#i need to stop making a post and deleting it two seconds after sorry

[ayo-edebiri]

can you share the fic...? if you dont want to reply to this its fine just maybe put it in the tags of that post?

The pining is everything. Steve and Eddie are friends since the end of season 1 (here). 

#aurore's mail #anon #it's just so sweet #robin steve and eddie are the trio we all need <3 #i need to stop making a post and deleting it two seconds after sorry

[cheeseceli]

SKZ arguing over the bill

Pairing: ot8!skz × gn!reader (individually)

Genre: fluff

Request: yes!

Warning: mentions of food, reader never pays lmao. Changbin, Chan, Seungmin's were heavily inspired by "Telling your Stray Kids boyfriend you can’t afford to eat out with them" by @ronnierites . If you don't allow this pls lemme know and I'll delete this post. Not proofread

A/n: that's kinda a new format, hope you guys like it! And this have been on my to do list since forever lol sorry for the wait

Bang Chan

Doesn't want you to feel uncomfortable

But he wants to spoil you so badly

Would let you pay if you were uncomfortable but he wants to make sure you get it he would love to pay for you as well

"You know Chris, I can pay for it."

"I know."

"So?"

"I'd rather do it. But thank you baby."

"But-" you stopped talking once you saw his card swiping. You truly should be used at this point "oh."

"Why do I feel like you're unhappy?"

"It's not that I am not happy, it's just that you always pay."

"It's my pleasure."

"But I don't know, I don't want you to think you're being pressured or something like that."

"Babe, I don't feel like that at all. Don't you worry. You're always doing so much for me, that's just a little 'thank you' of mine."

You gave him a little smile and proceeded to hug him, feeling safe in his warmth.

"I'm so lucky to have you."

"I should be the one saying it."

Lee Know

Bro you don't even spare a chance

He's paying before you even have a chance to take your wallet out of your pocket

I'm surprised you even try tbh

"Should we ask for the bill?"

"Oh, I already paid for it, don't worry."

You looked dumbfounded at him while he was finishing his food. You didn't see him talk to a waiter and you're sure he didn't pay for it before you two had your meal.

"What? When?"

"When we were asking for the dishes. Didn't you see it?"

"No?" you tried to recall the moment with no success "Why would you pay? I feel bad that you pay for everything all the time. I don't feel like reciprocating enough."

His eyes soften and a little smile comes to his lips while he watches you pout. If only you knew how much you did for him.

"Hey, look at me. It's okay. You already reciprocate with everything you do. That's already perfect"

Changbin

He pays with the money, you pay back with kisses

Sorry but that's his boyfriend duty

He is physically incapable of not paying for everything

"Hey baby. I'm off work in 40 minutes. I'll pick you up so we can have lunch, okay?"

You were glad that for once you were on a voice call with him instead of being in a face time like you'd usually do. This way he didn't see the way your smile dropped so quickly.

"Um, I don't think I'll be able to."

"Oh? Why?"

"I'm kinda... broke right now. I haven't received my last payment yet."

"Okay? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't want you to be the one who always pays for our things. I should be able to pay sometimes."

"You don't need to. That's my boyfriend duty. You know I don't mind, I actually enjoy it quite a lot."

"Still bothers me though. I'd hate to not contribute at all."

"You can always cuddle with me and shower me with kisses. That will make me happier than anything money can buy."

Hyunjin

Stop he'll be like genuinely so sad if he can't pay

He would let you pay if you were really insistent

But then he'll go like :( and you would let him take the bill out of pity lmao

"Hyunjin, stop looking at me like that."

"But darling, I can pay. You know it doesn't bother me."

"Just this once, let me pay, okay?"

"Okay"

"...Jinnie I really need you to stop that."

"I'm not even doing anything."

"Oh God" you sigh and let your head fall, knowing the man beside you won the argument once more "Fine. You can pay."

He didn't waste a second, swiping his card as fast as possible just so you couldn't have the time to change your mind. After he payed the meal, he took your hand in his and started to walk in the direction of the restaurant's exit with a triumphant (and really sweet) smile.

"I swear I don't get why you like to pay so much."

"My love should be treated as royalty, and that includes me paying for everything you wish for."

Han

Bro is offended

Believes with all his heart that he should be the one paying

Tries to distract you when the time to pay comes

"Were you paying while I was in the restroom?"

"... perhaps."

"Han."

"Baby. You know I like to pay for you."

"But you do that all the time."

"It's my way of showing love! If you ask me, I actually don't think it's enough. It's the least I can do."

He could see in your eyes that you weren't convinced. Unfortunately (for you), he only saw that as an opportunity to spend even more money. Maybe then you would believe him.

"C'mon, lemme show you a little bit of love. You can pay me back with thousands of kisses if that's what's bothering you."

Felix

He loves to pay.

If he could, he would pay for absolutely everything that you could ever want or need.

But if that's something which really bothers you, he will let you pay as well

Tries to do that "the one who invites is the one who pays" thing and fails

"Felix. Don't even dare."

He looked at you confused until he realised you were staring at the credit card in his hand, probably hoping that it could disappear before the waiter came back with the bill.

"C'mon, it's just a small lunch. I can pay for it."

"No. I invited you. I pay."

"Actually, if you think about it, I'm the one who suggested this place."

"Two years ago."

"Still counts."

"Not as an invitation though. I'm the one who asked if you wanted to come here."

Felix sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince you of otherwise. If only he could.

"Okay. Next time it's on me."

Seungmin

LMAO sorry you're 100% not paying

Don't even try

Boyfriend duty pt 2 except he is even more dedicated somehow

"Why did you bring your wallet?"

"I wanted to pay for this one."

"... why?"

"You always pay for everything."

"And I don't plan on stopping so you can take your wallet away."

"Minnie, please. I don't want you to be the one who always end up paying for everything."

"But I want to. I wouldn't mind paying for every single thing for the rest of our lives. So you can't take your money away of my sight because I'm paying."

"For the rest of our lives huh?"

"Don't tease." But you didn't miss how the corners of his lips lifted once he thought you weren't looking anymore.

I.N

Rock, paper, scissors. The winner is the one who pays

It's funny and neither of you can complain about the outcome of it because it's technically fair

Except you always throw scissors first and never noticed it

And Jeongin doesn't have the heart to tell you

"We should change this game."

"No way" he said while giving the money to the cashier whilst trying to hide his grin from you "Not my fault you are horrible at this."

"Seriously though, I think you're cheating. It's impossible for you to win every single time."

"How does one cheat at 'rock, paper, scissors'? Besides, you won yesterday."

"After losing at least 50 times. And I got to pay for some ice cream. It's not the same as paying for a whole meal."

"Get better at this and maybe you get to pay for a whole meal one day. C'mon, we can have some milkshake now. Maybe you'll win this time."

You had a feeling you wouldn't though. He was sure you wouldn't.

Reblogs and feedback are appreciated!

Dividers by @cafekitsune

#celi headcanon #skz fluff #stray kids soft thoughts #stray kids #stray kids soft hours #skz x reader #stray kids fluff #skz x you #stray kids x reader #skz #bang chan skz #bang chan fluff #bang chan #lee know #lee know fluff #changbin #changbin fluff #hyunjin #hyunjin fluff #felix #felix fluff #han #han fluff #seungmin #seungmin fluff #i.n #jeongin #i.n fluff

[zanarkandskylines]

₊✩‧₊⇢  right person, wrong time?

『 ෆ k.bakugo x fem!reader 』 ⋆ ˚ʚɞ — repost; after more discussions, i decided to delete the follow up on the original post thread & re-post separately. i don't wanna be accused of stealing someone's idea after already apologizing for it. this'll be the last i talk about it.

Bakugo’s loved you since high school. You always pushed him to work hard, never took his shit without giving it back tenfold, and was a pillar of support through some of the toughest times in his life. Even so, he’s convinced himself you’d never feel the same, that he has no shot with you.

Why?

Because you’re quirkless.

You’re part of the 20% without one, and he told himself he can’t get in your way of your life. Bakugo can’t stand the thought of being the reason why you don’t chase after your own dreams. He knows you too well - you’d put your happiness aside to support him the second he asked. You’d put your life on hold if it meant for him to succeed as a pro hero.

But he can’t do that. You’re the one thing he can’t seem to bring himself to be selfish about.

So Bakugo sits idly by, for years, as your best friend. The one you’d do anything for, no matter the time or place. He watches you date shitty guys and picks up the pieces they leave you in. Buys you your favorite foods when you have a bad day, surprises you with “just thinking of you” gifts, and drops whatever he’s doing the second you need him.

He’s attempted dating, desperately tried to get you out of his heart and make room for someone else - he fails each time. Miserably.

So tonight, that all changes.

You’re attending the annual Hero Gala together tonight, just like you have for the last four years. Bakugo always asks you to be his plus one as it keeps people away from him and he gets to spend time with you…rather, gets to see you dressed to the nines and have you on his arm all night long. It’s the one day a year he gets to pretend you’re his.

You’ve recently gotten a huge promotion in your line of work and he’s broken the top 10 of the hero charts - what better time than now to shoot his shot? He’s waited long enough, run through every excuse in the book why not to tell you how he feels.

The night winds down and the two of you get back into his car, sitting in silence for the ride home. That’s not uncommon for you two, but Bakugo’s reading too much into it tonight. It makes his hands tremble on the wheel, white knuckling the pleather from nerves. Once he pulls up to your apartment complex, he turns the car off and gets out to open your door for you.

To his surprise, you invite him in.

“I have a surprise for you!”

Bakugo’s whole body is tense at this point. What could you have for him?

“Here, open it.” You hand him a small box wrapped in orange paper. “It’s not much and a little cheesy, but congratulations on breaking the top 10!”

He opens the package to find a golden bracelet in a box with the inscription “plus ultra, dynamight!” on the underside of it.

“Ya didn’t have to get me shit, but thank you. I love it.”

He hugs you immediately, scooping you into a loving embrace and relishing in the excuse to have skin contact with you.

“I, uh, actually have somethin’ for you, too.” His voice waivers while he fiddles with his jacket pocket. You raise an eyebrow while waiting for him to present…whatever it is he had.

Bakugo pulls out a small box of his own, handing over the velvet jewelry case. You gingerly take it from his palm and can’t help but notice he’s shaking like a leaf.

“Are you okay, Kat? You’re shaking.”

“Just…open it.”

And you do - revealing a beautiful rose gold locket inside. It’s in the shape of a heart, dainty yet big enough to fit a minuscule picture. Before you open it, he stops you by gently touching your hand. He’s trying to hold eye contact with you, but keeps darting between your gaze and the ceiling.

“I’m sorry if this seems outta nowhere, but it’s been eatin’ me alive for years. And if it’s too much, we can forget it ever happened.”

You tilt your head at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Oh. The locket.

Time crawls to a halt as you pry open the locket, peering into the small enclosure to see two things - a picture of the two of you on the left and a small handwritten phrase on the right.

‘I love you. -Kats’

The silence in the apartment is deafening. Bakugo’s vibrating out of his skin while awaiting a semblance of a response to his confession. You’re normally easy to read, but in the moment, he’s struggling to observe how you could be feeling. It’s driving him fucking insane. He starts to feel regret, embarrassment settling in his bones as he bites his lip.

He just ruined everything. The precious friendship you two had - gone. He knew that locket was a stupid idea.

Bakugo’s preparing himself for your rejection. The tears are building and the lump in his throat solidifies. He attempts to keep himself together as he begins to croak out an apology.

“Look, I shoulda—”

“Say it.”

Bewilderment is an understatement as he recoils at your demand. He blinks the stray tears away, all the breath he had being stolen away by your words. He swallows thickly, never thinking he’d get this far in the conversation. He was fully prepared to high tail it outta there, not…stay.

“Wha—”

“Tell me you love me.”

This can’t be real.

Bakugo’s body moves on its own, closing the gap between you two in under the dim light of your entry way. He cradles your jaw, thumbing over the apple of your cheek and studying your eyes as he takes a deep breath. This is the moment he’s been waiting for - the one he’s been yearning over. The opportunity to tell you exactly how he feels, how much you mean to him.

Four words is all he needs.

“I fucking love you.”

You can’t help but laugh, maybe a little too loudly as Bakugo’s cheeks turn strawberry in color.

“It’s about damn time. I love you too.”

His heart pounds, his legs feel like jello, his muscles stiffen. And yet, he powers through it all.

Your lips meet for the first time - the kiss is soft, sweet, careful.

When you part, his vision blurs a bit, overwhelmed by the emotions swelling in his chest. His lips are slightly parted behind heavy breaths, taking in the moment he was so graciously given.

“I didn’t wanna get in your way.”

You laugh. “Then don’t be in my way, come with me.”

God, he was such an idiot. A lovesick fool blinded by his own infatuation to see that his best friend loved him, too.

You hand the locket to Bakugo and spin around while holding up your hair. He tenderly places the chain around your neck and secures the clasp, letting the metal fall to your collarbone.

“I’m all yours, Katsuki.”

You always have been.

thanks to everyone who sent in a message & encouraged me to keep this up. we're all just trying to have a good time together on this site and share our feelings about characters we love. there's no need to talk down or discourage others from expressing themselves.

#katsuki bakugo #bakugo x reader #bakugou x reader #bakugo fluff #bakugou fluff #katsuki bakugou #bakugo x y/n #bakugou x y/n #katsuki x reader #bakugo drabble #bakugo imagine #☆.rei writes

[shootingmorningstar]

Anon, I am so sorry .ᐟ I accidentally posted your request wayyyyy too early and had to delete it .ᐟ That being said, thank you so much .ᐟ My favorite part of writing is getting to see it resonate with others, so comments like these really make my day. Anyways, let me just say that I love this rq. You're right, that's such a funny scenario.

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀Alastor With a Vee!Reader .ᐟ

You hadn't expected to climb the ranks at Voxtek. Really, you hadn't. You started off as nothing more than one of the many assistants Vox seems to get off by yelling at. Just another spineless sinner that would probably end up selling their soul to one of the three overlords, more than likely your boss.

That is exactly how your friendship with Alastor started out, actually. It wasn't too often you got a day off -- there isn't exactly any form of worker protection in hell -- so you were delighted to be able to take a stroll through Pentagram City. Maybe you could buy a new dress, or even stop by Rosie's Emporium .ᐣ Any hopes you'd had of a nice peaceful day were dashed, however, by your boss' face lighting up your cellphone.

Ugh, he was calling you .ᐣ Really, on your one day off .ᐣ Nevermind, of course he was. It seems you signed away your right to any peace the moment you became an employee under the VoxTek name.

Answering it with a simple ❛ how can I help you, sir .ᐣ ❜ had resulted in a frustrated yell so loud it resembled the high pitched screech two electronic devices echoed when forced near each other. He wasted no time in telling you a report you hadn't even written was absolute garbage and that you needed to come in and fix it now.

Or, at least, that's what you assume he was going to say. He'd gotten no farther than ❛ in ❜ before a shadow crept up on your phone, promptly ending the call.

Confused, you spin around to see Alastor. The Radio Demon, one of the most powerful sinners to ever be sent to Hell . . . . had ended your phone call .ᐣ

Now you were even more confused. You knew both Alastor and Vox despised each other -- that much had been made clear a little bit after the second to last extermination with your bosses power play becoming a duet.. battle .ᐣ

That much was public information but why in Hell's name would he ever interfere with a phone call .ᐣ He hated modern technology. You're spared from your confusion, though, when a staticky voice crackles to life in front of you. ❛ Why on Earth would you ever allow him to speak to you in that manner, dear .ᐣ ❜

From that day forward you began to see Alastor more and more, each time with a new piece of advice he had to offer you on dealing with such a terrible boss. It was absolutely orchestrated on Alastor's part, but either you didn't realize or just couldn't bring yourself to care. What you absolutely realize, though is that Alastor's advice is working. Each little bit of information he gives you dives a little bit deeper on how to deal with Vox -- how to actually have a backbone against his outrageous demands.

Fearing one day that you might push back just a little too hard and be met with the lethal force of an angry Overlord, Alastor gives you a tiny, what appears to be hand carved wooden radio. Your fear is warranted and he knows it -- you wouldn't be the first VoxTek employee to end as nothing more than a written off casualty. The idea is simple ; speak the demon's name into his namesake if any of the Vee's put you in danger and he would come to your aid.

The little trinket acts as a security blanket. From that day forward you tell Vox what you think of his ideas and where exactly he can shove the piles of paperwork he didn't feel like doing and rather pushed to you.

And Vox is impressed. You can't speak to him the way you do without being Velvette or Valentino. He doesn't know whether you're spunky or foolish, but he decides he doesn't care which. He also decides you're wasted as a secretary. In no time you're rising the ranks, going from secretarial supervisor, managing the entire office, all the way to Vox's personal assistant, making yourself known as VoxTek's rising star.

As his assistant, you find yourself attending meetings with the other Vee's often -- and to your surprise, they like you. Especially Velvette. Enough to demand Vox to share.

That's how you became a member of one of the most feared groups in Hell, the newest Vee, their underdog assistant. You take on responsibilities from all three of them, keeping them running smoothly.

All the while you're finding time to go out with Alastor for tea and a stroll through Cannibal Town. He usually despises physical contact, so you can't seem to understand why he wrapped his arm around your waist as you walked .ᐣ

What you hadn't seen was the sinner with their phone out, camera pointed at you and ready to snap a shot of Hell's newest Vee hanging out with their sworn enemy. The picture explodes on social media before Vox can get it under control, and before he knows it it's being reposted to Sinstagram twice for every one he deletes. He's outraged, calling you and demanding an answer. Alastor has long thought of this, though -- so as the two of you planned, he pretends to walk away, leaving the view of the cameras Vox is undoubtedly watching you on before using his magic to cut them off.

It's then you explain that you'd befriended the Radio Demon 'for the Vee's' in hopes of 'gaining intel to sabotage him and his Hotel.' It's a lie, but it appeals to Vox's sense of hatred for Alastor enough to slip by undetected. The idea of finding out his enemies secrets thrills him, actually.

Continuing your friendship has never been easier. Occasionally, you'll ask Alastor an overly intrusive question, he'll reply with a falsehood and you both try not to snicker as you try to act like you're trying to go behind his back to report the answer to Vox.

To be honest . . . Velvette and Valentino don't really seem to care half as much about Alastor as Vox does. They're very interested in the power felling him would bring them and so your fake spy mission does please them, but seeing you beside him didn't really send them into a frenzy like it does Vox. Velvette makes a comment about you trying to get him to change -- ❛ seriously, I know the cunt's all about avoiding cameras, but has he got to avoid mirrors, too .ᐣ that cane went out of style before radio .ᐟ ❜ and that's the end of it.

Alastor had intended you to serve as a tool against the Vee's from the very start, but I think he genuinely does enjoy your company. Sure, most of his motivations are self driven and semi-sociopathic at times, but he isn't incapable of making genuine bonds. His friendship with Rosie seems to be strong, and he's at the least fond of Mimzy and Niffty.

It surprises him regardless. He doesn't even have to be sneaky about his true intentions to you -- you know what he wants and gladly comply all the while enjoying his company. I imagine he enjoys having someone to dish into all of the Vee's shortcomings with, too.

The way I personally interpret this dynamic is platonic, but if it were to step into romantic territory, Alastor would need to be the one to approach it. He has little to no romantic desires or attraction, so I think any sort of confession would be a major turn-off from him. He wouldn't react well to others feelings being pushed onto him. However, if he were to bring it up, you're plenty patient enough to wait while he figures things out. You dealt with Vox's verbal abuse for years, this is lightwork in comparison.

Platonic or romantic doesn't matter, what does is the excitement you get when Alastor picks you up from work at VoxTek HQ and the amusement you share when you hear the sound of a monitor shattering from Vox's office.

If you were ever to be found out and stripped of your title, you have an ally and friend in Alastor, and that's by far the most meaningful thing to come from your work.

Hi, hi .ᐟ Another post out. I've been thinking on this rq ever since I got it and I think this is a good way to both show how evil and manipulative Alastor can be while also having fun. Alastor is a character that is so hard, at least to me, to keep in character while doing x r.eaders. I hope this sits well with any Alastor stans reading this .ᐟ

As always, let me know what you think .ᐟ Hearing back from you guys keeps me writing. Enjoy ♡ .ᐟ

#hazbin hotel #alastor #alastor x reader #kinda #platonic alastor x reader #aro friendly #ace friendly #aroace character #this prompt kinda escaped me sorry anon #i just can't see alastor having a friend in the vees and not using it to his advantage #i aim to stay as in character as i can #aroace alastor #hazbin alastor

[harcove]

hi 🥺 i hope you’re doing all right — i’m sending so so much love 🫶🏼 i don’t want to bother you with a request so please feel free to just read this and move on if you need to ! i was just doing my hair, and as a curly girl i imagined begging Billy to let me do my post-shower styling routine on his luscious hair. he’s probably protective over his hair but i think it would be so cute !! like , him sitting on the edge of his bed, a little (a lot) stiff, with hair strands in his eyes as his s/o fusses over his wet hair, scrunching product and twirling clumps into ringlets 🥹🫶🏼 and he hates to admit that he loved being taken care of and despite his grumbling, he liked how his hair turned out 🥹

A/N: me, a year after taking a hiatus from writing, answering all my year old requests: "heyyy guysss...."

