#the first night i drove by myself (pitch black on the water) i saw a big ole boy swimming

[spikekat]

actually did i ever show yall the alligators i saw this summer while cruising the intracostal waterways from tampa bay up to virginia?? i was helping someone move their fishing vessel and i saw So Many beautiful gators :,)

this little guy was very Curious if we were going to throw fish guts overboard (we did not)

also it turns out you can put your phone camera up to binoculars and take pretty acceptable photos

#american alligator #alligator #my beloved ancient beasts... my friends..... #the first night i drove by myself (pitch black on the water) i saw a big ole boy swimming #via the spotlight i was using to see dayboards. he was fuckign Moving! #probably didnt like me shining my light on him sorry sir 😔 #adventure tag

[see-with-your-eyes-and-remember]

March 2017

We traveled on foot and by buggy visiting everyone Viviana could think of. She even knocked on random doors to ask, “where does so-and-so live?” We called it quits around 11pm and a taxi drove us 25 minutes to Sancti Spíritus where we stayed at Yeline’s apartment for the night. She had air conditioning and running water. It was nice to wash myself with a cloth and soap under a stream of water, even though it was ice cold. To catch a bus to Havana, I was awakened at 5am by the best cafecito I’ve had to this day. La espuma was so sweet and frothy! The bus left at 7am and arrived in Havana at 2pm.

Uva’s one bedroom apartment didn’t have air conditioning, but it had running water (no water heater). After a couple hours of distributing gifts and goodies from my suitcases, Uva’s wife, Aleida, prepared delicious Cuban red beans and rice with a salad for dinner. When it turned dark, their grandson Alejandro, drove me to a park where I could connect to Wi-Fi and call home over WhatsApp. He explained that the park was the best place in Havana to get online and that he had to purchase an illegal card with a code that gave him minutes to connect to the Wi-Fi. The park was pitch black aside from scattered laptops and smartphones shining in the distance. It took us half-an-hour to connect and when we did, I couldn’t even hear my mom on the WhatsApp call; she was so broken up. But I made sure to tell my sister “Happy birthday!”

Alejandro was the only family member with a car (not much of a car, but it got us from A to B). He was also the only one who understood English. He and his wife were in their early thirties, and they had an adorable three-year-old daughter. But they often seemed tense, or unhappy, compared to the elders in the family. Alejandro seemed embarrassed to open the care packages I brought for him and his little family. I felt ashamed saying things like, “Try on these shoes, they’re your size!” or “Here’s some panties for the baby!” I recently found out that they live in Texas now. When I think about that, my heart flutters with joy for them.

After a cold shower, I kissed Uva and Aleida goodnight and thanked them for their hospitality. I was so exhausted from socializing that I went right to bed without considering the sleeping arrangements. Aleida told me to lay in the bed and go to sleep, so that’s what I did. Everyone else was still up and chatting. I assume that Yaya and Viviana left with Alejandro to stay at his house, because there was only one bed at Uva’s.

I woke up in the morning dazed and drenched in sweat. “Where am I?” I thought. That was the best rest I had in Cuba. I remember Aleida was still asleep next to me, so I quietly got up to use the toilet. As I passed the door to the kitchen, I saw something that made my heart sink to my stomach: Uva was lying on the tiled floor atop a red sleeping bag. I stepped closer and heard his heavy breathing. My throat closed and my eyes filled with tears.

That morning was filled by more visitations. And each time a new group of people showed up, more Cafecito was prepared. A trio of teenagers close to my age showed up at just the in the afternoon. It was just the right time, too, because I was completely drained by all the chisme and crashing from too many cafecitos. They were Amanda (Yeline’s daughter), with her boyfriend, and her best friend. And they were able to convince my grandaunt to let me out of the apartment to explore Havana with them. First, we took a bus to the Universidad de la Habana where they were all studying. They showed me inside a classroom that had wooden desks and a chalkboard, like what you see in old movies. Then we had savory Cuban pastries, fresh guarapo, and melty ice cream. I can home with an obsession for sugarcane juice. Why had I never had it before? Maybe because it doesn’t taste nearly as good in Miami. Trust me, I’ve done my research.

Interview

Fall 2023

Wawi: (Cuba 1979) Finally, we met somebody from the government who wanted our house. He told us if we wanted to go that we had to give him our house and leave everything behind. He said if we wanted to leave, we would have to go to a 3rd world country. We had to choose between Spain and costa Rica. We chose Spain. I told my mother and father that I would be back.

(About my grandfather) He was playing guitar when we were dating, during that time the Beatles were very popular, and he would play songs… doooos caminoooos! (Formula V) He was visiting me, and I was 15 years and I was a baby and cute. He was a man! Twenty one, big thighs, you know he was always on the bicycle, macho man, and I was fifteen with blond long hair, my eyes almost green, I was very skinny, my titties were so beautiful and my belly, my belly button was so pretty, and my body was shaped like a guitar, and he was so jealous of all the guys I had after me. 

He would come and visit with my grandmother who was Jehovah witness. I met him in the bus, we were going to temple, and he was sitting in the back of the bus, he was sitting there checking me out. I found out that he followed me to the temple. And he introduced himself there. He started to do bible study with my grandmother, Aleida to get to me. One day everyone from the temple went to visit a widow whose husband had just passed away. Then we walked down by the water, and like a shark he told me he wanted me to be his girlfriend and he gave me a kiss.

Then he told my grandmother he wanted me to be his girlfriend and she said OKAY, but she would always be there watching us with the bible. We dated for 4 months and then got married. Then 17 days after we married, I got pregnant. From his pito. You know, when I was dating him, sometimes I would escape school and meet him. He would ride his bike very far to meet me. And then we would go behind the tree in a wooded area and he would want to give me a kiss. He wanted to see my tiddies behind the tree while I was supposed to be at the dentist.

Sometimes when he was visiting me at my grandmother’s house, he would come with a big squash.

Me: Why?

Wawi: That was a present. He would give to my grandmother vegetables and bananas. Once in a while he would bring a calabaza, pumpkin. I was ashamed to get that. I mean, when you're dating someone, you don’t bring them a calabaza, but in Cuba you don't have a choice! You take the calabaza or you get nothing. Sometimes he would bring two pieces of yuca or un boniato, Cuban sweet potato.

Wawi: (Spain 1979) We were in Spain for 6 months before we could leave.

We sent his sister in Miami $3,500 before we left Cuba, so she could hold it for us until we get there. She was sending $200 to a friend in Spain for us to have money when we got there.

Me: When you got to Spain, what did you do?

Wawi: I got a guy to make wood shoes for me and a nice dress. I didn't know it was going to be cold in Spain. When we got off the plane, the cold almost broke my lungs. We left Cuba October 9th, 1979, and landed the next day in Madrid around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. We arrived at the Refugee Red Cross. We had just our suitcases with clothes and some pictures hiding in the clothes and some shoes. We couldn't bring any jewelry or any things.

We had to go to the office and check in. I was 20.  Once we were checked in, the lady told us to go. I was shaking, we had no place to go. I told her I had the impression that when we arrived, we would be staying at an American refugee camp. And they told me there is no such thing and no place to stay. She told me I had to use the phone to call my family and have them send me money so we could rent a hotel or a hostel. I didn't know what a hostel was, she told me it’s a place where private people rent rooms. I didn't know anything. The lady told me to grab our bags and go. I felt like I was having a heart attack. I was crying and screaming that I didn't want to be there. He was telling me to calm down and that we would go find something. There was a guy there who told us he would take us to some places he knew. He was ready to leave to the US. He took us to a hostel he knew of everything was uphill in the cold weather, no jackets, no books, my toes were freezing, walking with suitcases. We were sweating and freezing. Sometimes the hostels were dirty and disgusting and sometimes they had a sign that they were full. The guy told us we had to tell the hostel that we are waiting for our family to send us money from the US. I’m waiting, I just got off the plane, my family is going to send me the money and then I'll pay you."

Then the lady said, this is the rule: "You're to stay here? there's no food included, no water included. If you want to wash, it's 50 pesetas for cold water 70 pesetas for hot water." And I had my period. I got my period the day I got there. And I thought, oh my god, what am I doing? No food, no coffee, nothing! We had nothing. Oh, and at the Red Cross, the lady explained to us if they find out we are working, we are not allowed to go to the US and if we get into a fight, they will take away our permit. We didn't know how long we were going to be in Spain. We wanted to leave Cuba; it didn't matter. We had to wait until we got permission to go to the US. The only thing the lady could give us was some left over two boiled egg and red beans. We had to eat it, we didn’t know when we would eat again. So, between the three of us we split it. When we went to sleep, there was no heat, we were very cold.

We woke up the next day at 3 in the afternoon. We had $200. In that time, they gave us 66 pesetas per dollar. We went to get a big coca cola and we all shared that to drink - we were dying to get something. Then he bought a whole chicken for us to share. I told him to be careful with our money because they will scam you with your change there. I didn't have any Kotex, so I just had to use paper and the lady there would measure the paper. She refused to let me clean my chucha with warm water - she reminded me I had to pay 70 pesetas. I had to wash my chucha with the cold water it was coming out as ice it was freezing! Eventually the lady started asking us to pay. So, we left without paying. We'd do the same thing over and over again at different hostels so we wouldn’t have to pay.

We met a friend there, Gladys, she was Cuban. And she was very nice to us, she felt sorry for us. Sometimes she would get us something like bread or a sandwich. Her family was good, they owned a store here in Miami and they would send money here to here. Usually, I would wanna get coffee. I would smell it! I pass all the stores and they made coffee, and I couldn't have a cup of coffee for days. This lady one day invited me to get coffee. And it was, oh my god, a relief, at least a cup of coffee.

And after a while, we knew a little bit more and we would walk. We went out to the flea market; it was blocks and blocks of flea market. And every time we passed a booth, we would steal something, like a chorizo, or two yogurts, or a banana. And finally, we found a place you could go an eat free for homeless people. They would make lunch and dinner, but you would need to take a train to get there. But we didn't have enough money to take the train. So, we would walk the five miles, in the cold, to get the lunch or dinner. And the food wasn't good, but it was better than nothing and it was free.

One day we found out about a lady who ran a prostitution house. She needed a couple to manage the hookers. We needed a place to sleep, and that was it. The lady promised she would give us 30,000 pesetas a month and give us food every day and that there would be heat in the room. So, we started working there.

Me: What was it like?

W: A nightmare. She was horrible. She never brought us food. There wasn't any heat. We slept on a bed that was maybe 4 feet wide. The bed was caving in because it was like a fold out bed. Then the lady would bring one chicken and one bread and give it to us like a pet dog. We had to get up at any time in the middle of the night when the hookers would ring the bell and we'd let them up. Then we'd have to clean the room after - disgusting. The hookers were walking, working, and finding these old men, 70 or 80 years old. These hookers would come up 4 or 5 times in the night. I let them up, they pay me first, and then they go in the room to fuck.  I had to be honest with the lady and turn in the money. Eventually I found out she kept the money in her washer machine, and I would steal a little at a time. So, we charge the customer, and then they fuck quick, like 15 or 20 minutes. One day I looked in the keyhole. I was wondering "what are they doing in there…this girl comes so many times, her chucha doesn't get sore?"

Me: The same girl? Or don't you see a lot of girls?

Wawi: well like four or five different girls. It depends. The one blonde girl was more popular. She wasn't very pretty but she was quick and hustled the most. I looked through the keyhole and it was disgusting.

The old man with his wrinkly dick. He was creaking like old furniture. The dick was kind of hard, but it was like he was paralyzed, squeaking like a door. The balls were all hairy. Sometimes they don’t even take their clothes off. Just pull down the pants and go. When I saw that, I got disgusted, and I wanted to leave. I said, oh my god, we need to leave this place. 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning, all hours of the night they would come. One day the lady came up and told us she wanted us to leave in the middle of the night. I told her we couldn't leave in the middle of the night; we had the baby and she needed to pay us, but the lady said she didn't have any money. She made us leave without paying us. We were afraid, we had to leave, she threatened to call the police. So, we rolled up the foam mattress and he held the mattress over his shoulder and I packed the suitcase. And the baby was crying "Mami, where are we going?" and I said "you ¡cállate! we are going". We were there maybe 10 days. We were starving. She didn't bring food or anything and we were cold. Some nights, Damaisy would do pee in the bed, and we'd be wet and cold all night. That night, I was walking behind him, and I got nervous and started laughing uncontrollably and I couldn’t walk. He started yelling at me calling me stupid, telling me how we don't have anywhere to go. I was having a nervous breakdown. I was laughing watching him the mattress over his shoulder. I thought "this is the end of us. I don’t know where we are going to go now" We ended up at my friend’s apartment, but there was so many people there. Twenty-two Cubans in the same apartment room, but she let us stay there. There was only one bathroom for all of us. To cook, there was only three things: a pressure cooker, a frying pan, and one pot. To cook, you have to wait patiently for others to finish.

In order to find out if our visas were ready for us to leave Spain, we had to call the United States from a payphone. We invented a little copper cable that we could press the number and put the wire inside so we could place the call for free.

Finally, we went to the Red Cross to stay there-they had a space for us.  But there was a compromise, we had to cook for all the people. But we had a plan to steal food, so that we could stock up. We didn't know how long we were going to stay in Spain, we wanted to accumulate food in our room so when we had to move, we would have something. Chorizo, oil, beans, lentejas, rice, to prepare because I'm always like that. But we had to get up at 4 in the morning to prepare food for the rest of the people. Then, when we didn't want to do that anymore, we went back to Gladys' apartment until the US was ready to take us.

We arrived the United States on February 14th, Valentines Day, 1980.

#creativeproj1

[thekillingjoke-haha]

We’re Batshit Crazy

@spnquotebingo​ Word count:1,609

Summary: Love isn't all that perfect sometimes love is crazy especially when the Hero is in love with said crazy.

Gotham AU

Jason Todd(Jensen Ackles) x Villan!Reader

Enemies and Lovers (none of that "to" bs)

Gotham Recasting: Batman=John, Dick Grayson(second Robin not first) =Sam ,Tim Drake=Adam, Joker(ledger style)=Lucifer, Harley Quinn=Lilith,ect.

Warnings: Mention of death, blood, guns, and violence

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The mad laughter rung out into the night sky as the purple Lamborghini hit corners with violently sharp turns. "Oh puddin I just love family night!~" The pale platinum blonde giggled as the man with green dyed hair licked his smiling lips. A bubble of laughter came from the back seat he turned around to see his princess looking out the small back window. "Batsy batsy batsy" Her low/high pitched giggle caused a crazy chain reaction as the bat mobile hurried to catch up. "Always ruining our fun,huh,princess?" The clown king shifted his gray-ish blue order into the mirror grinning making the scars on his face raise into a sinister smile at the look of pure chaos in his daughter's e/c eyes. "Not tonight! Not on my birthday!!" She said as she smiled reaching under the seat to pull out a Tommy gun. Climbing to the front seat sitting on her mothers lap she leaned out the passenger window. "Go back to the Rat cave your not gonna put a downer on my weekend!" Y/n yelled shooting off round towards the tires,windshield,and headlights.

The mobile didn't seem to have a scratch as as a motorcycle pulled up beside it. Slipping back in the car the younger women pouted looking at get parents. "He called his little birdie no doubt the replacements in the car." Y/n huffed as she dug around for more fire power. "Puddin we have a visitor.~" The red mask gazed at us as he lifted a forearm pistol. Shots were fired and Joker took a hard right almost like tron the motorcycle quickly turned into a ally to avoid being hit. "Sorry Princess might have to cut tonight shot." He said licking his lips as a thump came from the roof making the youngest clown snarl her eye crazed as she shot above her as the purple car swerved wildly. "YOU'RE RUINING MY BIRTHDAY,BATS!!!" Y/n cackled madly a mixture of her parents laughed till the magazine ran out.

They got to one of their warehouses where Jokers men were armed to the teeth. The clown mask had black soulless eyes and immediately fired the moment the batmobile entered. Y/n skipped out of the purple Lamborghini she got on her tippy toes and kissed her dad on the cheek. "I got the hooded punk. Can you clip the bats wings for me...a little present?!" He laughed as he armed himself with a shotgun. "Anything for my princess." The f/c sf/c female clown skipped away knowing that the motorcycle riding vigilante was hot on her tail. That's how she found herself on the roof tops jumping the gaps as heavy footfalls followed. Her loud laugh echoed as she leaped to a smaller building hiding behind a vent the moment the brown leather jacket came into view she tackled the tall man. They were both panting as a grin pulled on the clowns lips.

Y/n POV

"Caught ya,Jay bird." I giggled pulling of the helmet his apple green eyes covered by a second mask stared at me he chuckled as his hand slipped above his head in mock surrender. "Yeah you caught me,beautiful." Leaning down I kiss him my hands pushed into his cheeks my thumb running over the scarred J. We've been dating for awhile now ever since dad kidnapped the second Robin at seventeen. I was fifteen at the time and dad had me at his side as he tortured him.I was always there to stitched him up and put burn cream after shock therapy I didn't know how we got attached maybe because he wanted to rebel a little by talking to me or someone around his age saw the same if not worse shit.

Six years ago(Y/n 15 Jason 17)

"Why are you helping me?" Looking up his head was strapped down along with his arms and legs. I shrugged my shoulders I knew who he was if I wiped off the make up and temp dyed my hair I was the honor student in the same class as him. Jason Todd anyone with eyes had a thing for him,but after removing his mask it wasn't hard to piece together who the bat fam is. "I know what my dad has planned for you Jay. This is just a band-aid on a gunshot wound and might I say that's very unhelpful." This was the first I spoke to him and it wasn't long before Dad beat him to death.

Two years later.

I sat in the back of the car as Frost drove. We just left the cemetery. "Why are we doing this,n/n." He asked looking in the rear view mirror at me. I'm seventeen now my thoughts screamed at me. Why was I trying to bring him back? "Because I crazy that why!" I giggled as we grew closer to the lazapit. He was dressed in a black suit with red tie his body sunk into the water as I waited. A loud gasp drew my attention as he shot up a white streak in his hair. "Heya sleeping beauty." Looking over in shock he lowly made his way looking like a baby deer. "I'm alive,but h-how?" His green eyes looked at me. "A Ghoul owed me a few favors I just asked to use his fountain of youth." Handing him a towel and some clothes. "Sorry about the outfit,but Arkham does have one size fits all." Jason chuckled as he started to dry off.I realized why I brought him back. I was crazy about him.

Two more years later(two years ago)

Jason wanted to stay dead he didn't go back to His dad and brother after he realized that neither of them tried and save him. It was sad to see,but it brought Jason closer to me and he started to trust me and I gave trust in return. Blood coated my hands while some was on my face. Looking at Jay some was speckled on his cheeks taking the pockets square out of the mobsters coat I wiped it off he looked down at me his arm slipped around my waist pulling me closer my breath hicked. "Will you be my girlfriend,my little jester?" A large smile grew on my face as my arms went around his neck pulling him down further. "Gladly,Jay bird." I kissed him not caring if my lipstick stained his lips and he didn't seem to care either as the kiss grew more intense. We shared our first kiss at nineteen surrounded by dead bodies as sirens and the unmistakable sound of the armed batmobile. At least he's as crazy about me as I am about him.

One year ago. (Jason POV for a sec)

I came to Bruce I hate to admit it but I needed advice about the one think he knew best. Women. It was just a couple of months ago he found out I was alive and shocker he managed to drive Dicky boy to Blüdhaven to get away from him to get his own image and not just Robin. Oh and surprise surprise when out of robins he had a spare like a tire and it's name was Tim. Nevermind that I stood across from Bruce in his home main office he had a frown on his face. "You're dating someone and its serious and I didn't know about it?" He asked trying to deduct everything. "I've been dating her ever since I came back. As strange as it might sound,but I want us to be something more." That's when the billionaire playboy stood up standing just a inch shorter then myself.

"Life is short Jason and you've experienced that first hand if you feel that both of you are perfect enough to be more then go for it." Perfect wasn't realistic nothing was ever perfect my life isn't perfect her life sure as hell isn't she's the clown princess I'm a bat son. Maybe that what makes us so good together the fact that it would have never really happened any other way life is just crazy like that.

Present

Staring into those vexing green eyes always brought me back. We're both twenty-one him being older only by a couple of months. "Happy birthday,gorgeous." His voice brought me back as my smile grew. We were standing up now he held a box wrapped in my two favorite colors. "Awe you shouldn't have." I grab it and opened it a gun was inside it was red and gold revolver it looked like my moms love/hate gun,but it said King/Queen. Looking at Jay I reached to hug him when suddenly he dropped to one knee pulling out a box with a beautiful f/c ring and ruby gem. "This feels over due. You took care of me when I was considered enemy number one. You brought me back from the grave when my own family didn't try. And this might sound stupid,but I had a crush on you in middle school you were one of the only people that didn't give me pity after Bruce adopted a street kid." He licked his lips as he gave of a small smile. "Together we are far from perfect, but we are good. You complete me...Y/n M/n Napier become my queen?" My eyes glossed over with tears my make up running down the pale foundation. "Oh my god of course!!!" I jumped into his arms hugging him tightly before letting him slip on the ring. "I love you." "I love you more crazy." I chuckle it sounded watery in my throat. "If I'm crazy then that makes two of us. You wanted to marry me." Yep we're both batshit crazy.

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A/n: Quote= We are far from perfect, but we are good. ~Supernatural

Is it just me or does Jensen look fucking hot as Red Hood?! I'm mean he's definitely a reason to move to Gotham

Well first crossover AU in my bingo card

#spnquotebingo #dean winchester #supernatural #supernatural au #gotham au #batman #red hood #jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd x y/n #enemies and lovers #marraige #alternative universe #super-unnatural #joker #harley quinn #villian!reader #daughter!reader #clown princess #crowned queen of crime #crowned king of chaos #hero x villain

[zhongliologist]

Slowly, Deliberately | Zhongli

Pairing: Zhongli x fem!reader

Genre: SMUT!! SMUT!! SMUT!!

Words: 3.3k

A/N: this was inspired by @genshin-fluff​‘s headcanons! IT WAS SO HOT I COULDN’T HELP MYSELF!! thank you for the idea!!

*WARNING!! THIS IS PURE SMUT. IF YOU ARE A MINOR, IT IS UPON YOUR DISCRETION. PLEASE READ RESPONSIBLY*

*

It had been a fantastic night.

Zhongli’s gentle yet steady hold on you still felt warm on your skin as the lanterns above illuminated his face in a bright golden glow, creating patterns of light and shadow on his smiling face. His deep but sensual voice still ringing on your ears as you heard him whisper your name, leading you to his room.

He forgot to open his one last present he says. You wondered what it was.

It had been his birthday today, and the both of you enjoyed it thoroughly. A picnic by the Liyue cliffsides in the morning and a dinner date at the Wanmin Restaurant in the evening, then a small peaceful walk along the stone tiled streets of the harbor as the winter sea breeze kept the both of you huddled together.

