#like in one year in high school i had sixteen classes i think

[queenshelby]

Our Little Secret (Part One)

Pairing: Dark! Cillian Murphy x Virgin! Reader

Warning: Smut, Age-Gap, Daddy Issues

Notes: This will not be a love story. It will be dark, twisted and kinky. Cillian is portrayed as totally off cannon.

It was a Friday evening when you came home after a long day at school. At 19 years of age, you were in your final year with only six weeks to go until graduation and whilst you were one of the oldest students in your class after having spent a year in America with your father, you sure were not confident.

You struggled to settle in, especially after your mother Sarah remarried rather quickly, and whilst you liked your stepfather Frank a lot, you felt somewhat out of place at his house.

Frank had a big family, including three brothers and one sister. His oldest brother happened to be no other than Cillian Murphy, an actor you had admired since you turned sixteen. 

Your mother told you about him before he showed up for dinner one night, cautioning you to be friendly, and ever since that evening, getting Cillian out of your head was impossible. 

Your heart skipped a beat when you saw him walk through the door. He looked even more attractive than he did onscreen. His slightly grey hair, piercing blue eyes, and strong jawline sent shivers down your spine. 

Cillian was in his forties, just like your stepfather Frank, but this did not really bother you, and as the evening wore on, you could not help but feel increasingly drawn to him. Thus, when you heard that he would come over again tonight, you were ecstatic. 

As soon as he walked through the door, your heart raced faster than usual, making it hard to catch your breath. 

"Hi," you managed to say, forcing yourself to stay calm despite how much you wanted to reach out and touch him. 

"Hi Y/N, how have you been?" he replied, taking off his jacket and hanging it up and following you into the living room after your mother yelled out from the kitchen, telling him to take a seat as Frank would be home soon.

"I've been well. And you?" you asked, and he confirmed that he too kept well following which there was an awkward silence between you two for a few moments, both of you clearly feeling the magnetic pull toward each other. The chemistry was undeniable, making it difficult to focus on anything else but your growing desire for one another. 

Finally, breaking the silence, Cillian spoke softly, saying, "So, what do you usually do on Fridays?" 

You hesitated for a moment, trying to think of something interesting to tell him.

"Fridays, I am at school," you chuckled, and Cillian felt silly for asking.

"Right, of course. Frank told me you spent a year in America hence, you have not finished year twelve yet. How was that like?" Cillian asked as he moved closer, his gaze burning into yours.

"It was good. I learned a lot about different cultures," you told Cillian, feeling your heart racing. 

"That must have been quite an experience! So, what made you come back? Your dad lives over there, doesn't he?" Cillian asked, leaning back against the couch with a hint of flirtatiousness in his voice.

"Yes, he does. I missed Ireland, though, and I needed to finish school to start university," you explained. "My friends here in Dublin are great, though; they made the transition easier," you then informed Cillian, who nodded in understanding, continuing to study your face with those captivating eyes before, finally, his brother Frank arrived home.

Your heart sank, feeling the sudden interruption, although you could sense the anticipation and excitement between Cillian and you. However, you both knew that now was not the right time because Frank was present.

Frank and Cillian engaged in some small talk while you sat in and listened, which is when Cillian brought up his recent fight with Danielle.

Danielle was Cillian's wife, a beautiful actress, but you did not care for her. It seemed she always got under your skin. Even Frank admitted that Danielle could be somewhat high maintenance and, clearly, Cillian was over her constant antics.

It seemed to you like they fought a lot , and even though it wasn't your business, you found yourself wondering if, perhaps, Danielle might be part of the reason why Cillian felt so drawn to you. There was a certain magnetism between you two, even if you had not explicitly acknowledged it yet. Cillian's wife had always irritated you somehow, and the thought of him potentially wanting to escape from her was tempting.

"Do you mind if I crash here tonight? I am not keen to go home," Cillian eventually asked his brother Frank as it was getting late, and, of course, he did not mind.

"Sure, you can have the guestroom upstairs, man," Frank suggested, knowing full well that his wife would not appreciate him sleeping elsewhere on such short notice. But he was his brother, after all, and thus, he did not care about the consequences. 

With that, your mother handed Cillian a pillow and blanket, and your father poured him another glass of wine before they continued their conversations.

Just as they talked, you could not leave your eyes off him, imagining what it would be like to kiss him and what it would feel like to hold him close. You blushed just thinking about it and tried concentrating on the adult talk around you.

This continued for quite a while, but since both your parents had to work the following day, at around ten o'clock that night, they decided to retire to bed, leaving you and Cillian alone on the couch.  

As they left, Frank gave Cillian a pat on the shoulder, wishing him a good night and then, after a little small talk between you and him, Cillian too made his way upstairs, leaving you all alone on the couch. 

Your eyes locked onto Cillian as he walked away, and you could not help but stare at his rear end as he ascended the stairs. Your heart started racing again, your body craving to get closer to him. 

As he reached the top of the stairs, he glanced back down and caught you looking at him.

As his eyes met yours, a shared understanding was passing between you. It was a silent agreement that neither of you could ignore. The electricity between you was palpable, and it was clear that something had to give.

Your eyes alone motivated Cillian to come back down, and as he slowly descended the stairs, he never once broke eye contact with you.

Silently, he then approached you on the couch, sitting beside you and placing his hand gently on your thigh. 

"This has been a good evening," he whispered, causing your heart to race wildly.

"What do you mean?" you asked, feigning ignorance, but both of you knew exactly what was meant. 

"Oh, nothing specific," he responded, his eyes searching yours, the desire between you two evident.

You could not control the heat radiating from your cheeks nor the swelling in your chest.

With his hand still on your thigh, you nervously cleared your throat.

"Why don't we watch a movie? You do not seem tired yet," you nervously suggested, desperately trying to change the mood.

Cillian raised an eyebrow, seemingly intrigued by your suggestion.

"Are you sure that watching a movie is what you want to do?" he asked, his voice deep and husky.

His fingers moved gently along your thigh, drawing circles, and sending shivers down your spine.

"No..., or maybe yes. I do not know," you stammered in response before inhaling sharply.

"Fuck, I am sorry, Cillian, I just find myself struggling to keep my eyes off you," you then blurted out, your heart pounding loudly in your ears, feeling like a fool.

He chuckled lightly, his warm breath caressing your cheek. "I have noticed, and, to tell you the truth, I can’t keep my eyes off you either," Cillian told you before he paused for a moment, his fingertips grazing the sensitive area behind your knee.

"So, instead of watching a movie, do you want to show me where you sleep?" Cillian asked teasingly and with quite some confidence, causing you to gasp.

A mix of excitement and fear coursed through your veins as you struggled to breathe properly. "You want me to take you to my room?" you murmured, allowing his hand to move higher up your thigh.

"Yes," he whispered, his voice dripping with lust.

“But, you are married,” you ought to point out, causing Cillian to chuckle again.

“Yes, I am, but I am sure you can keep a secret,” he told you, and you nodded shyly, cheeks blushing.

"You know, I haven't had sex in weeks," he confessed, his voice more profound than ever, causing you to swallow harshly. He certainly knew what he wanted, and he was rather direct and forward about it.

"Is that true?" you asked, your heart racing.

"Yes," he replied, running his finger along your thigh, sending shivers down your spine. "But I won't pressure you into anything," he reassured you.

You were taken aback by his candour but also found it oddly arousing. "I... I have not either, I mean never...I never had sex before," you admitted, biting your lip nervously.

Cillian smiled, reaching over to place his hand gently on your cheek. "Don't worry. If you're ready, I'll take it slow and ensure you feel comfortable." His tone was reassuring, causing a wave of relief to wash over you.

Feeling emboldened, you stood up from the couch, brushing off any lingering embarrassment. "Alright," you whispered, moving closer to him, and as you reached out to touch his face, he took your hand, leading you towards your room.

The room was quiet, lit only by the moonlight filtering through the window. As you led Cillian to your bed, a sense of anticipation filled the air.

The silence between you was suddenly deafening, heightening the tension. Each step seemed to echo in your ears as if amplifying the magnitude of the moment. As you reached your bed, you turned to face him, your hearts pounding together.

His eyes bore into yours, conveying a mix of desire and tenderness. He slowly reached for your hands, intertwining his fingers with yours, giving them a gentle squeeze.

"It will feel good Y/N, I promise," Cillian told you in a low, reassuring voice.

Your heart raced, and you felt a flush of nerves sweep through your body.

"Okay," you whispered, your lips trembling slightly, and as you let go of each other's hands, you couldn't help but glance down at his crotch, wondering what lay beneath those dark jeans.

You could see the longing in his eyes, mirroring your feelings. Without further ado, he took off his shirt, revealing his toned physique.

"May I kiss you?" Cillian then asked, seeing that you had not crossed this line just yet.

"Yes," you replied, your voice barely above a whisper. As you inched closer to him, you could feel your heart racing in your chest. The room was now bathed in moonlight, casting an ethereal glow upon the scene. You gazed into his eyes, lost in the depths of their intensity before, finally, his lips crashed onto yours in a passionate kiss.

Cillian's hands roamed your clothed body as your tongue danced around his. His touch was tender as if he were taking great care not to scare you off. Slowly, he removed your shirt, exposing your delicate skin to the cool night air.

Your breasts quivered in the moonlight. Cillian's eyes widened, clearly appreciative of your natural beauty. He gently cupped one breast, causing you to shiver slightly.

"No bra, huh?" he teased, his voice rough with emotion. You blushed, feeling exposed but also exhilarated by his words.

"Uh-uh, I don’t like wearing a bra," you simply stammered in response as, quickly, he unbuttoned your jeans as well, and you nervously wiggled out of them.

"You are beautiful," Cillian told you, gazing over your naked figure, and you blushed in response.

"I-I didn't think you would find me attractive," you stammered, your voice cracking slightly.

Cillian smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't underestimate yourself, Y/N. Now, lie down and let me show you how good I can make you feel," he commanded, his voice deep and authoritative.

Obediently, you lowered yourself onto the bed, your heart racing in anticipation.

Cillian soon he followed suit, positioning himself between your legs, his hands gently exploring your curves.

He trailed his fingers down your stomach, tickling your soft skin and making you giggle. His fingers traced the outline of your breasts, eliciting a shiver from you. Finally, his hand reached your hip, encouraging you to open your legs wider.

Slowly, he slid his fingers down the inside of your thigh, stopping just short of your clothed crotch. He gazed at you with hooded eyes, his expression intense. You found yourself holding your breath, anticipating his next move.

Cillian, sensing your growing impatience, decided to remove his pants, revealing his thick, hard cock straining against his briefs. Your eyes widened, unable to look away from the powerful erection before you.

As he leaned forward, he whispered in your ear, "Do you trust me, Y/N?" His voice was low and husky, causing a shiver to run down your spine. You nodded without hesitation, your heart pounding in your chest.

"Yes, I trust you," you answered, your voice wavering slightly.

"Good, then take off your panties for me," Cillian said, his voice low and seductive.

Your eyes widened, and you hesitated briefly before nodding. With trembling hands, you removed your last piece of clothing, leaving you completely vulnerable and exposed.

Cillian leaned forward, capturing your lips in a fierce, passionate kiss, sending a surge of excitement through your body. His hands travelled down your smooth back, stopping just above your ass, before slowly sliding back up, teasingly tracing the curve of your lower back.

"Open your legs for me. Let me touch you," Cillian commanded, his voice hoarse with desire. You hesitantly complied, moving your legs apart so he could touch you.

"You look so fucking sexy like this," Cillian then whispered before proceeding to gently slide his index finger across your entrance, circling it teasingly.

Moaning involuntarily, you arched your back, seeking more contact. Cillian obliged and tentatively slid his finger into you, causing you to gasp. His eyes were locked onto yours, watching your reaction closely.

"So tight," he whispered, gently kissing your neck, and you took a deep breath, trying to relax and calm your nerves. It was strange being in this new territory, experiencing something so intimate with someone you barely knew.

"Have you ever touched a man before?" Cillian then asked before wiggling, with his free hand, pulling down his briefs.

"No," you stammered as you looked at him. He was even bigger than you thought and more imposing than you imagined.

"Give me your hand, Y/N," Cillian said gently before reaching for it and guiding it towards his cock.

"Touch me," he whispered, his voice a deep rumble. Nervously, you obeyed, feeling the heat radiating from his body as you tentatively wrapped your fingers around his thick shaft. Your heart raced, and you could feel the warmth of his flesh against your palm. Cillian closed his eyes, savouring the sensation as you began to stroke him gently.

At the same time, he circled his fingers over your clit, applying light pressure as he experimented with different rhythms. You groaned, feeling your body start to heat up.

As you continued to play with his shaft, Cillian increased the intensity of his movements, causing you to whimper in delight. The combination of your touches and his expertise sent a wave of pleasure coursing through your body.

Cillian pulled you close, kissing you deeply, his hand now circling your clit firmly, drawing moans from your throat.

His mouth left yours to trail kisses down your jawline to your neck, causing your body to shudder with desire. His fingers moved faster, pressing harder, as your body quaked, losing control of the waves of pleasure washing over you.

"Oh god!" you cried out, gripping his shoulders tightly, your fingers digging into his skin as you drowned in the sensations cascading through your body. Your mind went blank; the only thing you were aware of was the overwhelming sensuality filling your world.

"Sssh, your parents are right next door," Cillian warned you. "You need to be quiet," he told you, but it was not just fear of discovery that made you quiet; it was the intensity of the moment.

Every muscle in your body tensed, waiting for the next wave of pleasure to crash over you. Cillian, with his experienced touch, knew precisely what you needed. Gently, he shifted your body, guiding you into a new position.

As he settled on top of you, right between your spread-out legs, you felt his hardness against your softness, the contrast making you feel even more desirable.

"Do you want me to wear a condom?" Cillian asked, hoping that the answer would be no.

"I am on the pill. What would you prefer?" you asked, your voice barely above a whisper. Cillian smiled devilishly, knowing you were curious about what was to come.

"I would rather fuck you bare and cum inside you," Cillian said confidently, his tone filled with raw masculinity. His confidence seemed to be having a powerful effect on you, making you wetter than you realized.

"But I'll use a condom if you insist," he added, his voice softening.

"No, I trust you," you replied, finally embracing the adventurous side you had been hiding from everyone else.

Without further ado, Cillian kissed you deeply while supporting your weight with his strong arms. He teased your nipples, rolling them between his thumb and forefinger, causing a pleasant tingle to shoot through your body. The sensation was both foreign and familiar, amplifying the connection between you two.

As his hands roamed your body, his fingers explored your secret places, triggering even more feelings you had never experienced before. Your arousal grew rapidly, and you found yourself yearning for more of his touch.

Cillian, sensing your growing eagerness, shifted your position again, spreading your legs wider apart and then positioning himself against your entrance again.

His length was already leaking precum into your slid and the feeling of it mixed with your own arousal created a sensation unlike anything you'd ever experienced before.

"Is it going to hurt?" you asked nervously, breaking the intense connection you shared. Cillian smiled reassuringly, cupping your face in his hands and kissing you softly.

"Only at first," he assured you, his eyes brimming with tenderness. "I'll go slow, alright?" Cillian asked, his voice deep and commanding, causing you to nod.

“Okay,” you whispered as he began to press his tip against your entrance, slowly, gauging your readiness. Your body tensed and quivered in anticipation, each movement from Cillian causing you to writhe in excitement.

The head of his cock finally entered you, causing a sharp exhale from you as your body accommodated his size. Despite the painful sensation, there was also an indescribable pleasure in taking him deeper. Your breath caught in your throat, tears welling up in your eyes.

This was it, this was your first time, and you could not help but feel overwhelmed. You grasped Cillian's shoulders tightly, finding solace in his strength and experience.

"You're doing great," Cillian reassured you, his voice soft and tender. "Take deep breaths and the pain will fade," Cillian encouraged you as he pushed into you further.

"You are taking my cock so well. Such a good girl," he whispered, his voice laced with desire as you nodded, trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

Cillian gently started moving his hips, slowly pulling almost all the way out before plunging back in, giving you a chance to adjust to his size. You winced in pain but also felt a strange sense of empowerment that this man's presence was enough to make you feel desirable despite the pain. Each thrust brought a mix of pleasure and discomfort, but as you got used to his size, you learned to focus on the sensations and not the initial pain.

The feeling of him filling you, his cock gliding effortlessly in and out, was beyond words. The erotic friction between your bodies heightened your arousal exponentially. You became addicted to the rhythm of his hips, the sound of his grunts, and the way his sweaty skin slapped against yours.

Cillian, reading your body language perfectly, sped up his pace, picking up the tempo and pushing deeper inside you. The pleasure became more intense, overpowering, and overwhelming.

The rhythm between you both picked up, a perfect symphony of moans and grunts echoing throughout the room. Your body bucked beneath him, craving the fullness of his cock, the sheer force of his passionate embrace, and the unyielding intensity of their connection. With each thrust, the walls seemed to disappear, leaving you suspended in a sensory-rich universe where nothing existed except for the primal, primordial need to mate.

You moaned louder, and Cillian placed a hand on your mouth.

"Shh, remember to be quiet," Cillian told you with urgency, and you nodded again, understanding the gravity of the situation and how it would affect your relationship with your family if discovered.

This newfound sexual awakening had brought forth a wildfire that burned brightly yet dangerously close to the flammable tinder that was your family's innocence.

His hands were rough from years of playing his craft, yet gentle when they caressed your body. Every touch left a burning trail across your skin, igniting passion within you.

You grabbed onto Cillian's shoulders with all your might, his muscles rippling under your palms. Your cries mingled with his growls, creating a symphony of animalistic fervour. Your entire being seemed to be alive with electricity as you moved together in perfect harmony.

Cillian's hand found its way to your breast, squeezing and pinching the sensitive nipple. You let out a soft moan, arching your back to push your chest closer to his hand.

Cillian responded by placing a warm, rough kiss on your neck, sending shivers down your spine. Your heart raced, fuelled by the intensity of the moment. His fingers trailed down to your lower stomach, brushing against your clit, making you squirm with desire. His touches were both rough and tender, combining elements of dominance and affection that sent your body spiralling into ecstasy.

His tongue danced along your earlobe, making you pant with anticipation.

"Let's change positions. I am not ready for you to cum just yet," he eventually told you as he could tell that you were close to orgasming again, following which you would probably be too sore to continue.

"I want to enjoy this for a little longer," Cillian teased, and your lips parted slightly, surprise written all over your face. It seemed impossible to deny yourself such a release after coming so far. But something about Cillian's words, his voice full of control and authority, made you trust him completely.

You reluctantly agreed, though deep down, you ached for the satisfaction of reaching climax. Instead, you focused on the sensations coursing through your body, each stroke of his hand drawing you closer to the edge without allowing you to fall over.

"How do you want me?" you asked, feeling daring in the darkness of the room. Cillian's eyes gleamed with desire as he contemplated your question.

"Turn around and present your ass to me," he ordered, his voice deep and authoritative. Your heart quickened with excitement at his dominance, obeying him instinctively. You turned around, presenting your bottom to him, feeling vulnerable yet excited by the thought of being taken from behind.

Cillian grabbed your hips firmly, pressing his hard cock against your wet entrance, eliciting a soft moan from you.

As he prepared to enter you from behind, he whispered in your ear, "Remember, it might hurt a bit more in this position, but I promise it won't last long."

You nodded, trying to brace yourself for the unexpected sensation. Feeling a surge of power and control, Cillian positioned himself firmly behind you, holding you tightly. As he took hold of your hips, you felt a sudden burst of pain, but your determination to please him kept you steadfast.

"Breathe, darling," Cillian whispered in your ear, his deep voice echoing through your body, bringing both comfort and arousal. You closed your eyes, focusing on the sensations as Cillian pushed forward, gradually filling you up. The stretching sensation combined with the lingering pain caused you to whimper softly, but Cillian continued to whisper sweet nothings in your ear, promising relief soon.

With every thrust, you grew accustomed to the pain as he hit your cervix, focusing instead on the pleasurable pressure building up inside you.

Cillian began to speak dirty, his words fuelling your arousal even more.

"That's it. Good girl. Take it all, feel how good it is," he commanded, guiding your body to accept his larger size. His tone, a mix of dominance and love, left you yearning for more.

The rhythm of your bodies became a symphony of groans and gasps, the energy between you two undeniably potent. Your moans echoed through the dark bedroom, a testament to the raw desire you both harboured.

Cillian gazed to where you were connected, and the evidence of your innocent lost spurred him on even more. There was a smudge of fresh blood on his cock, a mark of his conquest over your virginity. It filled him with pride, and he wanted to claim you entirely. He increased the pace of his thrusts, pounding into you with a savage intensity. He pulled your hair back, exposing your neck, then kissed it softly, his lips trailing down to your collarbone.

Your moans turned into a low wail, halfway between pain and pleasure. Cillian's touch became rougher, his movements more urgent, mirroring your own growing hunger as he covered your mouth with one of his hands.

"Don't scream, okay? We don't want anyone hearing us," he whispered; his breath hot against your ear. His other hand gripped your hip, steadying you as he thrust into you harder, faster. You cried out, the pain shooting through your body like an electrical current. Despite the pain, your body responded instinctively, meeting his thrusts with a rhythm of its own.

Cillian's lips moved closer to your ear, his voice dropping to a seductive murmur.

"I can feel you wanting to cum, aren't you, sweetheart?" He knew exactly what buttons to press to get you going. The simple mention of your desire was enough to make your knees go weak, and you could no longer bear the exquisite torture of his cock lodged deeply inside you.

Feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment, you couldn't help but lose yourself in the sensations coursing through your body. Your hands fisted the sheets, seeking purchase amidst the swirling chaos of desire and confusion.

"Good girl. Keep taking me a little longer,” Cillian whispered in your ear, his deep voice causing your body to tremble. Your mind was reeling with the sensations coursing through your body, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else. The only thing you could focus on was Cillian's cock, driving into you harder and faster. Each thrust elicited a sharp cry from you, but the pain only served to heighten your arousal.

He gripped your hair, pulling you backwards slightly and angling your head towards his shoulder.

"Keep breathing, baby," he whispered into your ear, his breath hot against your neck. Your heart raced with anticipation, your whole body pulsing with desire.

Despite the pain and the discomfort, you craved more. You knew there was something special about this man, something irresistible that drew you in. Your body ached for him, and your soul yearned for the connection he provided.

"You're so beautiful," he breathed into your ear, his rough voice making your stomach flutter.

"Almost there. Good girl. I am going to fill you with my cum soon," Cillian promised, his voice heavy with lust. Your breath caught in your throat at the mere idea of his cum filling you. Your hips bucked involuntarily, seeking more of his cock, begging for it to penetrate deeper.

With each thrust, Cillian's voice dropped lower, becoming rougher with desire.

"That's it, baby. Let go and take me all the way," Cillian urged, his voice hoarse with desire. Your muscles contracted rhythmically around his cock, milking him until he couldn't hold back any longer and you climaxed together, his hand covering your mouth as you did.

His voice rose with excitement, "Fuck, baby!" he growled into your ear, the sound resonating deep within you. With a final powerful thrust, Cillian erupted inside you, his entire body shaking violently. His arms held you tightly, burying his face in your neck as he came. Your body shook beneath him, wracked with aftershocks of pleasure, the room filled with the scent of sex and sweat.

"Hmm," Cillian groaned, still inside of you, releasing the last of his cum.

His chest heaved heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Your body was limp and heavy beneath him, spent from the intense sexual encounter until, eventually, he pulled out of you.

Cillian looked down at where you were joined, his eyes fierce with passion.

"Don't move," he said, keeping you on all fours as his hand reached underneath you, finding the wetness between your legs as you leaked his cum from your gaping hole, tinged with a tinge of blood.

Cillian's thumb rubbed the outside of your hole tenderly, spreading your combined juices over the entrance before slipping a finger into you slowly. You gasped, your body reacting to his touch despite your exhaustion.

"So full with my cum," he marvelled, admiring your resilience as his fingers circled and probed inside you.

"Is that blood?" you asked, looking back over your shoulder.

"Don't worry. That's normal," Cillian assured you gently, his thumb continuing to rub the entrance of your body, coaxing it to accept his finger again.

"This was our first time together, and it may take some getting used to," Cillian pointed out as if he wanted to do this again sometime.

"You will probably be sore for a few days," Cillian warned, pulling his finger out of you, and as he did, you felt the residual warmth of Cillian's seed inside you.

"Please...please let me clean myself." You whimpered, ashamed of the mess you had become.

"Not yet. Not until I take a picture of your pussy, leaking my cum," Cillian said before he reached for his phone, switching it on.

"Let me take a photo of you right now". With his index finger, he spread open your labia, showing off your hole, filled with his cum and blood. "There. This proves you are mine", he added, his voice low and dangerous.

You blushed, feeling embarrassed and exposed. "Can we please just clean up now?" you implored, wishing you could somehow disappear from the situation, which was both, arousing and embarrassing.

But Cillian was relentless, snapping photos of you and your exposed body. The sight of your defiled body filled him with a mixture of satisfaction and possessiveness.

As he took photos, Cillian's dominant side intensified, his eyes darkening with lust. He spoke to you in a tone that brooked no argument, telling you to remain silent and still. The combination of his authoritative manner and your fear of his reaction, if you refused, made it impossible for you to object.

After taking multiple pictures, Cillian finally decided that you were sufficiently documented.

With a sense of triumph, he switched off his phone and returned it to his pocket.

He stood up, allowing you to pull yourself into a sitting position. You felt incredibly vulnerable, with your legs spread wide apart, leaving you exposed. You were completely at his mercy, and you knew it.

Cillian approached you, his steps deliberate and confident. As he knelt beside you, he ran his fingers gently along your inner thigh, leaving a trail of electricity in their wake.

Your skin prickled with awareness at his touch, and your breath caught in your throat. He traced circles around your entrance, teasing it with his touch. Your body responded involuntarily, pushing forward into his caresses.

"We should get a hotel room next time," Cillian suggested, his voice laced with a hint of arrogance, knowing fully how much he had affected you.

You nodded, trying to regain control of your racing thoughts. "Yes, that would probably be better," you agreed, not daring to look directly at him as, finally, he reached for the tissues on your bedside table.

Gently, he began to clean you up, carefully removing his seed from your body. You could not bring yourself to watch, instead looking away and focusing on his movements, which were slow and gentle, never rushing. When he finished, he offered you the tissues to clean yourself further. Grateful, you accepted them and proceeded to do so, feeling a mix of shame and relief wash over you.

"I should probably leave you now," Cillian said, standing up and putting on his clothes.

"No, wait." You insisted, suddenly needing to express your gratitude. "This was fun. Thank you," you said, and Cillian smirked.

"I will show you more fun after school next Tuesday if you are game," Cillian said, giving you a suggestive grin.

"Tuesday sounds good," you replied, trying to match his boldness, even though you were unsure if you were ready for more.

Cillian leaned in, placing a light kiss on your forehead. "Be good," he commanded, flashing you a devilish smile. Then, he left your room, leaving you alone to process everything that had just happened.

Your body trembled, still humming with the aftermath of their intimate encounter.

You couldn't believe what had just transpired between you two, but at the same time, you found yourself wanting more.

Your cheeks flushed as you recalled Cillian's commanding presence and the raw intensity of their connection.

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[harfanfare]

Hey! I really love your "how to win the heart of." Can you do one for Vil? If not that's totally fine I'm just curious.

How to win the heart of Vil Schoenheit?

Be a fan.

You like to think that the oldest memory you can recall is how you became Vil’s fan.

Until then, the recitals your school took you on were boring. Only in fifth grade, the teachers realise that, hm, maybe ancient plays might be a bit too much for those little brains, and in a spark of determination to change something, your class was taken to watch a staged version of a fairy tale, played by youngsters for youngsters.

The memory of Vil, the villain of the story, entering the scene is much more vivid. Even as a child, he was inarguably elegant and strikingly beautiful, it left you agape and your curious heart beating loudly in your chest.

“It’s better than having a completely fictional crush,” your classmate said after you confessed how much endeared you were by Vil and his acting. You listened as you typed a password to a newly-created Magicam account, solely for following him there. “There is a chance that you and him will be together.”

“A big chance?”

“Uh, like this?” She tries to show how big your chance is with her fingers. She wants to leave a gap between her fingers, but ultimately, they touch, and she puts her hands down. “I mean, we are almost the same age, so maybe you can go to the same high school as him? In a very long future…”

“I am not delusional…”

Nonetheless, the thought did make you hope.

After you reached the age of sixteen, the invitation came. For a whole year — since you saw Vil’s post on his new college choice — you’ve been pondering whether you’ve possessed enough magic talent to get into Night Raven College, the school of chosen. In good dreams, the Magic Mirror deemed your soul to be solely fit for Pomefiore. In nightmares, you were doomed to… well, any other dorm, if you were a student at NRC at all.

And maybe dreams really come true because the future you’ve anticipating has turned into a reality.

“Alright, is everyone from Pomefiore here?” Your heart stops when you hear that wonderful voice, this time not from your phone nor from 100 meters away from the speakers. You turn around, and there he is, Vil Schoenheit in all his glory stands and guides the students to the hall of mirrors. He looks like a portrait, and even if you saw his face thousands of times, the glint in his eyes redeems you speechless. “Congratulations, everyone. We will hold the welcoming introductions at our dorm. Follow me!”

Yes, Vil Schoenheit is your idol. And in the first seconds of meeting him, you were ready to follow him to the end of the world.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

2. Get rejected. Have your heart broken.

“I apologize,” Vil says slowly, and you notice how his voice is a little monotonous. Just a bit, as if he had repeated these words countless times like the lines before a recital. “And while I wholeheartedly appreciate your feelings, [Name], I want to focus on my studies and career. It’s a bad time for me to think about dating. Nonetheless, thank you for being brave and sincere enough to tell me all of this.”

You nod. The pain in your chest gives you goosebumps. It makes your head spin so fast your legs feel unstable as if there is some shift in gravity. You bow with curtsy because every Pomefiore student should be able to do so elegantly even on a space station. “Thank you for listening to my confession.”

“Of course,” he says and looks down at the letter he got from you. It’s neat, somehow cute with how carefully his name is written on it. He holds it gently so as to not crinkle the delicate paper. “I will read the contents tonight.”

“Thank you. No need to write a response,” you force a little chuckle and excuse yourself. You will be overthinking how could you say something like that after you get over your stupid letter and even dumber confession.

Vil doesn’t say anything as you walk a little too fast to keep the step elegant. He sighs at this view and mindfully tucks your letter amid the pages of the book. Now’s the time for history class. He shouldn’t get distracted—

—and soon enough, you’re out of his mind.

That is until he reads your letter.

It's a beautifully crafted confession, put into elegant lettering and a pale pink envelope. It's sealed with red wax in the shape of a perfect heart; if you haven't used magic, it must've taken several evenings to get the precision you wanted.

You’re his fan. He knows it even if you hadn’t pointed it out; the well-tailored sentences betrayed your utter attention on him in the last several years. You’re his fan, but you don’t cheapen yourself. He is the idol you admire and love, but you don’t degrade yourself to a servant or a worshiper. And that is, unexpectedly, uncommon.

The letter is—also—a challenge to yourself. “If you were to reciprocate those feelings, I will prove myself worthy to stand by your side,” it reads.

He likes that letter. Once he finishes it, he skims over the text one last time and puts it between many other letters he has gotten. Between them, another envelope seems unremarkable, yet the words there…

Unforgotten.

He sighs. Maybe he will pay more attention to you from now on.

‏‏‎ ‎

3. Don’t remember all the etiquette rules.

“You wrote in your letter that I've inspired you to learn. Go on, then. Show me how motivated you are.”

So, now Vil bullies you over your letter.

He can’t be satisfied with your scarce etiquette knowledge—he wouldn’t be content if it was decent, as it would be a dishonour to Pomefiore—but amusement crinkles in his eyes at your utter confusion over the numerous forks, knives, spoons and glasses. They’ve been spread out in several rows and columns varying from the oyster forks to champagne flute.

You hesitate. Maybe you could point out which one is the butter knife or sugar spoon, but you never cared enough to discover which fickle knife is a fish knife. Should you be looking for the one with grooves or an extremely thin one? Would it hurt to use a normal knife to eat the salmon?

Oftentimes you’re thankful there is no awkward silence between you and Vil after your confession, but you can’t shake off the impression he’s been harder on you.

“On second thought, maybe I wasn't motivated enough to learn all the names of cutlery,” you say, not daring to try your luck in labelling each piece.

To your surprise, Vil smiles and uses a teasing tone that leaves you stunned and wide-eyed. “Is that so?”

You take a breath and huff, lowering your eyes. “Yes. The power of—,” unrequired, you bite your tongue on that bitter word, “—love ends here.”

Vil cracks another delighted smile. You start suspecting that someone drugged him with a smiling potion, as you should have received a severe scolding by now. You don’t have anything against the change, so the mention of Vil’s (relative) laid-backness goes unmentioned.

“I will have you seated next to me on tomorrow's dinner, so don't even think of slacking off,” he says, putting a hand on your lower back and gently pushing you towards the next table where the heavy textbooks look so very uninviting. “I won't have any student under my wing not know the basic etiquette. Especially if it’s my fan.”

‏‏‎ ‎

4. Have opinions and the courage to voice them.

Because standing for your own makes you flourish in your own colours and not blend into the monotony of the mainstream. Seek truth, good, and beauty and you will bestow the brilliance upon yourself.

‏‏‎

5. Try to have a healthy lifestyle.

You’ve never imagined Vil barging into your room with a tray of food. Why would he? But here you are, sitting in front of an aesthetically pleasing breakfast, mouth-watering pancakes with cream and a bit of honey, and the deep green shake in question that suits the colour palette but probably tastes awfully, like all good stuff packed with vitamins.

“You should never starve yourself if you want to live healthy.”

It’s hard to swallow anything as your dorm leader glares at you, but Vil refuses to leave you before he sees you eating the stuff he brought. You wondered if he prepared the breakfast himself. Probably not.

“No? I thought that keeping a diet is good.”

“If you are dieting you eat,” Vil hisses and sinks a little more into the couch. He brings a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose as if he suddenly got struck with a headache. “Oh, heavens. What am I going to do with you?”

“Maybe—”

“Quiet,” it apparently was a rhetorical question. Maybe Vil would be mad at any answer from you as he considers you a fool. He waits until you take another bite of the pancake. “A dinner break will be in two hours, and I expect you to be there.”

“I think I will still be full by that time,” you admit, glancing at a pancake and a half. “These pancakes are savoury but so very filling.”

“Savor them as much as you like,” Vil says somewhat proudly. …Maybe he did make those pancakes? No. He wouldn’t bother this much. The satisfied note in his voice makes you ponder nonetheless. “But you have no excuse for yourself not to sit with us on the meals. Also—”

His gaze grows unexpectedly impish as his eye catches something.

“I will reeducate you on the topic of a healthy lifestyle,” he glances at the bowl of bland lettuce you prepared for yourself. He smiles, either in amusement or light pity. “It should have a little more… spice.”

‏‏‎ ‎

6. Take an interest in high culture.

“It feels like the hellish lessons of Heartslabyul…”

“The Queens’ 810 rules?” Vil’s smile is lopsided and his eyes render into a knowing look once they meet your gaze. “They are nothing compared to a number of customs in etiquette.”