Fr I'm sorry y'all I stopped writing, and left all your beautiful requests in my inbox cause I didn't wanna delete them cause I love them and always wanted to do them someday... Even if it's LATE BY A YEAR IM SO SORRY... I hope this kinda makes up for it 🥺

Pairing: Billy x reader

Length: 3.4k

Warnings: Nopepepepe, but I will say OOC Billy just so no one tries to tell me I write him OOC even though this is how I characterize him lmao

Nah, I trust you - B.H.

Billy's back was stiff as a board.

He couldn't help it; it was his natural reaction to the situation. Facing his back towards people. It was hard. But you had begged- pleaded. Please let me do your hair, please! And no matter how many times he said no or brushed you off, you wouldn't let up. You were absolutely relentless.

To Billy, his hair was a key part of him. It was one of the few things he had complete control of in his life; something that was completely his and something he had the free will to do with it as he pleased (even if it meant his father would make a nasty comment or two about it) and it was something he took pride in.

Yes- he had let you touch his hair before. But that was after a long day, when he knew he wouldn't be going out again and was winding down in bed.

Not after a shower. He usually did that himself because he was the only one who knew how to do his hair the way he wanted. Or at least, he believed he was the only one who could do it right.

It may have sounded stupid; people might say it's just hair and its not that big of a deal. But to him it was a big deal. It was an integral part of him that even his father couldn't take away, even if he had something to say about it.

He supposed, maybe, if there was anyone who he might trust enough to do his hair after he showered, it might be you.

Your hair was beautiful. Thick curls that you tended to and he had seen you tend to before. Times where he'd been in your room, reading some random book he found on your bookshelf while he waited for you to finish showering- you walking out with wet hair and sitting at the vanity to put things in it- to make sure you took care of it.

So, if there was anyone he might trust for this, it was you.

In fact, it was always you. For every thing that Billy found himself alone in, found himself with no one he could trust, there was always you. He trusted you.

"Trust me, you're in good hands."

You note his stiff shoulders as you sat behind him on his bed whilst he sat on the floor. Billy was caged; in the beginning of your relationship he was especially so in all situations. Some days were still harder for him but he was much better than before.

It took a lot of patience and thinking past his personality at times, but it was worth the effort. He was worth it.

It was just too bad that so many people in his life didn't think so.

"I'll stop driving you to school if I'm fucking not," his voice is low, and much of his words came out as a grumble from his chest.

Gently, you place your hands on his shoulders and lean forward, bracing yourself on him so you don't fall from the bed. For a second his shoulders tense a bit more but when he realizes what you're doing they start to relax.

"Trust me," you kiss the side of his face gently- your lips brushing against the spot beside his ear, his wet hair tickling your own face.

Before you can pull back to work on his hair, his hand grasps your arm and he drags you back with enough force you think for a minute you're going to fall over his shoulders onto the floor, but thankfully you manage to use your other hand to grab onto his shoulder again.

He's pressing his lips to yours. It's rough and it's almost as if he's kissing you for the first time after years of not seeing you. Billy Hargrove is a great kisser. It's passionate at times and gentle at others. Oftentimes he's stronger than he realizes, but he's never hurt you.

You feel him bite your lip, and you squeeze his shoulder hard, pulling back.

"You're trying to distract me," you breathe out, trying to catch your breathe.

There's a heat deep in your lower body, in your stomach, and your face feels a tad warm. He knows what he's doing, he always does. But you won't let him get away with trying to distract you- besides, making him wait grants a better reward, for you and him both.

"I don't need to try babe," his eyes have a glint in them and you push his back as you sit up straighter.

"Okay Prince Charming," you role your eyes and bring your hands to his head, feeling the curls in his hair.

Billy's got a mullet; a ever popular hairstyle at the moment, but his looks better than others you've seen. He's also got a natural wave and some curl to his hair. He uses a curling iron on it too sometimes to really accentuate the curls.

He could always try to get a perm, but it was something in the back of his mind. He was fine right now doing what he was used to. Besides- who knew better about how much curl or wave he wanted than himself?

Pouring a bit of leave in conditioner into the palm of your hand, you slap them together to coat both of your hands before running them through his hair again. Your fingers tangle into his locks and you can already see the natural curl and wave in his hair. It's thicker at the root and thins out a bit at the ends.

With it damp like it was, it looked brown rather than the dirty blonde/brown you're used to seeing. His hair is beautiful, and you're unafraid to let him know so.

"Your hair is so beautiful Billy," you say with a smile that can be heard in your voice   "Beautiful just like you are."

Billy's not used to being called beautiful. It's not a word people commonly use on him. Hot, yes, sexy, of course. Beautiful, no.

Yet you always seem so keen on using the word on him. At first, he'd always push back and claim that a word like that was meant for the likes of you, not him. Just call him sexy like everyone else did.

But you were insistent. You always were. And you'd brush him off and do it anyways. And soon, the word began to have a different meaning to him. A word that he associated with you. He wasn't sure if he thought himself beautiful but he knew you were and to you he was.

It always managed to make him feel something in his chest, that was for sure.

"Jesus, can't you call me hot, or some shit?" Billy bites out, but there's no malice in his words. More so, he sounds akin to a petulant child in that moment.

You suppose he's never had a chance to really be a child in his whole life. Never been taken care of, or babied.

So of course you'd do it for him now.

"You are hot," you make a sizzling noise with your mouth as you pull your hands from his hair, "but you're also beautiful."

"Glad you know."

It quiets down from there, a gentle lull in conversation is peaceful and welcome. Sometimes, Billy can be so loud (and as he likes to tell you, you can be especially loud when you're alone with him) and he can play loud music and get angry. But he likes the silence sometimes- only with you- because when he's alone, it's the music that blocks out his darker thoughts and his father's words.

But with you, the silence is safe.

Your hands pick up the heat protector Billy has on his bedside table and you spritz it a few times in the air to see that it's working, making Billy grab it.

"That shits expensive," he says before he starts spraying it into his hair himself.

"Alright, alright, I'll buy you a new one for your birthday- stop, I'm supposed to be doing this!"

With a quickness you grab the bottle back from his hands and spray his hair once more at the back before putting the bottle back on the table.

You're the only one he let's do these things.

Once that's done you run your hands through his hair again, half because you want to feel his hair again and have to make sure the product is everywhere.

You can feel it; the way his body relaxes just a smidge as you place your hands into his hair, playing with his locks and massaging his scalp. Compared to when you started, his body has loosened, his back is not as stiff- he's actually somewhat slouched, and his shoulders are too.

Moving to crawl across his bed, you grab the hair dryer and curler to really get to work on his locks. As you plug the former in, Billy looks at you, just drinking you in in those simple and quiet moments.

He's fucking whipped for you, and at one point in his life, that terrified him. It still did sometimes. But only because he'd never felt that way before. And he didn't want to ruin you.

Soon his hair is dry and your moving onto the curler.

His natural hair is already wavy as it is, and he's got some natural curls- especially on the nap of his neck he has what you called baby curls. You pull on them lightly, tug them, and you're doing it on purpose because soon Billy's large hand is grasping yours from behind and you're giggling.

"You're like a fucking child," he squeezes your hand, not enough to hurt you, but he's always been more heavy handed than most, "You're not touching my goddamn hair again if you don't stop."

"Your baby curls are so cute," you smile- removing your hand from his grip and placing both of your hands on either side of his head, tilting it back to look up at you.

He's always had the most beautiful eyes. Blue, clear, piercing.

Beautiful.

You gingerly place your lips against his as you lean forward. But he kisses back less gently, more needy, and his hands are soon finding their way backwards to hold the side of your own head. The position is odd, but the passion is familiar.

But this time it's not you that pulls away, it's him. And you can't help but pout as he does so- his tongue jutting out to lick his lips before a Cheshire like smirk shows itself, beautiful white teeth making their appearance like a vampire.

"Well? We don't have all night," he's so snarky when he speaks, knowing what he's doing to you- in a battle of wit and playfulness, Billy is the master. He is always one step ahead of you. You can never win. He throws your actions back in your face- the ball in your side of the court but he's the one holding it.

You let out a hmph as you take the heated curler and begin the task of curling, ignoring the heat that pools in the depths of your stomach and the way you can still feel his lips on yours. And he sits there, shoulders hunched slightly; a tiny thing that you notice with a soft smile and a bittersweet happiness. For so long when you had first met him, he was always tense; even alone, he always seemed like he was wound tight. At first it was confusing, worrying, and your worrying was warranted when you found out about his father. Neil Hargrove was at the bottom of the bucket, not worth any of your time or energy. Only ever worth the energy if you were trying to protect Billy.

He tells you to leave it alone. But you would never sit there and let him get shoved around in front of you. Something his mom should've been there to stop, you were trying to stop instead.

But now, he relaxes his shoulders, slumps his body lazily, when you're with him alone he is all mush. Usually. Right now, you were both aware that Neil and his wife, Max's mother, were away for a weekend trip together or something like that, so he could be this way in his own home.

It breaks your heart to think about how every other time he was home, and Neil was too, he was wound tight; always on edge, always waiting. Wondered how he could sleep at night. (That was probably why he liked to take naps at your house whenever he was there.)

If you could, you would keep him with you at your house. Your parents didn't mind his presence and were privy to the knowledge about his father. It was inevitable they found out that his relationship with his father was less than stellar. The extent of their knowledge wasn't that deep however- because if they knew, they'd call the police.

You weren't opposed to that. But Billy was. Vehemently so. Claimed that if the police were involved, it would only get worse- not just on him, but on everyone involved (this was code word for Max, you knew it). Also told you that police had been called before, when he was younger, by a neighbour who had suspicions. But his father was a good actor. And the police didn't dig hard enough, try hard enough.

You tell him all the time when it comes up that Hopper is different than the police in California at least. Hopper is a good man, a man with morals, and a man you trusted and one who would take this seriously. And it is not just you talking out of your ass, trying to convince him- no, you know Hopper would take it seriously.

But it always falls on deaf ears. And you can't force him to do something he doesn't want. You've tried. So you relent. For now. Things are more calm than they've ever been with Billy and his father. It could be related to the time he spends at your home, not around enough for his father to start too much. It's not good. But he's not bruised up. So for now, you relent.

You do not want to make things worse.

"You should sleep over next week," you casually suggest as your hands move to curl another section of his hair, running your fingers through already finished curls to make them look more natural.

"I slept over last week," Billy says, one of his  legs stretching out in front of him as his body further leans back, "Can't get enough of me?"

You wonder if he's aware of the reason you always ask him to sleep over at your home. Well, part of the reason. You enjoy his company, you enjoy falling asleep beside him, flush against his body because your bed is meant for one person, not two, and God forbid he stays on the ground to sleep or sleeps in the living room on the couch away from you. You enjoy waking up to see his beautiful golden touched skin from his time soaking up any of Hawkins sun, and you enjoy watching his face- calm and at ease, as he sleeps. Not worried, or on guard. Just calm.

The other half of your reasoning is to keep him away from his father when you can.

If hes aware of the secondary reasoning, he  hasn't said anything. Or made indication of it. But you're positive he must know or have an idea, because Billy Hargrove is perceptive and he is smart, something people don't tend to realize. More the fools they are.

"I'd just die without you," you playfully respond, (though you aren't sure how playful it is when you think about losing him- it horrifies you and you don't know what you'd do) as you turn the curling iron off, setting it aside to cool down before it can be put away. You run your fingers through his hair again, lightly pulling curls and brushing through them so they're not so perfect and the blend. So they look natural.

It isn't hard. Billy's hair is amazing. And you're not so bad at doing hair yourself, you remind yourself with a smug grin. Your hair was tended to nicely and you took pride in the curls and coils.

"I know," he scoffs, letting your fingers massage his scalp, "I'll think about it."

You smile softly. As much as you try to keep him at your place, you could never force him to do it. It was up to him when he would accept the offers or show up randomly for a night or two. He was independent. And you knew that was a part of him that he cherished and held onto tightly; the independence to choose to come over, the independence to own something like his camaro. His father took a lot from him, made him feel small- you would never take away his freedom to choose, never make him feel small. Never make him feel like you wanted to force him to do anything.

"All finished... My mom is making those cookies you like by the way," you tease, tugging on his hair, "the ones with those tiny peanut butter-"

"Cups in the middle," he finishes sharply, suddenly pulling himself away from your soft fingers in his hair. He flips himself to face you in a quick motion, a devilish look on his face as he surprises you with his sudden movement- pushing you down against his bed- his body pressed against yours as his face is so close you can feel his warm breathe fan across your lips, "trying to bribe me is a shit tactic. Won't work."

You roll your eyes, but you know he loves your mothers cooking. But you really aren't bribing him. Just a little, jokingly- he knows this too. He knows you.

"I know," you wiggle beneath him, trying to make yourself more comfortable. He rests his entire weight onto you, and it feels like you're covered in a weighted blanket, "she always leaves some aside for you anyways. Sometimes I think she likes you more than me."

Your mom adores Billy. Tries to baby him when she can. And at first that made you nervous; afraid of how he might react to it. He was wary at first but he took it well. He was charming, and good at making people like him. And you thought perhaps he secretly liked having someone try to mother him. Maybe it made him feel safe. Or happy.

"Of course she does, I mean, look at me."

It sounds so funny coming from him. He's referring to his good looks- and how Nancy Wheelers mom had tried to hit on him before.

"Don't be gross," you push down against his shoulders, not doing much to change your position or deter him. If anything it makes him worse.

But this time he relents, if only to get a look at his hair. When he looks in his mirror, you wait with bated breathe, still laying on his bed from where he'd been on top of you and pushed you there- but

His lips catch yours, hungry. He forces his tongue into your mouth, though it doesn't take him. It never does. He's intense and he isn't letting up; his hands move to dig into your hips, pushing your body deeper into his bed.

Billy's body stops resting on top of yours so heavily as he moves, placing one of his knees between your legs, and heading straight for your neck.

He always knows what to do. How to make you feel good in any situation. He's not even giving you a chance go breathe. You squeeze his biceps with your hands suddenly, letting him know you need him to stop for a moment. His baby blues look into your eyes with mild annoyance.

"Don't you want to look at your hair?" You manage to say as you catch your breath, "see if I... Messed it up?"

He looks at you in silence for a few moments, his face deadpan; too void of emotions for you to pinpoint what he's thinking. His eyes search your face and flicker from them to your own curly, thick hair  and his tongue darts out from between his lips unconsciously to wet them. He breathes through his nose.

"Nah," he brings himself close to your face again, a small tilt in the corner of his mouth, "I trust you."

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove fanfiction #mine #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things x reader #my writing #amy writes

[thepaintedlady00]

The Sandman and the Girl Without Dreams

Chapter 6: Friends As Endless and Constantine As Mine

REPOSTING! Sorry all, my app is glitched to shit so I'm reposting to fix the missing read more issue! If you can just like and repost or something to boost this one I'd appreciate it since the other will be deleted! <3

TW: angst, depression, slight horror, slight blood, slight gore (sorry for the late posting, technical difficulties are a bitch) BUT here are all 13,039 (aka 34 pages) of chapter 6!

1934

I was floating in an endless sea of stars, the ebb and flow of cosmic waves wrapping me in an ethereal warmth. For the first time in a long time I felt free. I should have known it wouldn't last. The stars around me took shape, a hand cradling me within it as it lifted me upwards. The sea of stars pulled together, swirling around two glowing eyes until they formed the vague shape of a woman.

You do not belong in the Sunless Lands, not now, not ever.

The voice was all around me, made of the stars themselves. I didn't understand.

Two tethered stars cannot survive this world alone. One must have the other or chaos and ruin shall reign.

It didn't make sense, but I could feel the weight of impending cold beginning to seep back into the air as the hand began to lower me down. It got colder and colder until it felt unbearable. No. Please.

So upon your head I give a gift. The blessing of the Night.

The cold bit at my skin and settled deep into my bones as I pulled myself from the river and collapsed along its edge. I was shivering, shaking, so violently I almost couldn't move as I forced my stiff body to roll. The stars were back in the sky clear and bright and warm and far away. A shuddering breath left me as I looked up at it in awe and wept. It was an odd sensation, feeling both disappointed and glad. I hadn't intended to survive and after everything I'd been through, death seemed like the last way out. Yet here I was, alive?

"Hello!" A voice startled me to my feet, but as I tried to move, to run, I started to fall. Two arms wrapped around me, helping me stand. "Oh, you poor thing, you look so lost."

"Y-You could say that," I replied in a shaky voice.

"I'll admit, I'm a little lost too. Well I wasn't, but now it seems something's changed."

When I had finally regained my balance I turned to the stranger and squinted. "Do I know you? You look very familiar."

Her smile was warm and full of comfort, something I hadn't felt in so long it felt foreign. "I get that sometimes. But I don't think you're supposed to know me, not yet… At least that's what it looks like."

She was beautiful, elegant and regal even in the simple clothes she wore. The gold of her pendant glistened in the moonlight as she shrugged off her shawl and wrapped it around my shoulders, rubbing slightly to try and warm me. I could feel the heat rolling off her and before I could stop myself I'd curled up under her arm, leaning into her, soaking up every second of that warmth that she'd let me.

She held me tighter and we walked along the edge of the river, back towards the dim city lights. "I should probably give you my name since I'm curled up on you like a cat."

"You don't have to," she said. "And I don't mind, I always liked cats."

"I'm Penelope." I gave her the name anyway, though I'd gotten the sense she didn't need it to know who I was. I looked up at her, her arm thrown over my shoulder as we walked. I knew her face, but I just couldn't place where I'd seen her.

She glanced down at me. "Don't strain yourself, Penelope."

At the sound of her saying my name, the familiarly sweet voice hit me. "Death." She smiled. "You were here for me, weren't you?"

Nodding she tightened her arm around me, shielding me from the chilled breeze. "I was."

"What stopped you?"

"You did." We were just minutes from the city now, just minutes from the world I'd longed to be part of for eight years of hell. The world I no longer knew anything about. I was scared, absolutely terrified, to leave the warmth of Death's side. To be forced to face the unfamiliar life that now waited for me.

The air around us grew colder, a sign that our walk was almost over. "Why?"

She pulled us both to a stop and with the most loving eyes she pressed my hand to my chest. The beating of my heart hummed under my palm. "You feel that? That's a beating heart. Your beating heart. You are here, heart beating, lungs full of air. You, Penelope Barlow are alive. You're alive."

Tears streamed down my cheeks. "What if I don't want to be?"

Death's smile was sad, but her eyes were soft. She tucked my hair behind my ear. "We don't choose when our time is up, not me and not you. I know you think I'm the only way forward, but I'm not. I'm the end, love. I know it hurts, I feel it hurting, but in time that will fade."

"What if I can't do it?" I asked, holding back a sob. "What if I can't move forward?"

"I can't tell you what's certain for you. Hell, nothing might be certain for you, you are special." She wiped a tear from my cheek. "What I can tell you is that even though you may not want life now, you will again. In a year, ten years or even twenty! Time changes things, heals things. It won't always be this painful, it can't be, not when there's so much love and beauty here, you just need to find it again."

"But why? Why me?"

"I don't know," she admitted sadly, sad that she couldn't help me further.

I wiped my eyes and looked out at the looming cityscape of London. It looked so foreign. "I don't know what to do now."

She grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. "You live. For all you've lost and all you have yet to find, you live."

"Will I see you again?" I asked, squeezing her hand back. 

With a shrug she smiled brightly. "When it comes to you, I don't really know."

"Then I guess we'll see."

"Guess so." She pulled me into a warm hug. "Goodbye Penelope. I might be seeing you."

As she walked off into the night I waved, whispering a faint goodbye. "I might be seeing you too, Death."

1946

I could feel the heat of the fire rolling across my skin. Shouts and sirens echoed in the streets, the neighbors rushed from their homes, running in a frenzy of panic. But I remained still, frozen in place as I watched it burn. This was my fault, I told myself. They wanted me… If I'd just-

Two firm hands gripped my shoulders, pulling me away from the building. Everything spun. The fleeting faces of the crowd swirling together like melting wax. The hand I'd been gripping onto slipped from my grasp. "Penelope! God damn it, Penelope, move your feet!"

Move your feet. Had I stopped? Move. I didn't remember doing that. Move. The ringing echoing in my ears had finally started to dull, slowly being replaced by my loud heaving breaths. MOVE! I stumbled forward just in time as the car flew past me. Hands grabbed my arms again, pulling me forward into the solid chest that smelt of ink and steel.

