#found this article while looking for something else and god.......... i love them..................

[ntshastark]

#found this article while looking for something else and god.......... i love them.................. #mr dc comics pls............ pls gimme the batmarriage.................. #f: dc #g: dc comics #u: main dc earth #r: batcat #p: selina kyle #t: talk post

[total-dxmure]

✦ MARLEY AND ME →【ELLIE WILLIAMS】→ CHAPTER TWO

pairing: modern!ellie williams x single mom!reader

summary: you’re a single mom just doing the best that she can to make ends meet. ellie can’t help but think that you're the kindest, most beautiful girl that she’s ever met. compared to taking care a little girl that's in her terrible twos, coming to terms with the fact that you’re a lesbian is a walk in the park. awkward first encounters, ellie’s broken gay-dar, and her overwhelming urge to take care of the care-giver. . . the road to domesticity is a long one, but it’s well worth the pining that it takes to get there.

warnings: hella SMUT! in future chapters, eventual substance use, no use of y/n (you have nicknames/petnames), the reader is marley’s biological mother, talk of coming to terms with ones sexuality, mention of a shitty baby daddy ( though there is no co-parenting between them), ellie is a total girl mom, lots and lots of fluff, ellie is an anxious dork in this fic, reader is broke but happy, ellie takes pride in being a provider, this is going to be a multi-part fic, ellie is an absolute simp for the reader since chapter one and will remain her #1 fan.

⬶ previous chapter | next chapter ⤅

There were a thousand different ways to tell someone that you loved them.

For you, it could be found in the way that your hands shook with exhaustion after a long night at work as you reached up for the off-brand box of mac n’ cheese. You had your calculator pulled up on your phone, trying to make sure that you had just enough in your bank account for a week's worth of groceries.

Or, it could be found in the simple way that you prepared your daughter’s breakfast in the mornings. Half dead from working eight hours at the little diner, located right off of the interstate. After what felt like a never ending shift dealing with drunk patrons, the first thing you did after getting just four hours of sleep was make your daughter a bowl of oatmeal. You fixed hers the way she liked it- with fresh bananas and strawberries. Fresh fruit was expensive though. A luxury. It was something that you didn’t see yourself worthy of, not when your precious daughter loved it so much. So you stuck to a dash of milk and a few sprinkles of brown sugar, wolfing it down after going without dinner.

You were a single parent, and while your mom and step dad loved watching her while you were at work, you felt incredibly guilty that you didn’t have the extra funds to pay them back for their hard work. You had rent, power, and water to worry about. Plus your insurance bill was incredibly high because of your age, even despite the fact that you drove a car that was nearly as old as you were.

You said “I love you” every time you fed your daughter before you fed yourself. You couldn’t remember the last time you had eaten a meal while it was still hot off of the stove.

You said “I love you” when you didn’t complain. You refused to be defeated or beaten down solely because you were a young single mother. You didn’t want Marley to remember her childhood that way. So you bought her cheap toys to keep her happy. You let her wipe sticky little hands all over the few articles of clothing that you owned. You let her lay in the bed with you when she couldn’t go to sleep, despite the fact that you barely got any shut eye yourself. You carried the weight of her on your shoulders and never complained.

And above all else, you didn’t regret her for a second.

Not when her father abandoned you to do god knows what. Not when you gave birth with just your mother in the room. Not when your lights got cut off. Not when you lost most of your friends, because what young adult wants to hang out with a two year old all the time?

Marley was your pride and joy despite all of it.

So you tossed the box of mac n’ cheese into the cart when she started to reach for it and added the cost of it onto your calculator.

You looked down at your phone as you pushed the buggy aimlessly forward, not sure what else you needed to pick up. You stuck your hand into the front pocket of your overalls, leafing around for your shopping list.

“Uh. . . long time no see.”

Your head snapped up as you heard the familiar raspy voice in front of you. Your stomach did a few flips as you took in her tight fitting boot cut jeans and gray tank top. Her nose wasn’t the only thing that was splattered with freckles, but her revealed shoulders as well. Ellie had looked good in her work clothes, but there was something extra attractive about the way that she dressed in her free time. It was all about comfort and mobility. She didn’t need loads of jewelry, or even makeup for that matter, to be beautiful. You suddenly felt underdressed for the grocery store, hyper aware of the fact that you had only slapped on some mascara before running out of the house.

Your eyes flickered down to the basket she was holding, and you couldn’t help but smile at the fact that the only thing in it was a case of beer and a few microwavable meals. Her dirty, paint covered hand tightened on the handle, and she shuffled her feet before clearing her throat.

“I know I look like hammered shi-” She caught herself, her eyes widening as she noted that Marley was with you. “Poop. Hammered poop.” She corrected, motioning over her outfit.

You brushed her off with a wave of your wrist, making a small noise of denial. If she thought that she looked bad, you didn’t want to even think about how you must look in her eyes. You’d barely had time to run a brush through your wild hair before jogging out the door.

“Do you have the day off?” You asked her, putting some of your weight onto the buggy. Your daughter started to get antsy, so you reached down into the buggy and handed her the rabbit plushie she had insisted on bringing with her, only to toss it behind her the second that the two of you started shopping.

You noticed Ellie’s eyes soften as she watched your daughter hug the small stuffed creature.

“Yeah,” She looked back over at you, her eyes just as soft as they had been a second ago. Your heart began doing that funny thing. The weird pounding ache that made you feel like you were dying. “I scheduled some time off so that I could help Joel repaint the outside of his house.”

Her boots were splattered with white, and now that you were really staring at her, so was her pants. A few baby hairs were still stuck to the sides of her neck and forehead, probably from sweating in the summer sun.

“That was nice of you.” You said simply, chewing on the inside of your lip as you tried to find something else to say.

You didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, but it had been almost a week since you had last seen her, and she never had texted. You despised how sensitive you were, but you couldn’t help but see it as some sort of rejection. Maybe she had asked for your phone number instead of just giving you hers because she never planned on reaching back out at all.

“Nah, not really. He had an old Gibson lying around, so he gave it to me. That’s enough payment, I’d say.” She kicked an imaginary rock on the worn linoleum floor, trying to find a way to tell you that she hadn’t texted you because she’d been afraid without coming off as a complete pussy.

Your eyebrows knit together in confusion, and you spoke before you could even think the question through. “Gibson? Is that like. . . food or something?”

Ellie stood there for a second, lips parting as she stared at the confused look on your face. The longer she stared, the more embarrassed you felt.

‘Oh god, that’s totally not what she was talking about.’ You thought to yourself, damn near close to slapping yourself upside the head.

She had to place the basket down so that she could brace her hands onto her knees as she laughed. You had made her chuckle a few times the other day, but nothing like this. Her smile was so beautiful, her laugh so hearty, that you forgot the reason why you were embarrassed in the first place. Her laugh was as raspy as her voice was- if not more so. It was also loud. You were sure that people could hear it all throughout the grocery store, despite the loud 80’s throwback that was blasting over the speakers. You didn’t mind if people could hear her, so long as they knew that you were the one to inspire this sort of reaction. You’d happily continue to ask the dumbest questions on the planet if it meant that you got to hear her laugh like this again.

She straightened up, shaking her head a few times as she tried to take steadying breaths.

“I-I’m sorry. . . I’m not laughing at you. That was just- that was a really cute question.” You felt the need to look away from her green eyes. “A Gibson. Like the guitar? Ever heard of one?”

You did slap yourself upside the head, then promptly covered your face with both of your hands. “Oh my god. Of course. . . Holy shit, that’s embarrassing.” You whined.

“Hey,” Ellie smiled at you again. It looked like she was really starting to come out of her shell. All it took was you embarrassing the absolute hell out of yourself. You would have done it sooner if you’d known. “No ‘S’ bombs in front of Marley.” She playfully scolded.

“Right, right. Wouldn’t want a mini sailor as a roommate.” You looked over at the child in question, rolling your eyes as you noticed the poor rabbit’s ear practically halfway down her throat. “She has an odd fascination with trying to eat things that shouldn’t be eaten.” You explained, knowing that you’d have to toss her beloved stuffie straight into the wash the second that you got home.

“I mean. . .who hasn’t eaten something that they shouldn’t have? If bubblegum wasn’t supposed to be swallowed, then why do they make it taste so good?” She stuck one of her hands into the front pocket of her jeans.

“Don’t give her any ideas. I’m sure she’s going to be one hell of a gum eater.”

The two of you took a second to just stare at each other, unsure if the lack of contact should be mentioned or not. You were the first person to break and mention it.

“So. . . I never got a text from you. Was it the caffeine addiction or the two year old that scared you away?” You said it lightheartedly, letting her know that it wasn’t meant to be taken as a jab or a judgment of her character.

Ellie swallowed hard, looking down at her shoes so that she could come up with a way to gracefully answer the question. She decided that there wasn’t a smooth way to answer.

“Neither. I was. . . uh- I was sort of scared that you wouldn’t answer me if I texted you first. I was hoping that I would run into you again.” It sounded stupid now that she was saying it outloud.

It also made it sound like she had romantic intentions. Granted. . . she had hope, but she’d be happy just to call you a friend. If that was really the case though, she shouldn’t have felt so nervous to reach out to you in the first place.

It was nice being around you. It felt effortless, and you didn’t take her ‘rough around the edges’ personality the wrong way, like most people. She would like to blame Joel for her crass attitude, but she’d been like this far before she was adopted. The two of them just happened to be more alike than she cared to admit.

“How about this: you give me your number right now, and I’ll text you when I get home.” You felt ten times better knowing that you really had just been overthinking.

You handed over your phone, and smiled as she reached out for it, starting to type her number in. She paused for a second though, realizing that she was so frazzled over seeing you again that she had forgotten the phone number that she’d had since freshman year of high school. She wondered if it would be too cheesy to put some sort of emoji after her name, and decided against it. Her contact was saved under “Ellie Williams”.

It was right to the point. No nonsense. It was so her that all you could do was smile fondly down at your phone before shoving it back into the pocket of your overalls.

You were also guilty of reading her a bit wrong. She was far more shy and anxious than you gave her credit for. It was sweet, actually. Being forward wasn’t exactly something that you were very good at these days though. Your ex had. . . ruined you, for lack of a better phrase. You hadn’t dated in years, and while most would blame the fact that you had a child, you knew it wasn’t quite that. There were nice people that didn’t care about that sort of thing. Yes, they were few and far in between, but they were out there. The second that someone showed you even a bit of kindness that crossed the boundary of friendship, you often pulled back. Or away completely.

You’d always known that you were into women. It wasn’t a discussion that you had to have with anyone in your life though, because you and your ex had dated all the way back in high school. Queer kids often have some sort of “coming out” story, but you never felt the need to. After the messy breakup you hadn’t felt the need for romance. Were you lonely? Incredibly so, but you’d rather be alone than allow your daughter to get attached to someone only for them to leave.

Now that you were older, you started to realize that maybe you had settled with a man because that was what you thought you should do. Getting married and having children was just the thing to do around here. Living in a place like Jackson, there wasn’t a ton of representation. Now that you were more experienced in the ‘life’ category, it was safe to say that you couldn’t imagine yourself settling down with a man. It wasn’t because of the trauma that Marley’s father had put you through either, it was something that had always been there.  A part of you felt guilty that it had taken you so many years to gain the courage to be yourself, but you were far too young for it to be too late.

Or so you told yourself when the anxiety started to weigh down on your heart.

“Do you eat a lot of microwavable meals?” You asked her, pointing to the basket that she had picked back up after her fit of laughter.

She flushed. Like actually turned pink. You smiled as she let out a small groan, wiping a paint stained hand over her face.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t see those,” You didn’t feel as bad for pointing them out as you should have. Not when it gave you a solid reason to see her again. “I’m super busy with work, and after a long day of being around food, I really don’t feel like cooking for just myself.”

Bingo. She’s single.

The old fluorescent light above the aisle that the two of you were currently chattering away in flickered. The both of you looked up at it simultaneously.

“Well, if you ever want a home cooked meal. . . you could always come over to my place? As long as you don’t mind watching a two year old try to use a spoon. It looks like a murder scene.” You said, eyes still locked on the light. You were really putting yourself out there, and felt too scared to see her reaction to the question.

She forgot how to breathe for a second. Was she just being pathetically optimistic, or were you asking her on a . . . very casual date?

“I would really like that.” She breathed, nodding her head to emphasize the fact that she was more than happy to come over. Toddler and all.

Most people her age would be a bit put off by the fact that you had a child, but it was a nonfactor for Ellie. She’d had almost an entire week to fantasize about you. During her routine daydreams, she recognized that she wasn’t bothered by Marley. If anything. . . it made her like you more. You were capable, and she’d like to think that you were incredibly mature. Ellie needed that in her life. She would never vocalize it, but she wanted stability. She wanted happiness. She wanted you.

You made her feel like she was in high school again, which was good. The constant stomach flops and heart palpitations didn’t feel good, but she hadn’t felt this giddy about someone since. . . well, probably forever.

“Great,” You beamed at her, and once again she felt like she might double over. Was her hands shaking? Yeah. . . they totally were. “When is your next day off?”

“Sunday.” She answered a little too eagerly and nearly winced.

“Ah, that’s great! Same here. Well, how does five thirty sound? I’ll text you my address.” You, on the other hand, didn’t care how eager you sounded.

“Sounds like a plan.”

“-and then I just. . . jogged off.” Ellie recalled, taking another drag off of the spliff before handing it over to Jesse.

She gave him a small shove when she noticed his slack jaw and narrowed eyes. He fell back against the couch, shaking his head wildly.

“No you didn’t.” He denied, hoping that his friend wasn’t that awkward.

“No, I totally did. The keys on my belt were jingling with how fast I was moving to get out of there. I forgot like. . . half of the things on my list.” She was mortified. She wanted to shrink down into a small ball and die. She was hoping that Jesse would give her some sound advice, but she should have known that he would give her major shit before going all Confucius on her.

“Oh my go-”Jesse’s barking laugh turned into a fit of coughs. Ellie wanted to think that it was the drug usage and not her retelling of the horrific events from earlier on in the day that was making him laugh so hard. He wiped at an invisible tear on his cheek, followed by a drawn out round of repeated “oooh that was good”’s.

“Help. Me.” Ellie said through clenched teeth, zipping her gray hoodie all the way up to her neck.

“Bring her flowers.” He said with a shrug, taking another long drag.

“I can’t bring her flowers, Jes! What if. . . I don’t know- what if she’s straight and I totally weird her out?” It would be a nightmare to show up with a gift like that, only to have read the situation completely wrong.

“. . . Can’t you tell if she’s gay or not? It’s not uncommon for people to realize they’re a lesbian after having kids.” Jesse’s brows furrowed as he blew off the ash from the eye of the spliff, handing it back over to her.

