ready yet! You can't live on your own in Ooo, you'll get killed!"

"I got through the apocalypse, remember. I believe you were there," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it the house? Too small? Too dark? We'll move together, somewhere bigger and brighter that has everything you need-"

"The house is fine, Marcy," Simon sighed, "it's not that it's..."

"Is it me?" She asked quietly. Simon set aside his guitar and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. Marcy tried to relax into his touch like she used to but instead dug her hands into his sweater and held on tight.

"No, Sweetie, no, of course not. Believe me, this isn't an easy choice for me either but... Marceline, we always knew this was going to be temporary. You're a beautiful, brilliant, vivacious young woman and you don't need an old dinosaur cramping your lifestyle."

"You're not, I promise. I love having you here. I am so happy I get to see you everyday, to wake up to your cooking and making music together," she said, pulling back to look up at him.

"And I treasure those things too but Marcy, you're not going out with your friends, you're canceling shows and I know you don't feel comfortable bringing your girlfriend around when I'm here. I don't, I guess I'm worried about trapping you."

"You're not, I want you here, I promise. There's always other parties, other gigs and Bonnie, well she's old too, she knows that the most precious things are the ones that-that won't be around forever."

Simon was human again and that meant he was no longer deathless. He'd been in his mid 30s when he first wore the crown, hardly a spring chicken but not old either. That left Marcy about 50 years or so before he was gone and there was no magic on Earth or beyond that could bring him back while she went on and on and on and on and-. She loosened her grip on him before her claws put holes in his sweater, or him.

"Sweet Girl, I know what it's like to cling to something because it’s safe and familiar but we can’t live in the past. I, well, I need to find my own way. You know, learn and adapt like you have and I can't do that living in the backroom in the house of my uh... friend. We’ve had time to reconnect and recover but now it's time for this old bird to fly from the nest."

“You could stay if you wanted,” she said softly, weakly, feeling like the abandoned child she never really stopped being. “You could live here with me the rest of your life and I would love you every minute of every day. If you really want to move out, find your own space, I’ll gladly help. But I want you to know you are always welcome here, in my home and in my life because- because you’re like my dad and nothing will ever change that or how I feel about you.”

They never really spoke the words: dad, daughter, family, even if that's what they were to each other. There was always the risk Hunson would overhear and take it out on Simon. But also 'dad' had come to represent disappointment and anger and fear while 'Simon' fit the meaning much better. Who needed a dad when she had a Simon?

“Oh Marceline,” Simon said softly, resting his cheek against her hair. “I don’t deserve your love after what I put you through.” 

“Like you said, we can’t live in the past,” she mumbled, squeezing him as tight as she dared. Time moved so quickly for her, how many more times would she get to hug him before he was gone? They stayed like for a while before he pulled back and wiped his misty eyes underneath his glasses.

"Princess Bubblegum said the place should be finished soon. It's not very far and, you, likewise, are welcome to visit anytime. I've even asked the Princess to set aside an extra bedroom for you and Finn if ever you need somewhere to stay." Simon said, breaking eye contact to grab his guitar and lightly finger the strings. 

"Do Finn and Jake know about this?" Marcy teased. It's been an endless source of amusement watching Simon latch onto Finn like a mother hen and for it all to fly over the boy's head. Simon cooks for them, teaches Finn when he can pin the boy down between adventures and positively dotes on him and her unofficial little brother still didn't get it.

"Jake thinks it's a great idea," Simon sniffed. "Finn is almost 18 and full of reckless, teenage energy, not to mention a whole load of unaddressed trauma. Jake's getting older, he can use all the help he can get managing Finn."

"Word to that," She laughed. The heavy emotional pall lifting, she picked up her bass again and played the same simple melody as Simon. "Was that all you wanted to talk about? The house?"

"No," Simon looked uncomfortable. "I've put it off too long really but with the house set to be up soon, I do need to collect the rest of my belongings from the uh..."

"Oh yeah, you had that whole secret room in the Ice Kingdom, all those books and artifacts and stuff," Marcy noted.

"The last remnants I have of Betty are there too," Simon said dully. They don't talk about her much, mostly because the grief and guilt reminded both of them too much of Ice King. He still had his bad days spent alone doing glob knows what in his room. "I have a lot of things I need to get that I’ve been putting off because well…”

“It’s got to be weird,” Marcy said with an understanding smile. “You were Ice King then Gunter is now Ice Thing. I think everyone needed space after what went down. Me and PB can go get your stuff if you want.”

“No, no, it needs to be me. I can’t run away from the past forever,” Simon sighed. “I could use your help with moving as well as sorting through what’s important and what’s just sentimental junk. I collected as many pre-war artifacts as I could before I was consumed by the crown so I’m not even sure what’s all there.”

“Of course, I’m sure Finn would like to be involved too if it’s about human stuff,” Marcy said

“I’ll message him and I’m pretty sure Gunter gave me his new number too,” Simon muttered absently. “The Ice Kingdom still doesn’t have any citizens so hopefully Gunter will be able to accommodate us.”

“But that will probably take some time to coordinate,” Marcy said in a lilting tone, “and you still owe me a jam session. Show me that one song you used to play on guitar all the time, you know, the one that goes like-” she hastily strummed out a few chords. Simon laughed.

“A thousand years after the end of the world and Bob Dyland still endures,” he said, making some minor adjustments to his tuning keys. “Ok, my memory isn’t what it used to be so don’t complain if I get the lyrics or melody mixed up. So it’s a simple song that has a repeat rhythm of D, G, C, G. Got it? Ok and a one and two and a three-”

The house was soon filled with music and laughter and lots of love.

#adventure time #simon petrikov #marceline abadeer #finally finished #this is gonna be part 1 of 3 or 4 part series #exploring simons relationship with his kids through music #song title is shelter from the storm by bob dylan #love simon and marcy but look at all the regrets and abandonment issues and avoidance tactics they have stuffed into a trenchcoat #they're both overly clingy and distant at the same time I love it #both clinging to a past that doesn't really exist anymore and trying to cope with this new reality #they make me insane

[throuple-tournament]

Throuple Tournament Info

Rules

Submissions are closed.

Polls will run for a week and I will give you at least a days notice.

I will not answer asks while a poll is up unless it's propaganda or a question about the polls.

I will not answer asks about discourse. I might think about what you said but I don't want discourse on this blog.

I will also not respond to rude or mean asks.

Please send asks that are propaganda. Also, please send asks with your fan art or your favourite screenshots that you wouldn't mind me using for polls.

Please send in a description of your favourite throuples if you want to; these will be used in the polls.

Please do not be rude about other people's interests or the other throuples in the tournament. You can talk about your preferred throuple without talking badly about the other/s.

Please don't jokingly threaten others or joke about suicide. I've noticed that some polls I follow have had this issue and I don't want this to happen on my blog.

I don't know when I'm going to have the first polls ready as I'm going to be getting busier from this week onwards but I'll let you guys know.

Match Ups Under Keep Reading

Group 1

Marco/Star/Tom vs Marco/Janna/Jackie from Star vs the Forces of Evil

Adaine/Fig/Ayda vs Em/Sofia/Dale from Dimension 20

Kala/Wolfgang/Rajan vs Lito/Hernando/Daniela from Sense 8

Willow/Luz/Amity vs Willow/Hunter/Gus from The Owl House

Raz/Lilli/Dogen vs Ford/Lucretia/Otto from Psychonauts

Finn/Rey/Poe vs Rex/Anakin/Padme from Star Wars

Makoto/Sayaka/Kyoko vs Hajime/Nagito/Chiaki from Danganronpa

Ryunosuke/Barok/Kazuma vs Clay/Apollo/Klavier from The Great Ace Attorney

Jason/Roy/Koriand'r vs Dick/Barbara/Koriand'r from DC Comics

Marius/Ivy/Raphaella vs Orpheus/Narcissus/Eurydice from The Mechanisms

Group 2

Selina/Harley/Ivy vs Tim/Bernard/Kon from DC

Sam/Tucker/Danny vs Vlad/Jack/Maddie from Danny Phantom

Rose/Lissa/Natalie from Vampire Academy vs Bonnie/Caroline/Elena from Vampire Diaries

Jay/Nya/Cole from Ninjago vs Red Son/Mei/MK from Lego Monkie Kid

Rilla/Arum/Damien from Penumbra Podcast vs Howard/James/Cel from Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast

Haru/Legosi/Louis from Beastars vs Ranpo/Poe/Mushitarou from Bungou Stray Dogs

Adrien/Marinette/Kagami from Miraculous Ladybug vs Anne/Marcy/Sasha from Amphibia

Ichika/Nene/Kanade vs Rui/Mafuyu/Tsukasa from Project SEKAI

Parker/Hardison/Elliot from Leverage vs Neal/Peter/Elizabeth from White Collar

Yamato/Ace/Deuce from One Piece vs Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere from Arthurian Legend

Group 3

Ichigo/Minto/Retasu from Tokyo Mew Mew vs Hikaru/Lala/Yuni from Star Twinkle Precure

Kyle/Rogelio/Lonnie from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power vs Pearl/Rose/Greg from Steven Universe

Rapunzel/Eugene/Cassandra from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure vs Zuko/Sokka/Suki from Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Doctor/Rose/Jack from Doctor Who vs James/Bones/Spock from Star Trek TOS

Nancy/Steve/Jonathan from Stranger Things vs Merlin/Gwen/Arthur from Merlin (2008)

Rachel/Chloe/Max from Life is Strange vs Thanatos/Zagreus/Megaera from Hades

Vincent/Victor/Albert from Vincent: The Secret of Myers vs Rinne/Himeru/Niki from Ensmeble Stars!