"I did this," I sobbed into him. "Olethros…"

His firm voice wrapped around me like a blanket. "No you didn't, this isn't your fault."

Wails and screaming echoed from down the street. The sounds still made my mind twist, threatening to pull me back to that room, to the haunted memories of the asylum. I cried harder as Olethros' hands covered my ears, blocking the sound from bringing me further pain. He pressed a kiss to my hair and said something I couldn't hear before he moved my hands to replace his and lifted me up into his arms.

He ran, we ran. The further we got from the blazing flame the more the pit in my stomach sank. I'd failed him… Again. The past eleven years were all wasted, because of me. Because I'd gotten too comfortable. The house… Everyone inside… Their blood was on my hands.

I was soaked in it, stained, in the blood of all the innocent people my rebellion had caused. All the people that chose to help me, chose to love me. All of them were gone. And it meant nothing. The Sandman was still trapped, our plan never being able to take shape. The cult once belonging to Roderick Burgess had gained more power than ever and the Institution… A weak sob left me. The institution knew I was alive.

Everything I touched I ruined. Everything I said turned to ash. And everyone I loved either burned in the flames or withered away by my side. Long life, perhaps even eternal life, had not been the gift I hoped.

I clung to Olethros' broad shoulders, held onto him, the last piece I had left to remind me I wasn't alone. "Rest, Inky, we're almost there."

The warmth of his nickname spread through me, lulling me to sleep with thoughts of what our life would be like in America. He could paint, I could collect antiques, and my friend and I would never have to be alone again. When I woke the ground was swaying side to side. Salt filled the air and the sound of waves hammered against the wood walls that surrounded me. I sat up in the swinging hammock, eyes darting around in search of the familiar tall burly redhead. Panic filled me when I found nothing.

"Oh good you're awake!" An old man wearing a sailors uniform said as he made his way across the room to me. "Thought you were dead for a bit!"

"My friend, where is he?" I asked, not bothering with any pleasantries.

"Friend?"

"Big guy, red hair, you can't miss him."

"Ahh yeah, he dropped you off."

Despair filled my lungs. "Dro...dropped me off?"

The sailor nodded. "Yeah, he brought you on board, told us you were goin to America and left."

My jaw clenched. "No... No. We were supposed to go together, he's supposed to be here."

"Sorry lass," was all he said as he turned and left.

Alone. I was alone again. My chest ached with the crushing weight I'd long avoided, the weight of the nothing that looked over me. White walls, endless halls... NO! I'm not there. I'm here. I'm here. I pressed my hand to my chest, holding it tightly over the heartbeat. I'm here. I'm alive.

God it hurt, it always hurt. Tears streamed down my cheeks but these were different. These tears weren't out of fear or loss or sorrow, but of anger. I was angry. Angry at everyone that had just kept taking and breaking down all I worked to build. Angry at Olethros, so angry, that he just left me here, after everything. Fire burned my throat as I screamed, throwing whatever I could get my hands on at the wall. But when the fire faded I was still alone. I sank to the floor, hugging my knees as I cried, the ship rocking me back and forth with the waves.

1968

America was just another shit hole to me. The anger I'd clung to had served me well, for a while, but as anger always did it burned out slowly. It faded with each year that passed, with each brick I'd built up once again from the bottom. My life here hadn't been difficult, the inheritance I'd kept from my family's estates and whatever I'd been able to save from what Olethros and I had accumulated, kept me comfortable, but the small surrounding comforts of a lonely life meant very little to me.

Truth be told I was scared. Scared to lose anyone else. Scared to be betrayed again. Scared to do anything but sit on the rickety bed and stare at the hideous wallpaper. A chill ran up my spine as a low, guttural moan filled the room. "This feels different. Your despair."

In the shadows the figure of a woman stood. "God not again," I said with a sigh. "Look, I'm kind of over the hallucinating so if you don't mind just fucking off right back to where you came from, please."

She shuttered. "You're so much meaner than I thought you'd be. But, he can be mean too sometimes… Oftentimes."

I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Look, lady, I really don't want to do this."

"You don't want anything." She said sadly. "That's why I'm here. It's why I can feel all the pain boiling up inside you."

"That sounds disgusting."

"No!" She cried, a glint of metal flashing in the pale light. "It's beautiful! I've never seen pain so beautiful before! You're special."

"Fuck me," I groaned standing and pointing a finger at her. "If I hear one more person tell me how goddamn special I am I'm going to throw someone off a building!"

The glittering fish hook dug into her face as she smiled. "Oh they're going to love you! But you'd best be nicer to them, they like to hold a grudge."

Anger swelled in me as I turned, grabbing a lamp off the desk and raising to throw it, but when I turned the figure was gone. I sat back on the bed and looked down at my shaking hands. I need help. The realization was colder than I expected, but it was more than I'd felt in a while so I welcomed it. He would hate you, I told myself looking at the wall. He would hate what you've let yourself become.

1989

Our lips were hot and wet as they moved in a poorly choreographed dance. My fingers had curled in his hair, his had done the same. I should have felt more... Pressed up against another warm body, the light buzz of alcohol, this should have been better. But it wasn't.

I pulled away, setting a hand on the stranger's chest. When I looked up, with my vision slightly blurred, his hair was dark and hungry starry eyes stared down at me. I blinked and it was gone, the dark hair turned light, his dark eyes looked down at me with confusion. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I sighed. "I just need a minute, I think."

"Okay, well come find me later, yeah?"

"Sure," I lied.

Dragging my feet I returned to the bar of the old tavern, sitting in the stool the bartender had brought out for me. He gave me a look, the same look he'd given me two other times this week. Why was this so hard? I wanted to scream. Why did it always feel so hollow?

"My, my, aren't you just the belle of the bar," a light teasing voice cooed beside me. 

The bright red lips caught my eye first as I turned, the cheshire grin sending a chill down my spine. The golden eyes and skin tight black leather of their outfit were both close seconds though. I shook off my surprise and met their gaze, a hum of something rolling from the honeyed depths. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh no need to apologize, little petal." They said twirling a strand of my hair on their finger. "You, it would seem, are the most desired creature in this place."

I glanced around, confused as to who this was and why they'd spoken with such familiarity. "I don't understand."

A throaty laugh. "Yes, that much is obvious." Wow, rude. I thought, clenching my jaw. Their fingers brushed over it gently. "Oh come now, I'm only teasing. I was hoping you'd be more fun than him, my twin told me you had spark, but now I'm not so sure."

"Look, I don't know you or your twin nor do I particularly want to, so can you just tell me what you want so I can go back to my night?" 

The gold in their eyes swam with glee. "Oooh, there's that fire! I like it!" With a long, languid look around the bar they sighed. "All these people either want to fuck you or be you. Their desire is so... Simple." They looked back at me. "But you, you I can't seem to read. So, petal, what I want is to know... What do you desire?"

They'd moved closer, just an inch away from my face. "Some personal space."

Another long laugh. "I do love the attitude, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking it's aimed at me."

"What?"

"All that fire, all that venom and nowhere to put it. How tragic." They purred. Pressing a quick kiss to my cheek they turned to leave, but not without throwing one last insult over their shoulder, "If you ever decide he's too self important for your tastes, do remember my doors are always open for you, petal."

Through the crowd the shimmer of the black leather vanished. I did my best to brush them off. They obviously had me mixed up with someone else. The bartender set my drink down and arched a brow. "You doin' okay, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just an off night."

"Looks like you ain't the only one," he said nodding toward a man alone at a table. I watched him for a moment, taking in his dark hair and sad eyes. Yeah, he's definitely not having the best time. As the crowd thinned he came to the bar, leaning against it trying to hide the sigh. "Whisky please."

"Oh, you'll have to be more specific," the old barkeeper said. "We have a menu now."

"Oh," he said, taking the plastic lined paper and giving it a half glance. "What's the oldest you've got?"

"I've got a Glen Grant old enough to be your father!" He answered.

A chuckle and a look, amused and cocky, filled the man's face. His eyes stayed sad. "I'm older than I look."

The barkeeper filled his glass, sliding it towards him. He lifted it to his nose, our eyes locking as he took a long sip. He wasn't ugly, quite handsome in fact, but I was far more curious about the sadness he seemed to carry so, before I could think better of it I asked, "You waiting for someone?"

He pulled the glass from his lips and smiled that same smile. "I think I’ve been stood up.”

“I’m sorry.”

With a shrug he looked into his glass, swirling the liquid around a bit. “We had a fight. Last time we were here. It was my fault. I wish I could say I was drunk at the time, but I was just an idiot.”

I smiled, taking a sip from my own glass. “Well, you do look the type. No offense!”

“None taken.” He said, clearing his throat slightly. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

He looked around as if the question had been outrageous. “You’re by far the most beautiful girl in this place and here you are sat alone with me and the barkeep.”

“If I’m with you and the barkeep am I really alone?” I countered, nervously stirring my drink with the straw.

“A fair point, but my question remains the same.” He slid closer. “What’s your sob story?”

I bit my lip, trying to fight the smile that started to spread. “That’s a very long story, stranger.”

He shrugged. “I’ve got plenty of time.”

“Is this your move?” I teased. “You make up a little story about being stood up by a friend and then come over to hit on lonely girls at the bar?”

With a boisterous laugh he shook his head. “That would be rather pathetic, wouldn’t it?”

I took another drink. “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”

“So, why are you lonely?”

“That is the question of the hour.” I had the answer, but I refused to acknowledge it. The pain of such an admittance would drive me back to where I’d been thirty years ago, and I wouldn't go back there. Not back to the hallucinating and the constant state of fear and pain that had all but consumed me. I owed him more than that.

"Well, lonely stranger," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Hob."

It was an odd name, but I placed my hand in his with a smile. "Hello, Hob, I'm Penelope."

He pressed a kiss to my knuckles and winked. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "So, you think your friend is still mad at you?"

"More than likely, he's the type to hold a grudge."

The barkeep chuckled, butting into the conversation. “I’ve seen plenty of friends get in fights in pubs. Even more of them laugh about it together later!”

Hob looked over the counter and smiled again, more amused this time. “Maybe in another hundred years.”

“Ah, you’ll have to have found a new pub by then. This place has been sold to make room for new flats.” The horror that filled his face was something I wasn’t expecting. Had it meant so much to him? Perhaps to his friend? "The borough council are trying to stop them, but if you've got enough money in this country you can do whatever you bloody want."

I sat with him for another few minutes before the place needed to close. He was still upset, still for whatever reason worried as we stepped out into the night. "Would you like me to wait with you, while you call someone or?"

"It's alright, I walked." I assured him just as the rain began to pour down from the starry sky. With a sigh I looked up at them, wishing to see the blue pair of eyes looking at me once again.

"Need an umbrella?" Hob asked. "I'm sure I have a spare."

I smiled at him, a smile that reflected his. "And miss out on the rain?! Absolutely not!"

"You are the strangest girl I've ever met, Penelope." 

"Strange," I hummed, mulling it over in my head. "I quite like that."

"See you around?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe in a hundred years."

The phrase seemed to light something in him as a smile, a real smile spread on his face as he tipped his imaginary to me. "A hundred years then."

2017

I pulled up to the club, tires screeching against the asphalt as I skidded next to her car. God damn you Johanna Constantine! I cursed, ripping my belt off and slamming my door. A hooded man leaned up against her car, flipped casually through the pages of his book. 

"You're too late," he said in a rich slightly scratchy voice as I drew closer.

"Excuse me?"

The chains that seemed to bind him to the book clacked against the hood of the car sending a shiver of unpleasant memories through me. "You're too late to save the girl. Or perhaps you're right on time… It likes to change for you."

I kept walking toward the door, dread filling me at the way the man's weighted words clouded around me. "JOHANNA!" I all but screamed. The smell of smoke and burning flesh was pungent in the air. No. Not again.

I ran, ran through the double doors and almost slammed into the back of Logue, a man I'd only met once before and absolutely hated. He stared down in front of him, wailing, feet planted in place. I shoved him to the side and felt my heart fall into my stomach at the sight of my friend, frozen on the ground, clutching the hand of the girl, Logues daughter, that had no doubt been lost to his stupidity.

"This is your fault," Logue spat down at her and I didn't hesitate to whirl around and punch him. 

The sound of his nose breaking beneath my fist was music to my ears. As he stumbled and stuttered out cries I stood over him. "If you want your nose to be the only thing I break you'd better leave now. And I don't want to hear a goddamn word from you ever again."

He ran out, but I didn't focus on him, couldn't, not when Johanna was sat there unmoving and practically wheezing. "Jo..." I tried in a soft voice. 

Nothing.

I knelt down beside her and carefully moved the hair from her face. Her lip quivered. "Johanna." Her eyes had begun to water, tears already spilling over as I rubbed a soothing hand over her back and gently held the wrist of the hand that still held onto the girl. "Johanna, you have to let go."

Her chest heaved. "I... I can't."

"Yes you can," I assured her. "Let go."

The arm thudded to the floor and I pulled her into my embrace immediately. As was the Constantine way she resisted, tried pushing her pain back down and me along with it, but I still held her. 

I knew this pain, knew it well, knew it wasn't one you could push down. So I held her as she pushed and shouted and raged in my arms. Eventually the fight left her and the heartbroken sobs filled the room as the remnants of fire and brimstone crackled beside us.

"I've got you," I whispered, blinking the tears from my own eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Jo. I promise."

This promise was one I intended to keep. After all, Johanna Constantine had been my only constant in recent years. The only one I had to call upon if I needed help, so in turn I was there for her. Most would have called such a thing friendship, but she'd hated that word, so we'd called it a beneficial alliance, something she still hated but at least allowed. But, I had no trouble admitting that Johanna Constantine was my friend and that I wouldn't abandon her to bear the pain, no doubt ahead of her, alone.

Present Day

The rain had begun suddenly and had only worsened as the afternoon drifted to night. I saw the flash of white, her signature coat, in the crowd ahead. "Johanna!"

She, thankfully, heard me and stopped. I opened my umbrella, running out from my covered spot to catch up to her. She smiled as our umbrellas knocked together. "Didn't know you were out and about today."

"I was just looking at a few antiques from a collector." I replied, falling into step beside her.

"Were they shit?"

"Absolutely!"

She shook her head. "It appears you still hold the title of greatest antique in London!"

I scoffed and smacked her umbrella. "Bitch."

***

London. The city that he had been doomed to, bound to, for so long the mere air left him tasting ash. He hated it. The loud crowds of humans, the cars and trains and constant rain. This city is cursed, he deducted as he waited for the Constantine girl to arrive. She wasn't far, that much he knew, but it appeared as if she was running late.

As he stood out in the dreadful city he felt… Hot? An odd sensation filled him, one he shoved down as the black cab pulled into view and this Johanna Constantine stepped out. She paused across the road, speaking to the woman he knew as Mad Hettie, one of his sisters immortals. He waited for her atop the stairs, somewhere she'd be forced to speak to him in order to pass and when she finally turned and approached him he was surprised by how closely she resembled the Constantine he'd known. 

She stopped a mere four steps away and looked up at him with a tilted head. "Constantine."

"Do we know each other?" She asked, taking a step up.

"We have business, you and I." Was all he said, all he was going to say, if there was one thing he hated more than this city it was the forced pleasantries mortals seemed to be so fond of.

She sighed. "Get in line, bruv. I can't keep God waiting."

He was baffled at her words, more so at the way she just waltzed past him. It would seem that while in captivity the humans had grown far more impetulant than even he remembered. So the king of dreams watched Constantine bicker with the priest about the royals and her fee. It was only when the demon tore its way from its host that he intervened. 

"You talk too much," the demon growled.

Constantine tilted her head and smirked. "Tell me your name and I’ll stop.”

“And why would I do that? When there are far more enjoyable ways to make you stop.”

Now standing at the top of the steps, looking down at the demon and the one trying to send it back he called out, "His name is Agilieth.”

“I’m flattered you remember me, Lord Morpheus, after all your time away.”

Constantine looked up at him with furrowed brows and a pensive look. “Lord Morpheus?”

“He is.” Agilieth answered, not once breaking the stare of the king. “Though I confess, I almost didn’t recognize you without your helm.” Dream’s glare darkened. “I wonder where your helm could be.”

A test perhaps? To see how much he knew of what had happened to his tools while he was imprisoned. “I presume it is in hell, with the demon to whom it was traded.”

“Yes, but which demon?” He smiled. “Give me the princess and I’ll tell you.”

Dream considered it. After all, what was one mortal princess to an Endless? What was one mortal in exchange for finding his tools, restoring his power and his realm? Constantine began her chant once again. “Wait!”

She did not stop. The ring of fire circled around Agilieth. “Fine, Fine! I’ll tell you where your helm is, just don’t send me back.”

“Constantine stop!” He called out. Still she continued. “I command you!”

“Dream of the Endless commands you!” the demon shouted.

With a smile, smug and rebellious she replied, “Run along and fuck off back to hell.”

He watched as the fire encased the demon, sending it back to its home in ashes. He glared down at her. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“I’ve just tripled my fee,” she answered simply as she turned and began shouting at the priest about how to receive her payment.

He was annoyed, though he probably should have been expecting the outcome from the close proximity to a Constantine. They, no matter what era he’d come across them, were a difficult force of nature. As he stood outside the church, listening to the ramblings of Mad Hettie a pang of guilt filled him as he thought of the cold and callous thoughts he’d had. *She* had been just one mortal, hadn’t she? Had things turned out differently would he have so easily thrown her life away? 

The rough sound of her approaching footsteps pulled him from his thoughts and he turned slightly. She looked, if possible, even more apprehensive than she had before. Hettie huffed. “I said the Sandman and I meant the bleedin’ sandman. It's good to have you back, milord. Don’t let her mess you about.”

He gave the old woman a polite nod, taking her warning more seriously after Constantine's rebellion back in the church as he turned to her. She smirked at him. “My gran used to tell me stories about you lot.”

“I’ve known your family for centuries,” he admitted, voice low, a warning.

“Then you know there's not one of us that can be trusted.” For a brief moment, Morpheus thought he saw a hint of sorrow in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant. “What do you want with me?”

“Something of mine came into your possession.” He said simply. “A leather pouch filled with sand. I need it back.”

“Oh, that was yours?” She pondered. “I bought it at a state sale. Didn’t even manage to get the drawstrings open.”

“Where is it?”

“No idea, could be anywhere.”

“We must find it.”

“Must we? Why is that?”

Morpheus felt his annoyance at her vague answers growing by the minute. Why did it have to be a Constantine? He sighed, hands in his coat pockets fisting in a poor attempt to sooth the hot emotion. “Because without it my realm will cease to exist, and if dreams disappear, then so will humanity.”

Her eyebrows raised. “No offense, but… I could do without dreams for a while. Haven’t had a decent night's sleep in ages.”

“Nor will you,” he insisted, stepping into her path as she moved to leave. “Until we find the sand. We must go. Now.”

“Does this approach generally work for you?” She snapped. “You just turn up and order people about?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” she replied, far too suddenly. Dream resisted the urge to make a face at the compliance. “I’ll help you find your sand.”

“Good.”

“First thing tomorrow, and I work alone.” 

There it was.

“No.”

She ignored him. “Don’t want you and your little friend following me all over London.”

“My friend?” He asked. What sort of trick was this?

Her head turned and she gestured off to the side. “Is that not your raven?”

Morpheus turned to look, far too quickly, too eagerly. For a moment he saw Jessamy perched on the back of the bench. For a moment he’d gone back to a point in time where such a sight was not uncommon, nor painful. The little black bird watched him, waiting with a stiff body and confused eyes. He smothered the warm feeling of fondness already forming with the creature.

“My gran said Dream always had a raven,” Constantine said, eyes drinking in his expression, or lack thereof.

“Not anymore.” Was all he could say, and even that had been too much. He approached the bird slowly, speaking softly. “Who are you? Tell me your name.”

“It’s, uh, Matthew, sir.”

“Matthew, I've made it clear to Lucienne that I do not require a raven at this time.”

“Yeah, she told me you’d say that,” he said with a loud caw. 

If I need assistance, I will ask for it.” A lie, one Lucienne would immediately see through.

“Uh, you do actually…” Another caw. “She’s getting away, sir!” He looked behind him where Constantine had been and now no longer was. With a sigh the bird looked down. “This is why you need a raven.”

“Go back to the Dreaming, Matthew,” he forced out, though it didn’t sound as harsh as he’d wanted it to. Dream didn’t even need to look at the raven to know he would not listen. Ensuring things went as she wanted was something Lucienne was quite good at when she found something she felt worth her efforts. He’d forgotten how much he missed it as well as hated it.