She took another long drag for courage before letting out a sigh, the smoke curling out from her mouth.

“I can’t. . . I can’t tell when it comes to that sort of thing.” She said lamely.

Jesse’s jaw dropped for a second time that night. Ellie sunk back into her overly-comfortable couch, pulling her hood up and over her head so that she could disappear.

“I just thought you had a thing for straight chicks this entire time,” He gasped, reaching out so that he could roughly shake her by her shoulders. “But you’re telling me that you’re a flaming homosexual and don’t have a gaydar?” He’d known her since high school, and he was just finding out? Damn. . . this entire time he thought that she must be some sort of masochist or something.

“Yes. Are you happy now? I don’t have a gaydar, and I have no clue if she’s sending me friendly signals, so I’m asking for your help.” She needed someone to spell it out to her. He’d seen you at the restaurant, afterall.

“. . . Did you happen to see her nails?”

“It’s almost like you want to get punched in the mouth.”

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[underground-secret]

The Hunter and The Witch: Dean Winchester x fem! reader

Description: Sam, Dean, and Y/N investigate a series of mysterious drownings. They discover the town inhabitants a dark secret buried long ago.

Warnings: cannon violence, mentions of drownings, gun usage (sort of), maybe cursing, bad flirting, death, mentions of death

tag list: @athenalive, @jesllianaquilesrolonsworld

Word count: 7,066

Dead In the Water

(Masterlist, Previous Chapter, Next Chapter)

We sit at the diner part of the Inn that we’re staying at.

Dean sits in front of me circling obituaries in a newspaper to find our next hunt, Sam having left for the bathroom. My laptop is out as I type away on the new article I had to write for my work deadline, our plates of food are mostly empty, now pushed to the side as we continue our tasks

A pretty waitress, whose name tag reads ‘Wendy’ approaches our table. “Can I get you anything else?” she asks with a charming smile.

And despite how attractive she is, my eyes aren’t on her but the man in front of me. Deans looking up at her grinning around the pen he’s chewing on and god I don’t know if i’ve ever been this distracted.

My mouth falls a little bit agape as I look at him, perfect smile, messy hair, a sort of 5 o'clock shadow going on, and a pen pulling at his bottom lip. My cheeks burn and I know I must look like an idiot.

“Just the check, please.” Sam answers sitting back down in the seat next to me. This pulls me out of my love sick stare, I take a sip of what’s left of my water trying to cool myself down.

“Okay.” Wendy says, walking away.

Dean drops his head, then looks at Sam “You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while.”

He points to Wendy, who’s back is to us, “That’s fun.”

He looks at Sam and then at me, like he’s expecting some kind of reaction from me. But I remain quiet.

“Here, take a look at this, I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago.” Dean gives up, handing Sam the newspaper who tilts it so that I could also see it.

“A funeral?” Sam asks

“Yeah, it's weird, they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever” Dean acknowledges.

“Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them.” Sam replies, clearly angry.

“Something you want to say to me?” Dean challenges.

“The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day.” Sam answers.

“Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?” Dean pushes back.

“I don't know. Something. Anything.” Sam answers.

“You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?” Dean snaps and suddenly I feel like I'm a little kid watching their parents argue while I'm stuck in the middle just sitting there.

“Yeah, I know you do, it's just—“ Dean cuts him off, “I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?” Sam rolls his eyes at this.

Wendy walks by again, catching Dean's attention, full on distracting him.

I clear my throat wanting to change the subject, “Lake Manitoc. Hey! Well doesn't that just sound so interesting.”

This gets Dean’s attention back, away from Wendy.

“Huh?” he asks.

“How far?” Sam asks, catching on to my idea.

If there was an award for how quickly someone could make others uncomfortable I’d have to give it to these boys. From arguing over hunting and their Dad in front of their friend to getting distracted by a hot waitress. But if they did get an award they’d probably argue over that too.

The Impala pulls up in front of the Carlton house.

Dean knocks on the door, a young guy with short brown hair answers it.

“Will Carlton?” Dean asks.

“Yeah, that's right.” Will confirms.

“I'm Agent Ford, this is Agent Hamil, and that’s Agent Hayden.” Dean informs, referring to himself, then Sam, and then me.

“We’re with the US Wildlife Service” He goes on, holding up an ID to match his lie.

Will takes us around the house to the dock, where his father sits.

“She was about a hundred yards out. That's where she got dragged down.” Will explains.

“And you’re sure she didn’t just drown?” I ask, even though it felt inconsiderate.

“Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub.”

Ok yeah, definitely didn’t just drown then.

“So no splashing? No signs of distress?” Sam questions further.

“No, that's what I'm telling you.” Will responds, clearly getting annoyed.

“Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?” Sam asks.

“No. Again, she was really far out there.” He said, frustrated.

“You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?” Dean asks further, trying to cross some things off the long list of creatures who could be responsible.

“No, never. Why? Why, what do you think's out there?” Will asked, pushing for answers.

“We'll let you know.” I respond simply, feeling bad for attacking him with questions when his sister just died.

Dean gives me a nod to start heading back to the car.

But Sam doesn't move with us, instead he pushes on with the questions, “What about your father? Can we talk to him?”

We stop walking, turning back to hear the response.

Will looks towards his father, Bill, and looks back at Sam. “Look, if you don't mind, I mean...he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot.”

“We understand.”

And we do, we’ve seen these sorts of things break people apart, families even. We’ve seen these things break apart our own families, and we struggle each day to not allow it to break us. Even if we never bring it up, not even to each other.

“Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?” Sheriff Jake Devins asks us, having decided talking to him would be the next best course of action.

“You sure it's accidental? Will Carlton saw something grab his sister.” Sam informs

“Like what?” Devins asks, leading us into his office motioning for us to sit. “Here, sit, please. There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake.”

Sam and Dean sit, the sheriff pulling up a third chair so I could sit too as he keeps talking. “There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster.”

“Yeah. Right” Dean laughs.

“Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still…we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there.” Devins explains, taking a seat.

“You do have to admit it’s weird, I mean that's three missing people all in relation to the lake” I press.

“I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about.” Devins answers, eyebrows scrunched together with worry.

“Anyway...All this...it won't be a problem much longer.” Devins sighs.

“What do you mean?” Dean asks, leaning forward slightly.

“Well, the dam, of course.” Devon clarifies.

“Of course, the dam. It's, uh, it sprung a leak.” Dean guesses.

“It's falling apart, and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town, either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that.” Devon explains.

There’s a light tap on the door followed by a brunette woman peeking her head in, “Sorry, am I interrupting?”

We all stand up at the same time, weird, since we were done with our questions anyways.

“I can come back later.” The woman adds.

“No no it’s okay, we were just leaving” I reply with a friendly smile.

“Gentlemen, ma’am, this is my daughter” The sheriff explains, motioning his hand towards the woman.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Dean.” He shakes her hand.

Maybe he makes it painfully obvious or maybe I've just known him for so long that I can now easily tell when he wants to hook up with a woman. I know Sam has this ability too as we give each other a knowing look from behind Dean's back, standing on either side of him.

“Andrea Barr. Hi.” She introduces

“Hi.” Dean answers.

“They're from the Wildlife Service. About the lake.” Devon informs her.

“Oh.”

That’s when a small boy with long brownish-red hair walked around Andrea.

“Oh, hi!” I greet the kid, having spotted him first, giving him a little wave.

But he gives no answer or greeting of any kind, walking away without saying a word. Andrea followed closely behind him.

“His name is Lucas” Devon states.

“Is he okay?” Sam asks.

“My grandson's been through a lot. We all have.” Sheriff Devon stands going to his office door, “Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know.”

We all leave the office, including the Sheriff himself. Dean asked one final question, “Thanks. You know, now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?”

“Lakefront Motel. Go around the corner. It's about two blocks south.” Andrea answers

“Two—would you mind showing us?” Dean asks

She laughs, “You want me to walk you two blocks?”

“Not if it's any trouble.”

“I'm headed that way anyway.”

I look at Sam again and without words we have a conversation on how ridiculous and slightly annoying this is.

Andrea turns to her father, “I'll be back to pick up Lucas at three.” Then to Lucus, “We'll go to the park, okay, sweetie?” She kisses his head and then turns our way to lead us.

“Thanks again.”

Andrea leads us along the street, Dean making conversation. “So, cute kid” He says.

“Thanks” she responds simply.

“Kids are the best, huh?” He tries again as we cross the street, but she ignores him. We keep walking, shortly coming to a stop in front of the Lakefront Motel.

“There it is. Like I said, two blocks” She states with an awkward smile.

“Thanks so much” I say sincerely, feeling bad for Dean having dragged her here just for a chance with her.

“Thanks.” Sam says too.

She nods her head at us before addressing Dean, “Must be hard, with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line.”

A laugh slips past my lips before I could stop it (for Deans sake). “Ohhh I like you” I can't happen but say through laughs. I get a sharp glare from Dean but a contrasting soft smile from Andrea.

She leaves, calling back over her shoulder, “Enjoy your stay!”

“'Kids are the best'? You don't even like kids.” Sam points out, turning towards Dean with a questioning look on his face.

“I love kids.” He responds

“Mhm” I hum sarcastically

“Name three children that you even know.” Sam challenges. But as predicted Dean can’t even come up with one. Sam gives him a pointed look before walking towards the hotel and I follow after.

“I'm thinking!” Dean yells after us.

We walk into the motel's office, Sam’s talking to the clerk and I can’t help but unfocus my eyes staring at the unpleasantly patterned wallpaper. I’ve been traveling with Dean for hardly a month and he’s managed to flirt with practically every woman he’s seen, and yes I know this is an exaggeration.

Each woman, each time he flirts or even winks at another girl a pain rings true in my heart, one I hate to say I'm becoming familiar with.

It was that moment, that one small moment of waiting for keys to our motel rooms that I decided it.

From now on I won’t feel jealous or even that stupid pain in my heart when he’s with another woman, even though I know that isn’t how it works.

I’ll try to forget that I love him, I'll pretend those feelings aren’t there just so it doesn’t become painful to be around him. Even though I know it’s impossible to forget you're in love with Dean Winchester.

I dropped my bag off in my room, now entering Sam and Dean’s.

Sam’s working on his laptop while Dean’s going through his clothing for I have no idea what.

I take the seat across from Sam as he reads what he finds.

“So there’s the three drowning victims this year.”

“Is there anything before that?” I ask

“Yeah. Six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace.”

“So, what, we got a lake monster on a binge?” Dean asks.

“Unlikely, considering there hasn’t been any spotting or legends around the town. Like for the Loch Ness there’s been more than a hundred eye witnesses, but for this, none.” I pipe up.

“I was thinking the same thing. Whatever is out there, no one’s living to talk about it.” Sam adds, getting Dean to stalk over and look at the laptop.

“Wait, Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?” Dean points to the screen.

“Isn’t that Andreas last name?” I ask.

“Christopher Barr, the victim in May… Yeah Y/N’s right. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas's father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued…Maybe we have an eyewitness after all.” Sam informs.

“Jesus Christ” I sigh.

“Yeah, no wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over.” Dean adds.

There’s a sound of kids laughing and playing as we approach the park, reminding me of similar times. We approach Andrea who’s sitting on a bench, “Can we join you?” Sam asks her gently.

She looks up at us, “I’m here with my son.”

Dean looks over at Lucas who’s sitting down with toy soldiers and some drawing materials.

“Oh. Mind if I say hi?” Dean asks her, she nods her head and he heads over.

“Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing is not gonna work on me.” She tells us, Sam sits next to her as he answers, “I don't think that's what this is about.”

I opt to stand, leaning on the arm of the bench. I take in the soft chill breeze and the kids running around. A feeling of peace creeps into my bones and warmth within my heart as I watch Dean interact with Lucas, a mix of admiration and longing in my veins.

Barley five minutes go by before he’s walking back to us, the warmth within me still hasn’t flickered out.

“Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident.” Andrea speaks up.

“Yeah, we heard. Sorry.” Dean answers, she nods.

“What are the doctors saying?” Sam asks and I can’t help but think if maybe this is too invasive.

But whether it is or not doesn't seem to matter as she answers, “That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress.”

“That can't be easy. For either of you.” Sam comforts.

“We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw…” She breaks off.

“Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with.” Dean offers, I know he’s speaking from experience.

“You know, he used to have such life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish—“

Lucas walking up to us cuts her off.

“Hey sweetie.”

Lucas doesn't acknowledge her, he just hands Dean a picture. One he drew himself, telling from the use of crayon.

“Thanks. Thanks, Lucas.”

We’re back at the motel. Deans sitting on his bed flipping through channels while I'm sitting next to him reading a book, a sort of habit we picked up when we were younger.

Sam enters the room, “So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asks, putting the remote down, I place my book down.

Sam sits on the bed next to the one we’re on, facing us, “I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead.”

“He drowned?” Dean asks.

“Yep. In the sink.” Sam confirms.

“Pardon?” I question, I mean how do you drown in a sink, of all places.

“What the hell? So you're right, this isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else.” Dean spoke.

“Yeah, but what?” Sam voiced.

“I don't know. Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? I mean, something that controls water...water that comes from the same source.” Dean listed

“The lake.” Sam suggested.

“Yeah.”

“Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time.” Sam responded.

“And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere. This is gonna happen again soon.” Dean says, moving to sit on the edge of the bed towards Sam.

“And whatever it is, it for sure has to do with Bill Carlton.” I add on.

“Yeah, it took both his kids.” Dean confirms.

“And I've been asking around. Lucas's dad, Chris, he’s Bill Carlton's godson.” Sam reveals.

“Then let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit.”

Bill Carlton’s sitting on a bench on the lake's dock.

From here you wouldn’t expect anything sinister from the relaxed big lake.

“Mr. Carlton?” Sam voices as we approach his sitting figure.

“We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind.” He continues, gaining Mr.Carlton’s attention.

“We're from the Department—“ Dean attempts to say, getting cut off by Bill. “I don't care who you're with. I've answered enough questions today.” A weak mix of tiredness and sadness etched on his voice.

“Your son said he saw something in that lake. What about you? You ever see anything out there? Mr. Carlton, Sophie's drowning and Will's death—we think there might be a connection to you or your family.” Sam explains, despite Carlton’s previous response.

“My children are gone. It's...it's worse than dying. Go away. Please.” Mr. Carlton pleads, looking down at his lap.

We all give each other a look, scrunched eyebrows and sympathetic faces. It’s within that look that we decide to head back to the Impala knowing we won’t get anything more from Bill Carlton.

“What do you guys think?” Sam questions as we approach the car.