Jack/Kirtash/Victoria from Idhun's Memories Series vs Qibli/Winter/Moonwatcher from Wings of Fire Series

Ludivine/Rielle/Audric from The Empirium Trilogy vs Vlad/Nathan/Ursula from Hunger Pangs:True Love Bites

King Kelp/Lord Cabbage/Bagel from Cucumber Quest vs Camilla/Nyra/Dendro from Muted

Group 4

Neptune/Uranus/Pluto from Sailor Moon vs Aira/Rizumu/Mion from Pretty Rhythm

Mickey/Goofy/Donald from Disney vs Pepe/Sylvester/Penelope from Looney Tunes

Draculaura/Clawdeen/Frankie from Monster High vs Ruby/Weiss/Penny from RWBY

Nathan/Annalise/Gabriel from The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself vs Quentin/Eliot/Arielle from The Magicians

Leon/Claire/Ada from Resident Evil vs Jaskier/Yennefer/Geralt from The Witcher

Abigail/Sam/Sebastian from Stardew Valley vs Candy/Sapphire/Zack from My Sims

Sweet/Capn/K_K from Deltarune vs Shiver/Frye/Big Man from Splatoon

Chris/Millie/Conrad from Chronicles of Chrestomanci vs Sadie/Walt/Anubis from The Kane Chronicles

Rah'oxah/Legzi/Ryjnah from Drawga: Dungeons and Drawings vs Grendan/York/Rose from Drawtectives

Jean/Scott/Logan from Marvel Comics vs Wu/Li/Gao from Iron Widow

Group 5

Yuji/Megumi/Nobara from Jujutsu Kaisen vs Misa/Light/L from Deathnote

Lucy/George/Anthony from Lockwood & Co vs Louis/Lestat/Armand from Interview With A Vampire

Chel/Tulio/Miguel from The Road to El Dorado vs Manolo/Maria/Joaquin from The Book of Life

Henry/Charles/Ellie from Henry Stickmin Collection vs Steve/Alex/Herobrine from Minecraft

Soldier/Demoman/Zhanna from TF2 vs Susie/Magolor/Taranza from Kirby

Morgana/Launchpad/Drake from Darkwing Duck vs Yoo/Han/Kim from Omniscient Readers Viewpoint

Isabela/Merril/Hawke from Dragon Age 2 vs Dorian/Orym/Fearne from Critical Role Campaign 3

Vivi/Arthur/Lewis from Mystery Skulls Animated vs Aizo/Yujiro/Hiyori from Honeyworks

June/Dave/Karkat from Homestuck vs Trevor/Sypha/Alucard from Castlevania

Elizabeth/Jack/Will from Pirates of the Carribean vs Cyrano/Christian/Roxanne from Cyrano (2021)

#throuple #tournament #polls

[bellaxgiornata]

Caught in the Undertow [Chapter One]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Original Female Character

Summary: Eight months ago Emily Diehl moved from Hell’s Kitchen to the Upper West Side as her wedding photography business successfully took off. But between her recent, traumatic break up with an ex who won't leave her alone and her increased workload, she's lost touch with her friends, family, and herself. Struggling through grief and depression, Emily ends up confiding in one of her best friend's and former crush along with her old neighborhood's mysterious vigilante, Daredevil–though Emily doesn't realize the two are one in the same. Every day she is left wondering what it will take to find herself again. And as she slowly finds her way back, she's beginning to wonder just why Daredevil cares so much...

Warnings/tags: 18+ for this series; contains fluff, angst, domestic violence, depression, PTSD, smut

Word Count: 8k

a/n: Slowly posting one of my angsty Matt Murdock x OFC stories over to tumblr to see if there is interest. The first eighteen chapters are already written and this story is almost finished. Feel free to leave feedback so I know how interested y'all are in more of this one! You can find the entire list of chapters for this series here.

Balancing the heavy bag on my shoulder as I leant forward, I shoved the spare key into the lock and turned it, hearing the telltale click as the door unlocked. Straightening, I opened the apartment door and was immediately greeted with Ezra's voice calling out from his bedroom. 

"I left some pasta in the fridge," he told me.

I grinned, shutting the front door behind me before holding a hand against the wall as I kicked out of my uncomfortable heels. "You're a saint!" I called back.

I pulled the heavy camera bag from my sore shoulder and set it on the little kitchen table, rubbing the ache it had left behind absently as I crossed the small space to the fridge. I pulled the door open, my eyes widening happily when I spotted the bowl of spaghetti covered with a piece of plastic wrap. Hungrily, I pulled it out, ripping off the covering before opening a nearby drawer and finding a fork. Wasting no time, I swirled a forkful of pasta and shoved it in my mouth, my eyes closing as I chewed.

"You didn't even heat it up first?" Ezra's horrified voice rang through the kitchen. 

My eyes flew open and I saw my brother standing at the end of the hallway with a disturbed expression on his face as he watched me eat. His nose wrinkled further as he saw me shovel another forkful of pasta ungracefully into my mouth.

I shrugged a shoulder at him. "What?" I asked around the mouthful of pasta. "I'm starving."

"You're an animal," he said with a chuckle.

I kicked his shin as he stepped beside me, reaching up to pull out a glass before filling it in the sink. He set it on the counter next to me and gestured to it with his head.

"Drink," he ordered. "I know you don't get a chance to drink nearly enough during wedding days."

I swallowed another bite of pasta before mumbling, "Or eat enough."

I picked up the glass, ignoring how Ezra was staring at me from his place beside me at the kitchen counter, and chugged the entire glass in one go. He rolled his eyes and picked up the empty glass, returning to the sink and refilling it for me as I swirled a massive amount of pasta onto my fork again. 

"Animal," he muttered in amusement. 

"Shut up," I responded as I chewed.

"So you're finally gracing Hell’s Kitchen with your presence tonight?" my brother asked as he got himself a glass of water.

I continued shoveling the pasta down, rolling my eyes. "I told you I was coming out tonight. Marci invited me the other week." I chewed quickly as I brought the now empty bowl to the sink, rinsing it out thoroughly before shooting Ezra a look over my shoulder. "Dishwasher dirty?" I asked him. When he nodded, I pulled it open, placing the bowl inside. "I'm going to Josie’s tonight to see everyone. It's been…too long." I closed the dishwasher, straightening and glancing at him. "You were invited too."

I headed over to my camera bag, grabbing the lipstick from an outside pouch and ignoring the curious expression on his face. I made my way down the short hall to the bathroom, flipping on the light and checking my appearance in the mirror.

"We haven't been to Josie’s in forever," Ezra said, appearing abruptly as he leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom. "And why the hell would Marci Stahl be at Josie’s?"

I paused, shooting him a pointed look through his bathroom mirror as I touched up my makeup. "She's dating Foggy now, remember? And that was Foggy and Matt's go-to bar." My eyes darted back to myself in the mirror, capping the dark red lipstick and running my hand through the dark curls that had fallen from a long day of work. "She said the four of them go every Wednesday, Friday, and most Saturday nights when I ran into her the other weekend at Cece's wedding. But I've been too booked the past two weeks to meet them there."

He shot me another curious look, arms crossing over his chest. "You hate going out after working a full wedding, though."

"Yeah, well," I said, turning around with a huff and leaning my hip against the bathroom counter. "I haven't seen them in forever. I've been so busy building up this business ever since I moved out of Hell's Kitchen that I've neglected my social life. I miss Karen, Marci, Foggy, and Matt. And ," I told him firmly, "I'm sleeping on your couch tonight. So I don't have to go far after."

Ezra's expression suddenly perked up, his back straightening. "Wait, Karen's going to be there?" he asked immediately.

I rolled my eyes, making my way past him and slapping his shoulder as I went. "Yeah, lover boy. Maybe don't get too drunk tonight and ruin your time with her, huh?"

I heard Ezra scoff as he followed me down the hallway towards the front door. "You're one to talk."

I frowned, turning on my heel in the space between the kitchen and living room, shooting him a glare. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He rolled his eyes at me now, a grin on his lips. "Oh come off it already. You've had a crush on Matt Murdock since day one ," Ezra pointed out. "If you hadn't been so off and on with that asshole Justin you'd have jumped Matt long ago." He smirked, stepping closer to me to ruffle my hair and laughing when I roughly swatted him away. 