It was one of days where you would hear him genuinely laugh out loud—a deep chuckle as he gazes at you with endearment, his fingers securing a stray lock behind your ear. He just makes you feel so many things all at once that you couldn’t really put a name to each and every emotion. But you were sure of one thing—you loved him.

And as the day finally draws near to its demise; the stars high up in the pitch black sky, twinkling brightly as ever before, he held you once more.

It hadn’t escaped your notice how your lover (not boyfriend, he says, because it is not the most appropriate label), has taken upon himself to buy you the most expensive and most intricate clothing he could find his hands on, and have you wear them even in the most common occasions.

The clothes were extraordinary in and of itself—complex lacing, sheer fabric, ribbons and blouses which attach to and fro, front and back and in everything and everywhere. It took you several tries to finally make sense of them, but no matter the complexity, they were still beautiful—a testament of Zhongli’s eye for high quality items.

Yet the most complicated and elaborate one was of course, reserved for his birthday. As soon as he had heard you prepare a surprise date (which wasn’t much of a surprise anymore), he immediately sent you the dress with the explicit instruction to wear it on that special day.

And you did. Now, as he stood right there front of you, his hands once again on your waist; his eyes bearing nothing but love and appreciation.

“Thank you for tonight, YN. It’s been a while since I have celebrated my own birthday, and I am truly glad I am able to spend it with you,” he whispered with a sweet smile.

“Me too. I’m glad you enjoyed it…” you replied, wondering what was inside his thoughts like most of the time.

As he leaned down towards you, a ghost of a smile on his lips, he captured yours in a gentle but sensual kiss, pouring every ounce of his feelings on that one single action—hoping that maybe you would understand what the deep recesses of his heart contained.

And maybe you did—knowingly or unknowingly—as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, deepening the kiss. You could feel it, at every nip, at every bite or touch of his lips; that this man has fallen hard, and you were not any better.

“Zhongli…” you whispered his name in between pecks and long drawn kisses, breathless and panting. You didn’t have to say it but Zhongli knew what you wanted.

“Patience, my dear,” he replied back as he pulled away, a mysterious smile on his lips.

You stood there dazed and confused, as Zhongli cupped your chin and tilted your head up, his bright amber eyes glowing with mischief. A shiver coursed down your spine as you bit the side of your cheek to stop you from mewling, but it had already made its effect.

“Tonight,” he began, his unoccupied hand now grazing on the sheer fabric of your blouse, feeling the ribbons against your collarbones with his every finger. “I’ll be unwrapping my gift.”

“G-gift…?” you asked as you felt his hands travel down your waist and to your hips and up again. “Haven’t I already given you one?”

At your question, the man only chuckled at you and smirked. Zhongli said nothing as he began to walk around as if encircling his prey, his eyes roaming but his hands never touching. It felt as if he was undressing you with his eyes, especially when you felt him stand tall behind your back, his digits now brushing your hair away from your neck.

“There is another gift I failed to mention,” he said, his hand slowly pulling the ribbons open on your back before leaning in to kiss your now bare nape. “And I shall enjoy this gift thoroughly to show my appreciation.”

Zhongli kept you still by wrapping his arms around your waist as he continued to kiss down your back at every skin he exposed. Often he would stop at one area, just to suck and leave his own mark which often made you shudder.

Slowly, deliberately.

Zhongli would remove one layer of clothing at a time, and then leave a few lingering kisses to the places he touched.

As he took off your outer wear, his hands roamed your arms and to your digits, kissing the knuckles and every finger. He would then look at you with those lustful eyes when he popped the buttons off your sheer outer blouse one by one, his tongue taking no time to explore the newly exposed area with fervent desire.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered on your skin, each word punctuated by a kiss. “Every part of you is a work of art—your voice, your eyes, your mind…your body. You make my heart beat race ceaselessly.”

“W-wait…I—ah…!” you moaned, unable to keep it in anymore as his touch became bolder and more adventurous.

He was behind you again after he removed the first blouse; admiring the straps of ribbon holding the dress up. His lips now upon your bare shoulder, peppering small light pecks on your skin as his hands on your waist moved to fondle your breasts.

“It seems I have made the right decision to buy you this dress,” Zhongli told you as he nibbled on your ear, his tongue following after. “I simply wish to devour you tonight.”

Mind in utter chaos, you couldn’t think of anything but his slow and sensual progress of undressing you. Each time his lips or his tongue or his hands ravished you, it seemed like fire has been ignited on your skin; the heat surging down to your lower parts.

You could feel his large hands on your chest, stimulating your clothed nipples—only making you lean against him, moaning. Glancing up, you caught his attention with your sultry half-lidded eyes.

“Zhongli…please stop teasing me…”

He chuckled, his deep voice making his chest rumble. Looking down on you with his lips just a few centimeters away, he replied.

“Forgive me, darling yet I am not yet done with enjoying my present. Perhaps you can endure it for a while, hm?”

“Zhongli…!” you whined and was about to retort when a sudden gasp escaped your lips.

Biting your shoulder, Zhongli gave your shoulder and neck a thorough inspection as he sucked and nipped on your most sensitive points. He raked his lips up your jaw, leaving a wake of splotches of colors on your skin. It seemed to quell the possessiveness in him, seeing those marks he left on you—reminding him, you and everybody that you are his and his only.

“Will you be a good girl for me, YN?” he asked, his deft fingers now untying the knots holding the sash in place as it fell down on the floor in one swoop.

“What…?” you asked while he kicked the spent clothes away and led you to a corner of the room beside his bed.

When he finally stopped, you immediately realized what was in front of you. A mirror.

Zhongli was once again behind you, his head nuzzling on your shoulder as he wrapped his arms around your waist.

“Look at how aroused you look, my love,” he muttered just behind your ear, a smirk on his lips. “If only I could take you right here, right now, and bend you towards the mirror and thrust into you sharply. Make you scream my name and how good I make you feel until my seed drips from your cunt. But it would end just like that, wouldn’t it, YN?”

Pressing you against him, you suddenly felt his erection poking your back which only drove your arousal to new heights. You were still dressed but the way your skin flushed with heat and the way your breath ragged seemed like he had kissed you senseless over and over again.

“Do you understand now why I want to enjoy you as much as I can?” he asked, a growl escaping his throat as his hands dipped further from your waist and towards your thighs.

The dress was cut just a little above your knee—the cloth the only thing separating your bare skin from his sensual touch. It drove you crazy. Unable to look at yourself in the mirror, you looked down on the wooden floor yet that didn’t save you as much as you had hoped.

“Darling, look at you.”

Forcibly propping your head up with his hand, you had no choice but to gaze into your reflection—a moaning mess of ajar lips and half lidded eyes as he groped your body tirelessly. You could feel the dampness soaking your underwear when you found his eyes—smoldering amber swirling deep with desire.

Zhongli smirked.

“Oh? Did you like what you see?” he muttered as you saw his eyes glint. “Then don’t dare remove your eyes from me.”

At this point, you could hardly understand anything as the pleasure of his touch drove your thoughts somewhere else. But when he walked in front of you and knelt down, you instantly knew what he was about to do and you weren’t sure if you can actually stay true to his orders.

“Allow me to undress you, my love,” Zhongli whispered with a conniving grin, removing both your shoes and setting them aside.

Without waiting for you to reply, he raked his finger up the calf of your leg and to your thighs—the ticklish sensation making you utter such dirty sounds. He was testing the waters, watching your every reaction as he kept on moving his hands up and down your stocking-covered legs.

“Z-Zhongli…”

You gasped, your hands tightly grasped his head as you felt his lips kiss your thigh. Slowly, gradually, his thumb meandered lines on the boundary of the knee-high socks and your bare skin, threatening to go further up at any given time.

Zhongli relished all the sounds you made as he pushed the dress up, finding the seam of the sock with his lips. Gazing up, he met your eyes as his teeth sunk on the garment, pulling it off with his mouth and making sure you saw it with your own two eyes.

Struggling to keep your balance from your weakening knees, you leaned one arm on the mirror as Zhongli kept on assaulting your leg with fervent and feverish kisses which sent jolts of pleasure towards your cunt. He of course, left his marks on your skin.

“You’re mine. Only mine.”

Even without you noticing, he had already removed the other sock from your leg; his head slipping underneath your dress. You could feel his breath on your inner thigh, dangerously close to your dripping cunt as he suckled on your sensitive skin, earning a mewl and a shudder up your spine.

“Oh god…Zhongli…!”

He could hear you struggle to maintain yourself, but in his opinion, you were already too far gone—as much as he is anyway. He could feel his dick straining against his pants; the desire to fuck you getting stronger and stronger at every passing second. But he had to wait, he had to be patient.

He had to prepare you.

Pressing a finger on your clothed cunt, he could already tell how wet you were even without hearing your moans. As he poked your hole with his finger, he could feel your legs shake which made him steady you with his hands.

“P-please…please…Zhongli….!”

You begged as you kept your eyes tightly shut, feeling the sensation of his fingers tightly gripping your hips and his breathe on your cunt.

Unable to resist himself, Zhongli pushed aside your underwear and began licking the fluids dripping down from your hole, making sure he got every last drop. You clenched a fistful of his hair as your knees buckled at the pleasurable assault on your cunt.

And when you thought you had enough pleasure for tonight, Zhongli began sucking on your clit, forcing a cry from your lips, as his tongue lapped and suck at the sensitive nub. You couldn’t take it anymore; you were definitely close to climax—the string hold you together was so tightly wound that it could snap at any time.

“W-wait…please…! I…I’m—!”

As if reading your thoughts, he pushed you even further by inserting a finger inside of you, pumping in and out as his tongue drew circles around your clit. You groaned loudly, almost bending over as you felt your climax wash over you in multiple waves of pleasure—electrocuting you from your toes to the ends of your fingertips.

At exactly the same time Zhongli finally emerged from underneath your dress, your legs finally gave up on you, making him catch your delicate and still sensitive body in his arms. Brushing the stray locks on your sweat stained face, he gently kissed your forehead as a token of his love.

“You’ve been a good girl,” he praised you, setting you on the bed with a sweet smile. “Allow me to clean you—”

You pulled on his sleeve before he could leave. “…wait…I—”

Zhongli gazed at you from where he sat on the bed, your implication beginning to dawn on him.

“Forgive me, I haven’t realized…” he began as he shifted closer to you. “…that you wish for me, as much as I wish for you.”

With his hand on the back of your head, Zhongli pushed his lips against yours in a searing kiss; tongues on one another as he explored every bit of your mouth. It took him some time to realize that it wasn’t enough; concerned that you were far too exhausted to continue, but now that he had your permission, he wouldn’t be holding back any longer.

With the slow and teasing foreplay replaced by a burning desire that was never there before, Zhongli quickly divested you of your final clothing; tossing the dress uncaringly towards the floor. Hooking his fingers around the sides of your underwear, he then removed it as he kissed down your stomach as he worshipped every curve of your body.

“You’re so beautiful, my love,” he whispered, “I have never laid eyes on such beauty before.”

Kneeling in front of your lying figure, Zhongli raked his eyes all over you as you visibly saw how they instantly got clouded with lust and hunger. You could feel his domineering presence towering above you as he hurriedly removed his coat, tie and shirt—everything, except his pants.

“Zhongli…please,” you coaxed him, all bare and naked in front of him. “I want you…”

An easy smirk crept up his lips.

“I see you have asked so nicely of me,” he started as he removed his impressive dick from its constraints. “I shall grant you your wish then.”

Pressing the tip on your wet entrance, you gradually felt him enter; stretching you to amounts you have never expected. To distract you, Zhongli captured your lips into a kiss, his tongue once again rendering you speechless, as his hands found themselves fondling your breasts. In time, he had buried himself into you to the hilt, whispering sweet nothings to your ear.

“Zhongli…! Please move…” you muttered, your breaths shallow as you tried to accommodate his size. Even after so many times, it still took some time to get used to him inside you.

Slowly, Zhongli began to move; watching your every expression to see if you were in pain. He knew he was bigger than normal and he had to be patient when it comes to you, but eventually, you both would find a right rhythm and pace for it to start feeling good.

“You take me in so well, my love,” he whispered to you, his lips just above yours as he thrusted into you sharply.

“F-fuck…Zhongli….oh god!” You cried as he kept on hitting your sensitive spot, your nails raking down his back.

You could feel the electrifying-burning sensations underneath your skin once again as the sounds of skin slapping against on another echoed across the room. You could hear your insides squelching as his dick rubbed against your walls; making you clench on him tighty.

Zhongli growled. His intense eyes on yours in an instant;  his hand finding your clit to rub as he kept on pounding you over and over again. You could feel him so deep inside you, filling you up entirely, even more so when he placed your leg on his shoulder; allowing for a much deeper access.

“S-so good…! Ah….Zhongli….! Z-Zhongli…! Harder…please!”

Not one to disappoint, he shoved his cock harshly inside of you as he quickened his pace; still rubbing your clit to push to even further to climax.

“YN…! Ahh….you’re so tight…” he whispered, his eyes also sultry as he kept on pounding inside of you; the girth of his dick stretching you wide.

In a moment’s impulse, Zhongli turned you around on your hands and knees and then went back inside of you in a sharp thrust that only elicited a loud moan from your lips. He kept on fucking you from behind, relentlessly and rapidly until you were reduced into a mess on the bed, drooling and biting on the sheets as he continued on.

“Z-Zhongli…!” you uttered his name over and over again as if you were under a spell.

He leaned down towards you, lapping on your shoulder and your nape. “Are…are you close, my love? I’m close to climax as well…”

With ragged breathes, you forced out a yes from your throat. “Oh god…p-please…! Y-yes! Zhongli…cum…p-please cum inside!”

Upon hearing those words, you could hear him groan beside your ear, his hands on your waist holding you in a tight grip. Just by those words, he has been pushed to the brink of climax. He had never thought he’d love to hear those words from you.

“F-Fuck…YN…! I’m going to come…! I’m going to come inside…! Take all of my seed!”

As his pace began to become more manic, you could feel him twitch inside of you. Just one sharp thrust, and the both of you were gone; convulsing as your orgasm washed over you for the second time while Zhongli groaned and emptied himself inside of you, the warm pumps of his cum filling you to the brim.

Spent and exhausted, you slumped back on the bed as Zhongli pulled out from you, making you mewl at the sudden emptiness. He could see his cum beginning to drip out of your cunt, unable to hold everything inside.

Absentmindedly, he scooped it up with his fingers and pushed his cum back inside your hole, smearing his seed on your slit as he continued; earning a protest from you.

“W-wait…I’m still sensitive…!”

Zhongli flinched as he removed his hand, face flushing. “Oh, forgive me. I…I simply do not wish to see it like that…”

As you heard his words, you grinned at him as you laid on the bed. “Could it be that you really want to get me pregnant?”

He could feel the teasing lilt in your voice which made him smile at you. Leaning down, he gave you a quick peck on your forehead and then a small kiss on your lips.

“If you are not yet exhausted tonight, we can make sure of that.”

#genshin impact #zhongli #rex lapis #s!ns

[julemmaes]

Payback

Rowaelin Month, Day Five

A/N: Yall I'm dying. I didn't even wanna write today and I kinda forced myself to and I'm not proud of myself for this but I just wanted you to have something so yep. Tomorrow's will be a lot angstier and sadder than this one, so soak up the very light fluff I'm giving you till you can

Signing off, goodnight yall

Word count: 3,614

Aelin hated the underground car park reserved for the residents of her building. It was dark, so narrow that you had to do at least a hundred swerves to avoid taking any corner and scratching off half your car, and it was impossible to find a spot when everyone came home in the evening after hours and hours in the office and parked as they saw fit while still thinking about the thousands of pieces of paperwork that would be waiting for them at their desks only nine hours later, sometimes taking up more than two spots at once.

The only reason she still tried to park down there was that there was a flock of pigeons in the trees just outside their block of flats, on the main road, which had made a nasty habit of shitting on anything - or anyone, on some unpleasant occasion - that stopped for more than five minutes under the thick branches. A perfect hiding place for birds, that no one had thought to warn her about when she had moved in only a few months earlier.

She had deemed herself lucky the night before, when she had returned before anyone else and found the lot completely empty. She'd been so happy that she'd driven around a bit down there just for the hell of it. She'd pulled up next to the exit, thinking it would be easier to get out the next morning.

She hadn't anticipated the three assholes who had parked so as to block her path in every conceivable way.

She grunted, banging her fist against the steering wheel when she realised she still wasn't clear, and put the car into reverse for the twelfth time, before changing gear and driving three inches forward. And so on, and on, and on, until she managed to steer the face of the car towards the exit and let out a satisfied howl.

She started up the slope towards the road, taking her eyes off the driveway and distracting herself for a moment to choose which radio to listen to, when the car hit something and the dull sound of the bang echoed throughout her body, propelling her forward.

Aelin squealed, hitting the brakes hard enough to cause a high-pitched squeal, and soon the smell of burnt plastic filled her nostrils.

The car shut off and she pulled the handbrake vehemently, getting out of the car and trying to figure out which wall she had hit, already cursing every deity that had ever existed. She didn't have enough money to afford a repair, and she knew perfectly well that the dent would be there for months before she let any of her friends help her.

She wrinkled her brow, noticing how no side of the car was touching walls or columns.

"What the..."

And then she heard it, a grunt of pain.

She opened her eyes wide, running around the car and finding a man on the ground.

To the view of a head full of stark white hair, the fear she’d just ran over one of the oldies that lived on her floor stuck her. But then the person got up on their elbows and she let go of a sigh of relief.

But still, she had just runapartment someone over. She hurried his way.

"Oh, fuck." said Aelin, approaching the stranger. The man pulled himself up to sit, bringing a hand to his face, on his cheek, where a cut was bleeding profusely on his shirt.

"Holy shit." muttered the guy, looking up at her, "That hurt."

Aelin was frozen in time, her hands to her gaping mouth, looking for the right words.

When he tried to stand, swaying a little, she pushed through the fog in her mind and truly looked at him, searching other injuries, but not failing to notice his sheer handsomeness.

The man looked like he’d been made in heaven.

She shook her head, mentally reprimanding herself – now was not the time – and started talking.

“I’m so so so sorry. I didn’t see you there and- oh god, you’re bleeding. You need me to rush you to the hospital? Fuck, you think you broke something?” the words just kept flowing and flowing. “Where were you even going? Why didn’t you just got out of the main entrance? This fucking parking lot. I swear we have to call the landlord and have him put some lights down here. Your shirt,” she grimaced, eyeing the blood standing out on the white fabric. Aelin looked him in the eye, “I have a very similar one upstairs? You want me to go fetch it for you, I could-”

“Jesus Christ!” he yelled, putting his hands in between them, forcing her to step back, “Shut the fuck up!”

Aelin’s mouth closed shut and her eyebrows raised so high she felt her skin pull on her temples. She crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes popping out.

This man. Sure, she’d just ran him over, but no one had ever talked to her like that.

“I’m fine.” he grumbled, “And I live in this building, I’ll go take my own shirt, thank you.” He took a deep breath, brushing off his trousers and bending to gather his stuff that had scattered around during his fall. When he lifted his head again, he gave her a tight smile and his piercing green eyes stared at her with an intensity that had Aelin’s toes curling in her shoes.

“Have a nice day.”

He then proceeded to walk away, leaving Aelin alone in the darkish driveway.

She looked around, hoping to see someone who could confirm that it had just been a figment of her imagination, but there was no one.

Getting back in her car, Aelin started the engine and drove up to the street, chewing on her lips, “What the fuck just happened?”

***

Aelin had thought all day about the mysterious man. She hadn’t been able to focus during her meetings and hadn’t even finished one of her projects. Something that she sure as fuck knew her boss would make her notice and work her ass off to make up for once word got to him.

Her day had started off so bad she knew it couldn’t get any worse, but she’d been wrong.

Her assistant had spilled coffee over her only finished drawing and herself. One of her coworkers had decided today was the perfect day to quit her job and pile her projects on Aelin’s desk. Then she’d gone out for lunch with some of her friends and it had started raining so heavily she’d been forced to stay in the office, only eye-eating the mouth-watering dishes her friends had posted on their instagram stories. They’d made it to the diner just before the sky cracked open.

And, the cherry on top, someone had keyed her car.

She’d been on the verge of tears when she’d spotted the red stains of her neighbor’s blood on the parking lot floor when she got back home, but she didn’t let any fall.

She had a date.

And she wouldn’t let all these little things get to her and ruin what could possibly be the best night of her life.

One of her life-long best friends had set her up on a blind date with one of her boyfriend’s best friends. She’d promised the man was the perfect match, someone Elide thought would keep her on her toes and match her overflowing personality.

Aelin had been hesitant at first when Elide hadn’t wanted to give her a name, or show her a picture, claiming she’d go all FBI style on him and ruin their first meeting, but she’d also promised Aelin she’d met the guy a few times and he’d been nothing but a gentleman.

And she had heard so much of him she felt like she’d known him her whole life.

Some of the things Elide had told her, she’d liked better if she’d found directly from him, but Aelin was a picky woman and she wasn’t risking another date with a creeper.

She pulled up in the restaurant’s parking lot where Elide had reserved the four of them a table and turned off her car, clutching the wheel. She took a deep breath. And another.

She was still a little worked up and all the pent-up emotions of the day were threatening to spill over the surface any minute, but she could make it past dinner and then have her little monthly breakdown in the peace and quiet of her apartment.

She fixed her lipstick, tightened up her ponytail and let two strands of hair cascade on the side of her face. She blew herself a kiss in the mirror, “You can do it.” she whispered as a short pet talk.

She got off the car, pulled out her phone to check if Elide was already inside and she was so focused on the screen she failed to notice someone backing up right in front of her until it was too late.

The car only bumped into her hip, but it was enough to make her lose her balance.

Aelin merely had time to register what was happening that she found herself lying in a puddle of rain and mud. She closed her eyes at the dull pain on the back of her head, but she knew for a fact the hit hadn’t been that bad.

She lifted her arms up, looking down at the wet spots on her dress, darkening by the second. Her seventy euros purse soaking up the water all around her.

The tension behind her eyes just increased when she heard the driver’s door open and someone step out of the car. She couldn’t have stopped the sobs even if she wanted to.

“Miss? Oh god, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

Strong arms circled her waist and pulled her up in a standing position. She brought her hands to her face, her body now racked by her crying as she tried to get a handle of herself.

“Miss?” the voice called again, now nearer. “Are you hurt? I didn’t-” the man talking stopped suddenly and Aelin looked up, not seeing anything through the tears. “You.”

And then it hit her.

That voice.

She knew that voice.

She ran her hand over her face, rubbing her eyes and staring right back at the man she had ran over that same morning.

Her mouth fell open.

He was looking at her with an amused expression and Aelin couldn’t find the words once again.