You take a turn. The classes for today might have ended, but if hearing all that useful stuff meant you would walk with Vil back to Pomefiore, you could bear another few minutes of a lecture. You know that everything he tells you about, he already mastered. He wouldn’t teach you anything half-heartily.

“The etiquette of speaking, the dress code, the knowledge of dinner manners (well, you’ve mastered some part of it already, with the cutlery lessons), the control of body language, the indication of voice, the honorifics, the art of writing letters and emails… You don’t want me to list all of the things I expect from you?”

You would like to, because Vil’s voice is beautiful, but the student part of you takes over control and shakes your head. Just like Riddle, who has a reputation for demanding impossible care and inquiring rules, your dorm leader is not much better — maybe even worse, because while Heartslabyul has to oblige the absurd in chosen hours or circumstances, you are on your toes in every moment.

“So much to master in just four years in the NRC…”

“It’s a lot,” Vil says, and he’s the only person you would doubt if he speaks the truth in that matter. Especially if through your walk his strides seemed perfectly calculated and hand gestures finely planned. “But if you put a mind and heart into it, you will learn all of this in no time.”

You hum. It’s hard to think of having any more motivation than from where you were a zealous Vil fan.

You ask (ponder) and he delivers.

“Actually, I have an offer: if you’ll learn it all in ahead of time, I will teach you a dating etiquette.”

…

What?

“…Dating etiquette?!” You shriek so loudly, that several students turn their heads. You cover your mouth as if it would do something, and ignoring Vil’s delighted gaze, and lower your voice to a whisper. “There is such a thing?”

“Of course. Who should invite who on the first date and where, what gifts can you give and what can you accept, and how to behave with your loved one, like,” he pauses a little, and you almost know he bites the sides of his cheeks to contain himself from smiling, “How to kiss someone in particular situations.”

You want to die. How else should you react? How can he tease you so much when he rejects you? (Not like you were expecting much at the time, yet…)

“There is no kissing etiquette. You tease me…”

“Just a little,” Vil laughs, and you slowly relax. “But take my proposal seriously. If I can give you another motivation to engage in your studies, then I will by all means do so.”

‏‏‎ ‎

7. Get an access to his private Magicam account.

“Do you have Magicam? If you want to, you can add me.”

Vil asks the question. He should have chastised you for mindlessly scrolling through social media because you can probably put your mind and hands to better use. The casual tone surprises you, but the inquiry gets you defensive as if it questioned you being Vil’s fan.

“I’ve already been following you for years,” you declare and pull up your phone.

Before you get to his profile, Vil sighs.

“Not the promotional account,” he says. “Mine.”

You frown. Many times you’ve seen Vil posting the photos on the “promotional account” with his personal thoughts. Maybe because you've been blinded by the elegance and harmony of every post, the idea that he would operate the Magicam profile solely for business purposes has never occurred to you.

“You have another account?” You ask, flabbergasted.

Vil rolls his eyes at the surprise in your tone and sits next to you. Your phone beeps as you get a notification about a new user following you. In a heartbeat, you follow the account back. You almost gape at the pictures there; they are beautiful, elegant, and all in Vil’s manner, but he looks like… a common student. Not ethereally, not otherworldly, but still enchantingly.

“It’s a private profile, so I ask you for discretion. I would like to keep this one for my close friends and family,” Vil says, and you hastily nod, your heartbeat sounding like a drumbeat in your ears. Having access to his personal account felt… personal, ironically.

I would like to keep this one for my close friends — he said that, didn’t he? Does he consider you a close friend?

That’s more than you ever imagined.

And yet you dare to dream for more.

You pull your phone close to your chest. “I feel honoured.”

Vil smiles at the statement. “Of course. As you should.”

‏‏‎ ‎

8. Let yourself be pampered.

“Don’t move,” Vil asks for impossible because you want to bolt as he leans to you once again and only the glare he staggers you with as you push away the urge to close your eyes. You hope the foundation is thick enough to cover a blush that creeps on your face. “You will ruin my work.”

You give up and glance down, earning another heavy sigh from your superior.

“Maybe I should finish the eye makeup myself?” You offer. “I am unused to anyone doing my makeup, so it’s hard not to flinch.”

Your good intentions get ruined as the question aggravates Vil even more because he frowns at you. Staying put and keeping quiet about that whole ordeal would seem like a lovely idea, you question whether your heart could manage another hour in this setup.

“Don’t be absurd,” he says. “We need to handle your sensitivity to the touch or you will struggle in the future if you decide to be a model.”

“I am not—”

“Stop.”

“I—”

“Silence. Be quiet, potato,” he presses his finger to your lips to seal them shut. You feel something sticky, and as his finger traces your lips, you realize it’s the lip gloss, and it’s a very good-smelling one like a strawberry; you didn’t expect something so sweet-tasting to be in Vil’s liked products. “You are under my care now. It also brings me satisfaction to see my skills used on someone.”

“Vil—”

“Shut up,” it’s hard to get offended at him, as he uses such a gentle tone. He takes a good look at your lips and as he glances up at you, probably to see if the colours of the whole makeup are consistent, your mouth goes dry. “Before I tell you to do so, don’t speak. You will mess up with the lip gloss and it’s… difficult to apply one on you.”

What? It’s difficult to apply the lipgloss on you?

Alright**,** you nod, pondering if the lip makeup is really that difficult. Do you have an unusual shape of lips (it’s probably not that?), or is this balm so hard to spread? You sit still, as Vil moves closer to you.

Yeah, except for the touch you need a way to ignore the beating of your heart.

‏‏‎ ‎

9. Move on from your heartbreak.

“Would you like to go out with me today?”

A kind smile convinced you to agree, although you barely recognize the name of the boy standing in front of you. His voice was hopeful, and you were reminded of the time you bore the same expectant expression.

You had no heart to let it fall, not right now, not so quickly, so you paint a delighted smile over your face. “Thank you. I would love to.”

…

You should’ve done this a long time ago.

For the sake of your friendship with Vil, you decide to stop hoping that the man of your dreams might change his mind after getting to know you better. He found a friend in you, and you would hate to disappoint him with your longing for him.

So, you should distract yourself from him and fall in love with someone else.

Today’s date will be a perfect opportunity.

You dress quite stylishly, not enough to steal all the attention, but enough to impress your date. You put more effort into the makeup this evening and spend some time picking the most fitting jewellery. The perfume you picked is subtle but alluring and chic, an excellent concoction, but you could’ve expected nothing less from Vil’s recommendation.

…It feels kind of wrong to use everything he taught you to prepare for a date, but you would’ve used this knowledge one day either way, no? It’s not like he is your first… and last love.

“I heard a boy from Scarabia have confessed to you,” the familiar voice you love but don’t want to hear like now spooks you. Vil leans on your door frame, and you wonder how much he has stayed here.

“I just agreed on a date,” you say, standing up and adjusting the folds of your outfit. You look him in the eye. “How do I look?”

Vil snorts, and his lips stretch into a mean, devilish smile. “Are you expecting an approving comment from me?”

Asking the fashion icon to rate your outfit might’ve been a wrong move. You shake your head.

“Nevermind. He’ll have to deal with however I am if he doesn’t want me to be late,” after glancing the last time into the mirror and receiving a smile from your reflection, you pick up your phone. “Well then. I shall get going.”

Vil is still, as if he hasn’t been blocking the exit or as if he wanted to keep you here. You would have loved for him to stop you here. It’s hard to stop the disappointment from flooding over your composure when Vil moves away.

“Alright. Your look is satisfactory so that Scarabia boy better be grateful for being able to go out with you,” he says something ambiguous again, and you feel bad for your date who will have to deal with such a lovesick fool as you. “Enjoy your date.”

The pang of pain pierces your heart. You smile slowly and leave the room.

The heartbreak better goes away as soon as possible, or you’ll go crazy if the thought of dating anyone else hurts that much.

‏‏‎ ‎

10. Look kissable.

“You’re late.”

Maybe you are, but you haven’t been expecting Vil waiting for you. He sits on a sofa, a book is in his hand and the tea that was served in front of him looks cold. You can guess he’s been sitting here for a while.

“How did it go?”

“It went well, I think,” you say. The date went well. Yet, you couldn’t have enjoyed it. The throbbing pain in your heart strained each of your smiles, and it surged when the Scarabian student started to be flirty. You felt as if you were cheating. “He is a kind guy. He has some hobbies and is quite charismatic, so… He’s alright.”

Vil hums. “Will you settle on ‘alright’?”

You stare at him wide-eyed, but he doesn’t look bothered at all. He didn’t lift his gaze from his book, and his tone was nonchalant, so he almost seemed not interested. He was. He is because Vil never asks the question to whose answers he doesn’t want to hear.

“Pardon?”

He spares you a glance.

“I thought your resolution was stronger. What happened to the person who confessed to me and was so willing to determine their worth to me?”

“Are you jealous?”

“I am furious,” he lifts from the sofa, the book forgotten. The air around suddenly grows warmer, and the shiver you didn’t mind that much runs down your spine. Vil’s strides are slower than usual, creating an imposing image of himself before he stands just before you. “If you want to set the bar so low, go on. But let me give you a taste of ambition.”

He twists his head so his eyes meet directly yours. He doesn’t touch you — not yet — but you can feel a warm breath on your cheek, and the scent of his light perfume envelops you. You have the urge to move away and cling to him at the same time. They balance, and you stay still.

A taste…

Vil puts a hand on your cheek. The gesture is much softer and more benevolent than when he was putting makeup on you. His eyes lock with yours, your heart stops, and then they drop to your lips. He moves a thumb over them.

And he kisses you.

In your dreams, you had him kiss your hand, the top of your head. The corner of your mouth. In your boldest wishes, you wanted him to kiss you like that, so lovingly, with so much care. It makes you want to push away for more air, but it makes you worry Vil will disappear if you break the kiss, as all the dreams shatter upon the morning.

He moves away, not breathless, yet not unaffected either. His cheeks burn slowly into a red shade, and his eyes look somehow glassy. “I told you, I will give you just a taste.”

How disappointing.

Before you can say something, he pushes a letter between your fingers. Its envelope matches the one you gave him several months ago. “Read it. I want an answer by midnight.”

The big clock on the wall shows you have over three hours. So much time, and you already know the answer. “You will wait this long?”

“I am giving you a chance and hope,” he says with a subtle smile. The blush on his face makes him more beautiful than you’ve ever seen him. “It’s my duty of your idol to do so.”

#twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #vil #vil schoenheit #twst vil #vil x reader #vil schoenheit x reader #twst vil x reader #twst vil schoenheit #twst vil schoenheit x reader #Dear Anon I hope you enjoyed this!

[loveliestlovelygirl]

tangle of strings

pianoteacher!anakin x student!reader

synopsis: mr. skywalker has been your piano instructor since you were fourteen years old. from the moment you met, you knew he was the one. he never expressed his feelings for you vocally, despite all the time you spent together. but after you turn eighteen and prepare to leave for college, he changes his tune.

w.c: 6.9k

warnings!! {minors dni}, dark content, grooming heavily featured, sexual content occurs after the reader is 18, p in v, fingering, oral, fem!reader, gentle dom!anakin, sub!reader, "loss" of virginity, jealousy, religious themes

the content you consume is your responsibility ♡

The piano is the only thing Mr. Skywalker told you that he loved.

He was never spotted with a girl or anyone for that matter in a romantic sense. He was always single, which never made sense to anyone in your small town because he is handsome. He’s always been handsome. His yearbook pictures from high school proved it.

When you would go over to his house for piano lessons, he would show you many things from his life, like his award cabinet, filled with every trophy and certificate he’s won from piano competitions or his yearbook photos. Those photos were one of the first things he showed you. It was one of your first memories of just you and him.

Mr. Skywalker takes a big stack of books off the shelf in his library all at once. Using his strength to balance the dusty books on his arms, he brings them to the reading table where you sit. He takes off the top one and opens it up before you.

Eventually, you find his picture. You cover your mouth as you giggle. He had thick glasses making him look like a nerd. But he was cute. So, undeniably cute to you. You wish he could be the same age. You would want to be his friend. You would want to kiss him.

If you were the same age, he could be yours.

“I wasn’t always like this,” he muses, his large body looming behind you as he looks over your head to gaze at the picture. “I used to be the kid everyone picked on. When I’d get home, I would write a song about how I was feeling. Some of those songs inspired the ones I play at my shows.”

When he talks, you gush. His warm voice is safe. He’s the kind of person you could tell all your secrets to.

And you did tell him everything you couldn’t tell your parents. You’d tell him your deepest secrets. Like the boys you crushed on. Or your new feelings of lust towards them that caught you off-guard as a teen. He understood you like no one else in the whole world. He was the first to know about your first kiss when you were sixteen. And he seemed… jealous when you told him.

“I don’t know how it happened,” you say. “One moment, we were talking and laughing. And the next thing I know, Drew is pushing me down on the bed to kiss me!” you squeal. “But don’t tell my parents. They’ll think I’m a whore.”

Mr. Skywalker pats your shoulder. “Don’t worry. I always keep your secrets. Drew is the boy in your history class, correct?”

You nod, amazed that he would remember. The last time you spoke of Drew had been several months ago. But he always pays attention to even the smallest details. That’s how you know he cares.

“I don’t know if he’s good for you,” he mutters, noticeably bitter about something. “Does he really know you? I think… he doesn’t. He’s probably just trying to use you.”

Mr. Skywalker is much older than you. And wiser. So you take his advice to heart. Maybe you shouldn’t see Drew tonight after all.

“How many times have you been kissed?” you ask him, your voice all innocent. Although your motives were anything but pure. While you might have just shared a kiss with Drew, there is one man who is truly the object of your greatest desires. You just haven’t found a way to tell him.

He shakes his head. “You know I’d rather talk about you.” That’s what he says when you pry too deeply into his private life, which only adds to your secret obsession

Anakin has always been the one thing that rivals your obsession with your instrument of choice. And it’s the only secret you kept from him all through high school because you knew he couldn’t possibly feel the same way about you.

Even if the small touches, the secret looks, and long hugs seemed to indicate otherwise. You were too afraid to ask him what it all meant. He never gave that kind of attention to anyone else.

And as an awkward teen, you were furious that you couldn’t express your love to him directly. You kept telling yourself that you would when you’re older. When you turned eighteen, you would confess to him.

Since you couldn’t tell anyone, even him, about this secret, you’d use the piano to share your soul, to put your feelings out into the atmosphere. When you play, no matter where you are, you feel him sitting on the bench beside you, watching over you. 

He taught you everything you know now. He’s the reason you chose to major in Piano Performance in college to the great horror of your parents. But what did they expect? They watched you sacrifice your youth for excellence in your craft. The nights were filled with pools of tears, cries, and screams as you played until you got the part, section, or note just right.

When your fingers rest on the ivory keys, you feel him and nothing else. He’s your muse in every song you write. 

The piece that won you a full scholarship to your dream university, you wrote it while thinking of Anakin. Your beloved piano teacher. Your closest friend. Your secret love.

He’d been in your life for so long, giving you lessons when you first showed an interest in music. How could you not love him?

He went to the same church that your family attended every Sunday. He played piano sometimes during worship service if the music minister was out on vacation or fell ill. Church was how your father met him, and they became good friends. He often came to your Sunday lunches.

Your mom always cooked fried catfish or fried chicken because that’s what your dad wanted. Mr. Skywalker, as you called him back in your high school years, would eat two plates of food. He’d say things like “I haven’t had a home cooked meal in years,” even if he was at your house just last week. You would laugh the loudest at his jokes. As you think about them now, you realize they weren’t funny, but you’re in love with him so it doesn’t matter.

After lunch, your parents would take care of the food and dishes, giving alone time with him. Like a young pup, you’d follow him outside on the back porch where you’d sit side by side on the creaky old swing.

“Do you cook or bake?” he asks you.

You haven’t the slightest idea of why he’d ask such a thing. You still lived with your parents. Your mom does most of the cooking. Your dad grills sometimes. “No. I get scared that I’ll burn myself.”

Suddenly, he reaches over for your left hand, the closest one to him, from your lap and holds it between his great palms. “Cold,” he whispers. He massages your fingers to revive them. “I wouldn’t want you to burn your hands. They’re so perfect… for playing.”

Anakin looks down at what he’s doing to you and his expression sours. At the time, you don’t know why. You wonder if you said or did something he doesn’t like because the mood changes instantly. He drops your hand and pats your thigh.

“You have piano hands, remember?” he reminds you. He smiles at you, and you feel secure again.

That’s exactly the thing that you always tell him. His hands spread out further than a whole octave, while you struggle to hit the two octave notes simultaneously without pulling a muscle. His fingers are long, and his palms are wide. You can’t compete with that.

You wonder what other things he’s good at with hands like those.

For the entirety of your high school existence, you pined and pined after him. He was always on your thoughts every minute of every day. You never grew sick of daydreaming about him. And on occasion that was reflected in your grades though you maintained a high GPA regardless. Every week was just your going through the motions of life mindlessly, only waiting for two short hours out of the week on Friday which was when you took lessons with him.

You lived solely for those two hours in which he gave you piano lessons free of charge. He said it was because you had such potential, but still to this day, you like to think he reciprocated some of your feelings even before he actually made a move on you.

For those two hours, you would sit right up against him on the leather cushion of the piano bench and play for him whatever pieces you were working on or things he assigned you from the previous week. He was never harsh with you even when you weren’t getting something.

You throw your hands on the keys, striking a dissonant chord that makes you both wince. Mr. Skywalker instantly pulls your hands away.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” he said with concern. “I promise you’ll get this. It just takes time. I know you practice too much as it is.”

“I want to be good! I want to be a star!” With that, you break down instantly and cry. He never minds when you cry in front of him.

“One day, you will be. I believe in you,” he soothes you, rubbing your back and kissing the top of your head as if you belong to him. He hugs you. “We can try again when you’re ready.”

“Okay,” you say, leaning against him to hear the echo of his heart. His heartbeat is sensual to you, even at sixteen. You can’t explain it. These stupid hormonal feelings you have for him are so wrong. But when you look up into his passionate eyes, you see the man you want to spend the rest of your life with. You have to marry him. You have to.

From the time you were five, you were afraid of thunder and lightning. Terrified by it actually. The fear is still with you today. But it was so much worse in middle school and high school. You started taking lessons from Anakin when you were fourteen years old. And you were still such a child then. You remembered the time it stormed so hard during your lesson that you had to spend the night at his house because it was too dangerous for your mother to come pick you up. But that also meant you couldn’t hide your abnormal fear of a thunderstorm from Anakin.

He had this giant plush rug under the piano. When you asked him about it, he said that it caught the sound. At the tail end of your lesson, the night you had to stay over, lightning struck close to his house and spooked you so much that you shrieked and slipped under the piano, curling up on that soft rug like a scared puppy.

Anakin was such a sweetheart because he followed you there.

“Hey,” he whispers, rubbing your back, “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

You cry into your arms, hiding your face. “I know! I know it’s stupid of me. I just—”

“It’s not stupid. We all have different fears.” After he says that, he lies on his back beside you. “But I won’t let the storm hurt you, okay. We can stay here all night.”

And that you did. You cowered under the grand piano in his parlor all night long. That was the first time you ever cuddled with a boy, only he was a man almost twice your age. But that didn’t bother you. And it seemed not to bother him. He let you hold onto him through the night and squeeze him a little harder when you heard thunder. It has been one of your most precious memories of your piano teacher.

You had always known Anakin could be a little jealous. Any time you would mention your school friends the air would get tense, as if he didn’t want you to have anyone else in your life but him. He never said that, but he didn’t have to. There was always rage somewhere beneath the still blueness of his eyes, but his rage was never directed towards you until you told him that Drew wanted you to be his girlfriend.

You were seventeen. And you were so excited to have your first boyfriend even if you weren’t in love with him. At least people might not tease you for still being a virgin because it wouldn’t be so obvious. Anakin never did make fun of you for your innocence. He always said that it’s okay to wait until you’re ready or for the right person.

Immediately after you share the news of your official relationship with Drew, he freezes and closes the lid to the piano keys.

His jaw is tight. His voice is tense. “Maybe... we should be done for today.” He doesn’t even acknowledge what you said, as if he’s afraid to.

But you have no one else to celebrate with. Drew is a secret you keep from them because he’s not involved in church. “Did you hear me?” you press.

He grinds his teeth hard, and you hear bone against bone. Anakin nods. “I did.”

You nudge his arm. “Well?”

“Well what?” he snaps bitterly. He turns slightly to glare at you. “You know how I feel ab—about him.”

You roll your eyes. Anakin is a dramatic guy sometimes. “Drew isn’t that bad. He can be sweet. And he’s going to take me to prom!”

Anakin rises off the piano bench and pats down his black slacks. “So, you don’t care what I think then?” He’s staring down upon you with overwhelming disapproval. The muscles of his arms bulge when he crosses them over his chest.

Palms against the leather cushion, you hold yourself up. You notice yourself trembling when you realize that he’s not teasing you. He’s very upset... with you. Why would he be—does this mean—does he feel something after all?

“Of course, I do, Mr. Skywalker.”

“I told you not to get close with him!” he shouts. You’ve never heard him raise his voice at  you. “He has bad intentions. He’s just a dumb kid. What does he know about loving you?”

You start to sob. “I’m sorry. I thought you might be... happy for me?”

He scoffs. And it sounds like you disgust him right now. “I don’t want to hear about him ever again. I don’t want to know anything about your little boyfriend. Do. You. Understand?”

Having him speak to you that way made you feel like a little girl. And you hated that feeling more than anything else. You knew that you were innocent, and you hated yourself for it because it made you feel inadequate to love the man you really wanted.

But now you’d do anything to have that innocence again. You didn’t realize at the time how free you once were. Growing up was harder than you thought it would be. It almost broke you.

You were lucky to have someone like Anakin to build you back up again, even if he was the one that tore you down that time.

After he yelled at you, you rushed out of his home as quickly as you could. The silence lasted a day. And then he drove to your house and knocked on your door. He held in his hands a bouquet of white roses and on his lips was the apology you were waiting for. 

Nothing changed between you after that. Until your next birthday came around.

Up to your eighteenth birthday, your interactions were mostly harmless. But when you turned eighteen, an official adult, the tension between you had changed. The energies you both entertained shifted and became... dare you say... sexual to a degree. Anakin seemed to treat you a little differently now that you were fair game.

To celebrate your eighteenth birthday, he was there. In fact, he was the only one you insisted that mother invite. Not Drew or any of your school friends. Just Anakin. And he had to be there because he really was your one true friend. You couldn’t imagine celebrating your birthday without him. He was always a guest at your birthday parties, but he gave you a special gift this year, one so unforgettable that sometimes you hear it clear as day.

Anakin wrote you a piano solo. One that was simple, sweet, and addicting. You told him to play it again and again. After cake and presents, you made him teach you how to play it. You were very proficient now, and often could play things just by hearing them once. But the chords he chose for your song were unique and shouldn’t have meshed so well together. But they did. Just like you and him. Unlikely friends. Star-crossed lovers in your head.

The two of you stayed at the piano all evening, messing around with the song. By the end, you both had figured out how to layer the notes and chords in an even more perfect duet. Playing piano with him was almost the best birthday gift in the world to you. But it was not what you wished for.

You wished for a kiss.

But that would mean you’d have to tell him how you felt. And you were terrified. As an adult, now you could. It was more empowering than you thought it could be.

But you never did find a chance to tell me on your birthday. You were too afraid to ruin your night with a love confession. You know he would do the right thing and reject you, but that didn’t stop you from dreaming for the impossible.

When you walked him outside to his car—you insisted—your secret birthday wish came true. Not in the way you expected. But a kiss did happen. Your piano teacher kissed you on the cheek. Your face burned the whole night through. You couldn’t sleep because you wanted to know what it meant. He had never used his lips to touch any part of you before.

Physical contact had always been an important part of your bond with Anakin since the beginning. There were always the hugs that lasted just a little too long. And he seemed to always find an excuse to hold your hand. But he was your piano teacher, and the hand-to-hand contact always felt necessary and never strange.

But following your very special birthday, you found him staring at you a little longer, a little more deeply, and he seemed to always find an excuse to touch you, not in a sexual way but in a way that led you to believe the attraction wasn’t one sided.

He’d tuck your hair behind your ears, brush the side of your arm, and sit impossibly close to you that you swore you could almost hear his heartbeat. Anakin had never been hesitant to touch you before, but if there were any boundaries before, they were forgotten by him. And you enjoyed it. His new attention made you feel special and wanted. And that was all you ever wanted.

You began to touch him too. And seek physical attention from him. You would nuzzle his arm. Slip your fingers between his. Tap your shoes against his. He’d always notice, and he always hugged you or kissed your cheek in response.

You two were getting closer than ever before. Sometimes... you would barely touch the keys, getting lost in conversation. At this point, Drew and any other boy you were interested in before might as well have been dead. There was only room in your heart for Anakin.

And you had discovered a way to tell him without using your fragile words.

You sit on the bench waiting for him to get off the phone with his mother. She called him shortly after he let you in. About ten minutes later, he comes back.

“Sorry. I was worried she was in trouble,” he says, taking his spot beside you. “Now, where were we last week?”

“We... didn’t really go over anything.”

He bites into his full lower lip with a mischievous look in his eyes. “What are you paying me for then?”

You laugh because you’ve never once paid him for his time. You nudge his thigh with yours. “Honestly, I don’t really think there’s much more you could teach me.”

He raises a brow. “Oh really?”

You nod. “Actually, I’ve been writing something for you.”

His jaw lowers, and his mouth hangs open slightly. “How long have you kept this secret?”

“Since my birthday.”

He slips his arm around your back and rests his hand on your hip. “I’m impressed. Show me?”

You gulp heavily. That had been the plan today. It is ready for him. He’d never judge you even if it were bad. But you know that it’s not. You know that he’ll know what this piece means. He knows you too well. He’s too perceptive of everything. You wrote it in his favorite key, C minor.

With your hands a little shaky, your fingers glide softly across the piano and press down powerfully in chords. Through music, you profess your love. Anakin sits beside you and waits for you to finish. When you do, he’s waiting, staring with tears thickening his dark eyelashes. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t say anything, but you know... he knows how you feel.

You tug on his shirt, drawing him closer. A war of heart and mind reflects on his face. He’s doubting what he wants. His resistance is half-hearted. It isn’t long before he scoops you up in his arms and kisses you. This time his mouth is on your lips, wetting them, and tugging them apart to fill you with his tongue.

Drew was never this good. His mouth was sloppy and tight. Anakin kisses like he’s done this a thousand times before. And he kisses like he wants you. Like he’s wanted you for such a long time, despite how wrong you both know that is.

He holds you down in his lap, and you hug him tightly, carding your fingers through his dreamy hair. You start to feel lightheaded because you haven’t been able to breathe, but you don’t want to stop him. If you stop him, he might think and realize that he doesn’t want you anymore.

But you’re dying. Turning blue. You tap his shoulder. And he stops devouring you. His lips sparkle when he smiles. “Too much for you, baby?”

You sharply inhale, finally catching your breath. You shake your head. You want more. You need it. More isn’t even enough.

You spend the whole lesson entangled with one another until your mother comes to pick you up.

For the next month, that’s all you did. Kiss and kiss and kiss. Breathe and breathe and breathe. And kiss some more. You wondered why he was waiting to take you to his bed. You wanted that with him, but he never asked you to go that far. He seemed afraid. Even when his affection was overflowing in passion as you always knew it would be, it was clear that he was holding himself back. Did he need you to tell him what to do?

Your make out sessions extended beyond just your lesson time. Whenever he would come over to your house, he would go upstairs with you to your bedroom, and you’d end up tangled in the sheets. Though with every item of clothing on. Your parents never suspected anything was happening to their young, virtuous daughter. They trusted him completely. And so did you. You would have done anything he asked of you no matter the risks.

Even at church, he’d find a way to get you alone. In the girl’s bathroom. During the preacher’s sermon.

Anakin lifts you onto the sink and spreads your legs out so that he can fit between them and get close to you. Thumb under your chin, he tilts your face up to his. He grins before going in for a kiss.

Your lavender baby doll dress rides up your thighs as he inches closer. He presses up against the crotch of your panties. The dampness is cold against your tender flesh. His erection only grows as the friction between you builds, your bodies rubbing against each other in a clothed attempt to satisfy yourselves sexually.

And now you’re glad you waited and didn’t mess around with Drew like he wanted when you were together. Because that means Anakin could be your very first.

He freezes up when you try to unbuckle his big belt. Anakin looks at you strangely, almost disturbed by your actions.

You lean to his ear and whisper, “I. Want. It.” You had thought your seductive voice would be enough to cast him off the edge of all hesitation, that he’d bend to your will and give you what you want.

But all you did was kill the fire.

Head shaking, he backs away. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

And you didn’t see him for nearly a month after that. But you don’t regret what you said. You were tired of just endless make out sessions. It seemed so immature, and you knew you were ready for something real.

All of those memories, those beautiful capsules of your favorite times with Anakin, are the reason you find yourself on his doorstep, a quarter till midnight in the pouring rain.

Complete desperation.

You took your moms car without permission just to drive over despite the threat of a storm. And you’re still deathly afraid of them. But you came anyway. Because tomorrow, you’re leaving for college. You might not get another chance to fix things. Death would be better than living another moment without him.

“You haven’t been answering my texts or my calls, Anakin.”

The door is barely cracked open, just enough that you can see his pale face. Dark circles surround his rainy eyes.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he mutters, not even making eye contact.

Thunder echoes behind you. The wind blows your hair around. Leaves rustle, filling the silence between you both. It’s going to storm soon. You had been stupid enough to drive to his house just before a storm. But you couldn’t take not knowing what had happened to him and why he was dodging your calls.

The eyes that used to linger a little too long won’t acknowledge you even as you stand in front of him.

“Why are you being like this? This isn’t you!” you nearly scream. You’re so afraid that he’s not only pushing you away but also ejecting you from his life completely, as if the memories you share can be erased. He’s engrained in almost every memory you have.

“It can’t happen. Go away.”

He tries to close the door on you, but you stick the toe of your right shoe in the crack before it shuts.

“Please… please don’t do this.”

Anakin’s eyes are bloodshot as if he’s been crying. “What I want isn’t right. I can’t do it. I don’t know if I could live with myself after.”

Does he really hate me so much? Is that the truth? Perhaps it’s your naivety, but you won’t let him go so easily. You have suffered in silence for nearly a decade, pining after him, waiting for him to reciprocate the depth of your feelings. Your hands shake as you reach out to him. If he would just… hold your hand like he used to, then maybe everything would be alright.

Your fingertips brush against each other. You feel the spark instantly, and it travels down your spine, leaving you wanting to touch him more.

“What about what I want?”

Anakin blinks several times before he speaks. It’s as if he didn’t consider your feelings in this decision. “You’re… not in a position to see things clearly. You’re—”

“Don’t say it!” you exclaim, squeezing your fists. “I’m not a child. I’m all grown up. And you know it. You see it.”

Anakin sighs a long time, his eyes scanning down your body. “Of course, I see it. But that doesn’t make it okay.”

Though you can never overpower him, you still try to force the door open. “Just let me in. We can talk. Just let me talk to you.”

Anakin’s frown is firm, and his stillness enforces that he’s not backing down. “I don’t know. If I let you in… if you cry… I’ll want to hold you. Then things might happen. I don’t know if I can control myself around you.”

Hugging yourself, you gaze upwards, into eyes that finally meet yours. His eyes reveal his mourning, his grief, his lust. It’s the latter that sends shivers through your body. The knowing that he wants you is more than you can take.

“I don’t want you to.”

There.

You said it.

You have told him exactly what you want. And if you hadn’t made it painfully obvious before, he knows now that you’re no longer thinking like a little girl.

Following a sigh of defeat, he backs away from the door, and you move in.

All the lights are off in his home. He must have been sitting in the dark like a vampire. The piano lid is open. He never left it open unless he was actively playing.

Anakin strides across the room to seat himself on the piano bench. He taps the spot next to him. “You’re right.... We should talk. Talk. Nothing more.”

Sitting beside him here feels like the most natural thing in the world. Here, you’re not afraid to speak from the heart. He’d never judge you even if he disagrees. But you’re not so sure he disagrees this time.

He wants you too.

“I couldn’t let you go back. I can’t believe you drove in the rain.”

You shrug. “It’s just rain. The storm hasn’t—”

The windows flash like they would in a horror flick, and thunder comes after. With a whimper, you grab onto his arm.

“I can drive you back home once we talk,” he says emotionlessly, gently pulling you off him.

But you double down and grab his arm, tugging him back again. “Don’t push me away.”

He doesn’t do it again. He stills. And sighs. “That’s the last thing that I want to do.”

With your chin resting on his sleeve, you look up at him, wide-eyed. “Just kiss me like you always do. And don’t think about it.” You stretch your arm out and fiddle with the top button of his dress shirt. “I’m not thinking.”

His chest rises and falls with his breaths. He doesn’t stop you as you unbutton his shirt.

When you rise on your knees, you’re at eye level. He’s so much bigger than you even now. He makes you feel so small. Holding onto his arm, you lean close and peck his clean-shaven cheek. He winces as if you pricked him with a needle.

“Angel, I shouldn’t.”

You kiss him again, closer to his lips, almost tasting him. “It’s me. Don’t you want me?”

Finally, he turns and looks in your eyes. Then at your mouth. “Don’t tell anyone. You... understand how this might look. What they might say about—”

“I’m good at keeping secrets,” you whisper. “What’s one more?”

You finish unbuttoning his shirt for him. Taking care of him feels good. You run your fingertips down his chest and his abdomen. His bare skin. It’s soft and warm. Suddenly, he grabs your wrist.

“Cold hands,” he murmurs. He takes your hands between them. He rubs his hands over your fast to warm them with friction.

“Sorry.”

Still rubbing your hands, he stands and leads you to the back of his grand piano near the flashing window.

Any other time, you would be trembling in fear because of the loud storm, but tonight you’re trembling because of the new feelings bubbling inside you. You’ve never been so aroused before.

“Can I hold you?” he says as pulls you into his embrace.

You can hear his steady heartbeat and feel it pumping right against your sensitive ear. Your piano teacher holds you against him and tangles his talented fingers in your hair. He sniffs your neck before taking a bite. His teeth pinch your flesh, and his tongue soothes you. The pain he leaves in several spots along your neck means that he’s marked you as his.

Your own heart is racing at lightning speed. You can’t think. In his arms, you’re helpless to his whims. You need him to tell you what to do. All you want is to please him.

“I’ll do anything,” you whisper to him so weakly you question if he hears you.

Anakin slowly unzips the back of your dress. “Consider this a teaching moment.” His voice doesn’t sound like it usually does. The undertones are sultry and possessive. “I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to—” He stops to pull down your dress, and his eyes wander over your pretty body. You wore transparent lace underwear and a matching bralette. He can see everything you hide from the rest of the world.

And he tells you, “You’re perfection.”

That makes you want to kiss him so badly. You try to lift yourself to reach his lips, but he’s too tall.

“Be patient,” he chides. “I want you to lay down first.” He guides you under the piano.

You lie down on your back atop the giant rug. Instantly, relaxation takes over as you remember all the times you used to lie here with him, hiding from the storm. Never did you think this would be the place where you’d give yourself to him. This must be meant to be.

He follows you after fully undressing. His body is every inch a man’s.  His size makes you feel so small. He runs the risk of crushing you with his weight.

Lying on his side, he looks down at you, watching his own fingers running under the elastic of your lacy panties. “Take these off and spread your legs.” He whispers kisses to your cheek. “You can do that for me, can’t you?”