“The poor man has been through so much…” I trail off, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

“He’s also not telling us something” Dean adds, and I can’t help but agree despite how bad I feel for the guy.

“So now what?” Sam asks, leaning on the car.

Dean goes still, stiffening.

“What is it?” I ask tilting my head

“Huh…Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something.” Dean suggests. He pulls out a piece of paper looking at the Carlton house, he tilts it for us to see revealing the drawing Lucas made.

“I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea.” Andrea speaks, closing the door behind us as we enter her house.

“I just need to talk to him. Just for a few minutes.” Dean reasons.

“He won't say anything. What good's it gonna do?” She responds.

“Andrea, we think more people might get hurt. We think something's happening out there.” Sam explains, and I can’t imagine how ridiculous that sounds to her.

“My husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all.” Andrea states clearly, voice laced with grief and anger.

“If that's what you really believe, then we'll go. But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here, please let me talk to your son.” Dean pleads.

Andrea nods in defeat.

She leads us to Lucas’s room, he’s coloring while toy soldiers stand guard around him. Dean enters crouching down by Lucas while we wait in the doorway, “Hey, Lucas. You remember me? You know, I, uh, I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again.”

Lucas continues to color, refusing to acknowledge Dean who pulls out the original drawing, “How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen? Maybe you could nod yes or no for me.”

But again Lucas keeps coloring. Dean tries again, “You're scared. It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom, and I was scared, too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom—I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too.”

I remember the day he told me that story, it was the same day my mom had died and he was trying to comfort me having understood the feeling of losing a mother. I was thirteen, him being two years older, and his mom had already been gone for eleven years. But the grief that was apparent when he told me all those years ago, like it had happened the day before…I sometimes still see it now.

That got Lucas’s attention, he drops his crayon and looks up at Dean handing him a picture.

“Thanks, Lucas.”

We’re back in the Impala, Sam’s holding the drawing Lucas made of a yellow house near a church with red bikes outside.

“Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died.” Dean says.

“Well it’s said that going through a traumatic experience could make someone more sensitive to psychic tendencies.” I offer, recalling some information I read somewhere.

“Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please.” Dean questions, it’s clear he cares about the kid that he’s even worried about Lucas.

“All right, we got another house to find.” Sam responds, referring to the drawing of the yellow house.

“The only problem is there's about a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone.” Dean grumbled, complaining.

“See this church? I bet there's less than a thousand of those around here.” Sam states, looking at the drawing.

“Oh, College Boy thinks he's so smart.” Dean mocks, even though we both know it was pretty helpful information.

“You know, um...What you said about Mom...You never told me that before.” Sam admits, the mood changing quickly.

“It's no big deal” He responds before continuing, “Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?”

“Aww, you know you’d love a hug” I tease, patting his shoulder from the back seat.

He rolls his eyes, starting the car.

After driving around for a while we finally approach a white church that looks similar to the one Lucas had drawn. Dean holds up the drawing, comparing the two. There’s the yellow house next to the church and a wooden fence near the house. We look between each other knowing that this must be it.

We cross the street, Dean knocking on the door to the yellow house.

“We're sorry to bother you, ma'am—but does a little boy live here, by chance? He might wear a blue ball cap, has a red bicycle.” He asks the small old woman that answers the door.

She lets us in as she answers, “No sir. Not for a very long time. Peter's been gone for thirty-five years now.

“The police never—I never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared.” She sighs continuing, “Losing him—you know, it's...it's worse than dying.”

I nudge both boys motioning towards the many toy soldiers lying on a table.

“Did he disappear from here? I mean, from this house?” Dean questions.

“He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, and he never showed up.” The woman explains.

Dean picks up a picture from the mirror of two boys, one who I assume is Peter with a bike.

He reads the back, “Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton, nineteen seventy.”

We’re back in the car, Dean driving.

“Okay, this little boy Peter Sweeney vanishes, and this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow.” Sam remarked.

“Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something, huh?” Dean questions.

“And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished.” Sam adds.

“D-Do you think Bill did something to Peter?” I stammer.

“What if he killed Peter?” Sam asks.

“Peter's spirit would be furious. It'd want revenge. It's possible.” Dean remarked, making a sharp turn presumably towards Carlton’s house.

The Impala pulls up in front of the house, we get out and Sam knocks on the door. “Mr. Carlton?” he calls out, the loud roar of an engine cutting off a second knock.

We go around the house seeing Bill out on the lake in his boat. We ran to the end of the dock, yelling.

“Mr. Carlton! You need to come back! Come out of the water! Turn the boat around!”

“Mr. Carlton!”

“Sir! You need to turn back”

Whether he’s choosing to ignore us or really doesn't hear us will remain a mystery as the water rises, flipping him and his boat over. Vanishing.

“Sam. Dean. Y/N” Andrea calls out as we walk into the main room of the police station with Sheriff Devins.

The Sheriff goes up to his daughter, having some sort of conversation that we can’t hear from where we stand.

Lucas looked up from where he was sitting, looking terrified. He jumps from his seat and barrels into Dean grabbing his arm.

“Lucas, hey, what is it? Lucas.” Dean speaks, looking down at the kid.

Lucas whines, looking up at Dean. Sam and I look at each other and then back to the scene unfolding in front of us.

“Lucas.” Andrea orders from where she stands.

“Lucas, it's okay. It's okay. Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay.” Dean tries to sooth him before Andrea pulls him away and leads him outside, but Lucas’s eyes remain on Dean.

Sheriff Devins struts over throwing his jacket down as he leads us into his office.

“Okay, just so I'm clear, you see...something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill—who is a very good swimmer, by the way—into the drink, and you never see him again?” Devins begins.

Dean glances at Sam and then me, “Yeah, that about sums it up.” He nods.

“And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service?” Devins lists out, the last one making my eyes widen.

He continued, “That's right, I checked. Department's never heard of you two.”

“See, now, we can explain that.” Dean says, trying to cover up our initial lie.

“Enough. Please. The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did. So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again.” Devins suggested.

“Door number two sounds good.” Sam answers simply, but I'm not so sure if I agree.

“That's the one I'd pick.”

We left swiftly, only stopping at the motel for our belongings before we were back in the car heading for the interstate.

“Green.” Sam announces, breaking the silence in the car.

“What?”

“Light's green.” Sam answers, clarifying.

Dean turns right. “Uh, the interstate's the other way.” Sam states, getting a simple, “I know.”

“But Dean, this job, I think it's over.” Sam replies.

“I'm not so sure.” Dean responded simply, really not letting anything up.

“If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest.” Sam reasons.

“All right, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done? You know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?” Dean challenges.

“But why would you think that?” Sam asks him

“Because Lucas was really scared.” He answers.

“Dean’s right, somethings not right with this ending” I chime in

“I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay.” Dean clarifies.

“I expect this from Y/N. But you? Dean. Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?” Sam questions, looking from me to Dean.

Dean glances at him, “Shut up.”

————————————————

We pulled up in front of Andreas' house. Sam chiming in one more comment, “Are you sure about this? It's pretty late, man.”

“Better to be wrong, then to not have checked” I answered, hugging my jacket closer to me.

Dean rings the doorbell. At that moment, Lucass opens the door, breathing heavy and clearly terrified.

“Lucas? Lucas!” Dean yells as Lucas turns around and takes off, without a second thought we follow after him.

Water pours down the stairs as he leads us up them and to the door with more water coming from it.

Lucas pounds on the door before Dean pushes him over to me, kicking in the door. As Deans about to enter Lucas grabs hold of him, so instead me and Sam enter.

Sam half kneels aimlessly sticking his hands into the water. When she surfaces for just a moment, I manage to grab underneath her arm closest to me trying to pull her out. She goes under again but we keep pulling until finally she’s let free and we’re able to pull her out.

She coughs up water as Sam leaves her to me going to grab something behind us. I hold her to me in an attempt to block her from the boys behind me along with the cold. Sam taps on my shoulder handing me a large fluffy towel while his head is facing away. I grab it, quickly covering Andrea with it.

She sits up fully, breathing harshly wrapping the towel tighter around herself. I sit next to her rubbing her arm soothingly, the bright moonlight shining on her back.

It was a while before Andrea felt comfortable to stand, Lucas immediately running up to her in a hug. After their reunion she went to get dressed asking if i’d stay in the room with her, I knew unless her bedroom had a water source she’d be okay but I wasn’t going to argue with a woman who’s already been terrified so I obliged.

I stood in the room facing the door as she got dressed, she was slow but I didn’t care.

And when she broke down crying I held her until she calmed down a bit.

Dawn was breaking when I’d finally got her to sit down stairs in the living room. Sam sat across from her while Dean was looking through the bookshelves that lined the wall.

“Can you tell me?” Sam asked.

“No. It doesn't make any sense. I'm going crazy.” She started crying again, putting her face in her hands.

“Your not crazy” I tell her.

“Tell us what happened. Everything.” Sam adds.

“I heard...I thought I heard...there was this voice.” Andrea recalled.

“What did it say?”

“It said...it said 'come play with me'. What's happening?” She sobs into her hands.

Dean approaches us with a book of some sort in his hand, he puts it down in front of Andrea opening to a picture of a bunch of boys in a uniform that looks like boy scouts. “Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?” He asks.

“What? Um, um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there. He must have been about twelve in these pictures.” She moves her finger over to another picture, kid Jake standing next to Peter.

Dean looks up at us, “Chris Barr's drowning. The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff.”

“Bill and the sheriff—they were both involved with Peter.” Sam adds.

“What about Chris? My dad—what are you talking about?” Andrea asks, looking between the three of us.

Dean looks to the side, “Lucas? Lucas, what is it?”

He asks the boy staring out the window. Lucas opens the door and walks outside and we follow.

“Lucas, honey?” Andrea calls out.

Lucas then stops and looks at the ground then at Dean.

“You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?” Dean commands.

Andrea pulls Lucas back into the house, Dean heads to the Impala and back, returning with shovels. We start digging, and it doesn't take long before Sam’s shovel clanked against something.

Almost in sync we drop to our knees, digging with our hands, pulling out a red bicycle.

“Peter's bike.” I murmur.

“Who are you?” A commanding voice rings from behind us. We turn around only to be met with the Sheriff pointing a gun at us.

“Put the gun down, Jake.” Sam reasons as we drop the shovels.

“How did you know that was there?” Jake questions, gun still raised.

But he does not get the answer he’s looking for, Dean instead questioning him, “What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried.”

“I don't know what the hell you're talking about.” Jake replies with venom.

“You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what the hell I'm talking about.” Dean continues.

Andrea suddenly runs off yelling, “Dad!”

“And now you got one seriously pissed-off spirit.” Dean finishes.

“It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love. It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's gonna take you, and it's not gonna stop until it does.” Sam adds.

“Yeah, and how do you know that?” Jake challenges.

“Because that’s exactly what happened to Bill Carlton” I huff.

“Listen to yourselves, all of you. You're insane.” Jake seethes, tightening his grip on the gun.

“I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us. But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake.” Dean spits a reply.

“Dad, is any of this true?” Andrea asks weakly.

“No. Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous.” He accuses.

“Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me.” Andrea commands and he does, “Tell me you—you didn't kill anyone.”

He doesn't reply, instead looking away. “Oh my God.” She gasps.

“Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank.

Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational.” Jake explains, lowering his gun.

“All right, listen to me, all of you. We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now.” Dean orders.

Andrea turns her head, but instead of moving she gasps. We all look in her direction seeing Lucas going down to the lake.

“Lucas” Jake yells out to his grandson.

We run the dock, Lucas leaning over the side reaching into the water.

“Lucas!”

“Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!” Andrea yells, but Lucas had a head start on us and was still too far for us to reach before a hand pulled him into the water.

We keep running to the end of the dock, the boys dive in and despite my fear of deep waters I dive in right after them.

The water is cold and murky, it’s hard to truly see in front of me but I keep going further. In the corner of my eye I see two figures that I know to be the boys breach the surface, but I force myself to keep going despite the lack of air I had left. I light one of my hands up to use as a flashlight, seeing Lucas’s small body getting dragged further down by Peter.

I try to grasp his arm but he’s just out of reach. My throat is tight with lack of oxygen, I’m about to go to a second plan when suddenly the ghost boy lets go of Lucas. I grab him quickly, before he can change his mind, I swim as fast as I can to the surface hoping i’d make it.

I break the surface with a harsh breath, the rush of oxygen to my lungs only making my chest hurt more. My wet hair covered my face but I didn’t bother to fix myself as I handed the unconscious boy to Sam, who was closest to me. Sam brought him to the edge and with the help of Andrea pulled him out, beginning cpr.

I stay treading in the water breathing heavily, my chest raising up and down exceptionally fast. Dean lifts himself out of the lake landing on his knees, facing the body of water. Dean offers his hand to me, I swim to the edge of the lake where he sits, gladly taking his hand. He lifts me out of the water with ease, turning himself in the process so that I was next to him and not on top.

I look over at Lucas, who’s okay and hugging his mother before I let my head drop down my wet hair creating a curtain around me as I hold my hands to the firm ground, trying to not only catch my breath but also calm my anxiety.

Gentle, familiar, hands hold the sides of my face. Dean. He brings my head up to look at him, my wet hair in the way, but he pushes my hair back, tucking it behind my ears, his hands immediately going back to cupping my face.

“You okay, sweetheart?” He asks me, breathing a little heavy too, his voice gravelly and low.

I nod my head in response, feeling as if I couldn’t form the words to answer verbally.

“No. I need to hear you say it, baby” He breathes, hands still on me if not a little firmer.

“I’m okay” I answer, my voice coming out crackly.

He seems to accept that answer as he looks over me slowly, eventually making his way back to my eyes. It almost seemed like his eyes were going to drop down once more but before he could there were sounds of sirens, always our que to leave.

————————————————————————

We walk out of the motel, Sam throwing his duffel bag into the car.

“Look, we're not gonna save everybody.” He tells Dean. They caught me up on what happened on the drive back to the motel, Jake sacrificing himself. Which had made sense why Peter had suddenly let Lucas go.

“I know.” Dean responds simply.

“Sam, Dean, Y/N” Andrea calls out walking up to us with Lucas.

“Hey.” Dean greets.

“We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road. Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself.” Andrea explained, motioning down to Lucas who looked very pleased with the platter of sandwiches he was carrying.

He looked up to his mom, “Can I give it to them now?”

“Of course” Andrea told him, smiling wildly, giving him a kiss on the head.

“Come on, Lucas, let's load this into the car.” Dean takes the plate from him.

“Lucas, this is so sweet of you, thank you” I tell him sincerely while Dean places the plate on the passenger seat of the car.

“All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time.” Dean instructs the kid as he sits in the passenger seat facing outward, with the door open.