What was it with this man and his ability to take her ability to talk by just showing up?

He had a transparent band-aid on his cheek, his cut far less severe than she had thought, and his eyes were glistening with mirth. He was wearing a simple black pair of jeans and a dark green t-shirt, but he was even more handsome than in his work clothes.

Aelin was taking rushed, trembling breaths, and she was about to kill this man with her bare hands. Shred his skin off his bones and have him beg-

“I guess we’re even now, uh?”

His attempt of a joke flew over her head and she charged at him, a scream lodged in her throat.

His eyes widened and he took a step back when she flung her arm at him, trying to hit him. His hands closed around her wrists, blocking her from causing him more harm that she’d already done.

“You asshole!” she was screaming at the top of her lungs. “You ruined my dress!”

Aelin lifted a leg, more than convinced to kneel his balls, but he managed to block her blow again, infuriating her even more.

“I was about to meet the love of my life and ruined my fucking dress!”

He tried to push her away from him, still squeezing her wrists, and his brow furrowed.

“He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. He’s a pediatrician! He loves children! And he has a cute fucking dog my friend said I would love and cuddle the shit out of! Her name is Fleetfoot and she’s a golden retriever and Elide knows I fucking love goldens. And he’s from Orynth, just. Like. Me!” she got louder and louder with every word she spit out. “And he’s tall, and handsome and he’s the perfect match! And I deserved this one night!”

The man was now looking at her with a dumbfounded expression, his hold slightly loosening.

“I’m so done with this dating thing and I’d finally found him and you!” she shoved a finger in his chest, making him retreat a few steps. “You wanted your payback so bad you ran me over with your car!

“And now he’s gonna take one look at me and think I’m a fucking psycho! I bet my hair are the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen and my make up. Oh fuck, I must look like a panda.” Aelin started crying harder, laying her hands flat on the man’s torso, pushing her head to his chest. “I look like a fucking panda.”

She tried to speak again but her mind just couldn’t form any coherent thought, until she felt the man’s arms closing around her shoulders. He stepped closer, running his hand up and down her back, whispering something she couldn’t really hear over her crying.

Aelin didn’t know how much time she spent in the stranger’s embrace, but when the gravity of the scene she’d just made in front of him downed on her, she felt her body flare up in embarrassment.

That was her life now?

Having mental breakdowns in a dark parking lot after someone she’d ran over with her car had returned the gesture and then making them console her?

She detached herself from the man and for a second she thought she’d felt him hesitate before he took a step back. And another, leaving her standing her in her soaking wet dress and her puffy, surely-red eyes. He bent down, picking up her purse and handing it to her.

She lowered her gaze, not even daring looking at his shoes and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

The man made a sound of surprise, “Why would you be sorry?”

Aelin wished she could die on the spot. Evaporate out of existence.

“For hitting you. Or at least trying. And crying all over you.” she said and then grimaced. She ran a hand over her face. “I just had a very hard day and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to come, but this guy seriously seems like he could be the missing piece to whatever the fuck my puzzle-life is. I didn’t want to take a raincheck and have him thinking I’m not serious about this.”

A beat of silence, “I’m sure he would have understood.”

She shook her head, keeping on talking as if he hadn’t even been there, “And now I can’t go in like this.” she passed her hands on her dress, the tears building up again in her eyes. “Plus, Elide didn’t tell me what he looks like, cause she thinks he’s a real snack and wanted to see my face when I saw him for the first time.” she was bordering on pouting, “That means he’s gotta be smoking hot or I’ll be so pissed at her.”

The man snorted loudly, “A snack.” he hummed, “Maybe I should meet your friend and thank her.”

Aelin’s head snapped up, “Oh no, she’s taken.” she shook her head vehemently, “Like so freaking taken. I swear she and her boyfriend have been together for a whole of three months and they already act like a married couple.”

He nodded, a lopsided smile on his face, “I know the kind.”

She’d been so absorbed by her talking that she hadn’t noticed she’d stopped crying.

She breathed through her nose and clasped her hands together, before reaching one out towards him, “I think introductions are needed. I’m Aelin.” she offered a tentative smile.

His hand engulfed hers, shaking it with impressive gentleness. His smile grew even larger if possible and Aelin was starting to think she was about to het murdered.

But then he said his name and the world ceased existing around them.

Their hands still moving up and down between them.

She tilted her head forward, “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

He licked his lower lip, “I’m Rowan.”

Aelin closed her eyes, holding her breath.

She squeezed his hand before releasing it. She took a step back, wishing for the ground beneath her feet to crack open and just eat her whole.

“I’m gonna go kill myself now, if you’ll excuse me.”

His laugh reached her ears with painful speed.

Rowan.

She couldn’t believe it.

Well, she could. The man laughing his heart out at her expense was probably the most handsome person she’d ever seen in her entire life.

At least Elide hadn’t lied about that.

“A tad dramatic, if you ask me,” he said as his laugh died down. He pointed at the restaurant behind him, “You want me to go fetch the married couple so we can go back at the appartment and you can change? I’m not against you walking in there with this outfit at all,” he gave a pointed look, matched by a shit-eating grin that seemed to be etched in his lips, “I’m not gonna think you’re a psycho, not for this at least, and I’m ready to fight everyone who looks at you the wrong way. But you look like you could use the comfort of a warm house.”

Aelin looked up at him with a questioning look, trying to understand if this man she’d just tried to maul was seriously offering her options, letting her choose after everything that had gone down so far between the two of them. As if still giving her a chance.

Rowan arched a brow, looking around and glancing back at her, “Aelin?”

Oh, fuck.

She had been oh so not ready o hear her name from his lips.

She nodded and he smiled, leaning down a bit.

She could smell his cologne from here.

“Yes to what? Me calling Lorcan and Elide or getting inside even if you dripping wet?”

Holy fucking shit, this man shouldn’t have been allowed to say the words dripping wet.

She stilled herself.

What the hell was she thinking? She brought her hands to her face, “Please call them and let’s head home. I’m so fucking tired.” a yawn broke her sentence, as to prove her words, “And I’m freezing in this skimpy dress.”

Rowan rushed to her side, “Oh, god, sorry for not offering sooner, here,” he opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a huge blue sweater. Without even waiting for an answer he snatched her purse from her hands and shoved her head in his sweater.

Aelin felt better right away and gave him a big smile.

Rowan answered with one of his own and of course he had to be this perfect and more.

“I’m sorry for ruining your dress, I’ll make sure they wash it carefully when I take it to the laundry. If you’d let me.”

She nodded faintly, exhaling the panty-dropping smell of his sweater.

“And I’m hoping to see you wear it again once we finally get to go on a proper date.” he smirked, “I bet you looked amazing before I went and ran you over.”

Aelin chuckled, shaking her head, “You truly are a gentleman. Elide wasn’t exaggerating.”

Rowan’s demeanor changed completely and Aelin feared she’d said something wrong, but he averted his gaze as if he was embarassed.

“I’m sorry for this morning,” he said. Aelin almost tripped on her feet. He was sorry? “I shouldn’t have talked to you like that but I was just coming back from the hospital and Elide was right saying I work with kids, but I’m not a pediatrician, I’m a pediatric surgeon.”

His gaze grew dark as he looked over her shoulder, avoiding meeting her eyes at all costs.

“Yesterday night we lost a eight years old and I wasn’t really there when you hit me with your car. I didn’t mean to yell at you like I did, it was just-”

Rowan couldn’t finish his sentence that Aelin lunged for him, hugging him as tight as he’d held her a few minutes before, hoping she could relieve some of the pain that was surely clutching his heart. She felt him sag in her arms and hold her in turn.

She was glad she could offer some kind of support.

“It must be hard.” she whispered against his chest.

Rowan nodded, hitting her head with his chin, “It is, but it’s part of the job. The only way you can live with something like that in your baggage is knowing you did everything you could to save them.”

Aelin could feel the emotion lacing his every word and tightened her arms for a moment before freeing him of her embrace. He silently thanked her and told her he’d be right back with their friends.

The second he was gone she realized she couldn’t wait for when he’d be back and they could keep talking.

She’d never felt this way before. Not this fast at least.

Sure, she had loved all her exes, but this. This was different.

There was something there, a connection.

And while he walked back to her, Lorcan and Elide in tow, a bright smile on his handsome face, she couldn’t help but think she was ready to find out all about it.

tog tag list (if you wanna be added or removed just dm me or send me an ask)

@maastrash @ireallyshouldsleeprn @sleeping-and-books @hellasblessed @thegoddessofyou @ghostlyrose2 @claralady @sayosdreams @perseusannabeth @letstakethedawn @terrible-and-proud @post-it-notes33 @booksstorm @nalgenewhore @queen-of-demons-and-hell @lanyjoy-13 @vasudharaghavan @cupcakey00 @bri-loves-sunflowers @queen-of-glass @thewayshedreamed @the-regal-warrior @fangirlprincess09 @januarystears @rowaelinismyotp @starbornsinger @bookstantrash @thegreyj @feysand-loml @autumnbabylon @a-court-of-milkandhoney @highqueenofelfhame @story-scribbler @mariamuses

#rowaelinmonth #rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #rowaelin month day five #tog #throne of glass #rowaelin fic

[hognosesnakehalloweenfest]

Oct 2: Returning Home

By Meridies (meridies on ao3) CW: (Non-Explicit) sexual content, referenced death, drowning, suicide mention (breif), alcohol mention Sarah and I sat down for drinks on the second day of fall. The tavern was quiet, but the darkness was loud. I was drinking a beer, a man’s drink. Sarah had fruit juice in front of her. She had asked for something with no alcohol.

“I’m trying to be sober,” she explained. “I spent four weeks in rehab this summer, you know.”

I felt bad, then, for asking her out for drinks, but we hadn’t seen each other in months. I set my beer down and asked her how she was doing.

“Better. I think getting clean was good for me— I’m working at the library downtown now. And I’m seeing someone.”

“Who?”

A syrupy smile. “Charlie. You remember Charlie Davenport?”

I couldn’t remember a thing about Charlie Davenport, but Sarah was enthralled, so I asked, “Is he nice?”

“I think he wants to sleep with me,” she said. “We went swimming down by Craig’s Point last week, and he…”

But I stopped listening. Craig’s Point was the lake by the quarry. Someone had drowned there last year, and it was the town’s biggest scandal for a week until Elsie Bates was caught slipping out of William Hogg’s house in a little lacy thing during the dead of night. But the kid— Frank— was still dead, long after the town had forgotten about him.

I interrupted her. “I thought the lake was still closed off?”

“He pressured me into skinny dipping.” Sarah hadn’t heard me. “I thought I was going to sleep with him, but I’ll see him next week, so maybe…”

I remembered watching the boats haul hooks through the water until they dragged up Frank’s body. He was bloated and stiff. I wanted to feel what his skin felt like after it had absorbed all that water, but I never got close. No one touched him except for the paramedics, who told us all to back away.

Sarah waved a hand in front of my face. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Someone died in that lake,” I said, “You shouldn’t have gone swimming there.”

She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t really give a damn.”

Well, I did. “It’s disrespectful to his memory.”

Frank had been in my algebra class in sophomore year, a burly guy with shoulders like logs and eyes set into his face like whorls of wood. The night after his death was announced, I had stared at my ceiling in darkness and thought about how much water he must have drunk before he died. He must have been drunk on it.

“They say he killed himself,” Sarah said nonchalantly.

The thought made me nauseous. “Maybe he fell.”

“Rough way to go.” She sipped at the dregs of her drink. “See, this is the problem with staying in one place— you’re so obsessed with history. You need to learn how to let things go.”

I wondered why Sarah refused to admit to the power of the water. She had to know it, better than anyone.

Sarah grew tired of my moping and hauled me up by the arm, muttering something about history under her breath. “Exposure therapy,” she said, “We’re going swimming.”

I could hear the lapping of the lake before I saw it through the sparse trees, black as ink. The horizon stretched and faded into night mist. Sarah stripped her shoes, her jacket from her skin, and looked back at me.

“Valerie,” she said, voice a knife’s edge, “You’re not really scared, are you?”

I pulled my sweater off, unhooked my bra, and slid down my pants. Sarah was half naked, gooseflesh rising. I could see the paleness of her chest beneath the distorted water.

“Giardia,” I blurted. “Legionnaires Disease.”

“Conspiracy theories,” she teased. “Come under with me.”

I kept my mouth closed underwater. I could feel the water sliding fingers up my legs, to my thighs, to the quiet spaces inside me that had a breath of their own. Sarah struck out from the shore. She was grinning, hair damp. I took a deep breath and plunged beside her.

-

Two nights later I found myself with Eli, an acquaintance from many years ago who had just returned from the Peace Corps in Ukraine. We had no reason to see each other except for sex, which we had in his bed, his kitchen counter, and then on the creased sofa in front of the television. He looked up at me and said baby, you’re so good, you’re so good for me, and I thought, all men are the same.

I finished washing up in the bathroom. We drank beers together in silence while watching a sordid American drama, and then it was time to leave. No, thank you, I will drive myself home. Yes, I’m fine. I’ll see you later, I will, I promise.

I could feel the places Eli had touched me, his hands and fingers moving inside of my body. Something deep and lonely inside me ached as I drove, and without realizing, I found myself taking the left turn when the right led home— taking me to the waterside. The thing that breathed and pulsed had no voice, so I spoke for it.

“Is anyone there?”

The quarry remained silent.

“Give me a sign,” I said. “I’ll return if you do.”

Sarah told me I was obsessed with history, that I needed to learn how to let things go. But I felt my body responding to the water the same way it had responded with Eli. I thought that Frank was the first and last good man I had ever slept with, and I owed him something I could never give.

After his body was found, his parents had moved out of town. But I heard them speak about the incident only once. He was a sweet boy. Bring him home. Bring him home to us. Their house now stood empty at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and Second Street.

That night I thought about Frank, the blue of his lips. I tasted the quarry water in my teeth, felt Eli’s palms in between my legs. Baby, you’re so good. So good for me.

-

Frank died three summers ago; that was the summer I first had sex with a woman, her tongue underneath mine, in the bathhouse of the community pool. I slept around after Charlotte left for college. I tasted more tongues, more women, and naturally, I tasted more men.

“A girl is supposed to sleep around,” Sarah reassured me, after the first pregnancy scare. “Stick with women if you’re so concerned.”

Before looking at the result of the pregnancy test, I stared at myself in the mirror and thought about what I would name the unborn thing in my stomach. It would have been the size of a cherry at that point, and I was embarrassed to admit that I did not know who would have fathered it. But the test was negative, and I felt a sick, swooping sense of relief.

Autumn swelled and ripened into full bloom after I slept with Eli, and cold weather encroached upon the edges of town. The first rainfall happened. I cracked my windows open to breathe the sweet, thick air into my lungs. Water slipped inside my home with slim fingers, running in rivulets down my walls. When the storm ended, I saw the marks it left behind, white against dark dust.

And I dreamed about him, the night after the rainfall vanished.

He was rising, dripping, from the lake. Leathery and stiff and slick with black slime, more viscous than oil. Gills opened and closed at his neck. They were at the spot where I had wanted to be kissed once, before any man or woman had touched me. Frank stood, staring at me with filmy eyes. I stared back in silence.

He wanted something, I realized. This was the sign I had asked for a week ago. What he wanted was for me to return.

-

I did not tell Sarah about the afternoons I spent at the lakeside of Craig’s Point during the long month of October. Besides, she and Charlie Davenport were together more often than not. I heard about her comings and goings from other people. Eli asked to see me again; I did not answer.

I thought about Frank the more I was at the lake. We had never been particularly close; he knew my name, and I knew he was good at algebra. But he had gotten to know my body in a way no one else had— intimately, viscerally. It was the week before his body was found. He had grabbed my arm as school let out and said one word: please.

I was young, but I understood what he was asking for. I was only slightly ashamed to say that I had no qualms. He was inexperienced, and so was I, both messy and complicated. But he was a good man.

I still thought about that please from time to time. What he was really asking for, and what I had failed to give. Please, please, please.

As the sun was setting that evening, I heard a squeaking in the woods. It was high-pitched, and I followed the sound to its source. I nearly stepped right on it. Someone had skinned a squirrel alive and pinned it to the ground. The thing was still writhing. I stared half in awe, half in disgust at the twitching, red-white sinew which never should have seen sunlight.

It would have been kind to kill it, but all I could do was stare in sick misery and slowly back away. When I was by the lakeshore, I could not hear its sounds anymore. All I could hear was the water.

“Did you do that?” I asked out loud. No one responded, but I imagined that I heard Frank’s voice. Please.

“There are better ways to get my attention.” The water slithered towards me, mouth open and hungry. “I keep returning, like I said I would.”

I imagined him then beneath the surface of the water, eyelids slitted and covered with a thin film. He might have blinked at me; he might have reached a hand out to touch my skin. He might have wrapped a hand around my ankle, tugged until I followed him into the depths.

The sky was smeared with orange. When I went back to my car, the squirrel had gone silent.

-

Sarah wanted to have drinks with me again another night. This time she had ordered something with alcohol, peach schnapps and fruit juice. She didn’t seem concerned by the slip-up.

“Charlie and I had sex,” she proclaimed, “I’ve been meaning to tell you for ages. Where have you been?”

“Thinking,” I answered.

She reached out. “Where have you been for the last week? I went to your house but you weren’t there. It isn’t smart to leave all your windows open, you know.”

“I’ve been at the lake.” Before her expression had the chance to shift, I blurted, “Sarah, do you believe in ghosts?”

Her hand tightened around the glass. She set it down slowly, tenderly. “No,” she said, but it was a reflexive response. “I thought I saw one once, but I’ve never seen anything else like it, and I know I’ll never see him again.”

“Tell me.”

“I saw him the night I went to the hospital,” she began. “I was half dead, dying on the floor. But I opened my eyes to see a man standing over me. His skin was blacker than ink, and his eyes were white spots inside his head. I knew at once that he was death, and he was going to take me with him. He put his hand right here, right on my shoulder, and the other hand at my waist. He touched me— everywhere. And we danced, while I was dying.” Sarah turned and faced me. “I woke up in the hospital and asked about him, but no one had ever seen someone like that, and the doctor said that I must have hallucinated. But it was real. Realer than anything I’ll ever know.”

Then she laughed, high and bitter. “It’s okay if you don’t believe me. No one ever does.”

And at once, I wanted to ask her about who she really was, beneath it all. Beneath Charlie Davenport’s touch and his pick-up truck and the layers of skin she put on each day. Beneath the alcoholic drinks and the man who had danced with her while she drank herself to death and that cold, frightened look in her eyes. I wanted to peel back her skin, to see the ugly, squirming parts of her that curled away from sunlight.

“I believe you,” I said. Something in my voice must have made her believe me, too.

She rolled her glass around beneath the yellow tavern lights. “I wonder if I’ll see him the next time I’m close to death.”

“Sarah,” I said uneasily, “You should stop drinking.”

“I will,” she said, “I know I’ve got to. It’s the poison, you see. I’ve got to bleed the poison out.”

“Sarah, you’re not making any sense.”

“You and history,” she said dizzily, “You and your fear. You’ll be stuck with it forever unless you suck the venom out. I’ve got to bleed the poison from my veins. And you need to cut the rotten flesh out to heal the rest.”

-

Frank was waiting for me at the quarry. I was stumbling, half drunk. Sarah’s words echoed in my head. She had said it only once, yet it was burned into me.

“You’re here,” I said, “I knew you would be.”

He blinked at me. I pulled my jacket off, my shirt, every inch of clothing. It was cold, intimate. He watched me from the water. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, in my gut. It rang through me like a distant call.

“I’m here,” I said, “I’m here.”

His skin was slippery and bloated beneath my fingers, stiff to the touch, like I had imagined it would be. His fingers were webbed and translucent. When I drew my hand back, the same plasticky, taut skin was between my fingers as well.

I knew what Frank needed, what his body needed. I thought about touching my lips to the gills that pressed open and shut on the side of his neck. He needed something only I could give to him, and it was something that had been given to me many times over, slick and drenched in warmth. That writhing, slimy thing that resides in the tender part of a soul. Frank needed someone to come home to him. I would create that home.

“I’m dead,” I said. I knew it was the way to offer myself to him. “I’m rotting inside. Just like you.”

Frank’s face floated beneath me, drained and still. I stood and did not move as the swollen, slippery skin crawled up my legs, covered my thighs, and breached my body until we were both those awful dark things that crawl in the depths, serpents, reptiles, together.

Please, I thought. I could feel my own pulse ringing through the stone. The quarry breathed for me. It spoke with his voice. Cut the rotten flesh from my skin. Let me come home to you. Please.

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

Meridies is a 19 year old writer from California currently studying creative writing. They enjoy knitted sweaters, pumpkin carving, and swimming in potentially haunted lakes. They are very excited to be part of Snake’s Halloween Fest!

#halloween #spooky season #spooky #ghost story #horror story #horror fiction #haunted #paranormal #original writing #spilled ink #writing on tumblr #original fiction #writblr #short story #writerblr #Hognose Snake Halloweenfest 2021

[anxiousstark]

S1 02.2 | Heart Monitor

MASTERLIST

Stiles Stilinski x Reader! Half-sibling!Mccall

Word count: 1350

Warnings: Mentions of injuries, blood, swearing (always).

A/N: This chapter is kind of short and doesn’t have too much excitment. But this is a slow-burn story, and it will slowly lead to Y/N’s life and what is happening to her. Next week I will do a DOUBLE UPDATE!

"Do you have your keys?" Stiles asked Scott. It seemed like he had a plan to help him repress his anger. I simply followed them,+ because Stiles claimed that I was going to assist them. "Perfect. Hold 'em up like so. Now, whatever happens, just think about Allison." He glanced at me. "Oh, between, Allison is your bro-...Scott's girlfriend." He turned back to the enraged boy after beaming at me. "Try to find her voice like you did at the game. Got it?"

Stiles let a puff of air come out of his mouth as he was pretty anxious. He grasped my wrist, forcing me to walk next to him. "What are you doing?" I whispered, but he shushed me. He took his keys out, slicing the side of a truck that was parked. "Oh my god, Stiles what the fuck are you doing?" I murmured while clenching my hand over the arm that was softly holding my wrist. But he shushed me again, walking away from the truck while pulling me with him.

"Hey, hey, hey, dude! What do you think you're doing to that truck, bro?" Stiles yelled at Scott, a group of guys spun around, walking towards McCall. Great, they were the owners of the truck.

Scott stood there, and the only thing he thought was to hide his keys behind his back. One of the guys went even closer to him, connecting his fist with Scott's face.

I gasped and hid my head behind Stiles' arm. "Ow! My God. Wow." His hand left my wrist, slipping into my hand and grabbing it. Scott was getting beat and of course, his heart was going even faster. But a couple of seconds later, he was able to control it, and Stiles smiled at me victoriously.