Nodding, you do as you’re told and wiggle out of your underwear. He snatches them from you and crunches them in his hands before throwing them over his shoulder. You proceed with fanning your legs open. The air is frigid as it touches you.

Anakin is looking where no one else has. “I’m so proud of you for waiting. Saving yourself just for me.”

You gasp as he kisses you between your legs. He kisses you there for a long time. It feels strange and wonderful. The feeling building inside you makes you moan and your toes curl. You feel so good your body aches. You hear your own heartbeat. You breathe but can’t find relief. Nothing soothes the need inside you but his mouth, his lips, his tongue. And before long you hit the breaking point, pleasure storming through your body from your place beneath him. Your cries are dampened by the thunderous sounds outside, but he hears you. He stops to look at your face. Making eye contact with him heightens the vulnerability of the situation. The intense way he looks at you burns. He notices every little change in your expression.

Anakin knows he made you feel good, but he still asks, “Did you like that?” He brushes the wild strands of hair away from your face. You know you’re precious to him. He sweetly kisses your forehead. “I like your taste.”

Your cheeks are seared by that comment. You cover your eyes, not wanting to let him see how he’s affecting you. “I did like it.”

“Do you want to do more?” He kisses your lips this time, and you taste yourself. “I don’t want to push you if you’re not ready.”

“I am ready!” you lift your head up and cup his cheek. “Don’t make me wait longer. I’m leaving tomorrow.” You bite your lip, knowing how dangerous what you’re about to say is because of who you’re saying it to. “Do you really want some college guy to be the one who gets me first?”

As if trying to reject the image you gave his mind, he closes his eyes and tightens his jaw. “No,” is his short answer. From the way his lips are pressed together, you know he wants to say more, but he’s saving you from his own selfish anger.

“Me either.” You rub his cheek with your thumb. “Anakin,” it feels right to call him by his first name instead of Mr. Skywalker, “I’ve waited for you. I always knew this would happen.”

He chuckles lightly. “I never gave you permission to use my name. Don’t forget—” he grunts as he slides two of his fingers between your slick folds and pushes them inside, “your manners, young one.”

These same fingers were the ones that rested atop yours when you were first learning to play piano. They pointed to the right key when you played the wrong note. They pointed to the sheet music to guide you along for all these years. They held your hands when they were cold.

And now he’s using them to teach you something new. But he’s just as skilled at fingering you as he is with music. You’re like his new instrument. He’s plucking all the right strings in just the right way to make you cry out for him. With your body pliant, he controls when you come. He doesn’t make you wait for it. He uses his thumb too and nudges until you come. It’s wetter than the last. And he instructs you to lick his fingers off when he’s done.

“Do you want to keep going?” he asks again. “Don’t hate me for asking.” He hangs his head a little.

What he doesn’t understand is how insatiable he’s caused you to be. There were so many times you thought you might explode from how desperately you wanted him. But now it’s okay if that does happen.

“Keep going. Please,” you beg. You’re not ready to stop. You’ve waited for this moment since you were fourteen years old. If it were up to you, you’d live here forever.

“If that’s what you really want,” Anakin moves from lying at your side to settling himself between your legs.

“It is,” you reassure him. Holding onto his neck, you pull yourself up a bit. “Can you kiss me too?”

He grins before pushing you down, his large hand spread out over your soft stomach, and he chases your lips as you fall. You’re partially distracted by his mouth as his cock slides inside you. You had expected it to be more of a challenge, all things considered. Throughout high school, your friends always complained about how much it hurt their first time. Some girls bled too. And that had scared you, which is one of the reasons you never took Drew up on his many offers of a “good time.” Deep down you knew he wouldn’t treat you right. But Anakin clearly is experienced with having sex. Maybe he wasn’t as alone as you thought he had been all those years.

This being your very first time, it does sting when he fills you completely, his bony hips pressed against yours. You feel the tightness and the stretch. But you enjoy how it feels. You’re so close to passing out just because this is as close as you can get to someone.

Anakin rocks in and out slowly. Maybe he can feel that you’re tired. He’s being gentle with you despite how much he wants to rail your cunt to shreds. You can tell when he’s holding himself back. He has that weary, pained look in his rainy eyes. A part of you wants to tell him that it’s okay. Let go. But you both know that you couldn’t handle the full extent of his lust.

“Can I come inside you?” he asks before sinking his teeth into a bruise along your neck.

Short of breath, you answer, “I said... anything.”

“Okay,” his shaky voice whispers. He buries his face into the curve of your neck and moans your name into your skin. He pulls your hair gently as he finishes, his heat spreading through your core. It’s so much that you feel it leaking out.

After, he holds you there all night long. He doesn’t let you leave. And you wouldn’t want to escape.

The three words he says to you as you leave his house the morning after, you realize that he’s lied to you all the years you’ve known him.

The piano isn’t his only love or his only obsession.

It’s an outlet, and yet a mask for his sin nature which you understand more deeply than any other girl ever will.

He’s kept his real obsession hidden from everyone but you.

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[1d1195]

My Friend's Toyota II

Read Part I here: My Friend's Toyota

~7.9k words

Warnings: a bit more angsty this time around.

She nodded feeling a little worried about the conversation she was waffling on thinking about it more. The kind of girls that flirted with Harry didn’t look like her. They were loud and boisterous. Fun and exciting. They probably didn’t get enjoyment out of perfectly stacking the dishwasher or the smell of laundry on Sundays while watching TV.

Told me that she’s never been in love before / Darling, I can treat you right, take you to the shore / Every time you cross my mind, I just want you more / Sitting in the grass looking at the tower / Thinking ‘bout her eyes every single hour / She’s my wildflower

She brought water and pain pills into Allie’s room and plopped on the bed beside her. “Good morning, sunshine!” She chirped.

“I hate you,” she hissed from beneath the blanket.

Giggling, she laid beside her hungover form and smiled at the ceiling. It felt like her organs were made of liquid. They were all warm. Like her heart had sent too much blood to each of them. Her face felt warm. He wasn’t even around and just the mere thought of Harry had her feeling downright giggly. It had never felt like this before about a guy. Not when she pined over the guy in her high school biology class. In her sixteen-year-old rom-com ridden mind, that guy was the love of her life. They were going to live happily ever after. One day he was going to notice her, not just as his lab partner but as someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. It was foolish to think. Not the guy she dated briefly when she was seventeen. But she tried not to think about him too much.

Sixteen and seventeen was so young. Twenty-one was still young but she felt more confident about Harry making the giddy feeling flood over her as she laid beside a headache-ridden Allie.

“Did you sleep in Niall’s bed?” Allie asked.

Her cheeks flushed hotly. She shook her head, glad that Allie was hiding beneath the covers. “No, of course not.”

“I don’t think anyone would blame you. That wouldn’t even be the worst place Harry’s taken a girl to bed,” Allie murmured. Allie’s hungover, she reminded herself. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Speaking before she had time to process what she was saying. Worrying about something she had no control over.

She didn’t want to think too much about the rumors that swirled around Harry. After last night, if anyone saw her go into a bedroom with Harry, she was certain the rumors wouldn’t just be about him anymore. “I think I have to ask him about the rumors,” she whispered.

“Yeah? That’s good, honestly. It’ll probably make you feel better. You’re already on his side,” Allie was gentle. Even though her head was screaming, and she probably still didn’t trust Harry the way she did implicitly. But his previous relationships, they were none of her business. As long as he was kind to her, she had no reason to believe he would break her heart.

She nodded feeling a little worried about the conversation she was waffling on thinking about it more. The kind of girls that flirted with Harry didn’t look like her. They were loud and boisterous. Fun and exciting. They probably didn’t get enjoyment out of perfectly stacking the dishwasher or the smell of laundry on Sundays while watching TV.

“What’s on the docket for today?” Allie asked sitting up and taking the medicine and water from her.

“Nothing,” she shrugged. “I was going to work on my online class, do some chores.”

“Well, I need hangover food, so put it off. We’re going to breakfast,” she said getting out of bed and pulling her hair into a twist and out of her face. She giggled in response.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

*

She was right about the rumors. As Allie devoured her bacon-y potato cure, she could hear the next booth over talking in low whispers about how Harry brought another girl into Niall’s bedroom. “They were in there for two hours.”

“Lucky girl.”

“Lucky Harry,” a guy muttered to them. “Did you see her? She’s hot.” She was glad the booth wall that separated them was high enough to keep her hidden. Allie seemed to be too focused on her breakfast to notice the others chatting about her one table over.

“That’s a new record for him. He hooked up with like five girls over the summer.”

That was the kind of rumor that made her stomach churn. “She’s nerdy and so not Harry’s type. I have a class with her, and she sits in the front. I give it two weeks now.”

“So why does he keep hanging out with her?”

She pushed her plate of French toast aside and tried to tune them out. She looked at Allie, head resting on the table beside her plate of food. “It’s so good,” she moaned.

Laughing, she shook her head. “No one forced you to drink that much,” she reminded her.

Allie smiled. “No one needs to.”

*

She knew she was being quiet. “Y’okay, love?” Harry asked as they walked to math class. She nodded, still silent. Harry didn’t press her, which she was grateful for; it seemed hard to believe he was planning this long extravagant plan to impress her long enough to sleep with her or something. The rumors continued to swarm from the weekend. She wondered if Harry heard them or if people were smart enough to not to talk about him in front of him.

But all the rumors were about how she wasn’t good enough. How Harry was wasting his time. It felt true. She probably wasn’t like the other girls Harry dated. The October breeze chilled her cheeks and she nuzzled into the collar of her jacket briefly to avoid the breeze. “Do you have plans tonight?” Harry asked.

Nothing besides studying and homework. But she didn’t want to sound unbelievably lame. “No,” she cleared her throat.

“Would y’want t’hang out?” He asked.

“Hang out?” She repeated.

He smiled. “Yeah... we can order pizza and study. Or watch a movie. Jus’ hang out,” he repeated. Her heart fluttered at how sweet it sounded. How innocent. She really needed to tell him about her worries.

Be careful with your heart. Allie’s voice was loud in her head. She loved her best friend, but kind of wanted to shove her for getting into her head like that. She was blissfully unaware of Harry’s reputation until Allie brought it up. Now it was tainting her walk. Ruining the nice late-night chat she had with him in Niall’s bedroom. If she ever ran into Niall, she would have to remember to thank him. 

“Mitch works on Tuesdays and then stays at his girlfriend’s place so...I know y’don’t have class tomorrow. Y’could stay if y’want t’stay the night.”

Her heart felt uneasy, and she didn’t know how to answer without sounding like an idiot. “Um...”

“You don’t have to,” he said quickly. “Jus’ thought I’d offer. I’ll take y’home any time y’want,” he promised.

Biting her lip, they entered the Sawyer building, and she paused right by the door ignoring the passing groups of students hurrying to and from their next class.

They stood near the ancient radiator for a building that was built in the late 1800s. It was painted over in white, about two inches thick of the chipping color. She wondered how it hadn’t melted off when the air was so chilly. While she warmed herself, Harry said hello to a friend of his and she got the gist that he was asking about the soccer game later in the week.

For whatever reason, in her mind, now was the perfect time to ogle Harry. His black jeans (they were her favorite of his) hugged the muscles of his legs like they were nearly painted on. She never cared about a guy’s legs before until she met Harry. His hair was coiffed to perfection in those lovely chocolate curls that made her want to run her hand through them herself. His jacket was lighter than hers; of course it was. It was probably a normal temperature to him and not frigid the way she thought it was. He looked so cozy she wanted to hug him. Other than gentle touches to the arm or hand, they hadn’t touched one another all that much. The ache she felt in her muscles to reach out and hug him was so strong she had to silently berate herself that she would look like a lunatic hugging in the middle of the building between college classes.

Eventually, she pulled herself from her thoughts. She found Harry smiling at her so sweetly while she thought about everything rapid fire while waiting for an answer. His friend was gone and she wondered how long she had been caught staring and nearly drooling over him while she warmed by the antiquated heating system.

“I would love to hang out, I’m not sure about staying over,” she admitted. “I have work in the morning.”

“S’fine,” he answered eagerly. “I’ll take any time I can have with you, love,” he looked at his feet and then up again, shyly through his eyelashes. Standing by the radiator was suddenly too hot. All he had to do was look at her. She would never need a heating system again.

*

“Do I look okay?” She asked Allie. She wasn’t trying to overdo it. She wanted to be prepared without looking insane. If she stayed over, she would have the T-shirt she needed for working at the local Starbucks. She could wear the jeans she had on currently, and no one would be the wiser. Her little bag of toiletries was shoved into the middle pocket of her backpack. The last step was to have Allie double check her outfit, hair, and makeup. That she wasn’t overdoing it for a Tuesday evening.

Allie paused from her painting wiping the back of her hand across her forehead to get the hair out of her vision. In doing so, she swiped teal paint across her skin. But it only made her look like the project herself. Her major was art, of course—she wanted to teach because it was one of the most passionate classes she took growing up.

Her teachers inspired her, and she wanted to do the same. Honestly, she already looked the part. Her outfits always consisted of bohemian skirts and the like. Her hair was a little frazzled but in an organized messy way. Allie added décor around the apartment that sparked a little flare to the selection of items she had purchased when they moved in. Her eye for color was impeccable and while she would probably have the same six prints hung on the wall, Allie was able to add something that didn’t quite fit their modern-twenty-something-year-old theme but nonetheless went perfectly. She was like a ballerina, utterly graceful. Like she floated from room to room and exuded beauty like it was her job.

Now, Allie looked her up and down. A black, long-sleeved T-shirt with the college name along the sleeve that she would wear to bed if she had to. She crammed a pair of leggings and socks alongside her bag of toiletries just in case as well. She wore a pair of Converse just in case she stayed the night and had to go to work right from Harry’s. “You look really pretty,” Allie promised with a smile. “Effortless beauty.”

She sighed with relief. “You’re sure. My hair isn’t too much?” She straightened it after a late afternoon shower. It would be easier to deal with if she did end up staying the night and didn’t shower.

“It’s very practical of you,” she assured her. “You’re not trying too hard, sweetie. I swear.”

“Okay,” she sighed again. “Is it weird I’m nervous?” She asked.

“Not at all. You really like him,” Allie reminded her. As if she could forget. “It’ll be fine though. You have nothing to worry about.”

Even though Allie was definitely her best friend, they hadn’t known each other long; there was still a long list of things she hadn’t told her yet. “I’ve...never spent the night with a guy,” she admitted.

Allie blinked. “Oh,” tilting her head curiously at her lovely friend. It seemed a little...not weird, but genuinely surprising. The girl was sweet as could be. They hadn’t delved too deeply into romantic histories, but it sounded like she had gone on enough dates back South to have stayed at a guy’s place before. “Well...it’s okay,” her tone was comforting.

Her face turned pink, and she looked at Allie as if she had all the answers. “What if I do it wrong?”

Allie smirked sadly. “Sweetie, you can’t do it wrong. Not if Harry likes you as much as he says he does. The way I saw how much he liked you. You were right,” she nodded her head firmly. “It’s different with you, trust me,” she wrapped her arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. She smiled brightly as she ushered her out the door before she could talk herself out of doing something she knew she wanted to do. “And if he does try something shady, you just text me and I will come cut his dick off.”

*

Harry said five and she knew it was a fifteen-minute walk to his dorm from her apartment. It seemed like everything was a fifteen-minute walk. She passed dozens of people hurrying to their late-night classes or to the nearest dining hall (it was breakfast for dinner night which was always a school favorite). The air was so brisk for her southern skin. She wished she wore a scarf. But she wasn’t too far away, and she was sure she could convince Harry to turn up the heat for a bit if needed.

The sun was lower in the sky. The blue wasn’t quite visible anymore. The clouds turned the light around the sun varying degrees of white, pink, purple, and orange. It was stunning and she took a picture on her phone for Allie in case she needed something to paint. She had already painted another photo she had taken earlier in the summer when they first met and told her anytime that she took a nice picture she would gladly paint it.

Harry told her to text her when she arrived, and he would run down to let her in. But due to students not caring about the safety protocols of the building, she made her way in easily when someone held the door behind them while exiting. Once inside she was grateful for the warmth and took a few moments to enjoy the heat and calm the nerves bubbling in her veins. Once she gained feeling back in her fingertips, she called Harry. “Hey love, are y’here? I’ll head down,” he said and she could hear the shuffle of items.

“M'actually in the lobby. If you want to tell me which floor, you’re on, I can make my way myself.”

“Oh, love. M’sorry. I hope y’didn’t wait long,” she could hear the frown in his voice. “Fourth floor. M’standing outside the elevator waiting.” she headed up to the fourth floor of the building via the elevator. She pressed the button and waited for it to descend.

“Not at all. Got right in behind someone exiting,” she promised.

“Oh good. Okay, see you in a minute.”

Taking a deep breath, she was grateful she was alone on the elevator. It was just hanging out. It wasn’t a date. There was no reason to be nervous. Harry was extremely nice to her. When the elevator door opened, her heart stopped seeing him waiting for her. “Wow, y’look beautiful,” he said in greeting looking her up and down but in a way that didn’t feel excessive. Her cheeks felt red at his assessment.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “Thanks for having me.”

“M’pleasure, love,” he tilted his head for her to follow him down the hall to his room. She could hear music coming from the other rooms and even below her. “S’not as loud inside,” he promised.

She smiled. “It’s fine.”

He tapped the number on the keypad and opened the door for her to enter before him. “S’a pretty standard suite,” he shrugged. “Mitch’s room is over there,” he pointed to the door on the right side of the room. “Help yourself to anything in the fridge or cabinets.”

“You have a balcony?” She asked, dropping her bag on the sofa in the sitting area and rushing to the slider to look at it. He smiled at her excitement. She could feel it on her back as she looked through the glass. Harry didn’t go out there much because it was pretty closed off. Each balcony was enclosed with concrete walls on each side and a sloping wooden awning over top that extended past the rail. It almost looked like a prison cell with bars extending from awning to railing from end to end. Worry that drunk college students would fall being the reason. “Can I go out there?” She asked.

He chuckled. “Course,” he reached in front of her, unlocking the handle and pulling it open.

She stepped on the little area and peered between the bars to look at the cotton candy sky. “You get to see the sunset like this every day?” She asked.

He smirked. “Yeah,” he shrugged. “When m’home, I suppose. M’usually working or out and about around sunset.”

“I would live out here,” she told him.

“S’a little cold for you, I think.”

She wrinkled her nose at him so cutely in mock distaste, the expression on Harry’s face changed minutely and he smiled a little more. “That’s what blankets are for. It’s so nice,” but an involuntary shiver ran down her body completely shaking her theory.

Harry tilted his head back toward the inside. “Let’s get y’back inside before y’freeze t’death.”

“If I was going to freeze to death, it would have been on the way here,” she told him. “I should have gloves,” she rubbed her hands together quickly in response. He was right, unfortunately. The chill on the balcony ruined the warmth she got back when she entered the lobby of his building.

“Let me get y’some tea. The pizza should be here soon, too,” he promised. “I thought y’might want t’study a bit before we watch a movie,” he admitted. “If y’don’t, we can start right on the movie.”

She shook her head. “No,” she was quite relieved. There were a few homework problems she needed to finish and dreaded the idea of staying up late tomorrow night after a long day at work but of course would gladly suffer such a thing if it meant an evening with Harry. “That would be great actually.”

“Great,” he smiled. “Make yourself at home. I’ll get the tea,” he turned to the little kitchen area.

*

After homework, pizza, and a movie, it was nearing ten. They sifted through their regular course of conversation throughout homework and pizza time but remained pretty silent during the movie. The tension she felt between them was thick. She wanted to snuggle up to him but instead wrapped herself snug under the blanket he gave her. The idea of walking back in the cold fifteen minutes away seemed like a terrible idea. Even if Harry went with her.

Her thoughts rolled over about a hundred times weighing her options. She wondered if she should excuse herself to the bathroom to get a pep talk from Allie but stopped herself when Harry’s laugh quietly jolted her from her thoughts. Harry had one socked foot on the coffee table, the other on the floor, one arm draped along the back of the sofa behind her, but not in a romantic sort of way. His other hand propped his head up. His foot on the table bounced back and forth lightly in an easy rhythm. He looked so at ease. Not worried about embarrassing himself in anyway.

Must have been nice. When the movie ended about twenty minutes later, she glanced at her watch as discreetly as she could. “D’you want me to walk you back?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Um... it’s pretty late... and cold. I wouldn’t want to put you out—”

“S’no trouble at all,” he promised.

Her face warmed feeling like now he wanted her to leave. “Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind. I hate to think you’d have to walk back in the cold. I did bring a change of clothes but if you need me to—”

“Oh, oh,” Harry shook his head. Dropping his foot from the coffee table to the floor and turning to her completely. His eyes looked a little wild and she was surprised he looked so at ease moments ago. “Of course. I want you t’stay, love,” he promised. “You must pack light,” he shook his head. “M’so sorry it sounded like I wanted you t’leave. I do not want that. I jus’ assumed y’didn’t bring anything t’make y’comfortable staying over,” his cheeks turned the lightest shade of pink. She could see it in the low light of the lamp he and Mitch brought instead of the fluorescent overhead light. She sighed a bit with relief. “I don’t want you t’leave at all,” he promised.

The air in her lungs felt lighter then. “Oh. Okay.”

“Really,” he inched just a hair closer to her. If she wasn’t so focused on him, she might not have noticed the minute shift in his body language moving toward her. “M’really happy you’re here,” he whispered, and she knew the moment he looked in her eyes he was going to kiss her.

He was moving closer, she wasn’t helping. Her heart was beating so hard, she was surprised he couldn’t hear it. Surprised it wasn’t louder than the thrum of the music playing from the suite below him. He kept looking at her lips. The way they parted slightly. She breathed through her nose as she waited for him to get closer.

“I’ve never slept in a guy’s bed,” she blurted. Blinking, Harry stopped his motion half an inch from her lips. She could feel his warm breath across her face. He pulled back, creating a bit of space between them. He waited patiently for follow up. Gazing at her a little bit nervously. She closed her eyes and bit her lip. She turned her face away from him. “I’m sorry. That totally ruined the moment.”

“No,” he put a hand carefully on her blanket covered knee. “Not at all, love. M’jus’ trying t’give y’some time,” he promised. “M’jus’ waiting.”

She scrunched her eyes shut tighter seeing her blood rush in imaginary shapes behind her closed lids. She still faced away from him. She wanted to blurt it out. But was so scared he would reject her. Then she would have to walk home alone in the cold and dark. “I’m sorry.”

“For what, love?” She imagined the cute little pinch of skin between his eyebrows. Like he got when he concentrated while studying.

She took a deep breath and released an exasperated sigh. Her face felt hot still and maybe a walk in the cold would help her forget this. When she started to speak, her voice shook ever so slightly, and she prayed Harry didn’t notice. “For ruining—”

He did, and it broke his heart before she could finish the sentence. “Love, will you please look at me?” He interrupted. Harry didn’t rush her. It was so slow. A whole hour could have passed in that minute it took her to turn back to him, her hair falling in front of her face still hiding her expression from him. “You didn’t ruin anything,” he promised. “M’honestly... glad y’told me; means you’re comfortable.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell him this was the least comfortable she had ever felt in his presence, but she knew what he meant. “I really want to kiss you,” she whispered.

He smiled sadly. That must be a good sign for him, she thought. Despite the pause. But Harry must have also sensed there was more. “...but?”

She was quiet, bit her lip, and covered her eyes with her hand. “I’ve never been in love before,” she told him, the shake of her voice unmistakable. That must have really surprised him because he was silent. She didn’t dare look. There was still more. “And I’ve never—”

“Love, stop,” he said quickly. She was wrong. He wanted her to leave. This was so embarrassing. There were tears stinging the back of her eyes, but she still didn’t look—couldn’t look. Gently, he pulled her hand from her face holding it in his lap. He cupped his face with his freehand. “I jus’ want t’kiss you,” he whispered rubbing his thumb so softly against her cheek. It felt like the equivalent of his whispered voice. “Nothing more,” he promised. “Can jus’ be one kiss, even,” he suggested. “Nothing else,” he repeated.

She looked at those brilliant green eyes for so long she swore another hour passed in that minute. The shake of her voice disappeared. The stinging behind her eyes stopped. Her heart felt achy, and she leaned the final empty inches between them and granted his wish.

*

It was not one kiss. One kiss turned into another and then another and then she wasn’t sure she could keep count even if she wanted to. Harry’s hand cupped the side of her face the entire time. His fingers sliding between her hair right behind her ear and tugging her close. It had to have been hours by the time Harry pulled away, resting his forehead against hers. His breathing heavy across her cheeks as he pressed a kiss on her cheek, then pulled away to kiss her forehead. He tucked her head beneath his chin and pulled her toward him. It was quiet, aside from the music below them and their slightly ragged breathing. “Thank you,” he whispered.

She giggled slightly shaking her head against his chest. She was clinging to his short shirt sleeves with both hands, like he was a life raft. Granted, he did make her feel like she was drowning with kisses only moments before. They were quiet for a while, just basking in the warmth of each other. Every so often, Harry kissed the top of her head. His hand moved up and down her spine soothingly.

“Are you tired?” He asked. She shook her head. “Are you alright, kitten?” He asked nervously.

She nodded. “I’m good,” she sighed. “Promise.”

He sighed with relief. “Good,” he murmured in her hair. “’Ve wanted t’do that since I met you,” he admitted.

She smiled against his throat. “Yeah?”

“Very much so,” he mumbled.

“Can I ask you something?” She asked pulling back from him. It seemed colder than the air outside being so far away from him. It was almost harmful to her health.

He nodded. “’Course.”

“Have you heard the rumors about me?” She wondered.

He blinked. “No,” he frowned. “M’sorry. What rumor—”

She blushed. “Um... just that I’m not your type. I’m nerdy. Not...gonna be around long,” she turned away briefly. “I don’t expect you to propose or anything just for kissing me, Harry. I’m not insane. But I’m looking for a relationship,” she sounded way stronger than she felt. Looked him square in the eye as she said the next part. “But I don’t want to date lots of guys for weeks and not have it go anywhere or do anything. I want to have someone to depend on when I feel stressed, someone to sit with me while I do homework, go out to eat with or watch movies and—”

He smiled and chuckled softly as she spoke. Her heart felt so fragile and exposed and his laughter momentarily made her feel ridiculous. But after just a few seconds of his low chuckle, eventually, he sighed with relief. “Kitten, I’ve been waiting a very long time for you,” he whispered, cupping her perfect, gorgeous face, and kissed her again.

*

“Is it everything you expected?” He whispered. She snorted in the dark and Harry chuckled. Her body was warm and pressed close to his, spooned against his chest. She smelled like the raspberry chapstick she put on right before they climbed into his bed. He squeezed her, kissed her temple. His heart nearly broke listening to her worry about sleeping in the same bed as him. He knew there was more. More she was embarrassed about she couldn’t get it out in one full sentence. None of that mattered to him. Not even a little. “Can we talk?” He asked. She nodded silently against him. “You’ve never been in love?” He wondered.

She shook her head. “I think I’ve made it... too big of a thing in my head,” she admitted. “Too many rom-coms, fairy tales, and books I read as a teenager,” she explained. “It’s silly,” she whispered.

“I don’t think it’s silly,” he kissed the back of her head. “S’really nice.”

“My parents met on this campus,” she explained. “They love each other like...” she shook her head, his lips basically rubbing against her forehead with her motion. “I’m a lucky girl to witness that kind of love. To have grown up around that love while I lived at home.”

“S’that why y’transferred here?”

She shrugged. “It worked for them.”

“Love, m’not trying t’pry or say s’weird. Or make y’uncomfortable in anyway. But... m’shocked y’haven’t been in love. You’re stunning,” he punctuated the thought with another kiss to the back of her head. “Sweet, intelligent, jus’ so lovely. S’a miracle for me y’don’t have a line of admirers.”

She turned around in his arms to face him. She was eye level with him. Their heads sharing a pillow on the extremely small twin mattress. Her nose bumped his and he smelled her raspberry chapstick even stronger. “When I was in high school,” she whispered. “I thought I was in love. I thought we were in love. He carried my backpack with my insanely heavy AP History textbook, he brought me coffee to school, and drove me home from soccer practice,” her voice was even. Not a hint of sadness yet Harry felt this rush of sadness all through him.

“Y’don’t have t’tell me, kitten.”

She glanced up at him, even though it was dark, the light thrown from the moon, made it bright enough that he could make out the whites of her eyes. “I want to,” she admitted. Her regular confidence seemed to be shaken during their almost kiss. The thought of making her uncomfortable, especially after feeling like she ruined their first kiss was his worst nightmare. But conviction seemed to resurface as she began her story. Harry wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand where he thought it was going, but if she wanted to share, he would listen to every word.

He nodded. “M’listening,” he promised.

“We were having our first study date at his place,” she continued. “It was for our English literature class. We had to create a PowerPoint about a book we read. Highlighting all the symbolism and allegory. The history and whatnot,” it wasn’t relevant as to what they were studying. It wasn’t the point. She was stalling. Harry knew it. But he let her continue. “He invited me over because his parents weren’t home. His siblings were out. It was just us.” Harry was terrified he knew where it was going and even though she was perfectly whole in front of him, he felt so much anger coursing through him he worried he might hold her too tight. He held his breath waiting for the shoe to drop. “I thought he would just want to make out or something,” she whispered. “I’m pretty certain I was in love with a guy in my biology class the year before, so I knew I didn’t love him so maybe it’s my own fault for going to his house. Knowing what a guy like him—”

“It’s not your fault,” Harry interrupted. His voice was flat. He didn’t want her to continue. But he had to know. Needed to know. Because very honestly, Harry was going to kill him for hurting her.

She swallowed loud enough for Harry to hear, and she took a deep breath. “I told him I didn’t want to have sex,” she whispered very softly. “He said I was a waste of his time. All this time he could have been with,” she shook her head. “Three, four other girls. Not wasting months on someone that didn’t want to sleep with him,” she pressed her forehead against the top of his chest. “I felt so stupid,” her voice was so thin it was hard for Harry to hear her. He cupped the back of her neck and kissed her forehead. He hoped it was encouraging. So she would keep talking if she wanted. “I thought he liked me. I thought that maybe I wouldn’t get that earth stopping love my parents had, but maybe I would find a guy and we would grow to love each other like that. I know in hindsight that’s stupid to think at seventeen, but it was the only thing that made sense at the time.” Harry remained silent. “I walked home,” she whispered. “My mom just knew. She asked me a thousand questions if he hurt me. I told her he didn’t, but I think part of her still believes that I lied to her—”

“Y’did, kitten. He did hurt you.”

“He didn’t—”

“Love he broke your heart and your trust. He hurt you,” he said simply. “He’s an ass. An idiot. He should be in jail just for breaking your heart,” he promised. It felt so unbelievable that she had never been in love. He wanted to know more about the guy from her biology class, but he couldn't believe that someone so perfect to him hadn't been in love. “S’no wonder y’mum kept asking. Y’mum knows he hurt you. Y’jus’ pretended he didn’t so y’could protect your heart, love,” he explained. She was silent for a minute. Harry could feel her foot impatiently shifting between the covers, near the bottom of his legs and he continued waiting while she processed this information. “Have y’ever told anyone ‘bout this?” He asked quietly.

She shook her head. “It wasn’t...a huge deal,” she shrugged.

He was silent for another long moment, trying to control his anger. If he had his address, Harry was certain he would do something drastic “M’sorry y’feel like y’have t’minimize your feelings. You shouldn’t do that. Please don’t do that around me,” he murmured.

“Harry,” she sighed and pressed her forehead against his. “Where did you come from?” She asked. “Guys in college don’t... You can’t possibly be real.”

He smirked sadly. “I told you, I’ve been waiting a really long time for you,” he kissed her forehead, her eyelids, the bridge of her nose, and her cheeks.

“Harry,” she said softly.

“Yes, kitten?” he was so happy to have her so close to him. None of his daydreams during their walks or math lectures compared at all.

“It’s not going to bother you if—”

“M’sorry t’interrupt, love. But, don’t bother finishing that question. M’gonna take care of your heart. That’s it,” he promised and gave her another gentle squeeze. “Go t’sleep,” he murmured.

For a while it was so quiet, it barely sounded like she was breathing. “Thank you,” her voice was so soft he hardly heard her. As he drifted off with surely the love his life in his arms, part of him thought she wasn’t speaking to him at all.

*

In the morning, her alarm went off pulling Harry from his dream state. Surely having her in his arms was still a dream, though. He yawned, stretching, and turning to her as she looked nervously. “Sorry, I didn’t know it would be that loud.”

He smiled. “S’okay. Can I make y’breakfast before you go?”

“Oh, no thank you. I’m good.”

“Jus’ lemme get dressed and I’ll drive you.”

“That’s unnecessary,” she promised.

He smiled and kissed her forehead. “S’too bad,” he shrugged, rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he returned, she passed him to get dressed in the bathroom and Harry quickly stripped himself of his pants so if she was finished in the bathroom shortly, he wouldn’t embarrass her by being naked from the waist down.

She did catch him with his shirt off, making her cheeks turn the lightest shade of red. Harry smirked tugging his shirt over his head. “Sorry,” she murmured and grabbed her bag to shove her clothes inside it. “Er...I was thinking, by the time I get out, it will be colder...and I don’t have the right coat to walk home. Could you drop me off at my car?” She asked.

Harry tilted his head at her. “I’ll jus’ pick y’up, kitten,” he could see her mulling this over in her head. There was a bit of worry in her eye. Fear of putting Harry out, he was sure. “Love,” he smiled sweetly. “M’picking y’up,” he promised. “More time t’spend with you.”

“You are...” she smiled shaking her head. “Something else, Harry Styles.”

*

Hey, kitten. Missing you. Hope you’re having a good day xx

Hi! I’m good. Busy with work and studying. Hope your day is good too!

It’s pretty good. Heading to the mechanic. Cars are the worst 😔 Work later. Wish I could see you 😭

At least there’s no class tomorrow

I’d rather have class just to see you xx

That’s really sweet 🥰 Maybe we should meet up during class time anyway?

You’re a genius, love 😘 absolutely. I’ll meet you after your class.

Sounds perfect!

*

Harry felt shameful. It was a bad week and Thursday was supposed to be a good day after all since they agreed to meet up despite not having class. Well... it was bad aside from math class and studying. Two things he never thought he would say out loud or even think in the privacy of his own thoughts. It was also good because she said yes to a date—a real date.

After their night together over a week ago and a busy schedule on both parts, this was supposed to be their first official date the coming Saturday. He had it all planned out. A fancy restaurant that he made a reservation for in the city. They would take the train in to save them the nightmare of parking. He asked her on Tuesday after class and he didn’t think he would ever forget her beautiful smile when she said yes. It felt like he won the lottery.

But Harry’s car had other plans. He took it in for a routine oil change the night before. During breakfast, he got the call. He needed new tires and new brakes. He knew about the brakes, but he thought he could wait until spring to get new tires—just get through the winter. The mechanic was insistent.

He felt awful as he walked with her on Thursday to study in the library. She was bubbly with excitement for the last week. About him. It was too good to be true. Of course, something had to go wrong. He felt terrible that he was going to have to cancel. “Hey, love?” He asked.

She was rambling about something. Harry wished he had tuned in more to know what and felt bad seeing her excitement waver. “Yeah?”