I frowned as I tried to fix the hair Ezra had just mussed, feeling my heart lurch at the mention of my ex. It was not a topic I liked to dwell on.

"Yeah well, he's old news," I said solemnly, trying to slip my heels back on. I winced as the first one cut back into my already sore and aching foot. "And Matt and I are just friends. Always have been." I slipped my other foot into the black heel and closed my eyes, cringing at the pain. I let out a slow breath before turning back to my brother, watching as he slid his worn out Van's on his feet. "And you know I'm not dating right now."

"Right," he said, raising two fingers on each hand to air quote, "you're taking 'a sabbatical from all men.' I give it another month, Em." He pointed a firm finger at my chest. "And that's being generous ."

I slapped his hand away roughly, annoyed. "Let's just go."

I grabbed the small purse I had tucked into my camera bag for tonight, slipping it over my head before turning to the front door where Ezra was waiting with it open. We walked down the hallway together toward the elevator at the end. The back of my heels dug further into my feet with each step but I tried to ignore the pain. The moment I pushed the elevator call button, Ezra slung his arm over my shoulder. 

"Sorry about bringing up Justin," he apologized softly. "I know it's a…sore spot. I shouldn’t have." I grunted grumpily in response and he lightly shook my shoulders. "You going to be okay?"

I turned my head, eyeing him for a moment. He was staring back at me with worry in his eyes, his mouth pulling down at one corner. Ever since he'd gotten the call when I was in the hospital a few months back he had noticed something was off about me despite my attempts to hide it.

"Yeah," I lied easily as the elevator doors opened. His arm slipped back to his side as I stepped in with him following close beside me. Pushing the button for the first floor, I told him, "My biggest concern right now is walking around the corner in these heels without accidentally slicing a foot off."

Ezra glanced down at my choice of footwear before shaking his head. "I will never understand why you women torture yourselves."

"For fashion," I told him simply. "And it makes our asses look good."

He snorted, slinging his arm back over my shoulders as the doors opened and we exited, making our way towards the apartment building’s main doors.

"Well your ass is going to stick out like a sore thumb at Josie’s dressed like that," he snickered.

I elbowed him in the ribs, grinning when he hissed in a sharp breath. "I just finished working a thirteen hour day, on my feet in heels, toting around heavy camera equipment, at the beck and call of a bridezilla," I retorted testily. "I haven't had a night out for fun in months and I didn't have time or energy to drag my ass to the Upper West Side for a change of clothes."

"You and your fancy apartment," Ezra grumbled, rubbing his rib with his free hand where I had elbowed him. 

"You're just jealous," I shot back.

"Certainly not of your rent," he mumbled. "Should be illegal to charge that."

"Yeah, well, people apparently pay a lot for wedding photographers in the city," I muttered.

"And you're working yourself to death," he told me, pulling the building's main doors open and letting me pass through first. "Seriously, Em, do you even sleep anymore?"

"I'm fine," I answered sharply.

The sharpness of my words had abruptly cut off all conversation as we began the three minute walk around the corner to Josie’s. The night had cooled off a bit and the slight breeze felt good as we walked. I was glad for the silence, even if it was a bit tense, as we walked towards the bar together. I wasn't in the mood for his questions and scrutiny after the long day I'd had.

The truth was I wasn't fine. I hadn't been fine since I'd left Hell's Kitchen eight months ago. I was working myself to death but it was intentional. I was a level of tired I didn't know could exist because of the break up I'd had with Justin four months ago. I didn't like to let my brain have a chance to think or remember anything about what had happened between us back then, but I was admittedly quickly becoming too overwhelmed with work. 

I hadn’t told Ezra much about the break up either because I hadn't been able to bring myself to fully talk about it yet. If I thought about things too closely, my chest felt like it was constricting and the permanent ache there would only intensify. There was a knot in my stomach that wouldn't disappear, either; it sat heavy as a constant reminder that twisted and pulled anytime I thought about that night .

So I didn't want to think about that tonight; I didn’t want to have an anxiety attack because I’d had enough of them alone in my apartment over the past few months. I missed my friends and I was hoping some semblance of normalcy would have me feeling more like myself–or at least better .

When Josie’s came into view just a minute later, the red neon sign on the window out front casting its glow on our faces, I smiled softly. We’d spent many a night here over the past couple of years, whether it was just Karen, Matt, Foggy and I, or whether Ezra and Marci had joined us as well. We’d come here to celebrate many personal victories or drown out our stresses and struggles. For a long time it had been like a second home to me.

Ezra, ever the gentleman, stepped ahead of me, holding the door to the bar open. The sound of classic rock and the faint smell of beer and mold hit my nose the moment I stepped inside. The dim light cast from multiple rope lights around the ceiling and scattered neon signs cast a hazy glow around Ezra and I as we made our way straight to the bar, my heels clicking loud and out of place against the sticky cement floor. 

Josie spotted us immediately, placing a beer roughly in front of a man sitting at one of the stools before she wandered over. She smirked at me, a little glint behind her eye.

“Haven’t seen your smartass around here in awhile,” she said with a laugh.

I grinned, leaning my arms against the counter before cringing, having accidentally leaned into a damp spot. Josie slid some napkins towards me as I removed my arms and I gratefully wiped the booze off of me.

“Forgot how charming you could be,” I teased. 

She shot me a wink before her eyes passed over the pair of us. “What are you drinking tonight?”

“Two beers, the usual,” I told her, slapping some cash on the counter.

She grabbed the cash and wandered back down the bar to get our drinks. A loud noise almost akin to a squeal erupted behind me and I jumped, turning on the spot and causing the back of one of my heels to painfully dig further into my foot.

“Marci said you might come out tonight!” Karen shrieked excitedly.

She immediately darted forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and roughly pulling me in for a hug. My hands flew up around her waist to return the gesture. When she pulled back she was smiling wide before her attention shifted to Ezra who was handing me my beer.

“Ezra, we haven’t seen you out here in awhile either,” she said, lightly slapping his arm.

I swore I saw my brother blush as he half-shrugged. “Didn’t know you all still came out here,” he told her.

“Of course we do!” she said.

She grabbed me by the arm and began dragging me across the bar to a table where I could see Foggy seated beside Marci and who I assumed from the back of their head was Matt next to what must have been Karen’s seat. Marci was bouncing up and down in her seat, waving excitedly as I made my way over. Foggy shot me a large smile when our eyes locked as Karen continued to drag me over. When we were a table away, Marci slid off of her chair and rushed over towards me, pulling me into a hug much like Karen had.

“I didn’t think you were ever going to come back out and see us!” she told me.

A pang of guilt hit me hard at her words. “Sorry I just…I’ve been literally swamped with work. I just finished a thirteen hour day but decided I’d come out since I was going to be passing through Hell’s Kitchen.”

“Thirteen hours?” Marci asked, entirely appalled at the idea.

“Shit, take my seat,” Karen said, ushering me into the chair beside Matt.

I slid into the wooden chair, grateful I was no longer standing on my very tired and sore feet. Matt turned towards me in his seat, a small smile on his lips as his knees lightly bumped mine under the table. My heart gave a little lurch in my chest at the sight of him before me. He still looked good, even with the few cuts along his face, as he sat there in a dark gray tee-shirt that hugged his arms and chest just right as his red-tinted glasses stared back at me.

“It’s been awhile,” Matt said, his voice soft.

I nervously tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I nodded. “Yeah,” I admitted, voice low. “I uh…maybe underestimated what I was getting myself into.”

“So what’s life like in the Upper West Side?” Foggy cut in, leaning dramatically forward on the table towards me. 

“Shit, you must have a nice apartment,” Marci said as she resumed her place beside Foggy.

I frowned, realizing I’d never had a chance to invite them out after I’d moved. What kind of shit friend had I been lately? Guilt sat heavy in my gut next to the beer I began drinking down.

“Yeah I never really did a housewarming, did I?” I mused lightly, setting my bottle back onto the table.

“No, but you still can,” Marci pointed out.

I noticed the narrowed glare Karen sent to her from her place beside my brother at the end of the table. I caught Marci mouth back a ‘what?’ in response.

“You know what, I’ll set something up,” I told them. “My schedule clears up a bit in a few weeks. I can stop being such a shit friend.”

“You haven’t been a shit fri–”

I held up a hand, immediately cutting Foggy short. “Yeah, I have,” I told him. “And I’m sorry. If I hadn’t run into Marci the other week at that wedding, I don’t know if I’d have seen you all again. Felt like…too much time passed for me to reach out.”

“Absolutely not,” Karen said firmly, shaking her head. “You’ll always be one of us.”

“One of us, one of us,” Foggy jokingly chanted from across the table.

Marci sharply turned her head, shooting him a look. I grinned, my eyes darting down to the table as my fingers fiddled with the beer bottle in front of me. 

“If it makes you all feel any better,” Ezra said, holding his beer to his lips, “I’m her brother and I barely saw her too.”

I shot him a look, my eyes narrowed.

