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rancidpancakebatter · 2 years

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Grip Tape-Chapter 1 [P.P.]

Pairings: Peter Parker x AFAB Reader Summary: Peter offers to teach you how to skateboard and who are you to say no? This is a pre-bite fic so we get to enjoy Peter Parker in his full Dorky Display. Word Count: 3.2k

Content: MINORS DNI: 18+ Swearing, Marijana Use, Underage Drinking, Bullying

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Chapter Summary: You decide Skateboarding is the best way to get the attention of a certain classmate...and it works

A/N: No, because when I wrote this I was under the impression that Andrew Garfield was like 6’2” but he’s like 5’10 ½”. He’s a whole 2 ½ inches taller than me 😭😭😭

I’m not changing anything now though it’s too late.

Also, this started as a drunk dare and now I'm here

Peter Parker. I mean where to begin? You’ve had a crush on him for a long time. You both grew up in the same school district, so you got to watch him grow up, grow into himself. As a kid, he wore a lot of sweaters and khakis. He looked very put together. Peter would get picked on because kids said he dressed funny, but he was still carefree. In the 4th grade, Peter got chunky glasses and it wasn’t long before they were covered in tape. He liked to play with chalk and sticks and seemed to be in his own little world. You wanted to join it but he seemed to like the solitude. You watched it all from the swings.

In middle school, his clothes were baggy and his glasses were still chunky. He got picked on a lot more. Now that you were old enough to understand the concept of wealth it was more evident that his family didn’t have much. You had Spanish class together and the assignment was to present your family tree in Spanish. To get full points you had to include pictures and a fun fact about each member of your tree. Peter didn’t seem too keen on presenting but you couldn’t blame him. Eugine was in this class and loved any opportunity to tease the poor lanky boy.

As Peter presented you realized that it was a very small tree. The pictures of his grandparents were old, which made sense, but the picture he used for his parents was odd. They seemed very young, like in their very early 20’s. The clothing was dated as well, very ninety’s-esk. The pictures of his aunt and uncle looked like they were pulled straight from Facebook. As Peter spoke you noticed he was twisting his hoodie string around his finger, forwards, backwards, back and around. You would watch as his index finger turned red, then blue, then back to normal. His voice wavered as he stuttered over consonants. It wasn’t missed to the class when he skipped over his parent’s “fun fact”.

Finally, it was over and there was tentative, polite applause. He seemed to take a deep breath and started to make his way back to his seat before Senora Willis stopped him. She was probably trying to be nice, perhaps thinking he was just so nervous that he forgot. She just wanted to make sure Peter got all his points but in all actuality, she put him under a glaring spotlight, gave him a mic, and made him declare that he didn’t have a fun fact for his parents because they died when he was young.

“I don’t remember much about them.”

After that, he got teased a lot more but by fewer people. Isn’t it odd how a bully’s brain works? See, because now, everyone knew he was an orphan some people laid off, pitying him instead of terrorizing him, while others felt as though they were just given a full clip of ammunition. Then there were the few who fell in the middle, they didn’t treat him any differently, but that still meant that they were bullying him.

That’s when he started skateboarding. Every day he would hop off the bus, board in hand, and glide away. You always assumed it was because it’s harder to hit a moving target. At this point, you were thirteen. All the right hormones were in place and the gods had given you a soft-spoken boy with brown eyes and curly hair. It doesn’t take a mathematician to solve this equation. Although maybe it did because as smart as that Peter Parker was he was not catching onto any of it. No matter how many smiles, waves, or awkward ‘Hey Peter’s you gave him.

You were now juniors in high school. He seemed to have finally grown into his clothes, his glasses were replaced by contacts, and now he rode his skateboard in the halls. School had been in session for two months now and you had chemistry together. He sat one table ahead of you, to the left. You spent all of class trying to focus on the lecture and labs but ultimately you would always be distracted by a mop of curls. October 8th marked the day you decided to end this endless infatuation. You would actively pursue him until winter break and if nothing happened you would just forget it. You had been working at the local movie theatre for a few months and while you were saving up for a car you could make an exception for a trip to the mall.

You felt very out of place in this Vans shop. You had seen a sticker on the back of his board with this store on it so you thought you would start here. You didn’t know much about skate culture but you didn’t want to look stupid. You picked up a magazine and thumbed through it for a while before you heard someone clear their throat behind you. You were met by the confused gaze of an employee with a blue fauxhawk, gauges, and a teddy fresh hoodie. He smiled at you politely as you placed the magazine back in its caddy.

“How can I help you?” It was a completely normal and warranted question but you felt silly for being asked. You looked down at the ground deep in thought. How were you supposed to explain that you wanted to get the attention of a boy you’ve been infatuated with since you were six and the only thing you could think of was that he possibly shopped here.

“Um…well…you see…” The employee sat there quietly waiting for you to answer.

You galnced back up and almost as if he could see your discomfort and confusion he spoke again, “Maybe we should start with a skateboard?”

You pulled a face and he snickered. “I’m sorry if I offend, it’s just that I haven’t seen you in here before, and you don’t exactly look like Tony Hawk.”

At that you laughed, pushing your hair out of your face, a nervous habit you picked up somewhere. “I didn’t realize it was that obvious” you chuckled to yourself.

“It’s all good, really” The man smiled at you again. He started walking to the back of the store and gestured for you to follow. He helped you find a board, you picked out some trucks, some bearings, and some cool wheels to go with it. He even assembled them for you. You walked out feeling a lot better but then suddenly it hit you.

You had to learn how to ride one of these things. You walked your board over to a Walmart and bought a cheap helmet and a protective set with knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist protectors. You didn’t think you were quite ready for a skate park so you just rode the bus home. You pulled up youtube videos and tried your best in the driveway. You practised every day after school or work, and soon it wasn’t so hard. You could do the two important parts, stop and go. Now it was time for part two, bring it to school.

You rode the bus that morning very anxious. You were blasting some feel-good tunes into your ears to try and settle some of your nerves. As you walked off the bus you took a deep breath and set the end of the board under your toes while holding onto the top, just like you had rehearsed so many times the night before. You stepped forward with your front foot and pushed off, taking sail. So far this was working perfectly. You went up the ramp to the front doors before stopping and kicking it back up into your hand.

As you made your way to your locker you made sure to rest your board against your leg, very visible, so that Peter may spot it on his daily commute past you in the hall. What you didn’t know was that Peter had seen you on your way in when he rounded the corner. He didn’t know you skated. You seemed pretty okay at it too. He sped up to try and catch up to you, maybe get the door for you, but you had already stepped inside.

He wished in this very moment that he wasn’t so damn awkward. If he called your name out you may be weirded out, or you just wouldn’t hear him because you had your earbuds in. Also, he realized he didn’t remember your name so that just wasn’t an option. If he ran then that may also scare you. What was he gonna do, stop you and say “cool skateboard” but then what? He had no clue how to approach you. Now that he was in the halls he was looking for you, he hoped your locker was in this wing.

You continued pretending to be searching through your locker, keeping an eye on the mirror on the door hoping to see him skate by. A few minutes later he passed you, moving faster than usual. He was scanning the hall and maybe you were crazy but he seemed surprised when he saw you. Maybe he had seen you! You felt butterflies in your stomach at the prospect. You hastily stuffed your board in your locker and grabbed the books you needed for class.

As you made your way to first period you missed Peter as he circled back to see you again. He couldn’t remember which one was exactly yours but at least he knew the general area. Maybe he would talk to you tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow is good, that’ll give him time to plan some conversation starters.

You had to hang back and talk to your teacher after second period to go over some questions you had about the study guide. You were rushing through the halls trying to make it to chem on time. Your teacher’s policy was if you weren’t “in your seat” when the bell rings you’re late and you have to go to the office for a tardy slip. You stepped inside right as the bell rang and Mr Crawford gave you an annoyed glare as he jerked his head to your desk, silently warning you to take your seat before he changed his mind. You bowed your head to him and walked briskly to your seat, but not before risking a glance at Peter.

Peter saw you walk in and felt shocked. He knew you. You had always been so kind to him. Oh god, what was your name again? It was on the tip of his tongue. Had you been in his class this whole time? He would have to pay more attention to roll. As Mr Crawford began to unceremoniously drone out the names for America’s future, Peter began to glance back to where you sat. You were still setting up for class, pulling out pens, folders, and journals. “Parker, Peter” Suddenly his attention was brought back to the front where Mr Crawford’s glasses hang low on his nose as he stares at a piece of paper. Peter threw his hand up and declared “Here, sir” as Mr Crawford glanced in his direction to confirm his claim.

As Peter glanced back he saw you were already looking at him. You quickly turned away, sorting your pens, trying to play it off. Peter couldn’t help but grin at this. You had been looking at him. Did you do that often? He couldn’t imagine you did. His attention was broken again when he saw your hand shoot up into the air as you called “Here!” just as he had a few seconds ago. Dammit! He missed your name again!

“Maybe” Crawford began in his almost antagonistic drone “tomorrow you can be more punctual ms (y/l/n)”

“Of course sir.”

Okay so he had a last name, that’s better than nothing. He really needed to pay more attention.

Today was a lab day. There was an odd number in the class so Peter opted to be the only person without a partner. He was always more of an introvert anyway and it’s not like he needed the help. Chemistry was his best subject and it had always come very easily to him, perhaps he had his parents to thank for that. Perhaps he would never know. Today though, He wished he did have a partner and that you were said partner. You shared a similar thought. Your lab partner was Trevor Daniels, he was a nice guy all things considered but he didn’t actually help out with the labs. He claimed that you were “better at this stuff anyway” and just wrote down what you told him to.

The assignment was simple: mix some salt, copper, and aluminium together and see what happens. Peter was flying through the lab when he came up with a genius plan. He went to the sink and dumped the liquid he had and then threw away any evidence of success, going as far as to rip out his lab notes. He went back to his table with a new determination. To the vials he added two scoops of the copper to the beaker and filled it the rest of the way with water, leaving out the salt.

You seemed to be handling this lab well considering there were no measurements given for the assignment, which meant that you must have balanced the equation correctly. Peter wasn’t at all surprised by this. He saw that you were cleaning up your station. You were the Third one done (Well fourth but Peter technically didn’t finish). There were still twenty minutes of class left. He straightened his jacket before he headed over to you. You were on your phone and didn’t notice him approaching you until he lightly rapped his knuckles on your desk.

You looked up at him and he tried his best not to laugh. The goggles had left a red ring around most of your face. It did look quite silly but also quite adorable.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry it’s just I saw that you finished up and I seem to be struggling for some reason. If you could help me out I would really appreciate it.” Okay, the delivery could have been a little better but it wasn’t so bad, nothing he couldn’t recover from.

You knew that something was up immediately. Peter was the first one done every time with perfect execution. How could he possibly be struggling with this easy lab that was definitely an “I don’t wanna grade” assignment?

He sensed your hesitancy and brought his palms together resting his fingers on his lips, a silent prayer, “Please, (y/l/n) I could really use the help.”

You weren’t going to turn him down in the first place but how could that thought even cross your mind when he’s towering over you, those puppy dog eyes boring into your very soul. “Yeah of course, just let me grab my notes.”

At that Peter brought his hands forward, shaking them slightly as if praising you. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

Peter wasn’t truly paying attention as you talked. He hummed along periodically and watched as your pen left permanent scrawl on his graft paper. He loved your handwriting. It was very you. Right now you were balancing the equation because after looking at the concoction in the beaker in front of you, you realized he must have done it wrong. You were glancing over periodically at your own notes and Peter did the same. As he peered over at your notes he saw your name at the top of the paper, (y/f/n) (y/l/n).

You were trying your best not to hyperventilate. Peter was very tall. When you got over to his desk he sat down while you stood so you could reach everything. You occasionally would write in his notebook to highlight important parts in every step. You were leaning in and across him. You could smell his deodorant (cologne maybe?) and you didn’t know how to describe it. It smelled like “boy” but with hints of citrus. You loved it. Peter was trying not to gaze directly at your chest every time you leaned across him to get the beaker or the stir stick or whatever it was you needed.

A few minutes left in class and you managed to wrap it up and Peter seemed to understand where he went wrong.

“Thank you (Y/n) I really appreciate your help. I don’t know how I missed the two.” You giggled along with him, wanting to hold onto this moment for as long as you could. This is what you had been wanting since the 7th grade, the ability to talk to Peter normally, and finally, it was happening.

“Yeah, of course, I’m happy to help.” More happy than he knew.

Peter really liked talking to you and would like to do so without having to pretend he’s stupid. “Do you have first lunch?”

The question caught you off guard. Oh my god, is it happening? Does he like you? No, of course not, he's just being friendly. Of course, that’s what it is.

”Yeah, I usually eat in the library.” Your palm met your forehead with such force and velocity Peter worried you may have just given yourself a concussion.

Meanwhile, you were scolding yourself like the mother of a two-year-old throwing a tantrum in a target. Why did you say that? Why would you volunteer information that makes you seem like a total loser? Jesus H. Christ when will you learn?

Peter chuckled softly at your antics. He dipped his head so that he could gaze up at you without your arm covering your face. “Do you like to read a lot?”

You slowly opened your eyes to see big brown ones staring up at you, the clunky goggles made them look even bigger. Two moons orbiting in your space, Deimos and Phobos, drawing you in with their crushing gravity. For a moment you thought you might have just drifted into the cosmos because you found there was a lack of oxygen in your environment. You came crashing back down to the planet when the bell rang. Peter had already packed up for class but your stuff was still out on your table.

Peter walked over with you while you gathered your things. He continued talking like what just happened…didn’t.

“Well if you want you can eat with me. I like to eat in the courtyard. It’s usually empty this time of year so I can skate all I want. It’s just as peaceful as the library but not nearly as warm.” You chuckled at that.

October in New York was indeed no joke but you quickly decided that it would be totally worth any cold or flu. You told him as much and he flashed that Peter Parker smile. The one that makes your heart clench and knees wobble. The one that ctrl, alt, deletes your brain.

“Bring your skateboard if you want. It’s fun and it keeps you warm, I promise.” And with that, he left you in the hallway.

#rancid writes #peter parker x you #tasm!spiderman x reader #spiderman x reader #andrew garfield spiderman x reader #andrew peter parker #the amazing spider man #peter parker skate king #peter parker fluff #peter parker imagine #peter parker fic #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x y/n #spiderman #pre bite peter parker #andrew garfield #tasm

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emilemily · 11 months

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Life is really good right now, and I genuinely mean that. I’ve really taken control of my life lately which is very nice. I’m coming off of gabapentin, which I have been prescribed HEAVILY for the last year. Almost 3000mg a day off-brand for anxiety, which is not only a terrible way to prescribe it, but actually doing the opposite given my diagnosis of reoccurring moderate episodes of major depressive disorder.

So I had anxiety during a tumultuous time in my life in 2021, was prescribed gabapentin at 100mg 3x/day. Eventually that stopped working so they increased to 300mg/day last year. January of this year, I experienced a huge life change moving 3000 miles away from what was once my home. My new doctor here decided to keep me on gabapentin, but increased my dose to 900mg 3x/day.

This is where things got ROUGH. Such severe depression that I couldn’t get out of bad, some days I didn’t even brush my teeth. Constant, gnawing anxiety that I couldn’t run away from. Thoughts of hopelessness and even unaliving myself. I realized something needed to change.

I came off my antidepressant cold Turkey in February, which took multiple months to stabilize from. But yet I remained consistently numb. But not fully numb. Sort of like, sad numb? Hard to describe. I didn’t really have a lot of positive emotions anymore. But I thought that I was just really depressed.

Last week I was researching and figured out that given my mental health history, gabapentin should have never been something I was prescribed, and that doctors are prescribing it off brand Willy nilly, or on brand because they’re too scared to prescribe benzos or pain pills. It’s sort of what they throw at you when they don’t know what to do and they increase it repeatedly.

I’ve always struggled with anxiety and occasional depression. Always had a dark mind of sorts. But the last two years I really wondered if I would make it to see 30 because everything seemed so hopeless.

Lack of ambition, apathy about my entire life, just sort of waiting around for a bus to hit me.

I ran out of gabapentin on Wednesday. When my doctor last increased my dose, she forgot to update the prescription so unfortunately I won’t be able to fill it again until the 6th. But I’m not going to refill it. This is day 2 completely cold Turkey.

These withdrawals are kicking my ass, but you know what’s amazing? Suddenly I can spell again. I’ve always been a great speller and a talented writer. Suddenly those parts of me are returning. I don’t feel this thick layer of fog encompassing me. I’m having thoughts, feelings, and am starting to make moves to be alive again. Like, really alive.

I’ve been overmedicated with multiple prescriptions for entirely too long because I put so much trust into doctors who are prescribing me multiple medications with MAJOR interactions between them. Doctors that, when asked, say that there are no interactions and I’ll be fine.

If I died, would they even care? If I had offed myself all the times I wanted to, would they feel anything? No, because I am just one of many patients being prescribed this and that.

I’m suffering the withdrawal, but I am tapping into who I was before I put my trust in doctors to fix my brain. I feel that my most intense growth stopped when I did that. I’m a flawed person. Sometimes I’m a sad person. But I’ve dealt with it pretty well in my life, and I don’t need 5 different prescriptions to do it now.

Gabapentin withdrawal is going to continue for days, and my pep about all this may waver from time to time, but being able to actually fucking spell again is giving me hope that all is not lost, and that I can undo what had been done to me at the hands of medical professionals I trusted.

So that’s my speed-written train of thought for now. Not even going to edit it, so excuse any typos.

Have a lovely day.

#gabapentin #medication #prescriptions #mental health

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britesparc · 2 years

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Weekend Top Ten #540

Top Ten Gruesome Disney Villain Deaths

Here’s the thing about Disney animations: they’re proper nasty. No, seriously; they’re all about young people who suffer enormous hardship and bereavement. They’re full of betrayal and murder and scenes of abject horror. Nobody dies in Pinocchio, but a bunch of kids are mutated into donkeys and the main character’s dad is eaten by a whale. Lilo and Stitch? Dead parents. Lady and the Tramp? Killer rat. Dumbo? Racism. See? Darkness shrouds the House of Mouse.

One of the ways the films are surprisingly grisly is the manner in which the villains are dispatched. I’ve written before about great Disney villains and their penchants for great musical numbers, but another common connection is that the films end with them being bumped off. It’s not universal – sometimes they’re just deported (Frozen), arrested (Pocahontas), or, well, appear to suffer no punishment at all (Cinderella). And, of course, there is the depressing modern trend for Disney movies to not have a villain at all, something that doesn’t appear to be changing in Strange World (which, from the teaser at least, appears to be one of the “non-musical adventure” films, sadly denying us yet again a proper Disney Villain Song).

Anyway, it’s not enough that the baddies frequently die, but they also have a tendency to die horribly. These are kids films that, alright, don’t feature fountains of gore, but still go to some nasty places. Immolation, dismemberment, damnation, and lots and lots of falling off tall things. Seriously, Disney villains don’t half fall off things. I could have had several more here. So that’s this list: a celebration of the macabre and the gruesome, the violent and the extreme. From body horror to, well, actual eldritch horror, Walt Disney Animation Studios really runs the gamut. And this is the company that gets called saccharine, sappy, and soft! Nobody’s soul is dragged to hell in My Neighbour Totoro. Although, to be fair, there is an extended sequence where you’re lead to believe a toddler may have drowned, so I guess that’s nasty enough.

Right, here we go. Parental guidance is advised. Ten best Disney deaths.

Ripped to pieces by a pack of hyenas (Scar, The Lion King, 1994): Scar is spared by Simba but, in his own hubris, ends up falling into a pit full of hyenas – the same hyenas he’d just thrown under a bus to save his own skin. The hyenas pounce on him, and as we see from a shadow cast by flickering flames, proceed to tear him apart and devour him. Think about this: he’s literally ripped apart and eaten alive. I know he killed James Earl Jones, but that’s still horrible.

Hit by train and explodes (Sykes, Oliver & Company, 1988): in an underrated and largely forgotten film, small-time mob boss Sykes ends up chasing our heroes (a bunch of dogs, mostly) down a subway track, his demonic and imposing car riding the rails like a train. But, wouldn’t you know, there’s a train coming the other way, and poor old Sykes drives right into it, his car exploding. There’s nothing to imply wider casualties, but this is a brutal end to a villain, like something out of a Bruce Willis movie.

Literally dragged to hell (Dr. Facilier, The Princess and the Frog, 2009): Dr. Facilier is dealing with dark magic, his “friends on the other side”, promising them souls and all sorts to satisfy their demonic urges. When his plan fails the bill comes due, as Mordo would say (from Doctor Strange, keep up!), and these freaky voodoo dolls and tribal masks come to life, dragging Facilier screaming into a grave, his fingers gouging channels in the ground as he tries to get away. He fails. That’s dark.

Hanged by vines (Clayton, Tarzan, 1999): Clayton is another villain undone by hubris, trying to kill Tarzan despite our hero warning him of the dangers of the jungle. He ends up falling from a great height (of course), hanging himself in some vines and presumably breaking his neck. Nasty enough, of course, but the animation really oversells it, the vines going taught as he falls, the shadow of Clayton’s body illuminated by flashes of lightning, his limp feet swaying in the breeze. Quite grisly, all told.

Falls off cliff then crushed to death by a boulder (The Wicked Queen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937): after seemingly killing Snow White, the evil Queen – still in her haggard old woman disguise – is chased through a stormy forest and up a cliff by the dwarfs. Attempting to crush them with a huge boulder, providence intervenes when her outcropping is struck by lightning and she tumbles to her death, the boulder and huge chunks of the cliff-face falling after her. As if to solidify the whole thing, two nasty-looking vultures then wheel their way down to feast on what remains. So this was how Disney’s first film ended: seven blokes chasing an old woman to her death, after which she’s eaten by birds.

Falls into pool of molten lead (Frollo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996): Once again we have a confrontation up on top of something, once again we have a villain hubristically, vengefully lunging for one final kill instead of just escaping. And the gargoyle he’s resting on crumbles, its face contorting demonically, before filthy old Frollo plumets into a pool of molten lead, the damning implications of which are pretty heavily signposted throughout the film. Again, I will say: he literally falls into molten lead and is burned alive.

Stabbed through the chest by a boat (Ursula, The Little Mermaid, 1989): there’s not really anything poetic about this one, nor is there really any kind of hubristic overreach. Ursula seems victorious until sexy Prince Eric sails a shipwreck from the bottom of the ocean and plunges its broken prow straight into the Sea Witch’s chest. Really, it’s just how visceral and nasty it is, as Ursula flails her tentacles and slowly succumbs.

Ages rapidly, falls from a window, then crumbles to dust (Mother Gothel, Tangled, 2010): yet again – yet again! – we have a Disney villain falling to their death, although here I’d argue she was dead before she hit the ground. The magic that kept Gothel youthful dissipates, so she ages like that guy from Last Crusade, before – and I think this bit is often overlooked – cute li’l chameleon Pascal deliberately trips her up so she falls out the window to her death. Yes, she’s so far gone that by the time she reaches Earth she’s nought but dust, but all the same: murdered by a lizard.

Falls off Big Ben (Ratigan, The Great Mouse Detective, 1986): as we’ve discussed, the most common way for a Disney baddie to die is to fall off something tall – what we call the Reverse Tom Cruise – and I could have picked a few more here. But there’s something about this finale, a feral Ragitan chasing a dishevelled Basil round the clockwork innards and onto the face of Big Ben, that feels more visceral and, oddly, down-to-Earth. The fight is a brutal struggle, the climax of an action movie, before that final fall. Also just think how high this is for a mouse. He’d hit the ground like a water balloon full of passata.

Turned into a firework (Shan-Yu, Mulan, 1998): Shan-Yu is a nasty piece of work, one of the most violent and murderous Disney villains. Ultimately, however, he’s bested by Mulan in a thrilling rooftop battle, the climax of which is when he’s hit with a rocket that sends him flying through the air and into a tower of fireworks. All the fireworks go off in a tremendous explosion, no doubt scattering bits and pieces of Shan-Yu across a wide area as his charred and tattered remains are turned into a beautiful lightshow. Aw, this one was quite nice actually.

#top ten #disney #disney villains #disney villain death scenes

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a-tale-of-2-sloths · 1 year

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Day 2 - San Jose to Cahuita

Good evening from Cahuita! Georgie and I are led on the bed, writing in our journals surrounded by a variety of wild sounds from both the jungle outside and our neighbours next door. (The walls are wooden and you can hear everything, but it’s just their kids, no funny business… yet!)

After perusing the menu for some time we both had a couple of house favourites, made up of eggs, rice and beans, a hash brown and ham for me, cheese for G as well as fresh coffee, orange juice, a pancake and fresh pineapple and papaya, which looked so enticing even I had a few chunks! It was a very tasty breakfast, which really hit the spot and set us up nicely to return to the hostel, pack and get on our way to Cahuita.

As per usual time was slipping away from us and we wanted to make the 10am bus from San Jose, so instead of battle with the local buses we played the millennial card and jumped in an Uber, which got us there with 20 minutes to spare. Something public transport would certainly not have done! However, our high 5s would have to wait as the 10am bus was fully booked… Not to worry, this was predominantly a travel day so we bagged ourselves a couple of seats and played some ‘Love Letter’. It’s a sort of top trumps meets the werewolf game (in G’s words!) followed by a bit of travel admin. Turns out the sloth sanctuary we were hoping to visit on Monday is actually closed, but we’re confident we’ll see some out in the wild so no biggie!