“Uh...” he sighed and gestured to the bench along the sidewalk. “I have t’ask y’to reschedule our date,” he looked so miserable. Her heart felt so sad seeing how upset he was.

“Oh,” she frowned. The excitement in her eyes was officially dead. Harry felt horrible. “Yeah... of course! Of course, we can. Is... are you okay?”

“I jus’ feel so awful,” he mumbled. “Asking t’reschedule.”

“Oh,” she felt her face wrinkle in confusion. She placed a hand on his bouncing knee trying to help the anxiety he felt. “That’s... that’s okay. Is everything alright? Like, is your family okay or is it a doctor’s appointment?”

Harry thought he was going to cry. “Uh... s’a little embarrassing,” he admitted rubbing his hand on the back of his head. He couldn’t look at her.

“More or less than me getting lost on my first day of class as a twenty-one-year-old?”

He smirked. “S’nothing,” he promised.

“I... I hate to ask this because it makes me sound so insecure... but is it something I did? Or did someone say something about me and now you don’t like me—”

“Jesus,” he shook his head and pulled her toward him quick. He kissed the top of her head, his arm draping around her shoulders. If there was any question of them being an item, Harry certainly squashed them all in front of everyone walking by. Being broke wasn’t as awful as listening to her feelings of inadequacy. “No, no,” he sighed heavily. “God, no, kitten. S’nothing you did. You’re... you’re perfect,” he gazed down to meet her gaze. “M’so embarrassed... I had a pretty expensive car repair t’take care of... so m’over m’budget for the month. I didn’t know at the time—”

“Oh,” she blinked and shook her head. “Oh... that’s okay. We don’t have to go to that restaurant,” she shrugged. “I mean... if you don’t want to go out, of course. But... I don’t need a fancy restaurant.”

His heart jumped to his throat. “Really?” He sighed with relief. “Kitten, I don’t want t’wait any longer t’take you on a proper date... would you want to have a picnic or something? I know that’s lame. S’not a proper date because y’deserve so much more but...m’not making sense, I know—m’jus’ really overwhelmed and—”

She put a gloved hand on the side of his face and smiled. Harry thought that he would see her eyes in every one of his dreams. In his head. Every time he closed his eyes. “I would love a proper picnic date,” Harry swore her smile was made of stardust. Or maybe snowflakes. “Will it be too cold though? We could have an indoor picnic.”

“I’ll make sure you’re warm,” he promised.

*

She picked Harry up and drove them to where he said. He filled her car with a whole bunch of supplies, food, and drinks. He told her to dress warm and she looked like she was ready to hike. Boots, warm thick socks, a big sweatshirt. She looked so cozy and warm. Once they got to the little place Harry had found when he first made it to college, he requested she wait in the car while he set everything up. “Don’t look, yeah?” He smiled.

She nodded and made herself busy looking at her phone. But after the third trip to the car, Harry could tell she felt bad. “Are you sure you don’t need help?”

“Stay put,” he insisted. After a few more minutes, Harry was at her car door. He was grinning like an idiot as he opened her door. “After you, kitten.”

There was a massive blanket laid on the grass. Along the edges there were little twinkling lights that he hoped made it feel like something out of a movie. Harry’s heart was thudding in his chest. A cooler with drinks and another with food was on one corner of the blanket. Finally, a tiny, portable space heater from camping with Mitch was directed at the blanket. She giggled. “Harry,” she sighed. “This is better than a fancy restaurant," he shook his head with a smirk.

“You’re still getting a fancy dinner, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

She bit her lip and laid across the blanket gazing up. “This place is so pretty,” she whispered. “Look how nice the sky looks.”

It was getting chillier by the minute with the sun getting lower in the sky. Harry hoped to stay an hour or two but with the slight breeze he worried she would freeze. But the way she laid across the blanket made her look like a goddess. She belonged to nature. He knelt on the blanket beside her and grabbed the food he had planned. She rolled onto her stomach and then to a half-kneeling, half-sitting position. Harry brought sandwiches delighted by her request that her favorite sandwich was peanut butter and strawberry jam. They ate quietly for a bit and Harry poured cans of the sparkling wines he had in his fridge (he thought they might be Sarah’s, but he wanted something classier than beer or seltzers for their first real date).

The sky was pink and purple again after they finished their sandwiches and two glasses of sparkling wine. Harry baked cookies before she came to get him. They nibbled on those while chatting but mostly he just enjoyed her company and how happy she was to just be there with him. It seemed like she really didn’t need a fancy restaurant—even if he thought she deserved it more than all the rest.

When they finished snacking, Harry put the coolers back in the car and laid beside her gazing up at the sky. He pulled the corner of the huge blanket up over her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I could lay here forever,” he murmured.

“Me too,” she nuzzled herself closer to his warm jacket. He kissed the top of her head.

“M’sorry this is the lamest first date,” he grumbled still feeling the bits of inadequacy of what he wanted to give her because she deserved the best and not a single thing less.

“No way,” she shook her head. “This is so nice, Harry. I’m warm and cozy. I’m not worried about my dress looking right or spilling something on it. I don’t have to worry about which fork to use. There’s no one around to interrupt or stare at us...” she sighed. “It’s literally the best first date,” she promised.

“Stare at us?” He repeated.

“Surely you see everyone eyeing us every time we walk to class.”

He frowned. “I didn’t know,” he mumbled.

She tilted her head to meet his gaze. She looked genuinely surprised. “Hmm,” she hummed. “I’m not used to people staring at me,” she smiled teasingly. “You probably just tune it all out.”

He chuckled, rolling his eyes at her as he flicked her gently on the side of the head. “I only care when you’re staring,” he brushed his finger across her cheek. “S’like the only thing that matters now.”

“This is crazy, isn’t it?” She whispered.

“What?”

“Falling so hard?”

“Didn’t know y’were falling so hard,” he chuckled. She smacked his chest.

“Shut up,” she tucked her face into his side. He cupped the side of her face.

“I fell so hard, love,” he promised. “Fell so. Very. Hard.”

Harry thought about getting her back soon. It was getting colder by the second. But the sky was this multitude of sunset colors that made him never want to leave. He only wanted to exist right beside her in this little meadow of peacefulness and never let go of her.

--

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[ktsumu]

FIFTH TIME’S A CHARM

cw: suggestive content, nudity happy valentine's day ᡣ𐭩

This year, for the first time ever, Tooru doesn’t buy flowers for his valentine. You are the only witness to the crime.

His first girlfriend, back in junior high, got roses. She got him roses, too, with a chocolate bar he ended up giving to his sweet tooth sister. They were real, shockingly, smelt good too.

They were discounted, and it’s a basic gift, but he was twelve and had only been seeing her for three weeks.

(And they broke up two weeks later, so he has no regrets about the roses that cost his mom less than fifteen bucks.)

The second girlfriend was a little more serious.

Tooru thinks he might’ve been fourteen for that one. He liked her—she was kind, pretty, had a nice laugh. He remembers holding hands in the hallway at school and their first kiss (well, peck) was surrounded by a bunch of classmates, screaming like it mattered more to them than it did to him.

He forgets how long they lasted, but he’s sure they started dating in November and made it to Valentine’s Day. He bought her tulips, her favourite, and a stuffed bear, because it was right beside it in the store. With his own money, too. 

His second girlfriend—he really, really feels bad about not knowing her name anymore—got him chocolate. He gave it to his sister again, but he kept the card she wrote him, saying she loved him three months in like either of them knew what that meant.

And to be fair, he said he loved her, too. Just not to her face. Many, many times to Hajime, though.

Tooru and Girlfriend #2 broke up in May. He wasn’t even planning on it, either. She just moved to a different country and he wasn’t looking for a penpal, and she said she didn’t wanna cheat on him.

The third girlfriend is where his small list gets serious.

He gave romance a break after the one that got away. He just flirted with people up until his first year of high school, the big leagues, which is when he actually got too much attention.

It’s a huge deal when you’re sixteen and your girlfriend is seventeen. He was crowned royalty of his class, the chosen one. The only one that could possibly score an older girl and act like it’s no big deal, and then proceed to blow her off to watch a game taping or something. On top of the world, and yet so below the standard.

She was pretty good to him. Makki always said he was a moron and she was gonna dump his ass, and Tooru probably knew that, too. Hajime said he was wasting his time, and every time he’d deny it, he’d think about how right he was.

He and the third girlfriend—Hana, he remembers—had one Valentine’s Day together, but it was so close to two that he almost wants to count it as such for the hell of it.

He got her wildflowers because she always said she hated roses and tulips. Basic flowers mean they don’t care, or something like that. He didn’t understand it fully, but he was happy when she leapt into his arms, that was for sure. It felt pretty good when she kissed him stupid and said he was the best, but that high didn’t survive the Spring Tournament the next year. 

That’s how close he was to two Valentine’s Days—January. Fucking brutal.

She dumped him and he swore off girlfriends in senior year; probably even blamed it on something stupid like ‘bad omens.’ He graduated with D1 offers, though, so he counts it as a win.

That tallies up to three successful Valentine’s Days, so far right? Yeah, right—all with flowers. 

The fourth bouquet wasn’t a bouquet at all, it was actually orchids in a pot, left on the kitchen table of the apartment he lived in when he moved. He was twenty, her name was Riko, his first almost everything. First I love you, first time—name it, basically.

He did make it to two Valentine’s Days with Riko, which is something so impressive for him that confetti emojis were everywhere in the groupchat he kept with his friends from high school. Hearts, confetti, eggplants, whatever else.

The first one was admittedly better than the second, though. The second one, he got a really serious offer overseas, and he didn’t even ask about it. He just told her that he loved her, and that he’d be in Argentina by August.

(Safe to say that he was the only one packing for that.)

That was the last time he bought flowers on Valentine’s Day, because it was the last time he consciously celebrated with someone. He sent his friends funny clips or pictures just to tease, taunted them whenever they could keep a girlfriend to celebrate with, but he gave up himself.

(It’s just so much easier to relax—he’d have no problem getting a girlfriend if he wanted one. His issue is keeping them.)

He’s twenty-seven and solo.

Mostly solo, he should say. You come around a lot, stay the nights with him. You typically collect your clothes and leave the next morning with a wave and maybe a ‘text me if you wanna do this again Friday,’ but he hates how he’s lying when he grins and says he just might.

Tooru is so used to being the one to leave, or to sabotage himself until someone else does, that he’s forgotten that it actually sucks when you don’t wanna be left alone.

The whole point of you and him is to keep it casual, but Tooru can barely keep it cool.

He likes to consider himself experienced. It’s why he gets so fucked up when he kisses you for longer than he realizes, or how he finds himself holding back words he thinks might be too much for casual sex. 

You two are functional together, at least. He just puts the system at risk a lot.

When he wakes up today, February fourteenth, he doesn’t even know what day it is. He’s naked, in his own bed at the very least, and he can see his jeans on the floor through the light of the bathroom dripping through the door left open. Dawn peeks through the curtains.

The room is quiet, the window’s open so the birds can talk to him, and to his left, you’re still here. 

“Hey,” he says, yawning.

“Good morning,” you say back, a small smile on your face as you stretch. He can’t help but smile back, with his grin and smile lines, eyes drifting to the hem of the sheets that try and cover you up. Okay, naked too. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Woah.

“It’s Valentine’s Day?” he replies in a hurry, leaning up on his elbow as he grabs his phone. Yes, very much so.

You raise your brows. “What? Got a wife you forgot about?”

“Very funny.”

“I know, I’ve been waiting,” you say. It’s your turn to yawn now, moving to lay your head on his chest, hand pushing him back down into the bed. “What’s the panic, then?”

He shrugs. “Nothing. Just … forgot. It's weird.”

“Hm. So where are my roses, huh?”

Tooru scoffs, glancing down at you as he rests a hand on your waist. “They’re being delivered, obviously.”

“I figured.” You cock your head. “What’s up with Valentine’s Day, huh?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never not gotten flowers for someone when I’ve had them.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“What, I can’t get friendly flowers?” he asks, raised brows and attitude waking up with him. “You’re naked in my bed, that must constitute something.”

The way you pout your lip in thought makes him wanna reach out for your hand. Is it weird to do that? Can I do that? 

(You do it first, but he holds you tighter.)

“No, this is fine.”

“Fine?”

“Better,” you quickly correct. “I’d rather just stay in bed and say it once. I prefer acts of service, anyway.”

Looking at you, laying on his bare chest, the sun creeping in over yours, he doesn’t care all that much about how he’s breaking tradition anymore. Maybe it’s not even tradition, maybe it’s just a cycle he’s breaking; a vicious one, at that.

You’re an unconventional valentine in the sense that you’re not even his, but maybe when the day’s passed and he doesn’t feel it looming over him, he might bring it up again.

“Acts of service, you say?”

You snicker, being pushed onto your back as he looms over you. He’s looking at you like Cupid hit him; bullseye.

“You wouldn’t happen to know of those, would you?”

“Just tell me what you want, already. Let me make up for the flowers.”

You take him by the back of the neck, pulling him down to kiss you like he means it. Tooru speaks in tongues the two of you best understand.

For the first time in four official Valentine’s Days, Tooru doesn’t buy his valentine flowers. But, for the first time in four official Valentine’s Days, it feels so right that it doesn’t even matter he’s doing it ‘wrong.’

(Next time, when you’re hopefully here again, he doesn’t think he’ll get flowers, either. This'll do.)

#oikawa x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #hq x you #haikyuu!! x reader #kit writes

[delopsia]

Thinking about all the things Rhett had to deal with while growing up on the Abbott ranch and how his world tips on its head when you come into his life.

He's forever conscious of how Perry was born out of love, and he was born because Royal realized that it would be cheaper to have his kids working than it was to hire help. Poor Cecelia was so blindsided by her baby fever that she didn't realize why Royal went back on his "I only want one kid" statement until after Royal hauled five-year-old Rhett out to work on the ranch for the third day in a row. An entire two years younger than Perry had been when he started working.

And the problem with Royal, is that arguing with him only makes him dig his heels into the dirt, refusing to sway on his decision.

Most of the kids in his school worked and had their responsibilities to help keep the household running, but Rhett was the only one who had to do his homework on the bus because otherwise, he wouldn't have time to do it until he went to bed. Just like he was the only kid to miss every single field trip, because why should he go to the zoo with his class when he could be working with Royal?

He doesn't understand why his dad snaps at him for crying over his injuries but soon comes a time when he doesn't care about the bruises littering his arms. Gets annoyed when Perry cries about crushing his hand. Nothing's broken; there's no reason to get worked up over it.

That exact thinking keeps him quiet the first time he gets hurt bullriding. So focused on chasing the same small-town glory as his father that he doesn't mind the sprained ankle. Getting on again and again because, for a few fleeting seconds, the crowd cheers his name, and the sound of their applause is the thing he's grown to crave.

There was some point when the workload in the house started shifting. When Perry was starting to reach the end of his high school days, started to fight a little harder against Royal's iron fist. And with an explosive temper that nearly dulls Royal's, it only made sense that he started getting his way. Enjoying days off, weekends spent touring colleges, and venturing out into the real world, because of how his explosive demeanor always devolved into threats that shook his momma to her core.

But one less pair of hands on the ranch meant that the others had to take on more work, and with Royal's old bull riding injuries coming back to bite him, Rhett was the only one capable of taking it on. But just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Hiring just one ranch hand would have made all the difference, but the prospect of losing money is something Royal's always disagreed with. Slowly, Rhett's work days grow longer. Dinner time no longer makes the end of his work, having to go back out to finish up while everyone else showers and settles in for the night. Waking up before school to get a head start on chores, hoping he'll be done early tonight.

It never happens. Where he finds free time, Royal finds things he could be doing, and Rhett starts learning that lying about needing to do store runs is the only way he'll get a break.

The way Royal refused to let him and Perry have cellphones until they turned eighteen and could buy them with their own money. The result of a privilege revoked after a thirteen-year-old Perry got caught on his phone at two in the morning ended with a smashed phone and a brutal reminder of where the eldest son gets his anger from.

A rule that was forced to be overturned when Rhett was sixteen. All because something in the west pasture spooked his horse; she'd run him clean over in her attempt to get away from it, and he never saw her coming. He still doesn't remember hitting the ground, but he does recall the splitting ache in his skull when his eyes finally reopened.

With no cell phone, he had no way to call for help, forced to limp home on foot. He didn't get home until after dusk because Royal had written his absence off as teenage rebellion. A hospital visit later, Cecelia went behind her husband's back to buy new phones for both of her boys, but even the justification of keeping her boys safe wasn't enough for Royal. Because Rhett had made it home and was fine at the end of the day.

Then Rhett's eighteen, and he's just barely maintained his grades to graduate. He's got it in his head that he's going to move out, get out of this stuffy old town, and pave his own way, doing something, anything. But now Perry and Rebecca are moving into the house with their daughter, and Rhett's being asked to put off his plans until they get settled in.

He's nineteen when he gives up on trying to leave because something always needs him to stay home a little longer. He's twenty when he figures out why Royal drinks so much beer, gets hooked on the way the bitter liquid makes the ache in his shoulders disappear, and for the first time in a while, he's happy. Because you can't remember your sorrows when you're drunk.

Rhett's twenty-one when he can start wandering into bars, and he's twenty-one when he learns that there's a group of girls who come to rodeos, hoping to catch a steamy night with a bull rider, no strings attached. It's strange to kiss a girl you don't know the name of, waking up alone in a hotel bed with hardly any memory of what happened the night before. But for a few splitting seconds, he doesn't feel so alone in this big world, and he's clinging to it with every fiber of his being.

Until that's not enough, either. The scream of the crowd, the electric touch of those pretty girls that cheer his name, no longer make his days easier. Beer quits chasing away the pain in his joints, the prescription painkiller for an old injury in his wrist had might as well be candy, and he can only escape it by blacking out. He doesn't remember getting that DUI, but Officer Joy tells him that he was muttering about how Royal wanted him to chase down a cow that broke through the fence. He's in such rough shape that she intentionally forgets to discharge him, hoping the day of rest will do something to get rid of the bags under his eyes.

She isn't quite sure what to think when she learns that he's practically been running the Abbott ranch for the past few years. Royal always fails to mention his youngest son when he brags about his ranch.

Then you come along.

A fresh new face, one of the only people to move into Wabang rather than out of it because your new job led you all the way out here. It was Sherrif Joy who suggested you visit the Amelia County rodeo once or twice, and you'd only gone because there was nothing else to do. Rhett didn't notice you until Joy came to congratulate him on his ride, with you glued to her side. He hasn't stumbled through a hello in years, but he can hardly get it out of his mouth.

Your face sticks in his head while he works, and God, he doesn't even know your name, but his heart is jumping in his chest when you run into him at the store, time and time again. Until he finally cracks and starts a conversation with you while waiting in line, and somehow that ends in the two of you standing in the parking lot, talking until the store closes. An invitation to get drinks turns into dinner dates, and he's got something to look forward to again.

All of a sudden, you're massaging his overworked hands and cradling his scruffy face like he's made of glass. Whispering about how he needs rest and deserves all the love you shower him with, and he's not sure what to make of that. Can never figure out why his eyes water that first time he lays his head on your chest, listening to the pitter-patter of your heart while you play with his hair.

His momma is the only one whose ever done that; she stopped when he was fourteen.

He doesn't know how to tell you that he loves you. Those words choke in his throat every time he tries to utter them, stifling him into a painful silence that he can't escape. Instead, he does the only thing he knows how to do.

He works.

Replaces the busted locks in your doors, changes the oil in your car, he builds the porch you say you wanted, and he tinkers away at the little household annoyances. You want a fence? He's got it; he just needs to get up earlier to have time to build it. You're telling him that he doesn't have to do all these things for you, but work is the only thing he knows how to do. If he stops, then what else can he give you?

He doesn't understand what you see in him; he's not as energetic and fun as those other rodeo guys who eye you up every time they see you. They have more money, they're stronger, don't have the aches and pains of an old man, and they haven't got the reputation of being the town casanova.

He doesn't understand how you look at him like he's something precious—some priceless thing that deserves the world and more. There will come a day when you realize you deserve better, more than he could ever hope to give you, and he knows it'll break him, but he lets you love on him anyway. Because a few months spent with you is the best thing he could ever ask for, even if you walk away in the end.

But you're not walking away. Fuck, he's probably given you more opportunities than the Lord can count, but for some reason, you stay. And you're spending your first Christmas together, he's buying you too many sweets for Valentine's Day and he's spoiling you on your birthday, only to get confused when you surprise him with cake on his own birthday. Can't remember the last time he blew out candles, only realizes he was supposed to make a wish three days later.

Selfishly, he wishes that you'll be with him forever.

You're taking him to the zoo for one of your dates, and for the first time in his life, he's looking back at a tiger, and it's so, so different from the pictures. There are otters, bears, cheetahs, and wait, wait! Why are there goats in a zoo? Hasn't everyone met a goat before? What's so special about these ones? And how the fuck are giraffes so tall?

Royal says the red-panda plush Rhett hauls home is a waste of money. He could have saved that money to invest in land or a future, but all Rhett can think of is how, when he squeezes it to his chest at night, he can almost deceive himself into thinking it's you instead.

But then comes that big argument; he forgets what its about midway through, because he's realized that this is it. This is when you realize that he can't give you what you deserve. He can't blame you, but that still doesn't stop him from breaking when you walk out to your car.

He doesn't know what the hell to think when he realizes you're in the room with him. Couldn't hear the squeal of the door over the choked noises coming from his own mouth, eyes so clouded with tears that he can't even see you. But he can feel your arms around him, and he doesn't want to hug you out of fear of this being a dream. Yet you're still there, and you're not promising you're never leaving him, and he doesn't understand. He doesn't understand. And it scares him so bad that he shakes with it.

You don't know if you'll ever be able to let go of him because he clings to you with this fear that you've never seen before. Words aren't enough to convince his broken heart that you're not going anywhere, and for the first time since you met him, he talks. Spills every fear and thought he's ever had through his hiccups, confirms your suspicions of how much he hurts, and unveils the sources of his insecurities.

Your big cowboy falls asleep with his face buried in your neck, and he's still there when you wake up. It's the third time he's stayed in bed and didn't go to work, but it's the first time he's chosen to stay. Usually, it's a physical injury that forces him to stay down, but this is an injury you can't see. A fracture in who he is, broken after a lifetime of increasing pressure that he never stood a chance against.

He follows you into the kitchen, no longer trying to conceal the limp in his left foot as he tries his best to help you cook breakfast. You don't know where his appetite came from, but you've never seen him meekly ask if he can make himself more fried eggs.

It's only after that he remembers the argument about how you got a job offer that would take you a few states away. Out of Wyoming and away from him. But it's your dream job, and it hurts to see Rhett's bottom lip wobble as he weakly tells you to go for it. Dreams come first, after all.

Like many things, he doesn't know what to think when you tell him your dream has changed. You want him to come with you. Leave this flyover town, find a job that doesn't ask the world of him, and share a cute little house with you somewhere in the countryside. He doesn't get why you'd want it with him, but fuck if that isn't the one thing he's always wanted.

Royal thinks that Rhett's lighter attitude is because of his recent decision to move in with you. Cecelia already knows what Rhett's up to without needing to be told.

It takes a year for you to move. Just after you lock your front door for the last time, Cecelia's car appears in the driveway. Neither of you can figure out how she knew you two were moving out today, but she's brought a box of things that her youngest deserves to have. Pictures, his first belt buckle, that first cellphone that got drowned in the kitchen sink, and a freshly knitted blanket. A housewarming gift. She says it's good luck for a couple to have one and to not hesitate to call if you need anything.

That blanket sits on the back of the couch in your new living room. Rhett only curls up with it when he's feeling homesick, which had might as well be the entirety of the first six months in this new house. He finds a job at a local ranch, is lucky enough to have his beloved horse shipped out to stay there, and slowly, his true colors start to bleed through.

Or maybe they were always there, simply dulled by the exhaustion that once seemed to permanently sit in his weary bones.

Because his smile reaches his eyes more often, and his prescription painkillers have long since expired. His body a touch softer, the result of a rediscovered appetite, and he reaches for you more than he does a can of beer. Gripings about his father are replaced by laughter that echoes down the hall. He's still got that limp, but he chases you up the stairs quicker than he used to. Those gaudy belt buckles never leave, and never do you. Always there when he comes home from work, ready to meet him for his favorite welcome-home kiss.

Rhett will never be the son Royal asked for, but he will always be the man you've dreamed of.

And he's more than enough.

#rhett abbott #outer range #rhett abbott x reader #delgato's warmups #delgato's thinking #tw food #tw alcohol

[zepskies]

Never Say Goodbye - Part 1

Pairing: Dean W. x Female Reader

Summary: The first time you and Dean sensed each other’s thoughts and feelings, you were just kids. It would take years to realize that you both were bonded for life, and even longer to finally meet. [Soulmate AU] (Rated M for eventual scenes – 18+)

Word Count: 2,000 Warnings: Some angst

Part 1: Proximity

You’ve grown up watching your parents. At fourteen, you already understood how rare their relationship was—high school sweethearts, married for sixteen years, and certified soulmates.

Apparently it was even more rare to find your soulmate so early in life, but as Mom said, Sometimes the universe helps you out.

But you just started high school, and after surveying the pool of guys you have to work with, you really hope that “universe” stuff is just wishful thinking.

Because just this morning, Danny Schmitt got his hand stuck in the automatic stapler during Math class. Meanwhile, his friends were collecting bets on how many stitches he was going to need once they finally pried his fingers out.

Dad would call those guys dumbasses. You were inclined to agree.

You looked away from the scene (there was a lot of blood, and now your teacher was trying to free Danny with the only tool in the utility closet: a large hammer). But you couldn’t focus on your busy work like your teacher instructed either.

Sometimes, you still found it hard to believe your parents had met in high school. They had such an easy way between them, and not just because they could hear one another’s thoughts.

Mom was a kindergarten teacher, patient, kind, and encouraging. She came from a family of professors and school administrators, who frankly thought she could’ve done more with her life than “wipe five year olds’ noses.” Last Thanksgiving, she smiled and told Great Aunt Janet, “At least my five year olds can wipe their own asses.”

Smirking, Dad had followed up with, “How’s the incontinence, Jan? Ain’t lettin’ up at all?”     

Dad was a cop, though he wasn’t as strict as he could've been. Or as dumb as cops seemed to be in the movies.

No, your dad could be stern, but he was always fair, even if you…didn’t really hang out with him much. Mom was basically your best friend, while Dad was often too busy to know what was going on in your life.

Really, you just couldn’t see what your parents had in common, other than the dusty, midwestern town where they’d grown up. (Speaking of which, you shivered and zipped your coat higher up on your neck. Even indoors, winter in South Dakota was nothing to sneeze at.)

But your parents would share a look sometimes. Your mom would smile, and your dad’s mouth would quirk up at the corner, his eyes softening in a way they only did for her. And then you’d remember that they had their own world that you couldn’t really understand just yet.

“All right,” your teacher said. He wiped sweat from his brow while Danny’s friends carried him off to the nurse’s office. The stapler was in pieces on the floor, but poor Danny still had two huge staples in his index and ring fingers. “I think we’re done for the day. Just finish workbook pages for chapter three and we’ll cover it tomorrow.”

Yes! Math was not your strongest subject, but even you could finish four more square root problems. The teacher’s desk phone rang while you gathered your backpack and books. You were about to leave the classroom when your teacher called you back. You didn’t like the somber look on his face.

“You need to get to the principal’s office,” he said. “Your dad is there waiting for you.”

You didn’t know it then, but today was the day your childhood died—after Dad sat you down and told you what happened to your mom.

Winter in South Dakota was harsh. It could even be dangerous, especially on icy roads shared with grocery truck haulers.

They buried Mom in the same cemetery as your grandparents and your aunt (not Janet, by the way. You didn’t really remember your Aunt Karen, but your dad always avoided talking about his sister). The cemetery was small, but you guessed that made sense for a smallish town like Sioux Falls.

You stayed there until everyone else who loved your mom was gone, and it was just you and your dad left.

You didn’t bother to wipe your tears—not until your dad set a hand on your shoulder. You tried to wipe them away quickly, even though you didn’t really know why you didn’t want him to see you crying. He just gave you this look. In his eyes, you could see every fathom of his heartbreak. In a way, it told you everything you needed to know about your dad.

So you leaned into his side, and he held you close while the icy winds whipped at both of you.

Snow crunched beneath someone’s feet, and you turned to see a man walking down the row of headstones. He looked kind of familiar…

He had a thick beard and wore a baseball cap, but he took it off once he got close enough to pay his respects—first to Mom…then to Aunt Karen.

“Jack,” he greeted with a nod of respect.

You looked up at your dad, and the free emotions he’d been wearing clammed up behind a more familiar stern expression.

“Bobby,” he said, nodding back. Realization finally dawned on you. Oh, Uncle Bobby?

You hadn’t seen your uncle since you were…ten? Probably since Aunt Karen’s funeral.

“I’m real sorry about Christine,” Uncle Bobby said. He sounded a bit gruff, but his eyes were kind when they met yours sympathetically. “About your mom.”

Another tear fell down your cheek, but you nodded and wiped it away, sniffling.

“Thank you,” your dad said eventually. There was a brief, but awkward pause. Then Bobby nodded to himself and walked away, setting that faded blue baseball cap back on his head. You watched him go curiously.

“You remember your uncle,” Dad said. He didn’t seem happy about it.

“Yeah,” you replied. “Why didn’t he stay?”

He was family, after all.

Dad shook his head. There was a wry downturn to his lips. “He’s got a junk heap to look after.”

You frowned in confusion. But he didn’t explain what he meant. He just steered you back toward the car to go home.

Just as you both crossed under the iron arch to leave the cemetery, Dad reached into his pocket and gave you something. Your mom’s wedding ring.

“You can wear it if you want,” he said. “Or just keep it safe. Either way, just remember…she’s still with you. And I’m always gonna watch over you.”

The thought made you feel the slightest bit better, and also worse. Still, you took the ring and held it between your fingers. It was simple sterling silver, but beautiful all the same.

You got into his pick-up truck and he started the drive home. Just as you turned the corner, you hit a red light. You stared out the window as snow started a light fall, flurrying down to the damp pavement. Soon the ground would be icy and wet, and that reminded you of grocery trucks. Tears welled up in your eyes, but you were sick of it. Sick of crying.

It actually annoyed you…or…did it?

A feeling fluttered in your chest. It felt like anxiety and irritation all wrapped up into one. And another feeling, this time attached to a thought. It felt hot in your throat, and a lot like—

It’s not fair!

The thought startled you. Because somehow (and you didn’t know why), it didn’t feel like you were the one that thought it.   

Finally, the street light turned green. It flashed in the corner of your eyes, and then you noticed a sleek, black car coming in the opposite direction. You watched it pass by for a moment, until your dad distracted you with a question.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. You blinked, trying to register what he said while you shook off the weird things you were feeling. Once your brain caught up to your mouth, you were finally able to answer.

“Not really.”

“Come on. I’ll get us a burger.”

You shrugged, but for once you really weren’t hungry.

“Dad, come on,” Dean said in frustration. On one hand, he didn’t want to argue with his dad.

On the other hand, this really wasn’t fair!

He was seventeen already. He’d gone on a handful of hunts with John before, so why not this one?

“Too dangerous,” John said. He looked over at Dean from the Impala’s driver’s seat. His tone boded no further argument. “Djinn are tricky. Even seasoned hunters have trouble with ‘em.”

Dean frowned. “I’m ready, Dad.”

“Do we have to go to Bobby’s house?” Sam piped up from the back seat. At thirteen, he was getting more and more lippy.

“Cheaper than a motel.” John smiled, then glanced at his younger son through the rear-view mirror. “Besides, why not Bobby’s?”

Sam sighed. “His heater doesn’t always work.”  

“Well, I’ll help him take a look before I go,” John replied. Dean stared at the side of his dad’s face for a while, but he knew a lost argument when he saw one.

…Still, he couldn’t help but try.

“Dad,” Dean pressed.

John’s gaze stayed on the road. “Not this time, son. You and Sam’ll be okay at Bobby’s.”

Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Yeah, bored at Bobby’s. But he knew it was better than being left at a crusty motel room. He was annoyed, but he could deal with it.

Until something else began to creep up in his chest. Something he hadn’t felt since…since his mom died.

It was this ball of lead in his chest, weighing him down and constricting his throat. It felt a lot like…like fear, and sadness. And finally confusion. He was confused?

Maybe.

Sad? Afraid? Not really, no. At least, he didn’t think so. He hadn’t thought about his mom like that in a while…

So what the hell?

Those sensations only lasted for a moment—the time it took them to finally cross the street at the red light and pass a pick-up truck going the opposite way.

But that moment seemed to drag on for minutes. Now he really was confused.

He sat still, hesitating, until the feeling eventually passed.

“Hey, Dean, where’s the Batman comic?” Sam leaned up by his ear to ask.

Dean almost flinched. He played it off though, and turned to look back at his brother.

“It’s in my bag, but wait ‘til we get to Bobby’s.”

“Why? That’s like, a whole ten minutes away,” Sam pointed out.

“Because my bag’s under a ton of stuff back there. Just leave it for a few minutes,” Dean said. He sensed that Sam was about to get all bitchy and not let it go, but then John cut in.

“He’s right, Sam. Just cool it until we get there.”

Sam frowned, slumping into his seat with an annoyed huff. Wanting to tease him out of his kid funk, Dean smirked, reached back and playfully tapped his knee. “Yeah, cool it.”

Sam slapped his hand away. “Stop.”

“Make me, dork.” Accompanied by another teasing flick to his ear. Sam hit him back, and it would’ve devolved into an immature, but not uncommon free-for-all, if not for John’s heavy sigh and a sharp warning.

“Boys, enough!”

Then the car was silent. Sam huffed again and settled back into his seat. Dean tapered down his smile and sat back in his too. He looked out the window and saw the snow beginning to fall. Without meaning to, his mind drifted back to that weird feeling in his chest.

He rubbed his chest absently. But soon enough, he forgot about it. Just like you did.

Neither of you realized exactly what happened that day.

It was the first tug of a lifelong bond, seared into your souls.

AN: Okay, this is my first soulmate AU! Maybe the end was a little melodramatic there lol.

Let me know in the comments what you think! Then keep reading. ;)

Here it is: Part 2.

Series Masterlist

Dean Winchester Masterlist

Main Masterlist

#dean x you #dean x reader #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x you #sam winchester #dean winchester #spn #spn fics #spn fanfic #dean winchester fanfic #bobby singer #john winchester #soulmates #dean x female reader #soulmate au #fluff #some angst #dean winchester x female reader #zepskies writes

[satansapostle6]

The Crush | Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson is a cool, simple guy who is also the famous son of Poseidon who helped save the world. But, talking to the pretty girl in his English class still seems impossible.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Violence. Sexual content.

Chapter One: Pussy Jackson

Percy sat behind Chloé in English. She was tall and intimidating, and he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to work up the courage to talk to her. Sure, he wasn’t in high school anymore, but he still felt nervous around her like he was sixteen years old again. Chloé Jardine was, after all, the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

He knew Chloé was a Roman demigod, a daughter of Nox, the Roman equivalent of Nyx, the goddess of darkness and the night. She was a fairly typical child of Nox, a sort of minimalistic goth.

She had long, pitch black hair, with tiny micro bangs partially covering her forehead. She was also noticeably pale, as if she only ever went out at nighttime. Most people thought she looked scary, but Percy thought she looked magical.