Mr. Harris got Stiles, Scott, and me into detention. This was only my first day, which made me feel like I would get into a lot of trouble with these two. Both of them got sentimental during detention and fixed whatever had happened between their friendship. I stupidly smiled while admiring the loyalty between both.

After detention, Stiles drove Scott to a vet clinic. I got to know that he was working there to get some extra money, and after dropping him off, he dropped me off at the McCall household.

When I went inside, I noticed that everything was quite silent, and went I went to grab something to drink, I saw a little note on the fridge where Melissa was letting us know that she had to work late that night.

"That woman works a lot," I murmured while drinking ice-cold water. I grabbed my backpack, going up the stairs to go to my bedroom, letting it fall on the floor and taking my jacket off. I threw myself on the bed, the exhaustion took over my body. In seconds, I fell asleep.

And again, when I woke up, it seemed like I was going to be in trouble because of the same two boys. They made me go with them to school, at night. Of course, Scott said that I didn't have to go, and I agreed with him for the first time. But Stiles replied that I was new to Beacon Hills, I seemed like a cool girl, and that Scott should give me an opportunity and get to know me.

"What are we doing here?" I interrupted their conversation while getting out of the car.

"Just don't ask," Scott replied without glancing at me. He is so nice. A car pulled over next to us. "Where's my boss?" He asked while a broad guy was getting out of a car.

He was towering us, well-built, and to be honest, he was hot. Beautiful dark hair on top of his head and appealing eyes. "He's in the back."

Stiles and Scott moved to the back of the smoking hot man's car. I followed them while my eyes were still on the strange guy. But when I eventually gazed at the back of the car, I faced a black man with tape over his mouth. "What the fuck is this?" I stared at the three of them. "Sir, oh my god. Are you okay?"

"You will understand later," Stiles answered. 

"I told you we shouldn't have brought her." Scott murmured back at his friend.

"I asked him to bring her." The stranger was studying me. I unconsciously touched my hair, trying to fix it. Was my hair looking good? My dear step-brother looked between the stranger, whose name seemed to be Derek, and me. "She needs to be here." He replied without giving more knowledge. We were all confused.

I walked with both boys into the school.

"Okay, one question. What are you gonna do if the Alpha doesn't show up?" Stiles asked. I peered at him utterly confused, and he waved it off like 'you aren't going to understand anyway. At least not right now.'

"I don't know."

"And what are you gonna do if he does show up?"

"I don't know."

"Good plan." He sneeringly answered.

They started talking about howls, wolves, and packs. Was this some type of game? Like D&D?

Scott breathed profoundly as he got closer to the microphone. Stiles and I almost fell to the floor when Scott tried to howl at the microphone. "Oh my god, we should have recorded that." I clutched onto Stiles, he was wiping the tears that were running down his cheeks from laughing so much.

Scott glared at us, but we could see the redness on his cheeks. "Stop laughing! Well, what did it sound like to you?"

"Like a cat being choked to death, Scott." He was able to speak while still laughing. Scott pouted a little, and for the first time, I felt sorry for laughing at him. "Hey, hey. Listen to me. You're calling the Alpha. All right? Be a man. Be a werewolf, not a teen wolf. Be a werewolf. Do it." He massaged Scott's shoulders.

A teen wolf? This must be some type of game, for sure. Scott howled. This time he didn't sound like a cat dying. He sounded like a wolf, and my mind tried to comprehend what the fuck was going on.

When we went outside, Derek was pretty mad. "I'm gonna kill both of you. What the hell was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?" He pointed at Scott. At least, he didn't want to kill me. He looked like he could break your neck with his own hands.

"Sorry. I didn't know it would be that loud." He seemed satisfied with what he had done. Was this part of a stupid prank or something? "Yeah, it was loud." Stiles nodded, and then his voice was high-pitched. "And it was AWESOME!"

"Shut up!" He took a step closer to Stiles, and for some reason, I put my hand out and shoved Stiles behind me. I could feel him looking at me from behind. I avoided his gaze.

"Don't be such a sour wolf."

"Okay." I decided to talk. "Can someone tell me what is going on? Is this some type of game? Like...I don't know. A roleplay or something?"

Scott rolled his eyes, pointing at the car. "What'd you do with him?"

"What? I didn't do anything." He turned around to look at the direction of his car. The door was open, and Scott's boss wasn't there anymore. Was he also part of this crazy game?

Then, Derek started to spit blood, he was elevated in the air by something. When I focused my gaze I saw a big beast. Okay, this wasn't a hoax anymore, right?

"W-what?" Both boys grabbed my hands and started running inside the school. They told me to step back while they held the doors closed. Stiles told me to sit on the floor so whatever THAT was wouldn't see me in the window. "What is going on?" I whispered. Searching for an answer in a pair of hazel eyes. "What the fuck is going on?"

.

.

TAGLIST: @og-baby-ob14 - @savemypostcards - @cas-loves-pizza - @used-avocado - @mvrylee - @bilesxbilinskixlahey - @honeydoll-stark - @arieltheworldisamess - @softpeteparker - @kit-kat-katie99​ - @thatsuperherosidekick - @bexbetterxthanxwords - @big-galaxy-chaos​ - @littlemiss-forgotten - @enchantedcruelsummer - @coldfreakeggsexpert - @merla123 - @sammypotato67​ - @weirdowithnobeardo - @maggiesblogsblog​ - @itskindyl​ - @bobo-bush - @moongoddesskiana​ - @multifandxm353​​ -

People in black means it doesn’t let me tag them.

#stiles stilinski #stiles stilisnki rewrite #stiles stilisnki fic #stiles stilisnki angst #stiles stilisnki fluff #allison argent #stiles stilinski rewrite #lydia martin #jackson whittemore #mccall #mccall!reader #Reader!mccall #scott mccall #tw #teen wolf imagine #teen wolf rewrite #teen wolf imagines #dylan o'brien imagines #dylan o'brien scenarios #dylan o'brian imagine #dylan o'brien #stiles stilisnki fanfic #stiles stilinski x reader #fics #stiles stilinski x y/n #stiles stilisnki x you #stiles stilinksi imagine #stiles x reader #teen wolf stiles

[undercoverclover]

No Matter Where

Part 4

Genre: Fluff

Pairing: Yuchan x original character

Warnings? None here

Part 1 2 3

*BUZZ BUZZ*

Oh! I forgot to check Yuchan's phone!

I pull it out of my pocket and try to get comfy.

I had one  newly missed call and 1 text. 

I hate snooping through his phone. But it could be him. I unlock it. What if it's his girlfriend or something? Oh god, what if it is and I see something I don't want to?! Ew… ugh I hate life. I have to check the text at least. 

Luckily it's from him:

Yc: Liliana, hey! Practice is impossible to get out of before you head to the club. Would you, I mean. By chance bring it by here? Not having it, is kind of a big deal to my members. I'd really appreciate it and so would they. 

Oh boy…

Um. Oh boy.

Me: I, uh. I can? I think? Just pray I can get away from the girls without them coming with or else it will be the most embarrassing night of my life. 

Me: Sorry for replying late, I was being a human Barbie doll. XP

Now to devise a plan to get them to let me go. If they go with it, it'll end up one of two ways. 1) They're going to push me and I'll be so embarrassed I'll wanna crawl in a hole. Or 2) they will be so speechless that they won't know how to speak. 

*BUZZ BUZZ* 

Yc: Haha okay. So that means you are dressed up. Be careful if you are in heels, the sidewalks are a bit cracked. 

We ended the conversation with where to go so I could meet him and return his phone. Plus, I had finally figured out a plan… I think? I hope. I start messing with the hair tie that was on my wrist, which normally I only do when I'm super anxious. Then I looked down and groaned..

"Ugh!"

"What's your deal?" Anya asks, eyeing me. 

"I hate being dressed up." I say, not lying. Technically. 

"Oh shut it and have fun. At least I gave you one thing. And that's only cuz Anya made me!" Ria said, crossing her arms. 

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." I say, shrugging her off.  Thank god she didn't notice me messing with my wrist, she'd know that wasn't the only thing up then.

"We're here!" Ria calls to us excitedly as the car slows to a stop. 

"I'll pay I guess." I say, hoping they'll let me.

"Okay." They say in unison. 

"Save me a spot in line while I do?" I ask pulling my wallet out of my bag.

"Yeah sure." Anya says and opens the door. 

Once they're out, I turn to the driver. 

"Excuse me. Sorry. Could you take me to this address? I'll pay for this ride when we get there." I say and at first I thought he'd protest, but eventually agreed. 

"Awesome! When I say go. Go fast. Okay?" 

I open the car door and the girls look at me. 

"Guys! I'll be back as soon as I drop his phone off and get mine back! I'll be safe!" I say closing the door and telling the driver to go quickly. 

We took off and I looked out the window to see the girls trying to protest me. 

"Well that worked better than expected!" I said laughing so hard at myself. 

I pulled out his phone from my pocket. 

Me: I'm on my way. I managed to escape them XD 

Yc: Is that a good thing or bad? They are already blowing up your phone. 

Me: Don't answer them! I'm only a few minutes out. I'll call them when I get there. Sorry! 

Yc: Okay, I'll see you soon. :D 

Why am I so giddy? I'm so excited and I shouldn't be! I'm only going to exchange phones for crying out loud!!

Yuchan

I bit my lip and smile as I hit send on the message. 

"Looks like I'm finally getting my phone back hyung." I say, chuckling.

"Oh yeah? Finally? From the one who stole it?" Donghun says giving me hell for the 800th time. 

"Oh knock it off hyung! You know she didn't steal it.  She's not even used it to call or message anyone but me.She didn't mean to." I say, rolling my eyes at the eldest of our group. 

 I really don't think Liliana would do that. She didn't seem like that type. She probably didn't even know who or what I was. 

"Earth to Chan!" Bk says, smacking me lightly on the shoulder. 

"Oh huh?" I shook my head and stared at him. 

"You good?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I reply.

"Still thinking about that girl you can't get your mind off of?" He says smirking, loud enough for the others to hear. 

"Ah! Hyung! I don't think of her like that!" I could feel my ears getting red.

 That's the last time I try to talk to Byeongkwan about a girl. It's totally not what I need tonight. Not while she's on her way over here. Even if it is to bring me back my phone.

"You'll be just fine Chan. She was cute. Don't be dumb." Donghun says as he comes up and ruffles my sweaty hair. 

"Ugh, why did I do that?" He says as he stares at his now -not his sweat- sweaty hand. Sehyoon and I started laughing so hard at that point. My nerves were exploding, I needed the outlet.

"Okay back to work you 4. Come on, let's go." Jun called to us to get off the floor. 

"I'd like to finish this before 2 a.m. AGAIN." He says trying to be dramatic but being overly so. 

"Oh calm yourself, Umbridge." Donghun says sarcastically making all of us burst out laughing even more as we got up to finish our late night practice. 

Liliana

The driver pulled up outside of a dance studio. I paid him, plus I gave him an extra tip since he was acting as my getaway driver then I thanked him and got out. He drove away as I stood there looking at the place. It was late, about 10:30 p.m. I'd hoped he was still here.

I grabbed his phone out of my bag and called him. It rang and there was no answer. I did again. Same thing.

"Great, he's probably already gone." I say to myself. You always ruin everything Liliana. 

"No. Now stop Lili. You won't start this." 

Maybe he is still here and practicing. Good lord I look dumb too. Just shut up and go get your phone back, smart one. 

I head to the door and pray it opens. Once I put my hand on the door handle and pull? It opens! 

YES! Thank god! Oh shi- it opened. Now I have to go in. 

Okay, I got this. I took a step in and looked around. It was dark. I could see but it wasn't well. 

The walls were decorated with little drawings. I'd never seen so many. I walk up to them to look at them and get caught up in the designs of the faces and water photoshoots. It was all so beautiful!

*Buzz Buzz Buzz*

I almost screamed. The phone buzzing scared me so bad.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Hello. Wait are you here? I thought I heard someone when the music paused." He said.

"I. Um. I am." I reply nervously.

"Oh! Okay, one second." I heard him answer from inside the room I was closest to.

Then the door opened and he stepped out. I immediately realized I hated what Ria put me in. He was wearing sweatpants, a sleeveless shirt that was way too big for him and Nike sneakers. He looked comfy and amazing. I was uncomfortable. Lord, pray for me.

He saw me, smiled that amazing smile and walked over to see what I was looking at.

"Hey!" He said enthusiastically.

"Hey. You realize it's almost 11 p.m. what are you still doing at, what was it, practice? This late?" I couldn't help but smile at him. My heart skipped and the amount of butterflies in my stomach were unreal.

He laughed.

"We, uh, we practice pretty late usually. Actually our schedule is all over the place. Sometimes it can be 2 a.m. before we're done."

"Oh wow! That's insane! I couldn't imagine that." I say, genuinely shocked.

"Yeah it gets hectic occasionally." He smiles. Ugh, be still my heart.

"Oh, before I forget. Here's your phone Yuchan." I say and hand it to him.

"Oh thanks! Follow me," he says walking towards the door he just came from.

"I'll have to go grab yours from the top of my practice bag. I don't know why I didn't bring it with me." He said shaking his head and laughing under his breath.

He opened the door and I followed him in. It was so much brighter in here and there were others. The guys from the coffee shop, too.

Man the girls would flip right now.

"Wow!" I said a little too loud, as I looked around. Yuchan stops and looks around at me. The others too.

"Sorry! Sorry. I've never been in a studio before." I say nervously twisting the hair tie on my wrist.

"Ooohhh, that's okay. Take a look around while I grab the phone." Yuchan smiled.

"Thanks! I may!" I say as I start walking around just looking at the set up of the place.

The mirrors are so huge! This is so cool. Then my eyes land on myself.

Ugh, god I look awful. I think and turn towards the radio equipment.

"I don't think so." Yuchan said coming up behind me and handing me my phone. I look up and he's smiling.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" I said hiding my face in my hands.

"You did." He smiled brighter and I blushed.

My face was probably beet red now, like it got when I was embarrassed.

"Oh god." I say under my hands on my face.

"Don't be embarrassed it's okay, I don't think you look awful. I think quite the opposite actually." Yup, now I'm definitely blushing.

"Thank you, Yuchan. But even with my shoe choice?" I say holding my foot out a bit so he can clearly see my black and white high-top converse.

He laughed his high pitched laugh and his eyes smiled too.

I really love his laugh. God I hope I actually thought that one.

"Yes, even your converse look good with your dress."

"Why thank you sir." I laugh and curtsey like Alice to the Red Queen.

*Buzz Buzz Buzz*

"Ugh, I think I liked your phone better. It was quieter." I say looking down at Anya's number, "I'm probably in trouble." I say and grimace slightly.

I answer and hold the phone away from my ear since I know what's coming.

"LILIANA MAY! YOU ARE IN FOR IT WHEN I GET THERE!" I stare at the phone bewildered. I could hear Ria just as loud in the background. Yelling at me. Chan looked just as shocked as I did. He motioned that he was going to go and talk to the other guys while I talked to her, or attempted. What did she mean? And then I realized I forgot to turn off my location.

They got worried. I should have messaged them as soon as I got here.

"Anya, I'm fine. Stay at the club. I'll be back soon." I say trying to get the words between the angry rambling.

"We're already on our way you ass!" Yup. I am in trouble.

"Okay we'll just breathe. I'm fine. I'll see you when you get here I guess." I hung up before I could get yelled at more.

I play with my hair tie and walk up to the 5 men towering over me.

They're so much taller up close…

"Liliana, this is Jun, Sehyoon, Byeongkwan and Donghun. Guys this is my phone thief, Liliana." He said smiling and retaining a laugh.

"Hey! Th- tha- that's not fair! It was completely an accident! Your head knocking into mine mixed up my brain cells!" I was appalled he introduced me like that! But I couldn't help laughing when he did. Breathe Lili.

"Anyway! I'm sorry to interrupt your guys practice. I'm just going to go wait outside. My friends are apparently on their way to get me." I say looking down and just trying to avoid eye contact.

"What why?" Someone pipes up. I don't look up though. I tried to think of a better reason then I ditched my friends.

"I, uh. Um… I kinda sorta dropped them off and told the driver to go before they could realize what was happening."

That got a laugh out of them. The one Ria liked, Byeongkwan, was laughing and clapping his hands. Anya's eye catcher, Donghun, was covering his mouth silently laughing. The other 2 I hadn't fully paid attention to in the coffee shop that day, Jun and Sehyoon, were holding their stomachs almost rolling on the floor. Overall, Yuchan was just grinning. He knew the plan, even though the outcome was different.

Donghun finally caught some air, "So you mean to say that you ditched your friends to come meet Chan?" He still had a half smirk on his face. He was teasing me!

But did I? I mean I was returning his phone. I guess I kind of did. Shoot me...

"Well, I-, just believe me when they get here you'll know why I did it that way." I said my face was unbelievably red now. I could feel it.

"Now look hyung, you're making her blush, leave her be. She did bring the phone back like Yuchan said." Jun said, smiling but serious. They all smiled and Sehyoon just shook his head.

He must be the quiet one. I knew someone like that too.

"Well, as much as you want to avoid the confrontation that was coming from that phone earlier, in front of us, you're not going outside alone at 11 o'clock at night." Yuchan said with a very serious look on his face.

I don't know whether to blush or be agitated that he's trying to tell me what I can and can't do.

"It may be 11 but I can handle myself. And you heard Anya on the phone, maybe Ria too. It's not something I'd like anyone to see." I said firmly.

"No." Yuchan said, crossing his arms.

"Yuch-" I started.

"Chan's right Liliana. You're not going out by yourself. You can sit and wait. Practice isn't over so you can watch us." Sehyoon said, shocking me into shutting up.

I just nodded.

"Thank you hyung." Yuchan said, nodding at him. Sehyoon nodded back.

"Okay on that note, let's finish practicing." Byeongkwan said as he got up off the floor.

Yuchan walked me over to a seat and told me I could sit there. I took my jacket off and sat down, then proceeded to cover up my legs with it.

"What is it?" I ask, shyly. He was standing there, kind of just staring at me. I looked down to make sure I didn't have anything on me. Nothing that I saw…

"Nothing. Nothing, you just look pretty in it, is all." He said and added, "Okay I've gotta get to work. Don't judge me too harshly." He smiled and went to get in the center of the studio.

So they're a dance group? They must be pretty good to be working here. I wonder what music they dance to. Just then the music starts and it sounds so amazing!

~Turn me up so they can hear this. Louder!~

I was intrigued. The way they began to move! So in sync. The way they moved was so mesmerizing, I couldn't look away.

The song ended and I'm not going to lie. I was sad.

I was speechless.

"I think we broke her." Byeongkwan laughed, looking over and seeing my astonished expression.

"What? No! I mean yes! That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that before." Okay, don't get over excited Lili.

Then I heard my friends…. Oh fudge.

#a.c.e #a.c.e chan #acewriters #kang yuchan

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

ooh ask day! are you working on any of your own writing at the moment? what excites you about it? is your writing similar to your prompts in any way? or do the prompts fulfill something else for you?

mainly im working on getting my first novel published, which you can read about HERE. otherwise, the sequel, an adult fiction project, and an urban fantasy type YA about a town called florida. in florida. Florida, florida.

Florida project, working title BORDERLINE, is the most in line with my general prompt vibe here. a little cosmic horror, bent reality, just generally odd.

I never write stuff based off the prompts, but I DO write prompts based off my own stuff, very occasionally. for me, writing prompts is like scales for a musician. keeps my brain well oiled.

*still taking asks, no requests please*

anyway, ive been working on Florida project a lot lately. have an excerpt:

Backpage:

Lin O’Leary was born and raised in the town of Florida, Florida, tucked away into a corner of the state’s forgotten coast. All the locals know Florida is a strange place, rumored to stand on a borderline, where the veil is thin and mysterious forces wander alongside the human population. The daughter of Irish and Mexican immigrants, Lin knows you can only find trouble if you go looking for it, and like the rest of Florida’s residents, lives comfortably alongside the supernatural. This is before Momoko Kasahara disappears into thin air, frightening the town of Florida into a new, ultra-cautious existence. Five years after Momo’s disappearance, Lin is seventeen, a highschool dropout now working at a convenience store, her once vibrant town still plagued by fear. The days drag by, mundane as they come in Florida, occasionally punctuated by unpleasant visits from Bo Kasahara, brother to Momo and full time asshole. Then, one fateful late shift, Lin sees the missing Kasahara twin standing in the aisles, gone as quickly as she appeared. Meanwhile, a stranger arrives from California, claiming to be a paranormal investigator hellbent on uncovering the mysteries of Florida, and suddenly Lin is faced with a choice. Be smart and keep her head down, or dive headlong into the strange mist that so often covers Florida, to rescue Momo Kasahara, and return her town to the way she remembers it.

1. 100% humidity feels like breathing underwater.

L I N

Florida ate Momoko Kasahara on the most miserable day of the year, and washed her down with a thunderstorm. A lot of other important things happened that day, but Momo’s disappearance overshadowed them all. Momo was the coolest girl in our class. She had shiny black hair that ran down to her waist. She liked to wear a different flavor of lip gloss every day of the week, and could sing in Japanese. I was on my way home from the beach when I saw the police cars in her driveway, and her twin brother sitting on the porch, painted purple in the twilight. 

He shook his head, at me, slow, and all the sound seemed to drain out of the world. The flashing police lights distorted his face, as bright white clouds passed too quickly above us. The whole scene drove a stake of wrongness hard into my chest. Sometimes even now, I dream about it. Bo and I watching each other. The dead silence. The purple light. The too white clouds. And Momo, eaten.  For the first time in my life, I was afraid of my own town. 

My name is Lin O’leary. I live in Florida, Florida, a nothing sort of place crammed into an extra forgotten corner of the state’s already forgotten coast. Some days I can forget about Momo, and everything that happened in the hours before she vanished. Heff says I’m good at keeping my eyes closed, even when they’re open. 

I really wish he were right. 

2. Cloudy with a chance of hotdogs (haunted).

J U L I E N

I was standing in front of the worst building I had ever seen. Slab grey and full of sharp edges, additions had been slapped onto every side until it resembled an impossible puzzle piece. The front windows were crowded with signs for cold beer and hot food, but the glass itself was opaque. It was a convenience store from hell, a collection of stationary parts so nonsensical I was worried it might grow a few new alcoves if I blinked. Above the door, an unintelligible sign in complicated neon cursive flashed electric blue. There was a neon clock too, flickering wildly, just striking twelve.

I must have walked halfway across town, and as far I could tell this was the only place that sold food at all, let alone past three in the morning. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to go inside. My stomach was a mess, and haunted convenience store hot dogs could only make it worse. I fished my phone out of my pocket, but the little service I had was, like the midnight clock above me, barely clinging to existence, my map application nothing more than a collection of beige squares. There was no one around. The sky was intensely dark, a pitch black blanket of clouds. Water hung thick in the air, the night time street so quiet I could almost hear beads of sweat sliding down my already slick face. No, there was nothing for it. I needed directions. 