“Zeppelin rules!” Lucas yells out.

“That's right. Up high.” Dean holds his hand up for a high-five. Lucas obliges, grinning. I laugh almost uncontrollably, the moment just a little too sweet.

“You take care of your mom, okay?” He tells him.

“All right.” Lucas answers, determination on his face.

Andrea and Sam come up to the car. Andrea leans over the open door giving Dean a quick kiss on the lips before pulling away with a “Thank you”

My eyebrows raise and I take a half-step back, not really expecting her to do that.

Dean stiffens and you can see the cogs turning in his head, he scratches his head and turns his head towards me, looking at me. I don’t say anything, I mean what would I say, I’m not even sure why he’s looking at me.

He goes around the car passing me, eyes still on me as he calls out to Sam. “Sam, move your ass. We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road.”

We all get in the car, smiling and waving goodbye to Andrea and Lucas as we drive away.

#dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #fanfiction #sam winchester #supernatural #dead in the water #supernatural season 1 #john winchester #slow burn #guilty #secrets #supernatural x reader #witch reader #the hunter and the witch

[1nephthys]

Darlin' Darlin'

Word count: ~7.1k

Make it work this time, Steve. (part 2)

PLEASE DO NOT COPY.

Also, I used a song released in 2020 but it's suit and I love it. Idk how to add cool link, but it's call "Darlin' Darlin'" by The knee-Hi's.

Robin and Nancy ran into a school and quickly got into office.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me" Steve screamed at them. After a second, the group heard something outside. "Stay here" he said quiet this time, looking directly at y/n.

He took random lamp and got out of the room. The rest, of course, also did that. Nancy and Dustin had flashlights in their hands but they didn't dare to light anywhere but floor.

Everyone screamed when Lucas went out of the corridor.

"What's wrong with you!" Steve yelled at him "I could've killed you with this lamp! Don't sneak like that, Sinclair"

"Sorry!! Sorry! I was biking for god knows how long. Give me a second." He explained himself. Now, y/n noticed that he was out of breath and have sweat on his forehead. "Shit! Guys! We god a code red!"

"Sinclair, what are you talking about?" Steve asked, he was confused but all of them were, waiting for any explanation.

"Y/n, Dustin! I've been with Jason and the rest and they've gone totally off the rails. They want to capture Eddie and they think one of you two know where he is. I don't know why you, y/n but Andy said he saw you few days ago with him so they think you two are friend or something" He explained, when Andy told them that she was hanging out with Eddie, Lucas who know nothing thought he would laugh at him. "Anyway, you both are in terrible danger."

Cool, now I've Vecna and fucking basketball team on my tail. Y/n thought, that her life can't get any worst.

"Amazing! Amazing! How I am suppose to focus on saving whole world when some guys in tight shorts are looking for me?" Dustin commented.

Steve tapped his shoulder. "Let's go get somewhere else, huh?" he suggested "Nancy, can we go to yours and think about something there? My parents are home, there's no way I'm driving those kids directly to Jason" He pointed at y/n, Dustin and Lucas "and Robin is Robin" he said. They all knew she didn't had much money but they didn't talk about it, she didn't like to talk about it.

"Yeah, of course. Come on" she said and rushed out side and to the car. She, Robin, Dustin, Max and Lucas went to her car, while Steve and y/n to his BMW.

Of course it wasn't coincidence, Dustin pushed Max and Lucas into Nancy's car trying to get the other two to talk, especially after he heard that Eddie called Steve this asshole.

Steve started driving as y/n rested her head on the door and fasted her seatbelt. Steve looked over at her for a second.

"Hey, you seem tired, you can sleep, I will wake you up when we there." He suggested.

"No, I'm fine, thank you, Steve" she said. He thought she thanked him for a ride or proposition so he just nodded, but in reality she thanked him for all the good memories he gave her, after all. They weren't talking often, who knew if this wasn't their last conversation?

They got to Nancy's driveway soon after and Steve got out of the car as well as y/n, she did it a lot slower though.

Nancy's car was already there which meant that the girls with kids were already in basement. When Steve and y/n got there, they were reading some articles. Analyzing them, trying to understood.

Y/n sat on the couch beside Dustin and Steve took one of the articles and were walking with it around the room.

"Do you guys really understand something?" He asked, looking at his friends for any answers that he couldn't find.

"Pretty straightforward" Dustin said. Steve was about to said something probably rude, he was annoyed. "uh, uh, uh. Everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. So if he don't know how to beat this curse, then who? We just need to talk to him" He explained.

y/n sighed, it was seemed like there were no chance for her.

"That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't know." Steve said, he also didn't think it could work out "Straightforward, my ass. You know what, Henderson, a little humility now and then wouldn't hurt you."

Both sibling sighed "It's not a good time for arguments, Steve" y/n commented. "Maybe now no one is cursed but you never know when it's gonna happen so we should find solution as soon as possible" She said. Yeah, as soon as possible, preferably in the next twenty three hours.

"You're right, your brother is just annoying piece of sh-" before he had any chance to end this sentence, she send him death stare "sorry." he quickly said.

"Alright, if you don't mind, it's late and I didn't get a good sleep in like forty seven hours. I'm going to get some water and then you all better don't wake me up." y/n announced and got up to go to the kitchen.

She was friends with Nancy for long enough to know exactly where different stuff had place in her house. So she opened a cupboard next to the refrigerator and found aspirin. She took some in hope it would work this time. When she closed a cupboard again Dustin appeared next to her.

"Hey" he said

"Damn, Dustin, don't scare me like that" y/n looked at him, her face soften. How was she supposed to tell this little men that he's gonna lost his older sister in few hours?

"Why Eddie called Steve asshole? What does he know that I don't know? I thought we were telling each other everything!" He almost screamed. He was so frustrated because they really did told each other everything. But how y/n was supposed to tell him that right now if she knew Dustin would be furious with Steve and probably wouldn't want to talk to him. He would lost y/n and Steve, both of his siblings.

"I have no idea Dustin, maybe something happened in school earlier. Only Eddie know what he meant" y/n suggested. She was sure Dustin was also going to ask Eddie about it, so she just hoped he would come with some good excuse. "Come back down, we have monster to fight"

y/n smiled at him a little. She put her arm around her brother's shoulders and kissed his head as she led him to the stairs. Nancy was on a phone and everyone else were quiet. Two siblings were curious who was she calling now. It was almost middle of the night. Steve put his point finger to his lips to show y/n and Dustin to also be quiet. They sat back at their places on the couch and waited for her to end.

When she put the phone down she smiled and said "it worked!"

"What worked?" y/n asked.

"Well we need to talk to Victor, so I called someone and now, me and Robin are rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame. I'm Ruth. She's Rose. On our way we are picking up our documents. But the point is.. we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics, they didn't agreed but we landed a three o'clock with the director" She explained everything.

"So.. now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor?" Steve asked not fully sure about this plan and it was showing in his voice.

"Yes, but it's not your problem. He is a men and had two young and sexy students asking him for something? Come on, believe in us a little, Harrington" Robin looked at him, he raised his hands up without a word.

"So, we have plan. Can we go home then? I'm really tired and I wanna get some sleep." Y/n said.

"Yeah, I will drive you and Dustin. Max, Lucas you wanna go too?" Steve asked, looking at those two

"I really don't want to be around those trailers. Can I stay, Nancy?" She looked with hope at the older girl.

"Of course, you can Max. You too, Lucas. If you want" She gave younger girl nice smile.

"Yeah, I mean, Erica is going to kill me anyway" He said, he don't want to say it out laud, but he wanted to spend as much time as he could with Max.

"Okey, then we can go" Steve announced "I will just go to the toilet really quick. You two can wait in the car" He said and threw his keys at y/n. She catch it. They said their goodbyes. Maybe y/n hugged every single one of them a little too much.

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

"Dustin, I need to tell you something, but you need to promise me not to tell anyone else." Y/n said. They were standing next to Steve's car and she was nervously playing with the keys he gave her.

Dustin looked at her, confused. Why she just randomly said something like that "Ok?" He said, but this answer wasn't enough for her "I promise" He added.

"I- Vecna- I think I got cursed." She finally said. Dustin looked at her. He needed more explanation. How he didn't notice? "I- I realized in the office. Max was reading those symptoms that Fred and Chrissy had before and- when I stopped on the way. You know, in school" Dustin nodded his head so she continued "I saw a grandfather clock- it looked so real and I couldn't look away, Dustin"

When she told him whole story they both had tears in their eyes. She knew that already but saying it out laud to her brother was something totally different. And Dustin? Oh boy, his sister. His own sister, who saved him so many times. In Upside down, when their parents were yelling at him for not doing dishes, when Steve was upset with him. That one time when she came to his school because some kids were rude to him. When he fell in playground and tore off his knee and was crying so, so much and she stuck a plaster on him. When she brought Steve home and he had friend he dreamed of because of her. His heart was ripped.

He pulled her in for a hug, which she gratefully gave back. They stood like that, Dustin was crying. He was sad and angry. Why didn't she said anything earlier?

"Hey, you two good?" Steve asked, curious when he was close to them. He didn't saw Dustin face, because it was buried in y/n's chest but it was obvious it wasn't happy hug.

y/n gave him his keys "yeah, we can go".

They got into the car, y/n beside Steve and Dustin in the back. It was quiet, tensed. In this total quietness Steve heard as Dustin sniffed.

"Ok, what's going on? You two think I didn't noticed? Dustin? What happened?" Steve shot with question, which made Dustin look over at y/n "Hallo??" he thought for a second. "Did someone get cursed by Vecna or what?" He asked as a joke, he wanted to make the air less heavy but when the siblings instead of laugh or even tell him to stop joking about it, looked down and stayed in silent, he knew. "y/n? Say something please.." He asked as worry washed over him, when she stayed silent again, he turned his head at her "Y/n! Can you once talk to me!" He was upset right now, he wanted to help, was tired, didn't sleep for two days and now it felt like his chest was about to explode.

"Yes, Steve! Someone got cursed! Now stop fucking yelling an me!" now her tears were also running down her cheeks. She was scared for her life, for Dustin well-being after what might happened and Steve screaming at her only added oil to fire.

"It's you, right?! Of course it's you! You had vision in school right? God, of course you had! Why you didn't tell us?!" Steve continued, Dustin also wanted him to stop but right now even he couldn't say anything.

"Because there's nothing more we can do! If girls will be in time then I'm surviving this shit and if they're not-" she couldn't end her sentence, she felt like something stuck in her throat.

"They- they will be on time. They have to, we are not letting anything happen to you. I am not letting anything happen to you." Steve calmed a little. Seeing her in that state. With tears on her cheeks, not able to talk - it was heartbreaking.

"Stop talk that shit right now" She said. How could he said something like that when he was the one who hurt her like that?

"It's not shit, I love-" He started, Dustin looked at him in hope that he would finally confess. Well, in fact, he wanted but y/n interrupted him.

"Stop it, right now! You know it's a fucking lie! Just like this fucking relationship!" She screamed at him, she didn't even realized what she just said in front of her younger brother.

"But it's not! It's the fucking truth. I love you!" He yelled. He had tears in his eyes, he almost didn't see the road because of that.

"No, you're not! It was just a fucking dare!" Y/n screamed. He almost crushed as he heard her said it out loud. He heard all the pain in her voice.

"What?" Dustin asked, from the backseat. He looked at y/n and dried tears on her cheeks and then at Steve and his teary eyes.

---

Steve and his friends were sitting around Caffe table at the party. He didn't even know whose house was that. There were a lot of bottles of alcohol and weed around. He just began his Sophomore year but when you were king Steve, you were getting invited even at Seniors parties. He had beer in his hand as he and his friends were playing truth or dare.

"Steve! Your turn." one of the guys said "truth or dare?" he asked with a smirk, already knowing what Steve was going to choose.

"Dare." few people clapped, others laughed.

"I dare you to.." the guy waited a second, even though he already knew his dare. Everyone in the room did. "..to somehow start dating y/n Henderson, from your history class" Steve was looking at him, wide eyes and his mouth slightly opened. Even more people started laughing, some of them told Steve they felt bad for him "I didn't finish. You have to date her for eight months. I was supposed to be a whole year, but I'm in a good mood."

"C'mon! Don't do that! It's impossible to pick her up. There's nothing I can talk about with her!" Steve complained. All he knew about y/n was that she was good at history. Just generally good at school.

"You know the rules! You know what losers have to do!" The guy responded

"Fine!" Steve said.

---

Steve drove his car with y/n on the passenger seat to the school. He parked at his usual place, everyone knew it was only his place. He got out of the BMW and rushed to other side to open the door for his girlfriend. They smiled at each other as Steve put out his hand for her to grab as she was getting off the car, she happily accepted it.

He closed door when she was standing next to him and hand in hand they started walking to the building.

"Hey! Steve!" someone behind them yelled. They both turned around, it was the same guy that dared him. "you two are still... a thing?" he asked, acting surprised. Of course he knew they were still dating. Who in this school didn't know that king Steve had a girlfriend and who exactly she was?

"Yeah, we dating if you didn't noticed. Now, sorry but I want to walk my girlfriend to the class." Steve responded. He wasn't stupid, he knew that the guy wanted to tell y/n about this fucking dare. He wanted for a while because he was testing him about it all the time. Steve pulled her closer and started walking away from the guy.

"I'm surprised to be honest" He said behind her. Y/n stopped and turned around. She wasn't that shy anymore.

"What is your problem?" She asked

"Oh, my problem? I don't have any. I just thought it was a eight months long thing, right Stevie?" now more people were watching. It's high school, of course everyone was interested with drama, especially if it was about Steve and his girlfriend.

"Steve, what is he talking about?" y/n asked, realization was rushing over her. Why Steve just randomly came to her one day when he always ignored her?

He tried to pull her away but she wasn't giving up. Now that she knew there was something going on, she needed to know what exactly.

"Oh, nothing. Just the dare he is still doing. You have fun, right Steve?" He asked him "Dating poor girl. Look at her now, you only taking away her chances to get real boyfriend. She's probably good in bed. Maybe I can try?" He said and everyone around were saying something, quiet comments and laugh could be heard.

"Stop it right now!" Steve said loudly. He was so angry. He knew it was his mistake to take this dare, but it already happened. If only he could take back time, he would. It started with dare but he actually felt in love with his sweet y/n. He really wanted to tell her about it, but always was too scared. There was nothing in his life that the regrated more.

Now, his lovely girlfriend was running back to the exit, tears flowing out of her eyes like waterfalls. She felt so small when everyone was watching her right now. She put all of her in this relationship, she even brought Steve home to met her parents and brother, just to find out it was all a lie? How could he, her loving Steve, do something like that to her? To her little brother who found bestfriend in him?