“So I take it the photography is going well?” Matt asked from beside me, catching my attention.

“Too well,” I told him. “I had a hard time saying no at first if I had dates available. Ended up way overbooking myself. Still trying to learn what a healthy work-life balance looks like but I think in a few weeks, when my weddings thin out to a realistic amount, I’ll be in a better place. Work-wise at least.”

Foggy cleared his throat, his fingers tapping lightly against the glass he was drinking out of as he spoke. “Soo,” he began, dragging the word out hesitantly, “are you and…Justin still a thing?”

My eyes immediately dropped back down to my hands on the table, fingers spinning the bottle nervously in front of me. “No,” I answered quietly before grabbing the bottle and taking a long drink.

I saw Foggy glance at Matt beside me before he straightened up further, his eyebrows creasing together. “You mean, for real this time?” he asked.

I swallowed hard, forcing a tight smile on my face as I met his eyes. “Yeah,” I answered simply. “So how long have you and Marci been an actual thing?” I asked, very obviously trying to change the subject.

The two turned to look at each other, the look of pure adoration and affection in their eyes making my heart hurt. I tried to keep the smile on my face as Foggy flung his arm over her shoulder and turned back to me.

“A few months now,” he told me.

“We already sort of were,” Marci said, “So I figured I’d finally let him take me on an official first date.”

“She hasn’t been able to get rid of me since,” Foggy finished for her, a proud smile on his face.

“I had a feeling it was just a matter of time,” I told them, smiling lightly. My attention shifted as I turned a bit in my chair, my eyes darting between Karen and Matt. “What about you two?” I asked. “Any relationships I missed out on?”

Karen shook her head, her eyes briefly glancing to my brother beside her as her cheeks reddened. My eyebrow rose curiously at the sight. Was she interested in him too? She'd never mentioned that to me before.

“No dates,” she told me with a slight shrug. “Just been busy with The Bulletin. Haven’t had time to meet anyone.”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I love your articles,” I told her quickly. “I search for them in every issue. I think you found your calling with journalism.”

She blushed, murmuring a ‘thanks’ before my eyes slowly dropped to Matt beside me. He was tapping a finger against his beer bottle. 

“And, what about you, Matt?” I asked, my voice sounding a little tight as I asked. 

His head turned in my direction, his glasses reflecting my own anxious face back to me. He smiled a little before he shook his head lightly.

“No,” he told me. “It’s uh…it’s just me.”

Something about the way he responded made my heart twist a little. But I didn’t have much time to dwell on that before Foggy was loudly cutting in.

“He’s a perpetual bachelor, the bastard,” he told me. 

I nodded, a pained smile on my face as I said, “Well I guess some things never change, right?”

The corner of Matt’s lips turned down as he averted his attention back to his drink. I caught the curious arch of Ezra’s brow behind Matt’s now downturned head. He shot me a pointed look before his eyes roughly shifted to Matt and back to me. I very slightly shook my head, swiftly turning my attention to my drink.

The night carried on as we all caught up, ordering more rounds of drinks for the table as time wore on. Eventually it began to feel like I’d never disappeared for eight months with how much we all were suddenly joking, laughing, and teasing one another. It felt good. It was the most I’d laughed in a long time.

“Well I need to get home,” Karen eventually said as she placed her empty beer bottle on the table. “I’ve got an article to submit in the morning.”

“I’ll walk you,” Ezra quickly offered, downing his drink.

I grinned, watching the blush rise to Karen’s cheeks as she accepted his offer.

“You’re just going to let your sister walk home this late at night alone?” Foggy teased him.

Ezra shrugged, waving a hand at me. “She can walk around a corner, right?”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured Foggy. “If anyone gets too close I’ll stab them with one of my heels.”

Ezra wandered towards me, clapping a hand to my back proudly and saying, “That’s my baby sis.”

I slapped his hand off with a laugh, shooing him away after Karen. I mouthed ‘good luck’ to him and shot him a thumbs up as he left. When they were out of sight, I turned back, taking another pull of my beer.

“They’re totally hooking up,” Marci said abruptly.

I choked on the drink I was taking, coughing for a moment. Matt’s large hand patted me roughly on the back.

“Gross, that’s my brother,” I said when I’d regained my composure.

“And Karen’s been into him for forever,” she said, downing the rest of her drink. “Just like you–”

My eyes went wide and I kicked her quickly under the table. She abruptly stopped, her own eyes going wide. I shook my head as Foggy suddenly narrowed his eyes between the two of us.

“You know what? I’m drunk,” she said suddenly, turning to Foggy. “We should probably go home, babe.”

"Uh, yeah, sure…" he said apprehensively as his eyes slid over to Matt.

I cleared my throat quickly as I said, "I should probably get back to Ez's. I'm pretty tired after today anyway."

I picked up my third beer, downing it quickly before placing the empty bottle on the table and sliding off of the chair. I winced the moment my feet touched the floor, the fresh cuts reopening on my feet as I hissed. 

Matt was on his feet quickly, somehow finding my elbow and gripping it lightly in his hand. His head dipped towards me as he asked, "You okay?"

"Just my feet killing me," I told him, still grimacing. "It's fine."

Marci rounded the table, pulling me into a hug as Matt released my arm. "Thanks for coming out. I missed you, girl." She leaned closer to my ear, whispering, "Sorry I almost outed your secret."

I pulled back, smiling sheepishly at her. "I missed you too. I'll have to come out again."

"Yes, we're here most of the week with the ladies," Foggy told me, throwing his arm back around Marci. "Sometimes Matt and I swing by after work though, if you're ever around." He shot me a serious look as he said, "So don't be a stranger."

I gave Foggy a hug goodbye and promised I'd be back out again soon. When he and Marci took off, I was very aware of the fact that I was now alone with Matt. I bit my lip nervously, feeling my palms sweat as Matt turned towards me, a small smile on his face. 

"I guess–"

"I can–"

We both spoke at the same time, pausing awkwardly when we realized the other was about to speak. I tucked a strand of hair nervously behind my ear, feeling more awkward around Matt after months of having not seen him.

"I was going to say I could walk you home," Matt said, an almost shy smile on his face as he scratched the back of his neck with one hand. 

"Oh, uh, you don't have to," I assured him. "It's literally around the corner."

"I'd feel better if you didn't walk alone this late at night," he told me. 

"Okay," I agreed in a soft voice.

Matt grabbed his folded up cane from off of the table. I watched silently as he unfolded it before I stepped towards him, wordlessly grabbing his hand and bringing it to the inside of my elbow as I had done so many times in the past. For some reason this time I was more aware of the warmth of his hand as it wrapped around my bare skin.

My eyes flew to his mouth as his tongue darted out along his lips, wetting them. 

“You ready to go?” he asked me.

I had to force my eyes away from his lips, clearing my throat lightly. “Yeah, I uh…didn’t bring much,” I told him.

I began to lead him out of the bar, the sound of his cane tapping along the floor almost matching the sound of my heels as we walked. My palms were beginning to sweat as his shoulder bumped up against mine when we exited through the door.

"I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable," Matt said as we stepped outside. 

I glanced over at him as he turned to face me, his head tilted a bit in my direction. I couldn't quite make out his expression behind the dark glasses.

"What?" I asked him, brows furrowing at his comment.

"You seem uncomfortable," he told me.

I hesitated, my eyes darting to the sidewalk as we walked. With how bad my feet hurt, I was sure there was going to be blood in my shoes. I'd need to leave a comfortable pair in the future at Ez's.

"I just…feel like an ass," I admitted uncomfortably after a moment.

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"I should have stayed in touch with you all," I began, the words abruptly spewing out of my mouth. And suddenly I was spilling my guts to Matt like no time had passed at all; he had somehow always had that effect on me since I'd known him. "I've been a shit friend. I've just…I've had a lot going on and I've been intentionally keeping myself busy to avoid having to deal with anything else in my life. And you were one of my best friends and you didn't deserve that, and now here you are being nice and wanting to walk me to my brother's place even though it's literally a three minute walk and I just…I don't deserve that."

Matt paused abruptly on the sidewalk, causing me to come to a stop at his side. I saw his brows dip down beneath his glasses as he looked back at me. The streetlights above us cast his face in a warm wash of yellow and I became all too aware of his hand holding my arm again.

"Sorry, that was a lot," I apologized softly. 

He raised his hand with his cane, adjusting the glasses briefly on his face as he nodded, chuckling a little. 

"Yeah…just a bit," he said. "I wished you'd stayed in touch," he admitted. "We all do. We missed you. … I missed you, Em." 

"I'm sorry," I apologized again.

He hesitated as he looked towards me, the hand holding the crook of my elbow giving a light squeeze. I felt the knot in my stomach tighten, suddenly sure Matt could see straight through me.

"Are you okay, Em?" he asked carefully.

My eyes dropped down to the space between us on the sidewalk, the ache in my chest coming back. 

"Yeah," I told him–a blatant lie.