The bell above the door made a strange, flat sound as I pressed inside. If the building was weird from the outside, that was nothing to its interior. The shelves, tall and numerous, had been arranged like maze walls. The overhead lights were blinding, stark white, and every other tile on the floor was mismatched. Some were squares of carpet. The only thing really visible from the entrance was the register, a fortress made of dark wood and surrounded by lottery advertisements. Behind the counter, a girl was reading something intently. As I got closer, I saw it was the back of a box of oatmeal.

“Hi,” I said, adjusting the duffel bag that had been crushing my left shoulder for an hour. 

The girl nodded, but didn’t look up. She had thin black hair, pin straight and chin length. Her skin was a warm, golden brown. Her shirt said something in miniscule writing, but my glasses were a little foggy, so I would have had to practically press my face to her chest to read it, which didn’t seem like a great first impression.

“Can you help me? I’m looking for the Fahrenheit Motel. I think it’s supposed to be around here.” 

Finally, she glanced at me. 

“It’s just around the corner. See the glasses store across the street? Go straight past that and make the second left, you’ll run right into it.” 

She pointed out the window, and I realized they were one way. 

“Who built this place?” I asked. 

She shrugged. 

“We’ve had a lot of owners. Everyone adds something new.”

There was something off about her. Like we were talking, but mentally she was still 

reading the box of oatmeal. 

“I’m Julien,” I said, sticking out a hand. She raised her eyebrows before taking it. 

“Lin,” she said, with another small nod. 

Her face was round, but her features were knife sharp. I wondered what she looked like angry. Maybe that was a really weird thing to think. 

Not wanting to ask for a second set of directions, I wandered around the store for thirty minutes before returning to the counter with a gallon of chocolate milk and a bag of seaweed flavored potato chips. 

“I can’t believe you have these. I didn’t think you could find them outside of California.”

Instead of replying, Lin held up the chocolate milk. 

“There’s no fridge in your room at the Fahrenheit. You know that right?”

“I was told on the phone… ” I started.

“There’s a fridge, but it’s in the lobby, communal. Kimmy’ll drink this.” She gave the milk a little shake before scanning it. “Just warning you.”

“Thanks,” I said, as she stuffed my things in a smiling shopping bag. 

I paused on my way out.

“Goodnight,” I said, “Or, good morning I guess.” 

Lin stared at me, then glanced at the box of oatmeal and back. 

“Morning,” she said, with a sigh.

***

I followed Lin’s directions, and wound up at last in front of a long, low building sporting a vacancies sign. Even in low light I could see about a hundred sad looking plastic flamingos had been stuck all over the lawn, the bushes, even the gravel path that led to the front door. I had to pick my way around them on approach. 

There was no one at the front desk. The reception area was lit only by the green blue light coming from an enormous fishtank that didn’t seem to have any fish in it. As I approached the counter, I noticed someone had left the key to my room out for me, next to a scrap of paper bearing the wifi password. I picked up the key, old and brass, then watched the fishtank for a second, before turning around and experiencing heart failure. 

A very old woman with wiry black hair was standing there in her nightgown, arms crossed and frowning at me. She didn’t apologize for nearly sending me to my grave. 

“I’m up. I can check you in properly,” she said, shuffling past me. “I’m Kimmy, but you can call me Miss Kimmy. You got ID?” 

I dug it out of my wallet while she opened a dusty guest book. 

“The reservation is for Julien True,” I said. 

Miss Kimmy glanced at the ID I had just handed her. 

“That’s not what this says.”

“I know. It’s a stage name,” I admitted, “everything else is correct.”

She raised an eyebrow to herself, but didn’t ask any more questions. 

“Now listen,” she said finally, shutting the guest book with a snap. “I’ll be honest, there’s not much to do around here. There’s a bus runs to the state forest during the day, and the beach isn’t going anywhere. If you’re hungry that’s too bad for the most part, unless you feel like walking down to Morton’s.”

“Is that the weird looking building? One way windows?”

“That’s the one. Midnight Morton’s, never closes. This late at night you’ve got Lin at the counter, nice girl.” 

I don’t know what I would have called Lin, but it probably wasn’t ‘nice girl’.

“Thanks,” I said, glancing around for the hallway that led to my room.

I bid Miss Kimmy goodnight and lugged my things to Room 7, at the very end of the dark hall. Inside was simple, but stunningly clean, which I had in no way expected. The bed had a sunken spot in the middle, and there were a lot of paintings of tropical fish on the walls. Home sweet home. I changed into pajamas, and took a huge swig of chocolate milk before glancing at my duffel, still full of equipment. 

It could wait. I was exhausted, sweaty, and more alone than I had ever been in my entire life. 

3. Welcome to my grocery store how may I assist you.

L I N

“I want to drop out of high school,” said Roach. 

We were sprawled out on separate tartan sofas, both angled towards the ancient television. It was after midnight, and the only light in the room was coming from the nature channel.

“No you don’t,” I said. “You’re not even in high school.”

Roach was a weird little girl. Eleven years old, she wore oversized thrift store t-shirts, and big chunky glasses, and cut her own hair. I loved her the most in this world.

“Yeah, but when I get there, I want to drop out. You did.”

I sighed. 

“You’re smarter than me. You have to finish school and work in a laboratory anywhere but here. Those are the rules.” 

Roach crossed and uncrossed her skinny legs without arguing. I knew she just wanted to hear me say she was smart. 

We continued to watch the nature channel in silence. A documentary on the arctic ocean was playing, which I found devastatingly boring, but Roach was clearly glued to. I could hear dad snoring upstairs, a pleasant sort of nightly white noise, and tuned out completely until Roach clapped an inch from my face. 

“Jeez,” I started, pushing her hands away.

“You were way out there. It’s freaky.”

I had been practicing my zone out since I was Roach’s age. On my best day, I could have an entire conversation without hearing one word the other person said. Call it a life skill.

“You’re doing it again!” said Roach. “Don’t you have work soon?” 

That snapped me out of it. I looked at my watch. 

“Oh, yeah. Thank you.” 

I rolled off the couch as Roach sat back down with a huff. The arctic documentary was ending, and she picked up the changer to scroll through a long list of similar recordings. Roach loved animals, all of them, even fish that ate your insides, and grubs, and parasitic worms. Especially parasitic worms. 

“Don’t stay up too late okay?” I said, tugging gently on her massive ponytail. Roach got dad’s curly, reddish brown hair. I got mom’s.

“Mmhm.”

I glanced in the hall mirror to see if there was any food on my shirt. Then I stepped into the mosquito ridden, muggy Florida night, and headed to my shift.

***

You might be thinking: where does a seventeen year old high school dropout work after midnight? And the thrilling answer is: the grocery store, sort of.

You might be thinking: what? 

But that’s Morton’s. 

The sliding doors opened smoothly for me upon arrival, which was always a good omen. I straightened the newsstand and went to look for Barry.

My manager, a small, Dominican man who loved to party, was in the produce section with a woman I assumed was his latest girlfriend. He was chucking the moldiest vegetables into an open trashcan.

“Our fresh produce is a travesty,” I said. “When was the last time someone bought an eggplant here?”

“I’m thinking of moving the veg,” said Barry, “they don’t like the energy in this corner.”

Barry was constantly moving things around the small labyrinth that was Morton’s. At least once a month he would take an hour long stroll from shelf to shelf, while I wrote down what was going where. I made a new map of the store for every big move.

“What are you guys up to tonight?” I asked, as Barry followed me to the register, bag of moldy vegetables in hand.

“Dancing,” said his date, with an endearing round of jazz hands, as Barry broke into a stationary samba while he gave me a list of stuff to work on. He treated me to his own enthusiastic jazz hands, and a few notes of a Juan Luis Guerra song as he samba’d in the direction of the door. As it swung shut behind them, I let the intense silence of Morton's wash over me. The fluorescent lights hummed gently. The food sat well behaved in slightly crooked rows. I turned my brain down to its lowest setting, and consulted my list.

...

[chaletnz]

Eastern Hokkaido Day 1: Obihiro & Kushiro Marsh

After two months of a noisy wheel bearing, finally Kimbo had his 60,000 yen repair job done and was running like a whole new car! I folded down the back seats and packed it all up with everything I’d need for a week away including a lot of futons. At 6am I picked up Martina, a friend of my housemates that I would drop at the airport on the way east. She fit her stuff in around my bedding and we set off, making good time while chatting about her home country Chile and South America and we reached the airport in just 2 hours! I gassed up and hit the road without stopping to get to Obihiro by 11:30am where I had a little bit of a walk to get from the convenience store carpark to Butadon Pancho which had been hand-picked for lunch. Apparently this restaurant is home to the original Japanese pork rice bowl – and actually that is the only thing on the menu! The waitress pulled out the chair for me and brought me water, tea, and my butadon with 5 slices of pork freshly prepared. The prices in the menu were also in Japanese so I had no idea what it would cost, but I blocked out that thought as I enjoyed my rice bowl with the delicious sweet sauce. The place slowly started to fill up as I was finishing – I guess many businessmen come here for lunch regularly. It cost just over 1000 yen but it was well worth it! Around the corner I visited Hoccino Coffee for a takeaway which was surprisingly good and the lady was so friendly, she even took the time to handwrite “thank you” on my cup and draw a smiley face. Bless her! The next drive was directly to Kushiro Marsh to walk the boardwalk and get some photos. I took the long path around the wetland which was a 4km track that was meant to take about an hour. The first part of the track went through the forest which was covered with a lot of trees and bushes, I was quite scared of bears since I was alone and didn’t want to end up a ‘mauled by a bear’ statistic in Japan! Obviously I had not prepared enough to have a “bear bell” so I walked along clapping as I had read online might deter bears from attacking – lucky I didn’t encounter any so maybe it worked? Eventually I found a good spot to try and take some timer photos of myself posing on the boardwalk but my dumb phone made every single photo blurry and I could not figure out how to fix it! On the final stretch I saw some deer chilling in the marsh and they froze and stared at me approaching. It was a bit of a standoff for a while and once I reached a point just a little too close they all bounced away with just the sight of their fluffy white bums bobbing off into the distance. I visited another viewpoint and then ventured into Kushiro city to go to a big mall, mostly in search of bagel buns but also because I felt like having KFC for dinner. There were so many loud obnoxious schoolkids in the food court and I felt their judging eyes watching me eat KFC. I think one girl even took a photo of me trying to look covert as she got up to walk directly past me with her phone held in my face. When I emerged from the mall it was dark and foggy, so I began my 2 hour drive to Lake Onneto which was my designated place to spend the first night. The streets were pitch black and I saw sign after sign warning me about deer. I’m not sure why, but I had always imagined that deer would run out from the trees onto the road super quickly and you’d hit them in action but in fact they just stand in the middle of the road. The first one I almost hit and then I was more cautious which was lucky because I came across about 12 of them just around a bend and they stared at me driving up with that dumb deer-in-the-headlights look (I can see where the term originates...) until I honked to get them to scatter into the forest again. I tried to capture them on video but every time I started filming I didn’t come across any more! I took a twisty turn road for another 10 minutes or so to reach a huge parking lot at the end, I drove a circle of it to take in the surroundings and was surprised at what my headlights discovered – a toilet building! I parked in a tree-lined corner and used my phone torch to lead the way to the toilet to brush my teeth. It turns out that it was boarded up so I began the frightening walk back to the car in the pitch black with insects flying around my small light. I brushed my teeth with bottled water and tried to get comfortable on the futons I had set up in the mall carpark earlier, presuming correctly that I would be in complete darkness for the night. It was quiet, and I could stretch out just enough to be comfortable.

#Japan #Hokkaido #Obihiro #Kushiro

[crystalxfrost]

To Live or To Die

I gripped my steering wheel tightly, knuckles bone-white with tension, shoulders bunched up and sore. The road spun out endlessly under my tires, a strip of slick black silk painted with bold yellow lines. My eyes noticed and then promptly ignored the beauty of the dark-washed scenery around me; there was only one room for one thought in my mind.

I had been at the end of my rope for some time now, but still too much of a coward to just turn out my own lights. I had tried therapy, only for the bitch to laugh and tell me I was beyond help. I had tried talking to the people in my life, but my own parents just shrugged it off. I had even tried drugs and alcohol to drown my depression, but I had found out the hard way that it wasn't the right road to go down. I had been debating over the best method of my execution when a friend of mine I hadn't heard from in years messaged me out of the blue.

After some very emotional pouring out that left me feeling drained but somewhat relieved, my friend gave me some information that had led me to where I am now, driving down Route 236 in the middle of the night. She had told me to come to the beginning of the highway and just drive and think about my feelings and my depression, let it really take me over. Then, she'd said, that's when SHE would come and make it all better.

I remember pressing her on who SHE was, but she wouldn't tell me. She just said that SHE would come only when I was at the very very end and couldn't stand it anymore and that SHE would take all the hurt away. She had made it abundantly clear that for the entire time SHE was with me, I was not to look at her or I would belong to her. As long as I kept my eyes away, I would be fine...I would be healed. Desperate for any relief from the impending shadow of my own death, I had agreed.

I scoured the shadowed landscape around me for any sign of movement but saw nothing. My fingers clenched even tighter as hot tears prickled behind my eyes and my chest hitched, and suddenly I was bawling out loud, great big gasping sobs that racked my body and forced me to struggle for breath. I pulled over blindly on the side of the highway, threw the car in park, buried my face in my hands and just openly sobbed. It was like expressing poison from a snake bite; an enormous weight lifted off my chest in a flood of emotional downpour as I cried out every bit of hurt I'd ever struggled to push down.

In the midst of my sobs, the temperature in my car dropped noticeably, and even in the dry heat of the desert summer, goosebumps rose to prominence on my arms. A cold chill wormed its way up my spine and between my shoulderblades with an icy fingertip and my breath hung in the air like frozen crystal vapors. Then the voice spoke from behind me, murmuring soft things I could almost hear.

Immediately my hair stood on end. The voice, which I had been somewhat expecting to be deep and powerful, was little more than a high-pitched whisper of breath that drifted to my ears from somewhere beyond my vision. But it felt...wrong. My entire being screamed at me to not turn around, not to lay my eyes on whatever was currently occupying my back seat because to do so would mean the instant loss of whatever sanity I had left. And all at once, I knew that SHE had come.

As if in response to my mental acknowledgement of the heavy presence, a soft breath drifted to my ears, but with it came the sickening stench of a thousand rotting corpses under a blanket of desert sun, and I was unable to stop myself. I threw open the car door and emptied the last three days worth of food from my stomach in a splatter on the pavement.

After my stomach had settled, the voice came again. "I can taaaaaste your paaaiiin." Then a hiss like an indrawn breath. "What issss it you waaant from meeee? "

I had had a million things to ask, a million points of hurt I wanted to spill, but that all vanished in an instant, leaving only white hot honesty. With tears threatening to fall again, I sighed brokenly. "I want it to stop hurting."

There was silence, followed by a darkly throaty chuckle that made me want to scream. "Isss that all? Coommme. I want to shhhhooowww you sssomethinnng." The back door of my car opened then and I physically felt the oppressive presence leave my aura. Careful to keep my eyes averted, I followed the voice over to the side of the road. I sensed rather than saw her raise an arm and point down into the darkness. "Look theeerrre."

I squinted out into the darkness and was able to barely make out a pair of glowing taillights far down below. With horror I realized that there was no footing there, only an endless void of darkness down a sheer face. I stepped back, a lump in my throat, and turned back for the comfort of my car, but when I turned around, my car was gone.

Sputtering and stammering, I nearly forgot myself then, turning in the general direction of the voice. I managed to catch myself just as a flash of white flickered into and back out of my view. "Where is my car?"

Again I sensed her point down at those suddenly damning twin spots of flame red so far down in the darkness. "That is yoooouuuu down theerre. You drove yourssssself off the cliiiiffff."

"No, no, no, no..." I pressed my hands hard against my ears and squeezed my eyes shut in a weak attempt to block out her lies, but all at once, freezing cold hands were on mine, forcing my hands down to my sides and unblocking my ears, and her rancid breath flooded my nostrils with the odor of rot. I swallowed my gorge and forced my eyes shut even tighter, my friend's warning standing out in stark white against the blank whirling fury of my mind.

"You wanted to die, did you not?!" The voice was no longer a breathy whisper, but a deep roar of monstrous proportions. The force of the voice blew my hair back and showered my face with foul-smelling spittle. I felt the cold hands move up and grip me by my upper arms, and suddenly I knew what was coming next. I struggled to twist away from those freezing cold hands.

"No, please..."

The voice boomed again, "You wanted to die. So DIE!" And with that, I was thrown violently out off the cliff and into the void of darkness. I snapped my eyes open and screamed, covering my face with my arms and fighting to brace for impact, and when it finally came...

...I crashed against the surface and plummeted down underneath the freezing cold water. Disoriented, sore from the impact and still screaming, I clawed my way up to the surface, my scream choking off when I felt the icy hand grip my ankle and pull me down, hold me down under the water. I kicked at the fingers that dug into the tender skin of my ankle but it was like kicking stone. My lungs burned in my chest and I felt myself start to gray out. My vision went dark, and I opened my mouth to scream. The water poured down my throat and into my lungs, and just as my lungs felt like they were about to explode...

...I was hauled out of the water by more hands I couldn't see, which pulled me to my feet none too gently. I was surrounded by yammering voices, some men and some women, and was soaking wet and gasping for air, but the invisible hands that gripped me forced me along anyway to a wooden pole standing upright all by itself. The voices around me began to clear up even as I felt more hands press my back up against the pole. My hands were then tied behind me with thick rough rope that dug deep and scraped my wrists raw. It was then that I heard the chant begin spreading.

"Burn the witch...burn the witch...burn the witch..."

"Wait...what?!" I cried out, fighting to get free of the ropes that lashed me fast to the hard post behind me, to no avail. "I'm not a witch!"

"Tha's wot they all say," an invisible woman's voice jeered in my ear. "But yer a witch just as clear as I c'n see ya. 'n guess wot? Yer goin ta buuuuurn." The voices around me melted back into a wordless clamor...and then I felt the heat and looked down in horror. A flame had already been drawn to life in the pile of wood that now surrounded my feet, and the yellow-red tongues climbed higher, licking at my feet hungrily. I screamed in pain as my pants caught fire and my skin began to bubble and char as the fabric seared to my very flesh. In mere moments I was reduced to helpless agony as I felt my flesh melting off of my bones, leaving huge exposed sections of sinewy muscle and bone for the fire to take. And still the voices clamored on.

It was when my hair caught fire and my face begin to first grow warm, then melt into liquid puddles of pulpy flesh, that I found a new voice, carried on new waves of fresh pain. The flames consumed my entire body, and as I felt myself dying and was ready to give in to the sweet release of death...

...the car blared its horn as it missed me by a hair, goddamn asshole city drivers. I was no longer wet, nor on fire, but I was terrified nonetheless. I scanned my surroundings wildly but saw only a busy street filled with the hustle and bustle of the city's nightlife. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I took a few seconds to prepare myself for whatever horrible thing might happen next.

A footstep next to me made me jerk wildly, and I glanced up to see a large man in a mask staring down at me where I was sitting. That in itself wasn't terrible. What made it much worse was the dark empty tunnel of the gun barrel that was pointed directly at my forehead. The man pulled the hammer back slowly, and when I heard the bullet enter the chamber, I froze.

"Please..." I breathed, every muscle as taut as wire. "Please...don't kill me."

The man's eyes remained locked on mine. His breathing came heavy and ragged, and when he spoke, his voice was deep and gravelly. "Do exactly what I say and I'll let you live." I let out a shaky whimper as he gripped my arm and forced me to my feet, then propelled me into the nearest dark doorway. The next thing I knew, he was on me then, grunting like a beast in heat.

The hand with the gun stayed pointed at my head while the man pushed me down with the other hand onto the hard concrete floor. I struggled to get away, but the icy hands once again gripped me by the shoulders and pinned my legs apart, through the floor somehow, and I found myself powerless to move. The man straddled me then, dripping sweat onto me as he fumbled clumsily for his knife. Almost teasingly, he snapped the blade out, turning it back and forth a few times so the light caught the silver blade's edge. Then with a few unskilled cuts, he cut through my shirt, my bra and my pants, leaving me only in my underwear. And still the hands held me down, that breathy voice now laughing wickedly in my mind.

The man turned the blade then even as I screamed and fought against the hands that pinned me down and slid the blade underneath the bottom of my underwear. With a sudden sharp jerk, he jabbed me lightly with the blade on the inside of my thigh and I bit back a sob of fear. Then he simply turned the blade again and cut through my underwear, leaving me now fully exposed and powerless to escape.

Thankfully, I blacked out before the man was done, but the torture and abuse was something I'd only ever heard about or read in books. I was used several times in several different ways as the man acted out every one of his depraved fantasies on me, and when he was finally finished and was pulling up his jeans, I looked up at him through swollen eyes from where I lay on the floor, bleeding and bruised, and he returned the look, not one of pity, but of disgust. "You probably liked that, didn't you, you filthy whore?" he growled.

Too weak to move, I simply lay there shivering and aching, and he clicked his tongue in disgust. My vision grayed out even as I felt myself fading out, but was brought back swiftly and in sharp relief by the sound of the gun cocking back. I managed to look back at him again to see that the gun was once more trained on my head.

With all my strength, I whispered through battered and cracked lips, "You said...you...wouldn't kill me...if I did...what you wanted."

The man shrugged. "I lied." I somehow found the strength to scream once more, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Nooo! Please, that's enough! I don't want to die anymore!" The gunshot was deafening in the tiny room and I tensed, waiting for the bullet to tear my skull apart...

...but instead, I found myself standing back on the edge of the cliff in the darkness. I was whole, and not naked, or drowned, or burned, but most of all, I was alive, and never before in my life had I been so happy to be on solid ground. I stumbled back in relief, sobbing openly again but with celebration of my life, and felt the familiar and welcome smooth texture of the door of my car.

The voice came then from somewhere in the darkness, once more that terribly wrong high-pitched whisper. "You no looonnngggeer wish to diiiieee?" Unable to answer, I could only keep my head down. "Tell me noooowww!" the voice whispered demandingly. "Will your life become miiiinnne? Make the chooooiiiccce!"

I shook my head back and forth furiously. "No! Never! I want to live! I want to live!" Sobbing harder, I dropped to my knees, and I felt the icy hand touch me gently on the top of my head.

"Then live you shaaaalll. But jussst know that I will allllwwaayys be watching you. And should you eeeeevvveer decide to taaaakkke your own liiiifffe again, I will be theeerre, and you wiiilll belong to meeeee." The hand drew back. "Now goooo. Go and never eeeevvveer come back!"

I needed no more coaching. I leaped into my car, shoved the key into the ignition and slammed my foot down on the pedal, spinning my tires wildly as I peeled off in the direction I had come earlier that night.