He ran after her "y/n stop!" he yelled when they were far enough to talk without all the eyes on them

And she stopped, turned around to look in his eyes "Is it true?" She asked, Steve looked at his feet "Is it fucking true?" she yelled this time.

He finally looked at her, he really didn't want to say that but he could lie to her again "..yes" he admitted.

She baited her lips to stop the sobs she felt inside her. She nodded her head and turned around. She started walking home.

"Y/n, stop! I can explain! Please don't leave me!" Steve yelled after her. He was so frustrated and he felt awful. She didn't stop, she didn't do anything just like he didn't existed "It started with dare but- when I got to know you, y/n- when I got to know you everything changed. I really do love you!" He said but how could she believed him right now? He was perfect liar in her eyes.

She turned around for a second and got closer to him, their faces were almost touching "You better not break Dustin's heart, you got this?" She asked him

"y/n-"

"No, stop. He's good kid and he thinks you're a good friend and boyfriend. You better be at least one of those things" She said. He nodded his head. He would explain everything to her when she calmed down a little and they were going to be all fine again, right? "Good" she said and went into her direction. Steve was just standing at his spot, looking at her back and wishing he could do something.

---

"Stop the car." Dustin said, if only he knew what Steve did, he would never let him be around his sister again.

And Steve did stopped the car. Dustin got out and started walking home. Y/n sent Steve death stare and ran to Dustin. She hugged him. He was upset, angry. He felt like his sister was torturing herself just to make him happier and as he tried to get them back together, she always stayed quiet.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would stop hanging out with him" he was crying, as well as y/n and Steve in his car.

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you, Dustin. You love him and is a good friend for you. You weren't supposed to find out" she said quietly into his hair.

"I'm not five anymore. You don't need to take care of me all the time and looking for friends for me" Dustin said. He was right and she knew that but in her eyes, he was always going to be little brother.

"You are right, Dustin. But you know I won't let anything happen to you" and it hurt even more, knowing that there's only hours left.

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

Y/n and Dustin finally got home. On foot. Dustin didn't want to leave y/n's room even for a second. This little guy, always with attitude and sassy, couldn't stop crying. Y/n sat with him on her bed for long time before he finally become too tired and fell asleep. They sun was already perking though the curtains when the girl came out of his tight embrace.

She sat at her desk and got some clean sheets. She looked over her brother and started writing. She wrote letters for everyone. Her mom, dad, grandma, all her friends: Robin, Max, Mike, Lucas, Will, Eleven. She felt so responsible for those kids, as they were her sibling too.

There were only two people left. Dustin and Steve. She started with the one for Dustin. Her eyes become teary again. God, she wasn't ready for that. But she finally did it.

Now, the last one. She started writing. Version one, then two, then three. All of them were shitty. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to forgave him but she didn't know how to do that. But after so many failed tries, she decided to just write what she felt. She told him how much she hate him after what he did because she couldn't stop loving him. She told him about her fear that he had feelings for her best friend Nancy, again. She told him everything.

He looked over at Dustin, he was still sleeping on her bed, peacefully. She moved his backpack and walky-talky to gave him more space and then put her shoes on. Without thinking twice she left house.

Life on the steeds of Hawkins were going normally. It was already around 11am and people were driving to work, some elders were walking around, cafes were full of the costumers. Everything seemed so normal, just like she was going to life because have she could die when the sky looked so pretty that day and people were smiling at her.

The only different thing was the ticking close all the way. She was trying to ignore that.

After long walk with her tote bag, where she put the letters she finally made it to Steve's house. She knocked at the door. He opened faster than she thought he would.

"Y/n" He said surprised. "What- What are you doing here? I thought you-" you didn't want to talk to me. He didn't had guts to say it out loud. He was happy to see her even thought she seemed like the most tired person in the world. He didn't look any better.

"I- I want you to give those everyone. You know, when I- I didn't want to gave them to Dustin. He is terrified." He said as she took the letters out of her bag.

Steve looked at them, few envelopes with names on them. The first one was Steve.

"Y/n, Nancy and Robin probably already talking with this guy. You're- you're gonna be fine." Steve said. Maybe he just had argument with her and he knew exactly she was angry at him, but she came to him. Wrote him a letter. It was hard relationship, they were arguing but then came to each other. There still were some burning feeling inside them.

"I- We don't know that. I'm just asking you to give them to everyone. Just in case." She said, she had tears in her eyes again and she felt so weak, pathetic. All she was doing was crying.

Steve noticed so he pulled her in for a hug. He knew how she felt. She'd never been a one to cry in front of the others and lately she was crying all the time, in front of Dustin and Steve.

"Fine, if anything happen, I will give it to everyone. I promise." He whispered into her hair. "-but nothing is gonna happen" he added quickly.

"Thanks, Steve" she said. She needed some comforting words, even if she knew they weren't going to change anything. "About what happened in the car- I'm sorry. It just all overwhelmed me and I don't why I said that stuff when Dustin was there. Please, talk to him. He can't lost both of us" She said.

"No" Steve responded. Sky got darker, clock louder. "He don't deserve anything. As well as you. You both are nothing"

y/n wanted to pull away from him, but he only held her tighter. "Steve, let me go" she said.

"Oh, y/n, you really think some stupid letters are going to fix it? You've broken everything. Your time is almost to an end. " He looked up, and the creature in front of her, was definitely not Steve. She screamed and fell on the grass behind her.

And sky was blue again, Steve on one of his knees beside her "Hey, hey! Are you good? It was vision, right?" He asked, he was as terrified as she was. Y/n nodded her head.

"I- I should go before Dustin wakes up" She said.

"I will drive you" Steve suggested as he helped her stand up.

"No, the walk will be good for me"

"We will be there faster if you let me drive you" Steve said. He was right so she quietly agree. He got into house again just to grab his keys and put letters on the table. Then both of them got into the car.

Steve started driving. "Hey, can I ask you something?" he asked suddenly. Y/n looked over at him, giving him quiet permission. "What-" He though about it for a second, he wanted to choose right words. "What was that vision about?"

She looked down, playing with her fingers. Steve looked at her "sorry, I shouldn't have asked abo-"

She cut him of "no it's fine, it's fine. It's just- it was scary Steve, the sky got dark as it was some storm and this god damn clock started ticking lauder and you- you said some mean stuff. About Dustin. and me" she explained. He looked over her with apologizing eyes. Of course he would never said rude things about his favorite siblings but he saw how hurt she was.

"I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry you need to see and hear those things" He said.

"stop" she said quietly. she didn't want to argue again, neither did he so he just nodded his head. But she really appreciate his words.

Meanwhile, Dustin wake up in her sister's bed because of Robin voice from walky-talky. "Hallo?? Someone copy?" She said, probably again because she sounds annoyed.

Dustin quickly got out of bed, in his still sleepy state he didn't even noticed y/n weren't around. Honestly, for few seconds he didn't know where he was. "yes! yes, I'm here. Do you know how to take that curse?" He asked.

"Finally, Henderson! I thought you were sleeping. It's like 1 pm" she said "but, yes, we think we do! thank to my amazing persuasion skills"

"Then how?" He asked as he looked around the room finally. He finally noticed he was all alone. He quickly left the room and started looking around whole house for y/n.

"Meet us at Wheelers, it's long story to tell" She said. y/n had some time left right? He would find her, go meet girls and everything would be fine. So he said they would be there soon. When he was in the kitchen he noticed Steve's car outside. He quickly got to the porch.

"What are you doing in here? And why you talking with him, y/n?" young boy asked angrily. Y/n knew it would end up like that.

"Dustin, it's fine, he just drove me." she quickly said.

"If you are here already, you are going to drive us to Nancy's house. They know how to take of that damn curse." Dustin said looking at Steve. Even though young boy had so much attuite Steve couldn't be happier right now. That meant y/n was safe.

"Of course, just get in." He responded, with a smile. God, he felt like huge weight was taken off his shoulders.

"I just need to go to the bathroom. I will be back in a second" y/n said and she rushed to the door. She tried to stay calm, but she also started to see hope.

She did her business and stated washing her hands.

Then, she heard Dustin as he said "I bet this time with her was torture"

"Yeah man, you don't even know" Steve responded and chucked.

"C'mon y/n, open the door" Dustin said, as he knocked loudly.

She looked at the window. It was dark outside, again.

She didn't know why, but she opened those door, more scared than ever before.

Only Steve was standing there. "You thought I really loved you, huh? You were so stupid. So unlovable. I was ashamed when I was walking with you around the school" He said, looking in her eyes. "You were so easy to manipulate. Just like your grandpa manipulated you when you were child? Do you remember how he used to play with you?"

"No, no. stop" she begged. Oh how much she wished to forgot that all.

"you do remember that right? That's why you didn't let me touch you for months in our relationship" He said "remember how you wanted to kill yourself. You were so young, right? But now I'm here. To end your suffering, once and for all."

"No, no please" She closed her eyes, maybe it would all go away. Just like when she was next to Steve's house.

But when she opened it again, It was Vecna standing in front of her. "It is time, y/n" he said "time for you, to join me"

She somehow passed him at the door and started running.

"That's it, she's taking too long." Steve said. He and Dustin were already sitting in the car so he got out and rushed to door. When he knocked at the door, and y/n didn't responded, he yelled "Y/n! Are you there? We need to go!" He knocked again. And when she didn't even said anything, he knew something was wrong. " Alright, I'm coming in"

And he did. He hit the door with his shoulder few times and door finally opened. "y/n? y/n!" She looked at her, shook her body, She was unresponsive. Her eyes were white. He screamed her name so, so loud. When Dustin heard it, he ran to them with his walky-talky.

"What's happening?" He asked, he was scared, Steve was scared.

"I- I don't know. Call Nancy and Robin. Tell them they need to tell you right fucking now how to take off this fucking curse" Steve yelled. They both were yelling right now

Dustin nodded and click something on his walky-talky. "Robin! Robin! Do you copy? Robin, please!" He had tears in is eyes, It couldn't happened.

Y/n finally didn't saw Vecna so she stopped for a second to catch her breath. She ran so far, she was already in the wood, not in the bathroom of her lovely house.

"You can't hide from me, y/n" He said as he appeared between some trees.

"Robin! Hallo, this is code red! Respond, please!" Dustin was still trying.

Robin finally answered. Already scared by the way Dustin was trying to get her to respond "Dustin? What's happening? Did someone got hurt?" She asked.

Before young boy had any chance to say something, Steve yelled "Robin! Y/n- She's- She's cursed. What we suppose to do? Please" He sobbed at the end of his sentence. He thought everything was going into good direction, but there he was, shaking his y/n as it was his life depended on it.

"What? But she didn't-" she started, surprised.

"Robin! What the hell we need to do?! Just tell us!" Dustin interrupted her this time.

"Dustin! Steve!" y/n screamed. "Help me!" She lost Vecna again but when she turned around she saw red fog coming into her direction.

It was pulling her in, inviting her to come closer. So she did. she saw lightning and heard that gooddamn clock as well as thunders. But she was coming closer and closer. She heard some creatures chittering, she looked behind her, but there was just the same fog. So she got farther ahead.

She was standing on wet floor. The trees disappeared but something high was growing out at their places. It scared her even more but she couldn't stop walking into this direction.

"Music! Play her favorite song!" Robin yelled on the other side of Dustin's walky-talky

"song?" Steve asked confused. Of course he knew y/n's favorite song. She always made him listen to it in the car. He thought it was cheesy, a little bit too cheesy, but it was making his girlfriend happy. So even now, months after they broke up, he kept this cassette in his car and listened to it when he missed her too much (which was quite often).

"Yeah song! Do you know what's her favorite?" She asked

"Yeah, I have cassette in the car. Dustin, stay here." He said, he ran to his car, faster than ever. He knew she still had her cassette player in his room, loud enough to be heard in bathroom. She told him she can't imagine her room without and when it once broke, she broke the college piggy bank to buy a new one.

He found it quickly and ran back. He got into her room and stopped for a second. Just for a split second to look around. It looked so different. He finally clicked play and turn the volume all the way up. He heard this sweet melody and rushed to bathroom again.

Y/n was now walking around. She was too scared to run. She looked around as Vecna was again talking to her. She saw that old clock, when she turned around, she saw Chrissy. She looked frightfully. Bloody face, body wrapped with something unhuman, her fingers broken in scarring way.

She took some steps back, just to hit Fred's body, looking the same. She let out a scream.

"Do you like them, y/n?" Vecna appeared behind her again, with the question. "would you like to join them?"

She started running again but he grabbed her with one of the tentacles. "fuck!" she yelled as she fall onto ground. "No, no no no!" she was screaming as it pulled her to one of those strange towers. It started choking her.

Then she heard song. Her favorite song. The hole appeared in the fog and she could saw Dustin and Steve, shaking her shoulders. "They won't help you" Vecna said "You belong here with me"

"You are not here" she said, with all of her strength.

"But I am, y/n" she put his hand on her face and it become even more painful.

The boys watched as she started levitating "No! No! No!" They both screamed "y/n c'mon"

Oh, darlin' won't you lay with me tonight?

Darlin', darlin' the last thing I need

She saw herself in her room, reading book. She heard something, or someone knocking at her window. She got up and looked through the curtain just to see Steve, sitting on a tree right next to her window. She opened it for him.

"Steve? What are you doing here? It's like 2 am" she said

"I missed you. Now, let me in before I fall and your dad would find me and hate me even more" He said. She moved and he got into the room. Pulling her in for a kiss.

"He doesn't hate you" she said

"He would if he find out I breaking into your room to sleep with you. Let's go lie down in the bed" he suggested. And they did. And the next morning Dustin found them tangled in sheets, they both needed to pay him to keep quiet.

I cannot leave without seeing you, please

So won't you hold me and tell me goodbye

The Henderson's were just leaving for a vacation on their summer break. They would leave town for a month and both y/n and Dustin seemed to can't let go their friends and boyfriend, for y/n.

"I love you" Steve said. As he hugged his girlfriend. Max and Lucas joined, so Mike and Dustin also did that. Now, it was big, group hug.

"We will miss you both" Max said, and everyone agreed.

"alright kids, we are not leaving for a life time! Come on! Fancy hotel is waiting for us!" Mr. Henderson yelled. They said they goodbyes once angin and Dustin with y/n sat in the backseats. They both waved at their friends. Y/n send Steve a kiss.

Before I ley here and shut my eyes

Darlin', Darlin', won't you kiss me on my head

Y/n groaned angrily. She was sitting in Steve's car. But this time on driver sit. He drove them on some wilderness where she couldn't hit practically anything.