For a while he wandered the streets, thinking of how to find Constantine once again. It was a simple task, but with his mind so scrambled even the most simple thing felt miles out of his reach. Stopping beside a water feature he looked into the rippling depths, recalling how he’d seen her face in the waters of his realm. It was only one of the odd occurrences that plagued him. They shouldn’t have done that. Those waters had only ever shown him the darker version of himself before. Perhaps it was because he was now the darker version he always saw in the water. Perhaps the dreaming had sensed it and changed to accommodate… Had chosen her because she was all the good he’d had in him.

The raven, Matthew, landed beside him with an uncomfortable stretch of his wings. “I’m back.”

The glare the Endless sent to the bird would have been enough for any human to go running off as fast and far as they could, but the raven didn’t budge. “Yes, in spite of my telling you to leave.”

“I… I can’t. I… The boss lady told me-”

Boss? His mind hissed as the unsettling wave of anger and jealousy rose up in him. He was darker, he concluded then. Darker and desperate. “Lucienne is not your master.”

Matthew clacked his beak. “She told me you’d say that too.”

“Do you know who I am?” Dream asked, slightly less angry.

“Not entirely, but I… I don’t even know who I am anymore. A couple hours ago I apparently died in my sleep, and now I… I’m a bird!” He shifted from foot to foot, stretching his wings out. “I used to have thumbs. Now I have these things.”

“Yes. And now you must use them to fly back to the dreaming.” A hint of pain laced his voice when he spoke next. “This world is not safe.”

“You think I don’t know that? I lived my whole life here. That’s why Lucienne sent me to help you.”

Help me. The very idea was like a bitter wine on his tongue. He’d done nothing for the loyalty of the bird. He’d done nothing. “My last raven came here to help me.”

“Yeah? Where is he now?”

Blood, bones and feathers. The look of her eyes as she held the small creature in her hands. “Her name was Jessamy. She died, trying to help me.”

With a soft click of his beak Matthew sighed. “I’m sorry. Look, let me at least help you find this woman. If she’s asleep we’ve probably got five or six hours before she’s on the move again.”

Of course, he thought. “If she is asleep, then I know exactly where to find her.”

***

Johannas’ favorite restaurant had, of course, been busier than ever. Every time she asked me to go out to grab it the store was swamped., it was almost as if she planned it. Which, knowing her wasn’t that far fetched, especially if the job she was going off on was one she knew she needed help with. No matter how many times I’d told her about my durability she still refused to accept any help unless it included staying at her flat curled up on the couch with a book or laptop doing research. 

I had no interest in doing what she did, but after all she’d helped me with, I felt as though it was only fair I offered her the same amount. The Constantines were stubborn and more often than not paranoid when it came to friendships and love. It made sense, their line of work being as dangerous as it was, I just wished that she’d let me help her more. I also wished to not have to hear about it for the next month as she bitched about my softness. Another thing she wasn’t entirely wrong about. I was soft, well I’d grown softer. The old wounds had started to mend and, though I knew the memories and pain would always be there I couldn’t help but think that Death had been right all those years ago.

It took thirty minutes to get our order, and with another ten minute cab ride back to the flat I was certain the food would be cold by then. Johanna wouldn’t mind, especially if her night had been a long one, which was almost a certainty at this point. I just hoped it would be enough for her to finally get some sleep. After what happened with Astra… I'd never been more thankful not to dream before, but seeing Jo struggle with the nightmares always put a pit in my stomach. 

I'd seen violence and death before, and as fucked up as it was the bodies and blood weren't what I focused on, weren't what haunted me. No, instead I saw my friend in a spot I'd once been in, a spot where no matter how far ahead you looked the future remained dark and full of despair. Johanna was strong, resilient and seeing her actually break was what scared me the most.

A large shoulder slammed into me, nearly knocking me and the bag of food to the ground. "Watch it, asshole!" I hollered, but kept walking to catch the cab that had pulled up. The air around me swirled with a tang of something, but so close to the car I didn't pay it any mind as I hopped into the cab and gave the driver the address.

***

Dream stood in the darkened, cluttered apartment, looking down at the sleeping Constantine girl. He'd seen horrific memories plague humans dreams for centuries, hers had been cruel and painful, but he'd seen it all before. So, when she woke with a gasping breath and tears in her eyes he didn't react. When she finally noticed him standing in her living room she signed, "For fucks sake. How did you find me?"

"You were dreaming." He answered. "But it was not only a dream, was it? It is a memory. No wonder you do not sleep."

He'd meant for it to be a statement of understanding, but judging by the way she clenched her jaw and glared up at him he'd not done it properly. "Maybe I don't deserve to."

"Perhaps not. But, I could make it go away." A bargain, he thought, would be the best way to ensure her cooperation.

"Only if I help you find your sand." She finished, the look in her eyes shifting into a more contemplating one.

Glancing around at the shelves and piles of things he said, "Though finding anything in this place may require more magic than even you can muster." 

Finally she stood, having made up her mind. "I'll look in the office. Try not to clean up while I'm gone."

"I'm coming with you." Was his simple reply. "You have a gift for disappearing."

She smirked. "You'll love my flatmate then, woman can vanish in less than a second. She certainly wouldn't need to distract you with a raven." He felt something, a warm tug, trying to coax the question out. But instead he stayed silent and watched her as she moved around him. "If the mess out here offends you, just wait til you see my office."

Dream looked at the mess of the small living space and sighed. If this is what she considers tidy we'll be here all night. He followed her and the sight immediately confirmed his worry. Piles of junk, boxes both full and empty tossed about, clothes hanging from every surface, this was a true disaster. The Constantine jumped into looking in the furthest corner of the room, tossing useless trinkets or empty bags over her shoulders. It was a wonder she got anything accomplished when she lived like this.

They searched, well she did as he watched, for a while before she'd, apparently, grown bored of the silence and decided to fill it with questions. "So, you seem pretty attached to this sand."

"It is a part of me." He kept his hands in his pockets and watched as she flew through the space like a hurricane.

"If that's true, then how'd you happen to lose it?" Another toss, one that sounded fatal to whatever the object had been.

The small lingering spark of rage twisted in his lungs. "It was stolen by another magic user called Burgess."

Recognition sparked in her. "Wait, not Roderick Burgess? The old demon king himself, eh?" Recognition shifted to rage. "Woman beating piece of shit, everyone said he had the devil locked up in his basement, wait how did you…"

He'd felt the unpleasant curl of the memories beginning to swarm his mind, but the look she held in her eyes was deeper than mere pity, a realization. "It was you…"

"Yes," he'd said in answer, but the look did not fade.

"No… You're him, the man in the glass."

Impossible. Darkness laced his tongue when he spoke. "How do you know about that?"

"Holy shit." She breathed out, searching quicker for something in the pile. "My flatmate, the one I mentioned, stayed at the Burgess house for two years before the bastard sent her up the river to the looney bin."

He'd stopped breathing. No. This was surely some cruel joke. "That's not…"

She pulled the picture frame out front under a stack of papers and held it up to him. "Does she look familiar to you?"

His fingers curled around the frame, digging into it painfully tight as he stared down in awe. It was her. Curled around Johanna Constantines back, smile wide… Happy and eyes filled with the joy they'd been devoid of their last meeting. How? How was this possible?

The sound of the front door closing restarted his heart and for the first time in eighty years he felt the mark on his arm burn. The tugging sensation snapped into a forceful pull as he turned and looked at the office door.

***

I shut the door with my foot, and shimmied out of my jacket, scratching the puffed up skin of my mark, sending a dull burn through it, as I went. "Johanna!" I called. "You home?"

"In here!" Her voice was muffled by the door, but I could still hear something off.

"I got your usual," I said, opening the door and rummaging through the bag. "But they forgot the… Sauce."

All the air left me as I looked up, expecting to see the face of my flatmate, only to see him, the man I'd spent so many years thinking of, wishing to see just one lsst time. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. I wanted to pinch myself, or stab myself with one of the plastic forks but I couldn't seem to move, I couldn't do anything but stare at him. Had he always looked like this? So stoic, so powerful, so beautiful? 

Johanna stepped around a pile of junk and grabbed the bag from my hands. "I'm gonna, uh, give you two a minute."

Once the sound of the door had announced her departure the Sandman drew in a breath and spoke the first words I'd ever heard him say, "Hello, Penelope."

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I closed my eyes tightly. The sound of his voice was deep and rich, sending a wave of power and emotion through me like lightning. When I opened them again and he was still there I said nothing, closing the space between us and wrapping my arms around his shoulders. The scent of sea and what I could only describe as stardust flooded my senses, further cementing this as reality. My hands fisted in his coat and for a moment of his body remaining stiff I thought I might have overstepped, but then the touch came, soft feather light pressure of his hand on my back, holding me to him. I didn't know how, but somehow I managed to get the strangled greeting out, "Hi, Sandman."

We stood like that for a minute or two, frozen in the embrace of one another, an embrace I never thought I'd get, before I pulled away and wiped the tears from my eyes. His hand stayed on my back, putting slightly more pressure there as if trying to keep me from moving away any further. The star filled blue eyes I thought of so often finally stared down at me. The sound of his voice surprised me, after years of silence I definitely needed time to adjust to hearing it. Now I just hoped he wanted me to hear it more. "How?"

It was a difficult question to answer, even after all these years. "I don't really know."

"What happened?" He sounded angry, hurt even.

I sighed and pressed my forehead to his chin. Perhaps the gesture had been too intimate, but I didn't care, I just wanted to feel him for as long as I could, as long as he'd let me. "After the basement…" I swallowed hard, pushing the painful flashes down. "I wasn't going to go back… and the only way I could see to do that was to… Well…"

"Throw a car off a bridge?" He finished.

Looking back up into his gaze I shrugged. "I didn't think you knew about that."

"Paul told me," he answered as his eyes filled with pain. "He said you were dead… I thought you were dead."

I blinked away tears. "I think I was… For a little bit at least."

"Then how are you here? How do you look exactly as I remember?" His eyes trailed over my face, my body, honing in on the mark and then on the long jagged scar on the arm across from it, that I'd given myself so long ago. 

Shame burned in me as I curled the arm into my chest, pulling at the chain of my necklace to try and hide the fact I didn't want him to see it. "I only remember pulling myself out of the river. Everything before is hazy." His eyes were still glued to my arm so I nudged him gently. "How did you get out?"

His eyes returned to mine. "Paul. He broke the summoning circle, which in turn restored a small portion of my power. I used that to free myself." Another strong pulse of something swelled in me. "I kept my promise. Alex Burgess pays for every second of torment he allowed."

It felt good to hear, and though it was probably terrible, I smiled. "Thank you." Is he angry, hurt, I never came back for him? The sudden thought filled me with dread. "I… I did try to come back for you. I did… But…"

A cold hand stroked my cheek. "Do not apologize. Freeing me was never your burden." 

"Still, I wanted you to know I tried. I'd be the worst person ever if I just let you rot there without a second thought, Sandman."

"Morpheus," he whispered and a warm feeling nestled in my chest, like the answer to a question I needed to be whole. "My name is Morpheus, Dream of the Endless."

"Is it Morpheus or Dream?"

"Either, but…" He paused, "People call me Dream mostly, but in private I would like you to call me Morpheus." 

"Morpheus," I breathed, tested with a smile. "It's certainly not as catchy as Sandy, but it'll do."

"I hated that name, just so you know," his eyes glistened with the playful tone of his voice. It was so much better than I could have imagined, all of it.

"Oh I knew, but that only made it more fun." I laughed softly, before the silence turned more serious. "I'm glad you got free, Morpheus."

With the smallest hint of a smile he bowed his head, brushing it against the top of mine. "I am glad you did as well, Penelope."

We're getting out of here. You, me and Jessamy. I promise.

"I um... I have something for you," I said, squeezing the glass vial in my hand and stepping around him to get to my desk, buried among Johannas crap. I opened the drawer, fingers stroking the soft bag before I opened it and retrieved the small black pouch. I turned, placing it gently into his hand with care. Morpheus stood looking down at the pouch curiously. "It's... It's Jessamy, well her remains."

His lips parted, shock and pain settling into his features, the feeling pulsing between us. "How?"

"I'm sorry if I've offended you," I said quickly, a moment of fear hitting me. "I didn't really know how you wanted... I was going to bury her, but it just didn't feel right, trapping her in that place. So, I burned her, or well, Paul did… and kept the ashes hoping that, well… Hoping we'd get to have  this talk." I rambled nervously, twisting the vial on the chain.

For a long minute all he did was stand there, staring down at the remains of his companion. When he did speak it was quiet, pained but grateful. "You should keep it. To remember her by."

He pressed the pouch back into my palm. "Oh, I... I already have some pieces of her with me." 

"I see," he said, lifting the necklace up closer, admiring the feather in the glass vial. "She would have liked that."

"Probably would have tried stealing it from me," I said fondly, the hurt of her loss at last beginning to shift into good memories. Turning our hands I pressed her ashes back into his and smiled against the tears that began to swell. "Now you can take her home. You can find a place she loved and set her free."

 His hand slid out from beneath mine, fingers brushing along my palm. "Thank you, Penelope. I will not forget this."

"Don't thank me." I insisted. "I'm sorry I broke my promise."

"I'll not hold it against you," he said, smiling a little. His mouth… I strangled the thought quickly. "I do not possess your unwavering ability to hold a grudge."

I let out a breathy laugh, "You know I highly doubt that."

The air between us had shifted to what it used to be, comfortable, familiar. I was happy. Happy he was finally free, happy he was here. Yet, all the questions I’d long buried, convinced I’d never get to see them answered bubbled back up to the surface. A twinge of confusion, of a need to understand what this was connecting us, filled my chest, and I suppose in turn his. His eyes turned more serious and he nodded his head slightly. “You have questions.”

“Yeah, you could say that…” I muttered.

“I have some answers,” he admitted freely, “But…”

“Later,” I finished, feeling the words before he even spoke them.

“Yes.”

I kept his gaze a moment longer. “There will be a later though, right?”

“Yes.” His fingers grazed my hand. “I promise.”

A loud knock to the door was the only warning we got before Johanna barged in. I took a step away from him, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable under Johannas’ scrutinous stare. "I get that there's some history here, but I'd very much like to find this bag and be done with Mr. Sandman."

I rubbed my chilled hands together. “Okay, well what exactly are we looking for?”

“A bag of sand,” Johanna said bluntly as she began looking around the room haphazardly throwing and stepping on things, as I was certain she had been before I arrived.

While I looked around I could feel Morpheus’ eyes on me, watching every movement, every shift, everything. When I felt his gaze shift, I looked over my shoulder at him, eyes trailing down his fit form. He wore a long black coat that seemed to hold the stars inside it, black boots and well black everything. It looked good. He looks even better naked, I reminded myself. His head turned towards me, faster than I was prepared for. And his voice sounded deeper when he said, “It was one of the tools they’d stolen from me. I need it back.”

“So,” Johanna started, her signature nosey face looking up at him. “You were down in that basement all this time?”

I quickly threw an empty bag at her and gave her the glare I knew she hated. He didn’t bother answering her, but I could see the pain in his eyes as he looked down to a small roll of photos that stuck out of the box beside him. “Is this you?”

“Why?” she practically groaned. “Do I look that different? Or younger?”

She took the photo from his fingers and held it between her own with a gentleness that showed just how much she cared. “No,” Morpheus said. “Happy.”

Suddenly her hand dropped, still holding the picture. “Shit. I know where your sand is.”

“God no,” I groaned with a huff. “You left it with her?”

“I know,” she started rubbing her forehead. “I know.”

I leaned back against one of the desks. “How do you want to do this?”

She shrugged. “The only way we can.”

I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “Oh, so we’re finally offering you up as a sacrifice? I always thought it’d be to some demon, but I suppose an ex girlfriend is close enough.”

“Not funny,” she said, slapping my shoulder on her way out the office door.

Looking over at Morpheus I smiled, “It is funny though, isn’t it?”

He looked at me in a way I hadn’t seen before, his eyes so full of fondness… no, that was too tame a word for it. Adoration, I thought, but quickly pushed aside. He didn’t adore me, he barely knew me. After a minute his lips tugged into a smile, small and fleeting, but still there. “You can be quite amusing.”

“Hear that Jo! Sandy agrees with me!” I hollered, basking in the look of utter disgust and annoyance that spread across his face that the familiar nickname.

“You are not calling me that any longer,” he commanded. 

“You gonna make me stop?” I teased, far more flirtatiously than I’d been intending, at least out loud.

He arched a brow, taking a step forward, looking down at me with a darker gaze than normal. “I could.”

Johanna cursed from the other room. “Pen, where's my coat?”

“Raincheck?” I asked softly.

“I suppose, so long as you bite your tongue the next time you feel the urge to call me Sandy.” A wave of heat rolled over me. God that voice, I thought and his eyes flared. I wonder what it would sound like when he- “You should be mindful of your thoughts.”

Heat rose to my cheeks and my eyes went wide, embarrassment filling every fiber of my being. “Can you?” He nodded. “Oh god.”

I caught a glimpse of his smirk before he erased it completely. “I can’t hear every thought, just the loud ones… the ones you can’t seem to keep to yourself.”

“How long have you been able to do that?” I demanded, unable to meet his gaze.

“The duration of this conversation.”

More heat as I covered my face with my hands as I recalled all the things I’d thought over the last few minutes. “Oh god.”

He said nothing, but I could feel the pride he felt, and could see the smirk once again before it vanished. Johanna popped back through the door. “Found it. You okay Pen?”

“Yep!” I cheered, quickly moving for the door. “Let’s go!”

“I’ll meet you there,” Morpheus said, voice full of amusement at my expense. I looked back at him, Asshole. The glint in his eyes told me he heard it.

Johanna and I stood on the corner, waiting for the cab, when she finally looked over and said, “So, you and the Sandman?” I opened my mouth ready to tell her it wasn’t like that when she shook her head. “Don’t even try to tell me it isn't like that. I saw you checking him out.”

“Jo,” I whispered. “It’s complicated.”

She pulled me to her side. “Look, I’m not gonna lecture you. You’re like ninety years older than me and we both know you wouldn’t listen. Besides, I’m not really one that should be giving out this kind of advice. I just… I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

I smiled at her. “I’ve been through worse, Jo. And for the record I’m only seventy six years older than you, I’m not ancient.”

“Not like your boyfriend.” She didn’t waste any time with the dig.

“Shut up.”

***

Dream felt like he was on fire. He had since the moment she embraced him. His eyes watched her as she walked ahead of him and Constantine, humming with her hands in her pockets and a slight skip in her step. The simple dress she’d worn bouncing up slightly with every movement, raising just enough that he could catch glimpses of her thighs. Dream found himself unable to stop thinking of the heated thoughts she’d unknowingly shared with him, of how tame they were in comparison to his.

“Who is she?” He decided to ask Constantine, an attempt to clear his thoughts and remind himself of what his focus had to be. “The woman in the picture.”

“Her names Rachel, Rachel Moodie.”

“Does she deal in magic as well?”

She scoffed, slowing beside him. “God no. No, She’s actually a decent person. Proper job, nice family. She fuckin’ hated all the magic stuff.”

“And yet you left the sand with her.”

“I did not leave it with her. Sort of left it, and her.” The two shared a look, hers one of pain and guilt and his one of understanding, perhaps even sympathy if he was feeling generous. Constantine looked away and released a huff of annoyance. “I was staying at her place for a few months. She interpreted that as us living together, which we weren’t, so, one night I just went on a job and… never went back.”

“Why?” He hadn’t meant to ask it, but as he watched Penelope look up to the sky and smile the word just slipped past his lips.

"Because it never ends well, does it?" She looked over at him, following the steady gaze that fell on her flatmate.

"What? Love?" Dream looked down at her for a moment before his eyes returned ahead of them to Penelope. If one fact had remained true over the long years that had separated them it was that he did not deserve her. "No, I suppose it doesn't."

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but people around me tend to get ripped in half or cast down to Hell.”

“Not all of them,” he replied.

Johanna smiled, looking over at the girl they both seemed to share a common fondness of. “She’s different. Pen doesn’t need me to look after her, not really. She’s been through far worse and somehow come out of it all still her… Still good. But Rachel, she wasn’t used to this kind of life. It was safer for her if I left.”

“Did you tell her that?”

“No.” She said as they finally neared the door. “I suppose I’ll have to now.”

Penelope hopped down from the step and gestured to the door. “It’s still her.”

“Bollocks.” She shoved her friend up to the box. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and she won’t be-” The sound of the door buzzing echoed in the small enclosed space and Constantines face fell. “Weird… She didn’t even ask who it is.”

“Johanna,” Penelope tried to interrupt.

“Maybe she’s expecting someone. This could get awkward. More. Awkward.”

“Do you want me to come up with you?” Penelope asked once the nervousness became too obvious to ignore.

“No, you lot wait here.”

“I’m coming with you,” he insisted, not wanting to risk her running again.