A deep frown crossed his lips as his head dipped down towards the sidewalk. He stared down at the pavement for a moment before he shook his head suddenly.

"Don't lie to me, Em," he said, his head rising back up. "You've been off all night. There's an edge to your voice that's not usually there. I’ve known you long enough to know when somethings wrong. You know you can always talk to me, right?"

"It's just stress," I told him quickly. "I'm fine."

He didn't answer, instead he stared at me with a pained expression on his face for a long while. Eventually I exhaled sharply, unsure of how he always knew when I was lying about anything important.

"Fine, I'm not okay," I admitted quietly. "But I don't want to talk about it."

The frown remained a permanent fixture on his face as he pulled me forward, tugging on my elbow. We began walking again and I spotted Ezra's building just a few buildings over. Matt was silent as we neared it and I eventually had to pull him to a stop.

"This is Ez's," I told him softly. 

Matt removed his hand from my arm, holding his cane between both of his hands now as he looked towards me.

"You know you used to tell me everything," he said, hurt in his tone. “We were best friends.”

I swallowed hard, looking at the building behind him. It was too hard to look at his face right now, not with the way he was looking at me.

"It's not…not a conversation I want to have right now, Matt," I told him weakly. 

He nodded slowly, taking a step back. My heart hurt at the visible space he placed between us.

"Do you…want me to get you a cab?" I asked him awkwardly.

"No, I know my way home from here," he assured me. "I guess I'll see you next time you come out, Em."

"Yeah," I said, voice strained.

"Goodnight, Em," he said, turning and heading off, cane tapping along the sidewalk as he went.

"Goodnight, Matt," I whispered at his back.

I watched him walk down to the end of the block, my heart sinking further in my chest as he went. With a huff I eventually turned and headed into the building, making my way up to Ezra's apartment.

°•°•°•°•°•°

I had tossed and turned for an hour on Ezra's uncomfortable leather sofa after he had returned from walking Karen home. His faint snores were audible down the hall; he'd fallen asleep almost the moment he'd lain down. He'd always been like that though, always falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Ever since we were kids. I'd often wondered what it was like to be able to fall asleep so easily, to not have your thoughts keep you awake for hours on end and leave you exhausted the next day. Day after day after day.

With a huff, I gave up on sleep for now, the usual thoughts plaguing my mind now mingled with the look of hurt on Matt's face before he'd gone home. Throwing the blanket off of my legs I sat up, frowning at how sore and worn out my body felt from a long day of work. Carrying cameras around my neck that weighed five pounds for an entire thirteen hour day always did a number on my neck and back, add in being in heels for the same length of time and my body was exhausted. Doing double or triple weddings like that back to back left me damn near dead by the end of the weekend.

My arms were shaking slightly as I tried to rub the stiffness out of my lower back for a moment. It was pointless though, the only thing that ever helped was a few days of editing photos and answering emails and phone calls at my desk before doing it all again the next weekend. Thankfully I was at least coming to a point in my calendar where I'd gotten smart and stopped booking every available day someone asked for and instead just booked what I needed to make a living. Working myself to the bone wasn't sustainable. And it was starting to make me feel worse.

I rose to my feet and made my way to the front door, unlocking it and stepping barefoot into the hall. Just to my right was a small set of stairs that led to the roof access; many a drunken night crashing at my brother's place had found me sitting up on his roof. Tonight was no different. 

I sat down on the very edge of the building, one leg dangling off the side of the roof while the other was folded up, my chin resting lightly on my knee as I wrapped my arms around it. I was grateful that I'd left an extra pair of comfortable cotton shorts and a tank top at Ez's to sleep in in the past. The dress had been getting uncomfortable. 

I sighed, closing my eyes and listening to the faint sounds of the city below me. Somehow Hell's Kitchen was louder at night than the Upper West Side, though my apartment building was just barely a few blocks from the Kitchen. 

There was honking in the distance on the streets below, and if I listened close enough I could hear faint drunken yelling. I could hear the soft whoosh of traffic below from the cars and taxis on the busy summer Saturday night. Even the wind was louder up on the rooftop, the sound a low whistle in my ear. 

"You know it's not safe to sit so close to the edge," a deep voice cut through the night.

My eyes opened, immediately recognizing the gravelly voice even though I hadn't heard it in a long while. I glanced up to my right and spotted Daredevil in his red suit staring down at me. He looked exactly the same as the last time I saw him. His mouth was turned up at one corner in a small smile as he stared back down at me. 

I snorted faintly, turning my attention back to the street below me. "Not really too concerned about that," I answered him.

"Because you know I'd catch you if you fall?" he asked, an almost flirtatious teasing in his tone as if it hadn't been months since the last time we'd seen each other.

I hummed softly in response, shaking my head slightly. "No," I muttered. "I just don't really care if I do."

I could see him stiffen out of the corner of my eye at my words. It was a moment before he sat down beside me, dangling both of his feet over the ledge as he positioned himself a couple of feet from my side.

"That's a bit dark," he pointed out.

"Says the guy in a devil suit that spends his evenings hitting people," I quipped back. 

"Fair point," he agreed. "So what's going on? I haven't seen you in Hell’s Kitchen for a while."

"Because I moved just out of Hell’s Kitchen a few months back," I told him, eyes still on the street far below us. "Technically the Upper West Side, but it's only a few blocks from your… territory ."

"Sounds fancy," he mused.

"It is."

"But you aren't happy?" he asked, his head turning towards me.

I exhaled a long breath, closing my eyes. I could feel the ache in my chest and the knot in my stomach a little too well for my liking right now.

"You deduce that from a lonely woman sitting on the ledge of a four story building saying she doesn't care if she falls?" I shot back, though there wasn't much edge to my tone.

"That and the slow, erratic beat of your heart," he told me. 

I rolled my eyes. "You know I forgot you had weird, bat-like senses or whatever."

He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Just heightened, not bat-like."

"Still weird though," I teased him.

Turning my head on my knee to face him, I caught the faint smile on his mouth. That mouth was all I could ever see of his face, whether he'd been in his man in black get-up or the new red suit he'd had for a bit. I'd always thought he had a beautiful mouth but it's all I'd ever seen–besides the muscles through the previous tight black shirt he used to wear.

It had been just over two years since the first run-in I'd had with him when he'd saved me. An asshole had cornered me in a dark alley one night after I’d been drunkenly bar hopping with friends. Daredevil–or the man in the mask at the time–had swooped in and beat the guy bloody before the man had a chance to do much. After that, he'd somehow often found me on and off over the weeks and months that followed. It usually helped that I had often been on Ez's or my previous apartment building’s rooftop. Apparently rooftops were sort of The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen's thing and he frequented them often. Yet somehow, despite the many late night run-ins and conversations, and occasional flirting, he'd never told me much of anything about himself, other than a little bit about his heightened senses.

"What's on your mind?" he asked softly, his voice bringing me back to the present.

"Too much," I whispered back, noticing the slight dip in the corner of his mouth. 

He was quiet for a bit and I turned my attention back to the street below us. Gently I swung my dangling leg back and forth, focusing on the feel of the wind rushing past my bare skin. It was refreshing, calming even.

 "You want to talk about it?" he suddenly asked.

I ran a hand over my face roughly, rubbing at my stinging eyes a few times. I didn't really want to, but somehow talking to him had always been easier than talking to anyone else over the years. Something about discussing my issues with a masked man who knew nothing else about me just made it easier to open up. 

"Don't you have something better to be doing tonight?" I countered.

I heard the stiff material of his armor groan a bit as he shrugged. "I think helping a friend is pretty important," he told me.

I snorted an unamused laugh at his words. He'd never referred to me as a friend before.

"I don't even know your name," I told him, turning back to look at him. "I've never seen your face. And I haven't even spoken to you in months. How am I your friend?"

He rested his hands behind him, leaning back on his elbows looking way too relaxed for someone whose legs were dangling off the edge of a building. A pained smile crossed his mouth, drawing my eye to the movement. 

"I've always considered you a friend," he told me, his voice strained. "I don't tell you who I am to keep you safe…and you've never minded too much before."

I watched him for a moment longer, curious if it was coincidence that he'd stumbled on me the one night I was in Hell’s Kitchen or if he'd somehow known. The ache in my chest tightened abruptly and I glanced down at my foot dangling off the edge of the building. 

"You ever feel like it's too much?" I asked him quietly. 

He shifted beside me, turning so he was facing me and pulling his legs up from the side of the building. He crossed his legs in front of himself, resting his elbows on them as he leaned forward towards me. 

"Ever feel like what’s too much?" he asked gently. 

"Everything," I breathed out. I ran a hand through my hair a few times anxiously. "I feel like I'm just drowning lately. Like I got swept into a river by some damn current and I keep getting pulled under. And every time I feel like I might be reaching the surface of…whatever this is, I get pulled back under. Just…drowning. In work and stress and…pain."

"Your…boyfriend again?" he asked hesitantly. 