"Come on, y/n! Just as I taught you. You can do this, sweetheart" Steve said

"No Steve, I have no idea how I passed this stupid exam." she looked at him "let's switch and drive home?" she gave him her best puppy eyes. How could he ever say no to her?

"How do you going to drive anyway when you so insecure about it?" he asked, even though he knew she was not going to start the car again today

"Well my, amazing, loving boyfriend can drive me everywhere, right?" She asked, with a huge smile. Steve just rolled his eyes but also chucked as he got out of the car.

Y/n did the same, really happily. They met in front of his BMW and he stopped for a second. "You are lucky that I love you" he said as he kissed her forehead. She smiled, even wider.

I'm laying patiently on our unmade bed

So won't you hold me and tell me goodbye

Before I lay here and shut my eyes

She didn't know how she managed to do that but she ripped one of Vecna's tentacle, the one that was holding her.

He let her go, she started running, faster than she ever did towards the hole where she saw Dustin and Steve.

She was closer and closer when some pieces started falling from above. She was trying her best to avoid them.

I said, darlin', darlin', darlin'

Won't you lay with me tonight

And while you're at it, please turn off the light

Steve was screaming at her, at this point he was saying everything that came to his mind. About his love for her, how sorry he was. Dustin wasn't even listening. He just cried and couldn't stop.

So won't you hold me and tell me goodbye

Before I lay here and shut my eyes

I'm leaving, I'm closing my eyes

Please come see me before I die.

The song came to and end. Before they had time to said anything, y/n started falling. Steve tried his best to caught her, so they both ended up on the bathroom floor. Y/n in his arms. As she tried to catch her breath. "Oh, my God" she said.

Dustin joined the hug, he was still crying. "You're safe, you're safe" Steve said quietly. Tears were running down his cheeks too.

"I thought I would lost you" Dustin said quietly. She put her hand in his hair, pulling him even closer.

Then, the rest of the group ran into the bathroom. Robin and Nancy with Lucas and Max behind them. "Oh, my god. What happened? How are you feeling?" Robin asked.

"I'm- I will be fine" she answered her after a second. Now, she was safe, right? She was safe in Steve's embrace.

She looked over at him, how worried he was. Maybe now, she saw something more than a boy who dated her as a dare.

a/n. This is much longer than I thought it would be (I'm sorry). I kinda had idea for this story so maybe it will become actual series, but for now - I think I'm gonna do pt 3. Let me know what you think!

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington imagines #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve stranger things

[mossyscavern]

Something in the ocean

_____________________

Sam is scared… terrified even, to go on this trip.

As a child he didn’t like the sea much, mostly because it’s the same place where he almost drowned and died. And it’s where his mom died when he was 5.

He made a solid promise to NEVER go in the ocean or on a boat. Ever. And it’s not really a problem, his dad agrees with those statements, his ‘friends’ and Duncan on the other hand… not so much.

His older brother Duncan had tried helping him face that fear himself, but he ended up comforting the redhead when he cried.

So Travis, his friend showed him the rock pools near his dad’s lighthouse, rocky areas where there are pools of water, told Sam he doesn’t have to go into the water, just to observe the scenery, even draw and paint what he sees since Sam draws and paints with water colour.

And Sam, albeit nervous, actually had fun. Even thought it’s near the ocean he generally had fun, he even saw some puffins near the rocky waters.

He told Travis he loved the rock pool areas and preferred to keep it between themselves. They agreed and it became his secret place, away from prying eyes.

It was great… until it wasn’t.

Before he left he decided to stay at least a couple of hours just to see the puffin’s hopping around, which was a big mistake.

Cause there came a huge wave and he got dragged away by the time the wave crashed. To make matters worse? Tides are strong this season.

He couldn’t swim out, he can’t call for help, he couldn’t even call Duncan or Travis. He was helpless and he can’t breathe... and is so tired of trying.

…

Then coughed and sputters, throwing up some sea water before finally catching his breath. Finally being able to breathe he looked up and saw a VERY worried Duncan and a guilty Travis. “Oh thank god.”

Duncan said as he hugged Sam tightly. “I thought I lost you. I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry!” He rambled, rocking them back and forth rubbing his back in circles. “W-what happened?” He asked before his confusion is directed at himself.

“And why am I drenched?” He asked.

“You don’t remember?” Duncan asked, watching Sam shake his head in confusion. “Travis found your bag when the tides calmed down… then we both found you drenched and unresponsive.” Duncan said voice shaking.

“I-I’m sorry, from now on I’ll no longer push you to going.” He said, standing up and walked off, Travis followed in pursuit.. not even speaking. Sam was about to do the same before spotting something sparkling near one of the pools.

He got close and his eyes widened. It was an abalone shell necklace in a shape of a tragic mask… but the rope’s looks like it’s been snapped.

‘Duncan said never to pick up random things, but…’

With urban curiosity he picked up the necklace and gently placed it in his hoodie pocket. ‘Maybe he won’t notice.’ He thought before having his name yelled out. “I’m coming.”

He shouted before catching up towards the two taller boys. He has a lot to think about, especially about what happened to himself.

He read in the town’s article that this town is famous for having drowned victims regularly in a month. The town never really investigated the causes, even if they did they’d be just as dead as everyone else. Two times he found himself almost drowning… and he survived.

Like… something or someone is looking out for him. ‘Like that would happen.’ He thought, shaking his head and chuckled to himself how stupid thinking about that was.

If only Sam knew… that he might be more right than he originally thought.

_____________________

I had completely forgotten about mermay.

Just know, I’m not normally up for monthly challenges… but that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything for the month, so I thought I’d bring the mermaid au back, this time where Sam found the abalone shell necklace.

Also the au rightfully belongs to @vinehasnohopeleft mostly because they did fanart of Tom as a mer-boy and Sam staring at him while underwater…

I’d show you the art and the story, but I can’t… at least not yet. I can tell you the title though, it’s called a dream to remember.

#wick hellbent games #wick 2015 #wick horror game #wick au #wick #wick sam #wick travis #wick Duncan #hmmm… nah #not yet anyways… #again… I don’t do many challenges #… mostly because I ain’t confident #… wait did sushi creat this au-?

[tendermiasma]

Do you have any lore/ story character moments or anything to say about Ariel you’d be willing to share? Your art and little revealing bits about him and your elden ring journey have me so interested Id love to know more about the sad charming wizard im very chin on hands while i kick my legs 👀 about him. Also thank you for introducing the big brain morgott x tarnished ship to me and a big hell yeah to your gay demon god (mogh) x tarnished art can i get a hell yeah

Not me crouching like a goblin just behind the door waiting for someone to ask about him, I'm so insanely touched that you're that interested in him- he actually has quite a history that he's grown to try to live in spite of. Both of Ariel's parents were Haima Conspectus scholars and his father was killed in combat when Ariel was still a child. He was old enough to know it would be just the two of them from now on, but too young to understand the alchemy that turned his mother's grief to resentment and anger towards him. She tried to mold him in his father's image-- replace him, make him succeed where he failed, the most violent kind of mourning. Although obedient, Ariel was sensitive and quiet and fell apart under her hand instead of hardening into the iron will she wanted; he couldn't understand why this made him feel even more hated, mocked, even more of a bad child. Their house, while never a warm one, was as cold as death. She found Ariel hiding out, feeding dragonflies sugar water from a spoon when she told him he would attend school and enlist or she would no longer be his mother. He was nine years old.

Ariel loved his mother.

Just like the kids back in Sellia, the students at Raya Lucaria could smell blood before they'd even spilled it, only made worse with the advantage of extra years spent sharpening themselves seemingly for this purpose. Ariel was an ungainly sum of contradictions-- a soldier's cut, a clear declaration of the intent to pursue Haima and distinguish oneself on the battlefield, but instead it hung limply about his ears and eyes that refused to meet anyone else's; Quite proficient in spellcraft but would tremble to the point of being disdainfully dismissed during training; A build that would have been formidable but turned awkward by robes that were too small and a habit of hunching in the hopes that maybe could make himself disappear, or at least be left alone. To his dismay, this had the opposite effect.

He spent all the time he could in his room, away from the rest of the students. It was there, from night to morning, that he could study not Haima, but the stars. He was desperately trying to prove that he could become valuable and earn her love doing something else that wasn't killing if he became really, really good at it. Whatever it took would be worth it a thousand times over. He kept chopping his hair, out of habit or obedience, for a while longer. Guilt and dread welled in him when it brushed his jaw, then the tops of his shoulders. Ariel hadn't slept in two days, but this was normal. Sunken eyes blinked unevenly back at him in the mirror. He had to succeed, or die.

And then the sky stopped for him. It was his only salvation, and it was gone. The one thing that justified his existence, gone.

One morning his room would sit empty, articles neatly folded on the bed. Without knowing him, it looked like no one had ever been there. But for Ariel, it was a kind of goodbye. One that didn't take up too much space. One that said, "I'm sorry."

It's hard to say how long he wandered or under what roof he slept, or how many of those nights saw him sleepless and staring at the night sky that shunned him. An unyielding judge. Ariel began to understand his sentence.

When the sorcerer approached Ariel with a proposition he still refused, shaking with fear. Some days later, he would see him at his door, red eyes and a sort of resignation; not peaceful, but accepting. He would aid him in assembling the graven mass, but with the promise that he would leave a space for Ariel.

Constructing a graven mass is a lengthy and harrowing process. The bodies must be living since they're acting as the "core" of the star and are all connected together to share that same force and strengthen the core as a conductor for the primeval current to flow through. They would not be able to survive apart again.

What Ariel had been taught all his life was coalescing before him, that moral sacrifices must be made, and if his body was the only thing of value he could give when the rest of him proved to be worth nothing, then he would give it. So he allowed himself to be given the draught of sedation and slowly fused to the mass of bodies.

He knew the deep twilight the potion brought wouldn't last long. Full consciousness and full power of thought was needed for these stars to receive; he awoke a prisoner in his own body, unable to move or speak, the magic and corporeal material of twelve other sorcerers pulsing through him, and he was no longer himself. Fission was taking place and they writhed wordlessly in the exposure of the Primeval Current. He wanted to scream.

It felt like pain, but in a way pain can't be fully described. It entered his eyes and mouth and ears and expanded into the farthest reaches of the universe inside of him, and then pulled him down into its depths. He felt like he was falling in all directions at once at great velocity, cosmic radiation searing his flesh from his bones, his breath crushed from him in the whorls of a black hole. He saw the birth and death of stars. He was torn apart by the astral macrocosm while his body decayed. The entire mass was decaying and growing unstable. It was uncontained and something was wrong.

The astrologer was instantly consumed in the flare that burst from the star-seed he attempted to create. The others perished along with it. It had failed.

Then Ariel, left alone on the dead core, the material of twelve other lifeless bodies continuing to feed their viscera through him, left to rot in the Current.

The magic of the draught slowly seeped away. Moving inch by inch, night by night, Ariel's fingers at last wrapped themselves weakly around one of the tubes embedded in his neck. It was the very last of himself he had to give. The star went dark.

He found himself waking to the call of Grace. 

He rose and walked along the shore, not seeing, not really feeling. It was a deep, empty despair. He had enabled the suffering of others and that could never be forgiven. This is what it meant for him to exist-- the suffering of others. If he could give one thing back, not for hope of redemption, but doing one small goodness for the world, anonymous and forgotten, he wanted it more than anything. 

For days he sat on the beach, towards the wide sea and the fog, where the ships first bore him to the Lands Between. He sat with the waves making his shoes damp and crusted with salt, carving a small blade, a glintstone in the sand beside him. It was dull and tired-looking, but it would be okay. He was slow. His hands accumulated cuts and the blade was crooked. He didn't know how to do this very well. He'd never tried. Thankfully it didn't need to be beautiful.

When he was finished, he knelt in the sand and pressed the glintstone to his chest, and the knife he pressed into his heart beside. If he could give that one small goodness, his meager soul might serve someone better than he could, lying on the shore where the ships came, across the fog, across the wide and sparkling sea.

The tides had changed when he woke. Gentle ripples of seawater lapped at his cheek and cracked lips as he lay curled in the sand, their work slowly cleaning away the blood from his fingers and the dull little stone that rested in them. Overhead the stars hung like glass in the vast night sky. 

His past is his future as well. Just as souls on earth returned to the Erdtree, all rivers, no matter how long-wandering, return to the sea. Ariel doesn't belong to the earth anymore. He long drifted in the tide of the Current and it will reclaim him, in time. Their bond sealed within him the fate of Lusat, and of Azur. Where we find him today is after he's realized that even if he doesn't believe he's right for this, that truly anyone else would be doing the world a service to take his place, he is what they've got and he is going to try with everything he has for the people he loves-- who he loves far more than himself. That's part of why he is so desperate now to try and right the world, to do everything that he can. He knows he doesn't have forever.

#Ariel #I'm a better artist than I am a writer but I work with what I have #but if you have specific things you wanna know about him as you can see I'll be very happy to answer! #When I tell you that character creator got hands

[thotsforvillainrights]

any updates on the baby? I hope your really resting and taking time for yourself!

Can I request a one shot of the reader and stain going out and reader is trying on a bunch of hot outfits and stain admiring them? (How do you think stain would be in public would he wear a face mask cause of his nose or ignore staring strangers and not cover it up?)

(Yes, sorry if it's TMI! I've been placed on medication due to a short cervix and now have a high risk doctor to see in danger of preterm labor. Other than that, little guy seems to be doing well. He's still kicking around in there and we're almost set on a name finally. Hopefully he stays in there and cooks until time, no early visits I hope!)

~Shopping~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

The fun thing about life is the fact that there's a huge enough population to guarantee your looks no matter what. You should never truly have time to feel insecure for too long if you sit back and think about it. You may not be your own 'type' (or maybe you are), but I promise you are someone in the worlds type. You've landed a gruff man, rough around the edges and not exactly a romantic to be honest. By God were you his type. For full honesty, you were more than that to him.

You were essentially his weakness.

Sure he hated feeling the way he did at first, but he quickly learned to give into the emotions he began feeling. It's a nice warmth bubbling up in your chest. If you can ignore the butterflies, love is actually quite nice. Therefore, he did all the cheesy stuff with you that most couples tended to do. One of those things was shopping. Due to his usual covert nature, no one who caught glimpse of his face and features were able to live and tell the tale. It took media a very long time to acquire even the most blurry picture of his silhouette for reference. This made going out a breeze for the both of you. After walking around and window shopping, eating, and taking in the fresh air through the open centered mall, you finally decided on the store you wanted to go into. He followed close behind you, taking in the faces of people whose eyes lingered on you too long. He was observant as he liked to call it...not jealous of course. "I think I want something nice so we can do a restaurant dinner for once. Would you be open to something like that?" You asked him, not wanting to push him past his boundaries. "That's fine." He said shortly, taking a much needed seat near the changing rooms. You smiled and gave him a quick peck on his cloth-covered lips before dipping off somewhere else in the store. Your eyes browsed rack after rack until you found a few outfits you deemed worthy enough to try on. He keep an eye on you out of the periphreal of his vision but mostly remained focused on the few news articles he'd pulled up to read on his phone. He made sure to keep track of himself to see just how much info the fuzz had on him. He smiled when he realized it wasn't enough.