“No you’re not. Do you have any idea how much she probably hates me right now? Do you have ex girlfriends?” His jaw clenched. Yes, he had many… Many who would not be pleased to see him ever again. Many whom he would have to tell her about. No. He forced the cold thought. No, he would retrieve his tools, save the dreaming, give her whatever explanation he needed to in order to satisfy her curious mind and then he would let her go back to her life. The life she’d built without him, the one she knew and the one that would keep her safe.

“I will not wait long.”

“You won’t have to,” Constantine assured. “She’s gonna slam the door in my face.”

He and Penelope waited until the door slammed closed before looking at one another. She leaned over towards him, “How long do you think it’ll take them to get undressed?”

Tilting his head at her he smiled. “What makes you think this woman will be keen on reconnecting?”

She shrugged. “I just know Johanna.”

***

The rain had started not long after Johanna disappeared upstairs and as it began to come down harder a small black mass shot down from the sky and landed roughly onto the pavement. Morpheus looked down with a sigh. “Matthew.”

“This is a bad idea.” The raven shook off his wings and looked at Morpheus, then to me. “Uh, sorry, I thought it was just you out here.”

My eyes widened at the voice of the bird. “Oh… the raven talks.”

“The raven has a name,” he said grumpily. 

Morpheus sighed. “Penelope, this is Matthew.”

I knelt down and smiled at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Matthew. Sorry I’m just a bit new to talking animals, or spirits, or whatever it is you are.”

His feathers smoothed out. “I guess that’s fair. I’m kind of new to this too.”

“You’re a magnificent raven,” I said, holding a hand out. “Would you like me to hold you? So you don’t have to look up so high?”

“Well… Yeah, I guess that sounds nice.” He said slowly, hopping into my hand and gripping me tightly as I rose back up and held him out to Morpheus, who looked at us with a softness in his usual hard exterior expressions.

“Anyway, I say this as someone who was recently human.” I let the question go. Later. “Human beings cannot be trusted.”

“No.”

“If I were Johanna Constantine, I’d be up there cutting a deal with Rachel to keep the sand, then cut the dream sand with real sand and sell it to the highest bidder.”

"Johanna wouldn't do that," I assured him.

"Well you're not exactly impartial, are you?" 

"Maybe not, but one thing to know about me dear Matthew is I'm very good at spotting monsters." I stuck my free hand out into the stream of rain, letting it pool in my palm and run through my fingertips. "And Johanna isn't a monster. She's just seen too much and lost even more."

I could feel Morpheus' eyes watching me and not the raven, but when I looked back up his eyes had shifted. “Well, I wasn’t the best person when I was a person. We can’t all be Jessamy, who was apparently perfect in every way.”

I giggled, earning a look from both of them. “Sorry, it’s just, Jessamy was far from perfect.”

“You knew her too?”

“Kind of.” I said leaning back against the wall. “She never spoke to me, I didn’t even know she could, but we spent a lot of time together.”

“So, what was she like then?” Matthew asked carefully, almost as if he was afraid of the answer.

“She was brilliant,” I began, noticing the sad gleam in the sandman's eyes. “Sly as a fox and fast as the wind in a storm. She also liked to steal my things, ribbons, rocks, anything I’d collected that she took a liking to. Jessamy was also quite a bitch,” I admitted with a laugh. “She was always picking at my hair and clothes and swooping down to scare me.”

Matthew sighed. “She sounds nice.”

“She was.” I said. “But, she was just like you. Not better or worse.”

Morpheus looked at the bird with a sigh. “Matthew I-”

“I get that you don’t think you need a raven, but if you’re out here, waiting for human beings to help anyone but themselves you’re gonna be sitting out here in the rain forever. Whatever they’re doing up there, they’re not thinking about you.”

“Oh they sure aren't,” I chuckled.

“What’s funny?”

“Dear Matthew, I’m willing to bet they’re up there tearing each other's clothes off.”

“No way!” He cawed. “They’re definitely planning a doublecross.”

I looked down at him and smiled. “You want to bet on it?”

“I’m a raven, I don’t really have anything to bet.”

“True.”

“How about this, the loser buys the winner the meal of their choice.”

I cocked a brow at him. “Do you have a wallet hidden in those feathers?”

He shook his head slightly. “No, but I do have the tall guy.”

Looking up at Morpheus’ unimpressed stare I pressed my bottom lip out slightly, pouting. “Please, O great dream god!”

"I'm not a god." His voice was stiff. "I am one of the Endless."

"The Endless. Sounds very ominous.”

"The Endless are beings of great power that maintain the order of this world. Myself and my siblings," he explained.

I hummed thoughtfully. "You don't sound too fond of them."

He sent me a look. "There are a few that are... Troublesome."

"Just like in any family I suppose." I smiled. "How many are there?"

“More than enough.”

I shrugged. “Okay, well then, O great Dream of the Endless, will you please agree to the terms of our bet?”

He glanced down at the raven then back at me. “Very well.”

“Okay then, let's go. Prepare to lose, raven boy.” I said standing next to the door and hitting the buzzer. Nothing. I looked over at Morpheus whose face had turned sour. “That’s not good is it?”

“No, it is not.”

*** 

Upon finding Constantine in the hall Dream knew the only thing capable of this was none other than the sand they were here to retrieve. He stood back and watched Penelope as she attempted to soothe the dazed woman. With watering eyes Constantine glared at him. “What did you do to me?”

“It was the sand.” He was unsure of how to prepare her for what no doubt lay beyond the door of the bedroom.

“Where’s Rachel?” His jaw clenched, an act that only seemed to spur her into action. She pushed past Penelope and opened the bedroom door. “Rachel? Rach?”

“Jo? Jo, is that you?” The weak reply barely made it to the door as he followed in after the two women. “That’s such a wonderful dream.”

There, lying in the bed with hollow cheeks and skin clinging to bone, decaying in the bed of pillows was Constantine’s ex lover. She was barely clinging to life just as she clung to the pouch in her decrepit hand. He moved slowly, not wanting to disturb the unsettled quiet that had filled the room. Penelope stayed by the door, watching Johanna with a sorrowful gaze as her friend looked up to him. “What’s happened to her?”

“It was not meant for humans,” he said simply as he pulled the bag from her hand.

“No! Wait, please. It hurts,” She groaned.

He turned away, heading towards the door with a steeled expression. “We can go.”

“What?” Johanna demanded. “What we can’t go, we can’t leave her like this.”

It was Penelope’s eyes that he met as he spoke. “We can’t help her. The sand was the only thing keeping her alive.”

He could feel Constantine behind him, could feel her anger as she began speaking, but he didn’t care. All he saw was the sorrow in Penelope’s eyes, sorrow that he’d seen before so many times he’d lost count. But this time was different. This time he had no one to be angry with but himself. He had been responsible for this in some way, hadn’t he? He had been the reason the sand found its way into the mortals' hands, whether it was unintended or not it didn’t matter, not to him.

So he turned and gave Constantine a command, “Wait outside.”

He watched the woman apologize to her dying lover, watched her press a kiss to her forehead, an act that spurred his own memory of the goodbye he’d once thought was forever. And then, without a word to anyone Constantine left. He watched her go, eyes settling on Penelope for a moment before he spoke. “You should go with her.”

Facing the dying woman whom he had, unknowingly, put there he waited for the door to close behind her. It didn’t. Instead she moved closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Rachel Moodie, taking her frail hand and holding it close. She looked up at him when he didn’t move and gave him a soft nod. She was staying. Staying beside a woman she didn’t know? Then it hit him.

It wasn’t Rachel Moodie she was staying for, not really. And so he opened the pouch, grabbing a small handful of sand and sprinkled it over Rachel Moodie. The sand fell across her face, but some of it swirled in the air drifting towards Penelope and circling over her. As the life faded from Rachel the sand retreated and settled once again. Penelope pressed a soft kiss to the woman's hand and gently set it beside her as she fell into her final slumber.

***

Johanna leaned against the wall, staring out at the rain as Morpheus and I came down. He stayed behind, giving the two of us space to talk while he spoke with Matthew. She didn't look at me when she spoke. "Was it quick?"

"Yes. She died dreaming of you," I replied, recalling the beautiful sun filled vision.

Her jaw clenched. "I didn't deserve her."

Standing beside her, shoulders touching, I shrugged. "Maybe not, maybe no one deserves anybody, but she loved you all the same and I know you loved her too."

As Morpheus drifted closer I moved out of the way so the two could speak alone. I'd hoped Johanna would be less hard on him than she had been upstairs, but the wound was fresh, and Johanna didn't deal with loss as tactfully as others. I knelt down to Matthew and sighed. "In light of recent events I think we should call off our bet."

"Yeah, seems kind of in bad taste, all things considered."

"Next time I'll beat you though," I assured him.

He laughed. "Not a chance Penny."

"Penny?" I asked with a smile.

"Yeah, cause you're all shiny!"

"I'm shiny?"

"Yeah, at least in these raven eyes of mine you are." He looked at me, as if double checking. "You got a very nice… Glow… Thing going."

"Well that's weird," I replied. "But that's kind of just been the new normal for me I guess. It's a nice nickname. I don't think anyone's called me that before."

He took a tiny bow. "I am a raven of many talents!"

When I stood back up and dusted off the dirt Johanna and Morpheus both looked away from me. Her attention turned to the little raven as she instructed him to take care of his master then she unfurled her umbrella and stepped into the rain. "You comin Pen?"

"I'll catch up with you later," I told her, settling into the spot she'd vacated. 

"Be safe," she called as she hurried off to the cab.

"How'd she take it?" I asked.

"Better than most."

I nodded. "Yeah, she's had her share of this shit. She'll deal with it, in her own way."

"How are you?" He asked softly.

"I'm alright." I shrugged. "I've gotten used to being surrounded by death."

"I suppose you have."

With a short glance at one another I asked, "I'm still perfectly fine with the whole later talk we need to have after you've got your tools back, but I have to know… did this," I gestured to my arm. "Did it keep me from dying that day?"

"No." He looked out at the rain and shook his head. "I am not even certain I have the answer as to how you survived. I'm just… I am glad you did."

I stepped towards him. "Oh? Would you have missed me?"

A pulse, strong and steady hummed between us. "More than you know."

I blushed. "You probably say that to all your friends." Friends. The word felt entirely too plain.

"I am Dream of the Endless, I do not have friends," he said lowly.

"Everyone needs a friend, Dream." I replied. "Is that not what we are?"

The blue of his eyes darkened. "I do not think that friends is a strong enough word to describe what we are."

"Best friends?" I whispered in a light teasing tone.

"Something like that," he said with mischief in his eyes.

"Well, best friend," I said. "Good luck getting your stuff back."

He looked out at the rain. "Are you intending to wait until the downpour ends?"

"And miss the rain?" I stepped out under the cold shower and smiled at him. "Never!"

"Goodbye, Penelope."

"Goodbye, Morpheus. I look forward to later!"

I danced through the rain all the way to the road, feeling his eyes on me every step until I faded from his view, where I called a cab to get me back to the apartment. Soaking wet footsteps trailed behind me as I walked through the door and got onto the elevator. A minute passed brfore the lights flickered and flashed for a seconds before the elevator stopped entirely. Soon the power cut out, flooding the pitch blackness of the elevator with red. "Great," I grumbled.

The pungent tang of sulfur burnt my nose and a wave of freezing dread filled me. In the distorted reflection of the elevator doors a shadow rose, twisted and deformed. A long gnarled hand reached towards me and then it fell like a pool of water, gone, at least from my sight.

Heart pounding I turned, checking every reflective surface, looking up the ground beneath my feet was nothing but bubbling darkness and my stomach dropped. "Fuc-"

Claws dug into my leg, pulling me down into the darkness before the scream could even form in my throat. I thrashed and clawed trying to find some kind of grip as whatever had grabbed me dragged me through whatever portal it had been capable of opening up. Sharp rocks sliced my arms and hands and dust... No, ash filled my nose. 

The claws released me, dropping me into a straight plummet down. I fell for less than a minute before my body slammed into a cold smooth floor of black. On the ground, over my gasping and disoriented form, the shadow of two large wings unfurled. Every inch of me wanted to curl into itself, every instinct I had told me to run, to get as far away from here as I could.

"Well well, what have we here? A guest in hell?"

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#dream of the endless x reader #the sandman series #dream of the endless #dream of the endless imagine #dream the endless #morpheus imagine #sandman morpheus #the sandman x you #sandman netflix #the sandman fanfic #morpheus x you

[augustvandyne]

request:

They go to a dodgers game together then at the end when they’re leaving a fight breaks out n reader gets hit

i accidentally posted it while trying to save it into my drafts, so i deleted the request. anyway, here it is. i love this idea because protective angela!! protective angela on top 💗🙏🏼 also i know little to nothing about baseball so please forgive

fight

The game was crazy, to say the least.

At one point you and Angela were standing up and jumping up and down over the fact that the Dodgers were winning, and then they just weren’t.

So now the two of you were sitting down, feet up, and chewing on some stale popcorn you’d picked up on your way to your seats.

Angela was making sarcastic remarks about how well they were playing today.

This was only one of their first games of the season, but really, what was the purpose of all the preseason if they were just going to perform like this?

“Catch the damn ball,” Angela shouts as the ball is dropped for the umpteenth time today. “Oh my.”

“I’m gonna need a drink after this one,” You hold a hand over yours eyes.

“A strong one,” Angela agrees.

“I can’t even watch anymore,” You turn your head to look at your beautiful girlfriend.

“It’s almost over,” Angela lays her head back to put a hand-full of popcorn in her mouth. “And then we can do whatever we want the rest of the day.”

“Good,” You laugh. “I’m gonna need something to take my mind off this shit show.”

“I’m very good at that,” Angela turns her head towards you, smirking.

“Oh, yeah, are you?” You lean in to kiss her lips, and she kisses back. “You look gorgeous today, you know?”

“Oh, so I don’t any other day?” Angela fakes hurt.

You squint, making Angela chuckle a bit.

“Not what I meant,” You push her jokingly.

“And what did you mean?”

“That you look gorgeous,” You shrug. “I like your natural hair.”

“Now I’m gonna start straightening it,” Angela shakes her head, trying to bite back a smile.

“Okay,” You shrug. “I like you every way. Hair up, down, straight, curled, natural. I love all of you.”

“I love every part of you, too,” Angela puts her head back, looking at you sweetly.

“I think that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me,” You put a hand on your chest.

“Shut up,” Angela rolls her eyes.

The moment between the two of you stops as two men standing in front of you begin to get into it.

“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Angela pushes the fingertips of her pointer finger and thumb into her eyes. “We can’t have just one nice day without having to be cops?”

“I mean, we could just leave.”

“Yeah, lets. Before we become accessories to a crime,” Angela stands, grabbing her leather jacket and any trash she had.

You do the same, and step out into the steps so you could leave.

You go down a step when one of the men accidentally punches you across the face.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” You put your hand on your face where the man hit you, your eye watering from the pain.

You’d think after years of being a cop, you’d be used to the feeling of being punch in the face, but you weren’t.

“I— It’s fine,” You flex your jaw, trying to ease the pain, but it just makes it worse.

“Like hell it is,” Angela’s face only holds pure anger. “You never hit a woman.”

“It was an accident—“

Angela holds her finger up, “Let alone a cop.”

“Shit, I—“

“Save it,” Angela crosses her arms, the trash long forgotten on the floor of the bleachers. “You’ll be hearing from our lawyer.”

“Ange—“ You try to calm her, but she isn’t having any of it.

“No. He’s lucky I don’t arrest him right now,” Angela clenches her jaw.

“Baby,” You shake your head.

Angela’s eyes soften as she takes the step towards you. She tries to remove your hand from your face, but you resist.

“Let me see,” She demanded. “Come on.”

When she removes your hand, she sees that there’s a bruise getting ready to form, and she looks back at the man angrier than she was a second ago.

Angela places a kiss on the sore spot.

“Ah, so much better,” You wipe the stray tear.

“Good,” She caresses the spot, trying to ease your pain for you. “How bad does it hurt?”

“An 8,” You wince when she applies the tiniest bit of pressure.

“I’m sorry,” Angela looks at you with sympathy. She wants nothing more than to take that guy to the ground, but she knows right place, right time. And that’s definitely not here in front of all these people who were already staring.

“I’m not joking,” Angela gives the man a stern look. “We’ll be seeing you.”

“Come on,” Angela lightly grabs your arm. “Let’s go get you some ice.”

Later that night, you’d taken some Tylenol for the pain, and you were still holding an ice pack to your face.

Angela’s orders!

She had you lying across her chest, the two of you covered in a blanket.

Every thirty minutes or so, she made you get up so she could see your bruise, and she’d apply a kiss like she had at the stadium.

She was worried about a concussion, but you promised her that you knew the day, time, and president. As well as the fact that the only pain you had was in your cheek.

“I can’t believe that happened,” She tilts her head, examining your cheek again.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” Angela shakes her head. “You’re in pain, I feel so bad.”

“I promise it’s not your fault, Ange,” You run your fingers through her hair, holding it back from her face.

You place a kiss on her head, forehead, nose, and then finally her lips.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Angela presses her lips together, trying to suppress the worry growing in her stomach.

“Yes,” You kiss her again. “I promise. The pain and the bruise will be gone soon enough.”

“Good.”

“Especially if you keep kissing it,” You smile, tapping a finger to the tender spot, signaling her to give you a kiss there again.

Angela chuckles, “You’re cute.”

“Thank you,” You beam as she pulls your towards her to give you a kiss there.

“My turn,” You pepper kisses all over her face until she’s begging you to stop. “Feel better?”

“I should be asking you that,” Angela’s smile falters again, but grows once more when you give her a look. “I feel much better. Thank you.”

You lay back down, a mixture of the Tylenol, trashy television, and the feeling of Angela’s fingers in your hair causing you to pass out for the rest of the night.

#the rookie x reader #the rookie #please ask me about them #send asks #angela lopez #angela lopez x reader #wlw post #i love her #please ask me about miss angela #i’m obsessed with her!!!!

[ghostsprettymama]

MONA LISA.

“ i want you to give in”

Warnings: smut,bullying,panick attacks,alcohol and possible drug use, anxiety, talks of suicide,toxic relationships,fatphobia,gun violence, throw up. MDNI.

Word count: 4,274 words 22,560 characters

pairings: Riri williams x Black! Reader fluff, shuri x Black! reader, top!black reader x gang member ! Shuri udaku

ALL CHARACTERS ARE 18+ UNLESS MENTIONED OTHERWISE

A/N: NAUR BC I WAS WORKING ON TS IN MY DRAFTS AND I ACCIDENTLY DELETED IT 😭😭 BUT TYSM FOR SM LOVE ON THE LAST POST HERES PART 2.

part one part three

blue text = whispering.

Y/N pov

You woke up in your room . With no collection on how you ended up there, but you do remember why you have this massive ass hangover, you checked your phone seeing Shuri’s message on instagram.

you squinted at the messages smiling, but your momment got ruined by your Brother “ wake yo ass up or T and all of us are leaving yo blackass home and you're gonna miss your first day" Said Erik on the other side.

You groaned getting up from your bed charging your phone while you went to the shower "siri play my song. " you said in your gentle morning voice.

Your phone responded automatically playing your song while you showered putting on your F/s bodywash, taking care of yourself in the shower, stepping out when youre squeaky clean and smelling good.

Youd put on your fit for the day stopping the music, taking your phone and charger with you, along with your purse so you have other mecessarities with you.

you went downstairs heading outside while Erik was waiting for you, he looked you up and down "Fuck you goin lookin like that" Erik said glaring down at you, the 6'2 man said looking down at you "take ya blackass back and change, my sister aint going out like no whore" he said.

A whore? You're dressed like a whore.. you look at him your pretty eyes threatened tears, your pretty makeup threatening to be ruined. "nono please, bee I promise you can go like that you aren't a whore" Erik said to you, your tears no longer threatening to come out.

You both headed to the car and the Udaku sibblings followed behind, shuri looked you up and down Before smacking your ass when the older brothers arent looking.

"SHURI-"

you yelped and the men turned around looking like someone was about to be murdered, both of them reaching for their hips, shuri motioned for them not to and you didnt understand why.

"sorry saw a spider" the two tall dudes sighed shaking their heads "dont do that shit again unless you want us to make sure someones not breathing anymore" said T'challa shaking his head getting in the drivers seat after unlocking one of his many cars, but he only used this one for school. you reached for shuris' hand but she shook her head " youre big now, you dont need to hold my hand" She obviously teased,

You just got in the backseat of the car with shuri, the two men sitting up front. you thought about what she had said, it made you upset either way, but you shook your head listening to one of your second favorite songs

SHURI POV

she looked at instagram going to her dms, seeing one unread dm from Riri, a close friend of hers, they werent at all interested in eachother but here and there theyd joke like they were.

She looked at the previous convo trying to remember what and who they were talking about and why, these two werre notorius shit talkers, but aint nobody stopped them, even if they can they cant.