At 12pm our chariot in the form of a fully packed coach began the 5 hour journey from San Jose to Cahuita. As long drives go it was extremely scenic as we climbed up the mountains through the rainforest. You could feel the atmosphere change as the temperatures dropped and the windows began to mist up with the condensation from the weather outside. My eyes scanned every tree for the first part of the trip in hope of getting a glance at a sloth, but travelling at such speed I’m not sure there was any chance of seeing so much as a sl…! As we made our way out of the jungle we passed by farm land with cattle, goats and little horses and shanty type houses each with their own pooch on guard. Aside from taking in the scenes of country side flashing by, the time was filled with music, big bang theory and a little bit of snoozing. We stopped in Limon for a comfort break and a snack and this is where G and I differ. She opted for a lovely locally sourced banana, I on the other hand went for a Willy Wonka sourced chocolate ice cream.

We departed at Cahuita bus station and headed for the taxi rank. Well, it was less of a rank and more of a ‘only taxi in the village’ situation. There weren’t any signs to suggest this guy was a taxi driver, but through the power of Google Maps we managed to show him where we wanted to go and were joined by some other backpackers who were heading in the same general direction. Unsurprisingly no one fancied sitting upfront with him where the window was laden with cracks! It was only a ten minute drive but as we left the main road and began the climb upward toward Shamana Eco Lodge, we got the feeling that he may have put too much faith in the old guff bucket. Rev as he might the van simply would not get up the hill, so we had to leap out quite swiftly and avoid rolling down the jungle ourselves! G nearly refused to pay him the full amount as we weren’t at the top, but it was only a very short walk and there was no way he was going to make it!

We were greeted by the lovely couple that run the eco lodge. One of which is from Venezuela, the other from Ireland who kindly offered to take us back in to town as there’s no dinner served on site (despite what it says on the website) and they were heading that way for pizza. Our room is immersed in the forest, with slatted wooden walls, a squeaky four poster bed and a waterfall like shower, which is very cool. Quite literally as it’s solar powered so you’re not guaranteed hot water as we found out! Refreshing! The view is dense green jungle with a constant chatter of insects, birds and possibly the odd monkey?!

Cahuita has real Afro Caribbean vibes and as we sat outside with our beer and Cuba Libre (rum, lime and coke) we could hear reggae music in the distance and see people dancing in the street. Once again we were surrounded by a different type of Costa Rican culture and had some local cuisine (although not actually the meal we thought we chose!) but according to the menu it was a classic and very tasty so alls well that ends well! As there were no desserts on offer and I’m a chocoholic we swang via a shop before following our ears to a bar with some live music. It turned out this next bar had churros, so there’s a very good chance we’ll be back there again tomorrow!

As I round off this entry I can hear all sorts of movement beyond the confines of our room and I’m hopeful that I’ll wake up to a sloth chilling outside the window. Even though we’ve only been here less than 48 hours, we’ve already seen a lot of interesting birds, but not too many other exotic creatures… Unless you count the huge spiders in the lobby area… And the odd local!

Photos to follow with better signal

G’s highlight: Falling asleep to the sound of the jungle

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hockeytrashgoblin · 2 years

Text

Gentleman

A/N: Hi I’m sorry I fell off the face of the earth. I tried to write an actual book in a year. I got pretty close then got writers block and didn’t want to even think about words. Now I’m in college again! Things are exciting but I’m feeling so much more like myself and all I want to do is read and write! So to celebrate that here is a soft boi Jesperi Kotkaniemi smut for everyone. It’s 8k words. I went ham on this one. It was requested on Wattpad but I refuse to post it there because I’m mad at them. The best William Nylander smut I ever wrote was on there and someone reported it and Wattpad took all the smut down. I’ve been mad for 3 months about that lost Willy fic. I’m not okay. Anyway with that, enjoy my loves!

After a long day at work all I wanted to do was lay down and take a nap. Customer service jobs were proving again, to not be for me. A person can only take so much. A person can only be yelled at for things they couldn't control for a little while before they snapped. Couple that with minimum wage and awful management, it really didn't seem worth it anymore.

I thought about quitting while I struggled to find the key that unlocked the door to my apartment that I shared with my friend Jessie. Once I got in I flopped down on the couch groaning. I heard Jessie giggling from the kitchen.

"Another bad day?"

"They're all bad Jess. This place sucks. I think my manager gets off on making me cry."

"I doubt she gets off on it."

"No I really think she does. Why else would she make me do it everyday?"

"Because she's a bitch. Get up." She said hitting my leg.

I groaned again but did what she said. She handed me a plate of chicken nuggets and fries before turning on whatever show she was obsessed with now, it changed every week pretty much. We ate in silence besides the TV sounds. My phone rang interrupting the silence. Jessie shushed me and I flicked her cheek before checking who it was. When I saw the name I jumped up towards my room.

"Oooh I know who that is!" She said in a sing song voice.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed making her laugh as I answered the phone. "Hey Jesperi, what's up?"

"Hi (y/n)! Nothing really, I'm on the bus home. How was your day?"

"Awful. I just got home. It was hectic and stupid and we were short staffed."

"That doesn't sound good."

"No it really wasn't. Imagine the other team had all their guys ready to faceoff and you were just by yourself."

"Is the goalie there?"

"Nope just you and a coach that hates you. That was my entire day."

"That doesn't sound good at all. Although I can't picture it exactly. The coaches all love me."

"Jes, everybody loves you. I half think it's impossible to hate you." I said making him laugh. I heard someone is the background saying something, I expected Victor, but I couldn't make out what he was saying.

"I will. Shut up. No shut up." I heard Jesperi say off the phone. "I'm going to go ask in the bathroom if you don't stop."

"Jes, you okay?" I asked giggling.

"Uh yeah sorry. Victor's being an idiot."

"That checks out."

"Anyway I called because I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh okay, sure. Ask away."

"You know how Victor's getting married?"

"Yeah, Jessie was talking about it the other day. I'm going with her to the mall to shop for it tomorrow." Jessie had been friends with Victor since she was a kid so she was part of the wedding party. "Why do you ask?"

"I know it's last minute but would you be my plus one to the wedding?" He rushed out his words in a quiet mumble.

"Oh!" I said in genuine shock. "Um.."

"If you're not working." He said quickly before adding. "And you want to of course."

"It's Saturday right?"

"Yeah, we'd have to arrive around 4. Sorry if you want to."

"Jesperi come on. Don't act like you don't know I'm going to say yes."

"Wait really?"

"Yeah of course! I have Saturday off and I'd like to go with you as long as Victor doesn't mind."

"No he doesn't mind."

"Alright then yeah I'd love to!"

"Mint!"

"Told you she'd say yes." I heard Victor say in the background.

"Shut up!" He hissed back.

"Jes be nice." I joked.

"I'm going to go before Victor says something that's going to make me kill him before his big day."

"Okay, it was nice talking to you."

"It's always nice talking to you." He said making me blush.

"Bye Jesperi, I'll see you later."

"See you Saturday. Bye sweetheart." I heard him gasp at his words before he hung up. He'd never called me a name like that before and it kinda shocked me just as much. I didn't notice that I was just standing there until Jessie started laughing.

"What the hell did he say to you?"

"He called me sweetheart and hung up on me?"

"That's weird."

"He also asked me to go to the wedding on Saturday."

"And you said he didn't like you."

"I still don't think he likes me."

"Oh my God how can you say that?! He literally asked you to be his date. He called you sweetheart. You guys talk for hours literally every. Single. Day. But sure he doesn't like you. Just admit I was really smart to get you guys to meet."

"I will admit that it was nice of you and that my life is better with him in it but he absolutely doesn't like me as much as I like him. I'm not arguing anymore, I'm tired. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight you goofball."

The rest of the week flew by and before I knew it, it was Saturday morning. I had worked every day this week so I was glad to have time to sleep in. Except at 7 I was woken up by a phone call from my manager.

"Hello?" I said groggily wiping the sleep from my eyes.

"You need to come in. Where are you?"

"In bed? It's my day off."

"I don't care we're short staffed so you have to come in."

"I have other things going on today, I can't. Try calling Tori?"

"Tori can't. I expect to see you in 20 minutes."

"I won't be there."

"Yes you will. If you want to have a job to come back to you will."

"You're going to fire me?" I asked in shock.

"If you don't come in yes."

"Well I guess you should start finding someone to replace me. Goodbye Lara, I quit." I hung up on her and immediately was met with feelings of instant regret but then it morphed into relief, then finally I was hit with the realization that I quit my job for Jesperi.

Surely he would of understood if I had to cancel but he was so excited. So was I. The thought of making him sad or upset with me was worse than the thought of not having a job. Maybe my priorities were a little twisted but I really liked Jesperi and I really wanted to go to the wedding with him. I wanted to dance with him and have a good time so that's what I was going to do.

I decided to go back to sleep for a while. I turned my phone to silent and ignored the texts and calls from my shitty manager.

I woke up a few hours later and started getting ready. Jessie was already gone to get ready with the rest of the bridesmaids so I was on my own until 3 when Jesperi would be picking me up.

I started the painstaking process of curling my hair. It never mattered how long it was, it always hurt my arms and took too long in my opinion. It looked really pretty after it was done though so it was worth it I thought. I French braided my bangs and curled the ends of it so it would fit with the rest of my hair. The dress I chose for it was a light blue long sleeved dress with a skater skirt that reached my knees.

Before I knew it there was a knock on the door. I grew 10 times more nervous as I looked in the mirror again trying to adjust nothing in particular. I rolled my eyes at my reflection and went to open the door. I audibly gasped when I saw Jesperi.

"Wow." He whispered with wide eyes. We both seemed to catch each other off guard and we laughed awkwardly. "Sorry (y/n)."

"Don't be sorry, come in. I just need to get my coat."

I got the coat on as well as my scarf. I didn't notice until I was done that he was still standing just inside the door staring at me. I walked over and waved my hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his trance.

"Yoohoo anyone home?"

"Sorry I was distracted. Thinking about something. It doesn't matter, are you ready to go?" He looked rattled.

"I am but hang on a minute. Are you okay?" I asked, reaching out to grab his arm in what I hoped was a comforting way.

"Yeah I'm okay. Promise." He said, reaching his other hand out for a pinky swear. I smiled wide and blushed doing the pinky swear. He had only started doing that with me after I did it to him once so it felt special. I thought it was cute.

"Alright, good. We better get going so we aren't late."

"Yeah Victor would be pretty mad if I was late for his wedding." He said with a laugh. "Let's go bubs."

He took my hand and led me out of the apartment, waiting for me to lock the door behind me but still not letting go of my hand. Touching was nothing new for us, we did it all the time, but hand holding was definitely new for us. Quite often he would have an arm around me or I'd lay my head on his shoulder or kind of cuddle with him. Sometimes at gatherings I'd sit on his lap if there was no room but something about him holding my hand felt so new and ignited butterflies. We walked out to his car and he must have noticed finally that he was still holding my hand because he looked down and dropped it fast before rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry, I forgot I should let go. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable."

"Jesperi you sweetheart, don't worry about it!" I said, giving him a hug. "You never make me feel uncomfortable."

"You're the sweetheart." He mumbled into my hair before pulling away and opening my door for me. "Ladies first."

"Thank you Jes." I giggled at the little bow he did as I got in.

The car ride wasn't super long but it was okay. He spent the beginning of it showing me his favourite Finnish artists. I didn't understand any of the words obviously but I liked a lot of them. He showed me one that he said made him think of me. He didn't tell me what they were saying but it was a pretty song so I just left it alone.

Unfortunately I fell asleep for the last half of the ride. I wasn't surprised but I was disappointed when I felt his hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see his sweet smile.

"Shit! Jesperi, why didn't you wake me up?" I pouted, feeling really guilty.

"I didn't want to."

"But you must've been so bored."

"No it was okay. You worked late last night, I figured you were sleepy."

"Well I guess I kind of was."

"See? Don't worry bubs, I don't mind. Just don't fall asleep at the wedding." He joked, elbowing my arm lightly.

"I would never. Let's go inside, yeah? I don't want to be out in the snow anymore."

"You're so tiny and cold." He said laughing.

"Yeah and you're giant and cold. What's so funny?"

"You're just cute." He said, shrugging and giving me a blinding easygoing smile. Of course I blushed like crazy at that.

"You're cute."

"Thank you but I think you're wrong."

"What do you mean?" I asked, giving the woman running the coat check my coat.

"I'm not cute, I'm handsome. Rugged." He said in a funny voice, making me laugh.

"I don't know about rugged but you're definitely handsome. No one can deny that."

"You're just saying that."

I was about to say something but an usher came up to us and started talking to Jesperi so I stayed quiet. I'd tell him later that I wasn't just saying that. Right before his best friends wedding didn't seem like the right time to start that conversation.

The ceremony started soon after we got there. It was all beautiful. His bride looked like a princess and I couldn't get over her pretty peach coloured dress. They wrote their own vows and I had to hold back laughter when Jesperi leaned over to whisper that he thought she wrote his as well. His breath hitting my neck made me shiver and get goosebumps. I hoped he hadn't noticed but I was sure he did. When it was all said and done we all left to go to the hotel that the reception was happening in.

"That was a beautiful wedding." I said as we walked back to his car.

"It was pretty nice. I'm still convinced Courtney wrote those vows." He said, making me laugh again.

"Why?"

"Victor couldn't come up with something that sweet and romantic on his own. If it was left completely to him he would quote movie weddings or something."

"Some movie weddings have sweet vows though."

"Like which ones?"

"Well not a movie but a cute show was in boy meets world."

"I've never seen it."

"Okay well we're going to watch it because that should be a crime."

"What else? That's only one example."

"You're going to laugh but I like twilight."

"Oh come on! Twilight? Really?"

"Jesperi. I'm not about to quote the book at you but I will quote the toast from the movie where Edward says to Bella 'No measure of time with you will be long enough, but let's start with forever.' Tell me what about that isn't beautiful."

"That does sound pretty nice actually. Do you think about weddings and vows a lot?"

"Not a whole lot. I probably would more if I wasn't so single but alas. I think love in itself is pretty. Not always, but when it's done right like Victor and Courtney it's pretty." I said as we both got in the car. He was quiet for a minute as we started driving.

"Love is pretty mint. I've never felt it like that but it seems nice."

"I'm sorry you've never had anyone love you completely and effortlessly, Jesperi. You of all people deserve that more than anyone. I've never experienced that either."

"Hey it's okay. Someone will love us someday and it'll be super mint." He said with a big grin as he took my hand in his for a second. It took everything in me to not blurt out that I already loved him now.

"I think you're right." I said, smiling back.

"Oh by the way I plan on drinking and I have a room at the hotel. I know Jessie is going back tonight so you can go with her, I already asked. Or I can drive you home then come back. I don't mind. I figure you're probably going to have to work tomorrow."

"I uh, actually don't have to work." I said suddenly feeling very nervous.

"Oh mint! Do you want to stay then? You don't have to obviously."

"I'd love to Jes. You just have to keep in mind that I'm a very cuddly drunk."

"I think I can handle that." He winked at me and I felt my checks warm up again.

We pulled up into the hotel parking lot a minute later. The hotel was big as well as beautiful but I figured it would be. We walked into the hotel while we joked around. Jesperi always made me laugh with pretty much everything he said though. He got his room key before we went to the winter wonderland themed ballroom.

The receptionist went by pretty quick. The food was delicious and instead of having a big cake they had cupcakes which were a cute little touch. They had their first dance as husband and wife and then the party began. They had an open bar so a lot of people went crazy. Neither of us were going crazy but I was passed tipsy and so was he. We had just been sitting and laughing at our table until a song came on that I really liked.

"Jes, I wanna dance." I told him, grabbing his arm with both my hands. "Dance with me."

"I'm not very good at it."

"Its just a slow dance it's easy! Just hold me and sway around a lil." I looked at him and pouted a little. "Please?"

"I could never say no to you looking at me like that." He said with an easygoing grin.

He took my hand and lead me to the dance floor. Once we got there I threw my arms around his neck and he placed his on my waist.

"See look, you're dancing!"

"It's because I have a good partner." He said sweetly, looking into my eyes.

I was vaguely aware of anything around us. Anything that wasn't Jesperi just couldn't hold my attention. I was so distracted by the close proximity and the way we were moving everything else faded away. I looked around his face, trying to remember everything about it when I noticed his happy brown eyes staring at me. It made a big grin break out on my face.

"What?"

"I uh, nothing. Nevermind."

"No Jes, tell me! I wanna know. Please?" I asked, smiling wide while I brought my hand to his neck to rub my thumb across his cheek. He leaned into it making me smile impossibly wider.

"You're just so pretty bubs."

"Thank you Jesperi. I think you're incredibly handsome. Especially in your suit." I told him, feeling brave.

"You're too nice to me (y/n)."

"No, I'm just telling you the truth. You're a beauty Jes." I teased.

"You're the beauty if anyone is. I'm definitely the beast in this fairytale." He grinned brushing my hair out of my face.

"I absolutely refuse to admit that. You're gorgeous. So hot. If I weren't so nervous around you I'd tell you all the time."

"It's more than that though, right?"

"Yes." I said with a little hesitation. I was going to lie but he should've known already that I liked him. "It's a lot more than that. Is it more than that for you?"

"It's a lot more than that for me." He murmured, smiling softly at me.

He took one of my hands from around his neck in his. I took it and intertwined our fingers as his hand was guided to my lower back to pull me closer to him. I let him press my body closer to his and felt warmth rush through me. I looked at him and he smiled resting his forehead on mine while we danced.

"You're so cute bubs." He said before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Do you want to go somewhere more private maybe? Maybe talk a little bit more? I'm sorry that sounds so sleazy. I didn't mean for it to."

"Hey, no. Look at me Jes. You didn't sound sleazy. Let's get out of here yeah? We can say bye to Victor and Courtney, tell them I'm too drunk or my head hurts or something. I dunno, you come up with a better lie."

"I don't have to lie, you can't walk straight sweetheart." He whispered through his chuckles. He stopped dancing and threw an arm around me. "Let's go say goodbye."

We went over to find them and to find Jessie quickly to let them know we were leaving. I thanked them and congratulated them even though I couldn't get the word congratulations out of my mouth properly. Jessie, Jesperi, and Victor all laughed at me while Courtney was nicer.

"Come on Jesperi stop laughing and put the poor girl to bed." She teased.

"Yeah because that's what they're going to the room to do." Victor said, making Jessie laugh and Courtney glare as she lightly smacked her new husband on the head. "Ow what was that for?"

"It's none of our business what they do in the room, you child. I'm so sorry (y/n), Jes. You guys go have a goodnight."

"Enjoy the rest of your party." I said stumbling a little, completely dedicated to the lie of me not feeling great.

Jesperi lead me out of the ballroom and towards the elevators, not speaking the whole walk there. Once we were in alone and the doors closed he looked at me.

"I'm sorry about Victor."

"Don't be. He makes jokes like that all the time it's fine." I mumbled. The tension in the elevator was damn near suffocating. I looked at him for a few seconds quietly before I started walking to him and he spoke up.

"What's up bubs?"

"Can I do something?" My voice sounded so small I almost didn't recognize myself. I was desperate for him and who knew if this would last or if things would go back to normal after tonight so I wanted to take advantage of the situation while I could and we were both ready and willing.

"To be honest with you, you could do anything to me right now." He whispered.

"Ooh don't tell me things like that. That's dangerous information for me to know." I teased grinning at his easy going smirk.

"Maybe I want you to know it. Experience this so-called danger."

I didn't say anything else, I just brought his face down to meet mine in a sweet kiss. He seemed surprised at first but then he grabbed my hips and got into a rhythm with the kiss that made my knees turn to jello. The elevator dinged signaling our floor and only then did he break the kiss.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." He said still with his eyes closed.

"Long time." I said in reference to myself as I pulled him out of the elevator by his hand. "Where's the room?"

"This way." He led me down the hall a bit then stopped to open the room, holding the door for me. "After you."

"Thank you. I'm taking these shoes off before anything. I'm sick of em."

"Sweetheart, why wouldn't you just wear regular boots? If these ones hurt then why?"

"They looked prettier." I said laying on the carpet to pull off the boot. "I wanted to look prettier. For you."

He had walked closer so he could look me in the eye. I smiled sweetly up at him and he laughed. He sat down behind me and ran his fingers through my hair.

"What?"

"Bubs you don't have to do stuff like that."

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't." He chuckled. "Making yourself uncomfortable for no reason is never necessary."

"Jesperi, listen." I said rolling over and crawling over to him. I put my arms on his shoulders but stayed arms distance away. "You don't understand. There are a million pretty girls who like you and would do anything for you that are so much better looking than me. I have to try hard so I can keep any of your attention at all."

"Do you really think that?" He asked with a weird look on his face. I nodded at him and he just shook his head at me. "You've never been more wrong in the whole time I've known you."

"What do you mean?" I asked quietly, sitting back on my heels.

"You have all my attention all the time, you don't have to try." He smiled as he reached up to rub my cheek with his thumb.

"Really?" I asked with a smile, reaching up to hold his hand there.

"Yes! You have no competition. Ever. Except maybe hockey, but besides that."

I laughed at his weak attempt of a joke. He grinned at me seemingly proud of making me laugh. I thought about what he said and it made my mind race. Positive things flew through my mind as fast as my anxious thoughts came in. I took his hand and kissed his palm. I don't know why but it just felt right.

"Comere." He said in a hushed tone reaching out for me.

I crawled forward as he guided me to sit in his lap. In one fluid motion I was in his lap and kissing him again. His mouth was warm and his fingertips grazing my back and arms sent chills down my spine. Maybe I was drunker than I thought but I definitely had never felt better kissing someone than I did in that moment with Jesperi. I had to break away for a minute to catch my breath. He started kissing down my neck and I groaned quietly as I tugged on his hair. He pulled back and looked at me with happiness radiating off him and adoration in his brown eyes.

"You're so beautiful." The sincerity in his voice made my breath hitch. I truly believed him with everything in me.

"Thank you Jes."

"Do you um, do you want to continue? I don't want to pressure you or make you uncomfortable. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold back."

"Then don't hold back anymore."

"Are you sure you want that?" He looked concerned and it just further convinced me that I was making the right decision.

"I've never been more sure about anything."

I brought his lips back to mine in a fevered kiss. I squealed when he lifted me up making us both laugh a little. I loved that we could laugh in this situation and it wasn't awkward. He threw me back on the bed and took his shoes off. I watched as he slipped his suit jacket off while climbing on the bed. I sat up and pulled him down to me by his tie, connecting our lips again.

If I thought kissing him before was good, this was incredible. Having him hovering over me was not something I would soon forget. I started unbuttoning his shirt while we kissed but I couldn't get it off.

"Take your tie off, fuck." I was breathless and frustrated.

"Impatient are we?" He teased sitting up and undoing the tie.

"You're driving me crazy."

I kneeled in front of him and ran my hands down his bare chest around to his back, pulling him closer to me. I could feel how hard he was against my stomach and it made me whimper as I pressed against him. He smirked in a devilish way that made my insides churn. He held my cheek with one of my hands making me look back up at him.

"Getting a little desperate baby?" I couldn't bring myself to say anything so I just nodded. "Let me take care of you."

"Please? Wanna feel you Jes." I shook my head at how that sounded.

"What?"

"Sorry that just sounded so needy and dumb. Kinda pathetic."

"I didn't think so." He said coming closer before dipping his head down to kiss my neck. "I think it's very attractive to know you want me just as much as I want you. It's hot."

"Mmm Jesperi." Was all I could choke out while he sucked and nibbled on my neck and collarbones. It had always been a really sensitive spot for me and an instant way to make my legs clench. I felt him smile into my skin as he unzipped my dress and felt my bare back as it became visible.

"No bra?"

"No."

"Mint." He said, making me giggle as he pulled the dress down my arms and down to my waist. He laid me back down and stopped to ask, "Is this okay? Can I take this off?"

"Of course you can."

That was all the confirmation he needed. He took my dress off with next to no hesitation leaving me in my favourite pair of underwear. He was staring and I started feeling self conscious.

"Sorry they aren't like, sexier or anything. I wasn't exactly expecting this." I mumbled.

"Don't say that. I think you're so sexy. I wouldn't want you wearing anything else."

"You're telling me you wouldn't rather see me in something actually sexy like lingerie?"

"Bubs. I think you are so beautiful just the way you are." He ran his hands up and down my side, eyes glued to my boobs when not speaking to me. "You're comfortable and that's when I find you the most attractive and alluring is when you're comfy."

"I'm always comfortable with you." I said earning a soft kiss from him.

"Can I take these off? Can I touch you?"

"I want you to touch me so bad Jesperi. That's all I want. Oh also take your pants off please? I wanna touch you too. Wanna taste you, if you'll let me?" I batted my eyelashes at him with my request and he groaned loudly.

"You going to get on your knees for me baby?"

"Mhm." I bit my lip and slid off the bed.

"Here, put this under your knees so you don't get sore." He said throwing me a pillow with a smirk. "At least not sore from that."

"Shut up." I hit him with the pillow, making him laugh. "You're fucking cheeky. There's no other word for it."

"You love it." He said confidently.

I shrugged and started undoing his belt with shaking hands. I hoped he didn't notice but I know he did. He grabbed my hands to stop me and tilted my head up to face him.

"You okay? You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, you know that right bubs?"

"Yeah. Yeah I know. I'm just nervous. I'm okay, I promise."

"Don't be nervous. It's just me, love."

"I just don't want to disappoint you."

"You couldn't possibly. I promise." He leaned down and gave me a really intense kiss that reignited the fire within me.