A bitter laugh left me as I rubbed at the tears that had started running down my face. Everyone had hated Justin, and told me profusely as much after we’d broken up the very first time. Yet somehow I’d been a blind idiot thinking I was in love, too dumb to see how poorly he treated me until too much had already happened.

"We've been broken up for four months now. For good, this time," I confessed.

"What'd he do?" he asked, his voice suddenly dark and dangerous.

I glanced back at him, staring into the dark red eyes of his helmet. He looked angry even though all I could see was the thin line of his mouth and the tightness of his jaw.

"He uh…cheated," I admitted quietly. "Multiple times with stupid groupies.” I rolled my eyes. He played guitar in a shitty band, ‘groupie’ was a generous term. “He’d been lying to me about his cocaine use, too. Some things were…were going on between us,” I said nervously, having already felt like I was telling him more than I’d told even Ezra. “One night he got…mean. I don’t know if it was the drugs or the withdrawal," I told him, my voice suddenly sounding so weak even to my own ears.

"He put his hands on you?" the Devil snarled beside me, his lip curled back in a sneer as his shoulders abruptly squared.

"Once," I answered, my voice barely audible over the wind. "I was…I had been…" 

The words wouldn't come out, getting stuck in my throat. The knot in my stomach twisted, the ache in my chest constricting tighter. A choked sob came out of my mouth instead as my throat closed tight. 

Very slowly the Devil slid closer to me on the rooftop, the sound of something unfastening reached my ears before I felt a gentle weight wrap around my shoulders almost tentatively. When I opened my eyes, I saw he'd removed both of his gloves, having laid them beside him on the rooftop. He was carefully pulling me into him as I cried, tears freely streaming down my face. I resisted only briefly before I let him pull me into him; my face buried into the leather against his neck, his hands holding my upper back. My eyes clamped shut again, more tears pouring down my cheeks as I sobbed against his neck. The smell of him this close was comforting and somehow vaguely familiar, but I was too far gone to place it as I cried.

“I’m not ready to talk about it,” I choked out as I cried. My head shook roughly back and forth against him as images from that night flashed before my mind. "I can't…I can't," I repeated. 

“Hey, that’s alright,” he told me, his lips moving against the top of my head. His tone was gentler than I’d often heard him use and my hands immediately wrapped around his back, clinging desperately to him. “You don’t have to.”

For a long while I cried into the neck of his suit, feeling the warmth of his actual hands rubbing soothingly along my back as he just held me silently. His presence alone was somehow comforting and slowly I managed to gather myself, pushing the thoughts back down.

"I lied to one of my best friends tonight," I quietly admitted when my crying had calmed. "I hurt him. And I feel terrible."

"I'm sure your friend will understand," he told me softly.

"I feel like an ass," I mumbled, wiping one of my hands across my face.

"You're not an ass," he assured me.

I sighed, pulling reluctantly away from Daredevil's surprisingly warm embrace. I could see moisture glistening on his armor from where I'd cried all over him. 

"Sorry I uh…" I began awkwardly, gesturing to the wetness around his neck, "cried all over you."

He huffed a laugh, a small grin spreading on his mouth. One of his hands rose, lightly brushing across the dampness where my tears had fallen. His mouth twitched slightly but the grin ultimately remained.

"It's just tears," he told me. "I don't mind. Are you feeling any better at least?"

My head turned, glancing down at the street below. I rubbed the heels of my hands against my eyes, trying to wipe away the remaining wetness. I knew I couldn't lie, not to him, because he had told me before he could tell when someone did.

"No," I admitted softly. "But it's late and you should probably get back to doing gymnastics and hitting bad guys or whatever you do."

He stared at me for a long moment, a slight smirk on his lips at my words, but I could see his body was tense. Eventually he reached for his gloves beside him and I watched as he slowly pulled them back on. He gracefully rose to his feet before bending down, extending his gloved hand to me. I sniffled before accepting it, letting him pull me up. I stumbled for a moment on my sore feet, Daredevil’s gentle hands ghosting lightly along my hips for a brief second to steady me before they were gone.

“You should get some sleep,” he told me, that gravely tone back. 

“Right,” I said awkwardly, biting my lip.

“Until next time,” he said, walking backwards towards the opposite ledge of the building.

At the last second, I watched as he spun and jumped, landing impressively on the next building’s roof. Then he took off at a run, easily jumping over obstacles, until he was out of sight and I was alone again.

With a dejected sigh I went back downstairs to Ezra’s apartment, slipping in and locking the door behind me. A short while later I managed to fall asleep on the couch, wrapped up in the blanket and trying to trick myself it was someone else’s arms.

When I woke in the morning, Ezra was still asleep. I’d written him a quick note before changing back into my dress and shoes, grabbing my camera bag and heading outside. I hailed a taxi and found myself riding back to my apartment just before seven in the morning. Traffic was light since it was Sunday and it only took twelve minutes for me to get home.

As I opened the door to my apartment, I was greeted with the sight of my open kitchen and living room, with their large windows that gave me a decent view of the city a few floors below. Everything was neat and clean. Lots of white and crisp, modern lines. A stark contrast to what I’d had when I was in Hell’s Kitchen by far. But as I stood just in the entry of my apartment, all I could see in it was everything that I was feeling reflected back at me–everything that Hell’s Kitchen had never been. 

Cold. Lonely. Empty.

#matt murdock #daredevil #matt murdock x ofc #matt murdock angst #matt murdock fluff #matt murdock smut #matt murdock x oc

[elijahtxx]

I made a jeanlisa playlist cause i was listening to laufey

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vDo39vJ2oCJG2Mj55coyd?si=0cd324c84fe843b7

explanations for the songs i chose:

- From The Start:

they are meant to be lovers and you can't tell me otherwise. lisa would tell jean during their tea time after hearing this song saying "this is definitely our song haha" and jean would think about that the whole day or week even.

- This Is It How It Feels:

"this is how it feels to fall in love with you // to always think of you // to always dream of you // yes, it hurts so much to fall in love with you" HELLOOOO THEIR LOVE STORY HURTS SO MUCH I JUST KNOW IT. they don't want to fall in love with each other cause lisa's gonna croak soon but they can't help it.

- Let You Break My Heart Again:

this song is jean's feelings to lisa :(( jean knows lisa doesn't have much time. she needs to keep telling herself "i have to move on. there are other people." but she doesn't want other people. she wants lisa. god and the chorus of this song ?? this is so jeanlisa coded and it's jean to lisa guys please they hurt so gOOD.

- Promise:

and this ?? UGH THIS IS LISA TO JEAN IN RESPONSE TO THE PREVIOUS SONG DO YOU GUYS SEE MY VISION ?? and i have to point out the key points in this song.

"i've done the math, there's no solution // we'll never last // why can't i let go of this" guys i'm sobbing with each explanation, please be patient with me. lisa tries so so hard to not love jean and not even try to get into a relationship because tHEY NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME, I'M TELLING YOU GUYS IT ALL GOES BACK TO TIME. anyway yeah these bitches gay as hell. lisa keeps telling jean "no we can't, it's inevitable and it'll just hurt more" but they BOTH would share one regret and it's not marrying each other no matter how much time they'd have.

- Bewitched:

now now i've had laufey on repeat and it would be a crime if i didn't add this song.

- What They'll Say About Us:

i HAD to add a finneas song c'mon. also the lyrics "i never said it would be easy // i'm never givin' up, believe me // i used to think the pain would fade, but it never does" it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts, they are each other's comfort. lisa puts a blanket around jean after she's fallen asleep at her desk overworking and then calls for kaeya to help carry jean back to their bed. if it's lisa sleeping then jean carries lisa herself back to their bed <33 oh sorry i just threw a hc in the middle of that LMAO i was supposed to talk about the song. anyway, this song actually also talks about time but it's more hopeful like "oh we always have time" like lmao no y'all don't but they'd like to think that. wishful thinking. maybe i'm projecting.

- Monster (feat. King Princess):

"i know we'll never grow old together // but you'll never grow old to me" GUYS BACK TO MISERY AND PAIN UGH in the original version of this song (Marceline's) marcy and pb can't grow old cause they're immortal so, wow so romantic. jeanlisa however, they can't grow old together cause wHY ?? NO SAY IT WITH ME. WHY NOT ?? BECAUSE LISA'S GONNA FUCKING BITE THE DUST SOONER BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO BE A POWERFUL WITCH. LIKE DAMN GIRLBOSS OF YOU LAH BUT FUCK LAH IT HURTS. also i chose this version specifically cause it sounds more sad and depressing.

- She:

I HAD to put a dodie song. jean and lisa would listen to dodie together for sure. this song is mainly jean to lisa i think. but this is more early jeanlisa like maybe teens. jean doesn't know lisa feels the same about her. she thinks it isn't reciprocated. but this dumb bitch is wRONG.

- Always:

"it was always you falling for me // now there's always time calling for me" iT ALL GOES BACK TO TIMEEEE WAAAA yea this song is lisa to jean specifically. i am on the jean fell first and lisa fell harder agenda.