Chloé had a decent amount of tattoos, including a pretty sizable spider web on her neck. She had a lot of piercings, including an eyebrow piercing and a vertical labret on her lip. She didn’t really wear makeup, but she was very obviously a goth. She was smart, and she didn’t talk a lot at all, which drove Percy insane. He made it his mission in life to know as much about her as possible.

Every time he saw her wearing a band T-shirt of some kind to school, he’d make a note of the band name and look it up later if he wasn’t familiar, and listen to all of the songs he could find.

So far, he’d listened to Type O Negative, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, Kittie, and Rob Zombie, only affirming his opinion that she was the coolest person on earth. His best friend, Grover, thought the behavior was just a little bit obsessive, but didn’t really think it was that bad.

That day in his college English course, he was sitting in his seat, listening to Soundgarden during the lecture on his laptop with the tab open, secretly hoping Chloé would have some some reason to walk back and look at his computer screen. Soundgarden wasn’t goth, of course, but Percy had seen her wear one of their shirts.

“Hey! Pussy Jackson!”

Percy frowned to see Clarisse La Rue sitting in a seat a couple rows behind him.

“Move your fat fucking head, I can’t see!”

“‘I’m doing fine, thank you, Clarisse’,” he mocked her under his breath. “‘How was your weekend’?”

Percy was startled to look up to see Chloé turned around in front of him.

“Will you two shut the fuck up?!” she whispered, staring at them in disbelief.

Percy’s face must have been beet red as he tried his hardest not to explode. He was dying of embarrassment as he tried to come up with some sort of answer.

“Uh, yeah! Sorry!” he apologized in a whisper.

Chloé just turned back around, shaking her head as she continued taking messy notes on the assignment due dates. Percy leaned forward slightly, looking curiously at her notebook. He found her handwriting interesting; it was kind of small with a lot sharp edges, written in haste without being too messy, almost like a doctor’s handwriting.

Percy knew he must’ve been lost in his horny ADHD world, because before he knew it, the instructor had just finished announcing the next project, a group project worth 20% of his grade.

“Alright, the groups are posted up here, so you can all come and take a look. You’ll have the rest of this class to figure out a presentation topic and get started,” the professor, a woman in her forties, announced as she retreated to her desk.

Alarmed by the words ‘groups’ and ‘presentation’, Percy anxiously made his way down to the whiteboard with everyone else, terrified to receive his group assignment. He prayed silently that he’d get at least one smart kid in his group, and zero Clarisse’s. As he slowly scanned the list of names up and down, his face went pale as he found his other two group mates. Clarisse La Rue and Chloé Jardine.

Percy wanted to kill himself immediately. Not only did he have to work with Clarisse, but he also had to figure out how to work with Chloé, who had just told him to shut the fuck up not two seconds ago, the first words she had ever spoken to him. He glanced back at Clarisse, who was standing beside Chloé. Neither of them looked very happy about the group assignment.

Percy glanced over at the peofessor’s desk, contemplating whether he should try and get a different group. He decided against it, figuring he’d had enough embarrassment for one day. Signing as he realized he’d have to face Chloé eventually, he walked over to where the girls were standing, ready to face the music. He’d fought monsters and faced imminent doom before, and somehow this felt exactly the same.

“I’m not doing all of the work,” Chloé crossed her arms.

“What makes you think you’d be doing all the work?!” Clarisse asked defensively.

“Because I’m in a group with you!”

“Hey…” Percy waved awkwardly, trying to break the ice, which seemed to also somehow be scalding hot.

“Oh, yeah. You’re in this group too,” Clarisse rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Percy retaliated childishly.

“Okay. We need to come up with a topic,” Chloé reminded them. “Which one should our presentation be about?”

“What are the options?” Percy asked, watching as she just let out a long sigh.

The next hour of class went by as slowly as possible. By the end of it, Clarisse had stormed out of the classroom, and Percy and Chloé were left sitting together exhaustedly. Chloé sighed as she got up, heading out of the building as Percy followed her.

“Sorry about Clarisse,” he offered sympathetically. “She drives everyone who has to deal with her insane.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” Chloé nodded.

*****

Percy felt odd, and completely out of place the entire time he sat in class discussing the project with Chloé. Every time she spoke to him, he felt more stupid. He knew nothing about what he wanted to do for the project, and he was even less prepared to answer these questions when asked by Chloé Jardine. And of course, Clarisse also being a part of the group didn’t help.

But Percy figured it was almost worth it, getting to work on the project with Chloé, with her cool hair, tattoos and piercings, and blue eyes, the same icy blue eyes that mesmerized him when he spoke to her. Percy had to clear his throat and check his breath twice before smiling at her as she turned, just having ordered a coffee from the kiosk nearby.

“Hey,” Percy wheezed, realizing how eager he sounded stalk to her, cursing himself silently.

“Hi,” Chloé said with slight surprise, sipping the warm coffee.

She looked at him expectantly, wondering what it was he could’ve possibly had to say to her. Chloé had already done a brief mental scan of Percy; she knew that he was the Greek son of Poseidon, by his shaggy black hair and sea green eyes.

She knew from the perpetual dopey expression on his face that he was attracted to her in some way. She’d seen the way he looked at her and assumed that it was mostly more sexual than emotional, based on the way his eyes lingered on her skin and the way he was constantly averting his eyes from her chest.

“See you,” Chloé smiled, politely excusing herself as she walked away.

“Fuck,” Percy muttered under his breath as he watched her walk away.

He sighed in defeat as he watched Chloé walk away from him, thinking of a hundred things in that moment he wished he’d said to her.

“It’ll never happen, you know.”

Percy whipped around quickly, alarmed as he turned around in the direction of the voice he’d heard. Naturally, the disapproving voice had belonged to Annabeth, his sharp-witted child of Athena ex-girlfriend.

“What?” Percy questioned defensively.

“You and Chloé,” she responded promptly.

Percy crossed his arms. “What makes you think—”

“That you’re infatuated with her?” she asked him. “I know you, Jackson.”

“I’m not infatuated with Chloé,” Percy rolled his eyes at her.

“Well. Infatuated or not, her ex-boyfriend is Sean Morley. The son of Apollo?” Annabeth Chase smirked. “With the blond hair, and the shoulders?”

“Why are you so invested?” he ignored her, questioning her skeptically.

Annabeth smiled, patting his shoulder sympathetically. “Because. It’s fun watching you refuse to learn,” she said as her demeanor softened.

Annabeth walked off and disappeared, leaving Percy to do a lot of thinking.

-

Chapter Two

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy series #pjo series #pjo #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #logan lerman #pjo percy #percy pjo #percy x reader #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson series #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson x you #percy jackson x y/n #perseus jackson #heroes of olympus

[joelswritingmistress]

You Scare Me, Professor: Chapter 39

Summary: The reader is taking graduate classes at a local university in the wooded upstate New York. She is drawn to her professor, Dr. Joel Miller, though she is also inherently aware that he has something dark about him that she can't quite put her finger on. As the reader's attraction grows deeper, she has to decide whether to endure the danger or run away as fast as possible. 

Pairing: Professor Joel Miller x f!reader 

The lodge was buzzing. The big, open area was lined with rows of long tables, accompanied by high top tables on the ends. Down one end a group of guys was singing a cheery song that I had never heard before, but it made me smile. People of all ages, all clad in winter hats and hoodies, were slung about in small groups having a good time.

“Beers all around?” Carol asked, once the four of us were seated at a high top table by the bar.

After the elegant night at the winery, and bumping into Carol and Will before they went to the strings concert, I loved that Carol easily slipped into the more casual scene and could sling back beers on a whim. I was really looking forward to getting to know her better.

Dr. Miller rose to his feet and reached into the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet. When Will went to stand along with him, he motioned for him to sit. “Everything is on me tonight. What’re we drinking?”

“I saw a beer on tap as I passed by called Road to Ruin,” Carol explained, “I have to try that one.”

“Which means we may be on the road to ruin,” Will joked with a laugh. “A Miller Lite is fine for me.”

Dr. Miller looked at me with a smirk and a subtle wink. I smiled at him. “What kind of beer is the Road to Ruin?” I asked, glancing at Carol.

“It’s a double IPA.” She made a guilty face and looked to Will, who smirked and shook his head.

“I’ll try it,” I said to Dr. Miller.

“Two Roads and two Millers.” He motioned to himself and Carol. It took a second for it to click as he added, “I’ve got more Dad jokes up my sleeve.”

“That’s why I’m getting the Road to Ruin,” his sister joked.

When Dr. Miller went to retrieve our beers at the bar, Carol focused her attention on me. “My brother really seems to adore you.”

“Oh.” I smiled and raised my eyebrows, feeling my cheeks grow hot. I wished I had a drink to hide behind. “Yeah.. I.. I feel the same way.” I was so awkward and I couldn't hide it.

“Honey, don't embarrass the poor girl,” Will put a hand on her forearm with a chuckle.

“I'm just saying,” Carol went on. “You both seem very happy.”

“We are.” I gave a nod and a smile I couldn't contain. “I've never met someone like Joel.” When I sighed out loud, both of them gave a laugh and my cheeks reddened some more. “How was the concert last night on campus?”

“It was very nice.” Carol looked to Will and then back to me. “Elizabeth was one of those students you’ll always remember. She even came back to help out with building our school’s drama club set this year. They spent hours, probably too late most nights, working on all that.”

“Great kid,” Will added.

“What drama production are you guys putting on?” I asked.

“Legally Blonde,” they said at the same time, making Carol chuckle.

“I keep having to chase that little dog around the auditorium, nightly,” Will said with an eye roll and a smirk. “This one’s been eating her dinners alone a few times a week.”

“I’m a big girl, I can handle it.” 

Dr. Miller returned, barely able to carry all four beers, which so happened to be in oversized, frosty mugs. “They asked if I wanted the sixteen ounce or twenty-two ounce beers.” He gave a shrug, “I didn’t think anyone would oppose the twenty-two.”

“Certainly not,” Will said with a nod, reaching for the one Dr. Miller slid in his direction.

“Should we toast?” I asked, gently raising my glass just a few inches off the table at first.

“To Carol and Will,” Dr. Miller raised his glass before anyone could intervene, “May you have the long, happy life together.” He added, glancing at Will, “And to gaining a brother.”

“Amen.” Will tapped his glass against Dr. Miller’s and then mine and eventually Carol’s.

“Amen.” She smiled wide and that same warmth and happiness radiated out of her when she looked at her husband-to-be. “Should we get drunk and fool around?” She asked him, prompting Dr. Miller to plug his ears as if he was twelve years old.

I laughed out loud and Will snickered and shook his head.

“And she’s not even drunk yet,” he said with a laugh.

“Maybe I should’ve gone with the sixteen ounce,” Dr. Miller said, shaking his head with a smile.

“Are you going to do any skiing before the wedding?” Carol asked us.

Dr. Miller extended an arm across the back of the chair and grinned. He glanced at me and then back to his sister. “Possibly some snow tubing.”

“Safer.” She sipped her beer, “Good choice.”

“And are you two going to risk breaking a leg on the slopes between now and Saturday?” He asked them.

“We’re going to skip the black diamond,” Will said, joking around. “But we may take a few runs down the slopes tomorrow.”

“Risky business.” Dr. Miller brought the beer to his lips.

“It’s in our genes,” Carol reminded him.

“I would have to agree,” I chimed in with a shrug, “I mean, you started dating me.”

Carol gave a laugh. “I wasn’t going to say anything.” She purposely looked away and then back right away.

“Already the women side with each other,” Will said, pretending to be exasperated as he shook his head.

“Happy wife, happy life,” Carol reminded him with a little wink.

“Yes, dear.”

The night was fun and lowkey. Dr. Miller went up to get several rounds of beers for the group, denying each person who tried to jump in and pay, myself included. 

The same group of guys down the end that had been singing earlier got the entire room singing Sweet Caroline when it came over the speakers from someone’s jukebox request. It was one of those nights that got sillier and sillier and sillier.

I hadn’t been drunk in quite awhile, but I began to feel the effects of the alcohol and found myself singing along, swaying and holding Carol’s hand as we pumped our fists in the air to the, ‘Ba, ba, ba’ part of the song.

Honestly, I had never seen Dr. Miller so carefree since I’d known him. It was refreshing and rejuvenating to be a part of such a cheery, upbeat atmosphere. All the tenseness from the week had all but vanished. And it felt amazing.

When we finally cashed out and decided to call it a night, we exchanged hugs all around. I turned to Dr. Miller and gave a him a firm kiss on the lips when his sister and Will had rounded out of the lodge.

“You’re not ready to call it a night, yet, are you?” He asked.

I smirked at him. “What do you have in mind?”

Dr. Miller eyed an oversized clock on the wall. “We have about forty-five minutes-”

“Until what?” I interrupted, largely because of the buzzed feeling that left my filter flying out the window. 

He laughed a boyish laugh. “Let’s get our coats.”

“And then what?”

“And then I’ll show you.” He held out a hand and led me back up to the room. We bundled up quickly, despite my several silly attempts to seduce him, and then I let him lead me out into the night.

“Thirty minute warning,” a worker with a bright, red jacket informed us as we made our way toward the thinning crowd on the slopes.

“Where’s the tubing hill?” Dr. Miller asked.

The man extended an arm, “Take that lift up right over there.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, no.” I smiled and laughed as he towed me toward the station to retrieve a pair of snow tubes. We then made our way toward the lift.

When we got there, Dr. Miller helped me onto the seat with a one, two, three and then we were being raised into the cold, mountain air.

“Wow.” I soaked it in. “I’ve never even been on a ski lift. How do we get off?”

“We kind of.. glide and run.”

“Great.” I laughed again. “You may have to catch me.”

“Always.” Dr. Miller continued to stare in my direction until I turned back to him so we could share a kiss.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what?”

“For one of the funnest nights.. ever.” It was all I could come up with at the moment and we laughed together.

“It has been fun,” he agreed.

When we got close, he motioned up ahead. “Alright, we have to kind of just jump off and pepper your feet as you go so you don’t fall.’

“I’ll try.”

“Ready?”

“Nope!”

The bar raised and I giggled as he helped me off, stumbling as we went onto the snow. Neither of us fell, but it was hardly graceful.

“Wow, okay!” I reset. I was ready. “Now what?”

“Come on over.” Another man in a red jacket waved us on and we wandered down over toward him. “You can go side by side in these two lanes if you want.”

I could clearly see the man made snow lanes that had been made. They looked like giant, icy slides.

“Ready now?” Dr. Miller asked, taking the lead as he planted his tube and laid head first on top of it where the worker instructed him to do so.

I breathed out a wintery breath and laid down on my tube beside him. “What does the winner get?”

“What does the winner want?” Dr. Miller smirked at me.

“Beers or sex,” the young man butted in from behind us. When we both looked back at him he added, “That’s what people usually bet on up here.”

I let out a laugh and raised my eyebrows. “How about both?” I asked him.

“Sounds like a win-win,” Dr. Miller said.

“When you’re ready to go, just push yourself to the spray painted red line,” the worker explained, “ Once you’re past that, there’s no turning back.”

I walked myself up with my hands and feet, feeling like a turtle with an upside down shell. When I got to the faint line, I glanced over at Dr. Miller. “Should we count to three?”

“One..” He began, “Two..” There was a dramatic pause and I finally cracked a smile. “Three!”

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@untamedheart81 @suttonspuds @cesspitoflove @michilandcof @grogusmum @morallyinept @akah565 @brittmb115 @magpiepills @poodlebae @gobaaby-blog-blog @mermaidgirl30 @mandijo17 @shotgun-shelby @itscatrodriguez-thepearl @macaroni676 @acciowolfstar1 @smolbeanzzz @sarcasm-theotherwhitemeat @bandluvr97

#joel miller x y/n #joel miller x you #joel miller x f!reader #pedro pascal x y/n #joel miller x reader #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller #pedro pascal x you #joel miller x oc #pedro pascal #joel miller x original character #joel miller x fem reader #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x female oc #joel miller x f!oc #pedro pascal x female reader #pedro pascal x f!reader #joel miller fanfic #joel miller tlou #joel the last of us #joel x reader #joel tlou #joel miller professor #professor joel #protective joel #pedro pascal x fem reader #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x oc #joel miller gif #pedro pascal gif

[onetimetwotimesthreetimess]

prompt request: older malec 😬 (second chance romance veryyy much accepted )

I know you’re fishing for that BTLIO happy ending that you’re never getting from me nsnsbsmsksskjs

_________

High school reunions are kind of overhyped, in his opinion.

It’s a frivolous attempt by one at pretending that their teenage years were not as miserable as they remember it to be.

Magnus’s quite over it, if he’s being honest.

He never wants to meet most of the people from his high school ever again.

But he’s back in his town after 10 years and Catarina forces him to attend the event.

“Magnus, this is a great way to show up all those assholes that made you miserable.”

“Show up how?” He asks.

Catarina raises an eyebrow at him and he relents.

“Fine. I guess my million dollar worth could be a way.”

“You think?”

He sighs. “But is that it? Financial success? Is that all that matters in this world?”

Catarina side eyes him, “Wow, this town really brings out the angsty teenager in you.”

Magnus rolls his eyes at her. “I just don’t like these people. And I don’t think showing my wealth is a way to prove that I’m better than them.”

“But you are better than them.”

His face breaks into a smile. “And that’s why I love you, my dear.”

His teenage years in this town were to quite simply put it—a nightmare.

They were filled with homophobia, racism and everything in between.

Magnus remembers nothing but being sad in most of them.

Most of them. Not all of them.

Some of them were good memories. The best ones of his life.

He knows those memories had nothing to do with this school or the town but something else.

Something angelic.

Someone angelic.

He puts on his most flamboyant and dramatic outfit, now that no one can hurt him with words about how he chooses to dress up like.

Magnus puts on a purple sheer shirt, with a deep, very deep v neck cut. Half of his chest was visible, with seven necklaces laded on it.

There’s one small necklace still on his neck, it doesn’t match his outfit but it was given by his mom , fixed by his Rafael, he doesn’t know how and he kind of misses them both terribly today.

It’s something about this town.

At least one of them, he’ll get to see again after two days. Rafael wanted to come with him but too but Magnus didn’t want to bring him here. There’s too much sadness here. And he always wants to keep his baby away from all that sadness.

Two hours later, they reach their high school. The event is happening in the gymnasium, even ten years later.

With huge letters, the banner reads- “Class of 2012”.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Magnus goes around the room, meeting people he’s forgotten by now. Some he remembers like yesterday.

“Magnus,” A beautiful woman with curly hair approaches him. “Magnus Bane?”

Magnus thinks for a second before his eyes widen in surprise—good surprise. “Maia?”

“It’s been so long,” she smiles and pulls him in a hug.

“Too long.”

“You disappeared from here.”

“I didn’t disappear,” he says, not without a flair. “I just made a grand exit.”

They both know he’s kind of lying. Magnus had disappeared. More accurately, he’d run away.

It had been too hard. Breathing had become too hard.

If he’d stayed here a minute longer with all the painful memories, Magnus would have died.

Leaving this town had saved him.

He meets a few other people after that. It’s not half as horrible as he’d expected.

“Magnus?”

He recalls that voice as clear as a day. He turns to find the most beautiful woman in front of him.

She was always beautiful but right now, she looks a hundred times prettier. He also knows that it’s nothing to do with her physical appearance but everything to do with the huge smile on her face.

The visible happiness.

She’s never looked freer.

None of the Lightwood siblings ever did.

“Isabelle?”

She jumps in her arms, still with all the love and joy like they’re sixteen again.

Like the little girl who used to help him climb up her house so that they could play housie at night.

Or after a particularly horrible night when they needed some cheering up—thanks to the Lightwood parents.

If it wasn’t for the warm hug, he would have been scared to hug her back. But there’s no such feeling anymore as he wraps his arms around her tightly.

“Oh, darling,” he breathes. “It’s so nice to see you.”

“You too,” Isabelle says happily and he knows she means it.

Isabelle was a two years younger than them so technically she shouldn’t be here. There’s only one reason for her to be here and considering that Simon is lurking not five steps away, with a giddy smile on his face, he has to be right.

“You being here, I can only assume you are still with Sherman,” he grins, the old joke falling easily from his lips.

“I do.”

“Hello, Magnus,” Simon waves excitedly.

They talk for a while but Magnus is a bit distracted throughout.

“He’s here, you know,” Isabelle says.

His brows furrows, “Who?”

Isabelle rolls his eyes. “You know who.”

He does.

Magnus didn’t want to come to the reunion for the following reasons:

1. He dislikes most of these people.

2. He ran away ten years ago and it’s weird to explain to everyone why that happened.

3. Alexander Gideon Lightwood.

The first two reasons ignite a strange anxiety in him. But the last one, it stirs up feelings and emotions he’s tried to kept hidden for years.

If Magnus tries to open the Pandora’s box, he might never be able to shut it down.

“I—I don’t know if—” he stutters, slightly annoyed but not surprised that Alec lightwood can still bring out the teenager in him, “I don’t know if he’d want to see me.”

Isabelle gives him a small smile. “It’s been ten years, Magnus. I think it would be okay.”

He wonders if she knows. If she knows why he did what he did.

Out of all his friends, he had only ever confided in Catarina and Clary at the time.

“Okay.”

He roams around the room, trying to find the man. Then he spots him. It’s not difficult. Even though the last time Magnus saw him was a decade ago, when they were teenagers, still not fully grown into their bodies, still with a bit of acne and awkward smiles on their faces.

But Magnus knows. He knows the man standing in front of him, with his back to Magnus’s face, in a navy blue sweatshirt, amidst a crowd of people fully dressed up in tuxedos and dresses has to be none other than Alec Lightwood.

He musters up all the strength he can, but the air closes up around him, his feet freeze on spot and he finds himself unable to move or speak.

All he can recall is the last time he was infront of Alec.

The last, horrible, horrible words he had hurled at the man who was his entire world.

But it’s been ten years and if anyone deserves an apology or hundred from Magnus, it’s him.

So, he shoves inside his pain, the guilt and everything he’s feeling right now and has been for the past two decades and opens his mouth.

“Alexander?”

It’s the easiest thing in the world to notice the man’s body tense up at the name. There’s a full few seconds of absolutely no movement before Alec moves—oh, so slowly.

His heart stutters inside his chest, rapidly beating inside.

From the ages of twelve to seventeen, Magnus had only felt two emotions in the world. Pain, at everything happening inside his house and love—for Alec.

His life had space for nothing else at the time.

Then slowly, and then very instantly, only pain had remained as he had pushed all the love away.

“Magnus?”

He’s still as beautiful as ever; Magnus thinks. But somehow more so. There’s that teenage shyness missing from his face, replaced with the handsomeness of a grown man.

Alec looks breathtaking, with his wild hair, dark and gorgeous. His eyes, as blue and shiny as ever.

A hundred emotions flicks over his face and it breaks his heart to realise that he understands none of them, having lost the privilege to read Alec years ago.

Then, his face settles on a small smile. A tight lipped one. Not Alec’s real one.

Alec’s real smile, that’s something one can never forget.

It’s a special privilege, to be able to see Alec Lightwood smile.

“Hi,” he says, carefully, not knowing the kind of reaction he will get.

If Alec tells him to fuck off and never show his face again, he would understand.

He would deserve it.

He had broken Alec’s heart in the worst of ways.

But Alec doesn’t yell, doesn’t tell him to fuck off. He smiles. Only if a bit careful.

“It’s been a minute since I have seen you.”

He chuckles, “Yeah. Been a minute.”

There’s a few minutes of silence afterwards. He doesn’t want what he’s supposed to say. What either of them could say after the shitshow everything was the last time they saw each other.

They stand awkwardly before it gets too difficult for Alec and he excuses himself. “I think someone is calling me.”

Magnus sighs dejectedly as Alec leaves, his heart breaking inside his chest.

This is why Magnus didn’t want to come back to this stupid, fucking town ever again. It brings nothing but pain and disappointment.

Catarina has asked him through the years if he regrets his decision. And the answer is always a resounding no.

He needed to choose someone at the time, and he chose Alec.

No one will ever know though and he’s quite okay with that choice.

Alec and he cross paths a couple of times in the next two hours but they don’t talk, Alec still avoids him like the plague. Or just because there’s nothing to talk.

He’s a little angry at Alec; if he’s being honest.

It’s not right, he knows. But he wants Alec to be angry at him right now, yell or shout about why he did what he did. But Alec does none of those things and it hurts more than he would like to accept.

Maybe, for Alec, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

It was just a break up after all.

People break up all the time.

They weren’t special.

Even the thought leaves a bitter taste in his mouth because he knows with everything inside of him tjay to him, it meant everything.

Alec Lightwood was everything.

“So, guess what we’re about to do now?” One of the organisers, Michelle announces.

“Leave?” He mutters, only loud enough for Catarina to hear; who chuckles in response.

“Shut up. You love a party.”

“Not this one.”

“Remember when we all put a time capsule under that big tree in the campus?” Michelle screams. “We’re about to open them.”

Oh.

The time capsule.

He recalls early senior year, everyone giggling and laughing, putting their hopes, future plans into the time capsule.

He remembers his ambitions. Plans. He had a lot at the beginning of senior year.

By the end of senior year, he had none left. Not a whole lot of hope either.

“What did you put in your time capsule?” Catarina asks.

He frowns, trying to recall. “I don’t really remember. You?”

Catarina thinks for a moment before her eyes widen in embarrassment, “Oh god. I put something very embarrassing.”

Magnus chuckles, “What?”

“You’re never finding out, Bane.”

There’s too much chatter then, everyone discussing their capsules, asking about others. For a second, it feels like he’s back to being seventeen again.

“Come on, let’s find out.”

“I don’t wanna,” he whines but then he sees Isabelle, Jace, Simon and Clary all run in the direction, dragging a grumpy Alec and he follows.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“Ask Clary out. Go Pro,” Jace’s time capsule notes and he hurrayed, kissing Clary on the mouth.

Clary finds a photo of all six of them, huddling on top of each other and they all warm up inside at the memory.

They had all been at Magnus’s house that day, the one in the photo.

They all tear up a little.

Isabelle finds a small bottle of alcohol that she had stolen from her dad, pulling a chuckle out of everyone as she chugs it in one go. “No regrets,” she screams.

“Simon?”

Simon finds a small picture of him and his dad. “I lose things all the time. I didn’t want to lose this picture.”

Isabelle pulls him in for a hug and kisses his temple.

A little excitement simmering up, Magnus opens his box. There’s a single note inside, and when he reads it, his heart breaks for the thousandth time.

“What do you have Magnus?”

His voice breaks, “Excuse me,” and runs away from there.

Tears stream down his face as he runs towards the terrace. It’s an isolated spot, entry restricted to students but long back, Magnus and his friends have found out a way to break that lock. Almost a decade, and the lock is still not fixed.

He sits on the ledge and cries his heart out.

It angers him so much, being here. It’s like suddenly he’s transported back to ten years ago, with his fragile teenage heart.

After a while, he doesn’t know how long, there’s footsteps on the terrace.

“Hi.”

He chuckles dryly. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Do what?”

“Comfort me. I’m just having a moment.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.”

They stay silent but Magnus has been never been a fan of silence so he asks, “How did you know I was here?”

It’s a stupid question, really. But atleast it’s a question. Atleast they’ll talk.

Because Magnus doesn’t know how long he can go on without Alec talking to him.

Ten years was too long.

“So,” he drags his words, “What was in your time capsule?”

“A list,” Alec chuckles, but it’s weak.

He knows that as well. They had written put their time capsules together. Right next to each other. But they hadn’t shown each other what they had written.

“Stop peaking,” Magnus recalls Alec squealing as he tried to peek into Alec’s list.

“Come on, show me.”

“No.”

Magnus had dragged his finger along Alec’s neck then, as he got closer and purred against his ear, “Please darling. It’s me.”

Alec’s body had shivered under his touch. “Stop. I know what you’re trying to do.”

“And what would that be?” He grinned.

He had tried some more but Alec had not shown him.

That day, it had felt impossible that there would come a day when they would actually get to open that. Ten years had felt too long at the time.

Right now, he can’t even recall where the past ten years went.

“You want to see it?” Alec suggests.

Magnus’s eyes widen. “You will show me?”

“Why not?” Alec shrugs. “We’ve got nothing to lose.”

The words sting, burning a red and angry feeling inside of him but he tries not to show it at the surface. “Okay.”

Alec passes a piece of paper to him.

Magnus takes a deep breath and turns it.

Alec’s scrawny handwriting brings out a smile out of him.

1. Leave Idris.

2. Come out to everyone.

3. Become an archery player.

4. Get Max and Izzy and Jace out of his parents control.

5. Marry Magnus.

A choked sob leaves Magnus’s mouth. And still, he can find in himself to be incredibly proud that Alec was able to fulfil four out of the five things.

“Four out of five isn’t bad,” he tries to keep lightness in his voice but fails miserably.

“I guess,” Alec says, his voice tight.

Before anyone says another word, Magnus takes out the piece of paper from his pocket and passes it to Alec.

He avoids his gaze as Alec reads the words.

Magnus’s list wasn’t really a list. It contains of only one thing and Magnus couldn’t even fulfil that.

There’s just words that he knows will mock him for an eternity.

Mama is sick. But don’t worry, stay with Alec. He will make everything okay. He will make you okay.

A hurt noise leaves Alec’s mouth this time and he feels his own heart splintering. He wants to hug the man and tell him that he’s sorry. That it wasn’t his fault. That he’s good. But he does none of that.

“Magnus—“ Alec says brokenly.

He knows what Alec is asking. Magnus didn’t plan to ever tell anyone—especially Alec about this but he is tired—so tired of the pain, of the weight of the secret paining him for a decade.

For all the love he doesn’t know what to do with.

For their hopeful teenaged selves that believed nothing could come between them but something—Magnus, did.

“You needed to leave.”

“What?”

“If you had stayed in Idris, you would have died. You were dying here under the weight of your parents expectations and you needed to leave this town. I could not be another thing between you and your freedom,” he says hurriedly, the air around him closing.

“Magnus, what are you talking—?”

“You had that scholarship in your hand, Alexander,” Magnus breathes harshly, almost gasping. “I couldn’t let you stay for me.”

“Your mom was dying, Magnus,” Alec says harshly, and the words hurt but they’re true. “Of course I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay for you.”

“I couldn’t let that happen,” he admits. “You had a whole life, a whole career ahead of you. I couldn’t stop you.”

“You didn’t have to ask. I would have done anyways,” Alec all but screams and it feels almost cathartic, that the other man is finally screaming.

He’s positive Alec hasn’t screamed in a decade.

“You think I don’t know that?” Magnus exhales. “That’s why I had to do what I did.”

There’s silence then. Just their loud breathing audible.

Before Alec speaks, as tired and pained as he feels, “You broke my heart, Magnus.”

Tears stream down his face and he wipes them off harshly. “I’m sorry.”

“All I did was love you,” Alec whispers. “And then I didn’t understand.”

“I did not want you to understand, Alexander. For that, I am incredibly sorry.”

They stay silent then. Not knowing what to do with all of this.

At least now, Alec has all the answers.

He thinks it’s time for him to leave. He told Alec everything there was to know. Now he needs to leave this town and these people again.

It’s the most unexpected and magical thing in the world when Alec speaks after a few minutes, “You want to go for a walk?”

————————————————-

As they talk; Magnus will find out about Max, Alec’s three year old son. Alec will show him a picture and it would be the cutest kid in the world.

Five years later, Magnus will make sure that Alec crosses off the fifth thing off his list too.

And in his vows, he thanks Alec for making him okay.

————-

#aahh I love me a good second chance #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood

[channieandhisgoonsquad]

Han Jisung gives me so much vibes of "friends to lovers with heavy sexual tension". Like, you guys are best friends and trust each other blindly for everything. You act like siblings, until you lost contact for some reason and, when you guys meet again, you start to see each other in different lights

I recently watched The Summer I Got Pretty season two and while I can't fucking stand the MC, I think Jisung fits the vibes of the boys

Title: Your Foolish Mind (part 1)

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: all of the angst, so much sadness

Comments: Okay, don't come at me for this, but this is part one I SWEAR! I will write more! I just wanted to get this little drabble out in the air. You know me, I love a little drabble that leaves readers on the edge of their seats with sweat dripping down their foreheads.

You swore your eyes were deceiving you. Of course, you knew you had lived in the same city, but the last time you had talked was when you were sixteen. Is that really Han Jisung?

As you sat in the local cafe enjoying your matcha latte, you just kept staring at the man that sat at the table across the way. He looked like him, kinda. He was wearing a bucket hat and looked like he was trying to remain incognito. You knew why, you were online just as much as the next young adult.

But, being the considerate human, you didn’t want to just approach this person because it could be someone else or you could be exposing the young idol. So, you decided to do what any unsure person would do.

You got up to get a stirring stick for your hot latte that you didn’t need. As you walked directly in front of his table, he didn’t look up at all.

Siiiigh.

As you stood at the condiments table, full of things you didn’t need, you debated on the stupidity of your antics.

Sure, this could be your old best friend from high school that you had always felt things for. He was so funny and so sweet to you, despite him being full of himself. But, in your eyes, it was totally understandable. That kid was going places, and you knew it.

The two of you were so close that your families knew each other and knew your favorite snacks and movies.

But, as soon as he started doing a lot more at JYPE, he didn’t have time to hardly be at classes anymore and you missed him.

When you had processed that your best friend just didn’t have time to see you anymore, you allowed yourself to hang out with some of the other friends you had. You stilled talked to him, but it wasn’t the same when you accepted your differences in paths.

While you were thinking about your past with him, a man reached past you to grab some sugar and you felt like such a weirdo just staring at the table. So, you grabbed your stirrer to make sure you didn’t just leave with nothing.

As you turned around, you came up with one last ditch effort to get noticed. You walked past the table and dropped your stick dramatically.

“Ahh shit.” You mumbled as you reached down to grab the stick that had fallen. As you crouched, you also cringed at how dumb you are. All to figure out if this man might be someone you used to-

“Y/n?” You heard softly spoken from above you.

You looked up to see the man in question. As he stared into your eyes, you realized those were indeed the same doe eyes you had fallen for years ago.

"Oh my god, it is you!" He continued as you remained shocked at both the fact that it is him and that your plan worked. The man stood and reached for your hand to lift you and pull you into a full embrace. You just stood there like a statue as his hug encompassed you, "Please sit with me!"

"Han? Oh! Yeah, let me grab my things." You scurried away, now consumed with thoughts of how you were supposed to handle being so good at this small manipulation. You didn't actually think of what you would say to him; the man you let leave your life without a second thought.

As you returned, Han pulled the empty seat across from him out and helped you place all your things. He had pulled the mask off his face so that you could see how happy he was at this surprise. His cheeks were still as fluffy as you remember, if not a little more shaped with his maturity.

"So, y/n, how have you been? I feel like we haven't really talked since sophomore year." He began, seemingly a little nervous as he fidgeted with the hem of the sleeve of his big sweater.

You smiled sadly at the comment, remembering that it had indeed been that long because of your decision. "We definitely haven't spoken since we were sixteen, but I've been well. Nearly done with college and trying to decide what comes after. How are you?"

"Wow. I feel like it was just yesterday you accidentally spilled a whole pot of ramen on the kitchen floor, and I took the fall so my mom would let you keep coming over. What ever happened to us? We used to be so close and then you were just not around anymore. I've been okay; busy with my music."