I broke away and with more confidence than before. I successfully unbuckled his belt and undid the button, then the zipper. I pulled his pants and underwear down in one pull. He helped by stepping out of the legs before sitting on the edge of the bed. I blushed a lot being face to face with his dick. I never thought I'd see it at all let alone see it up close and personal like this. I wrapped my hand around the base, feeling the weight of him making my mouth water. I pumped my hand and my eyes snapped up to his face when he threw his head back with a soft groan. Heat rushed south and I knew I had to keep him making those sounds.

I pumped him a few more times before leaning in and licking a strip from base to tip. I swirled my tongue around him and took him in my mouth. The sounds he was making was urging me on. I took him in a bit deeper and he borderline shouted as I moaned around him.

"Fuck, you're doing so well for me baby." He muttered moving my hair out of my face and pulling me off him. "Do you think you can handle a little more?"

"Yeah I can. Let me be good for you."

"You're doing so good for me. Put it back in your mouth."

I did as I was told and he held my head, guiding my movements in the best way for him. I relaxed and let him move me the way he wanted. He hit the back of my throat and I choked but I quickly recovered and kept going. We went on like this until I felt his thighs start tensing and shaking under my hands. He pulled me off extremely out of breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked him quietly.

"Baby nothing. Nothing is wrong, I just want you. I don't want this night to end right now before I can you know.." he said with a blush.

I smirked and pushed him back on the bed. I crawled over him until we were face to face.

"I just had your dick in my mouth and you're too shy to say you want to have sex with me? What happened to cheeky Jesperi from 10 minutes ago?" I teased kissing his neck.

"Mmm fuck that feels nice. I didn't know if you wanted to go all the way I didn't want to, fuck, to make you think you had to."

"Jes, baby, I want to. I don't have to, I want to. I want you too Jesperi." I sucked a little harder on his neck, making him moan loudly. "I love how vocal you are. It's fucking hot."

"It all just feels so good I can't help it."

"If you think that feels good, wait until you sink into me." I said into his ear before nibbling on it. If I were sober I absolutely would not have said that but I was feeling kinda brave due to the praise from Jesperi.

"I can't fucking wait." He said, grabbing my waist and flipping us over. He gave me a soft sweet kiss. "I need to get something, go up to the pillows."

I moved up the bed and rested my head on the pillows. I watched as he got a condom out of his bag and smiled at me. I smiled and reached down to slide off my underwear. I smiled wider when I noticed Jesperi blushing and staring at me. I spread my legs for him and he coughed in surprise and looked away blushing harder.

"Come here Jes."

"You're beautiful." He climbed up onto the bed and put the condom near my head.

"Thank you baby."

I brought his lips to mine while he hovered over my body. I was trying to get across to him through the desperation in the kiss that I needed more. I think he got it because he moved while still kissing me so that he was resting between my legs. But still not touching me where I wanted him. I tried to buck my hips to get some friction and I was somewhat successful getting his lower stomach.

"Fuck, you're soaked (y/n)."

"You do that to me all the time." I kissed him again but he broke it.

"Can I touch you? Is that okay?"

"Please touch me. I need you so bad."

As soon as I gave him permission that seemed to be all he needed. He let his hands wander to my boobs, squeezing them pretty hard, pinching my nipples before taking one of them in his mouth. I moaned and tangled my fingers in his hair. As his mouth worked between my breasts his thumb found my clit and started rubbing slowly but firmly.

"Fuck Jesperi." I moaned out as he started going faster with his thumb and slowly inserted two of his long fingers.

"Feel good?"

"So good, fuck Jes."

He sped up his fingers and kept flicking his tongue over my hardened nipples. I was moaning a lot. I was sure between the two of us we were going to get a noise complaint. I felt the familiar pressure building in my stomach and I clenched around his fingers.

"Fuck!" I called out as I fell over the edge.

I was shaking from the force of it. Jesperi fucked me through it with his fingers. As I was catching my breath he moved back up the bed and left sweet kisses around my neck and face. Some of them tickled and I let out little breathless giggles and I felt him smile against my skin.

"You okay baby?"

"I'm so much better than okay." I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Do you think you want to continue or are you good?"

"Jes, you never finished."

"It's not a big deal."

"Listen to me Jesperi." I said, grabbing his face with both my hands.

"Listening."

"If you don't get inside me right now I'm going to actually lose my mind. I want to please you too. I want you to have some satisfaction."

"Oh I had some satisfaction." He stopped talking to gasp as I started pumping his cock. "The look on your face as you fell apart on my fingers in no time at all was enough satisfaction."

"Stop!" I said feeling embarrassed by his words. I covered my face but he uncovered it immediately, giving me a kiss.

"You look fucking gorgeous when you cum." He said, making me blush more.

"Make me do it again then."

"You're sure you want to?"

"Do you want to? If you don't want to, you absolutely don't have to Jesperi." I said playing with his hair at the nape of his neck.

"I want to so bad."

I brought his face back down to mine and slipped my tongue in his mouth. Our tongues battled against each other and he dominated me with next to no effort. I grinded my hips up into his and he moaned into my mouth. I could feel his one hand leave my side to grab the condom. He opened it and looked at me as he rolled it on himself.

"You're absolutely sure about this?"

"Absolutely. Come fuck me Jesperi, please?"

"Don't call it that." He said quickly. Before I could ask what he meant I felt him against my entrance. "Ready?"

I nodded and he slowly stretched me out around him. It hurt a little bit and I knew he could tell by my face because he kept taking breaks. Once he was fully inside he rested his forehead against mine and looked into my eyes.

"You're being such a good girl for me (y/n). Taking my cock so well."

"Wanna be good."

"You feel so good darling, so tight wrapped around me like this. Is it okay if I move now?"

"Yes, yes, yes. I'm begging you, please yes."

"Shh you're okay. I've got you, love."

He started up a slow rhythm that was still pretty forceful. I felt the drag and snap of his cock on every thrust and I was a moaning mess. He really made each thrust count, hitting places in me I had never felt like this before.

He sped up slightly and I was a loud mess. He was no better. We were for sure going to get a noise complaint between my cries of pleasure, Jesperi's moans, and the bed frame hitting the wall lightly.

"I'm not gonna last much longer, I'm sorry." He whispered through his moans.

"Let go Jes, cum for me. Let me know how good I make you feel."

I kissed his chest and nipped at it, accidentally hitting his nipple. He moaned louder than he had so far. My eyes widened as I dipped my head down to suck his nipple into my mouth. His pace faltered above me as he shivered.

"You don't have to do that.. it's weird you really don't have to."

"Do you like it?" I asked, flicking my tongue against him, making him shiver again.

"Um yeah but you don't need to- fuuuuck."

I interrupted him by nibbling on his nipple lightly.

He started fucking me harder as I kept licking, sucking, and nibbling on his nipples. He let out a guttural groan as he stopped for a second before fucking himself through his release.

He collapsed on top of me completely out of breath. I was fairly out of breath as well. I ran my hand through his hair, stopping to give him head scratches. I kissed his forehead a lot of times as he calmed down. I felt him smile against my chest.

"That was incredible." He said quietly.

"So good."

"You were amazing, love." He looked up at me with so much adoration in his eyes that it made me want to burst out of my skin. I was so happy in that moment. I was about to say something but he yawned suddenly.

"Are you sleepy?"

"Always."

"Let's go to bed then."

"Okay. Sounds good." He smiled and got up. He went to the bathroom and came back out in a pair of boxers. He threw me a sweater of his and I slipped it over my head. "I'll sleep on the couch if you want?"

"Jesperi don't be ridiculous." I rolled my eyes and pulled him by his hand over to the bed. I kept pulling until he rolled his eyes and sat in the bed. "Stay. Cuddle with me?"

"You're sure?"

"I want you close to me but if it'll make you uncomfortable I'll take the couch instead. You've got to get a good sleep."

"Don't you even think about it." He said as he tackled me to the bed. I giggled and wrapped my arms around him. "Are you squished?"

"Yes but in a good way. A comfortable way."

"Goodnight darling."

"Goodnight Jes." I kissed him lightly before letting myself drift off to sleep in his arms.

That night all I dreamed of was Jesperi. He usually filled my conscious and subconscious mind but it was worse tonight. My dream was so domestic through the night. I even slept all night which was a welcome change. I was so happy when I woke up the next day but that immediately shattered when I realized I was in bed alone.

Panic started to flood through me until I heard the sink running in the bathroom. I tried to calm down and wait for him but I was stressed out.

"Hey, morning bubs. How'd you sleep?"

"Uh pretty good, how did you sleep?"

"Mint, I haven't slept that well in a while. Do you want breakfast? I ordered room service."

"Yeah sure that sounds good."

We ate breakfast and watched the news completely normal. It kind of bothered me. I didn't know what I expected but it wasn't for him to be so chill and normal. I was hoping to wake up still in his arms, hoping I'd be able to kiss him again, hoping for anything that proved I wasn't just some dumb one night stand. I didn't think Jesperi had that in him, to just use someone like that, but I was starting to feel used and kinda gross. I thought it was something special for him too but it seemed like that wasn't the case at all even though he said it.

"What do you think?" He asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry what?"

"I asked if you were ready to start getting your things ready to go. We have to be out of the room by 11 and it's 10:30 now."

"Oh shit, yeah sorry." I got up and started gathering my clothes from around the floor.

My eyes welled up with tears but I refused to let any fall in front of him. I got to the bathroom before the first one fell. I put on my clothes, willed my eyes to stop watering, and left the bathroom. I threw his shirt at him a little more aggressively than I meant to and it made him jump.

"Jeez bubs, careful."

"Sorry. You ready to go?"

"Yeah we better get out of here." He put his shirt in his bag and led the way out.

He paid the lady at the desk. She was being really flirty with him and I could tell he was uncomfortable but I didn't know what I should do. If we were pretending things were normal I should do what I normally would. I grabbed his hand and rested my head on his shoulder. She glared at me but stopped flirting. She got things done a lot quicker after that and we walked out hand in hand until we got to the car and he opened the door for me. When he got in, he smiled.

"Thanks for doing that."

"Of course. You were uncomfortable. Besides she was fucking annoying." I mumbled the last part looking out the window.

"Sounds like someone is jealous." He teased, making me snort.

"Oh as if!" I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. "Why, literally why, would I be jealous of her?"

"That is the question isn't it?"

"Fuck off." I grumbled.

He laughed and we fell into silence. He drove for what felt like forever in just tense silence. I didn't know how to bring this up so I just didn't bother. He turned on the radio after a while and I ended up falling asleep. I was woken up by him shaking my shoulder lightly.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's okay, don't be."

"Thanks for driving me home." I went to get out but he grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Bubs wait. Can we talk for a minute?"

"Jes I don't know what to say."

"You've been acting weird all morning."

"Well you've been acting extremely normal all morning."

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting like nothing happened! It's bizarre, Jesperi."

"Did you want me to make a big deal about it?" He asked.

"I don't know what I wanted, I just know that I didn't want to feel like I do right now. God this is why I didn't want to talk about it." I exclaimed, getting frustrated.

"How do you feel right now?"

"Used Jes. I feel used and it's a yucky feeling because I was not using you and I didn't think you were using me at the time but now it feels like that's the case."

"You really think I'd use you like that?"

"I don't know anymore."

"Did you not listen to anything I said last night?"

"If you meant what you said last night why would you act so weirdly normal like nothing changed? Like nothing happened? Like you just wanted to forget it ever happened?"

"(Y/n) listen. I don't ever want to forget what happened. That was huge for me. I was worried that if you woke up with me in your arms on top of you, you would regret it. Once you were sober maybe you wouldn't want me close like that."

"Jes, why would you ever think that?"

"You're out of my league bubs. You deserve better."

"Don't you ever say that to me again." I said taking his hand in mine. "You're wrong and I refuse to listen to the nonsense."

"I'm sorry I made you feel bad. That's exactly what I was trying to avoid."

"I wish you wouldn't feel insecure in yourself like that. I literally quit my job to go to that wedding with you." I shrugged.

"You quit your job?"

"They called me and told me they'd fire me if I didn't cover the shift on that day so I told them to replace me. I wasn't missing my only chance to be your date to something to go to work in a soul sucking place."

"That's definitely not your only chance."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to be my date to everything. I always have." He blushed and I leaned forward to kiss him. He hummed into it and broke away smiling. "I wanted to do that all morning."

"Well you should've. I would've felt like less of a whore for sure."

"You're not a whore. My girl is no whore."

"So I'm your girl then?"

"If you want to be. I want you to be."

"I will be on one condition."

"What is it?"

"Don't ever make me panic like that again."

"Deal, baby."

He pulled me in for a sweet kiss and my heart soared, knowing he was mine. I should've talked to him right away so I could've enjoyed this all morning instead of pouting but now I would never take time with him for granted ever again. I cared about him so much and I was so excited to never have to hide that again.

#jesperi kotkaniemi #jesperi kotkaniemi smut #carolina hurricanes #hockey #hockey smut #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #hockey story #nhl imagine #nhl smut #nhl story

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creativeashproductions · 3 years

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Elysium // Luke Patterson

Summary: The boys of Julie and the Phantoms need a hail Mary to dethrone Downslide from opening for Panic! At the Disco. While Willie is done to help his blue eyed crush and his friends there’s one issue: Willie can’t drive the bus. Moving a bench is one thing but driving an entire tour bus? There’s only one person who can and Willie’s not sure where she is after year of no communication

Warnings: Swearing, angst, talk of death (it’s a ghost show, why is this a warning??), mention of assault, violence, and fluff.

Words: 11.5k

A/N: This is why I haven’t posted much in the last week. I’ve been writing this massive fic that I refused to turn into a series. My god, 11k words. I don’t think I’ll be doing this again. Enjoy and comment if you figured out who Rudy is!

Masterlist

There wasn’t much in the afterlife that you enjoyed after time spent in the limbo between the living and dead. Listening to songs before they were released lost its appeal just as much as dancing on stage with the ballet companies around the world, of being an unseen extra in shows and films being filmed.

Then you found a purpose a couple, well it could be more than a couple, years ago when you found a lost soul. William Young, Willie to his friends, had been sitting on the curb staring at the pavement entirely still as he had for two days.

The time from the last breath you took to walking the streets of Los Angeles was a blur in all honesty. The years bled together as you stayed stationary in a world that kept on spinning and changing, growing up. You had watched your friends hit new milestones you could only daydream about. Friends that graduated college and built new lives on the ashes of memories that included you.

Today’s walk was an attempt to escape your friends’ greying versions standing in front of a once vibrant sculpture. It happened every single year, but this one hurt the most. Listening to your friends recall stories of all the adventures you did together.

From being drunken idiots jumping off cliffs into that one lake the summer of freshman year. Or making a bonfire on the school’s roof with all the entryways blocked, rather stupid with the exits being blocked as well. Sneaking into concerts and stealing that one car that came close to sending you to boarding school.

The rebellion that still lived in you had mellowed in the five individuals with the adult responsibilities of family and work. Martha had removed all piercings but her lobes while Chase quit dying his hair colour. Jordan now had three children and a bought house.

Seeing the group no longer young had made your feet swiftly move from the memorial for a walk. The only thing that stopped you in your tracks was tripping over something in front of you.

“Ouch.” You hissed rolling onto your back with a moan of pain that faded with the sniffles.

Curled into his knees, sitting on the curb was a teenage boy about your age. Long hair curtaining his profile you found your eyes grasping the cracked helmet that spoke for itself abandoned by his side.

“Your kinda a hazard there.” You simply spoke sitting down next to the distraught teenager, “Heads up, I suck at comforting people.”

At his silence, you spoke once more, “I’m digging the tie-dye. Did you do it yourself?”

“This is some kind of stupid coma dream right?” The boy’s voice was husky from crying and disuse, “I’m probably in some kind of hospital with a tube down my throat.”

“I’d say yes, but it would be a blatant lie.” You spoke twirling a loose thread on your jeans while the stranger gazed at a spot on the street.

His dark brown eyes bloodshot as he remembered the car honking mere seconds before he heard the sound of a thud. He recalled struggling to breathe with his broken ribs and his screams being illustrated with bloodstains.

He remembered thinking how he had just bought that board a week ago with his allowance.

“Am I really dead?”

“Yes. We’re are a couple ghosts in a lively city.” You informed him with one handheld in the space between your ethereal forms. The teen hesitantly placed his hand in yours with a firm shake.

“William but call me Willie.” He softly told you, catching sight of the patch on your jean jacket—one of many from both when your grandma owned it and then when you did.

“I’m Y/N. Let’s blow this disappointment. I’m gonna teach you everything you need to know.” Brushing off the invisible dust on your jeans, you held your hand out to him, “We’re about to make the afterlife our bitch.”

A stark contrast to his former hesitance he immediately grasped your hand to tug himself off the curb. The forlorn skater didn’t question the board in your hand or how he could possibly even touch his own board. He didn’t wonder how it wasn’t in pieces like it had been when he first got hit.

That rebellion that ended your life flared again in the presence of your best friend with crashing Justin Bieber’s house. Of rearranging items in classrooms to freak teachers out and sitting in the cars turning the radio on and off. Haunting the living until the friendship fractured under the influence of a powerful ghost.

Caleb Covington had bewitched the skater with promises and extravagant gifts until Willie had taken the offer.

“He’s not like you said he was! I think you should give him a chance!” Willie cried following you around the place you had taken to be home.

“Willie he’s a bad guy! He butters you up until you give him what you want! That’s when you see his true colours. All he wants is your soul to power his magic and spread his reach!”

“I got to talk to my sister!”

“Your sister is five years old! It’s not Covington that gave you the opportunity. She won’t remember the experience as anything other than an invisible friend!”

“There are so many people at the Club that we can talk to. Aren’t you tired of the same routine and people we see?”

Willie’s pleading brought your full attention to the skater avoiding your gaze, “William Young…you took his offer.”

Willie tore his gaze from the art on the wall to find yours blatantly glaring at him with a bucket of random colour in your hand.

“The Club is going to France to tour around the country for a while. I’m dead, so I might as well make the best of it. Besides who gets to skate through the Louvre!” Willie beamed, watching as a small smile, found its way on your face at his excitement, “I’m sure Caleb would let you come to the Club tonight!”

“Willie, you are my best friend, but I’ve already seen the Club. It’s not my style, and I want nothing to do with it.”

That interaction was one of the very few speckled through the years when Caleb discovered who you were. No matter his offers, you never took the deal and when he saw how close you and Willie where he kept the skater busy. The Club didn’t appear in Los Angeles for a long time until Willie’s distance seemed too great to bridge.

“So, you need a way for the slot to be empty?” Willie asked the trio of ghosts all spread around the area.

Unfortunately for Luke, the only person they could get help from was from the very guy that placed them in a predicament. While Alex was the one spearheading the conversation with the long-haired skater Luke was glowering in his direction.

“The Orpheum was the thing we never got to do. We spent hours practising and performing with one goal-“

“Play the Orpheum and get distance from our parents. Well, at the time that streetdog and becoming legendary was my main focus.” Reggie recounted the feeling of suffocating in a house filled with fighting. A home he wished still stood, now dead all he wanted was to see his parents.

“We almost did it too.” Luke pouted relaxing his glare at the skater who openly sent apologetic gazes at Alex’s bandmates.

“So, we need to get rid of the opening band.” Willie nodded to himself, thinking about ways before he caught sight of the abject horror on the band. The skater’s eyebrows raised, “I know I deeply fractured the trust, but I’m not suggesting murder.”

“Okay. Good.” Reggie whistled relaxing his tense posture while Luke grumbled under his breath an insult that in turn got Alex’s arm into the guitarist’s ribs.

“Your best bet would be getting the bus out of LA. The band will probably celebrate the upcoming gig.”

“Could you make the bus disappear?” Alex hesitantly questioned shifting in his now vintage sneakers. The blonde-haired drummer flushed slightly under the endearing smile from the skater. The feelings create a confliction within Alex under Willie’s issue, leading them straight into a madman’s hands.

“I can move a bench, turn sirens on, but a bus is outside my paygrade.” Willie openly admitted showing his hands deep in his pockets, “The only person other than Caleb that has enough power-“

“-is he just as evil?” Luke demanded crossing his arms to glare at the male that had unfortunately caught the interest of Alex.

However, Luke couldn’t blame Alex for falling for this guy because well, Luke saw the teenage ghost’s appeal. Willie was attractive, but he wasn’t the type of person Luke would fall for. Plus he had initially made Alex incredibly happy, and Luke would never blame Alex for that.

“She is as different from Caleb as one can be. She uh…she taught me everything about being a ghost. Actually, found me where I died.” Willie cleared his throat as the guilt and sadness reared its head from deep within him. The guilt of leaving his little sister to grow up without him and the sorrow of not growing up with the girl.

It wasn’t often Willie allowed himself to remember the little girl, barely five when he died, who was always dancing. His little sister adored the colour purple and anything shiny and more than once Willie had let her dress him up. Willie’s greatest regret is that he’d never have that interaction with her. God, she’d be around his age now and in high school.

“Okay, so where is she?” Reggie clapped his hands, bringing the skater out of his thoughts and back into the present.

Luke saw the hesitation in Willie, “There’s a catch, isn’t there?”

“Kinda?” Willie trailed off bouncing on the balls of his feet, “I haven’t seen her in years now. Last time I saw her we fought about the whole joining Caleb thing? I’m not even sure if she’s still in LA.”

“Of fucking course,” Luke grunted shoving both hands in his hair taking a few steps away from the other ghosts.

First, he dies, then he gets caught up in some bullshit revenge plot, then makes a deal with the devil without realizing it, and now their one chance is going up in flames. Luke Patterson was livid with the universe and the shitty hand he had been dealt, but at least he had his friends with him.

“It can’t hurt to look for her?” Reggie innocently offered with a shake of his shoulders, “It’s not like we have any other option.”

“Did we ever even have options?” Luke hissed, causing Willie and Alex each to flinch with the different guilt they carried.

Alex was guilty of going to Willie for help when getting back at Bobby was the biggest thing. Willie was guilty of ignoring his instincts on keeping Alex as far from Caleb as he could be he just wanted to impress the drummer. It’s not like Willie had many options for dating, and well, Alex was the first to get his entire focus.

“Dude. Stop. No one saw it coming.” Reggie bumped his hip against the annoyed guitarist, “Let’s find this ghost and get our shot at playing.”

The quartet of dead guys didn’t have high hopes of finding the girl in question, but it seemed the universe took pity on Luke Patterson. Just two hours into their search on the edges of the city limits an individual was walking.

The person’s stature leaned against a smashed concrete wall of the skeleton of where a building once was. The only thing the group could make out was a faded jean jacket with splotches of colour. Her ankles crossed as her back leaned against the cement, oozed laid back confidence. Coming closer, Luke noticed the sunglasses perched on top of her head and the lips painted dark.

“What do you need Willie? I heard you were looking for me.” The husky voice drew Luke in the most. The lead guitarist of Julie and the Phantoms enamoured with the girl.

“How’d-“Willie’s question was cut off as you simply tapped your right index finger against your temple.

“How do you think you managed to get here?” You inquired pushing off the cement to stride over to the group. To Willie’s surprise, he was tugged into your embrace before swiftly pushed away, “Come on. We should head in before someone catches us.”

In the dark as much as the other three ghosts, Willie dutifully followed you past the pieces of cement littered around the area. Gasps of surprise sounded as the once empty space became filled with buildings. It was not as extravagant as the hotel the Club worked out of, but it was hidden from the living and dead eyes.

“Where did this come from?” Reggie gasped astounded by the people once hidden from his view, moving around the area.

“This is Elysium. Don’t judge the name I lost the right in a poker game with Susie and Rudy. I’m Y/N.” You informed the group leading them to the gate where two people stood stoically guarding it, “Rudy was hellbent on calling it Valhalla.”

“This is Luke, Reggie and Alex.” Willie gestured to the awed trio of musicians only lingering on the blonde. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the attraction between the skater and the blonde; finding a date in the afterlife was a lot harder than the living.

Nodding a greeting to the two ghosts, you lead the group to a building painted a pretty turquoise blue colour. The sign above the double doors a stark white with calligraphy writing simply stating Elysium Management. It was a building set up like an administrative office of three stories, and you led the group right up to the top floor.

“Just a heads up…Rudy is a little suspicious of people.” You admitted standing outside a door with a nameplate the only descriptor, “He’ll come off a little gruff and rude, but when you get passed that he doesn’t shut up.”

“I can hear you through the door dumbass.” The words were called out from the office door opening.

The man standing in the entry wore a crisp white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His honey-brown eyes lit up with a teasing look before it shuttered at the sight of four strangers behind you. Rudy had valid reasons to not fully trust people after the shitshow in his hometown when he was alive.

“And you’ve brought strangers.” Rudy deadpanned with a sigh concluding his sentence as he stepped back into the office. It appeared like the world repositioned itself on the young man’s shoulders once more.

“I should be done within the hour. We can go over everything.” You informed your business partner and friend. Receiving only a nod from Rudy, you closed the door to his office, cutting off the view from your guests.

“He’s..uh.”

“Standoffish? Rudy keeps his past to himself, all he’s ever revealed is that he’s from a town a few hours away.” You spoke, opening the door to your own office decorated differently from Rudy’s more sterile black and white aesthetic.

Your office had splashes of colour with vintage posters of both music and film framed on the walls—a plush couch in the corner with a basket of blankets next to it. Instead of sitting behind the dark desk, you chose the couch instead. As you settled in the corner, you flicked one finger bringing an extra seat over.