- Enchanted:

swifties i'm so sorry, i know this one hurts. it's the whole song tbh like ugh maybe after a Windblume celebration, this is how they both feel. they spent the whole event together. they went on patrols together walking around the city seeing all the flowers, decorations, everyone smiling etc. the last day there's a big dance where everyone joins in and they dance the night away. after all that, they both go home and all that's on their mind is what ?? each other.

- Tautou:

guys this song sounds so depressing in the best way possible like if i could tell you to listen to at least one of these songs, it would be this. i put this mainly for the instrumentals.

- The End Of All Things:

very very short love song. not much to say. it sounds incredible. anyway they are in love, thank you.

- Lover's Oath, i'm tired of feeling this way, Greensleeves:

these don't have words, just songs they'd slow dance to or listen to together.

that's it !! i wanna say my friend xclipsa told me to add the end of all things and greensleeves but i meant to put the end of all things but somehow did not ?? i don't know what i did lmao anyway thank you for reading my explanations. hope y'all feel heartache when listening to this playlist like i do. take care, lovelies &lt;3

#genshin impact #genshin #jeanlisa #jean gunnhildr #lisa minci #they are in loveeee #meant to be #also #angst #they never had enough time #heartbreak emoji #music #song #songs #playlist #laufey #finneas #adventure time #king princess #elijah who #dodie #panic! at the disco #taylor swift #brand new #guys #am i doing tumblr right #it's been a while #since you've seen my face #sorry #as soon as i said “it's been a while” i instantly started playing that god awful apology song in my head

[l-egionaire]

One of my favorite Amphibia headcanons? Sasha is a big eater.

Before coming to Amphibia, she was more subtle about it. Taking occasional bites of food off of Anne and Marcy's plates, sneaking snacks along with her to cheerleader practice, always dropping by the Boonchuys restaurant to grab a bite to eat in the guise of visiting Anne.

After coming to Amphibia though? She embraces it. Toads don't give a shit about table manners and they all have pretty big appetites themselves so if Sasha tears through several plates of food at a meal, none of them bat an eye. Remember all that food Sasha had the chef bring out during "Reunion"? Yeah, 90% of that was eaten by Sasha. The girl just inhales food constantly and thanks to both her insane training and a very strong metabolism she still manages to be built like a street light.

(This gets even better when you recall Sasha's first line is literally "Get your own food".)

#Amphibia #amphibia headcanon #Amphibia sasha #Sasha Waybright #anne boonchuy #Marcy Wu #hop pop plantar #sprig plantar

[apphiarothowrites]

Modern MAS Musician Au ]

this has been poking my brain, will I ever write it who knows?

Ace Punk Rock; Machine gun Kelly- very mainstream and adored for his music

Sabo alternative punk; YUNGBLUD - less mainstream but very popular in the UK and with lgbt/marginalized groups

Now Ace and Sabo have collaborated and have some.. feelings but that ain't gonna be looked at too closely cause both of them are focused on their careers. Anyway they end up getting contacted by Whitebeard records (a huge deal, Edward newgate was known as the father of rock for a reason)

SO they come in and are met by Newgate himself, Basically the deal is they are to collaborate in a album to re-launch Di-Angels Return.

Now for those who don't Know Di-angel or for those who were fans Marci Diangelo was a HUGE deal back in the day. Like Joan Jett mixed with Lady gaga. The woman was the beginning of the punk rock scene, aggressively making out with both genders for paparazzi and generally being an absolute menace. Ace and Sabo of course say yes, (Sabo was inspired to start his own music career by her and Ace just thinks she's neat.)

Anyway the day comes where they are supposed to meet Her, Di- Angel, Marci and of course Sabo is kinda fanboying and Ace may or may not be very jealous cause come on, she was hot back in the day but she's in her 40s now. Instead of the busty blonde who once screamed into the microphone about flying away. They are met with a blonde man in a leather jacket.

"Uhm, excuse me?" Ace wants to be irritated but damn the guy is smokin hot. "We were supposed to be meeting Di-angel here."

The man blinks sleepy blue eyes, "yeah, I know."

Sabo bites his lip eye twitching, "You- Marci, we are meeting with Marci Diangelo, the singer."

The blonde man sticks a cig in his mouth, the corner quirking up. "Just said, I know. But you obviously are a bit behind the times." The man stands towering over both of them, "I go by Marco now, call me Marci again and I'll send you both through the door got it?"

Oh shit, fuck yeah, this is GOOD SHIT right here raccooon.

Ever since Pops suggested relaunching Di-Angel, Marco's been nothing but a roll of anxiety in human skin. While their family was fairly accepting, and the punk-rock community as a whole generaly was too, the larger scene is...well. Not quite the same. With most of the people of Marco's generation reacting across the entire spectrum from acceptance to hard rejection, Marco honestly didn't think it would be a good idea.

Yes, his voice and range dropped by a few octaves. Yes his old favorite dresses didn't fit the same any more (not that he wanted to put on most of them any more, just the shiny leather number but he had to get it tailored for the new dimension of his chest and hips). Yes, he's different now and that difference is something that he's gotten shit for from people he thought were friends and something that people he thought hated him were supportive of. It's been a roller coaster of strangeness and that was before Pops suggested relaunching his music career.

He left music because he knew the reactions would be. Mixed. once things got off the ground for his transition. Music never left him-Pops has multiple videos of him humming melodies and tapping beats from doctors' offices and one in a hospital bed-but the scene? He assumed the scene left him well behind.

Then Pops came to him with this insane idea and told him that these two young pups, rising stars and rough diamonds the both of them, were jumping and chomping at the bit. Marco didn't know what to think. He told Pops he'd reserve judgement until they met, but even then the hotcold churning in his stomach of anxiety was steadily eating his confidence of this whole thing working.

Then he meets them and despite the fact that neither of them knew who he was now, they were adorably eager just as Pops said. And, just as Pops said, they're talented if a bit raw. Unrefined, somehow. Both have a similar feel-rough voices in a slightly high medium range, but what really grabs Marco's attention is that they both actually play. Something that's fallen out of fashion in newer bands, that their lead vocalists know what to do with a guitar in hand, they both pick up an axe during the experimental jam session and they aren't too bad either. They know classic riffs and stings, whole lead lines from classic and punk rock staples.

Then something of a miracle happens. Ace picks up a bass and smacks out a fairly simple beat on 5, jumping octaves, and Sabo picks up Marco's old stage piece and. Oh.

That's the lead and bass of "I Feel Fine" and Marco's nothing if not a perfectionist for the classics. He grabs the mic they rigged up for his studio, coughs to clear his throat, and-

Ace does something to the bass beat, a lick or two to change things juuuuust a little and Sabo slips a few 16th and 32nd notes here and there, little twangs to change the key down a half step and suddenly its not The Beatles any more, it's something a little rougher, a little less refined, it's something from the back alleys of a queer bar that Marco used to dress butch for where he got called a good man for the first time. It's like being in love, if love were a dirty suckerpunch and a cigarette after-if love was two men who might not always be men-if love was a little less straight.

That ends up being the second song on the album a year later, a fucking Beatles cover that rockets them right to the top of the charts in multiple countries and forces Marco back into the spotlight no matter how much he tries pushing the younger stars forward and blames them for the majority of their sound. Three vocalists who trade off is definitely strange, especially since Marco is....well, not 'Marci' any more.

But it works, somehow Pops' insane idea doesn't explode in their faces, and if there's maybe a little charged something that happens in the limo ride home from their first awards show, something that's been building for months and months over heated eye contact and falling asleep on each other in the studio and appreciative whistling during the set and costume set-up of music videos, well.

That's their business and nobody else's. And if that charged something results in Ace stumbling down into Marco's kitchen in the middle of the night only to scream at Thatch who's in the tradition of making Marco breakfast after award shoes (started before Di-Angel and 'Marci' ever got big), who then screams right back at him which draws both Sabo and Marco down to see what the goddamn noise is about. Well.

That's also their business and nobody else's. (yes Thatch even you, get the fuck out of my kitchen, goddamn-yoi)

#AR writes #a modern musician trio #fuck this was fun and I got to shoutout one of my favorite guitar songs thanks raccooon

[0fdevotion]

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑬𝑵𝑶𝑹𝑴𝑰𝑻𝒀 𝑶𝑭 𝑴𝒀 𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑰𝑹𝑬 .

@tamedstray asked: ❛  keep  reading ,  i  want  to  see  how  long  you  last .  ❜ (for Marcy 😌)

The book trembled in her hands, her reading paused as she watched Vigor settled between her parted legs, warm rough hands splayed across her soft thighs. She nodded, agreeing to at least try to read on, averting her gaze back to the book as Vigor returned his attention to her soaked, hot core.

Lips parted and kissed sloppily between her legs, sucking gently, stroking his tongue amongst her folds and eliciting soft whines and hitches in her breath as she tried so desperately to read on. The wet sounds were obscene and filling the gaps between her read lines, as Vigor continued to feast upon her as though he were waiting a lifetime just for this. Tongue flicking against her clit firmly, Marcella whined softly and reached a hand down to grab his hair, biting at her bottom lip as she tried to hold back but gods, it felt so good. How on earth was she to concentrate on reading with Vigor tasting and tormenting her like this?