Oh god, you didn't expect him to notice, let alone bring it up. You thought he had been too busy to notice you fade out of his life. The tears were threatening to make an appearance just like they had when you made the executive decision to stop talking to him. "Oh. Well, you were busy back then, too. I'm sure it just came with our different paths. I'm glad you've gotten to do your music. I've been proud ever since I heard you were debuting."

His smile faded, but the picking at his clothes didn't stop. You knew his ticks and always tried to stop them when you were little. "No... I tried to reach out. I would show up to your house, but your parents said you weren't there or were out with others."

Fuck. Anytime he cries, you cry. He can't do this to you. "... I'm sorry."

"What did I do, y/n? Why did you leave me behind?" He whispered, looking down into his coffee mug, spinning it in circles on the plate it came with. You know he wasn't looking at you because he would start crying too.

"Han, we don't need to talk about-"

"I do," He said weakly as he looked up at you. The tears piling up in the crease of his eyes. His devastation would be your downfall, "I was so in love with you. Part of me always has been even after you broke my heart for no reason. You didn't know, probably, that I loved you. You aren't that cruel are you?"

That's it. How could he say this to you? It had been years since you spoke. And now, he has the audacity to confess his love for you. Your tears broke through. And as you wiped them away with the back of your hand, you felt anger. Anger at yourself for not giving him a say, anger that he didn't try harder, anger that he was saying this to you in such a public place.

"I can't- I just- I can't do this." You grabbed your bag and turned away to walk out the door. Tears falling steadily past your cheeks and into your open mouth as you panted from the heaviness that you had pressed against for so long. The salty taste wasn't even noticed as you swung the exit door open and tried to make a quick exit. You chose to go to your right, not caring where you were headed.

You could hear the desperate man behind you. His steps getting louder as he ran in front of you and stopped you where you stood.

"No!" He exclaimed sharply with his pointer finger aimed at your chest, "You don't get to walk away again without answering that one simple question. Nor do you get to cry about whatever this is! Just tell me what I did wrong, please?"

You huffed, trying to regain some composure, but it was impossible with his beautiful face becoming discolored and blotchy from his emotions bubbling forth in such a traumatic way. He was meant to be this handsome man that you only dreamed about. But now, you didn't know what to say or what to do.

But, you can't lie to him. That's probably why you just let yourself fade away from his life without a word. " You- you were just so busy between classes and your idol trainee things that I felt like I was taking up space where I didn't belong. Your path didn't have room for little old me. You know I can't lie to you. So, I just walked away. Despite the huge crush I had on you, which made me more absolute that I would get my feelings crushed in the end.

"All of those beautiful idol girls that wanted to hang out with you! I stood no chance. I'm so boring-looking compared to them. My life wasn't going anywhere fun like yours; I'm about to graduate as a pediatrician for god's sake!

"You need someone that understands the lifestyle and can handle it and make you happy. I know I was destined to be the childhood friend that was forgotten, or the girl that confessed her feelings and left anyways. It was just too much for-"

"Wait, you're talking so fast, y/n. Did you say you had a crush on me?" He grabbed your shoulder to emphasize his need to speak.

"Yeah, I did. crush might be putting it lightly, but I wanted you around me for the rest of our lives."

"I knew we were both dumb teenagers, but you're really taking first place in that competition." He cackled to himself while he wiped away his years with his sweater-covered hand.

"What?!" You punched him in the chest, a normal response to his teasing from when you were children. "You can't call me dumb! I just told you I had feelings for you!"

"Yah! So did I! Wait, you said did? As in, past tense?"

The air between you was tense and uncomfortably quiet as you took in his question. His face was still red, but the tears had stopped, as had yours. You looked into his eyes once again, remembering the butterflies he always gave you when he shifted his tone form silly to serious with the agility of a track star.

"I mean... It felt like a 'did' until you called my name in the shop. But how could I ever not feel weak to the knees when you look at me? If I had known-"

"Fuck, y/n, if I had known the real reason, I would've kissed you in front of everyone the next time I saw you in that hallway. I thought you hated me..."

You reached out to wipe off a singular tear that had escaped just then but retracted out of nervousness. Han wouldn't allow that though and pulled your arm back up to his face to cup his soft cheek. You wiped it away carefully, "I could never hate you, Hannie."

He spoke clearly, "I would've made sure there was room for you in my life. I would've quit my training to make sure you knew how important you were to me."

You scoffed, "I would've never allowed that. I would've walked right up to JYP-nim himself and asked him to take you back."

"Hell yeah you would've. You always stuck up for me when my anxiety got the best of me." He smiled as you continued to caress his cheek with such tender care that he thought he was dreaming. "Can I kiss you? I want to see if it's as good as I always wanted it to be."

"Please do... I hope I don't disappoint you." You stepped closer, placing your other hand on his shoulder while he grabbed both sides of your neck with his own.

"You could never."

My Spooky Pookies: @lyramundana @2chopsticks2eyes @sweetracha @moonlightndaydreams @linlinaert @caitlyn98s @stolasisyourparent @queenmea604 @diorrxluvskz @noellllslut @queen-in-the-shadows @antoniorhinothethird @chaotic-world-of-the-j @its-hannjisung @myprwttyhan

#please don't cry #hannie is my favorite human #stray kids #skz #han jisung #i love him #loml #hannie #stray kids gif #stray kids han #han jisung gifs #Han Jisung gif #han jisung angst #han jisung drabbles #han jisung imagines #han jisung x y/n #han jisung x reader #han jisung x you

[miracles-and-butterflies]

Did reincarnated Mirabel go to school after being reincarnated?

I’ve been waiting to answer this, actually!

Technically, yes.

For a bit of a reminder, Encanto is a rural town stuck in the 1890s. School ended at sixteen. Because of Camilo’s birthday, 1950 (the year the film takes place) would be his last year, he would have finished school not long after Antonio’s birthday. Mirabel would have had one more year to go, had she not died.

(Before somebody comments they are only three months apart in age - Camilo was born in December 1934 and Mirabel was born in 1935. None of their birthdays are in that middle gap that would allow them to possible be put in the same year. They wouldn’t be in the same year. And a lot of the time boys and girls were separated anyways).

I digress, when Mirabel was reincarnated and kept basically the same age (she’s now sixteen), going back to school and finishing that year was an option for her. And, not wanting to deal with change and thinking school would bring back a sense of normality, Mirabel insisted she wanted to go back to school; possibly continue until she properly finished school. (Most, though not all, schools nowadays continued to seventeen/eighteen).

She started at a local high school in October 2021. And… she hated it.

It was very different to what she knew of school and far from her normal. The work was fine - she’s intelligent and a brilliant academic - it was the modernisation of school and the enforced social aspect she couldn’t handle. She didn’t like moving from class to class, she didn’t like being forced to work in groups and talk to other kids, she didn’t like using the new technology, etc. However, she didn’t think it made sense for her to not finish the year and get the qualifications at the end of it, so she stuck with it. But she was very miserable.

(This got worse with the release of Encanto in November. Not related to school, but her mental state really took a toll).

Parents’ evenings were always very interesting as Mirabel obviously doesn’t have parents. Dolores, Isabela and Luisa took it in turns for each class, rather than only one or all of them going. You can imagine how chaotic that was.

Mirabel sat her mock exams in January and achieved obnoxiously high marks, which impressed the teachers as they are always made to be harder than the real thing. To nobody’s surprise, she nailed her real exams a few months later. The others joked about how she was free of school. However… She was encouraged to stay on another year by her teachers to get higher qualifications to allow her to apply university, which is what she wanted to do.

She enjoyed her second year of modern school a little bit better. There isn’t much to note on. She was encouraged to stay and complete her final year, but she turned it down; having gotten the qualifications she needed and not caring enough about doing all “the fun-day senior nonsense”, as she put it.

From what I have researched, kids in Scottish schools have the option to leave each year after they turn sixteen/when they complete first exams and receive qualifications. So it’s perfectly legal.

(They were reincarnated in Scotland, in case you weren’t aware. Well, they were reincarnated in England but moved to Scotland. That’s different ask though).

She did apply and got a place at her chosen university, but is delaying it. Mainly due to anxiety. She’s Mirabel.

If anyone was interested in what exactly Mirabel got qualifications for:

Highers:

Classical Studies - A

English (Literature/Literacy) - B

History - A+

Mathematics - C+

Media Studies - A

Philosophy - A

RMPS (Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies) - A+

Advanced Highers:

English (Literature/Literacy) - A

History - A+

RMPS (Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies) - A+

Italics were her second year subjects.

#encanto #ask me anything #encanto reincarnation au #isabela madrigal #mirabel madrigal #luisa madrigal #dolores madrigal

[suleikashideaway]

All this love for ff8 flying around tumblr right now has got me thinking. 

So many people were so moved by this game that twenty-five years later we’re all banging our fists on the table and crying about it? It leaves me stunned. For so long I thought I was the only one. 

[Huge text post under the cut. As I wrote this I realized just how much soul-baring I was doing. This was emotional to write and just as emotional to share. Thank you to those of you who bravely paved the way with your personal stories so that I would feel strong enough to do the same. Sorry this got stupid-long lol]

My own journey with ff8, as it turns out, is very much tied to my journey in discovering writing. It overwhelms me to think of how my life is so much better thanks to both things. And how my life was potentially saved by both things.

Back in the early aughts I was not privileged enough to have any gaming consoles. My best friend, though, had just gotten a PS1 and the very first game she had was ff8. I would go over to her house every single Sunday afternoon and sit, transfixed, as she played through it. I had never seen anything like it before. We would read the dialogue boxes out loud (I was always Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa, she was always Squall, Irvine, and Quistis) and she was kind enough to save the important cut scenes on separate memory slots so I could see whatever she had played throughout the week. 

I remember adoring the cutesyness of Squall and Rinoa’s dynamic and crying when I saw the ending. But there was something more to it. I felt such an intense desire to have the game for myself, to play it alone and absorb everything in it. We finally got a little money and got a PS1, but my mom would only get games that the whole family could enjoy, so it was Crash and Spyro for a long time until I finally, finally got ff8 for myself. 

The intensity of Squall and Rinoa’s drama and romance was so important to my passionate little teenaged heart. He jumped out into space to save her!! And she brought him back from time compression with just her love!!! It was the story that set the bar for romantic love. 

And Squall…damn, I remember sitting, unblinking, at the scene when he’s curled up in bed…At age sixteen, seventeen, watching Squall voice these things was big:

“I’m fine all by myself now. I have all the skills I need to survive. I’m not a child anymore. That’s a lie. I don’t know anything. I’m confused.”

At the time, I didn’t know why I was so spellbound by that scene, and many of the other scenes of Squall’s inner monologues, but it makes so much sense now. I was a child made to believe I had to be fully competent and capable from way too young an age, parentified and emotionally stunted, and I was about to be kicked out into the world when I didn’t know a single fucking thing about it. 

But my love for ff8 was very private. I read some fanfic to extend that feeling of being in Squall and Rinoa’s world, but other than that, I never outwardly expressed how much this game stuck with me. I was definitely an awkward, shy kid, and luckily I found a group of weirdos in high school who had no fear in sharing their love for things like video games and anime and what-have-you. But still! Even with that! I barely engaged with the few friends who had a love for ff8. It was all very intimate for me. It was my private world. And part of me was scared of taking it too far, even amongst the nerds who took everything too far. I didn’t want to stand out in that way. I had the overwhelming urge to appear normal, and sane. And anyway I didn’t know how to articulate it.

There is a scene from my college years that is so burned in my memory and I think highlights this. I was in a very small major and so I had all the same classes with the same small group of people. In these classes was a very cool girl who I admired. One day someone brought up video games and I remember feeling paralyzed, like, “I can’t bring up my weirdly intense passion for this game! Everyone will think I’m so strange!” so I lied and said I had never played a single video game in my life. And in comes Cool Girl and starts going on and on about how much she loved final fantasy 8 and I could not fathom it. I stayed silent. I was not cool enough to go back on my lie and admit that I was just as into that game, if not more into it, and that I still thought about it regularly.

I kept my love of the game to myself, and played it once or twice when I went home on college breaks. It was enough. I was busy, and burnt out, and turns out, severely depressed on top of it all. 

That first major depressive episode lasted years. I managed to get out of it on my own through a variety of life experiences and found myself in my mid-twenties, looking for love. And what was more, I knew I had to find my Squall. I had to find someone who would constantly be willing to save me from my own flightiness, from my overly-passionate heart that didn’t think things through and constantly caused my own messes, and tell me (with brutal honesty) when to knock my shit off.

And I found him!

What I didn’t know is that I was really Rinoa all along. And Rinoa, my friends, cinnamon roll that she is, has a lot of shit to work out, too. 

It was helpful as I started spiraling into depression again: what if Rinoa and Squall were together and happy, but Rinoa had a major emotional breakdown in her late twenties? I imagined it obsessively. Thinking of their future was the only way I could fall asleep at night. (lol, any of this sound familiar, @angelosearch? <3)

Their story took such a hold on me. I could feel it wanting to scream itself out of my fingertips to the point that I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I started secretly typing it up, and every time I sat at the keys, I felt better.

And I stopped disassociating. I started sleeping better. I stopped hiding in the bathroom to cry at all hours of the day. I stopped thinking that I didn’t deserve to be here. I stopped therapy. 

I felt like I had been given a second chance at life. 

About a year ago, I was finally ready to consider posting my ff8 fanfic to share with the world. I had been writing it for over a year, and brewing it in my head for (get this) about eight years before that.

I could tell, though, that I was not a Good Writer. So I put on my bravest face and went searching for a beta. I immediately found one, my amazing @failed221b-chill, who I’ve gushed about before. And my world blossomed. I discovered the true joy that writing brings me, and even just writing this essay is way better than any therapy session I’ve ever had. 

I’m finally coming into my own. I’m finally realizing I had no reason to hide my passionate self. I have to share my inner world - it’s what makes me who I am, and only in that way can I truly connect with those around me. In fact, I literally went and bought an ff8 tank top and wore it in public yesterday and felt like a fucking superhero for doing so. 

So. All that said. I’m so incredibly grateful to be here in this moment, sharing all this love for a game that clearly has affected so many lives for the better. Happy anniversary, Final Fantasy VIII! And to anyone who read this far, I love you.

#ff8 #squall #rinoa #writing #ffviii anniversary #personal essay #my writing

[artzychic27]

Inspired by this post, (https://artzychic27.tumblr.com/post/712203175464239104/i-love-ever-after-high-au-what-would-the-events/amp ) what would the mosnter high movies go like in School for Monstrous Youths?

Ignore how they're ordered

New Ghoul In School

It's Nino's first day at DuPont School For Monstrous Youths

He's fifteen days old and he likes to think he's... Well acquainted with monsters mentally his age. Though, he's only ever learned social interaction from his books, so... This won't go horrible

He's just gotta keep his limbs attached, try not to electrocute anyone, and the school year should go fine... What could go wrong?

A lot. He accidentally electrocuted a hallway full of students when one of his bolts came loose, had to fish his hand out of the fountain, and ran into a very awful harpy who may or may not have threatened him

But, there's a silver lining. He made three friends... He thinks

There's Kim, Marinette, and Nathaniel

He and Nathaniel sit in the back of class together, and Nathaniel keeps him awake through the lectures with some funny drawings

Kim got them out of a zombie traffic jam in the hallway, so he owes him for that

And Marinette redid his stitches when she noticed a few threads coming loose

Marinette: I love your thread!

Nino: Thanks, I love yours! What brand is that? Michael Gore?

Marinette: Ooh, you know your stuff!

Long-story sort, Nino finds his group of friends amongst his classmates, save for Lila, and things are going nicely until lunch one day

Lila decides to be petty and humiliate him during lunch by messing with his bolts, causing a power-outage all through school that also fries a few students' cell phones

This gets Nino sent to detention and causes students to treat him like the plague despite him explaining over and over that he had nothing to do with it

Fortunately, Alya comes to his aid, showing a video of the incident on her phone which shows Lila tampering with Nino's bolts without him noticing

Now Lila has detention because she's terrible, and Nino owes Alya big time for helping him

Alya: Buy me dinner Saturday night.

Nino: What?

Alya: Did I stutter, cutie?

Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love?

It's almost Marc's birthday!

He's gonna be sixteen, so this calls for a big ass party!

Nathaniel, meanwhile, has no idea what to buy him, and each of his friends' suggestions only makes him more anxious

Kim: Get him his favorite treats!

Rose: Flowers crowns are for any occasion!

Nino: A jacket he can’t chew through?

Marinette: Made it already.

Ivan: What is point of gifts on birth anniversary? You grow old, older, then be burried in snow.

So, he goes to Sacqueline, daughter of Eros for help

Meanwhile, The Science Kids are all going over the plans for Marc's party when they get on the topic of what Marc hopes Nathaniel will get him for his birthday, and in all honesty, he doesn't care

Marc: Oh, I'm not materialistic like that. I mean, don't get me wrong, what guy doesn't love presents? But I think I'm a little over that ever since Lucien.

Science Kids: ... WHOM?!

Lucien Rebois, the most charming human student at Marc's old school, Vadim Bastille. He could have had any monster, but he chose Marc

He doted on him, bought him so many gifts, and had Marc completely wrapped around his finger

But, sadly, Marc and his family had to flee due to an old grudge about The Silver Bridge, which they did not cause to collapse!

Marc: ... But, that's all in the past! So, Jean, any chance we can use the catacombs for the party?

Jean: Lemme provide the music, and you've got yourself a deal. Now tell me more about your romantic hunk of a man.

Lila, having overheard the conversation, hatches a plan to get back at the ghouls for not inviting her to Marc's Sweet 16

Meanwhile, Jean, Rose, Myléne, Ivan, and Reshma work to clear out the catacombs for Marc’s party. Of course, they have to be wary of the Pit Of Eternal Odor in the middle of the room, so they make a note to section that off so no one falls in... Hehehe

Lila begins her plan by calling Lucien (while pretending to be Marc's friend) and telling him that Marc misses him, which causes Lucien to transfer to DuPont as the school’s newest human student

The art club is helping Nathaiel put together a scrapbook of all the significant moments in his and Marc's life when suddenly, Lucien makes his flashy entrance and dazzles everyone in the school with his charming smile

Marc: *Tiny gasp* Luci!

Lucien: Emerald! *Hugs hum*

Nathaniel, of course, gets a little jealous when he sees Lucien and Marc hugging, but calms down a bit when Marc introduces Lucien to the others as his ex... Just a bit

They spend the day together, just to catch up as friends. Well, Marc wants to catch up as friends, Lucien is still certain Marc loves him and attempts to put a few moves on him, but Marc is totally oblivious

Simon: That boy's trying to put the moves on you! I see it with my own eye!

Marc: What? No, Lucien would never do something like that; he's too nice. Besides, he knows I'm dating Nath.

Cosette: And I know there's a stylish new belt buckle that costs five thousand euros, but I still want it.

When Lucien and Marc hang out again, it's not long before Marc brings up Nathaniel, and this is where Lucien gets pissed. But, he keeps his composure

Still acting like such a nice guy, he suggests Marc fly him up to the bell tower like old times. But once they arrive, Lucien corners Marc and hypnotizes him into loving him

Haha! Surprise! Lucien's a bad guy! Ah, you all knew that. He's learned a couple of tricks from the witches at Vadim. By that, I mean he threatened them with fire. And the effects of the hypnosis turn the victim's eyes red

Ismael: ... What the fuck?! *Gestures to Marc and Lucien kissing* Is no one else seeing this?!

Denise: Oh, you bet I am! Marc! What do you think Nath would have to say about this? You know, Nathaniel, your loving boyfriend?!

Marc: ... Who?

Science Kids: Le gasp!

Zoé: That's it! I'm out! *Walks away*

The Science Kids and Akuma Class find out what's going on with Marc when one of Nathaniel's gargoyle friends mentions they saw Lucien cornering Marc in the bell tower during one of their shifts

They send Alya to spy on Lucien while he's behaving like any villain and monologuing his plan in private- To make Marc his boyfriend once again, have him hang off of his every word, and find a spell to turn him human. Oh, and she finds out Lila set this whole thing up

Alya: Ooh, you bitch.

*Meanwhile*

Nathaniel: *Loudly crying*

Adrien: It'll be okay-

Nathaniel: SHUT UP! When I see them, I'm gonna skin that harpy, and crush Lucien's skull with my bare hands!

Aurore: Or something non-violent.

Ismael: Right. We get Reshma to paralyze Lila, and then I'll-

Aurore: No nunchucks!

Ismael: Damnit.

The gang then turns to Sacqueline, who agrees to help them by shooting Marc with one of her arrows so he will fall in love with Nathaniel again

However, Lila foils their plan, and Sacqueline and Nathaniel end up falling in love with each other

Chloé: RA FUCKING DAMNIT!

Alix: This officially cannot get any worse!

Kim: Eew! They're kissing now!

After hours of research, Max, Simon, and Sabrina discover there's a way to break the spell of Sacqueline's bow so Nathaniel can break Lucien's spell over Marc

They can break the spell by smashing the bow, and they decide to do it at Marc's party, where everyone will be

On the night of the party, Marinette is about to smash the bow, but it's quickly stolen by Lila, who begins to shoot random monsters, including Lacey and Max, Simon and Cosette, Denise and Adrien, and Jean and Mireille. Kim then hatches a plan to use himself as bait to distract Lila while the others get the bow

It works until Kim is shot and falls in love with Chloé, but Nino removes his hand and throws it, which knocks the bow out of Lila's grasp

Ondine spills water on the floor, and Ivan freezes it which causes Lila to slip and fall, and she ends up dangling from the banner over the Pit Of Eternal Odor

Nino smashes the bow, which frees everyone from the spell

Alix shouts at Nathaniel to get him to show Marc his gift, but he is pinned against the wall by Lucien, who is surprisingly strong against a 370-pound gargoyle

However, Nathaniel still manages to convince Marc to look at the scrapbook, which reminds him why he fell in love with Nathaniel and breaks free from Lucien's spell

Then he confronts Lucien and throws him off Nathaniel

Marc: ... I remember EVERYTHING! You were the worst boyfriend ever! I stayed your pretty little trophy wife while you bought me a crap ton of superficial gifts I never even liked, threatened every guy that talked to me, endlessly touched me, gave backhanded compliments about my appearance, and made me wear a fucking collar like a FUCKING DOG! And if that weren't enough, you were the worst! Kisser! EVER!

Marinette: Oh, fuck! He went there! Alya! Simon! Tell me you're recording this!

Simon: *Recording the whole thing on his phone* I got everything after 'trophy wife.'

In a fit of rage, Marc pushes Lucien into the Pit Of Eternal Odor, he then falls on Lila, and they fall into it together. When they climb back up, they are then tossed out of the party by Chloé and Zoé's mummy bouncers.

Things end off with Marc and Nathaniel sharing a kiss

Escape From Skull Shores

For spring break, Ondine invites her friends to come with her to the Great Scarrier Reef. Of course, Chloé being Chloé borrows the family yacht

Zoé: Does mom know you took the yacht?

Chloé: Should I care?

Zoé: Nah.

But, on the way, the ship is attacked by a kraken and sinks, leaving the two classes stuck on a small raft.

Fortunately, nearby are two humans; Bartleby Farnum, an eccentric show-and salesman and his assistant Kipling, who covers his face with a sack because he is “too horrible” to look at. Planning to exhibit the, Farnum saves them

However, once he lays eyes on Nino, he gets this weird look on his face

Alya: Are you checking out my boyfriend?

Farnun: What? Of course not!

Alya: He’s taken!

Farnum takes the monsters to his home on Skull Shores, a skull-shaped island in the middle of the ocean, claiming he has to pick up supplies before going to Great Scarrier Reef

Once docked, the group is welcomed by the local population, the Tiki. Farnum convinces them to keep the group entertained while he… Takes care of things

Chloé expects to be treated like royalty by the Tiki, but to her shock and frustration, they giving that treatment to Nino for some reason. They even give him a necklace

Suspicious by Farnum and the Tiki’s behavior, Max, Kagami, Ondine, and Kim- during the evening- sneak around aboard Farnum’s boat to find out what he’s up to

Kagami: What can we expect to find?

Max: Well, most psychopaths keep momentos from their crimes. He may have them hidden somewhere. Look for a secret compartment, likely under the floorboards, behind a painting-

Kim: *Finds an old box* Or under his bed.

Max: That works.

They find an old roll of film and play it, discovering that Farnum had a partner who looked exactly like Nino. As the film continues, they learn that the partner was sacrificed by the Tiki to a beast that inhabits the island

Back on the island, Farnum reveals the existence of the beast to the students and how an explorer was able to soothe it

With that, the Tiki suddenly tie Nino up, and Farnum elaborates that the Tiki gave the explorer to the beast to keep him from attacking them

Alya: WHAT?!

Ivan: I knew strange man had ulterior motive.

Juleka: Then why didn’t you say anything?

Ivan: Poor timing.

A moment later the beast appears. The students are shocked and Nino is in a vulnerable position. Farnum and the Tiki launch their attack, throwing spears at the beast but the spears are not enough to harm the beast, and it leaves with Nino

The Tiki people force Denise, Cosette, Mireille, Simon, Ismael, Ivan, Alix, Adrien, Zoé, Chloé, and Marinette into a pitfall trap, while the others escape

Kim, Ondine, Kagami, and Max return shortly afterwards to find that they are too late. The four set off to save Nino on their own.

The next morning when Nino awakens a shy, handsome guy is with him. He then remembers the monster and tells him they should run while it is gone.

The boy answers that won't be necessary, as the beast and he are the same creature. He introduces himself as Andy, and explains that he changes into a huge beast if he experiences hate, anger, or fear, whether his own or another's

Nino: *Checking out Andy’s abs* Yeah… That’s… That’s bad… You, uh… Got a girlfriend or boyfriend?

Back In the village, Cosette and Ismael trick the remaining Tiki down the pit, and Ivan freezes then, allowing the group to use the Tiki as stairs to escape

Before they leave, they hear the Tiki beg for forgiveness. Figuring they can be of some use, Ivan unfreezes them, and the Tiki join forces with the students to stop Farnum

In the jungle, Kim, Ondine, Max, and Kagami are spying on Farnum and realize he has a tracking device planted on Nino via the necklace

Spotting them, Farnum orders Kipling to capture Kim, Kagami, and Max. Ondine runs off and dives into the water

As Farnum mocks Kim for his “coward girlfriend,” Kagami sympathizes with the timid Kipling, seeing that he isn't anything like his cruel master, and tries to encourage him to not be ashamed of whatever he's hiding under the mask despite what people like Farnum tell him. However, Kipling declines, certain he can rely on Farnum

While Andy and Nino walk around the island, the duo notices movement in the bushes and Andy, thinking it's Farnum or his minions, charges in to attack, only to find the surprised group of Reshma, Jean, Juleka, Luka, Rose, Aurore, Marc, Nathaniel, Sabrina, Alya, Lacey, and Myléne

Marc: Nino! We’re here to save you… And your rugged shirtless gentleman friend.

Jean: I saw him first!

Alya: Babe, I would like us to become a polycule.

Luka: Back of the line!

Nathaniel: Amateurs. *Pretends to trip* Oh, the pain! I need a muscular hunk to carry me the rest of the way in his big, strong arms! *Andy picks him up*

Lacey: You sly little bitch.

Suddenly, Farnum is spotted. Andy runs away but doesn't make it far before he has to hide and overhears the entire exchange between the students and Farnum

Though Farnum initially has the upper hand, Mireille, Simon, Ismael, Ivan, Alix, Adrien, Zoé, Chloé, and Marinette make their appearance with the Tiki who turn on Farnum

Only mildly bothered, Farnum takes his cane and makes a magnet appear, which pulls Nino to him. Threatening to suck the electricity from him with the magnet, Farnum shouts for the beast to appear

Andy, outraged that Farnum would go to great lengths just to get to him, changes into his beast form

Lacey: Fuck, that’s hot.

Andy can't do anything but comply with Farnum's orders, lest he risks Nino’s life. He changes back and turns himself in

Back at Farnum's boat, Farnum forces Andy to get in the boat as the students helplessly watch. However, the group is surprised to see Ondine rise from the water, backed up by a small army of dolphins as well as the kraken that destroyed the students' boat

Kim: YEEEEAAAAHHH!! MY GIRLFRIND’S NOT A COWARD, YOU FUCKER!

This time, the kraken destroys Farnum's boat, then picks up Farnum and flings him into the jungle while Kipling runs after him

After the kraken repairs the yacht, the students resume their spring break trip, taking Andy with them. However, they forgot about Nino’s necklace

With Spring Break over, Nino tries to make Andy feel at home at DuPont, which turns out to be more work than he initially thought due to Andy's long-time isolation, he is unfamiliar with 21st century technology

However, a few students make him feel very welcomed

Nathaniel: Andy, you know, it’s customary for new students to try and carry a gargoyle.

Lacey: And to let at least five students every hour feel your biceps.

Luka: I think I’ll start.

Marc: Enough. All of you. *Wraps his arms around Andy* The nerve, trying to take advantage of a new student. *Feels Andy’s biceps* Simply cruel.

After some days, Damocles orders everyone to the auditorium for a speech about tolerance by a human guest speaker

While the human appears merely eccentric at first, he starts making all sorts of backhanded insults at the students, and appears particularly intent on tormenting Andy

Lila: I don’t know who this bitch is, but I am loving him.

Mme. Mendeleiev demands that he leave, as his speech has nothing to do with tolerance. The man only pesters Andy further, and he is pushed away by him, causing his disguise to fall, exposing him as Farnum

Several students try to fight Farnum, but he is too quick and witty for them. He deflects Alix’s gaze with a mirror, turning her into stone, douses Lacey with a spray bottle, and uses bug spray on Marc and Reshma

Andy, pushed by the chaos, transforms and bursts through the roof, sending the other students and teachers fleeing for their lives as the ceiling comes down on them

Andy tries to escape, but Farnum and Kipling, show up on the roof, and Farnum tells Andy that, just as with Kipling, a freak like him has nowhere else to turn to than to a man like him

Though Andy agrees with Farnum's reasoning and again turns himself in, Nino hurries up to the roof and convinces him otherwise

Nino: Dude! You can become a student here! You’ll have somewhere to stay and hundreds of people looking to date you! So… Think about that.

Kipling, finally fed up with Farnum's abuse, takes off his mask, revealing that his ears are shaped like an elephant's, and stands up to Farnum before he picks him up and throws him into a tar pit

During his fall, Farnum crosses paths with a flock of birds, causing him to end up not only tarred, but feathered too. The humans Farnum had called to take Andy into custody mistake Farnum for the beast and capture him

Adrien: So… There’s just a monster patrol squadron here to capture you whenever someone calls?

Marinette: Fun, isn’t it?

Although he finally broke ties with Farnum, Kipling is still unsure whether he'll be accepted until he spots two girls who have elephant ears too and clearly think he's a looker

However, Damocles announces he has grave news. Due to the damages done to the school, Spring Break is extended with a week to get reparations done

Students: *Cheering*

Damocles: No! That is a bad thing!

Ghouls Rule

As each year prior to Halloween, the students of DuPont are shown a video to warn them of the dangers they might face up until after the holiday as Halloween traditionally is the day that the humans come out to hunt for monsters

Nino, who's about to experience his first Halloween ever, is terrified while the others are just bored from seeing the video so many times

The gang tells him not to worry, but a few monsters can’t help but share their experiences with humans

Alix: Whatshisface comes at my mom with a sword and slices her head clean off!

Lacey: They trapped my parents in lanterns and threw them in the water!

Nathaniel: They chiseled my father’s wings into little nubs and threw him off the chapel!

Alya: They tried to put my sisters in vacuums strapped on their backs!

Cosette: My old man got one of his horns stolen!

Kim: Pow! Silver bullet! Right in my uncle’s forehead! Dead upon impact!

Juleka: Holy water was everywhere!

Marc: I still wake up at night screaming, “PESTICIDE!”

Chloé: *Fearfully hugging Zoé* They were everywhere! They tried to burn us!

Sabrina: *Groans*

Everyone: *Gasps*

Chloé: That’s horrible! Sabrina, I’m so sorry.

Nino: None of you are helping!

As they are walking down the hallway, the school is egged & TP'ed. The students rush outside to find out who the vandals are and find two humans driving a pick-up truck warning them that Halloween is mere days ahead while throwing some more eggs, which hit many of the students

This event sets the student body on edge as they wonder if they are in danger and ponder on ways to get back at their attackers, even if Mme. Mendeleiv forbids retaliation

Meanwhile, Alya wants to write a story about Halloween and does some research in the library with Nino and Ivan, who notices a map among the books she's got with her; a map to the Hall of Halloween

They ask Jean, the resident catacombs expert if he knows anything about the place. However, he doesn't but is willing to help look for it. With the map, the four actually find the place and learn the true story of Halloween, a way for humans and monsters to celebrate together

Armed with this new knowledge, they return above ground, finding everything gathered outside around a mildly gruesome pumpkin display—another attack by the humans.

Adrien takes it lightly, believing the human students to be out of ideas, and picks up a pumpkin. This activates a mechanism that has all the students outside the target of a rain of pumpkins.

Damocles announces an emergency meeting in the auditorium, where he advises the students to not go outside without human disguise until Halloween is over

Nino protests and holds a speech about being proud of who you are and that he has discovered that Halloween used to be a holiday to celebrate monsters

However, the students take his speech the wrong way and declare they'll take back their holiday by force, and Chloé takes it upon herself to lead the movement with Sabrina as her right hand

Nino, Marinette, Adrien, Alya, Max, and Kim witness a number of students giving each other strange signals. Thanks to one very talkative gargoyle, they learn that there's a meeting in the courtyard later where the students will discuss their plans to get back at the humans.

After Chloé’s speech about taking back the holiday, the group goes into the catacombs to get to New Salem High to vandalize it like what had been done to DuPont

When they reach New Salem High, they find a huge Skull drawn onto the school's front side. As they are wondering what to do to top that kind of vandalism, the Police arrive to investigate the damage. The students run and, as per the Halloween Warning video's advice, hide in a variety of clever ways

Eventually, everyone makes their way in front of a certain house, where they discuss who could be responsible for the graffiti and how to get back to the catacombs.

Before they can move, the door opens and a girl, Aeon, invites them in for the party, thinking they are humans in Halloween costumes.

Inside, most wish to use the opportunity to still exact revenge, while others decide to just enjoy the party. Nino meets a human named Aeon, who takes a special interest in the new arrivals.

The monsters handle themselves well at the party until three more guests arrive: the two boys that trashed DuPont and their 'boss', Brigette Van Hellscream. Coming from a family of famed monster hunters, Brigette immediately suspects that some of the guests are monsters and is proven right when this one guy decides to check out Rose’s “costume”

Guy: Dude, that costume is rad.

Rose: Oh, uh… Thanks! Your costume is rad as well!

Guy: How do you get the bones so real? *Sticks his hand through Rose’s ribcage* … Uh…

Rose: PERVERT! *Removes her hand, and slaps him with it*

Guy: AAAAHH!!

Nino: AAAAAHHH!!

Lacey: *Her hair lights on fire* AAAAAHH!!

Adrien: WHY ARE WE SCREAMING?!

Marinette: I DON'T KNOW! AAAAAHHH!!

Chloé: AAAAAHHH!!

Marc: AAAAAAHHHH!!!

Random Guy: AAAAAAAAHHH!!