The motion shocking the three boys accompanying Willie who had seen the abilities himself.

“Okay so why did you want to search for me?” You questioned the skater leaning back in the seat.

“When did this all happen?” Willie countered gesturing to the office in a building settled in the middle of a ghost town. A literal ghost town.

“There’s an empty lot in LA that used to house an abandoned apartment building that Rudy and I both called home. Of course, it was torn down, and we kinda knew that there’s wasn’t a place that didn’t have the threat of being annihilated at some point.” The memories of those unknown days trickled into your mind among the more positive ones, “We wanted a home. A place to call our own.”

“A week or so later a skittish pixie of a brunette crashed into us full speed. Susie had a certain ability that Caleb desired to have under his thumb. There are so many ghosts he had manipulated into selling him their soul. Rudy and I both wanted to stop Caleb from having that chance for everyone.” You continued, “Can I show you?”

The moon shone through the light clouds as a duo wandered LA’s streets in different mental states. The only home you had known had been unceremoniously ripped down with no future plans in place. Your entire life had been in that apartment in a building you had once thought only you inhabited. You had been unaware that on a separate floor, Rudy had been dwelling.

The two teens in starkly different clothing grew close with each other through the whole being the dead thing they shared. The mission was to find another place too, use but the feeling of home being ripped away tore at their hearts. The apartment was a place Caleb Covington hadn’t been aware of.

Your thoughts threatened to turn darker as a force knocked you onto your bac—aA short brunette groaning in pain to the left of you. The girl was Gwen, who would become very important to both Rudy and you.

I’ve always been a little different than most people. I can move things short distances, but I developed a specific talent. I can get inside people’s minds to plant, remove or alter memories or simply talk and read their thoughts.

The sound of your voice in their heads freaked them out more than they would like to admit. The intrusive tickle of something in their brains unsettling as you made a more present entry so they could feel it.

“What?”

“This is why I can’t be anywhere near Caleb. The whole reason he gives people stamps and takes their souls is because of me.” You fully admitted clasping your fingers in your lap, “He couldn’t cope with the fear of another ghost leaving so added a stipulation to joining his Club.”

“How did you come to create Elysium?” Alex inquired leaning forward in his seat to rest his elbows on his knees. Luke and Reggie followed his posture as the anticipation built.

“Everyone deserves a safe place. A place as far away from Caleb as possible and we do so for free. No fee is required, and ghosts are free to come and go as they please. They are welcome as long as their unfinished business keeps them in this plane.”

It sounded like a sweet deal to the group of teens, but they had other commitments, “You can tell us more, but we need your help.”

The pleading in the messy-haired brunette tore at your heartstrings like the one time Willie brought you to his house. It had been shortly before your friendship fractured, a few years ago. He had brought you to a suburb for low-income families and straight to the backyard where a twelve-year-old year danced.

The dead skater boy and the rebel sat in the patio chair on the tiny porch nestled in the postmark sized backyard. A quintet of pre-pubescent girls danced on the lawn to some bubblegum pop song. The Young girl was submissive to a more confident girl even when the venue was the Young girl’s home.

“The girl to the left is my little sister Kayla. She’s twelve now, it’s been seven years since I died.” Willie’s brown eyes saddened at the dancer who had a spark of maturity in her eyes, “I check in every once in a while. These are Kayla’s friends. The bossy girl is Carrie, and while the band is a group, she is the unofficial leader of the band Carrie’s Constellations.”

“She looks happy.”

“Kayla’s always been bubbly in personality, but she had questionable friends.” Willie outright admitted keeping his eyes pinned to the girl that had grown up in a blink of an eye. Her dark hair concealed by the gaudy purple wig; the colour assigned to the teenager.

“It’s nice that she still enjoys dance.” Willie finished reaching out to grab your hand in his and just like that Willie transitioned back into carefree, “I found this really cool skatepark I think you’d like.”

“We don’t have a lot of time.” Alex winced as the three musicians flinched as a sudden purple spark of colour lit up their midsections.

Like a tentacle, your mind reached into the quiet raven-haired boy with the leather jacket. Beyond the imagery of docile golden retrievers and steaming plates of food, you found the regret and fear in the boy. Stepping into a recent memory, you watched their experience at the Hollywood Ghost Club.

“You’ve met Caleb.” You sighed roughly pushing your index finger between your brows feeling the familiar ache.

“It was a stupid decision,” Luke spoke up, tearing his focus from the mysterious girl that ultimately had the power in her hands. The entire plan was weighing on the decision you would give, “Either we join his house band, or we don’t exist.”

“Hm.” You spoke as the kaleidoscope of colours in Luke’s eyes glittered under the sterile lights of the room. It was difficult to look away from the enthralling teenage ghost, but the emotion wafting off Willie was concerning.

“They died before they could perform at the Orpheum. We’re banking that getting the opening slot with giving them the push into crossing over.” The long-haired skater leaned closer, “I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I can’t do much.”

“So, you want to pull ’09 incident again?” You completely ignored the trio on the couch staring directly at the sheepish skater with raised eyebrows, “Only this time without the train?”

“Train?” Alex whispered, looking between the two long-time friends with interest and then next thing he knew Alex was in the backseat of a van crushed between Reggie and Luke equally confused.

Chicago, Illinois 2009

William Young and Y/N Y/L/N were complete hellions in the ghost world, creating havoc that fascinated the living population. The recent event being the highjacking of a van filled with drunk teenage boys. These boys had been the sole reason a young girl was recovering in a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The scene changed to a hospital room with Willie and Y/N watching a girl with massive bruising laid.

It had hit both Willie and Y/N hard catching the tail end of the new report, Willie thinking of how that could have been his sister. Even if Kayla was only five years old, having a sister set things more in perspective. For you it was a flashback to when you were alive and thus led you to the ICU room for the girl.

Slipping into her unconscious mind was easy but while the injured teen appeared peaceful to the hospital staff, she was anything but. The poor girl’s mind replayed the traumatic incident over and over like a movie; keeping in the shadows, you gently repainted the portrait with lighter and brighter images.

For Willie, he watched as you wavered on your ghostly feet and smoothed out the features of the girl. The heart monitor subtly changing as the injured girl relaxed, and suddenly your interference heightened her chances of survival.

“I got it.” You spoke to Willie with a heated glare on your features and when the ghostly musician trio blinked they were back in the van.

Your hands gripped the van’s steering wheel with Willie turned in the passenger seat to watch a group of living boys scream. To the living eyes in the van, no one was in the front seats but whispered words spoke into their minds.

You’re going to go straight to the police and tell them what you did. You’ll hand over the photographic evidence and demand the worst punishment. You’ll leave the girl alone, or we’ll come back to finish our job. You will pay for the hospital bills if the family agrees.

The boys trembled with the putrid scent of urine permeating the enclosed vehicle. The distant sound of a train echoed in the distance as the van stopped on the tracks. No matter how much the living boys moved the doors refused to open, and the windows remained unbreakable.

“WE promise!” The ringleader cried, slamming his shoulder against the door with the train’s bright lights illuminating the van.

“Let us go!” The other screamed, slamming his bruising hands on the window.

Alex was flinching at each slam of fists on the glass, leaving smears of blood. Knuckles broke from the window. At the very last second, your foot slammed the gas pedal taking the van millimetres from the train screeching on the tracks.

You and Willie stared at the stationary train lit up from the van’s headlights with the rhythmic flashes of the red and blue police lights. The van’s seat arrangement was different with the ringleader in the driver’s seat.

The three ghost musicians standing unseen behind the duo but in the real world out of the dreamlike memory you knew.

Elysium, Present Day

“Holy fucking shit.” Alex cussed out of breath, leaning back on the couch with shaking limbs and fear in his bloodless veins.

Luke’s eyes blinked owlishly at the boy that he had once thought could never do something as terrifying and torturous. He was afraid to even ask the outcome of the life-threatening incident you did on the assailants.

“That is the reason for the train.” You barely glanced at the shaken trio to stare at who had once been your partner in crime, “Willie, I have responsibilities here. We just opened a new division for the children we house here.”

“It would take a few hours.” Willie pleaded, positioning his hands into a pleading position turning on his charm. The puppy eyes you had always struggled to say no to as if you weren’t the type of person easily capable of staying strong.

“We’ll do anything.” Luke pleaded just as much recalling the countless times he had charmed himself out of situations, “Please help us.”

“I’ll have to make arrangements with Rudy and Susie, but I might be able to pull some strings. I’m really sorry Willie, but I’m gonna need to erase your knowledge of this place. There are too many people depending on this setup.”

Outside the Orpheum

Outside the legendary venue, three out of four band members for Julie and the Phantoms walked up to the marquee. Hopefully, the letters for Downslide would be changed into their band name just under the main act. Everything was riding on Willie and Y/N’s capabilities. Trusting the skater was challenging to do and more so someone they didn’t fully know.

“Look, don’t worry, guys. Willie said he’d get us on that marquee.” Alex soothed his friends on each side of him. All three wearing concerned expressions at the place that hopefully was their last stop before crossing over.

“This is gonna work, right?” Reggie questioned with his hand confidently sliding into the pockets of his black jeans. The relaxed posture a juxtaposition to the anxiety and nerves on his flushed face.

“It has to.” Luke’s lips pursed into a pout with his words tinged with a dialect different from his best friends. The faint souvenir from the place he spent a few years growing up before moving to LA.

Luke’s words were highlighted by the groans of pain as that flash of purple courtesy of Caleb’s death stamp appeared. All three hunched over clutched their chests breathing through the pain; Luke was the first to unfurl his form.

“Whoa!” You gasped flashing underneath the marquee beside Willie. Rushing to give Luke support without even a second thought.

When the aftershock faded, the guitarist stood straight up with a thankful smile that boarded on adoration.

“Are you guys, okay?” Willie asked, keeping back with the swell of guilt that happened, seeing the familiar symptoms of post-shock. He had felt them a time or two in the time he had sold his soul to his unfortunate boss.

“Yeah, it’s nothing we haven’t felt before,” Alex replied, rubbing his hand over the baby blue shirt he had chosen today. His blue eyes doing their best to avoid looking into the puppy-like ones of the skater, “How’d it go?”

“Well, when that opening band wakes up, they’re gonna find their bus 200 miles outside of Vegas.” Willie proudly announcing turning on his heel to show off the Downslide jacket he took from the lead singer. His fist extending to bump yours instinctively before he did so with Luke.

“With no chance of getting back in time.” You snickered in response living on the adrenaline and nostalgia of the rebellion. With Elysium, you had turned around your life, “Meaning-“

“-there’s probably a promoter upstairs right about now freakin’ out.”

“Nah. This is Hollywood, man.” Willie scoffed with a wave of his hand matching the one you supplied, “I’m sure he’s being very professional.”

As Willie finished his sentence up in the promotor’s office out of earshot of the ghosts stood a very pissed adult. His finger-wagging his finger with teeth clenched, his flushed skin a juxtaposition to the cheery blue Hawaiian style shirt. Frank Wolfe couldn’t believe how stupid his once opening band was.

“What do you mean the bus drove itself into the middle of the desert?” Frank questioned progressively growing more and more frustrated. His assistant Tasha casting concerned looks to her typically collected boss, “BUSES DON’T DRIVE THEMSELVES!”

Tasha flinched at the sudden loud growl of the sentence but more so as Wolfe starting slamming the phone into the cradle. Her fingers halting on her keyboard, going over the list of frequent acts. Unfortunately, the five acts had other commitments causing Tasha to fear tonight. The blonde lady was worried Wolfe could have a breakdown once more.

While Willie snickered to his own words, your eyes, not your mind, could read that Alex wanted to talk to the skater. With only a teasing jab of your elbow in Willie’s ribs you shuffled around the drummer to join Reggie and Luke away from the ‘will they won’t they’ couple.

“So, can you do me a favour?” Luke hesitantly questioned you with his inquisitive eyes a greener colour in the sunlight. His attractive eyes took your full attention with a simple tilt of your head, “Julie’s family means a lot to us, and could you keep an eye on them?”

“And Carlos,” Reggie interjected rocking on his polished pleather boots he had spent ages on finding for his rocker aesthetic back in the ’90s.

“-Julie’s little brother.” Luke supplied at the confusion painted clearly on your pretty features. His green eyes scoured your face as he always did that flushed both his and your faces red.

“Yeah, of course, I can.” You firmly told the two dead boys each standing tense in front of you.

You could easily see the love they held for the living family that had come to mean so much in such a short amount of time. Since first meeting them you had always gotten the feeling that their living years weren’t the best. For Alex, it was living in the ’90s as a young gay teenager during a terrifying time for the LGBTQ+ community. Reggie flinched at the raised voices, and Luke had longingly stared after the happy families milling around the Elysium.

“Did you ever find out what your unfinished business was?” Reggie inquired fixing a strand of his dark hair that had fallen onto his blemish-free skin. Your smile faltered at his question; nonetheless, you answered.

“I did.” The two words carried a sense of pain with them. Your eyes unfocused recalling the euphoric feeling of seeing the breathtaking white light of the peace exuding from the beyond and the agony of denying crossing over.

“How-“

“Hey! Y/N!” Willie called out to the young denim wearing ghost with his beaming grin, “Don’t go stealing buses without me!”

Luke swore he could see your laughter in the air, just as endearing as the smoky quality your voice carried.

“Don’t go glitter bombing criminals.” You returned as your best friend dropped his board to skate off to wherever he was needed. It was bittersweet to reconnect with him knowing that it could be the last time.

When Caleb found out, not an if but a when Willie had a hand in helping his desired band it was high chance Willie would be gone. Caleb was all too powerful, and when he was betrayed, it never ended well.

“I need to get back to Elysium. Susie’s arrival is tonight. Good luck with tonight.” Your words were accompanied by a hug for each of the boys. The one with Luke lingering the most, “I wish you could play for the kids.”

“Yeah. Me too.” The brunette, messy-haired boy’s words carried a hidden desire simply to be in your space more. The teenage ghost helps those in limbo while wearing a jean jacket with patches from many decades. The jacket creating an unknown time you had lived.

“Goodbye, boys.” You told the trio before you poofed away from the busy streets of Hollywood where the band had come full circle in death.

“Are you guys, okay?” Reggie inquired his best friends, forgoing his casual personality for the layers underneath. His blue-green eyes filled with only concern.

Alex and Luke shared a lingering look, “Yeah. We’re okay.”

The dining hall was filled with long tables and chairs populated by the ghostly forms of everyone currently living at Elysium. It was reminiscent of a British book turned film series of youth with magic abilities. The series had been a favourite of a former resident.

“Incredible.” Susie breathed staring at the joyful people having a place to call home. Making the limbo between life and death more bearable.

“We’ve done well. You smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist, “It’s so nice to have you back.”

Elysium was so much more than you could ever hope for. It kept growing and growing with more ghosts. Since the founding of the haven, new developments continuously happened with one resident’s unique ability.

Harvey had joined the haven a year into the founding bringing the ability to gift the residents with the capacity to eat. During his life, Harvey had been a renowned chef and the dream to make food it carried into his death. As long as Harvey cooked the food with his volunteer staff ghosts were able to eat it.

“Harvey has outdone himself again,” Rudy announced his arrival at your side with his arms crossed, displaying his corded muscles. The constellation of moles on his face standing on his pale creamy skin.

“Rudy!” Susie squealed, throwing herself into his arms with the same glee that came each time. Susie and Rudy since their first meeting had a special bond as chosen siblings who bonded over heartache.

Rudy had died, leaving his best friend and his strawberry blonde girlfriend in the living world back in their dark hometown. It was just one tidbit he had revealed throughout your friendship. The only physical connection to his living friends was the three picture on his desk of a group of people.

The first picture had a lean version of Rudy with his arms thrown over a Hispanic boy with a crooked jaw and glimmering brown eyes. The Hispanic boy had his arm around a pretty brunette girl with deep dimples and wavy brown hair. The two boys wore a sports uniform of some kind holding lacrosse sticks.

The second picture had Rudy and the Hispanic teen again but with a beautiful petite strawberry blonde. Along with them was a brunette with blunt chin-length hair and hardened features besides a shorter blonde male with blue eyes.

The last picture was of Rudy with the same Hispanic boy wearing graduation caps and gowns with two beaming adults. The male adult wore a tan shirt adorned with a star on his left pec and dark brown pants. He had to be Rudy’s father with similar features. The woman was of Hispanic descent with laugh lines, and thick dark curly hair pulled into a half do; obviously the Hispanic teen’s mother.

The pain in Rudy’s face each time he saw the pictures closed off a desire to ask him about the people.

“Hello, Susie.” Rudy chuckled, wrapping his arms around her small stature, “How was Europe?”

“Why don’t you ask the five newcomers I found before Caleb?” Susie teased gesturing to the ragtag of new ghosts immersed in conversations.

“Family?”

“A boarding school had a fire. Those five were in the fire when it happened and the only victims out of seven that didn’t cross over.” Susie’s tone faded into a melancholy tone with her small arms wrapping around her middle. Faded brown eyes staring at the younger of the five seeing herself in them.

“That’s terrible.” You whispered, staring at the table with one finger picking the patch of a band from the ’70s, “I can’t imagine how scary that could have been.”

“Yeah.” Susie softly spoke, pushing a strand of her hair off her temple just as equally sad for the way that death had no qualms of how it took.

The youngest ghost in Elysium had been a three-year-old toddler who passed over quickly when he was found by the deceased mother. The two had been separated at death and luckily shared the same unfinished business of finding each other.

“Miss Reynold’s has twelve spirits that finished their business.” Rudy softly informed his two partners. Soft smiles formed on their faces at the happy news of Elysium’s goal being accomplished again.

“May they find everlasting peace and serenity.” Your words intertwined with Susie in perfect sync of the motto coined after the first crossover, “I suppose the Serenity will begin planning?”

“Have the Serenity ever not performed their duty?” Rudy raised one dark eyebrow with a rhetorical question. E/c and faded brown met recalling the countless times Elysium had hosted a celebration for those who found their unfinished business.

“That is-whoa.” You gasped stumbling at the scream echoing in your mind accessorized with the vintage sound of a band.

Calloused hands grasped your shaking form from collapsing onto the ground from a proverbial psionic shove. Agony slammed your brain flickering into an old fashioned club filled with people in both colour or black and white attire. You caught sight of baby pink, deep royal blue and bright red suits. The pained screams of a skater in a dark room overtaking the music in the Club.

“No.” You whispered clenching your hands on your head, feeling the dread building in the pit of your stomach.

The joyful voices in the hall muted while your body flickered with the deep instinct to leave the haven for the one place that utterly terrified you. It was the familiar touch of Susie and Rudy that kept you from finding the one person that meant the world. Willie’s soul was on the cutting board, and Caleb obsession with performing was the only reason Willie still existed.

“Willie.” You whimpered tears rolling down your flushed cheeks, feeling the panic in the skater’s mind.

“Susie help me.” Rudy stonily spoke ushering the distraught girl from the busy hall into an empty room.

Your shaking body finding purchase on the plush sofa with Susie holding one hand in hers and Rudy brushing the sweaty hair from your forehead. It wasn’t often your psionic abilities left you in such a state, but the distance proved difficult.

“Shit.” Rudy grumbled frowning, “This is bad. Y/N, we need to get you to Willie. You’re flickering, and the distance isn’t helping.”

“You want to take one of Elysium’s strongest ghosts straight into Caleb’s domain? You know how much he wants her in his Club.” Susie hissed to the co-founder of the haven they had to take extraordinary measures to protect, “It won’t work! You’re throwing her to the dogs!”

“Susanne I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t necessary. Besides, we always have a plan.” Rudy retorted narrowing his whiskey eyes at the younger girl, “I’ll take her to get Willie, but you need to stay here to make sure everything runs smooth.”

“Are you sure you can-“Susie cut herself off with a nod as Rudy displayed the reason he could do it, “Okay, yep, you can do it.”

Rudy came back into her vision in his signature position with one eyebrow raised, and his arms crossed. The reason why Elysium worked so well was Rudy’s ability to erase an object from the view of anyone. He could make himself invisible to anyone and in practice, developed it to hide items and location. With his ability, Elysium was permanently hidden to anyone outside of his power. Illusions were his unique ability.

“You aren’t the first person to doubt my capability.” Rudy informed the other ghost reaching one hand out. With his fingers caressing your temple, he snapped his fingers, transporting you and him away from Elysium.

The empty room of Elysium’s dining hall was exchanged for the business streets of Los Angeles, bringing an improvement in your body. Pushing away from Rudy, your eyes frantically scoured the unfamiliar area for any hint of Willie.

“He’s close.” You exclaimed closing your e/c eyes to focus solely on your sixth sense kicking in. Rudy’s gasp snapped your eyes open to see his eyes pinned on your feet where a glowing neon purple smoke wisped.

“What is that?” Rudy demanded crouching to touch it, but it was like nothing was there. His whiskey brown eyes meeting your confused gaze.

“I have no clue, but I feel like I have to follow it.” Robotically your feet started walking following the smoke through the streets.

Rudy was silent as you came upon a park swallowed by the darkness of the night with the moon barely showing through the clouds. The odd purple smoke the only offering of light so far from the path with street lights.

“Of course we have to go through a park.” Rudy grumbled, “Nothing good ever happens in wooded areas at night.”

Lifting your eyes from the smoke, you looked at a deeply unsettled Rudy lost in the past only he knew. His mind recalling traipsing through the forest with his asthmatic best friend in the middle of the night. The last night before the unknown took over his life. Oddly enough dying and returning as a ghost was the most normal with everything that happened with his friends alive.

“You can go ba-“

“We’re not splitting up,” Rudy growled plainly scowling at your hesitant features. Rudy’s slammed the door closed on his past life.

Sensing unease Rudy’s calloused hand reached over to slide into yours in platonic support. You continued your mission, unaware that three certain ghosts in breathtaking suits were searching for you.

Alex, Reggie, and Luke, affected by the purple jolts, failed to find the one place where their plan B could work. What Julie hadn’t known was that the guys had a plan just in case the Orpheum wasn’t their unfinished business. The three would go to Elysium to accept their fate and ensure Julie believed they crossed over.

With no Elysium in sight, the boys returned to the Molina garage hoping that one thing would go their way: Julie would go straight to bed.

The glow purple smoke trailed through the city park into an older part of Los Angeles before it stopped. Where the smoke stopped was a vast empty space surrounded by trees.

“Well, that’s a little anticlimactic.” You grumbled crossing your arms, “Willie’s somewhere here. Do you think Caleb has an underground lair?”

Rudy cast an unamused expression at you, “From past experience. No, that’s not likely. He probably has an apartment downtown. An underground network of caves in the woods is more shapeshifter style but still not true.”

“One: You’re rambling. Two: What the hell kind of life did you have?” You questioned furrowing your eyebrows at his rather odd piece of information.

“An old one.” Rudy spoke, staring ahead, “Besides, I think we should check out whatever building is hidden from our sight.”

“Hid-“Your mouth halted when Rudy roughly gripped your shoulders to twist you to face the empty space.

“Close your eyes. Trust your senses.” Rudy spoke softly, “Or pay attention to the slab of concrete in the middle of an empty space with well-kempt grass.”

Your palm slammed your forehead with a resounding thump in the night with distance lights from surrounding buildings. Rudy squeezed your shoulders as he stepped to the side once more in turn, closing his eyes.

“Walk in my mind.” Rudy stated for the first time in your friendship, allowing you to look in his mind. Your hesitance was met with another squeeze of comfort in his calloused grip.

Your tired eyes closed as your mind timidly stepped into the rather breathtaking mind of Rudy, who felt guilt the most. While Susie’s mind was like a summer day spent at a lake with brightness and gorgeous field of flowers, Rudy’s mind was different.

It was dark in Rudy’s mind but not as if evil, but as if he had been touched by the darkness and painted permanently. There’s was the odd whisper of childlike laughter intermingled with the full adult laugh of a woman; the laughter overshadowed with the sound of funeral music. You felt the lose near that memory. Rudy’s mind was painful to be in and drowning in the feelings he had.

Your breath caught seeing a door you assumed was of his childhood room with a name you couldn’t pronounce for the life of you.

“My parents named me after my mom’s dad.” Rudy spoke through his mind with a soft smile on his face, “I couldn’t say it, so I called myself Mischief. I stopped using it when my mom died, and I went by a shortened version of my last name.”

Your eyes watched as the door disappeared, and the reason you were in his mind came back to the forefront. Your eyes watched the image forming of a vintage hotel rippling in the air before it solidified. The size reminded you of a castle, and it felt like you were storming it.

Without any more mental interaction, you stepped out of Rudy’s mind back into the real world. The very same hotel in plain sight to both Rudy and your surprised elation.

“Honestly didn’t think that would work.” Rudy breathlessly laughed, staring at the hotel once hidden to them. A dark comparison to Elysium.

“How do we play this, Rudy?” You inquired looking over at him, “This is very different from stealing cars and scaring teens.”

“Easy. We blend in.” Rudy responded, holding one hand out to grasp yours in which you noticed your attire had changed, “Perks of illusion? I can alter our own perception of ourselves.”

“Oh, wow. That looks expensive.” You replied, staring at the diamond bracelet on your wrist matching the necklace you wore.

Rudy’s attire had changed from his normal button-up with the sleeves rolled to be layered under a charcoal grey vest and jacket. Sleek matching pants to his coat and the dark black-tie matching the elegant black dress you wore. He had taken pity on your footwear to fit your ability to walk and for the fancy place.

He even had diamond cufflinks that matched you, but the wedding rings on your fingers took you aback. Your widened eyes staring at him.