I have heard some say that their guardian angel saved them, sat on their shoulder and protected them from some danger. But what about when all the guardian angels are busy? I still say it was a demon that saved my life that night, that pulled me back from my dark thoughts and made me realize that my life is worth it. And who knows? Maybe if someday another one like me happens to feel like their life is as worthless as I thought mine was, maybe they'll find Route 236, and maybe they'll meet HER too. And maybe, just maybe, they'll be braver than I was.

#spooky #creepy #horror

[martykatewrites]

The Mummy: Chptr 3 The White Skies of the Desert

Early the next morning, she found Ardeth-Bey sitting at the table eating breakfast. When she sat down, he poured her a cup of coffee and pushed the basket of flatbread towards her.

"Eat," he commanded and took another strip of lamp from a platter and took a bite. She shook her head, having no desire for anything but coffee.

He looked at her, studying her, "I saw your father this morning carrying a strong box. I told him 'good morning' but either he did not hear me or he did not know I was here."

"You mean he seemed preoccupied, don't you? I told him good night and he acted as if I wasn't even there. Today's the day we pay the workers, I wonder if he carried their wages?" She paused, then said, "I am going to call the bank and ask if he made the withdrawal, if not, I must do it for the workers must be paid."

"I think that is wise," he said as she got up from the table, "I am afraid your father is not himself."

She dialed the number of their bank and Luxor and asked if the month's withdrawal had been made. "I see," she said, "I will be in there shortly and do it myself. My father has obvously forgotten." She hung up the phone then put her hands over her eyes as she began to cry.

He left his seat and put his arm around her waist. "I am sorry this is happening," he said, "I want you to know I will do everything I can to help."

"I have to go to the bank and get the money. I cannot believe Father did this to his workers. I must make sure that things are packed up and ready to be delivered to the museum. The tents must be taken down and the equipment readied for storage until the next season. And I must see if Father is sincere regarding this mad scheme to transport part of the artifacts by camel, if it is true he must have taken leave of his senses."

"I will meet you at the site and try to find out from the workers what is going on." Ardeth tried to soothe her, "They may be willing to tell me things they would not say to you for one reason or another. If we are truly meant follow through with this madness, I will find us some good camels and supplies. The first half of the journey we will be mostly on our own, there are several small towns after that where we can acquire what we need. Please do not worry, it will be all right."

She allowed herself a quick bath, then dressed and drove the truck she kept in Luxor to the bank. She was half afraid that her father may have withdrawn their funds—for whatever reason she did not know—but the account contained not only the workers' wages, but the bonuses they handed out at the end of every season.

She took a felucca to the opposite bank and allowed one of the camel drivers to escort her to Deir El Medina. For a small fee, and food and drink, he was willing to wait for her and escort her back to the landing where she would return to Luxor.

Her father had returned to Deir El Medina and seemed his old self, slightly surprised that he had forgotten the workmen's wages, but laughing it off, saying he must be going soft in the head. And of course, he knew that if he had forgotten, he could depend on her to remember for him.

This disturbed her but she said nothing. She supervised the final packing, the load she would take with Ardeth remaining in a small supply tent. She paid the workers, making sure that each received his bonus, and asked them if they would be willing to come back the next digging season. Though some seemed apprehensive, most were more than eager for the professor would pay them better than any other archaeologist. Carter-Bey provided work but his wages were stingy, they would rather work for the professor.

Ardeth-Bey rode up, leading four sturdy and well-fed camels. "We can load them up today and I will leave them with my father overnight. He is willing to tarry for one day, but the valley is barren and the herds need to be fed. You must be ready to leave tomorrow morning—I will come and fetch you. He is also willing to supply us with enough food to make it through the desert. We can fill the waterskins and hopefully they will supply us with enough water."

"Tell your father 'thank you', or better still, I will tell him myself tomorrow. That is very kind of him."

"He is worried, he feels that this is not good. He admires your father and wonders why he does this. He is sending word out to the tribes to let them know we are coming. If any Bedouin are in the area they will be on the lookout for us."

"Ardeth, is it true that your people claim they are descended from the Medjay?'

He laughed, breaking the tension, "There are some who like to tell that story. If so that would make us rather ruthless and cruel, don't you think? After all, we guarded the village to keep the inhabitants from stealing from the pharaoh's grave goods. No, and you should know this, we are more Arab than Egyptian now, with maybe a little Turkish and Greek thrown in. If we were the Medjay, it was a very long time ago."

She did not sleep well that night. Nightmares haunted her sleep with images of the old Egyptian gods, long-dead pharaohs, and monsters. Taking a bath helped refresh her, somewhat, and it would be the last she'd have for a while she reminded herself.

She was finishing her breakfast when Busa led Ardeth into the room.

"Did you eat well?" he asked, "I want to cover as many miles as we can before the weather gets too hot." He peered closely at her, "You did not sleep well?"

"No, I did not," she would not tell him why, "But it is probably because I am uneasy about this. We probably should have left last night while the air was still cool. I will sleep after we stop—if not, please make sure I do not fall off my camel."

Some of the Medjay—how funny it was that they named themselves after the guards of the Valley—were waiting for them at the site of her father's camp. Her father was supervising the loading of the pack camels they would use, his truck had been loaded the night before.

She could hear Ardeth and his father arguing about the folly of the trip to Minya through the desert, she was surprised to hear Ardeth defending it. The necessity of protecting her was the priority, he told his father, it was only the first part that would be hazardous, but he had heard that there might be Bedouin roaming in area so if they needed trouble there would be help.

Sandstorm season was a month away, Ardeth argued, their route would follow the Nile and if one did occur there were caves and old tombs in the cliffs that they could take refuge in. The camels could be brought in, too, so their would be no danger of losing them.

She agreed with Ardeth's father, this trip was folly. Something must have possessed her father for had he been in his right mind he never would have suggested it.

He came over to her and hugged her, "Be careful daughter, don't let the camels out of your sight. I am sure that Ardeth Bey will protect you. I will see you when you arrive in Cairo." He kissed the top of her blond head and went to his car.

"How is he?" Ardeth asked her.

"I don't know," she replied, "He is acting too normal and it bothers me. For once I am eager to leave the village. Let us travel as far as we can in the heat, then make the camp—I could certainly use some sleep."

"Well, the camels are packed and loaded with supplies. The goatskin tent I brought will be easy for two people to assemble and give us some progection from the heat during the day. My father brought along a generous supply of food, some dried lamb and dates, along with lots of bread that we must eat before it grows stale or moldy. The water skins are full and placed where we will have easy access. Is there anything else you need?"

"I was hoping to make one last trip to the village before we left but there is no time. Let us leave, Ardeth, if I linger too long here I will lose my courage."

The pack camels were tied to their saddles. Roma had long ago learned how to make the camel kneel so she could mount and had learned how to ride them like a Bedouin. She would have preferred taking horses, but these "ships of the desert" were better suited to their needs and she had long ago learned to tolerate their cantankerous natures.

The sun had already started its ascent into the clear blue sky of the desert. The day would grow from hot to unbearably hot in a few hours. She cursed herself for making such a slow start, hoping that they could at least make their way past the valleys of the kings and queens before they halted.

The relentless sun was growing hotter and even Ardeth, son of the desert that he was, decided he wished to go no further. "There is not much to shelter us here," he said apologetically, "But let us pitch the tent and try to get some sleep through the hottest part of the day. When the sun begins to go down it will start to cool a little."

She would have objected, she felt as if eyes were watching her back but she was tired from lack of sleep and needed to rest. They pitched the tent, a curious affair of black goatskin and a little awning to provide shelter for cooking and allowed the camels a bit of shade.

Though it was hot, she collapsed on her cot without the precaution of drinking water first and woke with a terrible thirst. She got up, careful not to wake Ardeth, and found of of the waterskins and drank deeply.

It was so hot now that the sky seemed to have lost its blue color and turned a ghostly white. She was familiar with this phenomenon having spent a good deal of time in the desert herself, but it never failed to catch her off guard. Now it seemed like an evil omen to her, like a sign that nothing good would come of what she was trying to do. The desert would win and she would lose and whatever it was that the baggage hid on the camel, the evil it carried would doom her.

"What are you doing?" asked Ardeth and she held up the waterskin, "I was thirsty, I forgot to drink before I lay down."

"That was my fault," he took the container from her and replaced it on the camel, "I should have made sure that you did. Come inside and rest, it will be some time before we leave in the evening."

She didn't move but stared at the ghostly white sky, "Do you something is going to happen to us, something bad, I mean?"

"Of course not, why are you letting your imagination run away with you? I could hide you safely in the desert for weeks and no one would find you and that is what I will do if I have to. Come inside and rest, you are anxious for your father, that is all."

She lay down once more and went back to sleep, a deep sleep empty of dreams. She did not see Ardeth watching her, not falling asleep himself until he was sure she was all right.

#The Mummy #mummy #tomb #Ardeth-Bey #desert #ancient Egypt #Cairo #Luxor #sandstorm #Rick O'Connell #Edith Carnahan #Valley of the Kings #The Nile

[rene-writes-or-tries-to-write]

How to Break John Winchester’s Nose: A fangirl’s guide

This was on my main, but I’m moving it here. 

                           - 7:36 PM, May 14, 2020, Pocatello, Idaho -

The road was empty. Nothing moved. Not even a breeze stirred the trees. As she watched, a speck rounded the corner. She narrowed her eyes. That was her mark. Time to go.

 The girl was tired, angry, and cold. She had been walking for hours, headed north toward Chubbuck. She had no true destination, just the need to get away. “Go for a walk,” they said. She’d been on more walks in the past couple of months than she had for the past year. She was bored of walks, and just wanted to go home. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have a home, not really. She was so lost in thought that she did not notice the wind pick up. Dead leaves, grass, and dandelion fluff whipped around her. It was only when a stick hit her arm that she looked up to see the vortex forming around her.

 “What the fu-” her words were cut off by a high pitched noise. A second later she was gone, and there was no trace that she had ever been there.

                             - 9:52 PM, June 3, 1996, Pocatello, Idaho –

John Winchester was headed out of town, eager to return to Sioux Falls to retrieve his boys. The day had been a long one, and he hadn’t had much incentive to sticking around town. The dark of the night settled around his truck, and he relaxed slightly in the driver’s seat. Plenty of open road awaited him, and the drive would take a couple of days, allowing him a couple of stops at bars, and the possibility of some company for a night. He put on some music and allowed his mind to wander.

 A half hour or so later, the ferocity of the wind brought him back. The wind was going crazy, seemingly forming a vortex. Immediately, all traces of relaxation disappeared from John Winchester. He slammed the brakes to avoid the funnel, grabbed his gun, and reached for the door.

 The wind stopped. Leaves and sticks fell to the ground. In the center of it all stood a girl, looking to be somewhere around the age of fifteen. She was wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and a t-shirt and scarf. She spun on her heel, absorbing her surroundings. She stopped when her eyes landed on the truck. John took this as his cue to exit said truck, gun hidden beneath his jacket.

 “Hey there,” he said, not wanting to startle her.

 “Hel-” she froze, getting her first good look at him. She sucked a breath in. John hesitated, weighing his next move. Before he came to a decision, a fist connected with his nose. He reeled back, cursing, and pressed a hand to his bleeding nose. Barely giving him a second to process the fact that the punch had been thrown with good technique and with a surprising amount of power, she followed it up with a sidekick. John dodged out of the way and fumbled for his gun. He had barely managed to pull it free when the side of the girl’s foot connected with it, sending the gun flying toward the side of the road. Her foot finished its arc, landing behind her in a fighting stance, only to spring off immediately to round kick him in the head. He blocked it and returned fire with a right hook, which she blocked. He followed the right hook with an uppercut, which she didn’t block. A rush of air left her. John didn’t give her time to recover, using the precious few seconds he had to grab the silver knife from his jacket and slash at her face. She responded quickly, but not quick enough, allowing the knife to slash across her arm. She grimaced at the cut, but didn’t display a worse reaction, which threw John for a loop. Given her mysterious appearance in the middle of the road, the way she had seemed to recognize him, and the immediate, well-coordinated attack, he had expected her to be, well, not human. Still, silver didn’t rule everything out.

 The girl, meanwhile, had retreated to John’s truck and was clutching her injured arm, hissing. She looked up at John warily, evidently expecting an attack. His next actions surprised both him and her. He strode over and held out his hand.

 “The name’s John Winchester. Can I get the name of the chick that just broke my nose?”

 The girl hesitated. She didn’t particularly trust John, but the mere fact that he existed… what harm could telling him her name do anyway?

 “Clara. I’d apologize for the broken nose but it’d be a lie.”

 “OK, Clara, you wanna let me take a look at that arm?”

 “You’re the one who cut it, why should I let you anywhere near it?”

 “I’ve got a med kit?”

 “….Fine.”

 John went around the truck to grab the med kit from the trunk, and also to avoid having the kid see the weapons in the back. A few minutes saw the kid’s arm cleaned and bandaged.

 “Well, I can’t leave you out here. Get in, I’ll take you home.”

 She snorted. “Home? Yeah, good luck with that.”

 “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 “Best to just show you,” she said, climbing into the truck, leaving John to get to the driver’s seat.

 “Where to?”

 “Hmmm? Oh, right,” she paused. “Pocatello, Idaho.”

 John simply nodded and drove, leaving the questioning for later.

                            - 11:38 PM, June 3, 1996, Pocatello, Idaho –

Clara had spent the last hour or so having her entire world turned on its head. She had been kidnapped by a cyclone (of all the clichés!), found by John Winchester, cut by John Winchester, treated by John Winchester, and driven by John Winchester. She’d broken his (John Winchester’s!) nose. She couldn’t stop running his name through her head on repeat, a fair reaction given that an hour ago the man had been a fictional character. She had no regrets about her initial reaction, as she felt wholeheartedly that the man deserved a broken nose, hell, she thought he deserved worse. He was a shitty father, not that great of a husband, and a terrible person in general. She did have some lingering doubts about letting him drive her anywhere. In the end, she figured, she could explain some of the truth, seeing as she likely didn’t legally exist in this universe yet.

She played with the ends of her scarf, nervous about his reaction. A sudden thought hit her, and she immediately zipped up her jacket to hide the Supernatural t-shirt she had on underneath, and tried to subtly rearrange her scarf to hide the slightly modified anti-possession symbols on the ends and the large, all caps “WINCHESTER BROTHERS” on it. John took notice and cranked the heat up.

“Cold?”

“Not anymore. Could we get some tunes?”

John reached behind them and grabbed a cassette tape at random, sliding it in. Zep’s Immigrant Song hit them at full volume, and Clara smirked, thinking of Thor: Ragnorak. The smirk disappeared a second later, when she realized that the MCU had yet to be introduced, much less developed to the point of Ragnorak. She felt slightly faint.

“You okay there?” 

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Perfectly fine. A bit thirsty.”

John took the opportunity to hand her the holy water, a move she had anticipated. She took a sip.

“Tastes a bit odd. Is it from some well in the middle of nowhere?” She drank some more. 

John had been watching her reaction closely, and was a tad bit startled.

“N-No, just a motel.”

He handed her a generously salted sandwich. 

“Here, you must be hungry.”

She took a large bite of it, then paused.

“Thoo much thalt,” she stated, mouth full. Swallowing the mouthful, she continued, “not enough meat.”

 “You’re human,” John blurted, surprised.

 “Well yeah, what’d you expect, three rats in a trench?”

 John forced a laugh.

 “You never know. So, mind telling me why you broke my nose before you even finished sayin’ hello?”

 “Oh, that’s easy. I find myself on a lonely stretch of road in the dark, alone but for a large black truck and a big guy, who judging by his stance, is ex-military, Marine if I had to guess, who is tense, likely trigger happy, and armed, going off of the glint of metal from his belt and the lump in his jacket, so logically, I get him before he can get me. You wouldn’t have been the first guy to jump me, and I learned my lesson pretty quickly after the first two times.”

 John’s mouth was hanging open, something Clara found quite amusing. Her explanation, of course, wasn’t the truth. Well, not the whole truth anyhow. She had been jumped before, and it was distinctly not pleasant. She knew he was an ex-Marine, not from his stance, but from knowledge brought from a totally different universe, from what she could guess.

 “I-I wasn’t going to attack you!” he said defensively.

 “Sure. Better safe than sorry though.”

 As she said that, the black truck rumbled to a stop in front of a no-tell motel. John got out, then turned around and asked, “ya comin’ or what, kid?”

 Clara slid out of the truck, dropping to the ground.

 “Why, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the actual fuck is this thing so high up?”

 “To make you complain. Hurry up, it actually is cold out here.” With that, he turned on his heel and marched into the lobby.

 The poor kid at the desk was awoken by John Winchester’s fist pounding the desk. They got one room, two queens.

 The moment Clara’s head hit the pillows she was out. Or so John assumed. She watched through mostly shut eyes as he methodically checked and cleaned his gun, then salted above the door and the windows. He finally crashed an hour after she’d “gone to sleep”. She waited another half hour, then allowed the darkness to drag her away from the land of the living.

                            - 6:43 AM, June 4, 1996, Pocatello, Idaho –

John Winchester awoke to the smell of coffee and bagels, and the sounds of an unfamiliar person moving about his room. Keeping his eyes shut, he inched his hand under his pillow, reaching for the familiar weight of his gun.

 And found nothing.

 A voice cut through the slight panic in his mind.

 “Looking for this?”

 John opened his eyes to see a fifteen year old girl standing above him, holding his gun. The events of the previous night came rushing back. He sighed, rubbed his eyes, and sat up, reaching out a hand to take the gun back. She set it in his palm, reached behind herself, and presented a cup of coffee.

“No idea how you take it, but I figured you might need some if we were gonna get an early start.”

 “Two things: I take it with two creams, no sugar, and how’d you pay for this?”

 “Noted, and I borrowed some money from your wallet. Drink up, I got you a bagel, you can eat it on the way.”

 “…On the way to what exactly?”

 “To show you that I don’t exist yet, genius.”

 John had yet to drink the coffee, and thus did not really process her words or the fact that he was being bossed around by a teenaged girl.

 Twenty minutes saw John caffeinated, fed, and in the truck on the way to Clara’s high school to get at the student records. It was at this point that he remembered her nonsensical statement.

 “What the hell do you mean you don’t exist yet?”

 “Oh. Um. Right. So while I was out this morning, I grabbed the paper. The date’s the 4th of June, 1996.”

 “Yeah, and?”

 She sucked in a breath. “And I was born February 3, 2005.”

 Silence.

 “Come again?”

 “I was born Feb-”

 “No, I heard you. I just don’t see how that’s possible.”

 “Hey, I assume you saw that cyclone. It pulled me out of May 2020, on the road out of Pocatello.”

 “And you aren’t freaking out why, exactly?”

 “I watch a very weird tv show.”

 “So we’re going to your high school why?”

 “To show you I’m not on the records. But you’ll likely find Daddy Dearest on there.” The way she said “Daddy Dearest” was full of bitterness and loathing. John stored that away for later.

 “Right.”

 They spent the rest of the ride in silence. Upon arriving at the school, both of them slipped seamlessly into their roles. John, a tired single father, and Clara, his smart but shy daughter. The principal let them into her office, asking them a multitude of questions regarding their supposed move, Clara’s previous education, John’s job, their home situation, Clara’s fictional deceased mother. Fortunately for them, they both had plenty of experience lying on their toes. The moment the principal left to deal with a fight that Clara had set up on her way in by stealing one kid’s lunch and putting it in another kid’s bag, they were out of their seats, searching for the records. Clara started rifling through the drawers, while John seated himself in front of the computer. Four minutes later, John was clicking through student records and Clara was standing behind him.

 “No Claras in here.”

 “Probably because that’s a fake name. Try Rachel Fusson.”

 “No Rachels, but there are a whole slew of Fussons. Currently enrolled are Owen and Daniel.”

 “Owen’s the old man.”

 Footsteps told of the principal’s approach. John quickly exited the file and shut the computer down, while Clara scrambled to close all the cabinets. They both slid into their seats a moment before she opened the door and attempted to look innocent. The principal apologized for the interruption and continued her interrogation. It took them half an hour to escape her clutches.

                             - 8:36 AM, June 4, 1996, Pocatello, Idaho –

Clara had woken that morning drenched in a cold sweat. Upon realizing that there was no immediate danger, she had relaxed and turned to the clock. 4:22 AM. The fuck was she supposed to do at 4 AM? She glanced to her right and saw another occupied bed. John Winchester. Right. She was no longer in the middle of a global pandemic, nor was she anywhere close to her home universe. She wasn’t terribly upset about being pulled out of a world where she couldn’t hug her friends, or even really see them. She also wasn’t terribly upset about being yanked away from her relatives, seeing as they were fairly dedicated to beating her down in every way possible. They had belittled her, toyed with her emotions, and, depending on the “transgression”, beat her. She did, however, miss her friends, her pets, and her girlfriend. Fuck. What would they think had happened? A snore jolted her out of her thoughts.

 “Focus,” she hissed to herself.

 First order of business: coffee and food. She got up, putting 15 years of sneaking into use to grab John’s wallet, his gun, and her shoes. She slipped out the front door and went in search of a coffee shop. Half an hour of wandering brought her to a hole-in-the-wall run by a guy wearing more layers than a Winchester and sporting a mustache the size of Texas. She bought two cups of coffee, two bagels, and the paper. She grabbed a couple of cups cream and some sugar for John, and headed back to the motel. She’d downed half her coffee and most of her bagel (and made her bed) when he started inching his hand toward his pillow in search of his gun. She made her way over to him.

 Second order of business: get some food and coffee into John Winchester and then get him to the high school to show him the records and prove her case about being from 2020. She grinned at the panicked expression on the hunter’s face at finding no gun, holding up said gun and asking him if he was looking for it. Another half hour saw them safely arrived at the school, with John informed of her current predicament. Knowing they’d need a distraction, she put the shipper eyes to work, immediately spotting two boys with so much unresolved sexual tension between them that it’d turned to animosity from what she could see. She nabbed the taller one’s lunchbox, slipping it into the other one’s backpack. She hoped they’d get their heads out of their asses soon, but not soon enough to unravel her plan (everyone who said shipping was a waste of time and energy could suck it).

 After the principal left, Clara sprung for the drawers, having no idea how to work the old computer (John really wasn’t much better). She scanned through the files, seeing detention slips, complaints, and write-ups, but no records.

 “Hey.” John had found the records.

 Forty-five minutes later, they were back at the motel.

 “Okay, so lemme get this straight-” started John.

 Clara snorted. “Good luck with that.”

 John squinted, not getting it. He continued, “you were born in 2005, you came from the year 2020, and you can fight better than a lot of the “professionals” I know. Who the fuck are you, Clara? Or should I call you Rachel?”