Kim: AAAAAAHHH!! *Takes a bite out of a sandwich* THIS IS GOOD! AAAAAHHH!!!

A fight between monsters and humans is prevented by Jess and Aeon, who point out that there is no proof they have to be afraid of them. But just then, a siren is heard outside, and everyone rushes out the door to see the police arresting Jean. When Brigette points out that there are more 'evil monsters' present, the rest of the students run, leaving Jean behind for the time being to be incarcerated for the vandalism to New Salem

Jean is taken to the police station and thrown in a cell where he demands to be released but the Sheriff taunts him by calling Jean Austin’s pet name from him, Songbird

Jean: … You wanna go ‘n repeat that, warden?

Sheriff: Go on! You’re the so called opera phantom! Sing us a song, songbird!

Jean: … Well. If you insist.

Cue a flashy Jailhouse Rock number as Jean escapes and makes all of the guards go deaf and/or insane

The police will obviously search DuPont, so he hides out in New Salem High. Using some makeup he always keeps on him, Jean makes his appearance more human-like and covers the hidden part of his face with his hair

They’re rightfully wary of their new environment, thinking everyone is ready to attack him for being a monster, until they realize that no one knows about their monster side. Everything’s fine until some jocks attempt to beat them up, but Jess and Aeon save them

Back at DuPont, all the students that went to New Salem have detention, and while there, they all try to figure out how to save Jean

Simon: My family stopped eating humans after that thing with the sirens, so that’s a no.

Nathaniel: Uh… Boiling oil?

Zoé: Oh! A mummy’s curse!

Cosette: Guys, I’ve picked locks with my horns, lemme at it.

Ivan: I say we throw big, heavy rocks.

Denise: Agreed.

Kim: Adrien! You’re a human! What do humans hate?!

Adrien: Uh… Sticking with New Year’s resolutions, taxes, spoilers to good movies, and family reunions.

Austin T: I don’t care if you turn those bastards to stone, burn them alive, eat them, or turn them into your mindless servants! I want my boyfriend back! I'll reap them all in my path if I have to!

At New Salem High, Jean is easily fitting in and going undiscovered, until some of his makeup smears off and he goes to reapply. Unfortunately for him, Brigette followed him

Shortly after, New Salem High gets vandalized a second time, and both the humans and monsters think it's Jean

Alix: *Examining the graffiti online with Nathaniel* This doesn’t make sense.

Nathaniel: Exactly

Kim: … Okay, what’s going on?

Nathaniel: Everyone knows Jean has a flare for the dramatics. But there’s nothing dramatic about this! It’s just a skull!

Alix: And Jean would never do their line work so crookedly. Something’s going on.

The humans call for Jean's arrest, while the monsters generally are impressed with and proud of his supposed accomplishments

Lila only fans the flames by taunting the humans from her Critter account as Jean, claiming he had everything to do with the vandalism. Also, Chloé is using "Jean's" rebellion as an example of how monsters should fight back against their oppressors

Nino, Marinette, Adrien, Max, Alya, and Kim don't know what to think of the mess, but they decide to stop Jean before things get out of hand even more. With Max’s help, they find out that Jean is somewhere inside New Salem High and they go out to get him that night

Coincidentally though, right that night, Brigette and her goons are working to vandalize their own school again, this time in costume and with a camera ready to film the act as fake evidence that monsters were behind the vandalism

Brigette immediately spots the group trying to get into New Salem High and gets the police. They find Jean hidden away in a closet, but the reunion is cut short when Brigette and the police arrive to arrest Jean

The group is once again put in detention. Worse, during their talk with Damocles, he receives a phone call to turn on the TV

The Sheriff holds an announcement that he will return the true meaning of Halloween by condemning Jean to the Trick-or-Treatment, a death sentence not used in two hundred years. Damocles is further informed by the Monster Elder Council that no action will be or may be taken to save Jean

As much as the news hits everyone, two people are particularly upset. Brigette never meant for an innocent to die because of her schemes, and Chloé realizes she used Jean for publicity and that he's going to suffer for it

At detention, Nino comes up with the idea to get help from Jess and Aeon, looking for evidence that Jean has been framed

The others help him escape, and he manages to contact Jess and Aeon, who are willing to help. Their investigation leads to the discovery that Brigette and her goons were behind the vandalism of New Salem High, which solves that mystery. But that still doesn’t explain why Jean confessed- Oh, wait! It was Lila! They’ll kill her later

The group sets up a confrontation for Chloé and Brigette within the catacombs as representatives of their respective parties. Despite everything, the two bond almost instantly over their shared sense of fashion, the equal pressure to live up to their family's expectations, and wanting to do what’s best for their respective sides, including helping Jean

They go to the sheriff to explain everything to him, but he reveals that he couldn't care less

*Back at DuPont*

Denise: Are you fucking kidding me?!

Juleka: This is why I don't care for law enforcement.

Ismael: Do they realize they’re about to murder a teenager? In Phantom Years, he’s fifteen! That’s… That’s just fucked up.

The gang works on a new plan. Just freeing Jean will only have the humans come and get him again so more has to be done.

When a plan is set to not only free Jean but also hopefully save every monster, the Salem High students dress as monsters to draw attention when Jean is put in the Trick-or-Treatment machine, which forces the police away from the device to arrest the monsters

Nino and Ivan use the diversion to free Jean and then make a run for it on Ivan’s ice slide, in which they are also assisted by Max, courtesy of his rocket boots

As the police figure out they've been duped and give chase to the real monsters in their cruisers, Jess and Aeon rouse the human crowd to take matters into their own hands and attack DuPont

Lacey and Kim taunt and get the mob to follow them to the Hall of Halloween where the students are awaiting their arrival, much to the humans’ confusion

Brigette comes forth to confess she is behind the vandalism that plagued New Salem and that though she meant to protect the humans, she realizes she had nothing to be afraid of

The humans accept the confession and invitation, but then the Sheriff and his officers finally arrive, intending to arrest Jean and all the monsters present. However, the New Salem students challenge him to arrest them as well if they want to get to the DuPont students

The Sheriff, wanting to avoid the fallout if he arrests the New Salem students, saves face by claiming it's past midnight, and that means he is off duty anyway before sneaking off to the snacks

With all conflict ended and subdued, the party commences

Friday Night Frights

The students of DuPont are watching the Skultimate RollerMaze game between the Nightmares of DuPont and the Gargoyles of Granite City, and both sides of the crowd are cheering for their team

The four fearleaders; Candace, Cosette, Denise and Juleka; are cheering for DuPot

Ivan: So, what is point in 'skate game.' I've known how to skate since I was up to height of yak's knee.

Rose: Ivan, Skultimate RollerMaze is so much more than just a skating game! It's a course full of twists, turns, obstacles and so much more, and- PUMMEL HIS ASS!... The whole point of the game is how you react to what's thrown at you. Plus, we've got a tradition with the Gargoyles. Whichever school wins, they get the other team's school crest

Rocco, the leader of the gargoyle team, grabs one of the camera bats, and Gary, his fellow teammate, crushes it to leave no evidence of their cheating. Rocco and Gary then knock over Kim and Soo-Yeon, leaving them in the dust whilst chasing after the rest of the team

Brecken and Austin Q go into the course to replace Kim and Soo-Yeon. Spinelli and Rocco are neck and neck during the course, determined to win for their respective schools.

Rocco and Gary then notice Brecken and Austin Q are gaining on them, only before Rocco declares that they might as well finish off DuPont who, according to him, 'plays like a bunch of girls' (this statement, oddly enough, angers the completely masked player behind them)

After going through yet another course, Gary trips Brecken, causing him to crash into Austin Q. The mask player trips over them, and is left behind by the team, who yet again, cheats; this time more discreetely

Whilst neck and neck with Spinelli, one of Rocco's skates mechanically removes a wheel from Spinelli's and the last member of the team falls to the ground right before crossing the finish line, thus allowing Granite City to win the game.

A few days later, the students of DuPont are all distraught about the loss. Ivan is confused as to why everyone is so upset about the game, but Myléne tells him it's bigger than he knows, pointing out how the school looks worse than it normally is

An announcement from Damocles lets them know that the school spirit is gone. Ivan thinks it's nothing until Sabrina explains that the school's crest has an actual spirit which protects the halls of DuPont from falling apart, literally

However, getting the crest back is not as easy as it sounds, because with three injured players of the team, they might not be able to make it to the finals in order to beat the Gargoyles

Sabrina decides to look for clues in order to prove that the Gargoyles did cheat, due to the fact of Spinelli's skates breaking just before the finish line, which is an extremely odd coincidence. And at the realization that they will not be able to play at all, Kim cancels SKRM for the season, much to everyone's shock.

Days later, the school continues to fall apart, everyone even more miserable than before. Candance, Cosette, Denise, and Juleka realize this and then, out of the blue, Candance hatches up a plan to recruit new members for the SKRM team, so that way DuPont can beat Granite City and win back the crest

After a bit of reluctance, the ghouls round up almost boy in the school and judge them for the skills needed in Skultimate RollerMaze; agility, strength... and the ability to skate, most importantly

Whilst doing this, Sabrina, joined by Max, is in the SKRM track, looking for evidence that the Gargoyles cheated, however a certain something distracts her. A piece of stone that isn't the same material as the gargoyles' ski

Meanwhile, the ghouls judge the students carefully, only to the news that most of them can't stand in rollerblades. Lucky for them, Lotta attempts to teach them, only to be taunted by the fact that a girl is teaching them how to do 'their' sport. Nonetheless, she wows them and at first, she's skeptical once Cosette suggests she participate on the team, especially once the boys continue to say that girls don't play SKRM

However Lotta recollects a memory of a certain SKRM superstar...Alix Kubdel! Despite this fact, the boys stick to their motto that Skultimate RollerMaze is for guys and they all leave them to fend for themselves, however they team up together and vow to win for DuPont

Naturally, at the sight of ghouls in SKRM gear, the school is shocked by the decision of Candance, Cosette, Juleka, Denise, and Lotta to take the place of the former team. The former members are surprised, but not against it

Kim, although, tries to persuade them not to play. According to him, Alix Kubdel was an amazing player, but got demolished and was never heard from again

Lotta: Ah, that's just a kid's story!... Right?

Kim: No. No, I'm serious. The gargoyles creamed her... Good luck, though!

However the training they attempt to persue in is worthless, due to their little to no knowledge of the sport. Most of them can barely skate or follow the rules, although they try and do what they can.

During this training, Max finds yet another piece of stone, this one in the shape of a snake

Chloé, who's been watching them train, daringly rescues Candace from crashing and getting injured. They offer her a spot on the team, although Chloé refuses, preferring to lead rather than follow

Their first match up is against the all zombie school, worst in the league. However, Denise gets very nervous and trips, thus causing the team to false start, and get disqualified

Some idiots even video taped the fiasco and mock them

Deciding she can't let this go on any longer, Chloé joins the team, helping them with their posture in order to maintain proper balance. Kim, Soo-Yeon, Brecken, Austin Q, and Spinelli join in coaching them

After a strict training regimen, they're are ready for their debut against Vampire Academy. They play well, but are bested at the last minute by rough tactics of the vampires

During the game, Chloé was knocked into a pile of tires that contained a stone hand. Sabrina explains that is the last piece she and Max needed to rebuild Alix Kubdel, who had been trapped in stone for a few years

Alix offers her assistance as player and one piece of advise "... Quit playing like stupid boys and win like girls!" Thus inspiring their new fashionable outfits

When the gargoyles stop by their school to taunt them, they begin to mock the new outfits, and Alix and the masked player lock eyes for a moment. Before the two can say anything to each other, they're dragged away by their respective teammates

The DuPont team enters a round robin tournament, and eventually make their way up the leader board until they qualify for the final match between Granite City. Instilling the school with pride, they are are now wildly popular and even gained the respect of a few male students

The final match against Granite city is intense. The gargoyles try to muscle the team, but they use the agility and Cadance's powers to avoid many pitfalls

Eventually Denise gets injured, and Kim calls an injury timeout. Juleka is nervous about going in until Kim gives her some encouragement. The team starts up again

During the final stretch, Rocco and Gary about to go after Cosette, but then the masked player, suddenly tackles two gargoyles to the ground

Masked Player: I am done with you assholes!

Everyone: *Gasp*

Ivan: Now this is interesting.

Alix and Cosette slingshot Juleka to the front with Rocco. In a photo finish, Juleka wins by a leg

Now the champions, DuPont wins back their crest, thus restoring the school from its dilapidated state, and they get Granite High's Crest, but they decide to keep it for a week, since they're not complete assholes

Okay! Dramatic Reveal time!

Soo-Yeon: Let's just see who's under this mask! *Pulls off the masked skater's mask*

Everyone: Someone we don't know?!

Alix: NATH!

Nathaniel: *Alix hugs him* Hey, Alix.

Cosette: ... So, can we get an explanation here?

Nathaniel: Yeah, those assholes over at Granite High hated that a girl was better than them, so they turned a mirror on her during one game and broke her into pieces. I joined them so I could gather evidence, of them cheating and keep them from doing the same to other players. *Shows a small camera hidden in his helmet* Here's about a year's worth.

The movie ends with a role call of the new co-ed team: Kim, Chloé, Brecken, Soo-Yeon, Austin Q, Spinelli, Alix, Cosette, and Denise

Scaris

Marinette plans a Flashion Mob, a surprise fashion show starring herself and her friends at school. Meanwhile, Ismael chases after a scarf made out of spider's silk given to him by Reshma, his best friend from Scaremerica, which was knocked from his hand by students attracted by the attention from Marinette's show

However, thanks to a mix-up orchestrated by Lila, Kim is put in a dress and heels and ends up tripping and abruptly ending the show

Thanks to Alya, however, the fashion show was put on FrightTube (with the awkward ending edited out) and had gotten quite a large amount of views, including Moanatella Ghostier, a renowned fashion designer

To Marinette's disbelief, Moanatella emails her, explaining she needs a protégé to carry on her designs, as she was running out of ideas, and when people stop paying attention to her, she fades away

So, she sends for three students, Eri Tanaka, Austin Armbruster, and last but not least, Marinette

With some encouragement from the others, Marinette agrees to go to Scaremerica. Of course, her closest friends and her significant others join in order to offer support

On the plane, Ismael tells Alix about Reshma and how she would send him accesories she made from her silk. However, she had stopped writing letters to her some time ago, and Ismael worries what this means for their friendship

So, Alix, being a kind soul, offiers to take Ismael to find Reshma and get an explanation

Finally in Scaremerica, the group drops Marinette off at Moanatella's headquarters, and Ismael, Alix, Lacey, and Sabrina go to look for Reshma while the remainder of the group take in the sights

Marinette meets Eri and Austin, and though friendly with each other, Moanatella coldly reminds them that only one of them will be her apprentice

With Sabrina's scooter, the chase for Reshma begins elsewhere when they spot someone else on a scooter with a jacket akin to Reshma's. Unfortunately the chase is a bust, as the rider was only someone else, and Sabrina crashes and breaks her scooter beyond repair. Meanwhile, in the cafe, the others discuss places to go sightseeing only to see Sabrina very sad about her scooter. Chloé offers to pay for a new one, but Sabrina assures her she knows a way to make money

Somewhere, in Moanatella Ghostier's Headquarters, Marinette notices Eri's book around and asks to see her designs, but she becomes angry and scolds her about the competition and that they're not supposed to be helping each other

As the trials go on, Marinette is berated for the third time for not following fashion rules. She finds the courage to look for inspiration in her old sketchbook, but Moanatella instructs her to throw it away if she wants to be part of the fashion industry. So, she starts designing like her while

After that, Moanatella tells the three designers that if they hear her ring the bell three times, it meant she decided

In a cafe, Ismael, Alix, and Lacey discuss Reshma and find a clue as to where she was

Back at Moantella's headquarters, Eri and Austin A find Marinette's sketchbook and are amazed by her designs. They realize Moantella's methods are harming her creativity, as well as their own

Now in a subway, Ismael, Alix, and Lacey are lead by a string of a spider's web to the forbidden area where it is said that no monster who came in ever came out alive

Ismael/Lacey/Alix: ...

Lacey: ... Let's go in!

They find Reshma, who has been used by Moanatella for her fashion designs. This was why she couldn't write to Ismael anymore. She reveals to them whoever wins Moanatella's "apprenticeship" will be locked up in the same place and be used just like him

At that moment, Moanatella and Marinette enter, and Moanatella traps Marinette in a cell with them

The others wander the streets, trying to find the others until Kim picks up their scents and follows them to the cells. Using their powers, they rescue them, but rather than wanting to flee, Marinette announces a desire to beat Moanatella at her own game.

Eri and Austin A show up, having sensed that something bad will happen, and give Marinette her old design book back. The rest get to work designing a full fashion clothing line, while Moanatella sets up her own fashion show across town

Despite having lots of help, the ghouls aren't going to get finished in time, so they give Marinette, Eri, Austin A, and Reshma pure black coffee, which causes them to work double-time

At last, the clothes are finished, so they gather them up to take it to the fashion show. Sabrina (who has bought a car with the money she's earned!) offers to help them get to the show

They crash Moanatella's show and show off Marinette's real fashion line. The people love it and cheer her on, causing Moanatella to vanish forever because no one is paying attention to her. Reshma, Eri, and Austin A express a desire to transfer to DuPont, and all is well

13 Wishes

A thousand years after some event no one remembers or knows, DuPont welcomes back the students for the new semester. Everyone talks about the upcoming events for the year such as the upcoming eclipse while expressing what they wish would happen throughout the new school year

Chloé, angered by the disrespect by some newer students, plans to take action against that and make sure they know she is not to be missed with despite Zoé's protests against it

However, her attempt at flaunting her status with a personalized locker that displays her name in lights causes a blackout. Zoé, Myléne, Nathaniel, Kagami, Adrien, and Sabrina,who were attempting to stop her before she could turn on the lights, are punished by Damocles to clean the school attic

Zoé tries to understand her sister’s reasoning but is dismissed by Chloé quickly. As she moves away and cleans more of the attic, Chloé unknowingly eventually finds a lantern and releases a genie named Gigi

The genie introduces herself and explains that Chloé is her new finder and is granted thirteen wishes

Adrien: Um, don't the legends say the finder gets three wishes?

Gigi: Oh, those were mistranslated. Yeah, you actually get thirteen wishes.

Adrien: Yeesh. Better not let Disney hear that.

Chloé uses her first wish to wish them and herself out of detention. As Gigi grants the wish, they disappear in a flash of light and unintentionally free a shadow version of Gigi, who follows them unseen

They later arrive at the mall to hang out as Gigi elaborates on Chloé's twelve remaining wishes and warns her there is a ‘dark side’ to using them. Seeing Chloé excited about using her wishes, Zoé advises her to take Gigi’s words seriously

Chloé, however, takes it defensively and runs off with the lantern while annoyed at her sister's words

Later, back at DuPont, Alya helps Marinette run against Louis for Student Disembodied President while Adrien shows Gigi around the school. Despite the argument earlier, Chloé took the advice to heart and uses some of her wishes to help her friends: Ondine can shift between freshwater and saltwater so both sides of her family won't despise her, Marc and Nathaniel's graphic novel becomes an overnight sensation and gains millions of fans, and Marinette becomes the new disembodied president

Before Chloé can congratulate herself, Lila torments her in the bathroom and leaves her crying alone. Watching from afar, the shadow genie uses this opportunity to take advantage of Chloé to wish for things more for herself

She summons Gigi, who is alarmed by the shadow genie and warns Chloé about the wishes. However, the shadow genie reminds her about the rules and Chloé uses her next wish to become even more popular

While enjoying her popularity, Chloé offers to wish the same for Zoé, who politely turns her down, not comfortable with all the attention

Adrien then talks with Gigi about her life in the lantern and discovers that she’s lonely and will leave DuPont after the last wish is granted. Not wanting his new friend to leave, Adrien looks for some sort of loophole

Adrien: If Disney's taught me anything, there are always loopholes!

Gigi: You keep mentioning Disney, what is it? Is it like a book?

Adrien: Eh, little of this, little of that. Disney is everywhere and cannot be stopped. So far, it owns many major networks and will soon take control of all television.

Gigi: That is frightening.

Adrien: I know, right?

As days pass, some of the side-effects of the wishes begin to affect the school and cause problems such as Ondine having an identity crisis, Marc and Nathaniel receiving hundreds of commissions a day, and Marinette's ideas as president not being taken well by the school

Zoé then tells Adrien and Gigi that Chloé is beginning to not act like herself, and she senses something strange within the shadows. Adrien asks if Gigi knows anything, but Gigi tells them that she cannot say anything due to the Lantern’s magic. Adrien and Zoé then try to find out on their own what is wrong with Chloé but are dismissed by her thanks to the shadow genie's influence

Kagami encounters Chloé and irks her enough to wish for Kagami to be turned into a nobody, making her unnoticeable by every student, including her partners

Zoé confronts Chloé on what she was doing. But rather than listen, she uses her next wish to make Zoé disappear into the lantern, leaving her shadow behind and giving Whisp more power

Adrien, Sabrina, and Nathaniel notice the changes and later find Gigi crying in the greenhouse with Myléne comforting her. Gigi is reluctant to explain as she is not allowed to influence the finder, but Sabrina points out that they are not the finder and Gigi should be able to tell them

With that logic, she leads the group away to the attic to explain everything regarding the shadow genie, Whisp and where the real Zoé is. She warns them of Whisp’s plan to use the eclipse and one of Chloé's wishes to gain all the power to banish everyone at DuPont and replace them with shadow versions to rule the world

Wanting to save their friends, Adrien and the others help devise a plan to save Zoé using an orb given to them by Gigi, which will allow them to leave the lantern. They later find Chloé and Shadow Zoé in the bathroom and confront Chloé to make her purposely wish them into the lantern to find Zoé, unknowingly leaving their shadow versions behind to cause trouble

Inside the lantern, Adrien, Nathaniel, Myléne, and Sabrina successfully find Zoé, but not without being confronted by Whisp, who lets them know that she has power within the lantern

They escape from her, and Zoé then shows them the ‘Genieology’ telling of Gigi’s story and why she was reluctant to interfere. They use a map to search for the missing shard of a mirror that will stop Whisp for goof

Meanwhile in DuPont, Mason senses a disturbance in the shadows and tries to help snap Chloé out of it while helping Kagami look for the others

The shadow monsters then make their move and help Chloé take over the school by replacing Damocles with herself as Headmistress and banishing Marinette and Kagami to the lantern, who then join the others to find the mirror pieces

As the monsters prepare for an eclipse party, Mason follows Chloé and sees that Whisp is the one controlling her. When he attempts to take the lamp, he gets captured by Chloé's henchmen. And rather than using up any more wishes, Chloé has Mason thrown in the basement with the other disorderly students

After finding twelve pieces of the mirror, the group find Whisp’s room and realize she has the last piece. After nearly losing the exit orb, Kagami gets it back and they return to DuPont with magic carpets Myléne managed to snag. They find DuPont has been turned into some sort of temple in honor of Chloé complete with gold statues

Adrien: Where did they get gold from?!

Marinette: At this point, are you surprised by anything anymore?

Adrien: Hey, monsters are the norm, but I want to know where they got all of that gold! Did they steal it?! Did she wish for it?! These are legitimate questions! And the audience deserves to know as well! People reading this, get up out of your chairs and demand answers!

Whisp tries to influence Chloé to make the wish, but Mason, who escaped his prison through the shadows, steals the last mirror shard and assembles the mirror to break the spell. Upon seing her reflection along with past moments she shared with her friends and sister, Chloé awakes in time and rejoins the others without making the wish, causing Whisp to fail as the eclipse ends

Chloé uses one of the remaining two wishes to undo all of her previous wishes, much to everyone's delight

Gigi is joined by a defeated Whisp, explaining the last wish will send them both back into the lantern. The monsters are reluctant to let Gigi go and plead for her to stay

Adrien: Just wish for her to be free! Come on! They did in Aladdin! Am I the only smart person here?

Chloé uses her last wish for Gigi’s freedom and surprisingly for Whisp to become what she always wanted to be: a real genie. Gigi happily grants the wish, freeing herself and allowing Whisp to become the new genie of the lantern

However, when Whisp leaves with the lantern, she falls down into the deep end pool to be found again someday...

Ondine: ... I can just go get her. I mean, I can swim and breathe underwater-

Adrien: IT'S MORE DRAMATIC THIS WAY! MOVIE'S OVER!

Frights, Camera, Action

A large part of the DuPont student body chooses to catch the new Vampire Majesty movie before classes one day. Juleka is among them, even though she openly disapproves of the inaccuracy of the Vampire Majesty series and considers its leading actress, Veronica Von Vamp, a hack

Rather than going to see the movie, Rose, Marinette, Nathaniel, Alix, and Marc listen to her about the true story of the Vampire Court in Transylvania, which she grew up amidst. With rare enthusiasm, she explains that the vampires find their leader by listening to the Vampire's Heart, a magic artifact that can locate the rightful ruler and lights up in their presence

However, the Vampire's Heart has failed to lead the vampires to their new ruler for four centuries and counting, though

Meanwhile, in Transylvania, the Prime Minister and interim leader of the vampires, Lord Stoker, has a problem. For four hundred years, the true ruler and the Vampire's Heart have been missing, but only he knows that his own niece Elissabat was supposed to rule, a fact only few know, but she fled when he tried to control her and no one knows her current whereabouts

Stoker has been pretending to be searching for the true ruler for centuries as a cover to continue his own reign. However, the Royal Court of Vampire Dignitaries has grown tired of waiting and threatens to replace him if he can't present the rightful ruler soon.

Trying to win time, he claims he can do so within a week. Remembering Juleka from centuries ago, he remembers that she is weak and shy and decides to make everyone believe her to be the queen so he can control her and continue his rule

Later at DuPont, Lord Stoker arrives and convinces Juleka with a fake Vampire's Heart that she is the queen, while also ensuring the other vampire students respect her, or face severe consequences for their disrespect

Juleka reluctantly agrees to return to Transylvania for her coronation in seven days but asks if her friends and brother can come along. Stoker doesn't object, so Marinette, Rose, Alix, Nathaniel, and Marc join her. Luka only joins because he's skeptical

After a long journey, the final portion is by train, during which Juleka and Luka tell a little about their past and reveal that the relations between their family and Stoker's are complicated and have been mostly dormant since everyone disappeared four centuries ago

Rose notes that her father was in Transylvania around that time. She herself seems to have more knowledge of the events at the time than is likely for her to know, but the group doesn't pay too much attention to it

At Castle Dracula, the group is delighted at first, and Juleka and Luka shows them all kinds of secret passages they remember from her childhood, and the group enjoys the luxuries of a royal lifestyle.

The situation changes instantly, though, when Luka finds his way into Stoker's office and learns that Juleka had been deceived. He shows the the fake heart, and with support from the others Juleka decides to fight back and find the real ruler for her people

Marinette and Marc deduce that there must be a clue to the who and where of the ruler is in Stoker's office, and so Juleka volunteers to distract Stoker while the others search the place for leads. Juleka has no trouble with her part, but the office doors are guarded. Fortunately, on top of being an excellent guard, Nathaniel's good at picking locks...

Nathaniel: All it takes is a steady hand... *Punches the knob off* See how steady my hand was?

The group finds a letter by Elissabat taped to the back of a portrait of Dracula, who was her father's closest friend. It reveals that she is the next Vampire Ruler and begs Dracula to help her escape Stoker's control. She had to take the Vampire's Heart with her so she could be found when she fled, but she wished for Dracula to take it from her and keep it safe. Of course, Dracula never found the letter, but the group can use its clue to find Elissabat on their own

The clue leads them to Londoom, England. They escape and use a boat docked in an underground cavern to travel to Londoom

Luka calls Adrien, Kagami and the rest of his friends at school. He explains the situation and sends them a picture of Elissabat from four hundred years ago to help search through the internet

Back in Transylvania, because someone carelessly left a book opened (Not gonna name names) on a page about Londoom when they were in his office, Stoker knows where they are

The group is welcomed in Londoom by Kierstin, Kim's older sister, who studies there to become a writer. She takes them to see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of Londoom, as that's what the group thinks the riddle refers to

There is, however, no note inside. Kierstin asks what the clue was and upon hearing it, realizes that the "crown" refers to the skull rather than jewelry and points the group at a statue of William Spooksfear near the Globe Theater

Marc flies up to get the skull and unlocks it, finding the next note. Elissabat writes that Londoom is no longer safe and that she'll travel further to New Goreleans, where she hopes Dracula will finally meet her. She even included a map. The group, along with Kierstin, return to their boat and sets sail for the USA, unaware Stoker's servant, Ygor is following them.

In New Goreleans, the map leads them to a ghost ship named the Bijou on the Bayou. On board, they meet Gerard Grundler, who is collecting samples from the swamp. He reveals the Bayou Bijou to be a ship famous for its numerous big-name guests and performers

Suddenly, Ygor hijacks the Bayou Bijou. The group appears caught at first, but Gerard calls upon the alligators living in the bayou to form a bridge to the shore. They escape, but Ygor sinks the Bijou on the Bayou, meaning the ghost ship isn't accessible anymore until the next full moon

The fear that they have to wait a full month to go back to look for clues is erased by Gerard, who took a few pictures of the Bijou on the Bayou and shows an encased letter by Elissabat

The letter reveals that Elissabat gave the Vampire's Heart to someone both she and Dracula trust, which Rose believes to be Veronica. Not only was she in New Goreleans at the time, the movie poster for the next Vampire Majesty movie depicts her holding the Vampire's Heart

The group sets out for Hauntlywood, which Kierstin is very pleased with and which has Gerard choosing to come along. Ygor continues to follow them and informs Lord Stoker of their new destination. Tired of it Ygor's failed attempts, Stoker transforms into a bat and heads off to Hauntlywood himself to capture Juleka

In Hauntlywood, Alix convinces threatens the guard at the gates to allow them entrance to the studios. Soon, the group is witness to a minor accident involving the director Scareantino and an intern makeup artist by the name of Cosette

They help Cosette out, which she thanks them for before hurrying along. The group continues on as well and is by sheer coincidence able to get Kirtstin a job as co-writer of Scary Stone

Rose locates Veronica's trailer, which the group gains access to with the help of Cosette, who has to do Veronica's makeup. All seems to be going well, but when asked about Elissabat, Veronica refuses to help, explaining that she promised Elissabat to keep her secret

Even a moving speech by Juleka about duty and the well-being of the vampires doesn't convince Veronica to say anything. The group is crestfallen, but Rose urges them to continue looking here in Hauntlywood because she feels Elissabat can't be far off

Meanwhile at DuPont, the Vampire Majesty movies have caused a conflict among the students at Monster High about which male love interests are hotter: Alucard or Edweird, with Chloé and Austin A leading the opposing sides of the argument. Evie, Austin T, Jean, Ismael, Brecken, and a few others stay out of it as the argument escalates as more students side with Chloé or Austin A

Fed up, Jean organizes a Cute Court for the students to decide who is the bigger hunk. Evie, who is not interested in either, is chosen as judge, Brecken gets to be the bailiff, and Sabrina is the court clerk.

After a long debate, Sabrina asks Max for scientific advice. It is then that Max makes a huge discovery: Alucard and Edweird are played by the very same actor!

Evie dismisses the case, and the students end the fight. However, Max is not done yet comparing people, now that she has solved one thing this way. Taking the photo of Elissabat that Adrien and Kagami have shown him and a poster depicting Veronica Von Vamp, Max realizes that the two girls are the same person

As the group keeps looking for Elissabat, they stumble into the Vampire Majesty studio, where they are ambushed by Lord Stoker, who demands that Juleka returns to Transylvania with him, but Luka offers to go in her place and comes up with an excuse on why the heart glowed around Juleka

Stoker is about to go along with this until Veronica comes to their aid by calling her security guards on Stoker. Juleka once again begs Veronica to tell where Elissabat is, and Veronica chooses in her favor this time

Taking off her wig, she reveals that she is, in fact, Elissabat. She asks Rose to take her hand, which causes Rose to light up. Elissabat explains that the person she entrusted the Vampire's Heart to was a skeleton guard, who in turn entrusted it to his daughter by placing it behind her ribcage after she was born

She's now willing to take on her role as queen, and as her first decree, Elissabat disowns her uncle and banishes him from ever holding an official office in the vampire community ever again, having her security guards drag him out of the lot

And it's at that moment, Cosette and Gerard find the others and tell them that they've decided to transfer to DuPont

At the movie premiere, Elissabat holds a speech to celebrate her acting successes and the honor of being the new Vampire Queen. She makes a point of thanking Juleka for her efforts in setting things right in the vampire community, and the movie starts

Freaky Fusion

Nino is being chased by a… Well, a monster. Six other students, with some bizarre looks, arrive to save him and escape from the monster through the hallways of DuPont

Adrien: Pause! Hello, I’m Adrien. You might know me as one of the few human students at DuPont School For Monstrous Youths. You may be wondering what my bro Nino is running from, who are those other monsters, and why they look so peculiar? Well, it happens like this…

DuPont is celebrating its 200th anniversary. Jean and Myléne are organizing a play to commemorate DuPont’s history

In class, the students are presenting their scaritage projects to Mme. Bustier

After Chloé finishes her presentation, Max shares about his mother, Claudia Steam, a mad scientist and a former teacher at DuPont who discovered the secret to creating life. One day, she mysteriously disappeared and Max held onto a time box to remember her

After Max, it is Nino’s turn to present. Unfortunately, he failed the project due to his lack of knowledge of his heritage and had to redo the project

Meanwhile, four new students arrive. All four of them are hybrids, and react standoffishly when greeted by the students

In the cafeteria, Nino, Adrien, Nathaniel, Ivan, Reshma, Cosette, Luka, Ismael, Jean, and Chloé, are having lunch together. Nino is still upset about not knowing much about his grandfather, Victor Frankenstein since his parents refuse to talk about him

Adrien: Why not?

Nino: Well, every time I try to go to my mom, she hisses, and when I got to my dad, he just goes, “RRRR! GRANDPA BAD!”

Max overhears and takes the group to his mother’s old workshop in the catacombs, where he believes has his mother’s old journal with information about Victor

After a long journey in the catacombs, the gang reaches the entrance to Claudia’s workshop and learns that it can only be accessed at the right time

The group searched and eventually found Claudia's journal, which explains that Victor was a DuPont student who was obsessed with discovering the spark to create life

On accident, Ismael's tail wraps around a lever. As he pulls it back, a machine activates and opens a portal, pulling all of them inside

The students eventually find themselves in the year 1814, realizing that the machine was actually a time machine that sent them back 200 years into the past to when DuPont was recently built

They decide to wait an hour until the lab opens again, but curiosity gets the better of them, so they go explore DuPont

There, Nino and Max witness Claudia Steam in a class session, berating a student named Sparky, who is interested in learning to create life

After class, Nino talks to Sparky and explains to him that his grandfather created life, getting Sparky interested... So interested that he sneakily follows Nino and his friends as they use the time machine to return home

However, The machine began experiencing malfunctions as the students are traveling through the portal.

Nino, Max, and Adrien return to the present, all limbs accounted for, but they discover that the others have been fused into Ivaniel, Rosette, Lukael, and Chloéan

Ivaniel: Okay... NO ONE IS TO PANIC!

Rosette: God! I have so much pent-up rage! *Kicks a hole in the wall*

Lukael: This fur is so damn itchy!

Chloéan: *Admiring their outfit* I'm... Not hating this.