“Tonight we’re Mr and Mrs Martin,” Rudy spoke choking on the last name he gave as it was the upscale name toppled from his lips.

“Okay. This is a test of our abilities.”

“This is if our plan A of being invisible doesn’t work. The one thing we know for sure is that Caleb has never seen either one of us.” Rudy soothed your nerves with a half-smile,” Let’s get Willie out.”

Your arm slipped into the crook of his to walk to the front door, “I feel like a spy. I feel like that Naomi Roma-“

“It’s Natasha Romanoff. Have you ever seen one of the marvel movies?” Rudy demanded walking up the entrance with a pained smile, “You’re like my best friend and when he wouldn’t watch Star Wars! Never caught one of my references!”

“Okay! Sorry, we can watch the movies when this over.” You grumbled as your heels clicked in the foyer of the hotel. The inside made you feel like you were sent back in time to the roaring ’20s.

“Oh damn, this is nice,” Rudy whispered, staring at the chandelier in the extravagant lobby of the last place you wanted to be.

While on the outside the two ghosts appeared cool, calm and collected they were anything but. Both a wreck inside from the perilous errand they had done that could very well be the ending of Elysium. Rudy nudged you to begin finding Willie with your mind, but you didn’t need to.

That same glowing mist was on the ground pulling you in the direction of a dark hall away from the route to the Club. Rudy kept his eye out, a characteristic carried into the afterlife from his time with the FBI, as you followed the mist. The hall continued to get more and more dark as the walk continued.

Finally at the end was a blood-red door.

“I swear to god if he kills his Club members, I’ll lose it.” You hissed to your arm candy, “What if he’s really H. H. Holmes disguised as a former magician? His door is blood red!”

“Have you been using your serial killer colouring book again?” Rudy demanded stuttering his steps to place his whiskey brown eyes on you. The sheepish expression on your face was enough of a response to gain the look of disbelief could have sent you into hysterics had the time not been too serious.

With a grin belying the situation, you twisted your wrist to open the door to hopefully where Willie was being held.

“What a cliché. He’s keeping Willie in the basement?”

“Will you shut up!” Rudy hissed right back with a clenched jaw entering the somewhat unfinished basement. It was cold even to your dead standards where the cold didn’t bother that much.

At the bottom in front of a desk with only a small lamp as illumination sat a vacant-eyed Willie painstakingly detailing a fabric. The lush purple velvet fabric was bougie, to say the least, and rather outlandish for the skater.

“Willie.” You softly coaxed the teen to glance up from the fabric you found to be something Caleb would wear. Willie’s brown eyes barely met yours before they returned to the sewing needle in his hand and the tiny beads in the bowl.

“Caleb is actually forcing him to be his personal seamstress?” Rudy scoffed,d stepping right up by your side to look at the work.

Both trying unsuccessfully to coaxed Willie out of the stupor he was engaged in the sudden poofing wasn’t heard.

“Mrs. Young taught both Willie and Kayla how to sew. She’s quite the seamstress, reminds me of my old one.” Caleb wistfully responded with a smarmy smile on his face, “Well if it isn’t little Y/N and whoever she brought. Nice threads.”

“Let him go.”

Caleb’s index finger caressed the corner of his mouth so gently to ensure the stage makeup didn’t budge. His clear ocean blue eyes turning thunderstorm navy as his lips parted in such a bone-chilling sinister grin.

“Let him go? He tried to take my new house band from me. He thinks that those boys not crossing over is his punishment. I think that adorable but so very wrong.” Caleb shrugged, dragging his finger down the bicep of his puppet.

“What can we do to- “

“You see after he’s done fixing the tuxedo jacket I’m going to tie him up on the table and slowly strip away his soul piece by piece. No, Willie won’t get the quick and easy zap erasing him. I’ll personally see it’s the most painful thing he experiences and I’ll do so happily.”

“Willie! Wake up!” Rudy shouted, shaking the skater’s shoulder frantically with his focus never entirely leaving the mad man. The whiskey brown eyes panicking at the odd displaced feeling of reliving his living life.

“That won’t work.” Caleb chuckled crossing his arms, “It’s rather amusing you think you can beat me. I’m Caleb Covington! I’m persuasive enough for hundred of memberships to financially benefit the Club.”

“And I’m Y/N Y/L/N bitch.” You snarled viciously throwing your mind into the nefarious narcissistic mind of the washed-up magician.

Caleb Convington had started to bore his audience with the same tricks at every previous show. The lack of interest depleting the attendance numbers and severely hurting the financials. So Caleb decided to broaden his talent by copying the likes of Harry Houdini.

He had a knack for both the dramatics and swindling his audience to be tricked by the illusions he created. The heightened popularity increased Caleb’s thirst for status and fame, so he overestimated himself.

Surrounded by adoring fans and journalists, Caleb had his assistant lock him in a safe with no key, to the audience’s knowledge, and push the safe into the river. Unfortunately from the infamous magician and escape artist the safe warped due to the material it as made out of. Caleb Covington died drowning in a safe at the bottom of the river.

You flinched feeling the emotion at the time Caleb had died and the feeling of disappointment at not leaving a legacy. Your continued your trek in the struggling mind of a man who viewed himself as invincible. You caught glimpses of a young Caleb with his family and the moments of tragedy that shaped him.

You saw his first taste of power in death and the content since the first time he erased a ghost from existence. It sickened you more as you reached the point where Willie came into Caleb’s path.

I’m unique, Caleb. Unlike you with the illusions and empty promises, I have real power that you could only dream of. Hearing your thoughts and planting my own words is just the tip of the iceberg.

Caleb screamed in response holding his aching head as you cruelly ripped every memory of Willie from his mind. The screams echoed not only in the basement but through the hotel the Club worked out of.

“Stop!” Caleb pleaded, shaking his head back and forth. The anguish was un-fazing to both the lucid people in the room. Rudy too busy trying to wake your best friend from the trance he had been placed in.

“I can alter memories. Remove them and even plant memories of my own design. You may take from people, but I give to people. I refused to give you anything.” You circled the man seeing double from outside and inside his mind.

I’m everything you wish you could be.

Your last action in his mind was searing a burn that flashed across his entire body from a nerve stroked. With the heat equivalent to magma in his veins, you burrowed to where Caleb controlled the souls. With a smear of your fingers, Willie’s soul was released from Caleb clutches.

“C’mon. Get Willie.” You told Rudy sending Caleb into an empty trance as if he was no more than a wax figure. Rudy eased the skater up from the desk while you exchanged Caleb to sit on the chair holding the needle, “We need to leave. I’ll get rid of any speck of Willie in memories.”

“I didn’t even get to punch the guy.” Rudy pouted, dragging his feet up the stairs away from the magician.

“That’s a good thing. I’m sure Caleb would be more pissed about his nose being damaged than losing Willie.” You scoffed helping the man urge Willie to walk up the stairs and then down the hallway to the entrance.

As you walked you brushed the minds of every individual in the building, all members in attendance, you gently removed all traces of Willie. By the time you reached the edge of the park, you had relaxed.

“We should get him to Alex, they didn’t crossover. I can still feel their imprint.”

“He’d be safer at Elysium to lay low.” Rudy replied, keeping on eye on the skater and on anyone he could see.

With only a nod, you ushered the ghost to teleport both the skater and himself back to the safe walls of Elysium. As he did so, you reached out with your mind to the blonde-haired sweet male in adoration with your best friend.

Clicking his place was easy enough for your draining power after the taxing bond with Willie’s absent presence. Instead of walking as you would generally choose you poofed on the cement pad in the backyard of a home. The surrounding skirt of the backyard encased with plants and flowers.

“Hello?” You called out in the darkness. The soft, mumbled words had your feet moving in the direction.

Standing in a circle mesmerized at the purple tattoos lifting off their skin was the boys of Julie and the Phantoms. The teenage beautiful Puerto Rican girl stood across from Luke with Reggie and Alex on each side.

“Alex?” You called out to the boy wearing a baby pink vintage tuxedo that complimented his skin and hair exquisitely. The outfit definitely screamed that Caleb had something to do with it, especially with the missing fanny pack.

“Y/N?” Luke gasped turning to see you in incredibly fancy attire matching his gorgeous blue suit modified to having no sleeves. The anticipation of eating at you to find Reggie rocking a red suit with butterflies on the fabric.

“I’m sorry you didn’t crossover.” Your words soothed the sad teenagers that had accepted their fate only to have no control again. An introduction was brought between you and Julie when the living girl elbowed Alex.

“Not that we mind but what are you doing here? How did you get here, and why are you dressed up?” Luke inquired, pushing his hands into his suit pockets, engrossed with your gorgeous appearance.

“Well when you crash a fancy Club with a narcissistic founder…any means to blend in is necessary.” You responded, “As for your second question.”

Your finger tapped your temple before continuing to speak, “I’m here because Alex deserves to know. You all do.”

The boy in baby pink frantically stepped forward, “What happened?”

“Maybe it’s best, I just show you?” Your brows furrowed to your own question accompanied by your lower lip being bitten by your teeth. The red lipstick not budging as it was an illusion as well.

“Hu-“Reggie grunted as he spiralled with his two dead bandmates into the scene that had sent you on your determined mission.

The rough action of being drawn into your memories as jarring as the first time and just as scary. The maniacal magician pacing the dark basement simply to heighten his dramatic speech. Alex’s heart clenched at the vacant look in the skater’s eyes with the faintest tinge of purple in the gorgeous brown.

“I feel like I got carsick.” Reggie moaned leaning over to clutch his midsection once you released the ghostly trio. Reggie would often gain a look of disbelief and horror from the blonde drummer, but his entire brain was centred on Willie.

“Rudy took Willie back to Elysium where he’ll be safe. If you want, you can join us.” The words were offered to both the dead and living currently in the room.

Opting out, Julie retired to her bedroom to calm down from the rush of performing at the Orpheum of all places. Besides she felt like going to Elysium was best for the three boys, and maybe they would move there. Julie would miss them, but she knew they’d always come back.

Susie was quick to hug you tightly as you stepped through the gates with the dead members of Julie’s band. The boys changed out of the tuxedos they had dropped off at a donation centre, Reggie had wanted to burn them. After living on the streets for a short while, Luke understood the need for clothing, so the clothing was taken to shelters.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. Rudy told me you overexerted yourself again.” Susie spoke with a deeply furrowed brow oblivious to the puppy dog look from the bassist in red flannel.

“If I didn’t, Willie would be gone.”

“You’re pale yet flushed cheeks. I can see you have a fever. You need to rest.”

“I need to soothe Willie out of the trance that psychotic prick put him in.” You scoffed shaking Susie’s hand off your shoulder to sidestep her, “I’ll rest when he’s fine.”

“I-“

“At least gab something from the cafeteria for energy.” Susie’s brown eyes dimmed at your typical brush off. The same routine of overusing your powers and not recharging correctly, “He’s in Cottage A!”

The boys were on your heels as you power-walked through the streets of the ghost city with one location in mind. The living streets with homes of all style and colours appeared passed the bakery, the school and the clothing stores.

“You can eat?” Reggie whispered as a little ghost girl licked an ice cream cone walked by.

“Harvey adored cooking for people when he living, so he continued in death. Harvey can make food for ghosts, and so can his staff if they work in his kitchen. His pastry chef provides baked goods to Flora’s Bakery and makes the best ice cream.”

“Oh my god.” Reggie practically squealed wholly flabbergasted by the almost perfect place you created, “How do you pay for things?”

“We don’t. What Harvey doesn’t grow in his garden, he can make ingredients out of thin air. We all have some kind of job we do. Everyone has a role in fulfilling to keep Elysium running.” You simply spoke keeping your eyes on the cottage with the robin’s egg blue door.

As if he knew Rudy flung the door open elated to see you standing there. Both of you still wearing the illusioned attire. IN milliseconds he wiped the illusion away, returning you back into your street clothes.

“How is he?”

“No change.” Rudy replied, following your steps in the living room. The skater was staring blankly at the wall.

“Willie!” Alex cried, rushing over to kneel beside the boy that had so swiftly stolen his heart without him realizing. The emotion in his word didn’t get a microscopic flinch from the formerly so-called enemy.

“Everyone be quiet.” You demanded forcibly staring each person in the room down for a mere second. With the desired silence continued, you ignored the headache forming in your head to step into the skater’s mind.

William Young was screaming to be released by the prison of his own mind Caleb had forced him into. He had felt the restriction on his soul lifted and the mist of purple leaving his brain, but he was still stuck.

He could barely breathe with the weight on his chest. Willie didn’t like feeling stuck in one place as he was a wanderer at heart. It was a reason why he had joined the Hollywood Ghost Club with the promise of travel.

Willie come back

In his mind, the sound of your voice firstly grounded the young man as a mirage of your form flickered. Your eyes screamed worry while the smile was one of relief.

Caleb can’t hurt you anymore. Come home.

The spectators watching see your flinching wavering expression and the tensing of Willie’s facial muscles. Everyone sat on the edge of their seat as the two pairs eyes opened in synch of the yells of hurt.

What they didn’t expect was your eyes to roll into the back of your skull and you to collapse onto the floor.

“Y/N!” Willie cried, stumbling off the couch onto the cold floor where your body lay prone, “Wake up!”

It seemed everyone forgot the little detail of being dead.

“She’s fine.” Rudy remarked, shaking your arm with such gentle care matching the four guys’ care in the room.

Your eyelids fluttered open under the bright lights of the unused cottage still waiting for an owner.

“Susie was right.” You grumbled allowing Willie to help you sit up against the blue velvet couch. Your mussed hair adorable in the eyes of the guitarist utterly enamoured with everything about you.

“She usually is.” Rudy mused, thinking of the many times she had proven everyone wrong, “She punched me for not bringing you home.”

“Gotta love her.” You snorted turning to face the four ghosts awkwardly gazing around the room. It was barren of personality with the lack of inhabitants. The yearning quickly found in the boys’ eyes, “You know this isn’t the only cottage in need of people.”

“What do-“

“You’re welcome to live here. I know you three live in that studio, but here you can have a real bed. You can eat and having your own place. You can come and go as you please.” You offered without looking, Rudy.

“I don’-“

“If you don’t want to live here, it’s okay, but the option is always there. Willie, we make plans for a skatepark-“

“Oh, you had me from the start.” Willie beamed tugging you into his arms, “I missed this. I missed you.”

“Me too.” You murmured into his warm embrace equally relaxed at knowing he was safe again. Your eyes clashing with the soft blue had Ideas songwriting already filled with lyrics of a pretty girl wearing a jean jacket with patches.

The lyrics turned into songs both in the studio and the cottage that Luke, Reggie and Alex accepted in Elysium. It had been a spirited discussion with Julie on moving to Elysium, but the boys were always there when she wasn’t in school. Often Elysium hosted a concert for the residents with the visitation of Julie.

Your reciprocated attraction with the messy-haired hazel-eyed guitarist flourished into a serious relationship. Luke took on the role of teaching how to play the guitar and songwriting. Alex took of mediation while Reggie worked with Harvey.

Willie quickly took on designing the skatepark he taught at while also taking a position at the ghost school.

“Morning.” The soft whisper roused your sleep into the golden glow of the morning light and chirping birds.

The growling aspect of his voice coming from only just waking up. The sight of Luke’s bleary eyes was heartwarming.

A year into moving into Elysium, Luke had asked if you’d like to move in as he was the only one in the original house. Alex had moved into the little cottage with Willie three months into the relationship while Reggie was going back and forth between Susie’s room and his own place.

“Morning.” You hummed leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

“You know I thought my life ended when I died. That I could never find someone and have a family. That I couldn’t share my music with the world. I was wrong.” Luke murmured as he cupped your cheek in his hand, “The band is growing more and more each day. I found the love of my life, and we have a family with everyone. I haven’t felt like I had had home for so long, but I get it now. You’re my home. I love you.”

Your cheeks warmed up at the adoration Luke displayed in his expressive hazel green gaze just as it had since day one. The awe fell from his lips before you pressed a kiss to his lips, only one of the many in the eons to come.

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#luke patterson imagines #luke patterson x reader #julie and the phantoms imagines #luke patterson x y/n #julie and the phantoms #luke patterson #alex mercer x willie #jatp fanfic #jatp luke #charlie gillespie imagines #sunset curve #jatp au #caitsy and ash productions

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kineticallyanywhere · 3 years

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Are you getting kinda tired of the Glenn arc dragging on or is it just me?

I understand your exhaustion (my early predictions for how long Jodie would be around were certainly much shorter than this) but burn-out hasn’t really hit me, I don’t think. I’ll try to explain a couple reasons

One, the way the Supperbowl and Oakveil (Oakvale? sometimes it’s called The Oakveil, so idk what to think) ended before their anchors could be properly dealt with (or, in Henry’s case, his character arc; put on panicked pause for him to shove away the worst parts of, very on-brand) tells me that both their arcs are getting a Part 2. Glenn, on the other hand, needs (and is getting) all of his focused development in one go, because (Anthony help him) this disaster man cannot be trusted to retain character momentum unless pushed with the force of a bus. Basically, I’m confident in this arc actually ending with an anchor being finished off. He’s been the plot driver for (checks episodes...) shoot, 6 months now, but I’m sure the others will make up the difference.

Second, his arc has kind of already become two arcs? I was just thinking yesterday about how the trial and the prison are like one big “Escape from Meth Bay” arc, and then what comes after (which we’re 2 episodes into) is the fallout of that. And the fall-out has been so off-the-wall in every episode (we go from book trivia, to 6-player death-tyrant fight, to a body swap) that I haven’t been able to process the idea of getting tired of what’s happening

Third, the other players are so good about keeping up their own stuff in the background that it’s hard for me to say that any of their arcs have really stopped. I’m loving all this time we have to just stew in the Darryl and Paeden’s dad-son-son-dad dynamic thing that’s happening; every time Henry just busts out an OP spell without having to think about why he knows it or how he’s doing it on accident I am just so happy for him [building his place as the party’s canon, he can cast Sunbeam now watch tf out Willy]; and Ron stops being Ron exactly never so he and his heartbreaking yet wholesome self are always great. Ron’s stuff is also helped by the fact that Willy has cameoed in every arc so far.

I hope any of those run-on sentences made sense. tl;dr it has been long, and I understand if you’re waiting for it to finish at this point (am also kinda wondering how many we’ve got left until we know what’s up with Nick) but I don’t really mind and I’m having a good time

#me talking #ask ka #dndads #dndaddies #dungeons and daddies #sorry i wrote so much #i also didn't expect to write so much #Anonymous

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nicknellie · 3 years

Text

Anonymous requested: While on a walk to clear his head, Alex is attacked by Caleb as a warning to him and his friends. Shaken, he refuses to tell the band what happened, but he does tell Willie who is furious and protective. Fluffy ending. (This was edited/simplified just to make it shorter.)

Oooh, this was a really good request! All the details were really helpful too, so thank you for that. I really enjoyed writing it, especially the fluff at the end. I really hope this is the sort of thing you were after. Thank you for requesting it, I hope you like it!

TW: injury, blood.

Tripwire

It was safe to say that since Alex and the boys had left the dark room there had been a lot to process. Being dead, for a start. Adjusting to being a ghost had been a whole other ordeal too. Meeting Julie, forming the band, everything that had gone down with Caleb. Willie. Throughout those few months it had been non-stop, one thing after another, and Alex hadn’t had any time to slow down or take a break, not one single moment to really think about what was going on.

Now, somehow, all the difficult stuff was over and done with. Nobody had seen Caleb in weeks, Alex had managed to free Willie from the stamp, and the band had five more gigs lined up, plus a record deal on the horizon. While things were still definitely busy, it wasn’t so constant anymore. Alex finally had the time to just take a breather – or whatever the ghost version of a breather was, seeing as he couldn’t actually breathe. He had settled on his tried and tested method of going for a walk to clear his head to take the time to wrap his mind around it all.

The freedom of teleportation was nice, but it was definitely one of Alex’s least favourite ghost abilities. He couldn’t help but worry he’d somehow end up in the wrong place every time he did it, or that he’d poof out and never reappear anywhere else. It didn’t have the safety of walking through walls or being heard and seen when the band played together. And it might have been freeing, but it wasn’t nearly as freeing as just walking. Walking was slow and repetitive and methodical, rhythmic in a way that was relaxing. When Alex walked he didn’t have to think about where he was going – he could just let his feet take him there while his mind wandered elsewhere.

So that’s what he did. As he walked through the streets of Hollywood, Alex let his mind wander. He thought about everything that had happened since they came back, everything that might have happened in the twenty-five years before that, and everything that could happen in the future. Alex didn’t often think about the future; he didn’t like dwelling on things that were out of his control and the future was certainly that. But as he thought about it then, it didn’t seem quite so daunting – after all, nothing bad had happened in weeks.

As he was nearing the Orpheum, Alex suddenly felt as if something was wrong. It was an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach, a bad feeling that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Dread, maybe. Or perhaps just the intuitive feeling that something was coming and it couldn’t be anything good.

Ahead of him, no more than ten feet away, a mist was gathering, a light lilac cloud spinning faster and faster until it was so thick that Alex couldn’t see through it, growing taller and taller, wider and wider. The cloud spun so fast that Alex could feel wind rush past him from the movement of it, but it was gone as soon as it had come. The cloud dissipated with a soft whoosh, leaving behind a few sparkles drifting on the breeze it had created, and stood where the cloud had been was Caleb Covington.

While he wasn’t happy to see Caleb again after so long, Alex was glad to see he hadn’t lost his flair for the dramatic.

He knew he wouldn’t have time to get away, but he still considered it. Maybe if he ran instead of walking he could get away. He considered poofing out, but his mind had gone completely blank of places to poof to – all he could think of when looking at Caleb was the Hollywood Ghost Club, and going there was nothing short of the worst idea he could ever have had. So he stayed put, staring Caleb down, trying to stop the shaking of his hands and the hammering of his non-existent heart.

“Hello, Alex,” Caleb drawled. His hands were folded atop his cane and he wore a purple suit so dark it almost looked black, his cape wafting ever so slightly in the breeze, his top hat perched neatly on his head. Childishly, Alex wondered if he had the courage to walk up to him and knock the hat off his head. “Long time no see.”

“What do you want?” Alex demanded, trying to sound as if he wasn’t desperate to run away. He was aware that Caleb probably knew just how scared he really was, but if he didn’t show his nerves then he might have been able to convince himself that he wasn’t really frightened.

Caleb tutted. “Come now, is that really how you greet an old friend? I might have expected it from Luke but certainly not from you, Alex. I’m only here to see how you’re getting on without me!”

It felt like a trap, but Alex didn’t know what tripwire he was supposed to avoid.

“We’re doing fine,” he said firmly. “We don’t need you.”

“So you keep telling me,” Caleb replied. He flexed his hands, still grasping his cane. “Tell me, Alex – how did you and your little buddies manage to free yourselves from my stamp, hm?”

“Why should I tell you that?” Alex spat. It was a braver way of saying ‘we have no idea’.

“Oh, I don’t think you should,” Caleb admitted. “If you told me how you did it there would be dire consequences for you and your friends, but it would be extremely helpful to me. If you want to keep this newfound freedom with your silly little band, you shouldn’t tell me how you got the stamp off.”

“Then I’m not telling you,” Alex said.

“But,” Caleb continued, a malicious twinkle in his eyes, “if you want to walk away from this little chat unharmed then I suggest you tell me everything.”

Up until then, Alex thought he had been doing a very good job at standing his ground, maybe even looking a little intimidating. But the threat broke him. He felt himself freeze, his mind halt, and suddenly he was far weaker than the man in front of him.

“Unharmed?” he repeated. “What do you mean ‘unharmed’?”

Caleb cocked his head to the side like he didn’t understand the question. “Isn’t it obvious?” When Alex didn’t say anything, Caleb chuckled darkly. It sent shivers down Alex’s spine and made his stomach twist sickeningly. “Alex, if you refuse to tell me exactly how you got my stamp off, I am going to hurt you. And let me tell you, you’d be surprised just how much you can make someone hurt even after they’re dead and gone.”

Alex’s mind was spinning. There was no good option here, no way out. Caleb had trapped him in yet another impossible situation. He cursed himself for not poofing out while he had the chance.

But it didn’t matter how scared he was now, he would not let his friends suffer just to stave off his own pain. He had to take one for the team, even if he was dreading it. The smirk on Caleb’s face said that he knew he had won this round no matter what, smug and self-satisfied. Alex wanted to slap the smile right off his face, but he refused to give him the satisfaction of a fight.

He steeled himself, set his jaw, tried to look like as much of a threat as he could. “I’m not telling you anything. Nothing you do can make me talk. Do your worst.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow, looking almost amused, but he nodded. “Alright then. You’ve made your decision. I can’t say I’m surprised – you’re not as weak-willed as you look. But you’re still weak. I can still hurt you.”

He tucked his cane under his arm and stalked towards Alex. Too late, Alex wondered if he could have taken that brief opportunity to run away, but he would never know because Caleb grabbed his wrist. It was just like how he’d put the stamp on, a quick touch and a slight sting. When he let go, Alex looked at where his hand had been – there was a blood red mark there, swirling on his skin. Its shape constantly changed, but Alex was sure he picked out a blade before it twisted and morphed into something else.

“What is it?” he asked Caleb.

“You’ll soon see,” he replied, already walking away. He threw the words over his shoulder as he left Alex alone. “Consider this a warning to you and your friends. Willie, too. It isn’t over. There is plenty more I can do to make you suffer. It’s up to you to decide whether you’re willing to put yourselves through all of this just to stay away from me. I’ll see you soon, Alex.”