 “Let’s stick with Clara. I’m just a kid from Pocatello. I can fight, because, like I said, I’ve been jumped before. Once was enough, so I learned to fight so next time I wouldn’t be helpless. Why are you taking the time travel thing so well? You didn’t freak out, just questioned the hows and whys.”

 “I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit, kid.” With that, he stood up and started packing the few things he’d unpacked the night before.

 Clara sat and watched him, having nothing of her own to pack.

 “Let’s go,” said John, moving out the door.

Chapter two here: X

#spn #constructive critism welcome #please don't hate #supernatural #fic #supernatural fic #spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #oc

[argylemnwrites]

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Chapter 15

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~4900

Rating: R (all the adult language - what can I say, Drake swears)

Summary: A much needed conversation, part two.

Author’s Note: Thought I would have this up yesterday, but my Vikings broke my heart, so I couldn’t bring myself to do final edits. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! This chapter is not even remotely holiday themed, but it contains one of my favorite scenes in this story, so I hope you enjoy it!

This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the previous chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

It was pitch black out when Drake awoke to a faint tapping sound. He checked his phone. It was 3:26. He figured he must have imagined the noise and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, but the noise returned. It was a knock on his door - light, but insistent. Drake was tempted to ignore it, but deep down, he knew who it was. So he shuffled over, flipped the lock, and cracked open the door. 

“You know it’s 3:30 in the morning, right?”

Liam nodded. “I apologize. I couldn’t sleep and I thought maybe… But you’re right, it was rude of me to come by at this hour. I’ll just-”

Drake cut him off with a groan, swinging the door open fully and gesturing for Liam to enter. “No, come on in.”

But Liam didn’t enter, instead pausing in the doorway for a moment before he spoke, “Actually, I was hoping you might want to go fishing.”

Drake blinked a couple of times, trying to clear the fog of sleep from his mind. They hadn’t gone out, just the two of them, in a long time. And given their most recent… conversation, it seemed like an odd choice. But Drake had stuck around to support Liam, so if he needed to go out fishing in the middle of the night, well then Drake would be going with him. “Yeah, okay. Just gimme ten minutes.”

So Drake brushed his teeth and got dressed, grabbing the fishing rods, the lawn chairs, and the tackle box before making his way down to the private garage. It was just Liam there when he arrived, so either Bastien had cleared a private outing, or Liam was ducking out without his security team knowing. It didn’t matter much to Drake either way. He just loaded their gear into the back of his car and moved to hop into the driver’s seat, but Liam called out, “Actually, do you mind if I drive?” Drake shrugged and walked around, sliding in on the passenger's side and settling in for the short drive to their usual spot. Except instead of turning right after passing through the palace gates, Liam turned to the left.

“Uh, where are you going?”

Liam glanced over at Drake before returning his eyes to the road ahead of him, “There’s a different lake I want to visit. I hope you can forgive me this break from our typical routine.”

Once again, Drake found himself shrugging. Not knowing how long of a trip they’d be taking, he leaned his head against the side window. It was dark enough out that he couldn’t see much of the scenery, but he knew they were basically heading east. They drove for well over an hour, not talking, just listening to Liam’s classical music playlist, the one he used when he needed to think. Drake didn’t know what was going on, so he let Liam drive on without any questions about where or how or why. They just drove and drove, and eventually, tinges of orange and pink started to appear in the sky. As the sun began to peek above the horizon, Liam turned off the main road onto a smaller frontage road. After about five more minutes, he pulled over to the side and stopped.

“We’re here,” was all he said before he got out of the car and went to grab his half of the gear from the back. Drake followed his lead, carrying his rod, chair, and the tackle box down a gravel path, Liam just a few paces ahead of him. It was a short and easy hike, leading to a large, crystal-clear lake. The area Liam had chosen was basically a meadow, but there were thickly forested patches along the shoreline, giving rise to large hills and mountains just beyond. Across the lake, Drake noted a grand estate.

He had no idea why they were here and not at their usual lake just west of the capital, but Liam had already set up his chair and was threading his line through the guides. So Drake placed his own chair next to Liam’s, opened the tackle box in between them, and started prepping his own line. Soon enough, they were casting out, the sky lightening in color by the second as the sun continued to climb upwards. They were both silent at first, but after several minutes, Liam broke the ice.

“So, Olivia’s aunt is behind the attacks.”

Drake whipped his head over to the left, trying to gauge Liam’s mental state. That must have been why Olivia came to the palace two days ago. It certainly explained the surge of activity triggered by her visit. Liam didn’t make eye contact with Drake, choosing instead to stare out over the water as he continued to fill him in on the situation.

“She wore a wire yesterday, securing recordings of her aunt talking about the whole thing. Lucretia’s initial plan was to kill any degree of public approval I had before I abdicated, leaving Olivia poised to take the throne. Olivia somehow managed to convince her that we were sleeping together and to give her more time so that she could eventually get pregnant and a Nevrakis would become the heir to the throne.”

“Wait, her aunt thought you two were sleeping together?”

“Olivia didn’t disclose how that even became a point of conversation with her aunt, but Lucretia brought it up unprompted very early on in Olivia’s surveillance, so it must have been part of her ploy to get the initial confession out of Lucretia. Regardless, it was effective. While Olivia was informing me of her aunt’s aims, Lucretia was scrambling to strike deals with her co-conspirators since they were no longer a necessary part of her scheme.”

“How’d that work out for her?” 

“About as well as you would expect. Turns out people who are willing to destroy and kill to gain power don’t respond kindly to being cut out of a coup. Lucretia started naming them all without Olivia even asking because she was planning on having the two of them take out the other key agents in the attacks, all of whom were looking to kill Lucretia at the first opportunity after she dismissed them from her plan.”

“Ah, classic Nevrakis family bonding.”

“Heh. Olivia made a similar remark. Regardless, the strike teams will deploy today to bring the parties involved into custody. Hopefully, things will be well coordinated enough that no one will be forewarned and able to flee. One other insurgent in particular is someone we absolutely need to arrest. His name is Anton Severus, and he and Lucretia seem to be the ringleaders.”

“I’ve never heard of him.”

“We hadn’t either. Initial research turned up some… strange connections to Olivia that we’ll need to investigate further. However, this photo was even more interesting.”

At that, Liam grabbed a small piece of paper out of his jacket pocket and passed it over to Drake. He nearly dropped his fishing rod when he saw the face on the paper.

“It’s that Justin prick!”

“Indeed. Seems he was working under an alias.”

“What the fuck, Liam? He was Liu’s press secretary. He spent a shit-ton of time with her one-on-one. He could have-”

“Drake, this whole situation is a disaster. If you have concerns about the vetting that went into hiring this man, I suggest you take it up with Bertrand. There is something else I thought it prudent you know regarding him, though. He arguably stood to gain the most from the initial scheme concocted by him and Lucretia. Understandably, it sounds like he is the most upset by her recent change in strategy.

“From the way Lucretia talks about him, not only is he highly dangerous, but he also has access to key information Lucretia has been collecting. This includes the findings obtained by the PI that was following you in New York. Apparently, the goal there was a titillating piece surrounding you, me, and Riley. Unfortunately, we think it is highly probable that he will have leaked the information obtained thus far to the press given Lucretia’s description of her conversation with him. So I apologize, but it is likely you and Riley will gain some media attention.”

“So will you.”

Liam shrugged at that, “Yes, well, that comes with the job description for me. That’s not exactly the situation for the two of you.”

“Was warning me about this why you brought me out here?”

“No, that was something I obviously needed to do, but that’s not why I wanted us to go fishing.”

“Why, then? Why today?”

“It's all just been... It's been hard to handle all the…” Liam trailed off. Drake couldn't remember the last time he was at a loss for words.

“Yeah, you've had a lot of shit to deal with.” 

Liam chuckled. “I think that safely qualifies as an understatement.”

Drake smiled softly, letting the quiet of the surrounding nature keep the moment still and peaceful. When Liam got like this, it was best not to ask a lot of questions. just let him talk when he felt like it. So they sat there, lines dipping below the surface of the water. The fish weren't biting, but that didn't really matter at all. They were both silent for many minutes, but eventually Liam started talking.

“My mind is just so full all the time. As soon as I think I have a handle on one topic or issue, another one just worms its way deep into my brain. Being out here, it's nearly like all those conflicting ideas can just float away from me. For the first time in weeks, I feel like I can breathe, that I can decompress even slightly. I know that I can't escape the realities of my life forever, but this is a nice reprieve. So thank you, Drake. Thank you for indulging me, even if I did wake you before 4 o’clock.”

Drake nodded, “Of course, Liam. you know I'd do…”

Liam's eyes drifted over to Drake's as Drake trailed off. He wasn't sure if he had the right to finish that thought. A few months ago, there was literally nothing that Drake wouldn't have done for Liam. He couldn't imagine a single thing. But now, after everything with Riley... Well, saying something like that seemed pretty fucking disingenuous.

But Liam just shook his head sadly, “Even after I said horrible things to you the other day.”

Drake frowned at that, “Liam, I deserved nearly all of it. I should be the one apologizing. You have a shit-ton of crap to handle everyday, and my pissy attitude should not have to be part of it.” He kept his eyes focused on the water, ashamed that he couldn’t even figure out how to be the first one to apologize. But Liam chuckled lightly, seeming to be oblivious to Drake’s pain and guilt.

“Drake, since when are you worried about your attitude around me?” 

He let out a sigh before he responded, “Pretty much whenever I can tell you’re stressed.”

“But that shouldn’t be how this works,” said Liam, “We are supposed to be equals, my title be damned. That can’t happen if you are tiptoeing around me when my life becomes stressful.”

“See, I knew you would see it this way. But you’ve gotta understand that the shit you face is so much worse than the shit any of the rest of us face. I gotta be more careful with you than you are with me. Besides, you look out for me, too. You gave me a place to stay, you let me duck out and do my own thing when I get antsy, you find me lots of high quality whiskey.”

“Are you kidding me, Drake?”

He smiled at that, glancing over at Liam, “Just a little. My point is that we both have been there for each other.”

Liam shook his head. “But don’t you see, Drake, that everything you just listed didn’t really impact my life in any major way. Doing those things for you required very little sacrifice. You, on the other hand, just aggressively reminded my brother that you have uprooted your entire life for me. You put long-term plans on hold to be there for me.”

“You were a prince, Liam. Now you’re the fucking king. You made the best accommodations you could for me given the situation. I did the same. It’s no one’s fault that your life doesn’t allow you the flexibility that mine does.”

“Be that as it may, I worry I’ve taken you for granted, that I’ve treated your support as a given. You altered major life plans for me. That shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

Drake waved his hand through the air, almost as if he could swat away Liam’s concerns, “Trust me, it’s really not a big deal.”

“Your screaming match with Leo would suggest otherwise.”

“Eh, Leo was just being an ass and things got outta hand.”

Drake dropped his eyes to the lake’s surface, watching his line cut through the water. He could feel Liam’s stare on the back of his neck, but he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Maybe, if he just sat there quietly, Liam would let it go. Accept his statement as the truth.

“So this is what you meant about keeping your attitude from me when you think I’m too stressed to handle it.”

Drake sighed slowly, rolling his head around to look at Liam. He didn’t know what to say, but his silence kind of confirmed Liam’s statement.

“I don’t need you to turn yourself into an emotional martyr for me, Drake. I would never want that for you.”

“That’s not what this is, I just-”

“Drake, I think you do it without even thinking about it. It’s become nearly reflexive for you. Remember at my coronation, after Riley was forcibly removed from the palace?”

Drake nodded. While the overall events of that night were burned into his brain, he honestly didn’t remember the details all that well. He’d been a mess. Chasing after Riley. Thinking he’d fly out to New York. He’d gone from being convinced that she was going to be this gnawing presence in his life, happily engaged to Liam and just out of reach, taunting him as the possibility that was never meant to be, to being terrified she would not even be a small part of his life anymore. It was in that moment that he decided if he ever saw her again, he would be grateful to fill whatever role she wanted for him in her life, even if that meant opening himself up to excruciating pain in the end. “Yeah, that one was pretty hard to forget.”

“As soon as I got visibly upset, you jumped into action, planning and organizing. You even told me you would go to New York, and I just assumed that you were doing that for my sake. But that wasn’t your primary motivation, was it?”

Drake closed his eyes and shook his head, “I needed to make sure she was okay. I just wanted to be there for her.”

“You loved her already, didn’t you?”

Liam’s question gave Drake pause. He’d never really bothered to think about when he’d fallen for Riley. It was just one of those things, where one day it had just hit him out of nowhere that he was completely gone on her. They’d been eating breakfast with Hana and Maxwell at Applewood the day after finding the photographer’s ID badge. She’d been giving him shit in response to some comments he’d made about mimosas and after a few moments of bickering, she’d stuck her tongue out at him, as if that would win her the argument. It had just been so stupidly silly, so damn playful, so completely her that he’d just known. And that had been it. He’d never really bothered to try and figure out when he actually fell in love, at least not until this moment.

“I think so,” he finally spoke, barely getting the words out. It felt so shameful, to admit out loud that he was in love with Riley. That he’d been in love with her for a long time at this point. It was stupid to get hung up on this. He’d moved to a new country for her. Of course Liam knew he loved her. But to explicitly state it felt wrong. Dirty. Cruel.

The silence of the surrounding nature felt unbearable. But after a painful minute or two, Liam finally responded to Drake’s confession.

“I wish you would have told me how you were feeling. I wish both of you would have told me, but I really wish you would have told me.”

“Liam, I-”

“Let me rephrase that. You should have told me. The rejection would have never been pleasant, but I would have handled it. Romantic feelings go unrequited all the time. But you lied to me, if not outright, then certainly by omission. And that Drake, is the aspect of this whole mess that I am struggling with the most. I always trusted you to be the one person in this world who was honest with me, to never have an ulterior motive during our discussions. And I’ve lost that faith, Drake. That is what hurts the most.”

“I know, Liam. I’m so sorry.”

“See, this is why you can’t just decide that you need to hide your actual emotions from me. Regardless of whether or not my royal obligations are intense, there needs to be mutual honesty between us.”

Drake shook his head roughly, “It wasn’t all about protecting you. That was part of it, sure, but it was more complicated than just that. I wasn’t exactly trying to be noble.”

“Why then?”

“I don’t want to make excuses here, Liam. I know I fucked up.”

“I just need to understand, Drake. I need to make sense of all of this. So please, just talk to me openly.”

Drake took a breath, trying to organize his thoughts before he started, “It was self-preservation really, and I know that’s selfish of me, but it’s the truth. It was going to be bad enough in the end when she chose you. That alone was going to hurt like hell. I just couldn’t stand the thought of you knowing about it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I was convinced that she was going to choose you once she cleared her name.”

“Is there some reason you thought that, or…”

“Previous experience mostly. It’s not important, though.”

“It kind of is, Drake. You are talking about this like it was some foregone conclusion that she wasn’t as interested in you as she was in me, when all I have is evidence to the contrary.”

Drake let out a huge sigh, his shoulders sagging in the process. He wasn’t sure if this topic was wildly embarrassing or just uncomfortable, but they were here now, and Drake didn’t see a way out of it at this point. “Over the years, there have been quite a few women who’ve tried to use me to get close to you. Some just feigned interest until you guys were introduced. Others seemed to have researched me and my interests pretty extensively, letting things escalate between us for quite a while before they suddenly didn’t have time for me. Usually, that was right after they met you. It didn’t take long for me to learn the drill.”

“And you thought Riley was doing the same thing? Drake, she hadn’t even heard of Cordonia when we wandered into that bar.”

Drake mustered up what was left of his courage before continuing, “I think she would have accepted your proposal that night. We snuck outside for a bit. Talked a little. We kissed. I don’t know. We both made it pretty clear that was it for us. It felt a lot like goodbye.

“Then after you got engaged and she came back, I don’t know. Things were different. She kept bringing up us actually being together. It was a strange shift, and part of me just couldn’t believe that she really wanted to be with me. I  kept wondering if she was just looking for comfort after being publicly rejected and I was the best option. So I kept telling her we should wait until she cleared her name to talk about our future. And I braced myself for the day that would happen and she would realize she could have you again. That she could go off and be with who she actually wanted.”

“You told me about your relationship the day after she cleared her name.” Liam’s voice was quiet, but calm. Understanding. Gentle.

“I know it’s not an excuse, Liam. But I just didn’t really think that she had any deep feelings for me until she told me she loved me that night. Some part of me couldn’t shake the thought that whatever the hell was going on between us was about to come to an end.”

“But it didn’t.”

“No. It didn’t.”

They both sat there, still and silent. It was tense, to be sure, but unlike the other day, Drake didn’t sense any anger rolling off Liam. He knew he was much calmer, too. Maybe they had just needed to purge their more toxic thoughts before they could have this conversation. Or maybe it needed to happen outside of the confining, binding walls of the palace. Out away from pressures and obligations, away from nosy servants and nobles. Maybe that was why Liam had wanted to go fishing. Maybe deep down he knew this was the only way either of them would talk. But that didn’t explain his choice of location.

“Why here?”

“What was that?”

“I am just trying to figure out why you wanted to come out here to… wherever the hell we are to have this conversation.”

“Valtoria. That’s where I brought us.”

“Okay, so why Valtoria?”

Liam sighed, looking around and fully taking in the surrounding woods and meadows. He was silent, with only the lapping water and the hum of last of that year’s cicadas filling the air. Eventually after several painfully long moments he answered.

“You know how Valtoria has been vacant for decades? Well, it was going to be hers.”

“What are you talking about, Liam?”

“I was going to offer her the title of Duchess of Valtoria.” He kept looking around, almost as if making eye contact would be unbearable.

Drake's mind raced as he tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about. It only took a few seconds for him to realize the truth behind it all. “You couldn't marry a commoner. You had to make her fucking suitable match.”

Liam winced at that, finally turning his head to face Drake. “I was trying to give her a home. I wanted Cordonia to feel like her country, not my country. But yes, Drake. I was also looking to appease her critics on the council. Titling her was a needed formality.” 

Drake let Liam's words wash over him. He knew that Liam himself didn’t really care that Riley came from poverty, had clawed her way to a working class lifestyle. But somehow, the fact that he would have elevated her to noble class before marrying her rubbed him the wrong way just the same. His discomfort at the idea must have shown on his face, because Liam spoke again after a brief moment.

“Come on, Drake. I know it’s your reflex to hate the nobility, but surely that wouldn’t apply to her?”

Drake shook his head. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it? Why would the mere formality of titling her upset you?”

“That’s not…. It’s just… No one needs to change anything about her.”

A faint smile crept across Liam’s face at Drake’s reply, even as he squinted his eyes in disbelief, “My god, who are you and where have you hidden Drake Walker?”

“What?”

“That was dangerously close to romantic, my friend. Certainly more saccharine and sweet than anything I have ever said.”

“Bullshit, Liam.”

“Fair enough, but you have to admit that was far more sentimental than you usually act.”

“Jesus, Liam. I’m not saying that to be romantic. I just don’t like the fact that you wanted her to change who she is to marry you.”

“It was never about changing her. It was merely adding a formal title.”

Drake squinted at Liam, trying to figure out how he could be so oblivious, but then it dawned on him. Riley hadn’t let Liam see her as she really was. She’d kept things light and polite. She’d never laid into him. Never opened up to him. She had kept playing at being princess the whole way through.

“Tell me, Liam -  how many times have you heard Liu swear?”

After a couple of seconds, Liam said, “My answer is that I can’t recall her ever swearing, but I can guess that is not her typical behavior based on that question.”

“She called me a ‘goddamn motherfucking asshole’ within her first few days here,” Drake responded, shaking his head with a smile, “You may not have asked her to change who she was, but…”

“You’re saying she just felt compelled to act differently around me.”

“I think so.”

Liam was quiet for a few moments, likely thinking about everything that had been said. Eventually, he shook his head, “Well, I think there’s some form of irony buried in this whole situation. Apparently, there have been many women out there who acted differently around you to get to know me. The one woman I actually wanted to get to know was acting differently around me as she fell in love with you.”

“Liam, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Drake. At least not for that part. I will certainly accept your apology for hiding your feelings from me and prolonging the uncomfortable situation. But the rest of it is just life. I fell for someone, but she fell for someone else. There’s no reason for her not to be with the person she loves if he loves her in return.

“I’m not blameless in this whole mess. You were right; I just assumed she was interested in me. I could blame the entire dynamic of the social season, but that wouldn’t be proper. I am a grown man, and I should have recognized her waning interest in me.”

“No, you were right. We should have talked to you sooner.”

“And I probably shouldn’t have offered up being my mistress without asking about her feelings surrounding my relationship with Madeleine. There is plenty of blame to go around.”

“Excuse me, you what?”

“It’s not my proudest moment, Drake, but I was desperate and grasping at straws. Looking back, I certainly could have done better there. However, I am guessing you have some moments you wish you could redo in this whole debacle?”

Drake was still trying to process the fact that Liam had apparently asked Riley to be his side piece, but he knew his overall point was valid. They both had made mistakes here. And maybe it was time to leave those mistakes in the past and start moving forward. So Drake just nodded, a gesture Liam returned with a smile before he looked out over the lake again. The silence between them wasn’t entirely comfortable, but it certainly felt closer to normal than it had in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley poured the couple at the bar two more IPAs, then quickly glanced around the room, trying to see if there were any other customers who needed another round. Not seeing any obviously empty glasses or anyone trying to flag her down, she started loading up a tray with dirty glassware to bring into the back to get cleaned.

After her breakdown her first night back in New York, she’d resolved to not think about Cordonia, and she honestly felt like she’d done a pretty good job. One of the afternoon bartenders had quit unexpectedly, so she volunteered to pick up some extra shifts, which not only kept her busy and distracted, but also helped her earn some much needed cash.

She gotten some texts from Maxwell and Hana, but she’d kept her responses light and casual. She really was doing fine. She just had to convince them of that fact. If they kept asking her how she was doing, she would fixate on everything that had happened, and the would be the opposite of helpful. She needed to keep moving forward, and then she would be able to move on with her life.

Riley carried the heavy tray into the backroom and loaded up the industrial dishwasher. After washing her hands, she went back out front, but the sight in front of her stopped her dead in her tracks. She knew that hair. She knew that face. But that hair and that face were supposed to be in Cordonia, not scanning the room awkwardly, clearly looking for someone.

“Hana?” she finally called out when she found her voice, “What the hell are you doing here?” 