You'd regained his full attention when you emerged from the changing room with your first outfit on. "Well, what do you think? I'm feeling like the color is cute but I don't know about matching accessories to it y'know? Maybe something simple?" He was at a small lost for words, 'how embarrassing' he thought for a moment. That was quickly overshadowed by the tightness in his chest and the feeling of a small fire lighting him up, slowly burning away at his insides until there was nothing left. "I like it..." Was all he could muster to say. Which each and every outfit you tried on, he felt less like being out at the mall and more like taking you home rather quickly for some much needed TLC. However, he's at least try to put himself away and give you the respect you deserved. You'd finally settled on a nice little black number with matching black shoes and gold jewelry to fit. While you checked out he watched you from a short distance as he tried to regain his composure. Surely that dinner date would have to wait for a while. He could use a little stay at home date first.

#sorry it got a little suggestive there at the end #hero killer stain #stain mha #stain bnha #akaguro chizome #scenario

[tammyjackson50-blog]

Someday love will find you 2|E.M

(gif is not mine!).

//includes: break up, maybe there will be a good ending.

(gif is not mine!)

Previous part <- - next part ->

~

How did people used to do it back then? been in a long-distance relationship? Dating with a rock star or a singer, someone in a band that is not always at home and you can barely talk with them?

While I couldn't even stay in a relationship with my ex-boyfriend in our time... it's freaking 2023 now... it has been four years since I last saw him face to face.... The thing is.. I can't even forget him, because how can you forget someone that you see on TV, hear on the radio on the bus, see on social media where not... But that's fine, I'm glad that he got even more successful.

I moved on with my life, I have my career that I have been studying for, and so has he.

Phone rings

- " Y/n? Are you with Austin? "

" No, why? "

- " Have you heard about Corroded Coffin coming to town? "

" What? Really? "

- " I'll send you the article, um.. will you.. buy a ticket? "

Sigh " Lia, I don't think so "

- " Come on, Y/n, just to hear their songs, nothing else "

" And what if he sees me ? I don't think that I'm ready for this, and what about Austin, did you forget? "

- " Are you sure ? "

" Lia, if you want to go, go, I'm not going to be mad or something. He's from the past. "

- " Okay.... tell me if you change your mind "

----

My best friend Lia is trying hard not to bring up Eddie everytime she sees anything related to him,But she doesn't always think about that because she liked us when we were together.

That day.. when I told her that we broke up, she cried... haha, I know. She is the sweetest, but when I told her that he wanted to propose me, she wanted to kill me, yeah, pretty normal.

Few days later:

Article:

" Breaking news: Eddie Munson of the famous band Corroded Coffin shared with his fans a song that he had been listening to a lot lately, and the reason behind it surprised the fans! "

On the phone with Lia

- " You have to watch it, Y/n! The concert is in few days and I- "

" Okay, okay, relax, they love making things sound dramatic in those articles, gosh.. "

- " Oh, believe me , you will be shocked as well "

▶

Interviewer : Eddie, now it's your turn to tell us about the last song you listened to.

He looks so good..

Eddie: All right, so the last song that I have heard is Glimpse of us by Joji .

Interviewer: Oh wow, that is a pretty sad song, isn't it?

Eddie: Yeah, kind of.

Interviewer: Is there any particular reason that you listen to this song, or are you just like it?

Eddie: You are really trying to get me to say something interesting, huh? Haha, well.. I won't get into details, but I really miss someone, and this song pretty much sums up how I feel.

▐▐

" Okay, Lia, what do I need to see here? "

- " Why did you stop the video??? "

" Did you want me to hear that he misses his model ex? "

- " No, I didn't, he wasn't even talking about her. and wait I thought that you are not interested in his life...hm..sus "

" Well..I… god, do me a favor, I found this out a while ago from someone on Instagram okay? "

- " pfff Fine, just keep watching please "

" Okay, girly jeez."

▶

Interviewer : And can you tell us how you feel? * is he for real , he just said that he doesn't want to go into details... *

Eddie: eh well.. I guess that you guys know that me and Larissa are not together anymore. We have our reasons for that, and.. things weren't going well. shit I feel like I've talked too much.... haha...

Interviewer: it's okay, you don't need to go into details, * oh really thank you * but you are right, it's a beautiful song , and I'm sure that our viewers at home agree. he giggles And yes, I think that it's it for today, thank you boys for coming-

▐▐

......

" Okay...? "

- " Y/n , go to the comments "

Scrolling down....

" AYY I have the same shirt that Eddie is wearing "

" 7:22 LOL Gareth "

" 16:26 I wonder what he meant "

" 15:43 Isn't it a song about a break up ? " || replay " I used to listen to this song when I missed my ex "

" Guys, I think that I understood what Eddie meant when he said that this song reflects how he feels. The song is about being in a relationship and still missing your ex, more like seeing your ex in your current lover… " || replay " Oh shit, you might be right. Didn't Eddie have a girlfriend a few years ago? Before he and Larissa started dating ? " || replay " Right!! I believe he used to have photos of her on his Instagram page, but he deleted them.. "

- " Y/n? Are you reading the comments? "

..... I... I don't really know what to say, no, no, that's nonsense. Fans like digging too far into details and creating stories.

" Yeah... "

- " What do you think? do you think they broke up because he still loves you? "

" oh god, Lia don't even say that, and no, I don't think so.. , I think that people are exaggerating "

- " Well... if you ask me - "

" I didn't ask you bae "

- " Too bad, I'll say it anyways, I think that they might be right ".

Day before the concert

Eddies P.O.V

" Yo dude, is this real ? " I looked up from my Nintendo switch. " What is real ? " Jeff showed me a tiktok video, it was me talking in the interview and people that are reacting to what I have said. " Jesus christ , this again? " I sigh " is that a yes or no? " I got up from the couch, not wanting to talk about it. " Running away will not help you man! I'll take that as a yes."

___

I made my hair into a bun and tried to hide it under a hat and put on glasses, because a wearing jacket would look suspicious since it's already getting hot.

I went to a park where I used to go to when I wanted to be alone, it feels weird being in town again, I haven't been here since me and...Y/n broke up.. since I walked out of our then apartment.. I wonder how she is doing, is she in a relationship? Well , she probably is. How can this beautiful and smart girl stay single? Does she know that I'm in town?

My thoughts got introrepted by a couple walking.... they don't look so happy-

" come on, just give me one last chance - "

" No Austin ,no, we have talked about it, please - "

oh shit, things are looking bad for them- .... Y/n? Is that really her??? No, there is no way - okay, well, if she is still lives here, it's possible... man I gotta go.

The day of the concert:

- " I swear , If Austin wasn't such a manipulative ex, I guarantee you would come with me. "

" Forget him, we had our last talk yesterday, and we finally agreed that he would move on because he knows that I moved on already... and also, it's kinda late to buy tickets "

- " Yes Y/n, we saw how that worked out the last time. let me remind you, You broke up almost a year ago and he's running after you ."

" Okay, fine, come on just hang up and enjoy the concert. text me about twenty minutes before it ends, okay? "

After a while

I was switching between the TV's channels until I came across MTV. The song that was playing was Glimps of us...HA, what a coincidence. I couldn't stop myself from watching Eddie's interview again. People who commented, genuinely believe that he is referring to me. " UGH " how can they be so sure? but.. what if he is actually talking about me..? then what? does it means that he misses me..? " No , no that's can't be " . I got up from the couch and went to the bathroom to wash my face, I need to chill for a minute because I'm overthinking this whole thing.

-Waiting for Lia outside the concert hall

On the phone :

" - give me few minutes, this guy he pretty cute! "

" are you like, trying to get his phone number or something? "

" - well yeah, he came up to me , and we stared talking- "

" I can't hear you that much Lee, but be cerful with him "

" - don't worry- omg, he's coming back, Y/n stay there, I'll be there in a few minutes! "

" Okay okay, but don't take - " call ended " too much time ..." sigh

now I'll just wait, I hope for her that he's worth it, pff (lol)

Nobody's P.O.V

Lia and the guy really got along and they really hit it off.

" Did you came alone ? " he asked " unfortunately, but that's fine, I didn't even pay attention to that, I was enjoying the concert haha " he noded " I'm glad to hear that " she smiled " Did you came alone as well? I saw you a couple times before and you were alone " he looked around the crowed " can you keep a secert ? " Lia raiesd an eyebrow at him " don't tell me that you got in without a ticket " he got closer to her " acutally, I'm friends with the band " Lia was shocked, she really taught that he's going to say that he got in without a ticket or something " YOU - uhm sorry, you what now?? " he couldent take his smile from his face " yeah, I'm working with them, well, for them " She stepped back. " that's really cool! I'm guessing I'm bothering you or something. I should get going anyways- "He grabbed her arm gently and moved closer to her before she could finish her sentence. " wait wait, you are not bothering me at all, I came up to you didn't I ? she looked at him " yeah.. right, so.. did you want something from me? " She said it in a flirtatious tone " sure did, but I"ll be honest beacuse I do start to like you right now " damn she thought to herself " I didn't came to you get your number .. well at first I didn't ,I came because someone asked me to ask you a question...." you what now " eh... what ? " she was getting disappointed, " Who sent you, and what is the question? " she is so confused.

" Eddie Munson "