And he was gone.

For a moment, Alex was confused. This stamp, whatever it was, didn’t seem to be doing anything. It was just moving about on his skin, as fluid as water, like a cool tattoo. He wondered – hoped – if Caleb’s spell hadn’t worked.

But then it hit him. It felt as if he’d been struck by lightning and hit by a bus at the exact same time, unimaginable pain slamming into him and knocking him right off his feet. It was infinitely worse than the pain of the jolts Caleb had inflicted on them before which should have been impossible because those felt like death. And yet there he was, lying on the ground, winded and light-headed, pain surging through his body, unable to move.

Another one. This time it felt like he’d been kicked in the temple and had his face stamped on. He was sure his nose was broken even though that probably shouldn’t have been possible. He lifted a weak, shaking hand to his face and touched his upper lip – when his hand came away, his fingertips were drenched in blood. Alex had been sure that ghosts didn’t have blood, so he wondered whether he’d been wrong or if this was some sort of sick illusion Caleb had created. He decided it didn’t matter, not when he was vulnerable and hurting, in agony worse than dying.

Again, like being stabbed in the gut.

Again, like he’d broken his legs.

Again, like a knife twisted in his back.

It went on and on, attack after attack, pain after searing pain. It hurt too much for him to even scream for help, not that it would have done any good. All around him, lifers walked by without a care in the world, not knowing that he was right there, a snivelling wreck, bloodied and bruised. He curled in on himself and waited for it all to be over.

Eventually, it finished. The last jolt came like a punch to the jaw and when nothing else happened for fifteen minutes, Alex began to come to his senses. He opened his eyes and eased himself up into a sitting position. Even that hurt like hell. He studied his body – his legs, even though they felt like they had been snapped in half, seemed fine; there were a few bruises on his arms, but nothing major; every aching joint was killing him and his head was pounding; again, he touched his upper lip and felt blood crusted there, but none of it was fresh enough to be wet.

He could only imagine how pathetic he looked.

How was he going to explain all this to his friends?

Never mind an explanation – he needed to warn them.

Slowly, he picked himself up off the ground. He regretted it immediately as his head started swimming, he swayed on his feet, almost slumping right back down to the ground. He wouldn’t let himself be beaten by this, he wouldn’t show anymore weakness. His vision blurred (by pain or unshed tears, it was impossible to tell), he focused as much as he could on the studio and forced himself to poof back there.

The feeling of teleportation was uncomfortable at the best of times, but in such a state Alex couldn’t have imagined anything worse. He landed in the studio, his feet hitting the floor with such force that it sent shockwaves up his spine, nothing compared to what he’d just been through but still unbelievably painful. Distantly, he could hear his friends stop talking, muffled and indistinct voices crowding all around him, their faces swimming in front of his eyes.

“Alex,” came a voice. Maybe Julie’s, maybe Luke’s, maybe Reggie’s, maybe none of them. “Alex, buddy, you alright? Come on, speak to us, Alex. What happened? Alex? Alex?”

There was little strength in his arms, but he used it to push them all away and staggered his way to the couch. He collapsed onto it, suddenly feeling weak, somehow more vulnerable than he’d felt lying on the ground as Caleb’s stamp beat him bloody. He checked his wrist now – the stamp was gone.

He came back to himself a little at that; if the stamp was gone, he couldn’t be hurt anymore. He was alright now, he was with his friends, Caleb was nowhere to be seen. But knowing that didn’t stop the tears pooled in his eyes from sliding down his cheeks or his hands from shaking so intensely they might fall off his body. Someone – no, not just someone, it was Julie – crouched down in front of him and gently laid a hand on his knee.

He jerked away from the touch like it burned him.

“Alex,” came Julie’s soft voice. “Alex, please look at me. What happened?”

All he could do in response was shake his head and curl in on himself, body heaving with every sob he was too weak to suppress.

“Alex,” Reggie tried. Alex felt the couch cushions depress next to him as Reggie sat beside him. “It’s alright, man. You’re safe here with us.”

“You’re not alone, Alex,” came Luke’s voice. “Just tell us what happened. Who did this to you?”

But still Alex could only shake his head.

No one said anything for a while. The only sound in the studio was Alex’s laboured breathing and ragged sobs. He’d never felt so pathetic in all his life and death – he could make it through torture without crying like this, and yet just being around his friends after the fact was enough to set him off. He felt useless, he hadn’t even tried to stop Caleb in any way. He’d let this happen, he was the reason he was hurt. This was all his fault.

After a while, he heard the sound of one of the boys poofing out, presumably Luke because Alex could still feel Reggie sat beside him. Only a minute or so later, there was the sound of someone poofing back in, but Luke wasn’t alone now.

“Alex?”

His haggard breathing stopped altogether as Alex opened his eyes to see Willie in front of him, crouched down where Julie had been before. There was a soft smile on their face, reassuring, but Alex wasn’t blind to the tears in their eyes. Alex timidly reached out a hand to him and Willie interlocked their fingers.

“I’m here,” Willie said, his voice wavering. “I’m here for you, hotdog.”

At that, fresh tears began streaming down Alex’s face. He pulled Willie to him, wrapping him in a fierce embrace, holding them so tight that it made his new injuries sear with pain, but he never wanted to let go. The pain was worth every bit of comfort that simply holding Willie provided, every moment, every second, everything.

“We’ll give you guys a minute,” Julie said quietly.

“What?” Luke protested. “No way, I want to find out who hurt Alex and I want to hurt them.”

“Luke,” Julie said, gentle but firm. “That’ll come later. I’m sure we’ll find out everything, but right now we shouldn’t surround him.”

Alex, still holding Willie like his afterlife depended on it, heard the three of them reluctantly leave him and Willie behind. He was grateful for the most part, but a little bit of him still wanted them there. It would have been harder to tell them all what had happened at once, but he would have preferred not to repeat the story.

Willie just held him. They didn’t press for him to talk, didn’t let go before Alex was ready, he just held him in his arms and occasionally whispered, “I love you. You’re safe. I’m here.”

Alex couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have someone like Willie care for him.

Eventually, he pulled away. It hurt to see Willie’s face streaked with tears, especially knowing it was because of him. Alex softly tucked a lock of hair behind their ear.

“I was out for a walk,” he rasped, his voice strained from crying. “Clearing my head. Like the day we first met. Same place and everything. Then there was this weird cloud and Caleb appeared. He said if I didn’t tell him how we got the stamps off then he’d hurt me.”

“Oh, Alex,” Willie breathed. Alex could see their heart breaking.

“I wouldn’t tell him. It’s not like we know anyway. So he… he put this other stamp on me – it was like, red and swirly and it looked like…”

“Death,” Willie finished for him. Alex nodded, looking at the ground, trying to still his breathing again. “It looked like death.”

“It felt like it too,” Alex said dryly. “Or worse.” He choked on his words, remembered it all, broke again.

He fell limply to the side, but Willie caught him, pulled him into a hug as he cried. There were images racing through his mind, one after the other – Caleb’s mirthless laughter and sly smirk, the stamp dripping across his skin, himself lying on the ground covered in his own blood. He still hadn’t figured out if that blood had been real or an illusion, but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore because right that moment he felt as if he couldn’t breathe and his legs were numb and the walls were closing in and he was losing his grip on reality and losing his grip on Willie and–

“Come back, Alex,” Willie said, his voice cutting through Alex’s hopeless thoughts. “You’re not there anymore. It’s over. You survived. You are in Julie’s garage, I’m holding you, nothing can get to you. Come back, Alex.”

Slowly, Alex dragged himself down from his thoughts. He focused on the feeling on his hands clutching Willie’s hoodie, the tickle of Willie’s hair against his cheek, the warmth of Willie’s hands on his back. He focused on Willie and it brought him back.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t apologise,” Willie told him, sounding almost outraged. He watched as Willie took a moment to collect himself, and when they spoke again their voice was much calmer. “You have nothing to apologise for. None of this was your fault. Please tell me you know that.”

Alex couldn’t have truthfully said so, and he wouldn’t lie to Willie. Bottom lip trembling as he held back yet more tears, he remained silent.

“Alex, this wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known Caleb was going to attack you. You couldn’t have predicted any of this. And it could have happened to any one of us. We all would have done the same thing. You made it through, Alex. This wasn’t your fault and you’re not weak for getting hurt.”

After a moment’s pause, Alex weakly repeated back to them, “This wasn’t my fault.”

Willie pressed a kiss to the top of Alex’s head. “Good. Please remember that. You don’t need to feel guilty about this, alright?”

All he did was nod, closing his eyes and resting his head on Willie’s chest.

“I can explain the stamp if you want,” Willie said, carding his fingers through Alex’s hair. “It has some fancy Latin name that I can’t remember. When Caleb uses it on someone, it takes the most pain they’ve ever been in, and it multiplies it by a thousand. It’s a good thing he can’t use it on lifers because if he did it would kill them with the first jolt.”

“I’m not surprised,” Alex deadpanned.

“The first time he used it on me I thought he was trying to kill me. Again. Or force me to cross over somehow.”

At that, Alex sat up and stared at Willie, wide-eyed. “The first time?”

Gently, Willie pulled Alex back to his lap and laid him down again. “He would use it on me if ever I stepped really out of line. The last time was the day you guys performed at the Orpheum. But I’m free now, so as long as we avoid Caleb it’ll never happen again. If we all avoid him – me, you, Luke, Reggie – then none of us have to get hurt.”

“I don’t think we can avoid whatever he’s got planned,” Alex mumbled.

“Maybe not,” Willie admitted. “But let’s not think about that now. Right, hotdog? I mean, you made it out today. Let’s focus on that. Is there anything you want to do?”

Alex thought for a moment but all he came up with was: “I just want to sleep. And I want you to hold me.”

He could hear Willie’s smile in their voice. “Of course. Whatever you want, Alex.”

Alex felt his eyes drifting closed, sleep catching up with him all at once, the exhaustion being a by-product of the agony. He didn’t mean to say it, but he heard his tired voice breathe, “I love you.”

And just before he fell asleep, he heard Willie whisper back, “I love you too, Alex. Sleep well.”

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fiddlepickdouglas · 3 years

Text

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 17 - With Him

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, how will it go in the end?, 4.8k

@trevor-wilson-covington is the bestie who makes these lovely edits, we stan supportive friends

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16

One finger tapped on the strap of his fanny pack as Alex listened for the right bus stop to be called. If all those months since he’d seen Willie had been long, this past week had been longer. Especially since the news about Caleb had hit hard and every minute in the studio now felt like the band was precariously teetering on the edge of a cliff. He was going to try not to let any of that get in his way today, though. He’d made it to Saturday and Willie was only a few streets away, and he didn’t care what happened for the rest of the day - it was going to be good.

Finally he heard the next stop announced for where he needed to get off and he pulled the cord that told the driver to make a stop. Stepping onto the sidewalk, his heart bounced around in its chamber like the Tazmanian devil from Looney Tunes. He was glad that Willie lived in the basement of the apartment building he occupied because it would’ve been the worst if Alex forgot which room he was in and spent hours frantically knocking doors.

It was hard to tell if he was moving quickly or if his mind was just racing, but in either case, he eventually found himself at the door. For a second, he simply took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, trying to get a visual of Willie immediately pouncing on him the moment the door opened out of his head. It wouldn’t exactly be unwelcome, but Alex was realizing how desperate he was to be with him and was amazed at how it affected his imagination.

Lifting a hand, he made sure he knocked loudly. Soon after, the door opened, and Alex was greeted with shining brown eyes, silky, gorgeous brown hair styled into two braids, and a smile he could make home in. Willie.

“Hey, come on in!” Willie was saying, standing to the side and gesturing for him to enter. Crossing the threshold, Alex gazed at the humble space, taking in the details with heightened interest. “This is mi casa!” He began showing Alex around. “We’ve got the main living space, very cozy. The kitchen to your left, but no dining room so it’s all criss-cross applesauce on the floor - makes it extra chill. Bathroom through the back. The sink and shower handles will sometimes shock you, so don’t mind all the electrical tape.”

It was surprisingly accommodating for a dingy basement, and Willie had already made little additions that spoke volumes about him without words. A king size mattress sat in the corner of the ‘main living space’ on the floor with a small bookshelf beside it. The bookshelf only had a handful of cassette tapes and a Walkman lying on top, with a few sketchbooks on the middle shelf. Next to that, the dresser had a small collection of vintage soda bottles and a camera sitting on its surface. Glow-in-the-dark star stickers covered the ceiling above the bed. Even a couple cat toys could be spotted on the floor. Immediately, Alex approached the area where Willie’s desk sat surrounded by sketches hung on the wall.

“So these are your drawings?” he asked, although the answer was obvious. They were so good. Willie followed him over, the squinty smile still in his eyes.

“Yeah. Some are new. Most of them are attempts to recover what Caleb tore up.”

Alex looked at Willie apologetically, even though the loss of Willie’s previous work wasn’t his fault. Without warning, a pressure on his leg and the sound of loud purring announced Sheldon’s presence. The cat looked up at him and blinked slowly, already begging for attention. Heart melting, Alex bent down to pet him.

“Hey, Sheldon,” he said. “I forgot how cute you were!” He smiled as Sheldon rubbed his head against his hand with more affection that he’d likely seen from any other creature on the planet. Well...maybe there was one other that matched it. Alex had heard about how pets could take on the temperament of their owners, and suspected this was a clear example. “He’s gotten so big since I last saw him.”

“Yeah, he’s supposed to be almost two years old, if Escobar guessed his age right.”

Standing again as Sheldon pattered off, Alex returned his attention to the wall of art, looking at the pieces more closely.

“So which one is your dad?” he mused.

Willie untacked one of them and held it out for Alex to examine. “This one.”

Holding the edges carefully, Alex gazed in amazement at the detail Willie had caught. The edges were certainly less defined, but the scene inside the truck was so easy to visualize that Alex could almost feel the leather of the seats and the windchill from the window. He wasn’t sure what began burning in his chest as he peered down at the image, but it was profound and complex.

“I’ve thought about seeing if I could find him, but I think with my memory it’s kind of impossible,” Willie told him.

“He looks so happy here. I don’t get why you would end up as a foster kid.”

“Yeah, I wondered that too. Maybe he didn’t have a choice?”

Alex looked at Willie’s face, and he could tell half of him was lost in a world of what-ifs and other questions. He was always trying to seem so easy-going, and to an extent he truly was, but he couldn’t hide the constant sense of upheaval that rested on his shoulders. At least, Alex was picking up on it more, now that he knew the things he did. He may have been biased, but he couldn’t imagine anyone not fighting their hardest to keep Willie.

Suddenly his gaze was drawn to the unfinished work on the desk, and recognized it as a portrait of himself.

“Wow.” The word fell out of his mouth.

“Oh,” Willie started with a hint of shyness. “Obviously that one isn’t done, so…” He reached to put it away.

“You got that far off of memory, though,” Alex said. “I’m impressed. And you make me look good.” He offered an encouraging smile. “Maybe some time today I could be a model for you?”

Willie cocked his eyebrow, surprise and playfulness making an adorable combination on his face. It made Alex’s smile grow wider.

“Well, we’ve got a whole day ahead,” Willie said. “Your wish is my command.”

“Okay,” Alex said, leaning onto his back foot casually, one side of his lip curling with intrigue. “Well, I wanna see where you go around here. You seem to have a knack for finding the best spots. We can play it by ear.”

“What’s that one song with the one phrase?” Willie asked. “‘Any way the wind blows?’” He sang shyly, clearly playing down what Alex could tell was a nice voice.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” Alex smiled. Willie’s job at the record store was at least giving him a good taste in music. “Don’t worry, you’ll know everything about the classics once you hang out with me enough.”

An emotion flashed in Willie’s eyes and after a moment Alex realized what those words were actually saying. He held his gaze, hoping he could communicate his intentions clearly, unlike the last time they’d seen each other. Willie swallowed, and his expression remained excited as he loaded his backpack and led them out the door, board in hand. Alex followed him, deciding not to question which direction they were going.

First, they made a stop to buy a bunch of apples. In classic Willie fashion, he went to a bodega, and this time he communicated with the cashier in rough Spanish. Alex knew he was showing off, and smirked at the notion that Willie enjoyed impressing him.

“So what do we need these for?” Alex wondered as they left the bodega. “Besides a ton of apples for lunch.”

Willie’s secretive smile made Alex raise an eyebrow.

“It’s a surprise.”

A little while later, they stood before the most unlikely place in all of Los Angeles: a horse barn. Staring at the building as if it loomed fifty feet above him, hands in his pockets, Alex gulped and a lump of dread landed in the pit of his stomach.

“Oh no,” he muttered apprehensively.

“Oh yeah,” Willie said, turning to him with a thrilled grin on his face.

Alex wasn’t exactly afraid of horses...he just had no idea what to do around them and therefore was not sure what to expect from them. Also, he would’ve worn different pants if he’d known this was on the agenda.

“I promise, they’ve got some really chill horses,” Willie tried to ease his nerves. “I’ve gone on this trail enough times. Don’t worry, you’ll know everything about riding once you hang out with me enough.” He winked as he threw back Alex’s line with a sly smile.

Unable to argue, Alex shook his head and used the hand in his pocket to gesture forward, signaling to Willie he was up to the challenge. He watched him practically skip inside and he had to jog to keep up after him. They signed in and then were led to two stalls.

Willie immediately gravitated toward a tall golden-colored mustang stallion with a dark mane, apparently both already familiar and happy to see each other. Alex watched him gently greet and essentially coo at it while comfortably stroking its nose and then feeding it an apple. He longed to have that sort of talent with other creatures, and simultaneously realized that he yearned to receive that same tenderness.

Once the horses were tacked up and one of the instructors had given Alex some brief pointers on how to ride, he found himself following Willie on a trail while mounted on a painted mare. The only philosophy he could adopt out here was to be gentle and not get lost.

“Not so bad, your majesty,” Willie called over to him.

An extremely nervous laugh elicited from Alex’s throat involuntarily, only making Willie laugh in return. Alex rode a little closer so they were nearly side by side on the trail.

“I’ve been here once,” he said. “I think I was about twelve? My mom thought that it would make me change my mind about taking ballet classes. We rode for maybe fifteen minutes before I got so nervous we had to turn back around and go home. Never made it through the full trail.”

“Man, that sucks,” Willie commented. “I didn’t know you did ballet.”

“Yeah, that and a few other types of dance. I was forced to quit a little couple years ago. That’s about when we got serious as a band, so I just found something else to bother my parents with.”

He could see the gears click into place as Willie came to a few conclusions about his parents and gave an emphatic nod.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to learn how to dance. That was the one thing Caleb had promised to teach me. He’s the worst, but he definitely knows how to dance.”

Suddenly, Alex remembered watching Caleb’s movements when he’d served him and the boys at the diner. Of course he could dance; everything had been fluid and smooth. All he could say to that thought was “huh,” at first. Then after a few moments: “I’ll have to teach you one of these days then.”

Willie’s eyes crinkled at the corners, happy at the prospect.

“Yeah, okay! Add that to our to-do list.”

Alex chuckled. They had a to-do list now. He bit his lip as he continued following Willie along the trail. It was a gorgeous day and in this area the sky was so clear compared to further inside the city. Greatly contrasting his experience from years ago, Alex felt himself become much more at ease and felt confident enough to take greater control of his horse. Willie pulled out his camera and snapped a few scenic photos every once in a while.

Eventually, they stopped at an outlook and Alex had to take in an awed breath. The view was clear for miles all around them. Green hills spanned the landscape in every direction with patches of city speckled in between. Even the ocean line was visible from there. How did Willie know how to find these?

“Hey, Alex!” Willie called, lifting his camera. “Say cheese!”

Turning to face him, Alex flashed a genuine smile as Willie captured him atop his horse against the scenery. He was usually pretty camera shy, but this time he really didn’t mind. Keeping memories like this actually felt important to him, unlike the many times he’d been forced to pose with his family at functions he’d also been made to attend. Those occasions had always felt so insincere - less about enjoying the memory and more about trying to prove their status as the polished, functional family everyone aspired to.

He saw Willie dismount for a moment and stretch his legs. Gripping the reins and looking around in uncertainty, Alex realized he’d gotten on before ensuring he could properly get off. Thankfully, Willie noticed and came up to him, hands raised.

“Okay, so just...carefully lift your foot out of the stirrup and swing your leg over toward me,” he instructed. Sucking in a breath hesitantly, Alex did as he said. “Alright, then...here.” Willie offered a hand for Alex to grab so he could slide off with ease. Landing on the ground, he leaned into Willie to gain his balance, and felt a congratulatory pat on his back. It took more restraint than Alex anticipated to not simply wrap his arms around him and sit like that for an indefinite amount of time. They had all day ahead of them; he didn’t need the sudden fear of losing him to derail things out of nowhere.

“Sorry if I look like a wimp about all this,” he said, letting go of his hand.

“Nah, don’t sweat it,” Willie assured him, shaking his head. “This is...this is new.”

His eyes seemed to take Alex in from head to toe and Alex could’ve sworn the charge in the air between them would buzz if they got closer, spark if they made contact. It was almost like that moment in front of Willie’s door the week before. For a few seconds they remained locked in that trance before Willie took hold of the horse’s reins and handed them to Alex.

“Technically this trail could take hours, but I’m guessing this isn’t all you’re interested in today,” he said. “What do you say we stretch our legs a bit and then ride back?”

Looking from the reins in his hand back to Willie, Alex nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Opening his backpack, Willie handed him an apple and then bit down into one of his own. Taking a bite, it was one of the most refreshing apples Alex ever eaten. They walked the horses a little ways and tried to get good pictures of the different views around them. Alex asked to try his hand with the camera and get a few good shots of Willie. He didn’t consider himself a photographer, but he doubted when the photos got developed that they would turn out badly. The way Willie smiled made him seem like he was made of sunlight from the inside out.

As they rode back to the barn, Alex kept replaying those moments where he’d refrained from making a move over in his head. This had been strike two. If he continued on like this, he was going to hate himself for the rest of eternity, he was pretty sure. Was it some weird kind of side effect of the whole ‘Willie come back to life’ thing? Watching him affectionately say goodbye to his horse once they were ready to leave, Alex looked at his own horse and raised a tentative hand up to her nose.

The mare gazed back, patience gleaming in her eyes. He finally set his hand down on her nose and gently rubbed it up and down, smiling a little to himself. This wasn’t so bad. He could do this - it was just a matter of getting through all the barriers he made for himself in his head. Moving his hands from the horse’s nose, he stroked along her neck, and caught Willie smiling at him from the corner of his eye.

“You wanna try feeding her an apple?” he asked.

Thinking for a few seconds, Alex nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Pulling one out of his backpack, Willie placed it in Alex’s palm.

“Alright, so hold it out in front of you like this…” He positioned Alex to offer the apple. “And keep your palm flat.”

Alex uncurled his fingers and after sniffing at it a little the mare ate it out of his hand. He could ignore the sensation of her mouth touching him because Willie still had his arm around his shoulder to hold him steady. They looked at each other, and Alex wished he could get a proper shot at Willie’s face at that angle with the camera.

“Looks like you’re gonna get the hang of this,” Willie commended.

Alex looked back up at the horse, a little bit of pride swelling in his chest. “Yeah, I think I will.”

Later, they went to the beach at Alex’s suggestion. He was perched on the surface of a picnic table, posed as if he were looking off into the distance. Willie sketched with great concentration, having taken his hair out of his braids so he could run his hand through it. The late afternoon sun brought out all the best color contrasts in their surroundings - one of the things Alex loved about coming to the beach at this time of day.

“So I have a question,” Alex started, trying not to move too much. His tendency to talk with his hands kept getting him in trouble.

“Shoot,” Willie prompted him, not looking up.

“Did Caleb let you go to school or anything? Or did he provide any sort of education at all?”

Squinting, Willie looked thoughtful for a moment.

“So, after the accident, he told me that I’d had to be taken out of school,” he began, continuing to sketch. “Which makes sense, I guess, if I forgot everything. I remember some basic things, like math wasn’t hard to pick up again. Once I was recovered enough to go places, he just let me go to the public library and find whatever I wanted to read. But he always insisted on not having reminders of who I was before and said it was supposed to be helping me ‘become my own person’. He got rid of things like my school yearbooks and old journals and things. I didn’t think anything of it at first because he’d just called it useless clutter and I believed him. As soon as he decided I was fit enough to work in the diner and help out at the hotel, he told me to forget about school. Anything else I picked up was from watching TV, or listening to the radio, or something. Sometimes I’ll just remember I know something after hearing about it and it’s like it was just always there.”

Listening intently, Alex marveled at the whole thing. The fact that Caleb was not only negligent, but actively discouraging Willie from knowing anything, made him wish he could take down the man’s whole career. However, he figured Willie probably had a lot of his intelligence still untapped. If he’d been able to get away from Caleb and somehow create a life for himself in the span of a few months, Alex wondered what else he was capable of.

“What’s something you remember?” he wondered.

“I guess I used to be really obsessed with space. Just planets and stars and all that. I can spout off facts about Jupiter’s moons and stuff like that. Did you know that the moon Europa has a saltwater ocean under a layer of ice?”

Alex shook his head. “No, I didn’t. That sounds really cool though.” He thought of the stickers on Willie’s ceiling and smirked a little before reassuming his pose.

“I sort of wish I could remember being in school,” Willie was saying. “Everyone else seems to just share all of those memories and understand each other that way.”