Ohhh... she thought ttyping fast with her digits trying to carry on with the conversation hoping Riri isnt mad,Not that Shuri needs her, she js enjoys her prescense as a friend, she held Riri dearly to her.

She rolled her eyes turning her phone off, Shuri knew Riri was just concerned about Y/n, after all the school they go to is fucked up, but its the closest and least expensive one.

T'challa pulled up to the school everyone but Y/n getting out, Shuri decided to show out and open y/ns door helping her out the car. She held her hand as they walked into ths school, everyone looking Y/n up and down

"Why are they looking at me shuri.." she said to shuri in a whisper, "well maybe because youre a woman thats fine as fuck coming to a bigass school, and holding my hand?" Y/n bobbed for the answer and got the wrong apple, Shuri took the ' sarcastic asshole ' response in return for a dumb question.

T'challa pov

"You two already got your schedule right?" T'challa said turning to them, hoping to god they didnt forget the schedules at home or theyre gonna have to drive back. Even if T' challa seemed to be some ' big scary gangsta ' as titled by peers. He rather not be late to class.

"yeah, i got me and i put Y/n's schedule in her purse so we good." Erik said, T'challa got closer to erik when he pulled schedule out, shit was so crumbled you could barely read the words on there. "My nigga what the FUCK is this??" t'challa looked at him with his signature look on his face.

"Bro leave me alone i was rushing" said Erik looking back at him as if he got hit in the head with a hot comb. they both broke out into laughter not being able to take looking at eachother like that. "anyways we got the same schedule, what about you two?" T'challa looked at the girls who were already gone.

"did they ju- " T'challa turned to erik and he nodded, both of them shook their head in sync. "kids these days.."he said causing erik to chuckle.

They hated eachother but still kept the unremovable bond of their good friendship, who even knows why they arent actually friends anymore. The tale is like a mystery to people. Neither T'challa or Erik open up about it, but only shuri and the udaku sibblings mother Ramonda knew.

homeroom period bell rings

Y/N pov

She sat by Shuri and her friend Riri we met while walking around,both were on each sides of me and it mad me feel safe, she adjusted her braclets bracelets, some teachers gave her work the students were already working on,i only had gotten it due to the fact that shes a " hard worker".

Riri nudged me motioning me to pull my jacket up and cover my chest, I raised my eyebrows looking down, shit...she left hickeys on my chest you thought to yourself zipping up your jacket "Thanks Riri..." you smiled at her and she gave you a fist bump. "its nothin, a sista helps a sista out" she said as the bell rang your homeroom teacher coming in, damn she was fine.

RIRI POV

Shuri better not let this one go, i actually like her. She sighed to herself after fist-bumping her, Watching Miss Romanoff come in Rolling her eyes, she desperately loathed that woman with everything in her damn body.

“Good morning class we have a new student today, could you stand up” said Natasha,Riri glanced at her and she got up walking to the front,

I dont got a good feelin about this, She looked at shuri and shuri nodded feeling the exact feelings

Y/n POV

She got up, coming to the front of the classroom waiting for it to go silent. She gave her usual pretty smile. “ Hello im Y/n L/n and i hope this school treats me right”. She was going for her seat before Romanoff said something.

“ any facts? Like your family or you” She said to Y/n as she sat down, she looked at shuri before looking at riri, both of them shook their heads. “I Rather not, thats not anyones buisness in here anyway” you shrugged sitting back down, finishing the papers you had gotten.

Romanoff's eyebrow raised before she went to her desk handing you a paper and book. Youd put it aside before putting the papers in youur pink folder putting it in your folder.

you felt eyes on you, when you turned you looked at a white boy with brown hair and dark eyes trying to uncover who you are.

But his friend next to him calling him, causing the boy to look away.

You raised an eyebrow at his actions, a weird one you thought. Maybe he wanted to play a game, but you werent interested in some white boy with a staring problems games.

After class

you and your two friends left first standing by the lockers and talking about what had happened, shuri paid attention to your body language taking note of Peter, if he made you uncomfy she would do something about it, if he didn't then he was fine.

“Yeah, the weird guy? Peter, he’s usually talking to ned in their world, I don't know what's up with me today.” Riri said shrugging it off, you dismissed it too not caring about him either way, shuri looked at Peter and ned while you two talked. “I just find it weird that the nigga was staring at me like I'm the Mona Lisa,” you said uncomfy with what he did. “Hold that thought” riri and shuri went over to the two guys.

you were on your phone as you suddenly looked up seeing two red marks on peters face.

Shuri POV

She was paying attention to her friends body language “I just find it weird that the nigga was staring at me like I'm the Mona Lisa,” said y/n shifting her body showjng she was uncomfy. almost immediantly the two girls looked at eachother nodding oou im gonna beat this dough boy colored bitches ass. shuri thought " hold that thought" she said as she moved off the wall going over to Peter and ned, they wanted nothing with ned he was cool for now.

"What the fuck is your problem," Riri said staring up at Peter. She didn't care at all about the height difference in height, after all the bigger they are the harder they fall. Riri put her finger in the middle of his chest roughly pressing it against the middle as if it was a knife. “So you just gon’ creep my friend out and stare at her? We know the shit you're trying to pull Peter and stop digging for shit you shouldn't even know” said shuri spitting venom at the male before giving him a big smack to the face

“Hey man in sorry for him, he was j-” ned tried to defend his friend but Riri interrupted him "Shut the fuck up ned, this dont involve you" she stared at him as if the poor boy committed an act of murder to her friend. "if you wanna keep ya girl mj, even if that bitch is yours, leave Y/n alone" said Shuri walking away with Riri.

"does she even know why shes not at that school anymore? or about the shit both of your familys do huh?" Peter said as he was trying to anger Shuri and Riri more. “Its none of her buisness” said shuri as they kept walking .

“What does he-”dont worry about it” Shuri interrupted as they continued walking, Y/n looked at them before catching up to the others

LATER

Y/n pov

you sat on the bleachers watching the two play basketball for gym class recording it to watch later on my camera, when the bell rang shuri lifed her shirt whiping her sweat off, her sports bra and v line showing, along with the lovebites and kisses from lastnight on her body. you stopped filming putting the camera in your purse staring at her body.

"you like her ? " a voice said to her causing her to jump, her purse being sent all the way to shuri from her jumping so much . you turned around looking at the pretty girl beside of you "kiana" she said to you, her name so you nodded saying yours "Y/n" you said smiling to her. Her entourage was behind her watching the two of her “oou shes pretty... Is that Shuri's girlfriend?” said one of the girls “Thats Mariana, ignore her” you nodded “so what was your question” you adjusted yourself looking at Kiana, you weren't scared of her and you knew what she was trying to do. “a statement actually, You shouldn't like shuri, shes like of dem playgirls” she looked at your hickeys and kisses shuri left on you. You nodded getting up “mmh. Kiana rii? Yeah. Just because you were one of her hoes or rejected by her, dont mean you get you and ur friends to scare me away from my childhood bestie, i know her more then you ever would” you declared showing no form of emotion, Riri and Shuri called for you as they came out the lockerooms.

“It's ‘ight, she doesn't like fat bitches ‘nyway,” said Mariana, causing you to turn around and stare “ that's crazy becausee... She didnt say that last night. “ you shrugged it off walking past your bag, and giving shuri a little kiss on the lips, you dont know what fueled you but you did it anyways.

“What's with the sudden kiss?” shuri stared then looked up to see Kiana and Mariana then back to y/n who bent down to pick her bag up causing her to stare.

“Mmh y/n..” she stared for the longest time before smacking it, loud enough for the gym to hear. You flinched turning to shuri with a face red as a tomato. “Payback” she’d say smiling, Mariana and Kiana walked over to shuri putting their arms around her.

“Hey, baby. Why are you fucking around with someone like her I thought you liked us” Mariana said her acrylics Circling them on her chest. Shuri smiled at her getting lost in the momment " you know its not like that ma im up for anyone i can do what i want, nobody gon' hold me down anytime soon." she used the same nickname and voice she used for you. "shuri." said riri and kiana hushed her.

you had a “ did this bitch really just...” face on offended at how your two faced friend was acting"Nah Riri let's go. let shuri fuck around with her hoes like she always does" Youd say leaving and not waiting for riri, the bell rang for lunch, you were hurt bad.

Riri POV

" you said you wouldnt play her Shuri, i knew you were a damn lie" Riri said spitting venom at her as she got her bag leaving " like you said her soft ass wasnt gonna last here" Riri turned around staring up at shuri. "yknow what.." she clocked both of the thots on shuris dead in the nose. " fuck you and your thots, you know i dont fuck with this playgirl shit" she said leaving.

Riri saw the girls go the same way y/n went as she looked both at Kiana and Mariana "oou im sick of yall." she ran after them following them to the bathroom

Shuri looked at the two , realising what she did and said was wrong, "fuck." she sighed movinf past them and going to the lunchroom to get Erik.

Riri on the other hand came in the bathroom seeing the other 4 girls bang on the stall Y/n was in . she heard her crying and hyperventilating, she was havinqg "either yall gon' get the fuck out or im airing this bitch out right now." Riri reached for under her shirt, the girls stopped running out as she sighed, sitting by the stall

"Hey Y/n you 'ight ?" she leaned against the stall listening to her cry." Shuri probably didnt mean it, she was lo- " she got interrupted by the sounds of her throwing up and the toilet flushing. soon y/n came out, sitting on the counter in the bathroom.

" im Fine, i know sex doesnt mean you love them its whatever, we were drunk" y/n said i saw her try to keep a straight face, but she failed crying her eyes out again, her makeup was ruined, you signed hugging her, she burried her head into riri's shoulder as she patted and rubbed y/n's back to soothe her. "lets get you prettied up again yeah?" said Riri as she used makeup wipes from her gym bags cleaning y/n's face. "you know how to do make up?" Y/n sniffled asking you. "girl hell yeah i do? ion got lucious lashes like you do but shiit i got the falsies that look like yours. I wish i had your features" Riri said with a smile, doing y/n's makeup for her.

"Why'd you say that? youre so pretty and strong Ri, and you stand up for your friends ." She smiled. wow shes so pretty, why does she play games with shuri.. id deffinently treat her right. Riri shook her head as she didnt know why she had these thoughts, she wasnt going to act on it either, shes not that kind of person. "thanks." she smiled

Y/n pov

She was so nice to me and i dont know why, Riri turned my face to the mirror, i smiled seeing my new makeup i hopped down giving her a kiss on her head hugging her . " thank you so much Ri!"

Erik, T'challa and Shuri came busting in and we both sighed turning to them. "what the hell happened in here?" T'challa said , Shuri looked at you hoping you returned contact, still hurt by what you said you didnt look at her. your focus was on T'Challa, " nothing. it isnt important " you said turning back to them going back to talking yo Riri.

Erik came over putting his hand on your shoulder, thinking its shuri's you smack it off turning around " the fuck do you want?? didnt you already do en- you turned to eriks face staring you dead in the eyes. " Were serious y/n. what the fuck happened." He said trying to intimidate the answers out of you, well not trying you already are.

"If i said its nothing then its nothing micheal! im sure you know because the captain of hoes over there already ran her mouth. instead of fucking helping me from her sillicone dick crazed hoes." you screamed starting to go off because you were getting overstimulated. "i dont need a damn knight right now because i got fucked over five minutes ago just because one of Shuri's crazy ass fans" you pushed past them leaving , you decided to hide in the darker part of the schools library.

The lights were busted here, you curled up into a ball sighing, your eyes felt heavy, and behan to close, eventually closing for a good time.

you got woken up by someone moving your head to their lap, you open your eyes trying to see who it was shuri. you were too tired to argue so you just sat up sighing.

"what time is it," you asked her as she looked at you, she had a look you saw the look on her face that you never saw throughout the 13 years you knew her. "its 4th period, almost over but why the hell are you hiding here." said shuri looking at me with a cigarette in her mouth.

“Number one.” you said as you took the cigarette from her mouth. Stomping on it, "two if you wanna talk to me do it respectfully" you straddled her lap looking her in the eyes you got close to her almost close enough to kiss her " you can speak now, and dont use nicknames" you said crossing your arms.

Shuri Pov

Shuri blew the smoke away from your face fanning it before diverting her attention back to you " why are you jealous if we arent dating" i said rasing a brow trying to get the answers out of her

Y/n hesitated before huffing, her cold breath blowing on my face. " Because you make my heart race, you give me butterflies and just make me wanna do things to you.. " she got close to my lips and my heart began to race, but she pulled away, her eyes looking at me full of lust and anger. " then why dont you act on them ma." i said smirking knowing that'd set her her off.

"I said no names," Y/n said yanking my hair back and causing me to look up. "you already pissed me off acting like a player, I know damn well you arent one" she’d positioned herself to be looking down at me. “ i want you to myself shuri, im not sharing you, i want you to give in “ she said, her lips kissing mine.

her lips went to attack my neck leaving love bites, and bite marks. The arousal this woman is causing me will be the death of me, part of me wants to make her work, and another just wants her so bad, but i deffinently cant do this relationshp shit, its scary.

“How about you work for it? Yeah?” i said mocking her but Y/N absolutely didnt like that,she yanked my hair causing me to moan. “Okay okay, fuckbuddies yeah? How about tha -

“stop fucking talking.” she took my shirt off of me. She sucked and kissed my collar bone causing tiny moans to escape my mouth, her tongue swirled and flicked on my nipples, and I heard the librarian nearby. Oh fuck. Please baby don't do this right now. “Shut the fuck up then” Y/n whispered before going back to attacking my breasts, her fingers sliding to my pussy, her digits Massaging my clit in a circular motion.

god damn she was so sexy like this. I moaned in her ear causing her to bite my nipple, the pain causing my pussy to get wetter, her fingers entered my pussy fingering me nice and slow, the squelching being able to be heard.

Shuri tried to speak but got interrupted by Y/n’s thumb rubbing her clit in circular motions, She felt so good right now, Finally, y/n would let go of Shuri's hair .

Peter and neds voice was heard and that made y/n smile, “ma, no. We can continue late-” she whispered to the angered y/n pulling her pants down. She yoinked her panties down not even giving shuri a second to speak, immediately eating her pussy out. She blew cold air against Shuri's’s pretty soaked cunt, she used her tongue to explore her pretty cunny(cunt,pussy). Shuri gasped for air her hips rocking against her face riding her high.

Peter and Ned slowly got closer and closer. “Baby I'm gonna cum fuck, please me just like that I'm so proud of you” Shuri would say keeping their eye contact with y/n. “mmh cum in my mouth, please i wanna taste you “ said Y/n.

Shuri bit her lips as she squirted in Y/ns mouth,Shuri panted then moaned louder when y/n was licking her clean.

Y/n licked my thighs clean before fixing my pants and underwear, i stood up fixing it myself.

“do you forgive me?” Y/n Nodded turning to shuri “cmon were gonna be late” i said going down the stairs holding her hand.

Y/n pov

I smiled to myself, that didnt settle the jealously but i knew I did what those hoes couldn't. Pride filled my stomach as we went down the stairs facing Ned and Peter who had shocked faces on.

“well.. We were sent to look for you” said ned beginning to turn around to the entrance of the library, walking away.

Peter sighed rubbing his temples. “in a school...” he said with disappointment in his voice Shaking his head “could you two like?? Not wait to fuck at home?” he said stating the fact that we have a problem.

"you mad i got to her first peter?" said Shuri getting in his face. "see thats your problem. you assume i want her because i was staring, i was only doing so because shes pretty and i was curious" said peter looking down at shuri.

"So you hit him for no reason Shuri?" I said turning to her with an eyebrow raised. "well he made my friend uncomfy, so i fixed it Udaku style fym?" she said acting as if she didnt assault a man because he made me uncomfy. i shook my head .

"well we gotta go peter last period of the day." i said skipping on to the next class.

------

CLASS STARTS

I wrote notes down in my notebook for history, since its black history month today they were studying Marsha p. Johnson, i paid close attention the whole class.

i had sat next to erik,shuri and riri. T'challa didnt have this class anymore since he passed the test with full credit.

Erik had his glasses on since we sat far and he needed to see desperately, sometimes I’d et him copy my notes as long as he changed it up, Mariana and Kiana came in with busted noses and black eyes.

my phone dinged and in sync we all checked the gc.

i looked at riri and she whistled looking at the sky, we all laughed as the bell rang, all of us going outside to the car.

Eventually we made it home in time for my rest,i went on the steps and felt shuri turn me around giving me a deep and long kiss. evemtually i pulled away before it lead to anything else due to me being tired. "thanks ma, for coming back" she smiled smacking my ass before she left.

i smiled at her watching her till she went inside, going inside myself getting ready to sleep

----

A/N: this took long as hell to write my fingers hurt 😒. LEAVE A LIKE BELOW IF YOUD WAANT MORE

#black panther smut #princess shuri #shuri x black!reader #bottom!shuri x reader #shawtytharula #shuri udaku #shuri black panther #riri williams #riri williams fluff #modern au #wakanda forever #shuri fanfiction #letita wright #lesbian #erik killmonger #tchalla #mcu smut #mcu shuri #spiderman #lesbian smut #black reader #id let shuri ruin my life and hit me with a car #erik hmu ols #Spotify #wlw smut #monalisaseries

[monmuses]

just so you know goetiia ran Clive off tumblr so i recommend blocking them

hi anon! thank you for bringing this to my attention. just so you know - i am very aware and witnessed it firsthand with the shit they're posting.

i was one of the first to block after posting a screenshot of Skeptic's pinned post which, if im aware, that Stols has blocked first. i don't know what it is when they feel a need to defend themselves when put on someone's DNI, but isn't it funny how they say in their rules that they prefer to be blocked/dont care what people say, but the MOMENT their URL is out there on some post, they go apeshit?

they accused Clive of somehow influencing others to block when, in fact, i was one of the first to do on my own volition, among MANY others. they singlehandedly drove off multiple mutuals away because they cannot stop fucking posting about negative shit and drama that THEY make on their own. that was at their own hand. i don't know who has to tell them this, but trying to post others' blogs on THEIR own blog with THEIR posts to try and defend themselves is the most backwards method ive ever fucking seen.

and to go as low as to edit their own promo with Clive's URLs in their fat fucking DNI & make a massive callout post is insane to me.

also, i read that entire half-assed apology post. i'm sorry, but when you drive multiple people off of Tumblr in the RPC because you cannot stand when someone blocks you is insane to me. i will forever hold them accountable for driving TWO Stolas blogs into hiatuses/deleting because of accusing them for headcanon theft with dropping their URLs on the dash like anyone gave a fuck. and that its been done more than once or twice, plus they ADDED THE URLS TO THEIR FUCKING DNI! THEY DID NOTHING!

to try and excuse repeated behavior that's been going on for years with "i will take accountability and admit all the things ive done" by stating what you did is not taking accountability. they refuse to take it, no matter how many words are written and i will never fucking forgive them for driving so many people away. they've singlehandedly tried to make themselves the only Stolas blog to ever exist and claiming they have dupe anxiety. nothing on their posts, no matter how much they apologize, will make me or ANYONE else think they deserve a second chance after repeatedly breaking THEIR OWN RULES multiple times.

news flash: trying to "defend" yourself by posting others' URLs in your own blog WITH posts when you yourself are blocked or you blocked them in turn is going against your own rules about drama.

and you wanna know what i have to say about their shitty apology post that theyve repeated the past four or five times since nuking their blog so much?

that is all. i will not tolerate guilt-tripping behavior and trying to use your mental illness as an excuse for your behavior. take it from somebody who used to be just like you, Stols - you learn the fucking hard way and change how you treat others the right fucking way.

#✨{𝔯𝔢𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔢𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔡; (𝔞𝔰𝔨 𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡) #✨{𝔲𝔫𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔣𝔦𝔢𝔡 𝔰𝔭𝔢𝔠𝔦𝔢𝔰; (𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔶𝔪𝔬𝔲𝔰) #✨{𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔞; (𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔢𝔯) #drama tw #negative tw #vaguepost tw #callout post tw #drama mention #long post #long post tw #// *i NEVER will namedrop again after this but this is a needed situation bc ive been needing something to post #// *yall can reblog this or whatever as a callout post #// *but im fucking done with this #// *theyve repeatedly driven away MULTIPLE friends of mine including Clive #// *and consistently namedrop with nobody to tell them to shut the fuck up #// *im angry for my friends and their behavior having zero change and the constant excuses make me sick

[tangledbea]

There are still some drawings lacking in your Vat7k masterpost.

Could you please, I beg you, make a post asking people about the art Kay deleted of Varian, Hugo and friends?

When you say it people would hear it.

Please🙏😭

How many times do I have to say this?

DO NOT SEND ME MULTIPLE MESSAGES ABOUT THE SAME TOPIC ONE RIGHT ON TOP OF EACH OTHER!

It's right there in my pinned post! Both of these messages are time-stamped at two hours ago. I wasn't home two hours ago! Don't harass me!