"See, if our positions were reversed..." Marcella paused, breath catching in her throat as he dipped his tongue into her, eyes meeting hers. "Then I don't think you would last long either..." She would have to make a note to try it with him at a later date, to have him unravel at her mouth's ministrations. For now, though, she lowered the book in her hand and tugged at his hair. "Keep going."

#tamedstray #nsft #ic; marcella

[waybrights]

Mini Prompt: Marcy just had a nightmare. Anne and Sasha comfort her. Possibly Bee and Oum Boonchuy as well.

here you go!!! hope u like it!! also this hasn't been edited so any mistakes I'm sorry !!

---

it's a nightly occurrence, sasha realises, marcy's feet pattering down the corridor, the sound of wheels following her, and her door being cracked open. she thought she would be annoyed by the constant waking up, but for some odd reason, when marcy's head pokes into her hospital room and asks to come in, sasha can't help but smile.

it's no different this night, not really.

sasha doesn't sleep much anyway, so when she hears the telltale sounds of marcy making her way down the corridor, she's already sat up. this time though, anne is with her, having also woken up and found her room on her wandering. sasha supposes it's a good thing she's easy to find, that her room is down a main corridor.

when marcy stops outside her door, sasha waves and anne smiles weakly. marcy appears to take a deep, shuddering breath before she opens the door.

"hey mars," sasha says quietly, the same way she always does. already shuffling over to make space for marcy to fit.

"sasha," the word comes as a huff of air, as though marcy's surprised to find her here. "sasha," she says again, voice shaking.

both anne and sasha sit up, worry running down their spines as marcy continues to tremble by the door. "you can come in, marcy." anne is careful, as she slides off the end of sasha's bed and pads over to marcy. she reaches out gently, placing a hand on top of marcy's shoulder.

at the touch, marcy flinches and a sob claws it's way out of her throat before she can stop it. "i'm sorry," she cries, knees buckling under her.

"marcy!" sasha shouts, wishing she could do something more than sit there and watch.

anne can though, and with every ounce of strength left in her body, she lifts marcy and guides her to the bed, making sure to bring the iv line with her.

"what happened, marbles?" anne asks as she crawls back onto the bed.

marcy doesn't respond, her loud sobs echoing through the room as she reaches blindly for sasha. apologies pouring out of her like a stream. "i'm so, so sorry, sashy!"

"what for, marsbar?" sasha tries, bringing her hands up to pull marcy close. her brows furrowing in worry as anne bites her lip. "you don't need to apologise."

"i do, i do!" marcy shakes her head, guilt rolling off her in waves. "i hurt you. i hurt you and i'm so sorry," her cries shoot through sasha like a knife.

oh.

oh, right.

"no," sasha says firmly, gently cupping her hands around marcy's face. "marcy look at me," she pauses, "please."

brown eyes meet blue as marcy finally pulls away from sasha's chest, sniffling as she looks up at her friend.

"you didn't hurt me. you never have. whatever that thing did to anyone is not your fault, alright? it was evil and did evil things, but you mars? you are so full of love and kindness and everything good in the world, i know you didn't do this. i know that because i know you, marcy wu." sasha smiles, a small, tired smile full of all the love in her heart.

"and i forgive you," she says and marcy's open mouth closes. "the only person left to forgive you is yourself, marbles."

"yeah," anne nods and continues the gentle motion of running a hand through marcy's hair. "we forgive you marcy, for everything."

"promise?" marcy whispers, arms tightening around sasha's waist.

"pinkie promise," sasha nods, brushing marcy's tears away.

"double pinkie promise," anne adds with a giggle.

"well, then i triple pinkie promise!" sasha shoots back, a playful scowl on her face.

"infinity pinkie promise!"

"that's not fair, annie!" sasha huffs with a pout.

"oh, don't be such a sore loser sash," anne laughs as sasha sticks her tongue out. "just admit i'm better than you."

"i would rather fight another war, boonchuy."

#SORRY IK THIS ISNT *EXACTLY* WHAT U ASKED FOR #but i rlly like this ehehh #the trio straight after amphibia <333 #marcy wu #sasha waybright #anne boonchuy #sasharcy #sashannarcy #amphibia #you ask i answer #marie.txt #marie writes #90snostalgia311

[discet]

We know Marcy is an RPG nerd, but type of video game do you think Anne and Sasha would usually play?

Anne is 100% a casual gamer. Enjoys anything that is bite sized that she can pick up and play for a few minutes. Doesn't have the attention span for anything that requires you to sit down and invest a ton of time into.

Puzzle games like candy crush and tetris that she can play on her phone are something she enjoys

Likes rhythm games, especially DDR but also would be absolutely obsessed with Beat Saber.

I don't think she'd be drawn to the mechanics of most cooperative games but she would enjoy playing with her friends as long as it wasn't too difficult. Super Mario Bros. Wii would be ideal, something that they could make forward progress on while also goofing around and trolling each other. Plus bonus for catsuit powerups

She'd probably enjoy fighting games if she had any casual opponents. Marcy would just stun lock her two seconds into a match. Sasha would be of the same skill level but not exactly fun to play against. Way too competitive.

(I realize that in chapter 19 of awiw Anne was playing Vagabondia Chronicles but that was more about making an effort to try out Marcy's stuff and less of a natural draw to it.)

Sasha is not much of a gamer, but she does have a few things she'd like. Whatever she plays definitely needs a win condition.

Rhythm games are probably her number 1. Not just physical ones like Dance Dance Revolution and beat saber, but would also enjoy games like Rock Band (Probably played a lot on Mr. Boonchuy's old set during sleepovers, though it was retired once they started an actual garage band).

As shown in aAA I think she would enjoy character action games if she gave them a chance, but wouldn't approach them under normal circumstances. I think once she worked her way up to them, the mechanical satisfaction of a Soulsborne game would appeal to her. She'd absolutely not enjoy the lore though, to be clear and would probably just have Marcy tell her how to build a character she would like.

I wouldn't say she likes competitive games as much as she enjoys winning. Though again, has trouble getting either of her friends to agree to play with her considering she'd be a sore loser about it.

She would really enjoy cooperative games where having someone take a lead in things can be useful. Overcooked is probably a great example of this. Assigning jobs and calling out orders.

#Anne Boonchuy #Sasha Waybright #amphibia

[mdhwrites]

So ever feel it sucks that Sasha and Marcy's parents never show up on Amphibia? Like come on, how did they even react to their daughters going missing? What's the point of Anne writing letters to them on Christmas if it's never gonna get followed up on? Heck, it'd be nice to see if their parents had an effect on Sasha and Marcy's more toxic behavior early on.

I think this is a really stupid complaint! I especially think that last line emphasizes why it should NEVER HAVE HAPPENED.

Sasha's arc is strong BECAUSE it's her choice. Because she is a bad person full stop at the beginning. Robbing her of that choice by going "Oh, her parents are totes evil and probably don't even care that she's gone" would be fucking awful. It's the scapegoating bullshit that makes TOH's arcs lose all of their bite.

Then with Marcy's... How are they even supposed to react? THEY MOVED. Is Anne supposed to take an entire trip out of town just to go deliver the news? What is the actual story there? I guess you could have had Cloakbot attack them on the way but what do you actually do with the Wus that has a point to the overall story?

Also, you're asking for FOUR new side characters when isn't the complaint of S3 that most have is that it focused too much on side characters? And you're asking parents... of side characters. Because Sasha and Marcy are side characters. The main characters of the show are Anne, The Plantars (at least Sprig) and Amphibia. There's interesting things to be said about the structure of the show because of the prophecy but not necessarily bad ones.

Also, we have to remember that while we see touches of how Anne's parents reaction to having their child go missing, much of which is played for laughs and really only on Oum's side for that matter. Bea doesn't really get to express his own feelings about the whole thing. That's because, well, it's kind of a really heavy topic and the show has a LOT to deal with in S3A between getting everyone home and with paralleling Anne getting used to Amphibia by having the Plantars go through their own arc of getting used to Earth.

So yeah, I don't think this complaint is valid and kind of just feels like "Why isn't this story just about the humans?" This is despite the fact that Marcy and Sasha exist far more to challenge and reflect Anne than to actually be main characters. They ask if Anne, and eventually Sasha, is ready to accept change and to become better. To not just take the easy way out by going back to old habits or holding onto old grudges when they've earned forgiveness in some way.

The letters are literally all we need as a moment to show that Anne is finally coming to grips with what happened enough to let them know about their daughters. That's literally all we needed to see of them because that's how they affect Anne.

And I'd rather have that than another Odalia and Alador, where they're still not characters because they're so cartoonishly evil and have no actual impact on anyone, any day of the week.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#Amphibia #sasha waybright #marcy wu #amphibia season 3