Alex saw his brow furrow, and could tell he felt left out. He pondered on his own experience growing up in public school. There was almost no other way he would’ve met Luke, Bobby and Reggie if they hadn’t all attended the same schools. While he could easily critique and complain about it to no end, he knew it was a privilege.

“School is definitely hard,” he told Willie. “But I did get my friends out of it, and I guess that makes up for it. If it’s any consolation, you could just complain about Caleb like he was your horrible English teacher who thought he knew more about the subject of your essay, but you cited all of your sources and they proved him completely wrong.”

Willie laughed. “Why? Did that happen to you?”

Alex bobbed his head from side to side and feigned looking thoughtful . “Maybe.”

“I kind of like reducing him to a loser English teacher. He just sounds petty and sad.”

“That’s high school,” Alex confirmed.

Leaning back from his work for a minute to take it all in, Willie brushed a hand through his hair.

“Here, you wanna take a look at it?” he said. Alex hopped off the table and went to stand over Willie’s shoulder at the drawing and was immediately rendered speechless. The detail was impeccable, but Alex was more impressed by the feeling he got looking at it. Willie had managed to make him appear...handsome, and pensive, and fascinating, like anyone else could look at him and create a million unique ideas of who he was. However, it wasn’t anyone else looking at him, it was Willie, and what he’d captured felt like the truth. Alex couldn’t really explain what that meant, only that it was an honest representation.

“Okay, I know I said the one back at your place made me look good, but this is...this is unreal.”

He could see Willie trying to be modest, but the corners of his lips couldn’t stay down. Funny enough, he appeared even more unable to find words, and simply beamed as he looked back and forth between his sketch and Alex’s face.

A sudden impulse came over Alex, and he kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it on top of Willie’s skateboard and backpack. Willie sat looking flustered for a moment.

“Wanna swim?” Alex nodded toward the waves, bidding Willie to follow. He didn’t wait for him to catch up as he immediately began running into the waves up to his knees. Alex knew his pants would be even more ruined the second he hit the salty water, but he didn’t care. Now the sun was beginning to set and the chill of the waves was refreshing, and he couldn’t express what he felt just then in any other way.

Willie tackled him from behind, climbing onto his back and nearly knocking him over into the shallow tide. Clambering back to his feet, Alex splashed water at him. They began a playful water fight back and forth, until they were both drenched. Eventually, Alex tried to catch hold of both Willie’s hands in an attempt to prevent being splashed anymore. He had the advantage of longer arms, but before he could get a tight hold of the second arm Willie’s leg swept under his and they both fell just as a large wave washed over them.

As the water pulled back, they sat in the sand in a tangle, laughing. All Alex could think of was how pretty Willie was in this light, hair swept back off his face with tendrils resting over his shoulders, sun gleaming in his eyes and constantly shining from the inside out. The laughter died between them and he caught a look in Willie’s eye that made him wonder if he appeared to him to be just as perfect in that moment.

This time his mind and body worked in sync as he lifted a hand and gently pulled Willie into a short, tender kiss. All the self-flagellation from earlier was washed away in one pure moment, and exhilaration moved into its place. It felt soft and sweet, just the way he expected it should. Just as quickly as he’d let go, Willie went in for another one, a little longer and a little deeper. One hand remained caressing his cheek while the other wrapped around his upper back. Alex couldn’t help smiling into another kiss; he was too happy to care about anything else. Hardly a week ago, this had been impossible.

As they let go, their hands came together and they looked into each other's eyes, both releasing a relieved chuckle. Willie looked at the rest of the beach behind them and Alex’s eyes followed, but at this hour there were too few people around and no one paying attention to them. Turning back to Alex, Willie sighed and shook his head with a smile.

“Wow,” was all he said, biting his lip.

“Yeah, I’d definitely do that again,” Alex smirked, until the joy in his chest converted it into a full grin.

A wave washed over them again and they both stood, shaking out their hair and trying to wipe off whatever sand they could. Heading back up the beach, Willie grabbed Alex’s hand so they could make their way up together. The sun was nearly set but Alex was sure it had just gone into his chest, bursting with excitement. Once they reached the picnic table, they gathered their things and Willie offered to carry Alex’s shirt inside his backpack on the way home. Thank goodness there were a few patches of grass so Alex could try to get a little more sand off his feet before putting his shoes back on.

“So how long have you been sitting on that?” Willie teased as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and they left the beach.

“Shut up,” Alex laughed, knowing he was being called out.

“No, really!” Willie bumped his side jokingly. “I want to know!”

Tilting his head back to try to remember, it didn’t take Alex long to give him the answer.

“Since day one,” he told him.

Surprise swept over Willie’s face as he looked at Alex.

“Seriously?” he asked.

Alex nodded.

“Me too.”

It was Alex’s turn to look surprised. Without saying another word, he took Willie’s hand in his and then kissed it before continuing back toward his place. The whole way they talked about all the different things they needed to do together in the future. Riding on more horse trails, dancing lessons, skating lessons, art modeling sessions, going to band practices and gigs, visiting the record store while Willie wasn’t working, etc. They both agreed that the entire day technically counted as a date, and all further plans would as well. Alex was reminded once again that he didn’t have a notebook to write things down in, and vowed to have one for the next time he saw Willie. Once they reached Willie’s door, they had already put their shirts back on and it was completely dark outside.

“Are you free any time next week?” Willie asked, still holding onto Alex’s hand.

“I wish I could say yes, but probably not. And as much as I’d love to give you my number, it’s really not the best idea.”

“Well, I could give you mine,” Willie said.

Alex shot him a confused look. Holding up a finger, Willie dug into his backpack until he found his sketchbook and tore off the corner of a page, quickly scribbling one down and handing it to Alex.

“It’s actually the one for work,” he said. “But if it’s what we can do for now, I’ll do it. Kyle won’t care.”

Looking at it for a minute and then stashing it in his now-dry pocket, Alex took hold of Willie’s chin and went to kiss him again. It was really hard to stop, but they soon broke apart.

“I gotta go,” Alex murmured.

Willie only nodded, squeezing his hand before letting go and slipping his own into his pocket.

“I’ll call you.”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight.”

Once again heading up the short set of stairs to the sidewalk, Alex rubbed his lips together, relishing in the taste of what he and Willie had just done. He couldn’t imagine anything sweeter.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #fanfic #jatp fanfic #sunset curve #alive au #willex #willie #alex mercer #luke patterson #reggie peters #bobby wilson #julie molina #caleb covington #viva las vegas #with him #fiddlepickdouglas

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mostlymovieswithmax · 3 years

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Movies I watched in June

Now I think I’m comfortably in a rhythm to get these posts out. For one, I’m writing up short reviews either straight after watching a movie or sometimes it might take a few days. But June was a fairly good month in terms of the amount of films I watched. I got to go to the cinema quite a bit which is always fun. Anyway, let’s get on with it! If you’re looking for something good to watch (or maybe even something bad), I hope this list can help in some way to introduce you to new and different movies that maybe you’ve never heard of, or were thinking of checking out. Here is every film I watched from the 1st to the 30th of June 2021.

Bo Burnham: Inside (2021) - 10/10 Everyone was going off about how great this film is. An hour and a half of Bo Burnham in lockdown, singing songs and being upset is definitely a powerful hook and I have to agree with the general consensus because Inside blew me away. More thoughts on this in my podcast: The Sunday Movie Marathon episode 34.

Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016) - 7/10 After watching Inside, I figured I’d rewatch some of Burnham’s older stand-up shows on Netflix. Make Happy is a lot of fun, injected with a lot of introspection from Burnham that really makes the special stand out, despite a lot of gags that just didn’t land for me.

Bo Burnham: What. (2013) - 6/10 It’s plain to see just how much Bo Burnham has grown over the years and how he has honed his comedy and music. ‘What.’ is a good stepping stone in the comedian’s career, showcasing loads of promise in him from a young age. There are some jokes that haven’t aged as well and some that straight up dragged, but overall the show is still enjoyable.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) - 3/10 Packed theatre for this one, obviously. People love a Conjuring movie, and I’d also say people love a good scare… but this movie isn’t scary, or good for that matter. More thoughts on episode 35 of the podcast.

The Conjuring (2013) - 6/10 After the horrendously disappointing debacle that was the third Conjuring movie, I decided to watch James Wan’s original movie and man, if this wasn’t better in literally every way. I don’t tend to love James Wan movies but I can’t deny he’s got so much talent in how he makes movies and it makes The Conjuring a lot more fun to see competent filmmaking in the horror genre in a way that actually creates an eerie atmosphere with creative uses of camera-work and editing.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 8/10 Normally I’m not big into the old slasher movies. I appreciate that for the time, perhaps they hit differently, but now I just don’t tend to connect with them. Wes Craven’s ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ is a bit of an exception. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not particularly scary, though it does employ a lot of interesting techniques and designs. Undeniably, the design for Fred Krueger is a staple in cinema, with the striped jumper, hat, scarred face and knives for fingers not leaving the mind of the general public any time soon. Elm Street doesn’t have too many kills but when it does, it is so effective and fun to watch. Craven was one of the greats, truly.

One Cut of the Dead (2017) - 8/10 This has to be one of the most engaging zombie movies I’ve seen in a long time. There’s a lot to spoil with One Cut of The Dead but I won’t go into that here. It is clever and funny, subverting expectations in ways I really didn’t expect. I really cannot recommend it enough.

Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (2019) - 8/10 Since we’re watching Chappelle's Show for episode 45 of the podcast, I wanted to get an idea for what I was in for, so I watched Dave Chappelle’s stand-up show from a couple of years ago. Yeah, really funny, which I suppose is what you want from a stand-up special, but what makes it better is Chappelle’s commentary on the world at large and how he’s able to combine humour with intelligent criticism.

Fear(s) of the Dark (2008) - 4/10 A few years ago I think I watched this animated black and white anthology film on a New Year's Day when I had foolishly decided to pull an all-nighter and then go out with mates for ice cream. Never again. But I’d forgotten what I thought of this movie and decided to get the DVD for cheap on eBay. Perhaps I am doomed to watch Fear(s) of the Dark only when I am tired because I popped this on when it was nearing midnight. I was lucid enough to understand what I was watching though… and it was quite boring. These short films emulate the filmmakers’ nightmares - an interesting premise in theory, but pretty weak on execution.

The Bourne Identity (2002) - 3/10 We marathoned the first three Bourne movies for The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, episode 36 so check that out for my expanded thoughts on this, the best Bourne of the three.

The Bourne Supremacy (2004) - 2/10 Immediately after, we did the deep dive into Supremacy, the second Bourne and the worst of the three (albeit by a very slim margin). Check out episode 36 for more.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - 2/10 I really couldn’t care less about these terrible movies. It was a horrible chore to sit through them. Ultimatum was also rubbish. More gripes and discussion in episode 36 of the podcast.

The Father (2021) - 10/10 Another trip to the cinema for this masterpiece. I tried very hard not to sob loudly in the theatre where aside from myself, the audience totalled three people. More discussion of The Father in episode 36 the podcast.

Drag Me To Hell (2009) - 2/10 I’m pretty shocked that Sam Raimi directed this. Usually when I watch one of his films, I can see his staple of fun gore, practical effects, crazy camera movements… but there was none of that here. It just felt like a really bad horror, indistinguishable from the regular affair, with no personality or passion. Drag Me To Hell might even have been one of those movies I’d avoided in the past when I was younger because it seemed too scary but no, it was just boring and bad and I feel like there’s something I’m not getting out of this that other people seem to be.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - 8/10 At this point, I feel I have to admit Wes Anderson as perhaps my second favourite director. His movies are just so nice and beautiful to watch. Moonrise Kingdom is a quirky love story between two kids and honestly, with any other director, could have been handled poorly because the story is quite simple. But Anderson injects so much of his signature style and personality into the film. A powerhouse of actors with the likes of Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis and Tilda Swinton, among a few of Anderson’s regulars, make Moonrise Kingdom a breeze. Good for a dark day to lift the spirits.

Nobody (2021) - 8/10 I needed something to fill an otherwise uneventful day, so I hopped on a bus and booked a ticket for Ilya Naishuller’s new action movie, Nobody. The film started and to my annoyance, the lights in the theatre were still on. When I go to the cinema I don’t really want to see the other people sitting around me, so I got up from my seat, abandoning the first two minutes of the film to find a member of staff to turn the lights off. After showing them that the lights were in fact still on, I took to my seat and watched the movie for what felt like a little while before the lights went off. Nobody is a really fun action movie. Perhaps similar in a lot of ways to John Wick, but with more personality to the main character. More thoughts on episode 37 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - 8/10 After procuring the Criterion blu-ray from my local hmv, I delved into all the supplements it had to offer, including a making-of documentary, chats with the director, and a gallery of polaroid pictures from when they were shooting the film in India. The Darjeeling Limited is perhaps not peak Wes Anderson, but I do kind of love it. It makes me want to go on a journey to another country with my brother and sister, perhaps in ten to fifteen years. Here, the main characters are three brothers who travel to India seeking some kind of spiritual experience. Things don’t seem to work out that way, however, because I’m not sure how spiritual an experience you can have when you plan out an itinerary to schedule it. Fantastic performances all round and of course, beautiful direction and cinematography.

Face/Off (1997) - 3/10 Was I supposed to laugh? Maybe I was just too tired but I really couldn’t stand Face/Off. It didn’t feel particularly special and despite a couple of fun ideas, it was mostly quite boring.

Luca (2021) - 5/10 The new Pixar movie leaves a lot to be desired. The animation is really second to none and I can’t fault how beautiful the movie looks, more so when it’s set in this little Italian town than under the sea. The story is so uninspired though, with the basic premise being that the protagonists want a Vespa so they enter a competition to win the money to buy one. Also they’re fish that turn into people on dry land. Maybe that’s enough for some people, but I couldn’t shake the familiarity of Luca. It never went in any interesting directions and basically did exactly what I figured it would do. I don’t believe it’s out here to subvert expectations but I would like some creativity when it comes to the writing. Perhaps if I watched it again, I might like it less. It was pretty dull.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - 10/10 I’m a little disappointed with the Criterion blu-ray for Punch-Drunk love. It’s supplements host a couple of low-quality deleted scenes that were clearly deleted for a reason, and some weird artsy music videos that incorporated footage from the movie. I was quite shocked at how low-effort it all seemed. The movie itself is fantastic though and I do believe it to be Adam Sandler’s best performance (and I really liked Uncut Gems). He portrays a man who is constantly put down by his family, clearly has some kind of social disability, and on top of it all he’s getting scammed by a sex line. Amongst all this, he’s trying to navigate a new relationship and it’s so sweet to watch all the interactions between Sandler and Emily Watson. It’s a perfect melding of romance, comedy and anxiety, beautifully directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Fargo (1996) - 9/10 Another movie you wouldn’t expect to be so funny, especially since it’s based on this horrific true story about murder, deceit and money. But the Coen brothers know how to handle it. Excellent performances, beautiful colour palette, and a story that just gets more and more insane as it goes.

House (1977) - 7/10 House (or, Hausu) was a recommendation for episode 37 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast so check that out for more discussion. Generally speaking, this Japanese horror/comedy was bonkers. Insanely creative and abstract (which at points can detriment the film) with an almost Balamory-esque presentation. I was happy to find that the comedy was not lost on me at all; this is a hilarious film, albeit maybe not all the time.

The Princess Bride (1987) - 10/10 I reviewed this in my May wrap-up but this time around, I had recommended The Princess Bride for the podcast, the discussion for which you can listen to in episode 37. It all clicked this time around. It is such a fun, warm movie with a lot of laughs and superb production.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) - 8/10 Another Rob Reiner joint, a few years before The Princess Bride. This Is Spinal Tap is lauded as a masterpiece in comedic cinema and I might agree; this movie is hilarious. Shot in mockumentary fashion, it follows a band playing shows and trying to get gigs, coupled with the inevitable screw-ups of live performance and creative disagreements. It lost me every now and again but it’s still a must-watch.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - 6/10 A decent Disney flick but certainly not their best. One highlight includes the villain singing a lament about wanting to have sex with Esmerelda and calling her a witch for giving him a boner.

Ponyo (2008) - 4/10 Not sure if I’ve ever disliked a Miyazaki movie before but I did not vibe with Ponyo. It came across as very baby and as such, there really wasn’t much to read into. The animation is fantastic as always but so much of it felt specifically tailored to a younger crowd.

Roman Holiday (1953) - 9/10 Classic romance at its best. I had heard on a podcast that this was the sexiest movie the guest had ever seen and while maybe not in the traditional sense of the word, I do get where they’re coming from. I was tearing up with just how lovely it all was, following a princess who runs away and spends the day with a man she meets in Rome (where it was shot on location), doing all the things she’s wanted to do but never could because of royal responsibilities. Fantastic performances from Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck who sell the chemistry of the characters so well.

F9 (2021) - 2/10 I’ve never seen any of the Fast & Furious movies and after watching the ninth in the series, I don’t want to. This is basically the Vin Diesel show; we watch him drive cars fast and punch people a lot. Wow! I don’t really understand what it (and forgive the pun) driving people to see these movies if they’re all in this same vein. As far as I can tell, F9 is the goofiest of the series so far and I’ll admit I had a chuckle or two at some of the truly implausible moments, such as a part where one of the team gets shot by about ten men with machine guns, yet manages to kill them all without being affected by the bullets… but overall, in this two-and-a-half-hour experience, I was largely bored.

Shaolin Soccer (2001) - 7/10 I love this movie! Shaolin Soccer is so much fun; it is goofy and out there and completely crazy, all by design. Steven Chow knew what he was making when he set out to craft this insane story of a group of guys using Kung-Fu to play football. The basic story itself is nothing new but it’s elevated by the infectious comedy and implausibility of what’s happening. Balls are kicked into space and across fields so fast the very ground is torn asunder. A man eats an egg off a dirty shoe. This is cinema.

Casino Royale (2006) - 7/10 I had seen a trailer at the cinema for the new Bond movie and I have to say, I’ve never really given 007 the time of day, aside from a few of the very first movies I’d tried watching a while ago. But the new trailer kind of got me hyped, so I wanted to watch all of the Craig era Bond movies, starting with Casino Royale. I had a great time! Even though there’s not loads of fighting or weapons or fast cars, the meat of the movie actually comes from this poker game Bond is playing against the villain, played brilliantly by Mads Mikkelsen. I was surprised to witness a bit of cock-and-ball torture in this 12-rated movie but I would be lying if I said it didn’t stick with me.

Quantum of Solace (2008) - 5/10 Immediately after Casino Royale, I jumped into the second of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies, Quantum of Solace. Sadly it’s quite weak, with not much going on aside from the general Bond fare. Mathieu Amalric’s villain lacked a lot of menace or motivation and generally, I’m not super worried about a brilliant story in a Bond movie, but even the action felt weak in this. Quantum of Solace didn’t exactly upset me but it failed to wow me in any way either. The saving grace of the movie is certainly Daniel Craig as the hero, capturing Bond and what he’s supposed to be.

Skyfall (2012) - 6/10 A marked improvement from its predecessor, Sam Mendes helms Skyfall, Craig’s third outing as Bond. Skyfall delves into Bond’s past as he seems to be slipping a bit, not as much the expert operative he once was. It would have been nice to see more of his fall from grace, as they don’t really show us how he’s become less efficient as much as they give other characters expository dialogue telling us how he drinks and does drugs and is haunted by childhood trauma. For me, that’s where the meat of the story lies and I would have preferred more of a character piece if indeed they were delving into that side of the character anyway. That being said, the fights are still better choreographed than the last instalment and the colour grading and scenery is often very visually interesting. Everything in Skyfall is better than its predecessor and it’s surely thanks to Sam Mendes who does a great job at directing.

Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - 8/10 Another go round for Howl's Moving Castle, as this was a recommendation for my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon. My opinion, I feel, is unchanged. It's a fantastic film, and you can listen to more of what I have to say in episode 37. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 - 3/10 A pretty poor end to a poor series of movies. I'm surprised I've watched the Twilight movies as many times as I have but I also know I'll watch them again. Part 2 I watched with the YMS commentary track on YouTube which, again made the experience a lot better. But otherwise the series seemed to get better as it went along… until the last movie. Ultimately my biggest problem with it is that nothing actually happens and the plot feels like a late addition rather than a natural progression of the story. It’s basically a whole movie of set-up to a payoff that doesn’t even canonically happen. A big thing with YA adaptations in this era was making a final book into two movies, regardless as to whether it needed that much time or not. Breaking Dawn does not need to be two movies at two hours each. About ten new characters are introduced here and the film is afraid of killing even one of them off. It's the last movie! We're not going to see these characters again! Kill some of them! There's just no emotional weight to any of it and I hate to say I was disappointed with the ending because I have such low expectations for these films but man, this was so unsatisfying.

Frances Ha (2012) - 8/10 Life is hard. And I hate this movie because it shows me so much of what terrifies me about being alive. And I love this movie because it shows me so much of what I’m alive for. Noah Baumbach’s brutally honest depiction of growing up and fending for yourself struck me in a way I wasn’t expecting and I think it’s because I’m at a point in my life where I’m worrying a lot about how it’s all going to turn out. The titular character is burdened with the stress of working low-paid jobs and paying rent while juggling school and making time for her passion of dancing as she tries to connect with people she’s lost, as temporary friends and housemates come and go. She feels like a lonely character despite often being around a lot of people. Frances Ha is fantastic and heartbreaking and uplifting… but it made me feel bad so I hate it.

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calamitykaty · 4 years

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Invisible String: Part 1

A Luke Patterson x OC fanfic.

Preview: Charlotte Dubois stumbles into Luke Patterson while signing up for the open mic night. Luke becomes startled that Charlotte can see him and chaos ensues when her best friend Chase points out that she is talking to thin air.

Part 2

“Hmmm...Julie and the phat ones, that’s a unique band name…” Charlotte quipped as she peered over the boy with the shaggy hair’s shoulder, trying to get a peek at the open mic list to make sure there was a spot left for her to take. The boy turned quickly at hearing her words, Charlotte, caught off guard, dropped her hot chai tea.

The tea splattered across the floor, covering her white kicks with the milky brown liquid. She felt her cheeks heating up as she rambled out apologies and reached past the boy to grab napkins and began mopping up the mess.

“I am so so so sorry….” Charlotte rattled.

‘Yo, Char, who are you talking to?” Chase, her best friend and the coffee shop bus boy asked with a towel in hand.

Charlotte, with her free hand, gestured to the shaggy haired boy.

“....are you on something, there is no one there, Char.” Chase quipped.

Charlotte lifted her head, her brows furrowed as she looked between the boy and her best friend.

“I--I...what?” Charlotte stammered.

Chase grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her to her feet “go sign up for the open mic, you big goof. I will get this mess taken care of, and because I love you soooo much I will even replace your chai tea...no charge.”

Charlotte scribbled her name onto the last spot for the open mic “Charlotte Dubois”

“Don’t worry about the tea, I’ve gotta go.” Charlotte pushed by her best friend and was out the door before he could even respond. She didn’t know what to make of what just transpired. Was Chase pulling one over on her? Was she hallucinating or going crazy? Her brows were furrowed and her head down and she wound her way through the city streets with her mind racing.

“Oof.” She let out a grunt as her back hit the sidewalk.

“We have to stop meeting this way.” A melodic voice called out. Charlotte picked herself up from the ground, and dusted her knees off. She looked up and made eye contact with the same boy from the coffee shop.

“I’m Luke” the boy said casually while Charlotte pulled herself together.

“...and it's Julie and the phantoms not phat ones…” he muttered.

Charlotte couldn’t help the laugh that made its way out of her mouth “you should tell that to your handwriting.”

“Ooooh Burn!” A slightly taller blonde boy hooted.

“How---” Charlotte questioned only to be cut off by the blonde guy telling Luke

“---I learned that one from my new friend, Willie, Isn’t it cool?”

“Great job, Alex, you scared her.” Luke scoffed and rolled his eyes.

Charlotte stumbled back up until her back hit the hard brick wall of the corner bodega. She squeezed her eyes closed tight and her hands held her head in exasperation. She knew she had to be hallucinating now as the blonde guy definitely wasn’t there two seconds prior.

“Hey, you okay?” Luke asked softly as he and his blonde friend slowly approached Charlotte.They both knelt down in front of her and waited for her to respond.

Charlotte slowly opened her eyes and studied both of their faces, searching for some kind of answer. Any answer really that would justify how Alex just appeared out of thin air.

“How did you---”

Alex offered an apologetic smile “didn’t mean to scare ya, sorry about that.” he said sheepishly.

A smile spread wide across Luke’s face as he exclaimed “Isn’t this crazy, dude? She can SEE us. Like, really see us. I can’t wait to tell reg and Julie.”

Charlotte would have typically admired the adorable showcase of excitement that she just witnessed, like the way Luke’s eyes got so big and round or the way his smile brightened up his whole face or even the way his body seemed to literally vibrate with excitement. But instead, she felt like she was going to vomit.

She rested her head on her arms, which were propped up on her knees. “I’m going crazy” she whispered to herself.

“We’re all a little crazy,” Luke offered.

Charlotte snorted. “I am talking to someone that my best friend said wasn’t actually there and then this other guy shows up out of thin air. I am crazy. I have fully lost my mind. Someone is going to see me talking to myself and have me committed. My life is over.” Charlotte rambled, it was a trait that anyone close to her was very familiar with. Her brain had a way of turning collective thoughts into a train wreck.

Alex bit his lip as he pondered the best way to handle the situation. Luke may have had all of the charm, but he was certainly not equipped to handle upset girls, especially crying ones.