I'm sorry that you're desperate for something that I don't personally have the answer to, but have you tried Googling it using all of Kay's known names? Sure, if there are people out there who have the answers you're looking for, feel free to comment on this post, linking to the art, but everyone needs to stop doing things like this!

I'm going to start completely ignoring and deleting posts I get like this! Not Vat7K specifically, but if I get multiple asks from you on the same topic, one right after the other. If you send me an identical ask within a few days of the first one you sent. If you can't acknowledge that I don't actually owe you guys a reply, then why should I give you the courtesy of answering you at all?

I'm sorry for going off like this, but this is the third time in recent months I've had to ask people not to do this, and it's incredibly frustrating to not be listened to about my personal boundaries.

There's a term I learned in my job about dealing with people who are upset about something: your emergency is not my emergency. I don't have to fall all over myself to get you the information you seek just because you're desperate for it.

Seriously, I wouldn't have had a problem answering the first one begging me to send out a call until I saw the second one.

#PSA #Tangled #Tangled the Series #Varian #TTS #Varian and the Seven Kingdoms #Answered

[smallestapplin]

Ok tho! For my request, could I request Raihan and Leon protecting and comforting their trans masc s/o from homophobic/transphobic family? Kinda like you did with the obsessive ex ones?

Tired of people thinking that constant emotional and physical abuse is some kind of love language lol. Sorry if this is like, heavy (feel free to ignore it btw I'm gunna be fine in the end, just annoyed to hell at how much contact people can still manage to have with you despite trying to be completely no contact)

-🦄

I understand! I hope you’re doing well. (I meant to get this out yesterday.)

Reader uses he/him pronouns and masc descriptors.

CW : for homophobia, transphobia. (But not explicit explicit, as that makes me uncomfy)

-

-

🐉Raihan🐉

- he was already aware of your family, and their dislike (to put it lightly) of you essentially. It was one of those things you two had a heart to heart on, late at night.

- It broke his heart to see you cry, just how upset you were that you had to go no contact with your old family. But you had to, for the sake of your own mental health and safety.

- Raihan vowed right then and there that he won’t let another soul hurt you.

- Everyone in Galar knows who you are, Raihan is never quiet about you and his love for you.

- Most of Raihan’s posts are ‘out with my man!’ And it’s a picture of you two, getting lunch after a battle, ‘I got the handsomest dork around.’ It’s a picture of your excited face over some merch, ‘he fell for my trap! >:3’ and the most common being Raihan trapping you, in his arms so you can’t move, or leave.

- It’s always so cute, the fans love seeing all the stupidly domesticate photos.

- Your family however, also saw them.

- Any of their comments were shortly deleted and they were blocked. Every profile they made was just blocked and reported.

- Raihan refused to let you see that, especially from them.

- He wants to keep you happy and safe, safer and happier.

- He made a post earlier that day, saying ‘get you a man who comes to your work place with your favorite for lunch😩’

- You couldn’t stick around, however, work needed you, so you gave him a hug and a kiss before leaving. Making a pit stop to the bathroom first, but still telling him you’d have to instantly leave once you’re done.

- His own students laugh at his pouting face.

- He hasn’t been expecting your parents of all people, to show up.

- The tension in the gym was thick, the air suffocating the second he saw them.

- His students tried to keep Raihan from lunging at them, when they asked for someone who doesn’t exist.

- His grin was filled with malice “oh that’s too bad! Sorry to hear your delusional, ain’t nobody I know named that.”

- Oh but they argued.

- They didn’t get far though before Raihan called a life long ban for them, and anyone associated with them.

- Tossing out his flygon, he had the large dragon drag them out of his gym. Raihan follows close behind, just so he could slam the door in their faces.

- “Raihan?”

- He snaps his head towards you, he nearly forgot you were simply in the bathroom.

- “Hey handsome!” He didn’t want to admit he was nervous.

- He knows you likely heard, if not, saw all of that.

- You just walk over and hug him, he can feel the tension in your body.

- How you shake, sighing against his chest.

- His arms are around you in a firm grip.

- The dragon type gym leader is livid, you shouldn’t have to deal with this!

- “Call out of work, we are goin home.”

- “Huh? Rai I-“

- “Ah ah ah! You need a spa day! A self care day! And I’m going to make sure you get.”

-

👑Leon👑

- he’s just as upset as you are, that you had to cut contact with your family.

- Leon has always been a big family man, they mean the world to him! He couldn’t imagine not having their support, and love.

- Which is why he was ecstatic when his family welcomed you with open arms.

- He was more worried about Hop liking you. But you and Hop get along like best friends, so he was thrilled.

- Leon always gushes about you, everyone who has met Leon knows about you. He just can’t help himself! He loves you so much.

- He’s aware of your situation with your ex family, and he promises he will do everything he can.

- It’s no secret you’re dating the champion of Galar.

- Any remarks about you, his and your sexuality, or your gender are completely shut down. He refuses to tolerate any of it.

- Your birth givers were no exception.

- In fact not only was he at your defense, ready to battle, but so was Hop, grandma, grandpa, and mom.

- “That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about!”

- You’re in shock and awe at how Leon, your sweet dorky Leon, lays into them, scolding them harshly.

- Humiliating them and berating them for every hurting you and trying to hurt you now.

- He will not just stand there and let them do such things!

- The second they are gone he’s at your side, gently shushing you, and holding you, rocking you both softly.

- “Are you alright, love?”

- “I’m fine…thank you.” You just lay your head on his shoulder, trying to calm your own nerves.

- He will stay here for as long as it takes.

- He loves you.

#tw.transphobia #tw.homophobia #pokemon #pokemon imagines #pokemon x reader #pokémon #pokemon swsh #pokemon swsh x reader #pokemon leon #pokemon leon x reader #pokemon raihan #pokemon raihan x reader #trans masc reader #x ftm reader #pokemon x trans reader

[goldrushzukka]

10, 17, 21, 29 🤔

hi my love

10. Is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

i never ever ever thought aidays would get the attention it did. granted it was originally supposed to be 3 chapters of angst-less romcom hijinks, so of course i didn't expect it to blow up as much as it has bc it also blew up in my own mind to become this huge story. the encouragement when i decided to expand it a bit was amazing, and even better was the theorising and close reading that came when i decided to expand it a Lot. (and this is so cheesy but thank you so much to you specifically michelle for loving aidays enough that i noticed and befriended you bc i would not have finished it without you ily)

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

none of my writing has ever gone into much detail on anything technical so i dont really have a good answer for this except for all the times i learned americans have so many different words for things that really do not need a different word. also some irish-isms are so deeply ingrained in me that it takes saying them out loud in an american accent to hear how wrong it sounds for my narration.

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

these two have the same answer so I'll just do them together. in my original draft of aidays11, the scene where sokka goes to get groceries actually had a zukka interaction. i wrote about 1.5k words and then realised i hated all of them and scrapped the scene entirely, and then that supermarket trip became just an excuse to get sokka outside into the rain for the sparks fly/how you get the girl climax moment. i won't post the full scene here bc i truly do actually hate most of it but here's some of it

His shoe squeaks on the linoleum when he stops dead in his tracks.  Zuko, examining the skin of a peach three feet away, looks up at the sound. “Oh,” he says, setting the peach down. Several expressions flash across his face, and Sokka can’t get a read on any of them. “Hey.” The first thing out of Sokka’s mouth, before he can stop it, before he can even think, is, “What are you doing here?” Zuko blinks at him. “Sorry, that was – sorry,” Sokka says. He shouldn’t get any closer, but he does, approaching the fruit stand and cutting the distance between them in half. Like that’ll help him think straight. “This is just – I mean, isn’t there a supermarket closer to your place? This is a little out of your way, isn’t it?” Okay, so there are less rude ways to ask that. Ways that don’t make it sound like Sokka’s being territorial about the fucking produce section. But Sokka doesn’t know how to talk about anything normal right now, especially not with Zuko, because all he can think about is last chances and leaps of faith and his own terrible, terrible wanting.  Is this what it’s going to be like forever? Unable to have a normal interaction without almost spilling every secret he’s ever had, every desire that holds his heart for ransom? Forever crushed under the foot of the elephant in the room? “Azula needs something specific for a recipe she’s working on,” Zuko says. He holds his hands by his sides in a way that Sokka thinks is very intentional. “Our place doesn’t have it. Well, no, it does, but I brought it home and she threatened me with a knife, so I guess our place doesn’t have the right one.” He smiles a little as he says it, and for a second, Sokka forgets about the last chances and the leaps of faith and the terribleness of his wanting. He forgets about Katara and Jet and Suki and the what-does-it-all-mean headache he’s had since waking.  For a second, Sokka is standing in the produce section and the man he loves is smiling at him. Zuko asks, “Do you know where the basil is?”

And Sokka says, “Yeah. Do you need it dried or fresh?” “Fresh, I think.” “Okay. This way.” Sokka leads him to the tiny garden section, right by a big window at the end of the frozen food section. It’s mostly flower bouquets and succulents, but there’s a handful of potted plants under a cheerful sign encouraging customers to start their own herb gardens.  Sokka hands a potted basil plant to Zuko. “There’s a little card in there that tells you how to take care of it.” “Oh, cool,” Zuko says. “Thank you.” “We had one for a little while,” Sokka says, astonished at himself for being able to carry this conversation as far as he has. “We kept it in Suki’s room.” “Your room gets better light, though.” Something awful and bright as a star twists inside Sokka’s chest. “Yeah, but Suki was the one who remembered to water it. And then Momo got at it, and we had to throw away two sets of sheets.” Zuko throws his head back laughing, the same way he did last night and a hundred times before then, and that awful star inside him expands, exploding as he thinks, maybe this is it.  But Zuko says, “Thanks. I’ll see you.” And it isn’t. Sokka lets him go, because what else is there to do? If Zuko wanted to stay, he would. If Zuko wanted to talk about last night, he would. If Zuko wanted to choose him, he would.

#also the scene in aidays11 with suki was supposed to be with aang #it was sokka & aang walking appa in the park and talking through everything that happened the nihht before #& they were going to bump into zuko out for a woman-in-a-movie-facing-a-dilemma run #except first they see him from behind & sokka is like. god. that guys hot. whats wrong w me how can i think abt hot guys at a time like thi #it was supposed to be a silly little comoc relief moment but it felt wrong to do a gag in the middle of all that #so i gave the scene to suki who is naturally mood-lightening #i have some of it written but i never got very far into it bc i decided p quickly to scrap it #haroldtea #asks #my writing

[debbiechanclub]

From the Vault: TMHWMP Deleted Scenes

Pairings: Kyle Fletcher/OFC & Will Ospreay/OFC Word Count: 2,467 Warnings: Some language, a little angst, a lotta feels

Below the cut are two scenes from what was, at one point in time, the planned ending to TMHWMP and Nellie and Torrance’s overall story. As you can see from the word count, it's a whole ass fic, so I decided to go ahead and post it because I worked hard on it and I think y'all will enjoy seeing what had once been in store.

THAT BEING SAID: This is NOT an alternative ending‼️ It's simply an exclusive look at what I'd had planned once upon a time before certain... events happened 🤭 And sorry, I couldn't help the "from the vault" reference.

Anyway, enjoy! And as always, feel free to yell at me after 😁

* * * *

“Relax, Nell, I can feel how bloody tense you are,” Zack said.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Nellie breathed, relaxing her shoulders; they had been tense. “It’s not you, I swear. This is actually a nice interlude.”

He smiled at her, his eyes soft. “You look absolutely gorgeous, by the way.”

She breathed a laugh. “Don’t, I’m gonna tense up again,” she joked. “But you look good, too. I see you’re actually wearing socks and pants that are long enough, for once.”

“Oh, piss off,” he smirked. “Toni said the same fucking thing.”

Nellie smiled, and they fell into comfortable silence, swaying in a circle to the music on their corner of the dance floor. It really was a nice interlude, dancing with Zack. She and him were uncomplicated. They knew where they stood, what their relationship was; there wasn’t anything to sort out. She could rest in that, for at least as long as the dance lasted.

“So, I did really want to dance with you, because I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve actually seen you,” Zack started. “But I also wanted to tell you something.”

Nellie looked back up at him. “What’s that?”

“Kyle’s good for you.”

Had he not been leading she might have lost her footing. Of everything he could have said, she hadn’t expected that.

“Genuinely,” he went on. “You’ve been happier since you started spending time with him, the happiest I’ve seen you in years. You deserve that, Nell. You deserve this. And I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to you.”

Nellie’s brow furrowed. She hadn’t expected that, either. “You made me happy, Zack.”

He scoffed. “Before I became a prick, maybe.”

She sent him a look, but he had more to say.

“No, I made you happy for a time. I know I did. But as much as you tried to tell me you were okay with just being in a committed relationship and not having a ring or a marriage certificate or any of that, I know deep down you weren’t. And you shouldn’t have to sacrifice that for anyone.”

Appreciation swelled in Nellie’s chest. They’d talked about that at length, how they wanted different things out of life, but Zack had never really validated her feelings toward it all. And he was right: as much as she’d tried to tell herself she’d be okay with just being with him, she hadn’t been, deep down. She saw that now.

“Thank you for saying that,” she said. “Really.”

“Well, it was long overdue,” he returned. “And I’m not trying to correlate that to you and Kyle or jump to any grand conclusions but… I’m pretty sure the poor sod’s in love with you.”

That time Nellie did stumble. “What?” An awkward laugh bubbled out of her throat. “What could possibly make you think that?”

“The way he looks at you,” Zack said. “He almost never took his eyes off you during the ceremony. And trust me—I recognized the look on his face.”

* * * *

“Excuse me for a second,” Nellie said with a tight smile, and she turned away from them and walked quickly out of the reception hall. She needed air.

She pushed out through a set of double doors that led to a terrace overlooking the garden and came to a stop against the banister. The cement was cool and damp from the rain underneath her hands, and she focused on it and breathed in deep through her nose, out through her mouth. The tightness in her chest eased. She’d been on the verge of a panic attack. She felt like a fool.

“Nell?”

She turned around. Mark came up the steps on the other side of the terrace, and she quickly composed herself. But she was grateful for the dark.

“Hey. Where are you coming from?” she curiously asked.

“Oh,” he jingled the car keys in his hand. “Will asked me to run some things to his car. I think he and Torr are trying to make a speedy getaway.”

Nellie breathed a laugh. “Can’t say I blame them.”

“What’re you doing out here in the dark?”

She hesitated. Running away from my feelings, she thought. But instead she said, “I just needed a minute. It’s a bit overwhelming in there.”

She looked away, back out over the garden, guilty for even saying that. Tonight was Torrance and Will's night. She didn’t want to make any single moment of it about her.

“Do you want to be alone or would you like some company?”

Nellie breathed out. “Yes?” she confusingly returned.

Mark smirked. “Been there.”

He joined her in looking out over the garden. They could still hear the music from inside the house, and it switched from fast-paced and upbeat to something slow and romantic. Nellie imagined Jay asking that girl to dance, taking her by the hand and leading her to the floor. Her chest tightened again.

“Can I ask you something?” she suddenly said.

“Shoot,” Mark returned.

“Is it… off-putting that I’ve slept with four guys at this wedding, all of whom are literally inside the reception hall right now? Like, from a guy’s perspective.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn’t bear to look at him. Truthfully, she was a bit embarrassed. It was an embarrassing thing to voice aloud, even if Mark had already been aware that nearly every guy she’d ever been involved with was present at the wedding, and she was sure he was aware. She didn’t doubt that all their friends and colleagues were aware, too. But Nellie didn’t care what any of them thought about it, or her. The only opinion that mattered was Kyle's. And no one knew him better than Mark.

“It’s a bit intimidating,” Mark honestly answered. “But it’s hardly off-putting, especially in this business. It’s so insular; everyone dates and sleeps with everyone.”

Nellie looked hopefully at him.

“But I’m guessing what you’re really asking is if Kyle finds it off-putting.”

She worried at her lip again. “Yeah.”

Mark shook his head. “No, he doesn’t. He is in his head a bit about it, though.”

Nellie frowned. “So am I,” she quietly admitted.

“Then talk to him about it,” Mark advised. “I’m sure he wants to talk with you about it.”

“You are?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

Nellie looked down at her hands on the banister. “I know we need to talk. But I’m honestly afraid what the outcome of that conversation might be.”

“I promise you he is too,” Mark said.

Nellie’s frown deepened. She didn’t know if that was a comfort or not.

Mark could tell. “I know you’re worried about it,” he said. “And I know things have been sort of touch-and-go between you and Kyle. But for what it’s worth, for as long as I’ve known him, he’s never been the type to just hook-up with people. He wants to be with someone—and he likes you, Nell. A lot. He watches every single one of your matches live.”

She turned to him in surprise. “He does?”

He nodded again. “Sets an alarm and everything.”

Nellie’s heart swelled and tears stung the back of her eyes. Kyle was, hands down, the most caring, thoughtful, genuine guy she’d ever been with, and he didn’t do the things he did expecting anything in return. He just did it out of the goodness of his heart, because that’s just who he was. And she’d been looking over her shoulder at her past heartaches while he’d been waking up in the middle of the night to watch her wrestle.

“I’m such an asshole,” she breathed.

“Hey,” Mark squeezed her arm. “You’re not.”

“Hey.”

They both looked over their shoulders. Kyle stood in the doorway that led back inside, his suit jacket in his hand. His eyes met Nellie’s, and then Mark’s. She saw something pass between them, silent and understanding.

“I���ll let you two talk,” Mark said. His hand fell from Nellie’s arm, and he clasped Kyle on the shoulder as he walked past him through the door. It shut behind him, and then Nellie and Kyle were alone.

“Hey,” she said to him.

“Hey,” he echoed. He walked toward her. “I feel like I’ve barely seen you since the ceremony.”

Nellie sighed apologetically. “I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been pulled in a million different directions between maid of honor duties and everyone wanting to talk to me.”

Kyle nodded. “I know. But I, um. I saw you come out here and you seemed kind of upset, so I just thought I’d come check on you. But if you want to be alone I can—”

“No,” she quickly cut him off. “No. I’m glad you’re here.”

He gave her a smile, a bit relieved. “Are you cold?” He held up his suit jacket.

“A little, yeah,” she nodded, and he crossed the rest of the distance between them and placed the jacket around her shoulders. It practically swallowed her. It smelled like his cologne. She looked up at him.

“Can we talk?”

Kyle nodded again, nervously that time, although he did his best to hide it. “I was hoping we would.”

Nellie leaned back against the banister to take some of the weight off her aching feet. She thought about how to start, but she didn’t want to overthink it or try to talk around what she was feeling. She wanted to be honest; needed to be. Kyle didn’t deserve anything less.

“The reason I seemed upset and came out here is because I saw Jay talking with some girl in there, and it stung,” she said. “And I hadn’t expected it to sting, and it threw me off, and then I saw you and felt guilty for feeling hurt about Jay, and the hurt and guilt together were confusing and overwhelming, and I had to get out of there. And then I started thinking about how literally every guy I’ve been with in the last five years is here at this wedding, and that made me feel gross, and I started to wonder if maybe you thought it was gross, too. And I’m sorry, I’m genuinely so sorry that they’re all here and I’ve danced with Zack and fucking felt hurt about Jay talking to some girl, but haven’t given you a moment until now.”

She finally stopped, drawing in a shaky breath. It had all just come out like word vomit, helped out of her mouth by the alcohol in her bloodstream. Except now that it was out, she didn’t feel any better. She felt like she might actually be sick.

“Okay. First of all, it’s not gross,” Kyle firmly stated. “It’s a unique situation, for sure, but it’s not gross, and you’re not gross. You’re a fucking smokeshow, Nell, and I’m willing to bet that every straight and bisexual male at this wedding outside of Will wants to take you home.”

Nellie laughed lightly at that.

“And second of all,” he went on, “you don’t have to apologize or feel guilty for feeling hurt about Jay. You’re allowed to feel however you want.”

Nellie gripped the lapels of his suit jacket. Her voice came out small. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

Kyle paused at that. “Do you think you will?”

It threw her for a second that he’d asked that, but she didn’t hesitate to shake her head. “No. I mean, I hope not. I would never intentionally hurt you. But… I’m scared, Kyle. Okay? I’m scared, because you make me the happiest I’ve ever been. And sometimes, I just take that for what it is and let it be, separate from anything else. But other times? Other times, I completely overthink it. I overthink the fact that we live on different continents and I have a fifty-fifty track record with long-distance relationships. I overthink how I want this,” she gestured to the building. “How I want to get married, and probably have kids, but I’m not getting any younger and I worry that our age difference will matter in the long run because of those things. And then I fucking see Jay, who at one point I genuinely hoped I would marry, and it hurts, and it makes me question fucking everything. And now you’re here, and I’m trying so hard to just focus on how you make me feel, because that’s what matters. But I’m scared of getting hurt, Kyle. I am.”