Until Max can fix the time machine, they're stuck like this and must go about their usual day... Right when they're supposed to rehearse for the 200th-anniversary play

Ivaniel is uncoordinated due to his wings and ice powers suddenly flaring up, Rosette can't control her arms or tail, Lukael's vampire and werecat senses are causing some overstimulation, and Chloéan can't decide who will take the lead.

The hybrid students take pity on them after witnessing the rehearsal and decide to help the fusions learn how to control themselves

Meanwhile, Sparky, who had followed the students to the present, steals a piece of the time machine, believing it is the secret ingredient to creating life

First, Ivaniel learns how to control his power and appendages

Lukael is getting a walkthrough on how to focus on a certain sound when it comes to his hearing

Rosette is learning how to have some better control over their newly added appendages

Chloéan gets a little lesson about leadership, such as which part of her takes charge and how not to let their new and confusing instincts take control over them

The Hybrids successfully help the new Fusions learn to control their bodies and powers, and everything seems to be going fine... Though, Sparky's been occupying the catacombs for a few days now

And he's created a monster he calls Creature 4.0

While in the lab, Max is nearly done fixing the time machine but discovers that a piece of it missing and quickly goes to inform the others

After Sparky successfully brings his monster to life, it goes on a rampage throughout DuPont after having a severe reaction to a camera, because Franken monsters don't do bright lights

It interrupts the school play and the students learn of Sparky’s antics

With the help of the Hybrids, they plan to lure Creature 4.0 back into the catacombs to shut it down

The creature continues to chase the monsters in the hallways and starts to steal Nino's classmates one by one

Having enough, Nino stands his ground and as the monster reaches for him, he sends a powerful current of electricity into it. In the process, this defuses the fusions and frees his friends

Upon witnessing this, Sparky learns that Nino's emotions are what gave him true life, which is something that his creation lacked.

After defeating Creature 4.0, Nino collapses. But, before he can shut his eyes, he learns that Sparky is his grandfather, Victor Frankenstein, before dying

In a panic, the students go to use Max’s recharge chamber in hopes of reviving Nino but fail, and begin mourning him

Just then, Claudia suddenly emerges from the time machine to help (Yeah, don't ask). She advises everyone to think of their best memories of Nino to save him since emotions are what gave him life

Alya spreads the word and everyone at DuPont begins sharing their best memories of Nino until he is successfully revived

Everyone then bids farewell to Claudia and Victor as they use the time machine to return to their timeline

The school play resumes, explaining DuPont's history and sharing the belief that every monster with unique flaws, is welcome at DuPont, or something corny like that

Great Scarrier Reef

It's a normal day at DuPont. Several students are practicing for a dance recital in the auditorium, and not doing very well due to Spinelli's complex cheoreography

Ondine, who's helping to set up for the recital's after party, watches them practice from afar, and despite Kim's encouragement to join, she declines

After they leave, Ondine steps on stage and dances superbly by herself. She then realizes Kim is watching her after he went back to get his bag, and utterly freezes up and faints

After waking her up, Kim asks why he doesn't dance with the others. Kim explains she used to dance back in her home at the Great Scarrier Reef but won't dance anymore. She leaves, unaware that Lila had seen her performance.

The dance recital takes place. The students are not impressed by the terrible dancing, and Spinelli couldn't be more embarrassed

Lila spots Ondine dancing along behind the backstage curtains and pulls back the curtains. Ondine freezes upon seeing everyone watching her and ends up getting tangled and strung up in the stage rigging.

The next day, Ondine is horrified to discover a video of her mishap has gone viral and created hundreds of meme pictures

Enraged, she pleads with Aurore to uninvite Lila from the after party, and she complies. The party, which is next to the outdoor pool, is in full swing and everyone is having fun until Lila storms in, demanding to know why she wasn't invited

Everyone calls her out for embarrassing Ondine, and the two start yelling at each other, unaware of the water in the pool turning into a whirlpool

Lila pushes Ondine into the pool, and Kim dives in to help her

Ivan: He realizes she can swim well, yes?

Myléne: Hush, it's sweet.

Adrien, Evie, Brecken, and Spinelli attempt to pull them out, but all of them are sucked under the water and vanish.

Everyone: ...

Roxie: *Backs away* And, we're backing away from the pool now.

When the group comes to, they discover not only are they underwater, but they have all transformed into half-fish creatures (Save for Ondine)

They are then greeted, rather dramatically, by Victoria, a mermaid, merman, merperson, whichever. Victoria explains that she cares for a reef garden, where each plant represents a sea creature. She's noticed that Odine's plant was wilting and summoned her to the ocean to help her (and bought the others down by accident)

Victoria: *Dramatically* RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!

Ondine: ... So, just go home?

Victoria: Yeah, just go home.

After swimming a long distance and getting used to their forms, they find themselves inside an underwater amphitheater, where they witness several sea creatures performing a dance

Ondine recognizes one of them - A squid girl named Margo

She explains that she and Margo used to be friends when they were children and once competed in a dance competition together. But one time before a competition, Margo started acting nastily toward her and deliberately tripped her up on stage. Ondine was laughed off the stage and has had stage fright ever since

The group heads to the Scarrier Reef city, where they meet Ondine's father, Arturo, her sisters, Olivia, Ophelia, Octavia, Olga, Oona, and Olympia. Arturo welcomes them to stay at his place

Along with hydra twins, Wade and Ripple, Margo watches Ondine from afar and begins plotting to embarrass her again

While Ripple is happy to go along with her, Wade feels they're being too harsh, resulting in the two siblings constantly fighting.

The next day, Arturo warns the group that a Kraken has been sighted in the area. After promising to stay out of trouble, Ondine, Kim, Adrien, Evie, Brecken, and Spinelli head out and try to figure out what Ondine needs to do to keep her plant from wilting and by proxy, get them back home

They run into Margo, who challenges Ondine to compete against her in a dance competition tomorrow. Ondine is reluctant, but when Kim encourages her (With puppy eyes) she agrees

That night, while practicing for the competition, Ondine is met by Wade and a sleeping Ripple. Wade tells her that he heard a legend about the Kraken: If she looks the Kraken in the eye, she will never feel fear again

Ondine thanks him for the help, but when he leaves, "Wade" removes his makeup, revealing him to be Ripple!

Ondine announces she's going to see the Kraken, and despite their protests and Kim's puppy eyes, they all agree to go with her. They swim down to the bottom of a deep-sea trench and go through the tunnels until they reach a large cave

Surprisingly, they discover a small living quarters and several drawings on the wall

Adrien: Huh. Does this mer-squid look familiar? *Points to a messy drawing of someone with tentacles*

Evie: I swear I have seen those markings before. Oh, and that hairstyle is quite familiar.

Brecken: Not really ringin' any bells- Wait... I'm seeing something. *Gasps* Guys! Oh my God! Margo's not a mer-squid, she's-

Kraken: *Growling*

Brecken: ... I'll tell ya'll later.

They barely make their escape. Finally feeling ready to take to the stage, Ondine and the group head to the competition

But just last minute, Margo reveals that there is no legend about seeing the Kraken's eye. She just made it up to trick her. Ondine is nervous, but Kim assures her that dancing on stage shouldn't be a problem after their narrow escape

Ondine takes to the stage and begins her dance. All goes well, but Ondine sees the audience and faints again at the climax of the act

Margo laughs at her, and the audience starts joining in, but Kim rushes to her defense

Kim: What kind of civilized people laugh at a humiliated teenage girl?! I mean, seriously! She faints, and you decide to laugh at her?! What the hell?! Shame on you, and you! And you! And especially you, sir!

When Spinelli proclaims that she even faced the Kraken, the crowd begins cheering for Ondine. Enraged, Margo lets out an ear-piercing scream... and the Kraken suddenly appears

The group swims back to the garden and beg Victoria to return them to DuPont. Victoria agrees but tells her that she still must face her fear

They summon a whirlpool and sends the gang through. They emerge back at DuPont, restored to their original selves, but Margo and the Kraken emerge from the pool

As the Kraken begins smashing the school, Ondine asks her friends and the other students to distract the Kraken while confronts Margo

She faces Margo realizing that all along, it was her and her bullying that was her greatest fear, but Margo cries that she was the one who was bullied, that everyone is always mocking her for her appearance

Hearing this, Ondine comforts her friend, and gives it to her straight

Ondine: DuPont has a cockatrice, troll, naga, ogre, and Jersey Devil. I think you'll fit right in around here

Margo tells the Kraken to stop... and reveals it is actually her father! She explains that she hated how her father was always considered evil by the townsfolk and eventually felt ashamed, so she decided to live away from him. She realizes she was wrong for not telling everyone how nice her father is and for bullying Ondine, who forgives her

With the school repaired, everyone celebrates with a party by the pool. Back at the Great Scarrier Reef, Victoria sees that Ondine and Margo's plants are finally back to full health, then he goes to fill out his transfer papers so he can attend DuPont

Haunted

Annoyed by the lack of gossip in the school, Alya searches for news for her blog. Angered by her punishment for plagiarizing an essay with being hit with detention, Lila messes with Alya's draft and creates a rumor about the werewolves and werecats of the school having were-fleas

As the rumor sends the students into chaos with staying clear of Kim and Ismael. Alya observes what Lila caused and faces backlash for it

A short while later, Marinette begins to experience hauntings, with her locker acting strange, finding herself talking back to the teacher out of turn, and someone changing her hairstyle.

Kim and Ismael confront Alya about the post, but before she can explain she had nothing to do with it, she flees when Marinette, Nathaniel, Denise, and Cosette ask her about the hauntings

They follow her to the school's attic and watch as she unlocks a door and disappears into it. Still following her, they find themselves on a boat, piloted by the son of the Grim Reaper himself, Austin Tomassian. With his father away in Las Plagueas, Austin has the boat to himself, even installing confetti cannons on it

Alys appears and is shocked by their presence and explains about the Ghost World, where most ghosts live due to the stigma of their hauntings. Austin then explains that the boat is taking them to Haunted High, Alya's old school. 

Marinette explains her hauntings. Austin finds that impossible, as there hasn't been a haunting since the notorious Red Lady, a ghost who could move easily between the Ghost and Monster worlds until she was apprehended and imprisoned to work off her crimes

The boat falls prey to a pirate ship, the Salty Spectre, led by the teen ghost pirate, Beck King. However, it's just for a class at Haunted High

Dressing in robes, the gang enters the school. Alya reminisces about her old school but is shocked to see the number of students draped in detention chains, handed out by Principal Revenant and the three Hall Moanitors.

The group heads into the cafeteria to find the perpetrator of Marinette's hauntings. There they meet Alya's old best friend, Jacques, son of the jumbee, who has gone from the shyest to the most popular guy in school. As Alya introduces him, he suddenly becomes nervous and flies off

Their attention is then drawn to Petrov Geist, son of a poltergeist, who is vandalizing the cafeteria with ghost paint, which evaporates quickly, though the students cheer him on as he does it. The Hall Moanitors catch him in the act and shackle him after he crashes into Alya

When they try to chain Alya, she explains she is not a student at the school and is from DuPont. Revenant then spontaneously has the rules changed and unveils her friends as solids. They flee, pursued by the Moanitors, who discover the chains do not work on solids. They safely arrive back at DuPont, but Alya is chained and dragged back to Haunted High.

To get back into the ghost world, Mason takes them to the Boogie Mansion to look for the Boogie Sand that will turn them into ghosts so they can move around the ghost world undetected

Mason: Now. I have a very meticulous system. So, I would prefer it if you all- COSETTE! I SEE YOU! DO NOT FUCKING TOUCH THAT BOTTLE!

Cosette: Dude!

Mason: I am so sorry! That just slipped- I SWEAR TO GOD! I WILL PAINT THIS MANSION WITH YOUR GUTS IF YOU BREATHE NEAR THAT SAND AGAIN, KIM!

Kim: *Curls up on the floor and whimpers*

They easily find the right sand thanks to Mason's system and turn into ghosts

Meanwhile, Alya is given 10,000 essays to do as her punishment, which she takes in her stride as she loves writing, which greatly puzzles Petrov, who is also serving out his punishment. The two begin to bond, and when Petrov questions all the rules and detentions, he and Alya decide to investigate

Meanwhile, the Hall Moanitors, under Revanant's orders, head into DuPont and begin to seize the ghost students at the school, such as Jean and Austin Q.

Austin Q: *Clawing at the ground as he gets dragged away* NOOO! I burned too many bridges there! I can't go back! MOMMY!... Wait, what am I saying? FÉLICE! HELP ME!

Jean: *Getting dragged away* Cut the gas! You better go with some form of dignity!

Re-arriving at Haunted High, the ghouls meet Beck and Jacques, who help them control their ghost forms

Nathaniel: Wait... Now that I'm weightless, there's something I wanna do... CANNONBALL! *Dives into the pool and floats back up*

Having found no information about Revenant in the library, Alya and Petrov return to the main school hall and are horrified to find numerous DuPont students chained and being greeted to Haunted High by Revenant. 

Overhearing ghost students talk about how solids want to haunt them, Alya becomes outraged, loudly labeling the talk as stupid gossip, which alerts her friends

The Moanitors soon begin to give out chains for seemingly no reason at all. When this happens to Jacques, the group protects him, bringing them to Revenant's attention. She demands to know how they did so, and when they refuse, gives the Moanitors permission to shackle them

Petrov intervenes and takes them to a safe room only he knows of. Alya and Nathaniel admire the artwork, and Marinette comes to the realization that Jacques is the one who has been spying on him

Jacques: Can ya blame me? That bubbly personality, and the way you carry yourself- It's just too good not to copy.

Marinette: Trust me, dude. You could do so much better.

Denise: We will be having a talk about your self-worth when we get back home, young lady.

Alya, meanwhile, eavesdrops on Revenant's plan to get more students stuck at Haunted High and is discovered by one of the Hall Moanitors. Revenant questions her until Petrov appears and distracts her, giving Alya a chance to escape, although it means Petrov is heavily chained

Soon, the Moanitors capture the others, causing Alya to be angry at Petrov, believing he sold them out. However, Petrov reveals he stole the keys to the chains and transfers all the chains to himself

However, while Petrov had stolen something, so had Revenant, the item being the notebook Alya had been using to document their journey for her blog. From that, she discovers the Boogie Sand, and the Moanitors take off on Austin's yacht to find it. Now freed, the group pursues them on Beck's ship after rescuing the rest of the DuPont students

Angry at herself for making that mistake, Alya cools off in the library, only to find a book detailing that Revenant is the Red Lady of legend, as she sends the Hall Moanitors to do her work and never leaves the school

Jacques opens a portal, and they beat the Moanitors to DuPont, who begin to unleash Boogie Sand via confetti cannons on the students

Mason: WHY DO THEY HAVE MY FUCKING SAND?!

Austin T: That's not what the cannons are for!

Jean: Whoa. Who's the hottie in the bitchin cloak? Wouldn't mind necking that guy until I sweat all the grease outta my nest if you catch my drift.

Austin Q: ... WHAT?!

Beck boards the yacht, however, and manages to steal back the sand before they can refill the cannons. Back at Haunted High, Alya reveals that Revenant is the Red Lady. Taking this in her stride, Revenant seizes the key and sends all the chains flying at Alya  

Chased by the Moanitors, Jacques attempts to open a portal to send them back to the ghost world, and with the help of the others and their ghost powers, is successful. The yacht appears as the Red Lady sends her chains flying, and they entangle the yacht and Moanitors.

Finally free of her chains, Revenant opens a portal and attempts to enter the Monster World. But finds that she still can't leave as more chains automatically appear on her. Revenant looks to blame someone, but Alya tells her that she's done this to herself

Alya: Bitch, you really think giving unjust punishments, spreading rumors and lies, and throwing more chains at students is helping you?! Give me a fucking break!

Kim: Clearly, your chains were being generated by your own conscience as deep down, you know what you're doing is wrong. So, you continue to punish yourself for your crimes against your students. It's a long, probably centuries-long, unhealthy cycle, really.

Everyone Else: ...

Kim: What? I can't be smart sometimes?

Seeing the error of her ways, Revenant repents and takes back the chains, becoming her first act of kindness, and a single link on her many chains disappears.

Oh, and don't worry. Everyone soon figures out that Lila was behind the were-fleas rumor

Not only that, but the ghost students no longer see any reason to fear solids, and cross over to their world from time to time. And, a certain reaper finds himself being flirted with by a certain phantom

And, later that night, the Hall Moanitors sneak into the Boogie Mansion and play around with the Boogie Sand

Mason: *Walks in and sees their sand completely disorganized* ... You... Fucking... BASTARDS!

And that's how the Hall Moanitors died... Again.

@msweebyness @imsparky2002

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #answered ask #ask me stuff #mlb au #dupont school for monstrous youths #mlb ocs #akuma class #science kids #recess class #theater kids #monster high

[loving-jack-kelly]

since i have officially been enable (hehe thanks @thefactsofthematter and @daveysjackie)

i think. jack and davey have been friends since the day they met. it was the kind of instant connection that only being in the same class as young kids can generate, the solidarity of having names close enough together in the alphabet that you end up sitting next to each other in every class on the first day of school, and the very fast realization that jack's sense of humor was perfectly matched to davey's ability to convince a teacher he'd done nothing wrong. they're friends all through middle school and high school, even when jack is the popular baseball player class clown and davey is the kid who sits in the front row and answers every question. people outside their immediate friend group kind of wonder why they're so close, but jack and davey and their immediate friends get it.

davey is good at keeping his rebellious streak hidden, and jack is good at acting unbothered, but davey has always been itching to get into trouble and shake that "pleasure to have in class" vibe he's had since he was five and jack cares so much about everything that it's hard not to shut down. so they balance, just like they always have. jack supplies davey with the cigarettes and weed most people would never guess he smokes, and davey gives jack the space to drop the facade and let himself care so much it hurts.

they're the kind of friends that are so intertwined it's hard to imagine one without the other. davey gets out of ap english and jack is already at the classroom door handing him a pack of fruit snacks and laughing at something that happened in the forty minutes since they last saw each other. jack stays late to finish an art project and davey is sitting at the table across from him doing calc homework and making sure jack doesn't get so wrapped up in his work that he doesn't eat.

and then davey goes away to college. and he hates it. he should have known he would hate it because he's hated school and the pressure it put on him since he was old enough to feel the expectations from his teachers. it's not even that college is hard. he earned his spot here, he's smart, he's capable, he even got a really good scholarship. but he hates it. he hates his classes, he hates his major, he changes his major and hates that one too, he misses his family and he misses jack, who facetimes him from the kitchen of the diner he's worked at since he was sixteen excited to announce he's finally starting to work in the kitchen instead of as a server-slash-host.

he first floats the idea of dropping out to jack when they're on facetime at 3am while davey frantically writes an essay that was due at midnight that he forgot about because he just doesn't care anymore. his grades aren't great because he doesn't want to be here, he's miserable, he's only made like two friends, and he hates it here.

he expects jack to react the way he knows his family would, his advisor would, everyone else in his life seems like they would. no, davey, don't drop out, you worked so hard to get here, that would be a waste, you're so smart, don't you want to do something with yourself?

but jack doesn't even look up from his sketchbook when he asks, would that make you happy again?

and yes, it would, davey realizes the more he thinks about it. he would rather go home and work a shitty job for a while than stay here and stay miserable. he would be happier to be home with the people he knows and loves.

so davey drops out. he barely tells his parents he's doing it, but he never registers for classes for his second year and he officially withdraws from the university in july when he's sitting on a fire escape with jack like they used to when they were kids and jack celebrates out loud that he's making his own choices.

so jack gets davey a job in the same diner he works at. they work together and hang out together and are friends like they always have been, but there's something else now because davey, as miserable as he was away at college, has this weird little itch to get out and do something exciting. he starts talking about wanting to get out and see the world, and jack, who has always talked about getting out of the city to see what else is out there, is all for it.

it's impulsive and stupid, even more so than dropping out of college, but they decide to just...go for it. they save up together to buy a van and a few months' worth of spending money and then, when the paperwork is signed and it's too late to stop them, they just leave.

esther and mayer are disappointed maybe. worried, definitely. what happened to their middle child who never got in trouble and got straight As and was quiet and well-behaved his whole life? where did this, this impulsivity and recklessness and sideways ambition, where did it come from? and sarah is less surprised, davey has always confided in her, but didn't expect him to actually go through with it. and les thinks it's very cool that davey is running away as an adult, but sad and a little confused that he barely took the time to say goodbye.

but davey...davey loves it. he and jack leave the city and decide on the spot that they're not using maps, they're headed west and they don't care where they end up. the van used to belong to a plumber, there's no backseat, so they mostly park at truck stops or Walmart parking lots to spend the night. they both have a little money saved up, and jack has been doing commissions online for long enough that he's still got a little income coming in, and they don't know how long this can possibly last but it's fun. it's freedom. they drive until they're sick of driving and then they stop to see what they can get up to until they want to drive some more. they put a mattress in the back of the van and collect pillows and blankets and slowly, strangely, it starts to feel like home.

jack finds an old video camera at one of the thrift stores they stop at and starts recording videos. davey starts pulling them off the camera and putting them on his laptop so he can send updates to his family that show how good this is for both of them. they stop at weird landmarks and tourist attractions, jack fills sketchbook after sketchbook with drawings of the weird places they find, davey starts keeping a journal full of the things that make him laugh and fun facts he's learning.

the van breaks down four months in. they're somewhere in the middle of nowhere, colorado, and jack cracks some joke about it being a miracle they made it this long, and thank god they're actually in a town and not on a highway fifty miles from anywhere. the local mechanic is nice enough to tow it to his shop free of charge, and jack and davey settle in to spend a few days in this tiny town without much to do. they end up sitting in a coffee shop while davey edits together another highlight reel of the last week to send home. jack says he should put it on youtube and see what happens, and davey laughs the idea off but the next morning he's still kind of thinking about it because. why not? maybe nobody will ever watch and it'll just be an easier way to share the videos with his family, or maybe people will watch it and it'll go viral and they'll be famous and making money from it. neither extreme seems that bad, really. so that day, still waiting for the van to be fixed, davey starts editing all of the videos they have so far into one big video. he adds jack's art in there, drawings of the world's biggest ball of string and the world's largest beetle and all the other places they've visited, and he posts it.

and after that, once they get the van back and they're driving north, determined to make it to where Canada meets washington on the coast because it just sounds cool. jack gets it on video when they stop at a campground for the night and davey falls face-first into a river. davey it it on camera when jack has to play tug of war for his phone charger with a crow at a rest stop. they make it up to cape flattery and there's videos of them goofing off on the hike and videos of the view.

davey edits it all together and posts it on youtube. he sends the link to his parents and forgets about it. and that's how it goes for the next month and a half. every week, a forty-minute long vlog of highlights from that week's adventures goes up. every week, they name a random new thing they want to do and start driving in the general direction they think it'll be in. they blow a tire on a windy mountain backroad and the camera, set on the ground, records both of them bickering over the best way to change a tire. they leave the camera, crooked and sliding around, on the dashboard and record the two-man performance of queen's entire discography.

six months into their roadtrip which is starting to feel more like a lifestyle, and two months after davey started uploading videos to youtube, he checks his junk email and sees that he apparently has a comment on one of the videos. he hasn't been paying much attention to what was going on with the old ones once they were up, so he's beyond surprised to see a few thousand views a video, a couple hundred comments on the ones with particularly funny moments. a few hundred subscribers.

jack thinks it's hilarious. davey is not so sure. he keeps uploading though, especially when jack points out that if they get enough subscribers they can monetize it and have some more money. so they keep doing it.

they hit national parks. the spend the winter down south, and davey gets hours of footage of jack wide-eyed and wonderous in santa fe, a city he's wanted to visit for years.

he gets a comment that says something like "I can see them falling in love in real time" and it takes a few days to be able to film the way he has been because now he's self-conscious about how much he records jack just existing. he knows he's had a lingering crush on jack since they were twelve but he doesn't need a random stranger on the internet calling him out on it. he also knows jack is straight. so.

it doesn't take long for the channel to have enough subscribers to monetize it, and it doesn't take long for them to appreciate making a handful of extra cash every month. it's not a lot of money, especially at first, but fifty bucks is a good couple meals with how they've learned to shop, or a full tank of gas. it means they have more time, now that they're starting to run out of savings. and the longer it goes on, the more they're making. they break 10k subscribers on a video that heavily features clips of them rolling down a random hill they found and decided to have fun on and jack rescuing a cat from a dumpster that they brought to a local shelter. davey stops paying attention to the numbers because he and jack both agree if they start doing it for youtube instead of themselves, it'll stop being so much fun.

they got to new orleans for mardi gras, a bucket list item that davey thought of a few months ago when they were stargazing and thinking of more things to do. it's been almost a year since they left new york, and it seems like their list is only growing. they get covered in beads and get a hotel room so they can get as drunk as they want, jack wears the camera around his neck so it doesn't get lost, and it's there that davey has the crashing, terrifying realization that it's a lot more than a little crush.

jack is bright and energetic and even in this crowd full of people dancing and laughing and singing and shouting, jack stands out. davey steals the camera away from him and gets video after video of jack just being jack, being bright and fun and taking davey by the hand and pulling him along to the next thing. jack takes it back and records davey laughing while he tries to dance along to a song he doesn't know. it's wild and crazy and fun.

they got a hotel room with only one bed because they didn't even think about it. they've been sharing the back of the van for a year, but maybe because it's a real bed or maybe because suddenly davey is aware of how much he's actually in love with jack for the first time, but it's different. and they wake up collapsed together, wrapped around each other, and davey has a moment of being so, so grateful for what this year has been.

there's a comment under that video that davey has a hard time ignoring because it says "you just know they kissed when the camera was off lol" and he can't stop thinking about what if. what if they had? what if they did? what then?

when davey is editing the next video he can't help but notice that there are just as many random shots of him doing nothing as there are of jack. like jack is also finding himself recording davey at random moments when nothing is happening. it's hard not to get his hopes up. and the best part of this whole thing has always been the small moments, the quiet and calm conversations at night with rain falling on the roof of the van, being stuck in traffic laughing at each other trying to learn lyrics to a new song, eating at a greasy truck stop diner and trying to figure out what tastes so weird in these pancakes. it's the little things, the inside jokes they've had since middle school spread throughout the brand new adventures every day, the way jack still snorts when he laughs and still teases davey for how he can't help but mess up his hair when he gets excited about something. it's the way they finish each other's sentences without thinking and barely have to talk about things to know what to do next because they can practically read each other's minds.

knowing jack is easy. this whole this has been easy, even when it really wasn't. when they got really lost an a snowstorm rolled in in September for no reason. even when they've been stressed about something going wrong, or being lost someplace scary, or not knowing if they'd make it to the next gas station, even when they've bickered for real and not for fun and even when they've gotten in actual fights a couple of time, it's always been easy. easy to come back to jack, easy to love jack, wholly and simply and completely because isn't that all he's ever done?

davey doesn't think jack is paying much attention to the youtube videos. he's never said anything about the comments or brought up anything from them.

so when they find another quiet moment, way up in the mountains in the southwest listening to the first snowmelt of the spring start to trickle down the slope, wrapped in a big blanket together on the roof of the van so they can see the stars without freezing to death, it takes davey by complete surprise. when jack, who's cuddled into his side and silently taking in the stars he's yet to get sick of being able to see so clearly, says, sometimes I wonder if they're right.

if who are right, davey asks, genuinely confused. the people on youtube who say they're watching us fall in love, jack says, like it's nothing. like it's not a sentence with the potential to upset everything about who they are and what they're doing and who they've always been.

oh? davey says, barely breathing and very, very aware of how pressed close together they are right now.

i guess i just know i could never do better than you, jack says, and davey has a moment of thinking oh he's just kidding until jack rolls to look at him instead of the sky. i don't want to try, I guess, he says. i know I'd never be able to find somebody as perfect for me as you are. I've always known, I've known since we met, and I know it's stupid and crazy especially when we're out here on our own and nowhere to go if things go wrong, but I want to kiss you, I think.

and when davey kisses jack, out here on a van roof wrapped in a blanket, listening to melting snow under a sky full of more stars than either of them could have imagined when they met, that's easy, too. and when they fall asleep, together like they have been sleeping for more than a year, it's easy to forget that anything changed at all because, davey realizes, they've been loving each other this whole time.

it was in the ways jack would pull over on a random farm road in Iowa to pick a pretty wildflower growing in a ditch, and davey would find the flower pressed between the pages of one of his books weeks later, carefully labelled with the date it had been picked. that was jack loving davey. and so was jack's sketchbook, brand new when they left and now so full he'd been adding pages for weeks, and half the drawings included davey's face. and so was jack's easy memorization of davey's order at every fast food place they'd stopped at, his diner go-tos and the drinks he liked when they stopped at an actual restaurant and it wasn't his turn to drive to wherever they were spending the night.

and davey had memorized the same facts about jack, and wasn't that also love? and the way davey would buy a stack of new books and donate the old ones every time they found a good used book store, and he'd sit in the passenger seat and read out loud to pass the time on long stretches of boring road. and when he was driving, wasn't it davey loving jack every time he took a left turn on the hunch there would be cows or horses instead of a right that would get them to where they thought they were going? and when davey found an excuse to stay at the top of a hiking trail lookout for long enough for jack to draw everything he wanted, even when jack kept looking up and saying they should go even when he wanted to keep drawing, wasn't that love, too?

they'd been loving each other this whole time, so maybe those youtube comments weren't the same after all. because maybe this had always been there, and it just took somebody else, somebody with no reason to lie, to point it out before either of them could see the other side.

when they finally, after almost a year and a half, decide it's time to go home to the city they've finally started to miss, they drive all the way out west again first. jack wants to take route 66 as far as it will go, so they drive from santa monica to Chicago and take pictures at every landmark along the way. it takes a month to be satisfied, and a few more days to make it home after that.

it's the last video davey uploads, he doesn't want to keep vlogging now that he's happily settled into his own skin and found a job he doesn't hate. maybe he'll freelance write on the side, eventually write a memoir about the time he and jack spent driving around just to do it.

in the last video, there are the usual clips. jack goofing off and getting himself in some kind of silly trouble, davey being accident prone and only avoiding getting seriously injured by some stroke of minor luck. there's also a shot of the two of them, the camera left a few feet away, standing at the edge of the grand canyon with jack's head on davey's shoulder. a drawing jack did of the two of them sharing breakfast at a little cafe. a video of jack adding his mark to the Cadillac ranch in texas. the two of them looking out from the top of the gateway arch. the kind of casually loving moments that maybe don't mean anything to some people, but that davey knows are exactly the kind of sign others had been picking up on this whole time. only this time, jack and davey know it too.

#if there are typos no there aren't this is too long to edit and I'm Sleepy #javid #jack kelly #davey jacobs #newsies #idk why jack and davey vanlife called to me so strongly. but it did. so here <3 for you my loving fans

[palmviolet]

hi!!

would you mind sharing your top steddie fics??

looking for great recs

hi! i'm ashamed to admit that i haven't read any steddie in... months. maybe a year. as a result i haven't got anything recent to recommend — but here are some of the ones i enjoyed anyway. if you want any more, my ao3 bookmarks are public!

matches burn after the other - limerental (5k)

It's ten years later. Steve's a hospice nurse. Eddie's got the virus. It's kind of weird and sad and strange and inevitable. Or something. And not as sad as it sounds.

Weakened Like Achilles, with You Always at My Heels - HMSLusitania (53k)

The graduating classes of 1985 and 1986 invite YOU back to West Hawkins! Welcome reception Friday, May 24th at 7:30pm. School and town tour to follow on Saturday morning. Memorial service Sunday. If you are a graduate of the class of 1985 and need driving directions to West Hawkins, please RSVP * Due to current government restrictions, we are not currently able to offer a site visit to the Hawkins Exclusion Zone Steve Harrington goes home for his ten (well, eleven) year reunion with a nagging secret that's slowly ruining his life. In the ten years between, he finds the family he always wanted and, unfortunately, the person he wanted to share it with.

windowsill - lagardère (laurore), MissAntlers (13k)

“It’s about finding what you’re invested in,” Ms Kelley had said. “It will help with the process of recovery. You need to find it, and nurture it.” Whatever Ms Kelley meant, surely it wasn’t this: using Lucas’ binoculars to spy on Steve Harrington as he climbs out the window of the Munson trailer. (recovering in the aftermath of Vecna's attack, Max is stuck at home. Somehow, spying on Eddie Munson has become her number 1 hobby.)

let's do the time (loop) again - alchemystique (34k)

“Did you, uh… did you sing to me, once?” Eddie asks, sitting on the hood of Steve’s car and staring up at the sky so he doesn’t have to pretend he isn’t desperate for everything promised in the eyes that haven’t left Eddie since Eddie woke up in that hospital bed. It’s just – Time loops, and the King of Hawkins High going back over and over and over again just to stop Eddie Munson from dying, and – “Fuck,” Steve says, and Eddie doesn’t remember, but there’s a song that won’t leave his head, and the voice is soft and warm just like the way Steve smiles at him and – “I didn’t think you remembered any of it.” --- Eddie died in a time loop a hundred times and all Steve got was this tee-shirt.

You're the Driver, You're the Road - stereobone (8k)

Eddie meant it when he said once he graduated, he was getting the hell out of Hawkins. He just didn't realize that Steve was going to keep showing up.

the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you - @greatunironic (34k)

Sixteen years after the world didn't end for the last time, Max Mayfield showed up on Steve’s doorstep and said, “You gonna walk me down the aisle in May or what?” Or, it’s 2002 and Steve Harrington attends a wedding, a funeral, and a birth.

Waiting Room - @kissmejusttokiss (55k)

Sometimes, Eddie thinks they should have left him in the Upside Down. But people are happy that he’s alive. Or, at least, that’s what they keep telling him. Dustin follows him around like letting Eddie out of his sight will bring about the second coming of hell. Constantly asking if he’s OK, never taking yes for an answer. The other kids do the same, lingering and worrying, but with a softer approach. Robin calls him every day and he gets used to her impromptu visits even if sometimes he doesn’t manage to get a word in edgewise. And Steve… Steve is an enigma wrapped in an atrociously good-looking riddle. Eddie navigates the aftermath of surviving the final battle and tries his best not to lose the only good thing to ever happen to him. (Even if that means making a deal with the devil.) sequel to 'i can't save us, my Atlantis'

sir stephen strider finds his suzie - @lesbianrobin (5k)

Dustin watches Eddie's face as everyone else giggles. He's retained his typical intimidating smirk for much of this encounter, but as Steve stumbles through his fictional seduction, Eddie's eyes soften. His smirk slowly turns to a small grin. “Didn't Wizard Romeo and Juliet both die?” he asks, in that same low, grumbly voice he always loves to use for big scary bad guys. The effect is jarring. “Well, yes, but… they loved each other first,” Steve says, oddly sincere. “I think love is worth the risk. Wouldn't you agree? And then, uh, I'm gonna take off my helmet and, like—” Steve tosses his hair, shaking it out dramatically and running a hand through it afterward to fix any wayward strands. "Ew,” Mike says. Nancy presses a hand over her mouth, but it does nothing to hide her smile. Usually, this is the point where Eddie would make them all roll initiative. Dustin has his D20 ready. But Eddie smiles. Eddie fucking smiles, and not in that maniacal way he does before siccing something horrific on them, he fucking beams, and says, "You're gonna scrape your neck on his mace doing that, just so you know."

#fic recs #steddie #asks