Tags: @addictedtodrakefanfic @kingliam2019  @dcbbw @mfackenthal @jovialyouthmusic @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @riley–walker @thequeenofcronuts @notoriouscs @butindeed @thesumofmychoices @texaskitten30 @yaushie @cosigottahavefaith @thequeenchoices @katedrakeohd @feartheendlesssummer @sirbeepsalot @ladyangel70 @ao719 @ooo-barff-ooo @octobereighth​

@sunnyxdazed @lilyofchoices

#drake walker #drake x mc #king liam #trr liam #trr fanfic #trr #choices fanfiction #choices #playchoices #choices stories you play

[deanwinchestermydaddy]

TO SEE YOU AGAIN (DEAN WINCHESTER STORY) PART. 20

Y/n's POV:

These past four months have been the hardest for me and Sam. I try to help him but he blamed himself and I did the same with myself. Sam would disappear for days then come back. I couldn't sleep because when I closed my eyes I was able to see or more imagined what Dean was going through and I felt the same pain, how I felt my body being torn apart then put back together. The first time that I had those nightmares I had Sam to comfort me but it wasn't the same he wasn't Dean.

As the time went by I would disappear for weeks saying that I was going to the bar and on hunts to think and free my mind, but I wasn't. I drove to a different crossroads in town then out of town to make a deal, but none of the demons want to make a deal with me to bring Dean back. It was driving me crazy.

"you know Dean wouldn't like you to make a deal Y/n? He made me promise that I was going to protect you and stopped you from doing that" he said as he sat down in front of me, "yeah Sam I know" I said lying to him, "I will go to take a nap then I will bring us food is that alright?" I said and he nodded and gave me a small smile that I returned. I went to my room and did something that I haven't done in years I prayed. I got on my knees and cross myself, "look, I know that I am not one of your favorites. I don't even know if you are real or not, but once again I just want to ask you for a miracle to bring Dean back, he deserves something better than what he has got. So, God, I ask you for a miracle to bring Dean back safe, that's all I ask for. Please and Thank you" I said and got up and grabbed the keys of my car to go to town, "hey Y/n I thought you said you were gonna take a nap?" Sam said as he saw me, "Not anymore Sam. You want the usual?" I asked and he nodded, "be careful alright," he said giving me another smile, "will do Sam," I said before I walked out.

~IN TOWN~

I was walking around not really looking, having other thoughts on my mind which were really only about Dean. I bump or more like slammed into someone and I fall on my butt, "I'm so sorry Miss" the guy said as he turns around to help me up, "no, it was my fault.  So I am sorry for slamming into you Mister" I said as I look up and saw that he was wearing a black dress shirt, "Don't call me Mister you make me feel old" he said as he looked down and smile at me and I smile at him back, "thank you... uh I guess young fella for picking me up even when it was my fault" I said and he laughs at what I said and I saw those big blue eyes that twinkle, "no problem, young gal and have a good night" he said as he started to walk away and I just stood there looking at him walk away, "good night to you too!" I said loud and he turns and waves, "may God bless you," he said and it made me froze, then I continue to go and get the food for me and Sam. After that day I left for Iowa to try again to make a deal.

Dean's POV:

"Help! Help! Help!" I said as I was pounding on the wood that was above my head as dirt falls on my face and I continue to pound.

I was in the middle of a grassy field, a simple wooden cross is planted as I crawl my way out of the ground, groaning and gasping. I lie on my back, panting. I stand looks around in the glaring sunlight.

I walked until I saw an abandoned Gas Station and I entered, "Hello?" I say but no one answers, so I enter and took some water to drink I was really thirsty. I started to get more water to take and I see a Newspaper and it says that is Thursday, September 18th. I cleaned myself and started to look on my body and see that nothing that happened to me in Hell is there no scars, well just a hand-print on my left shoulder.

I go to the counter, set down the bag, and hit a single button on the register, snapping my fingers in satisfaction when it pops open. As I'm looting the cash, the TV to my left flicks on, showing only static. I shut it off; only to have a radio to my right turn on to white noise. Not wasting a moment, I go to another shelf and grabs a carton of salt, opens it, and begin to pour it along the windowsill.A high-pitched single tone begins, and I clutch my left ear in pain as I continue to pour salt with my right hand. As it continues, I drop the salt and crouch to the floor, groaning in agony. The window above my head shatters as the sound continues, and I drop to the floor. I leap to my feet to try to escape, and more glass on the ceiling and walls shatters. I went to a phone booth that was there and dial Sam's and Y/n's number but they don't answer, so I try another number. This time it rings and is answered."Yeah?" he said and I was happy to hear his voice, "Bobby?" I said looking around, "Yeah?", "It's me," I say and still sounds that he doesn't recognize me, "Who's "me"?" he says confirming what I thought, "Dean," I said and a dial tone sounds, so I hang up and dial again. "Who is this?" he said again, "Bobby, listen to me" I try to stop him from hanging up, "This ain't funny. Call again, I'll kill ya" he said and the dial tone again. ~AT BOBBY'S~

I pound on the door, and Bobby's hand appears to open it. I smile cautiously, but Bobby looks at me suspiciously. "Surprise," I said, "I, I don't..." Bobby says, "Yeah, me neither. But here I am" I said entering. As I approach him he lunges forward and slashes me, so I grabbed his arm and twist it around, he breaks the grip and backhands me in the face. "Bobby! It's me!" I said but still, he doesn't believe me, "My ass!" he said and I put a chair between the both of us, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a hunter after you met Rodney, and later met your wife and... you're about the closest thing I have to a father. Bobby. It's me" I said raising my hands and he lowers his knife and places his hand on my shoulder, suddenly he slashes again, but I quickly subdue and disarm him. "I am not a shapeshifter!" I said but he can't hear me or something, "Then you're a Revenant!" he said and I shove him away and hold the knife, "Alright. If I was either, could I do this – with a silver knife?" I said rolling my sleeve and slicing my arm, "Dean?" he said starting t believe me, "That's what I've been trying to tell you" I said and he grabs me and pulls me into a tight hug and I return it.

"It's... It's good to see you, boy" he says and I felt relief, "Yeah, you too," I said smiling at him, "But... how did you bust out?" he said and I really had no idea, "I don't know. I just, uh, I just woke up in a pine box..." I didn't finish cause Bobby splashes water on my face, "I'm not a demon either, you know" I said spitting the water, "Sorry. Can't be too careful" he said giving me a towel that I use to wipe my face, "What do you remember?" he asked, "Not much. I remember I was a Hellhound's chew toy, and then... lights out. Then I come to six feet under, that was it. Sam's and Y/n's number are not working. They're, uh... they're not..." I said imagining the worst, "Oh, he's alive. And as far as I know, she is too" he said sitting down, "Good... Wait, what do you mean, as far as you know?" I asked him what he means, "I haven't talked to her for months. Sam calls some days to check-in" he said, "You're kidding, you just let her go off by herself?" I said getting angrier, "She was dead set on it and Sam was with her for a while," he said, "Bobby, you should've been looking after both Sam and her, you saw how she reacted!" I said raising my voice, "I tried. These last months haven't been exactly easy, you know. For them or me. We had to bury you" he said trying to make understand, "Why did you bury me, anyway?" I said curiously, "I wanted you salted and burned. Usual drill. But... they wouldn't have it" he said suspiciously, "Well, I'm glad they won that one," I said, "she said you'd need a body when she got you back home somehow. That's all she said while Sam just didn't want to listen. Both insisted that she was acting differently" he explained, " What do you mean?" I asked him to elaborate," she was quiet. Real Quiet. And then she just took off. Wouldn't return my calls. I tried to find her, but she didn't want to be found by me. And Sam said that sometimes she will show up stay for a day then leave for weeks" he said and I got mad, "Oh, damnit, Y/n" I said hitting the table, "What?" he said not understanding my actions, "Oh, she got me home okay. But whatever she did, it is bad mojo" I said shaking my head, "What makes you so sure?" he looked at me with concern, "You should have seen the gravesite. It was like a nuke went off. And then there was this... this force, this presence, I don't know, but it, it blew past me at a fill-up joint. And then this" I said and show him the handprint, "What in the hell?" he said as he stands up, "It was like a demon just yanked me out. Or rode me out" I said having my mind going wild, "But why?" he asked, "To hold up their end of the bargain," I said and I saw the worried on his face, "You think Y/n made a deal," he said as the concern grew on his face, "It's what I would have done," I said and I didn't know what to think.

Me and Bobby left to Kansas where Sam was and to see if he knew anything about Y/n.

Y/n's POV:

It's been a couple of days since I left for Iowa and I have tried at least 5 times to get a deal, but all of the demons don't accept my soul at all.

~At night~

Today it is my last hope to see if I can get a deal so I can bring Dean back, I did the whole ritual and waited for a demon to show up, I was losing my hope when I felt someone behind me and I turn to see him.

" Hello darling, you come to daddy," he said and I just looked at him and recognize him, "Crowley?" I said and he smiled at me, "so my demons said that my special one was trying to make a deal" he said and I rolled my eyes at him, "I'm not your special one Crowley. You should know that I don't like you" I said crossing my arms, "C' mon darling you do like me admit it" he said and I just looked at him, "yeah maybe the size of a mustard seed. But why the King of Hell is here instead of your minions, huh" I said and he raised his eyebrows, "well Darling you see, your soul has something special that I would like to have and I wasn't going let them have it, so I told them to not made any deals with you until I was able to come to make it" he said, "can you bring him back?" I asked him and he gave me a bitch face, "of course Darling, but in exchange for something" he said looking at me up and down, "what do you want in exchange for bringing him back?" I said as he started to walk around me, "you see as the King of Hell I need to have a Queen, and who would it be the best Queen that one of the most feared female hunters, that has a special soul like yours" he said licking his lips and I really wanted to puke, "Dean gets back and I have to go with you to Hell, for how long?" I asked accepting what I had to do, "well that's the thing. Is for eternity" he said and I gulped and looked down, "okay Crowley, where do I sign" I said and he looked surprised, "I thought I had to try to convince you more Darling, but I guess I was wrong" he said and I just wanted to finish this, "cut the shit Crowley and let's do this" I said and he took a step forward, "you have to kiss me Darling to seal the deal and your Ken doll would be back just like we said" he said and I took a deep breath and when I was about to step forward to kiss him my phone started to ring and I knew it was Sam for his ringtone, I stopped Crowley. "I have to answer this first," I said and took a step back.

"yes Sam," I said and Crowley looked at me, "he's alive Y/n!, alive!" he said and I couldn't understand what he mends, "what? who is alive?" I said and Crowley raised his eyebrows and looked away from me, "Dean, he just arrived with Bobby at the Bunker. He-he-he is truly him Y/n" he said and I felt that all the blood was drained from my body, "Sa-Sam don't play with me please" I begged him as tears started to blurry my vision, "sweetheart is me is really me please come back I missed you" I heard that voice that I've been missing for months and I dropped my phone to the ground as tears ran down my face. I pick it up and walked towards my car, "what about the deal?!" Crowley screams at me, "forget it you lied to me!" I said as I drove off.

Dean's POV:

It's been about 7 hours since we talked to Y/n and I just wanted to hold her and tell her that everything will be okay, and that I was never going to leave here ever again.

The 3 of us were at the kitchen, but soon it was just me cause the 2 of them left.

I wasn't gonna go and wait there so I decided to go to our room and sat down on the bed waiting, but I couldn't help to wonder all the bad things that can happen to her, to me, to us. I couldn't help but cry and wipe my tears as more started to run. I listen to footsteps it seemed that someone was running but I didn't bother to look at the person that enter my room, "Dean?" I heard a broken voice said and I felt my heart pump faster and I turn to see her. I stand up and run to her and picked her up on my arms as she wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, "thank God you are here" she said as she held me closer and I did the same. I kissed her slowly showing her all the love and how much I missed her.

I felt that I was complete again I put her down and grabbed her face and kissed her again and again, " I love you, Dean, you don't know how hard it was" she said as tears started to ran down her eyes and I wiped them with my thumb, "please baby tell me that you didn't make a deal please" I said and she looked down and took a deep breath, "I tried so many times, but none wanted to accept, well until tonight. But I said no cause Sam called" she said as she tries to smile at me with her teary eyes. I stopped holding my breath as I hear her said that I was really glad that she didn't and that we didn't have to be concern about how much time did we had left together. I kissed her again, "we need both of you at the library," Sam said making both of us break the kiss.

When we were walking towards the library Y/n was holding me close, just like the day that she almost lost Scott, I looked down and kissed her head and smile at her just like she did. We soon arrived and we saw someone standing in the middle with a trenchcoat, "who are you?" I asked, " Castiel" the guy answer and I moved Y/n behind me, "Yeah, I figured that much, I mean what are you?" I asked again as he kept looking staring at me, "I'm an Angel of the Lord" he answers, "Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing" I said and I felt Y/n move, "This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith. Unlike her she did and thanks to her faith I brought you back" he said and I was about to say something but Y/n beat me to it, " I know you, I-I saw you on town I bumped into you, but... you are using the guy as you meat suit" she said stepping forward,  "He's a devout man, he actually prayed for this" he answers and the lights started to flash and we were able to see his wings all of us took steps back but Y/n stayed in place even when I try to pull her, "so you are really an angel Castiel" she said and he nodded and step forward towards her and try to reach for her, but I saw her flinch, "I would never hurt you Y/n. You and Dean were chosen by God to accomplish his plan" he said as he caresses her face, "what plan?" Sam asked, "I have to go," he said and he disappears as we hear a flop of wings and Y/n just stays there not able to move and I move in front of her and snap my fingers and she shook her head and blinked, "what happens? where did he go?" she asked confused, "he had to go" Sam answer and I just embrace her and she did the same and I started to kiss her but soon it turns into something more, so I picked her up and I walked straight to my room and shut the door, "WE WILL BE ON THE BAR DEAN, IF BOTH NEED US!!" Sam scream and I really didn't care I just wanted to show her how much I missed her.

#reader #dean winchester #dean #dean winchester fic #dean winchester fanfiction #dean x reader #dean x y/n #dean x you #jensen #jensen ackles #platonic! sam winchester x reader #sam winchester #dean winchester x reader #jared padalecki #spnfandom #spn fanfiction #spn #dean winchester x you #dean winchester imagine #jared #jared paladecki #dean winchester story #dean winchester series

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Day 8: Alternate Prompt: “Wake Up.”

(for day 8 of @whumptober2019 I decided to go with an alternate prompt, as I wasn’t feeling “stab wound”. So I went with “Wake Up”. This continues the events of Prompt 7, “Isolation”.)

Abraham doesn’t just leave him alone in the dark.

He leaves Daniel alone.

There’s a thing that happens in the cellar, a trick of his brain, that Daniel never knew about before. He had never realized it because he’d never been in darkness like this, darkness that is complete and total and without form. He didn’t know how big the cellar was when he was brought down here but he tries to learn, crawling along on his hands and knees in the dirt floor, knowing he’s smeared with it, filthy with it, and just not caring any longer.

It’s not like anyone can see him.

If he scoots along the floor far enough, he hits a dirt wall. There’s another dirt wall on the other side, the third is where the stairs are (and he tried climbing the stairs - the cellar door is securely padlocked, and all he can do by hitting on it is tire himself out). 

On the fourth wall, he knocks into the shelves that hold the water bottles and the apples, and they fall all over him, apples thumping into his hair and then to the ground. He gropes blindly to try and recover them all. Fifteen apples.

An apple a day, he thinks, and tries not to let out a half-hysterical laugh. Fifteen apples, but thirty-eight bottles of water.

An apple a day, a bottle of water or two a day, and pure and utter darkness.

He’ll run out of apples first, and starve. Then he’ll run out of water, and didn’t he read somewhere you die after like three days without liquid? Four? Six? He can’t remember, but he doesn’t want to find out.

So he makes himself drink just one bottle a day, too.

His brain, faced with such complete nothingness to look at all day every day, does the weird trick. In total darkness, with nothing and no one, Daniel starts to see. He can see shadowy, pale ghost-forms of the items he knows are down here, little white apples instead of the brownish-red ones, shimmery bottles of water. He can see the shelves, even though he can’t. He can see the bucket. 

When he holds up his hands, handcuffed still in front of him, he can see the outline of his fingers, static-riddled and transparent. Every time he looks, he feels the static, too, his fingers tingling as though he’s slowly disappearing in the pitch-black of being down here alone.

He can’t see any of it, but his brain wants there to be something to see, so it creates the forms out of nothing and Daniel tries to tell himself that he doesn’t need to be scared of the dark.

Except that, a day after Abraham put him down in the cellar, he and Nate leave.

He can’t hear exactly what they say, only that there’s an argument and he’s pretty sure he hears ‘Red’, so he knows it’s about him. It’s the first time he’s heard Nate fight back in any way since they got here, and for a second he feels sort of warmed that Nate would stand up to Abraham for him at all.

 He listens to the shouting, the crashing, hears a hard crack and then Abraham screaming how dare you goddamn hit me you piece of shit, I took him for you because I love you, then a hard thump against the ground, the thuds of Abraham’s boots, and eventually the familiar-by-now noise of Nathan pleading for mercy and receiving none.

Then he hears the slam of the door, more muffled pleading from Nate (but it’s clear enough, outside, to hear some words and he can’t please don’t leave him and I can stay by myself, I won’t let him out, I’ll take care of him and a little bit of he needs to fucking learn his place.

Then the truck, the truck that belonged to the cabin’s previous owner, starts up and the sound fades, and then… it’s silent.

For eighteen days.

The hunger feels like hunger at first, for the first few days, but he forces himself to stick to one of the tiny awful apples and a single bottle of water. 

After that the hunger feels like pain, and nausea, and dizziness, and then it just feels empty and stretched out like the sky when he drove through Nebraska and mostly he just lays there on the floor trying to get the energy up to go for the next apple. He has no idea how long days are, he’s mostly guessing based on how often he falls asleep and the bit of light he can see through the slightly-off-kilter slats that make up the cellar door. He knows the reddish sunlight means sunrise, the bright sunlight means midday, and yellow, golden light means afternoon. When it gets fully dark again, he eats his apple. When the sun is rising, he opens the next bottle of water, sipping slowly, making it last.

He’s not sure when he starts crying, but it doesn’t last, because crying dehydrates you and he can’t afford to drink more than the minimum he needs to keep going.

If no one ever comes back for him, he’s going to die down here in the cellar.

They probably went to town, or over to a casino Abraham mentioned being sort of nearby, just a ten hour drive. What if they get in a car accident? What if Nate and Abraham are too injured, or Abraham is caught by the cops but he doesn’t tell them where he is? 

He’ll starve down here. He’ll run out of apples in a couple more days, won’t he? Daniel starts making himself eat only half of the apples each day, no matter how it hurts to give himself even less to live on.

He’ll run out of apples, then he’ll run out of water. Then he’ll die, and rot, and turn to nothing but a body, just like Abraham calls him, just a body, just a dog dead in the basement, just nothing nothing nothing.

He’s so fucking hungry.

He’s going to die here.

He’s all alone and he’s going to die alone and if they would just come back, he could figure out what Abraham wants now, give it to him, and then he wouldn’t die alone in the dark.

The thoughts cycle, and cycle, and he stops even trying to fight it after the sixth or seventh day. He just lets them float around him, in and out of a brain that is rapidly losing the ability to think clearly or coherently.

He misses Nate.

He misses food.

He misses coffee, Abraham always has him make the coffee, and it’s the only chore he likes. He’s good at coffee. He cares about coffee.

He misses Abraham, eventually. 

He’s a fucking monster and he’s terrifying and he hurts him, everything hurts, but at least he’s a person, at least he’s got hands that touch, at least he’s sometimes kind when he forces Daniel to kneel on the floor when they’re watching TV, a hand on the top of his head like he’s a dog, petting gently through his hair.

At least he’d get to see Nate again, if he saw Abraham.

Abraham hurts him, but at least it was someone talking to him. At least Abraham feeds him. The rules at least were an interaction he had. It was something other than darkness, and being alone with only himself and his handcuffs and his shrinking stomach begging relentlessly for something, anything to eat.

“I miss you,” He tries to say out loud, but his lips are dry. He needs more water, but he’s afraid. He’s afraid to drink the water, afraid he’ll never see them again, afraid if he drinks too fast he’ll die of dehydration that much faster.

He’s going to die down here.

He’s so fucking sorry he talked back. He can be good, for a while, if that’s what gets him out of here, if that will bring Abraham back. He knows the rules; he can follow them well enough, if Abraham will just, just fucking come back.

“I’m so sorry,” He whispers to no one, on day eighteen, clutching onto a bottle of water, taking slow constant sips throughout the day. It smells down here from the bucket but it stopped bothering him a long time ago. “I’m so sorry, please come back, Abraham, please come back, I’m so sorry, I’ll be good, I can try harder for you…”

He sleeps.

He sleeps a lot now, it’s the only way to calm the hunger down, and so he’s asleep when the cellar door is unlocked in the middle of the night, somewhere I the time that day eighteen would turn into day nineteen, carefully opened to be as soundless as possible. 

He’s still asleep when the heavy boots make their way down the stairs, only shifting a little as his body recognizes the creaking sound of the old, weakened wood but is still too weak to wake up. He’s curled in a tiny ball in the dirt, still clutching the empty water bottle, breathing in low, weak pants. 

“Wake up.” A hand touches his shoulder and he jerks awake all at once, trying to scramble back but he’s too fucking weak, all he does is make himself dizzy and collapse back down again, and the hand curves around his jaw and his cheek and he doesn’t even try to push it away.

It’s a cold hand, but compared to the cellar, it feels so warm. 

Long fingers, too long almost, a pianist’s fingers. Abraham came back for him.

“Are you ready to come up, Red?” Abraham’s voice says, soft and sweet, a lover’s voice. The way he used to wish Nathan would talk to him. Daniel nods, holds his hands up, still handcuffed together, in a silent plea.

“No, not yet. We’ll clean you off first, you smell like shit. It smells awful down here. Are you sorry, Red?”

“I am,” He says hoarsely. “I’m so sorry. Please, please let me come up, let me, me eat, please.”

“What’s your name?”

Daniel swallows back the humiliation - he’s too tired, too thirsty, too hungry to care any longer. “It’s Red,” He says softly, still barely able to get above a hoarse whisper. “My name is Red.”

“Good boy.” A hand runs fingers through his hair and he closes his eyes, shivering, hating himself but God, at least someone is fucking touching him. It’d feel so good if it was anyone else. “Did you miss me?” 

“Yes,” He admits, and feels tears prick hot behind his eyes, trying to force them back. “Y-You left, I thought you, you weren’t coming back-”

“As long as I think you’re worth keeping alive, I’ll always come back for you,” Abraham says in the same tone someone else might profess their love. Daniel is taller than him, taller by a good four inches or so, but he picks him up anyway like he’s a child, carrying him easily up the stairs.

Daniel’s too weak to fight any of it. All he does is let his head drop down on Abraham’s shoulder, blinking rapidly, eyes trying too hard to adjust to even the dim nighttime starlight. 

Abraham is cold, but after eighteen days alone, to Daniel he feels so, so warm.

He curls himself even more against him, pressing into his chest and his neck.

He doesn’t see the little rectangular night-vision camera in the corner of the ceiling, hidden in the darkness, that was recording every move he made, every sound, every word the whole time.

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