At some point tears had welled in her eyes and spilled over, and she reached up and wiped them away from her cheeks. She’d articulated it the best she could in that moment, and maybe it had come out in a jumbled mess, but it was out now, all of it. For better or worse.

Kyle’s gaze softened. “All I want is to make you happy, Nell.”

Nellie sighed. Of course he would say that—he was the most selfless person she knew. “Okay, but—”

“No, listen,” he gently interrupted. “I understand why you’re scared. But now that I’ve heard all that, I’m not as a scared as I was.”

Her brow knitted together. “You’re not?”

He shook his head. “No. Because those things you just told me you’re scared about? I know they’re not anything to worry about. I want the same things you do, Nell. I want what Will and Torrance have. I want to get married, and I want to be a dad, when the time is right. And the right time could be six months or two years from now, I don’t know. And as for living on different continents, you know I’m moving back to Sydney soon, and that’s a hell of a lot closer to Tokyo than London is. And I won’t wait until I have work in Japan to come see you, either, because our relationship wouldn’t just exist when our schedules match up. If I’m with you, then I’m with you, no matter where we are. I’d smuggle myself into the fucking country to see you, if I had to—”

Nellie cut him off with a kiss. His suit jacket fell from her shoulders to the ground as she grabbed the back of his neck with both hands and pulled his lips down onto hers, and he grabbed her hips and drew her against him, and everything else melted away. Her confusion, her worries, her fears. She was still scared; it was only natural, with an emotion as big as what she felt. But she knew Kyle would face it all with her. And when they finally broke apart and she looked up at him, she knew something else, too.

“I love you.”

Kyle’s smile nearly split his face in two. “I love you, too.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yes. Absolutely, I love you,” he said, and he kissed her.

#kyle fletcher fanfiction #aussie open fanfiction #will ospreay fanfiction #united empire fanfiction #njpw fanfiction

[ep-10]

Full fic posted in AO3: Danny Phantom Teacher AU - Chapter 1 - EP10 - Danny Phantom [Archive of Our Own]

And Fanfiction: Danny Phantom Teacher AU Chapter 1, a danny phantom fanfic | FanFiction

Chapter 6:

"Tell me again, how did Mr. Fenton get it back?" Lisa gawked at Elmer.

"He said he found a cat holding the ball in its mouth and dropped it in the grass," Elmer replied. "What's the problem?"

"Look at the size of the baseball! How could a cat have a mouth this big to hold onto it? Not unless it dislocated its jaw!" Lisa exclaimed with a skeptical look on her face.

"Ermm... I don't know, maybe it has a special ability?"

"Ugh, you're not making any sense! I own two house cats, and I know cats can't hold a baseball this big in their mouth! And even if the cat is big enough to carry it, it would still need to perform an impossible feat to leap over twenty feet to the second floor since the building's surrounded by thick, thorny, poisonous bushes!"

"Huh, then how?... Wait, you mean Mr. Fenton lied??"

"Obviously, duh! And how he managed to get it back from that old building, I really don't know."

"But why would he need to lie?" He felt more confused than ever.

"You tell me."

Elmer was staring at the baseball in his palm, scratching his head, when Fred approached them with a couple of female senior students tagging behind.

"Heeeyyyy, Elmer. It seems Mr. Fenton took a liking to you and your friends, eh?"

"Eww, no! I don't like him! Stop associating me with Mr. Fenton!" Lisa scowled.

"Aw, looks like your friend isn't siding with you, kid," one of the girls sneered at Elmer.

"Go away! Stop bothering me!" Elmer hissed at them.

"I know what you did, loser. You and your teacher probably tried to frame Scott as the instigator. He's now grounded for a week, thanks to you both. Our eyes are on you and your favorite creepy teacher, Mr. Fenton," Fred gestured with his two fingers, pointing both at his own eyes and then back to Elmer. "I wonder why he took a liking to you. Perhaps you wanna be like him, a freak."

"He's not my favorite teacher! And I'm not a freak!"

"We'll see about that, loser," Fred and the girls laughed as they walked off.

"What a bunch of turds. Ignore them, Elmer," said Lisa. 

"I'm not a freak like Mr. Fenton! I'll prove to them that I'm not!" Elmer sat down at the bleacher, took his cell from his bag, and began venting his frustration online in the discord chat.

Redhead boy: I can't believe Mr. Fenton lied to me! I never should've trusted him!

Then, a string of responses from other students started pinging back.

The Ventilator: What happened? 

Handsome Menace: Something new about that creep?

KinKiKin: Yeah, tell us!

Redhead boy: I thought he was being nice to me by helping me out, but I don't understand why he needed to lie!

Sasegayo999: What lie did he tell you?

KinKiKin: You should never trust a creep like him

Sane Gurl: I think he's hiding something

The Ventilator: You think so?

But when he thought back, his teacher  did  help him bring back his favorite baseball. He never would have gotten it back if it weren't for him. He paused his typing to read what he had just typed. 

Does it matter if Mr. Fenton made an insignificant lie?  Elmer reflected for a moment before continued typing.

Redhead boy: Sorry. Please forget what I just wrote. I was being fussy today. My bad. I gotta go now.

Sasegayo999: Come on, don't leave us hanging like that

Gloria: What's the matter?

He immediately deleted his chat messages and closed the app.

***

A senior class girl put down her phone after she had read an interesting online chat message. She was sitting on a desk with her legs crossed in dignity. Her makeup and clothing expressed luxury from a few high-end fashion brands, revealing a touch of gothic flair. Some visible scars and bruises on her skin were covered by makeup to make them less visible. There were a few other girls around her who had somewhat similar fashion trends as well. They all gathered in the small club room, waiting for someone.

"Gloria, they have returned," one of the girls informed her.

Fred and the two girls walked into the club room to meet her. Gloria focused her attention on the two girls, ignoring the boy who stood beside them. "So, did you manage to gather anything about Mr. Fenton?"

"We saw him talk to Denver's little friends before he went back to class."

"And you both didn't manage to get him before that?"

"Before that, we saw him walk around the old building behind block C. We weren't sure what he was doing there, but we believe he must've sneaked into the building," one of the girls replied.

"Yeah, he walked into the thick bushes of poison ivies behind the building. There's no way we could follow him into the bushes. We would get stung." The other girl walked to her side and showed her some pictures she had taken. It had images of Danny pacing around the building, seemingly suspicious. 

Gloria tilted her head up after she had studied the pictures, "Forward all the pics you took to my cell. Let's try to get him after class. Girls, you know what to do, right?"

"Yes," answered both girls.

"You may go."

The two girls dismissed themselves and left Fred, the only boy, standing in the room.

"Please tell Scott we will do our best to get Mr. Fenton to quit his job."

"Thanks, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that once Mr. Fenton's out."

"Know that I'm doing this for my younger sister because she likes Scott. I wouldn't care less for what he wants if it weren't for her to come begging me. Anyway, I will keep you updated later tonight."

"Thank you. I'll keep him posted," Fred gave a light nod and left.

Gloria's phone buzzed in her pocket. She picked it up and saw the pictures of Danny forwarded to her through a chat app. She zoomed in on some of them to analyze him in detail. In one of the pictures, his deep sets of bright blue eyes could be seen glancing at the old building. Jet black, spikey hair shone a bit under the sunlight, contrasting the pale-looking skin on his face. His physique was fit and masculine despite his slightly tall, thin frame. If anything, he looked a bit younger than his actual age. However, he hardly cast a shadow on the ground while the objects surrounding him had strong shadow casts under the noon sun. She assumed it could be due to a faulty camera on the phone.

As she kept on swiping the pictures back and forth, she couldn't help but find him a bit spooky yet fascinating at the same time. She finally put down her phone after she had gone through all the pictures of Danny.

"I hate to admit that he's pretty handsome when viewed up close compared to my boyfriend," she muttered.

***

The class had just ended, and Danny's students were packing up to leave the class. As he was on the way back to the teachers' room, someone unexpectedly approached him from behind and tugged his sleeve.

"Um... excuse me, Mr. Fenton. I need your help."

Danny turned around and saw a senior-class female student wearing a hoodie and a face mask. Her head was tilting to the side like a puppy.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I saw a strange man go into the female restroom... and I'm scared," she sounded worried.

Danny felt concerned, "A man went into a female restroom?" He quickly took out his cell and was ready to dial. "Wait, let me call Madam Jones to come over."

"Please, you must follow me quickly," the girl grabbed tightly onto his arm that held the cell. "My friend is also in the restroom. We must hurry up to help her!"

Danny was unprepared to face such a situation. He put his cell back into his pocket and said to her, "Alright, lead the way."

She hurried down the corridor, down several flights of stairs. Danny followed behind until they both reached the entrance of the female restroom. Danny was hesitant to walk in, so he knocked on the door to check if someone was inside. "Hello? Anybody in there?"

Silent.

"I'm here to inspect the restroom. If you're still in there, please give me a response."

Still silent.

"Alright, I'm going in," he announced.

When he was about to step in, the girl reached out her hand and squeezed his hand. "Please don't leave me alone here. Let me go in with you."

He was unsure if he would want to go in with her if the situation could turn out dangerous, but experience also told him danger could lurk anywhere. He was glad that his ghost sense did not trigger, so he had nothing major to worry about if his opponent was human.

"Then stay close to me," he told her, and she nodded as she held onto his hand.

As they both stepped inside, he was stunned to find another senior-class girl lying on the floor unconscious. She was wearing the same outfit as the other girl who stood beside him, including the mask. He quickly ran forward to pat her face with his palm, "Are you alright?"

The girl on the floor moaned in pain. Danny took out his cell and was about to dial the emergency. The girl beside him immediately pulled his sleeve, "I think you should carry her to the nurse's office. It's much faster to get her treated first rather than to call for an emergency."

"Please... take me to the nurse's office," the girl on the floor whimpered.

"Do you have any broken bones, or do you feel any pain?" He asked.

"No... I just need you to take me... to the nurse's office."

"Alright, I'll carry you there," he carefully lifted her into his arms. As he was about to carry her out, he looked back at the other girl, "You coming?"

"I... err... I need to use the restroom. I'll catch up with you later. Please hurry up and get her treated."

"Sure, and be careful. My contact is on the school intranet site. Call me if you need help."

"Yes, Mr. Fenton."

He quickly ran out and headed to the nurse's office. As he was about to reach there, the girl in his arms unexpectedly squirmed, "Please let me down."

"You're injured. Stay still."

"I'm alright. Please let me down," she pleaded.

Danny halted his pacing, "You sure about that?" He looked at her, unassured if he should do that.

"I'm feeling okay now. You can let go of me. I was having a dizzy spell."

"But I heard your friend say you met some strange man entering the female restroom..."

"Oh, that male student went into the wrong restroom. I'm not in danger."

"You sure you don't need to see the nurse? I mean, you almost fainted in there."

"Don't worry, I'm fine now. I will go home to rest."

He gently set her down on her feet, "Well, okay. If you need any help, remember to call the hotline. And please take care of yourself."

"I will. Thanks, Mr. Fenton. I'll see you tomorrow," she smiled and walked away, seemingly regaining her strength.

"See you," he waved and watched her leave. His gut told him something was off, but he couldn't pinpoint what.

#danny phantom #teacher!danny #teacher au #horror vibe

[nacregames]

Hello! Just a fan of Morning Star here who’s dying from the inside for like a whole year. The reason I’m dying is because of my annoying curiosity literally asking the same questions in my brain every single day lol. I didn’t plan on asking because I’m sure it’s a huge spoiler but I seriously couldn’t wait anymore since it’s seriously bugging my brain. The two questions I have is…

1. Why is Camus protecting Lucifer? How did he become a Nephilim? The only reason I’m getting from him as I was scanning literally every single post lol was that he’s scared of Lucifer being evil or becoming and is honestly hoping Luci has a redemption, but like why? Where did he even come from? WHAT IS HIS IDENTITY AHHHHHHHHH 😫😫

2. Why does Raphael hate Lucifer? What is his feelings towards him? Maybe I’m just dense but I heard that you said Falito is similar to Lilith so I’m guessing some of his feelings are a mixture of possessive, jealousy, and guilt? Since he is a romance, what I concluded was that he always respected and admired Luci back in the angel days, but started harboring bad feelings when he started seeing Luci change after Lilith came along. And those feelings started abounding after Luci fell. Reading some snippets I’m guessing he’s also indecisive among Luci and his duty towards god? Idk I really want a clear answer of why Raphael shows hate towards luci and what his feelings are towards him. (Especially considering how his feelings and hatred are supposedly much more evident and passionate compared to the other angels from the demo and posts)

I know these are questions that will get answered in the books, but seeing how Morning Star is going to have three books? And the first book is only on chapter 3, and also considering how your creating two books at the same time (Here’s some 🍎 I hope your considering your mental health and stress as well, make sure not to overwork 😅) I just can’t contain my dying sanity lol. Could you pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee write down a answer under a cut with spoiler warnings? Or either have the post up for only a few days and delete it after? Even a short description? Pretty please? 🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️

PS: If you really really really REALLY can’t answer those questions then may I ask these two questions instead? How exactly strong is Luci? I always thought there powers got a lot weaker after their fall and their time spent is Sheol. But seeing a lot of posts you answered apparently Luci is really strong? Even stronger then Michael? Because his powers are a mixture of grace and corruption. So how exactly strong is Lucifer? Is he even stronger then when he was a archangel or weaker? And the second question what is Raphael’s feelings of all the other romances? Just like the post you did with Lilith where you told what she felt about the other ROs/casts but Raphael version? I really want to understand his character lol. I realized this ask was really long so sorry about that. I guess I had a lot in mind😖 but thank you for making this awesome demo! I look forward to it :)))

my brain stopped working for a moment and I needed a few minutes to process this much text sakjdgskjafdgf

soooooooooo answers below

can't answer this one! sorry 🤡 but you'll find out at the beginning of book 2, promise!!

I first wrote Raphael as someone who envied Lucifer for being the favourite of everyone, including god. So naturally his hatred towards Lucifer would only grow after they "betray" everyone in Heaven who loved and admired them. But now I changed it into Raphael really having admired Lucifer and having looked up to him as some kind of "idol". The envy is more friendly and doesn't bother on jealousy like before; therefore he's extremely disappointed when Lucifer becomes corrupted. Just imagine a superhero turning into a villain, and the person who loves them the most cannot understand why they turned evil, never got an explanation and was just dismissed even tho they tried to understand. Raphael was in such a situation and he just doesn't know what to do anymore. He's really fucking disappointed. You're also right on the duty part etc, but you will find everything out later heuheueh.

My mental health hinges on a slate door hook 🥴 working on JV took such a toll on me and for some reason I'm scared of working on Morning Star (RIP). Along with the VN for the (finally) official Spooktober Jam, I'm really stressed rn ngl

Luci is very strong! They had 50 years to recover from Sheol and that was more or less enough to gather enough strength. It mostly depends on which side you're taking to determine the strength of their Grace/Corruption, but they're both powerful in general. Tho, it doesn't look good for Lucifer with the other demons trying to steal their power 🤡

Falito's feelings towards the other ROs (he's not happy at all no matter who you romance, but he can at least tolerate some more than others lol): okay I guess: Ara, Gab could've done better: Mac, Polly are you mad?!: Camus HELL NO: Lilith

#i'm afraid of long texts #also another confession: I suddenly got a very interesting idea for another wip and need to slap myself daily not to officially work on it #tho I've been making unheathy notes #ms #spoilers #ros #raphael #camus #don't mind me #i'm about to leave

[andysorbit]

Hi Andy :>

I’m sorry about your work being erased (´._.`)\(‘́⌣’̀ )

An advice I have is to consider (only if you want, of course! No pressure!) to always write using the notepad on your phone first or a Google Doc & then copy it over & format it after you paste it on tumblr (since sometimes formatting/spacing is lost when pasting from another source), so that you can always have at least another copy in case smth goes wrong you know what I mean?

If you decide to use the app only still, maybe you can try to save the draft after every paragraph or two that you type…it may seem tedious but it’s a safe way to know you won’t have lost a bunch of your stuff if something goes awry because you have updated the draft, so it’s less stressful…I don’t know how long you’ve been tumbling but just in case you didn’t already know, another thing I noticed is that, when you type posts on your phone in-browser (as oppose to the app), it auto-saves the draft pretty often without you having to click save— A little green message pops up & tells you that it just did, but you don’t have to exit the draft for that to happen…even an unaddressed email draft auto saves too & has formatting options too so you can type it exactly as you want to post it with any bolds or italics, etc ( ◠‿◠ ). Or if you use a laptop instead of your phone, Word (& maybe other word processors) and Google Docs (& still emails in browser also!) all have auto save features too~ I’m not a writer but i have been on tumblr’s janky ass site for like 11 or so years, and half of that ago I got sick of suffering the force-closing bugs that happens the minute the staff/devs decide the app needs an update iMMeDiAteLy or accidentally leaving the app & coming back only to find my timeline refreshing itself without my post being open…or even if my phone screen locked becauseI looked away for 30 seconds while I was on low-power mode, or just accidentally locked it in general, so I type in the iPhone Notes app when I’m gonna make a text post (big or small) or to send an ask (like this one ^^) because sometimes I can press send & the message sent thing doesn’t show up or the app closes instead the second I hit “ask”. That way, the worst case scenario I do have not just the one I copied the text from (which is also beneficial because if I’m trying to ‘select’ for whatever reason & accidentally “cut” or backspace a whole big ass portion of what I typed (🥲), when I shake the phone it lets me undo actions & so will restore what I erased. The phone shaking thing works in app sometimes too but it only works for the text chunk you were just in, as opposed to continuing to allow undos like in notes. If you don’t use iPhones, well, idk for sure but android or operating systems probably have some similar “hidden tricks” for undoing (or redoing, in add you undo something you didn’t mean to undo— I’m clumsy so I manage to goof in all kinds of ways upwards backwards under and sideways 🫠) things you have typed, you maybe could search engine to see if there exists such a thing before you start back writing, it could help you sorta feel more secure/less apprehensive to start up again? Idk how it is for other people but for me personally I feel more relaxed if I have a backup plan.

Plus, even then when you think you copied it over to a new post tumblr completely and thought you were done, if you deleted the notepad draft, there’s usually a “recently deleted” spot so you can still revive your work ^^ unlike this hellsite where if something is deleted, it is gone into the abyss forever with no retrieval.

I did notice however, that when I type on posts, sometimes it’ll seem like a bunch of shit just got deleted or stopped showing up even though I am typing??? and I can’t see the words anymore, (just black) but I figured out if you go to select a new font size of that chunk, (or sometimes even just changing the color) it makes the stuff I thought wasn’t being typed anymore, reappear😲 Weird, I know. It especially happens when I go to edit a sentence (something as small as a change in punctuation!😒) in a previous paragraph or paste a pic or something in the middle of two paragraphs. No clue why it’s like that, but then you can press back to the size or coloring you were trying to do originally where you left off. Sometimes if I have to paste something I wanted to have in between other places already there, I find it better from experience to paste it at the bottom and then rearrange the text blocks to the correct order afterward. I actually usually do multiple of these at a time because I’m so paranoid not just about posts but in life in general haha. I’m soft hearted and very sensitive so when my stuff gets messed up by tumblr I cry sometimes, even if it’s just that the proofreading I may have done after I copied from my notes to the post I was trying to create got unformatted lol 😓

*None of this is to say or assume that you don’t already know all of these things, I just thought to tell you juuuust in case you didn’t~ ^^*

If you don’t wanna & feel you weren’t ready or confident yet or anything hesitant, like I said we aren’t going anywhere 😊 and sometimes we (I read a LOT of fics 😅) have to wait months and months (or even a year or more…yes really 🥲) for a single chapter update, so it’s not as if you’ll have made us wait an assload of time for it; I’m not just saying it to butter you up, seriously, we’re lucky that you post as often as you do especially cus you’re a working mom raising your daughter alone! So try to chin up :)

I’m sure it’s very frustrating to have to redo it but…on the bright side, while you try to write it again, you may find words or another even better way of phrasing that you couldn’t think of for previous version to express what you’re trying to convey at that part 🤠. And if you don’t, that’s ok too!! No one but you knows what you had written, so it’s not like anyone could criticize you or say “it is worse this time”…we will eat what you put on our plates whenever you serve the meal & that’s that on that (◡‿◡✿)

[pat pat]

And even though some are from like [checks gallery save dates] 7 years ago, here’s some of my fav pics & screencaps of / with Doie in every flavor that I keep in my phone for extra Chin Up Flakes™️ 😊

Caseeeeeeeeey

thank you so much

I actually kinda do like what I have now. it feels less forced because before I was fighting through writer's block and I felt a bit out of touch with mc. I think I needed this to start over in order to get it right

I think I was worried about part 2 being just as good if not better that I started shutting down a little

also all of this doie helps so much thank you for being so kind and encouraging 🥹

#neoculturecollectives #andy's mail #casey 🩷