“Look, you’re not crazy, We can explain everything to you but it’s best if we do it at our friend Julie’s place.”

Charlotte bit her lip as she pulled herself up.Both of the boys stared at her in silence but Luke let a small smile slip when Charlotte nodded her head and gestured for them to lead the way. She wasn’t the type to typically follow strangers into the unknown but she needed answers and more importantly she needed to know why she felt so connected to them.

Part 1 of ?? Please let me know if you want me to continue????

#jatp #luke patterson #jatp fanfic #luke patterson fic #luke patterson fanfiction #luke patterson x oc #madison reyes #Jeremy shada #Owen joyner #julie and the phantoms #charlie gillespie #Reggie #alex

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caspianjames · 3 years

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hello friends and strangers alike<33

Name: Caspian James, I usually go by Cas, Caspian, James, or Jamie!! Pronouns: they/fae/xe/he in order of preference, but honestly any pronouns are fine (even if they’re not listed) as long as they’re rotated u know Age: I’m 23!! And I will try to remember to update this when i get older,,,,

This blog is mostly me being chaotic about Julie and the Phantoms with other occasional content!

Sideblogs:

@one-young-royals-gender-a-day : a young royals blog for appreciating the gender of the cast

.✨✨✨.

You can hit that keep reading button for a list of the tags I commonly use on my blog and my list of fics!

No DNI because that’s too much work, but if I don’t want your energy in my space I will block you because it’s the internet and I can!<3

Tags:

#casrambles - for when i’m rambling. if i remember to use it #casuseswords - for when i write. if i remember to use it. #casmakesthings - for when i make things!! if i remember to use it.

Fic list:

Julie and the Phantoms:

Now or Never: ongoing SMAU with written components. Masterlist here, or click the title to read on AO3! Wilex, Flarrie, and Rukebox!

After their last minute show at the Orpheum, Julie and The Phantoms get asked to finish out Panic! At The Disco's tour as their opening band. Eight weeks on a tour bus with Flynn, Julie, and the boys. No adults. Lots of road, lots of performances, and all the baggage they brought with them of course (literal for everyone except Reggie, but figurative as well).

Relight that Spark: ongoing, a collection of prompt fills from Tumblr, which my asks are always open for (even if i’m slow to getting to them sometimes!). click the title to read on AO3! Boys, Am I Right?: complete oneshot about a couple of the boys coming to terms with their sexuality....i won’t say which ones :))) click on the title to read it on AO3! Nothing to Lose: ongoing written for Willie Appreciation Week, except I still have one chapter to finish. Willie’s backstory<3 Click the title to read it on AO3! If You Give a Ghost a Cellphone....: probably ongoing, a collection of SMAU oneshots detailing a Flynn and Willie friendship as Willie learns more about the LGBTQ+ community in 2020. Click the title to see the first installment! Eyes on Me: ongoing, a Flarrie coffeeshop au! (with background juke and willex, of course). Click the title to read it on AO3!

Flynn is precariously balancing a busy life - managing Julie and The Phantoms, who are just starting to make it big, going to college for music management, and working at Cafe Flutterbee - where all the best musical talent in LA gets discovered. What they don't count on, though, is Carrie being part of the "best musical talent" trying to be discovered. And Carrie showing up persistently. And Carrie insisting on talking to her but never actually apologizing. And-Well, it was going to be a long, long few months.

Harry Potter: Inevitable: ongoing, Drarry 8th year EWE. Click the title to read it on AO3 (linking to the smut-free version, but there’s an explicit one, too)

In that moment, he knew two different things to be true: The first, that going back to Draco Malfoy's rooms was probably a terrible, terrible decision. The second, that he would do whatever Draco wanted, whatever he needed, because in the Days After it seemed that there was one thing that was important; Draco Malfoy was inevitable.

Thrice Defied Him: on hiatus, Mauraders era Jily and Wolfstar, of course. Click the title to read it on AO3!

James has always loved Lily. Lily has always loathed James. But throw a Dark Lord in the mix and perhaps something will change. Mauraders era one-shots - two per year, one for each Lily and James - until 7th year when we pick up in full swing in the midst of the war. How do James and Lily defy Voldemort? What causes Peter to turn? And what on earth is going on between Remus Lupin and Sirius Black?

Master of Death: on hiatus, Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments crossover. Click the title to read it on AO3!

After being oppressed by the Shadowhunters because they joined forces with Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, the Seelie Court is out for revenge. The best way to do that? Raise Jonathan himself. Already armed with the Resurrection Stone, the Seelie Queen turns her eyes to Hogwarts to find the last two Hallows and become the Master of Death.

#pinned post #cas rambles

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odd-kid-42 · 2 years

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for the fic ask! 12, 13, 14, 28!!

Cool! I haven't done one of these before. Thank you for the ask! This got long, geesh.

12. favorite character to write this year

Ron and Willy, in different ways. With Ron, there is a development from "Kill Your Father Energy Drink" where I am enjoying the character and testing out writing short prompts on him, to "Alternative Worlds", which is honestly one large thesis on Ron and Willy's relationship.

With Willy, I was spoilered (because I tend to look into a show before putting energy into listening/watching lol) that he was the villian, so I enjoyed his general presence before ep 29 blew my socks off. Still, I was interested in him without fully getting him, and I wanted to get him. The first DnDads fic I published was on Stud & Willy from ATMoD because there was a delay between listening to the first ep and hearing the second and third back-to-back, so I genuinely thought Stud would use the “I have a kid at home” reasoning to snap out of insanity and live. But he didn’t, and I really enjoyed the ending while also feeling like “huh... Stud’s dream was the focus, not his kid”. And with that, I felt like “oh, I get Willy now”, and it progressed into me having Thoughts (tm) on the Stamplers tending to dreams > kids while also enjoying canonically how Willy tries so hard to be the villain to his own detriment. Combined with that sense that all of the events could have been prevented had Stud just stayed and gotten the typical “my adoptive kid is prone to violence and thinks toxic masculinity is going to be his brand, what do?” advice.

Kid Glenn was surprisingly my favorite character to write in "Day at the Park", and that enjoyment is translating over into writing “Teen” Glenn in “Alternate World”.

tldr; So, Ron and Willy, and Glenn is starting to grow on me.

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

Most of the time I am walking somewhere and thinking about whatever WIP I have going on and get ideas from that to work on during the weekend, but when I am trying to crank out a chapter, I have a song on repeat that fits the tone to focus. Albums are if I am just starting and haven’t hit the writing jag of time blending together. The Antler’s “Hospice” is a go-to for heavy mood when I need to focus (fairly depressing album about unhealthy relationship), but I had a phase of getting into Idles’ “Joy as an Act of Resistance” and “Brutalism” as background for more action/upbeat things which is British leftist punk.

Since I like talking about “Alternate Worlds” and haven’t hit the point of sharing the playlist yet, Ron’s end section on chapter two and some of three was Flora Cash’s “You’re Somebody Else” on repeat as I typed; Henry’s chapter 4 was Current Joy’s “Alabama”; Darryl’s chapter 5 was The Dead South’s “In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company” and shifted into Idles’s “The Beachland Ballroom” (some cw religious trauma in songs) because it released and it got stuck in my head. Glenn’s chapter 7 was Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s “Storm” on repeat with some other songs.

14. fic you didn't expect to write

I didn’t think “Day at the Park” would be so long?? It started as a ‘haha what if Henry wasn’t lying when he said he was a wild child’ that then turned into ‘okay, so they’ll play tag, Willy as the scary OP character who tries to interrupt in parallel to canon will happen, fic ends’ turned into ‘actually Frank takes them to ice cream and it ends there’ turned into ‘okay, so Frank calls their moms and fic ends?’ turned into ‘okay, okay. Christine collects Glenn, Willy has an adult to direct his anger at, and Henry is happy despite his father; now can I end it? Okay? Everyone’s relatively happy? Yes.’ I don’t regret writing all of the details. Part of my summer just consisted of finishing it up.

28. longest fic read this year

Around spring of this year, I was listening to The Magnus Archive as they were approaching their finale and, as you do, was reading TMA fanfic on the bus ride to and from work. We should ride this wave to shore (163,580 words) was definitely one of my favorites, and also props to the author for writing a Mechanics album-adjacent/musical play for it? And the length for a group chat fic? And no one died? Dedication. Skill. Finess.

Thank you for tagging me!

#dndads #dndads spoilers #writing #alt world fic tag

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puckinghell · 4 years

Text

The Plus One Pact | William Nylander | Part 4

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

Note: This is part 4. Click here for part 1 | part 2 | part 3

You don’t know how it happens.

Okay, you kinda do.

One night, you get a text from Will that’s just a screenshot of a very strongly worded email to a certain balloon company, and then three crying-from-laughter emojis.

Still not funny!!! you text back, and you expect not to hear from Will again until the wedding.

You’re wrong. When he texts you again the next day, asking how you work was, you figure it would be rude not to answer, and then when the phone rings late one night, you worry something is wrong, so you answer that, too.

“What was your day like?” Will’s voice is quiet and timid when he asks, and you take it you’re not gonna talk about that awful game they just had, so you talk to him about your day for an hour until his voice is lighter and he’s laughing again.

It starts happening more and more, and before you really realize it, it’s weird when you haven’t heard from Willy in a day.

To be truthful, it turns out Zach was right; as he usually is, which you would rather die than tell him.

But Will is different when it’s just you two, and your favorite moments with him are when he calls after games and his voice is laced with sleep and you can nearly hear the smile through his voice when he asks you about your day. Everything about him is muted, then, but it feels real, and important, somehow.

You even learn to appreciate how annoyingly chipper he is, because sometimes you really do need someone to just laugh at your bad mood until it goes away.

You also learn that, like you expected on the plane to Calgary, Will keeps his head high but it’s mostly a facade. Comments get to him, especially when they’re about his hockey – “that’s the only thing I was supposed to be good at” he jokes one time, and you wanna hit him over the head with his hockey stick until he understands that that’s not true – and he takes everything personal, although he tries not to show it.

Everything you didn’t like about him, you find out, is something you either got wrong about him or learned to appreciate.

And there’s so much more to like about him, too.

One night, after a really bad day at work, you have a fight with your sister about Noah’s stupid wedding.

“Why are you so against coming?” your sister says, a little too aggressive. “Surely you aren’t still in love with him? He’s happy with Betty, Y/N.”

Of course you’re not still in love with Noah, but it hurts that she can’t just accept that you don’t wanna go. That she can’t take your side in this, even if she doesn’t know the full story. She should trust that you’re not being difficult for no reason.

And you can’t help yourself; it’s late and you know Will just got done with his game, and he’s all the way in Carolina but you call him anyway.

He answers almost immediately.

“Y/N?” he asks, and he sounds surprised. It’s to be expected, because he’s almost always the one calling you, but it stings a little, nonetheless.

“Uhm, hi.” You pause. “Is it… okay that I called?”

“Of course. Always.” Will sounds truthful, so you decide to take his word for it.There’s no more extra space in your brain to worry about that, as well.

“Congrats on the game.”

“Thanks.” You hear Willy’s grin. “I’ve told Zachy we’re both very proud of him for that OT winner.” There’s an indignant huff next to him that sounds a lot like Zach and you figure they’re still on the bus, where Willy usually sits with Kappy or Zach.

It’s quiet, then Willy’s voice, treading very carefully: “Is something wrong? You don’t sound too happy.” There’s some stumbling and you can almost see how Willy must be elbowing Zach away from the phone, because Zach is basically an overprotective dad whenever he hears anyone isn’t doing well.

But Willy… Willy isn’t like that, but he sounds worried anyway, and he sounds gentle like he’s trying to calm you down, and suddenly you’re telling him everything: about the day you’ve had and your job that sucks and that you’re worried about the wedding and why can’t your family just trust you, for once, and what if this all isn’t worth it just to keep your family happy?

When you’re done, Willy’s voice is soothing. The background noise has disappeared. Maybe the bus has stopped.

“It’s worth it,” is what he says. “You know it’s worth it.”

You sigh. It’s annoying still that he’s usually right.

“I just don’t want to deal with it anymore.”

“And tonight you don’t have to.” There’s a sudden noise and then Will cursing. “Fuck, sorry, hold on, I’m trying to open this stupid hotel door…” More crashing and banging, and then Willy’s voice reappears. “Tonight you don’t have to deal with anything, okay? We can FaceTime and watch a movie together.”

And that… That actually sounds really nice, and like it doesn’t require any brain power which is good because you have none of that left anyway.

“Hey, what’s your favorite take out food?”

It’s such a random question, out of the blue, and when you tell him that, the blurry FaceTime screen can’t hide his eye roll.

“It’s just something friends are supposed to know about each other, now tell me.”

“Sushi when I’m feeling fancy,” you say, “or pizza when I need comfort food.”

You can’t even pretend to be that surprised when a massive pizza shows up at your door 30 minutes later.

You hate that it nearly brings tears to your eyes, but after the day you’ve had��

“Thank you, Willy,” you mumble, and there’s something soft to his look when he smiles at you.

“What are friends for?” he asks, and you realize you don’t even mind that he’s declared himself your friend, now.

A few weeks ago, you would’ve disputed it. But now, you find yourself kinda wishing it could be more.

What are friends for is apparently your motto now, and it’s all a little strange as you get into the car, your fanciest, most beautiful dress and highest heels on.

“You look great,” Zach says. He’s wearing a suit and his hair is slicked back, the way it always is when he’s really trying.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” you reply, a little grumpily. “I hate team events.”

“I never did understand why.” Zach starts the car and backs out of your driveway. You’ve been told Alannah is going to the venue straight from work, and Willy had an appointment and couldn’t come get you, which is why you’re in the car with Zach, now.

“Because I don’t fit in there.” It’s the honest answer, but it’s obviously not the whole story. The whole story is that those events are filled with beautiful women, and you never feel quite up to par; like you snuck into a place you’re not welcome, not supposed to be welcome, either. But Zach wouldn’t get that. Willy wouldn’t get that either.

And you just couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough, not when he said: “But Y/N, it’s for charity.”

It would not matter to the charity, of course, if you didn’t come. But Willy had looked so hopeful, and then he’d pulled out the final card: “It’s gonna be way more fun with you there by my side.”

And now you’re wearing a dress appropriate for a charity gala, which means you’ve never felt more uncomfortable in anything in your life, and your feet already hurt from your heels, and this was such a bad idea, God.

“You know,” Zach says, and his tone tells you this conversation is going somewhere you don’t want it to go. “Willy doesn’t like these events either. It means a lot to him that you’re coming for support.”

You nearly roll your eyes. “Willy charmed the socks off every person at my boss’ wedding, Zachy. He really doesn’t need my support for these kinda things.”

Zach’s face stays stoic. “Yeah, but nobody at that wedding knew him.”

“So?” you frown. “That should only be a disadvantage, considering he’s William Nylander.”

Zach laughs, then. “Still haven’t figured it out, then? I’m disappointed in you, Y/N. I thought you were good at reading people.”

“Hey!” you react, offended. You are good at reading people. It’s one of the things you pride yourself on. “If you know it all so well, why don’t you just tell me?”

Zach sighs. “Willy doesn’t like these events anymore because he is William Nylander, as you say it, and that’s not really a popular name in Leafs territory, right now.”

And, oh.

That.

“I did realize he cares a lot more about what people think than I thought he did.” You pause. “More than he should, probably.”

“Definitely.” Zach’s face has that protective big brother vibe about it, again. You used to not understand, why he always looked like that when people were talking shit about Willy.

You get it, now.

“There’s always plenty more people telling him he’s great, than there are people sending him snarky looks,” Zach continues. “But he never really believes any compliments he gets, so that doesn’t help.”

Suddenly, you realize something.

You’ve never really… complimented Willy? Even when you realized he cared more than he let on, you still just assumed he knew how great he was. Sometimes, he kinda fishes for something – “Did you see my goal?” “How about my cooking abilities?” “I know how to pick a good movie, right?” – but you’d always laughed and chirped him for it.

“If your head gets any bigger, it’ll explode.”

And Willy is always complimenting you; he tells you you look great all the time, even when you decidedly dont’t, but he clearly remembered what you told him about Noah because that’s never the only thing he compliments you about.

He tells you how smart you are, “I like how good you are with animals”, how any food you make is the best thing he’s ever eaten, if only everyone was as lovely as you.

You feel guilty, now. If Willy is your friend, you’ve really not been doing such a good job at being his friend, too.

You’re fixing that tonight, you decide right then and there.

“I’ll make him believe it,” you tell Zach, and it comes out sounding vaguely threatening.

Zach laughs. “Thought you didn’t like him?”

“Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought he was,” you admit, and you don’t tell Zach how much you really, really do like Willy, but you think Zach kinda knows anyway.

Will meets you at the door, where Alannah is also waiting for Zach. He smiles at you, eyes soft.

“You look beautiful, Y/N.” He quickly presses his lips to your temple, which is a new development that you don’t really know how to handle.

But Will is a tactile guy, anyway, so you’re sure you shouldn’t read too much into it.

You see Zach’s raised eyebrow, and suddenly remember – fine, maybe you’d forgotten your objective for a second because Will looks really hot in that suit, but you’re back on track now.

“You look beautiful too, Will.”

Willy’s eyes widen and a flush creeps up on his cheek, but before he can answer you grab his hand and pull him into the building.

It’s a fancy, really expensive hotel, where the gala is being held. It’s filled to the brim with people, a few of which you recognize, most of which you don’t.

“That chandelier must be worth more than our entire house,” Alannah mutters, and you’re glad to see it’s affecting her too, although she’s been to these events many times.

Zach laughs. “With a puppy in the house, aren’t you glad we don’t have any furniture that costs more than our mortgage?”

“Do you want a drink?” Will’s lips are close enough to your ear to hear him over the noise of the crowd and the music in the background, and also close enough to feel his hot breath against your neck. It takes everything in you not to shiver.

Maybe you do need a drink. Or ten.

Willy and Zach go to get the drinks and Alannah leads you to where some of the other WAGs are. Steph is the only one you know and she hugs you as soon as she sees you coming, then introduces you to the rest.

“So, you’re with Will, huh?” she asks, eyebrows waggling.

You were expecting that question, but maybe not so soon into the evening.

“Uhm,” you cough, “not really. Just his plus one for tonight.”

“Sure,” Steph says, and she looks like she doesn’t believe you at all.News always travels fast in the WAGs group, and Alannah is looking a little guilty.

You find you don’t mind so much, that they think that you’re together. Although you really don’t wanna think about why you don’t mind.

When Willy finds you, Kappy and his girlfriend are with him, and the four of you make your rounds throughout the room, talking to any sponsor that seems interested in a conversation. Mostly you just stand there while Willy talks, his hand on your back as if he’s scared you’re gonna run off.

“I always thought this would be a lot of work,” you mumble in Willy’s ear, when you’re between conversation partners. “But I really only have to stand here and look pretty.”

Willy grins. “Seems like it comes natural to you.”

Right. You kinda forgot about the compliments again.

You shrug, lean a little closer until you’re basically pressed into his side. It feels a little too right, maybe, how quickly Will’s arm wraps around your waist.

“You’re really good at talking to these people.” You’re talking pretty loudly, but you’re pretty sure Will is the only one that can hear you over the noise. “The second you open your mouth, people are so charmed by you. I think you could make anyone love you.”

Willy’s eyes flash to the floor, and they stay fixed there as he mumbles something that sounds a lot like another “uhm”.

His cheeks are flushed red, and you’re saved from having to deal with that as Auston appears, eyes wild and jaw tense.

“I’m being stalked,” he hisses. “This old white dude literally won’t leave me alone even for a second. He’s been following me around for an hour. Help.”

Willy bursts into giggles, which is probably not very helpful, and the betrayal on Auston’s face is enough to make you feel bad for him.

“Come on,” you say, grabbing his arm, “let’s go hide behind the bar.”

It’s easier than you thought it would be, to get through the evening. In fact, when Will asks you if you’re ready to go, you hadn’t even noticed it had become so late.

You say goodbye to the few people you know and gratefully accept Willy’s offer to drive you home.

The car ride is silent. It’s not awkward, but the air is heavy with something, and you curse yourself for all those times you wished Willy would just shut up, because now he has and you hate every second of it.

Did your compliments freak him out? Did he regret asking you to come?

“So,” Will finally says, as he stops in front of a traffic light. He’s not looking at you, keeping his gaze firmly on the road ahead of him. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Zach told me you don’t like these events,” you try, carefully. You’ve never had to pull something out of Will, force him to open up; he’s always just kinda done it, from the very moment you met him, shared parts of himself with you that you never had to search for.

For you, who’s never learned how to not keep something hidden, that was maybe the thing that unnerved you about him the most.

“I like doing things for charity,” Will answers, and you can tell he’s picking his words carefully. “But I don’t like people looking at me as if I’m some kinda disappointment who doesn’t belong there.”

“Have they ever said anything?”

“No.” Will smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes and there’s a hint of sadness laced in it. “Not to my face, anyway. But I’m not stupid, you know.”

No, he’s not stupid. For all the conflicting thoughts you’ve had about him, you never thought he was stupid.

And you never thought he was a bad contract, either. It seems imperative, suddenly, that he knows that.

“Willy,” you say softly, and although his eyes are still on the road, you know he’s paying attention. “You can’t seriously believe that you’re anything but an amazing hockey player. You’re worth that contract and you’re worth the effort Dubas put into keeping you here. You’re so smart, and I know people don’t always see it but you work so hard, and Matts was so happy when you got back on his line because he knew you would be magic together.”

Will’s cheeks are red but this time, he’s not mumbling when he says: “I know I haven’t been playing as well as I can.”

“Stop,” you tell him, softly but forcefully. “Stop deflecting, stop dodging. Just take the compliment and believe me when I say you’re great at what you do.”

“That’s very nice of you,” he says, his voice a bit shaky, and that’s a different kind of deflecting but it’s still deflecting, and it’s hurting your heart.

“William Nylander,” you scold, and then you do what you’ve been wanting to do this entire evening and let yourself reach out and put a hand on his knee. “Just accept the compliment.”

Willy carefully reaches down to grab your hand, intertwines your fingers together as he lets both your hands rest on his thigh. He’s holding the steering wheel with one hand, but he’s driving pretty slowly and the roads are deserted, so you’re not too worried.

You’re more worried about the fact that he just doesn’t believe you.

“You’re a great hockey player,” you repeat, stubbornly. “And a great person.”

Finally Willy allows himself to smile, this small, rueful thing that sticks somewhere deep inside your chest, folds up next to your heart like it’s gonna stay there forever.

“Thank you,” he says, and maybe he still doesn’t really believe it but this is as far as you’re gonna get tonight and maybe that’s okay.

You’ve got time.

The car has reached your flat and Will parks it in your driveway. It’s quiet, and he hasn’t let go of your hand, and you kinda don’t want him to.

The night is over, probably.

But there’s still one thing you need to tell him, though. “It doesn’t matter, Will,” you say softly. “What those people think. It doesn’t matter.”

“No,” Willy agrees, and for the first time you can tell he believes it. “But it matters what you think.”

He finally turns to look at you and there’s so many emotions swirling in the deep blue of his eyes, but you can’t really put your finger on any of them. All you know is your heart is beating in your throat, and you really want to kiss him.

But Willy still looks a little sad, and you have a feeling there’s something he’s not saying.

“I told you I think you’re great,“ you tell him, and it’s the truth.

“But you didn’t, before.” Will hesitates. “I told you I’m not stupid. I know when people find me annoying.” He shrugs. “I get it. I know I can be too much.”

And God, there’s so much hurt in that, so much pain and yet understanding, and you can tell he truly believes that, and you would do anything to take that away from him.

Anything.

So.

“I didn’t like you,” you admit, but when Will goes to pull back his hand, you simply hold on tighter. “I was wrong. I didn’t know you, and I was wrong. Now I know you. And I like you.” You inhale, pause. “I like you so much I don’t really know what to do with myself, sometimes.”

It’s quiet. You can nearly see the wheels turning in Willy’s head as he searches your face for something; something to tell him you’re not being truthful, maybe, that it doesn’t mean what he thinks it does.

If that’s what he’s looking for, he won’t find it.

Then he drops your hand, jumps out of the car and slams the door.

Disappointment and hurt washes over you; you knew you had to try, had to put your heart out there, but it hurts that it’s smashed into pieces like that. Clearly you read it wrong, clearly you still don’t know how to tell what Willy’s feeling.

Except then your door opens, and Willy is holding out his hand.

“Come on,” he says, and his voice sounds… fond? You don’t know exactly what to think about it, but he doesn’t sound angry, or upset.

Against better judgement, you grab his hand and get out of the car.

“I have to tell you something,” Will says. And, there’s no way that he’s doing what you think he’s doing, but his hands are suddenly traveling up, one reaching to cup your cheek, the other settling on your waist. His eyes are staring into yours intently, and they’re twinkling but it’s not the same mischievous twinkle you’re used to seeing.

“I really like you, too,” Willy says, and he leans in and presses his lips against yours.

For a split second, you stand there, not quite knowing what just happened, but then his hand tightens on your hip and you realize that this is real, this is happening, and Will’s kissing you.

So you kiss back. You let your body lean heavy against the car, place your hands on his biceps and pull him closer, until his chest is flush against yours. The kiss deepens, and you swear you can feel your heartbeat synching up with his.

The night is dark, and quiet, and it rains a little, but you feel none of it.

All you feel is Will, surrounding you, and everything is beautiful and exactly the way it’s supposed to be.

#happy ending except!!! is it???#william nylander #william nylander fic #nhl fic #toronto maple leafs

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