Tagged : @bibieddiesgf ;)

~~~~~~~~

HEYY, I hope that you enjoy this episode! comment if you would like me to continue :)

#eddie munson #eddie x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie x y/n #eddie x you #stranger things #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x reader #stranger things 4 #boyfriend #80s music #eddie x me #eddie munson stranger things #corroded coffin #lol

[drhu0806]

8 – “Give me that, before anything happens.”

Fandom: Baldur’s Gate 3 (fanfiction) Characters: Astarion, Tav/custom player character Rating: G Warnings: none

“What have you done?”

Astarion is disgusted, scandalized, truly horrified. The mantle that hangs from Kainé’s shoulders is in tatters, shredded and mangled, a far cry from the elegant article it once was. He thumbs the end of it in his hand in disbelief.

“Did you end up in a fight with a murderous onion chopper? You look as though a wyvern tried to chew you up and just spit you back out.”

Kainé grimaces, sheepish. “There was… some trouble…”

“Clearly.”

Taking a step back, he takes the rest of her in, eyeing her critically. “And while we’re on the subject of clothes, my dear, can we talk for a moment about everything else you have going on?”

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, darling, you’re gorgeous. But sometimes it helps to look the part a bit more, hm? It seems like every time I look at you, your shirt is some level of ill-fitting or torn, and for some reason you always have holes in your trousers. I know we’re in almost constant peril, but it really wouldn’t hurt to keep up appearances.”

She laughs, but it’s weak and forced, and Astarion senses that he’s misstepped somehow. “I suppose you’re right, I do look like a mess, don’t I?”

“Wait, Kainé, I’m not saying you’re a slob by any means—”

“Oh, I know, and you know I really would love to have clothes that I don’t ruin constantly, it’s just… I don’t really have that option.”

“What do you mean?”

She picks at a small tear in her shirt, one of many across a number of her casual clothes. Kainé doesn’t have many; while there’s been no shortage of abandoned, unused clothing in their travels, for some reason she gives away most of what they find to the rest of the party. Astarion himself is in possession of more clothes than he’s had in quite some time.

Kainé gives him a smile, forlorn and small. “I’m a tiefling, Astarion. It’s not exactly easy to find clothing that works for us.” She points to her horns. “You would not believe how hard it is to find a shirt that slips over my head easily.”

He suddenly remembers when Wyll was first turned into his devilish form, the hours of consulting with the tieflings in the party, the numerous times they’ve had to untangle his horns from his shirt. At the time he’d found it hilarious but...

“There’s also the matter of this lovely little thing…”

Turning to her side, her tail whips into prominence. “Tough to find pants that are comfortable enough to fit around these bad boys. Not a lot of tiefling tailors out there so… Growing up I never had a lot of clothes that fit me in general, and I never learned how to sew, so it would usually be really baggy shirts or trousers with holes just punched into them. Dresses were actually pretty nice, just not practical to wear often.” Kainé shrugs. “It was fine for a while; no point in having nice clothes I’ll just end up ruining from all the work I was doing.”

It isn’t the first time Astarion’s said something he shouldn’t, but it is the first time in a long while that he’s genuinely regretted it. No matter how hard she tries to shrug it off, he can hear the years of childhood shame behind her words. Little, seemingly inconsequential things he’s noticed during their time together come to mind: the slow, meticulous manner in which she puts her shirt on in the mornings, the times where she shifts uncomfortably in place, pulling at her trousers when she thinks no one can see.

He’s never denied that he’s been one to preen and pick at his own appearance; even his plainest clothes were carefully tailored to his tastes. But he’s always at least had good options to start with; what must have it been like, to not have that choice at all?

“Give me that, before anything happens,” he mutters, gesturing at her torn cloak. “And the rest of your free clothes as well. Gods forbid something rips in an unfortunate place at the worst time.”

“Wait, all of them? Why? It’s just my cloak—”

“Less questions, more clothes please! I don’t have all day!”

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

Later, when Kainé returns to her tent, she finds her clothes returned, laid out individually. She’s about to curse Astarion out for leaving her a mess until she picks up the first shirt. She runs her fingers over it, feeling out curves that weren’t there before, outlining the trails of crisp, cleanly stitched embroidery. Without a second thought, she switches out her attire, and she’s immediately struck at how much easier it is to slip her head through the collar, the way the shirt actually conforms to her rather than sagging loosely at her sides.

She kicks off her pants and shimmies into a returned set, practically giddy that for once her tail doesn’t catch as she pulls up the waist. Not caring whether anyone sees, she hums to herself as she dances a little in place.

One last item remains: the mended cloak. The repaired article looks almost as good as new; Kainé marvels at how neat the needlework is, how the threads seamlessly blend into the existing pattern. Yet when she reaches the collar, she pauses as a new addition catches her eye.

A small white flower is sewn underneath the collar. She recognizes the shape all too well: a white moonflower, her favorite. Kainé wraps herself in the cloak as if it were a blanket, burying her face into the embroidered design.

“Oh, good, you’ve already tried them on.”

Astarion appears at the mouth of her tent. “I was hoping I could catch you to make sure everything fit, though I’m sure my skill is perfectly good enough to—Why are you looking at me like that?”

Without saying a word, she rises and embraces him. He’s caught off guard, his arms held out as he scrambles to figure out what’s going on. Eventually he comes back to himself, returning her embrace and holding her close.

“Well, I guess that means everything fits just fine.”

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion x tav #fictober23 #my writing #owlscratch #astarionmance

[asksoldieron]

SO-1: Here We Go Again!

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

I'll edit in the real art once I make some!

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for This Seems Familiar (SO-1) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

Woo. It's been a while since I posted this one now. As of this writing it's still lacking an illustration, but I went through and edited for continuity. I don't think this one changed much. (Mainly I needed to add the gumballs, and that's not until later. It's very important about the gumballs. Why? You'll see 😁.)

There may be a little quality loss here, but I'll need yet more distance to see it. The main thing is that I wanted to pen an opening that wouldn't be too confusing to new readers, or too boring to old ones. That's tough! And I don't have any beta readers who aren't already familiar with the story.

I should say, I didn't. And now I don't again! But earlier this year, I joined a group for autistic writers and... Ohhh-kaaaay. That was an experience I will not repeat.

I got fed up and finally cut ties when I found out they were affiliated with a local group that offers ABA for autism. You'll still find a lot of "favourable" articles about it on the internet, including from our "friends" at Autism Speaks! People just love it because it makes autistic kids stop acting autistic! Not "being," no, it just trains them not to act that way and inconvenience the rest of you. Often with punishments! Ha-ha, yeah. That's fine. This is fine. A disability is just like any other antisocial behaviour, you can just cut that shit out!

But I didn't know that about them, and I've been trying to make friends and connections. A group of autistic writers? And we don't have to meet in person? Sign me right up!

It was more a group for one particular autistic editor and her longsuffering friend, and the editor had all the inflexible dogmatism media tells you to expect from people like us. "I think everyone should stop masking because it's hard for me!" she said (I'm paraphrasing) once. "If we all just stop doing it, there won't be a problem!" Ha-ha. Yeah. They kill people like me when we don't behave up to a standard. Maybe not like her, because she's small, feminine and white, but people like me and my family.

That's the level of insight I was getting, but I stuck with it because I'm a people-pleaser!

We only had "time" for a couple pages of the first draft of this instalment (even though not many people were there and not all of them wanted to read words aloud, my god) and I got pressured into sharing first, having never been there before with no idea how I was meant to act. She proceeded to critique it as if it were a short story (not true) and as if that were all, or almost all, of it (clearly not true, I was sharing my screen at the time). I dunno if you wanna open it in another tab and look, but I began with Erik in the first draft. 1000 words into that is 1/5 of a standard instalment length and you've barely met him by the end.

I went back and added Miss Doubek (whom I was going to save for #6) at the beginning, so you could see the world through the eyes of someone a little less impaired. Because this writer group and editor convinced me y'all needed me to hold your hands a little tighter or you'd nope out.

"I don't understand what's happening" is like a kick in the groin to me. Growing up, I did not have a big enough vocabulary to express my big stories and big thoughts, so I heard that a lot. I still do sometimes! I'm overly specific and complex, especially when I'm upset, and I get aphasic and shut down. But, no, they didn't understand. The editor's poor friend was willing to hazard that there was obviously something wrong with Erik and she was beginning to suspect he was being held against his will - as one should. I solve that little mystery for you by the end. But I didn't get to read the end. I didn't even get to John coming home.

The editor told me (and, if I ever die of an aneurism, it will have been these words in my brain that killed me) "People don't say 'I know.'" That shut me right down. I was expected to keep talking and I probably did, but... Wha? Buh? I say "I know" all the time! One of my top ten ways to sort out my thoughts or rephrase and repeat what someone's trying to express so we're both on the same page. "I know [this], are you saying [that]?" But I removed it, and I don't think I put it back. (I think I ended up referencing the brain damage earlier instead, because I thought you needed to see a reason Erik might bit a little off, even if that's not the real one.) I'm still feeling self-conscious about using that phrase, in text and IRL!

By the grace of god, I didn't have a total meltdown and gut everything, but I wrote poorly and without joy for a long while. Trying to meet the standards of someone who had no idea what I was doing and didn't care to learn. She was an editor! I always wanted access to one of those!

Yeah. This helped solidify my now-militant belief that 1) Traditional publishing is not for me and 2) Stuffing art into a tiny box will kill it, so 3) Maybe we should be a little more grateful that people share the things they love with us.

I am clueless. I have sinned. I have issued unsolicited criticism on the internet, with the best of intent. But I am gonna try like hell not to do it anymore. Y'all don't need to be ruin your week. Unless you say you want help (and I will take you seriously, even if you don't mean it, so be careful!) or you're hurting others, I will back off and accentuate the positive. Even if the best I can come up with in the moment is "You made a thing!" (Ha-ha, nonverbal blues.)

Wow, that came out kinda sad. But I'm OK now! Tired of website glitches, but loving the writing part. I'd rather write another instalment than do any of this other stuff I got on my plate, but that's not in the cards for a few more days...

[Back to the Site?]

#tin soldier and soldier on #instalment #engagement lounge #autism #art #writing #first draft woes #some of the many reasons traditional publishing ain't gonna do it for me

[hide-in-imagination]

"Windows of the soul" - Simbar Drabble

They were in that beautiful stage in a new relationship when they still had the thrill of the honeymoon phase but were slowly settling into the comforting routine and heart-warming consistency of having the one you love by your side day after day.

Four months in and Simón and Ámbar couldn't imagine being happier. They really didn't need much else than just being together; whatever activity they did was just an extra. That cozy Spring afternoon, they were hanging out in Ámbar's room when they decided to try out an article she found online. It was something about a bonding experience or 'how to fall in love with someone in a day' thing; they didn't really care, it just sounded fun.

First there were some questions they should ask each other, but they were a lot, and some of them they already knew the answer to, so they skipped some of it. It still brought out some interesting conversation topics though, so thank god Ámbar was a task-focused person or they would've gotten distracted and carried on talking forever.

Next, they had to stare at each other's eyes for 4 minutes, so they settled on top of the bed facing each other, both with their legs crossed.

Ámbar put on a timer in her phone and they started.

Simón spoke about 30 seconds in.

"Wait, can we talk during this or are we supposed to stay silent?"

He made her doubt. "I'm not sure but I can't look it up on my phone now, so let's stay silent just in case."

"Right."

Another 20 seconds went by.

"Can we touch or that's a no too?" Simón spoke quietly as if that somehow broke the rule less.

"Um, I think we can?" Ámbar supposed.

Simón reached over with his hands to hold hers between them. Ámbar smiled and continued to stare into his eyes.

They'd done this before, of course, but never for this long. It was a different experience, and it could've been very uncomfortable if it were someone else, but since it was Simón, it was nice. She got to see all the shades of brown in them, including the tiny specks of golden that he claimed were only an effect of the light but she was sure were there.

Simón's eyes kept switching from looking at one of her eyes and then the other, but then again, so did hers. It could've been boring, she thought once more. But it was special, and a little captivating.

People said that your pupils dilate when you see the person you like. If so, those of both of them had to be dilated right now, but Ámbar couldn't tell the difference because she didn't remember the 'before'.

What she could notice immediately was when a certain look appeared in his eyes. His thumbs had been caressing the back of her hands for a while now, and that look only got stronger.

"You want to kiss me, don't you?"

Simón didn't even try to deny it; there was no reason to. "Mhm."

Ámbar smirked. "Is that because you love me or because it turns you on that that's forbidden right now?"

"Don't lump me in with you."

She laughed. She saw him smiling too from her peripheral vision.

Finally, after who knows how long, the alarm of the timer went off and Simón moved forward immediately, claiming her lips.

Ámbar turned the alarm off blindly and fell backwards, Simón over her as they kissed. She tried to pull away. "Wait, we have to do the compliments next."

Simón traveled down to kiss her neck. "I can do that while doing something else and I know you like it." He sucked on a spot under her jaw, earning a little noise from Ámbar. He held her waist and sighed almost dreamily against her skin. "You have the prettiest eyes."

"Yours are pretty too."

"Mine are boring."

Ámbar grabbed his face and pulled him to look at her. "They're beautiful." She kissed him without letting him go, intensely. "They're deep." She kissed him again. "Like chocolate."

"Chocolate is deep?" He said jokingly.

"Well it sure feels nice when it's deep down my throat."

Simón groaned low on his chest and recaptured her lips hungrily. Their kisses after that were more tongue than anything.

-

It was like an hour later that they could get back to the bonding exercises.

#simbar #simbar fic #simbar fanfic #soy luna fanfiction #this came to me and I wrote it in one sitting #my brain works in the most mysterious ways #anyway I think it's cute and hot- my favorite blend #Short Writings #My Writing

[in-christalone]

Hey I really need some advice. I'm a Christian and I love Jesus and I know homosexuality is a sin. I know transgenderism is a sin. But I know that if I wasn't a Christian I would identify as a she/they. I just... the gender nuetral "they" really appeals to me. But God made me a girl so I don't.

And I have zero interest in sex. None. But when it comes to marriage? I would gladly marry a girl. In fact I'd prefer it. Not in a sexual way. Just I'd rather spend the rest of my life sharing the most intimate of my life with a girl rather than a guy.

But I know it's a sin. So I say I am straight. And I either date boys or no one.

Like I know those things are sins and yet they appeal to me so so much. And I feel bad even getting "turned on" by girls because I know it's a sin. And it's not even lust it's just "i would marry her. I wish I could. No don't think like that."

Am I doing something wrong? How do I stop feeling this way? I've been following awhile and I know you have dealt with things like this in your own life.

Because of the world we live in I hear things like "internalized homophobia" and "religious abuse". (Not that I've actually talked to anyone about this but I've seen similar stories and that's always the advice the world gives.) Then Christians just scream if someone even has these thoughts they're going to hell and sinning. But how can you just... not have thoughts??

IDK I'm so confused.

Hello, it's nice to meet you! I know whats going on with these thoughts because I used to struggle with the same thoughts when I was attracted to females. There was this girl named Kim I met in my first year of college, I told myself that all I wanted was to be her friend, well one thing led to another and I eventually wanted more than just a friendship with her. These thoughts you have are like a gateway to deeper sin. While they may seem innocent at first, if you convince yourself they are okay, then you will eventually learn to convince yourself that kissing is okay, that marriage is okay, that sex is okay,

overall it will just get messy and you will end up in self deceiving. I don't want that for you, I've been there and I regret it. I remember after realizing I had a crush on Kim that I would look up if homosexuality is a sin, I'd read that the Bible says it is, but then i'd find a website saying that it wasn't and I pursued a relationship with Kim because I found an article that said "homosexuality is a mistranslation" and then I fell into sin.

Please don't make the same mistake I did. These thoughts you have, if you do not take them captive and cast them out, will lead you down a road to sin.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. [2 Corinthians 10:5]

 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. [Proverbs 4:23]

Please don't entertain these thoguhts, pray to God that He would deliver you from them, that He would personally show you why they are wrong, and then focus on reading the Bible.

I would say read all the verses about homosexuality and marriage:

Verses about Marriage

Verses about Homosexuality

Meditate on these, and remember the sacrifice Jesus made for you to be free of sin, don't return to the vomit of sin, if you are a new creation, these things ought not to be searched for.

God be with you.

#lgbt #gay christian #lesbian #pride #wlw #mlm

[incarnateirony]

Found 2po's super secret source.

She tweeted it out on twitter.

She's literally just another M&G con brat like 2po being sold shit as a consumer and they're all falling for it again, god bless.

Anyway I can't wait for all of 2po's super secret info drops of butchered information next week:

Will you guys PLEASE stop talking to 2po. Not even for me. Just he sucks so fucking hard we find you in like 2 minutes he's gonna fuck your whole world up jesus christ how are you all so lame

Imagine being so cringe you not only pay money to ask them that in a M&G, but expect them to answer honestly while you are in fact paying them for the J2 brand. My god. The stupidity is astounding. Literally just a fundamental lack of understanding of not just this show, or TV, but like, how the world in GENERAL works, holy CHRIST. How do these people not get disappeared in dark alleys being this gullible.

2po's source is SO VERY IN THE KNOW GUYS! He swears. She knows J2 so well she PAYS TO SEE THEM JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. But she's paid a LOT. And obviously, that couldn't be lack of intelligence. That just must mean she really knows them, right, right?

You wanna know why that lane sucks ass at intel? It's because they're this fucking dense. What an absolute clown show. And yet again, 2po's "sources" are revealed to be a circle jerk of nobody consumers in meet and greets, when it isn't a twitter thread, or reddit post, or clickbait article.

I genuinely don't understand how ANYBODY isn't embarrassed to follow him when time and time again he's just shown to be a fraud vaguing his way through shit to sound important. I don't care how much you hate me, or the Winchesters, there HAS to be a limit to how far you grovel at the feet of someone you KNOW is faking at every single turn being proven to be a vagueblogged crosspost from somewhere else he tries to sound special or connected for, and never pans out true, but they keep filing in to hear what they want. Jesus christ. Get some fucking dignity.

2po being this bad with info is also HOW Gayle and Suzanne got busted. I know hookerwitch is trying to delete history like this didn't go viral in front of a couple hundred people while confirmed by MULTIPLE M&G participants even publicly, and/or is letting all of tumblr know how gullible she is, one or the other, but like. Damn. Jesus. Why do you even use this guy. You guys are all dumb but he's like your crem-de-la-crem of incompetence and fucks you up every time. Like the perfect highlighter I get to use all the time to show how you guys are all smoke and mirrors. Big neon yellow lines through your shit.

You guys big mad that 2po fucked up your lies again and made it well recorded? Start taking it up with him. These are his shits he keeps leaving in the pool and the skittles trail only leads one way. If you want people to stop being able to track you straight down to your bullshit, maybe don't work through a braindead goblin that blows up all your lies, plans, twists, spins, rewrites, and everything else.

If you're gonna have a propaganda account in fandom, at least TRY to look competent. But it's too late to put that cat back in the bag, witchy. CE know. TPTB know. Everyone knows. It's just widened the list of people they're looking to expunge, and those people are starting to feel it, displayed by their own shifting attendance. It's over, you lost. Go home. And maybe you should do something about 2po before his incompetence burns down the few things you love that might be left after the transition.

[violetjedisylveon]

Starshine

Summary: Eda and the kids go star gazing with Datura.

Word count: 1.8k

Warnings: This chapter is pretty safe😊

A/N: So maybe the idea of more than one chapter a month was over reaching😅... I have a new hyperfixation and it's lego monkie kid, also Ahsoka is coming out in a little more than a month and that'll be epic so my attention is sufficiently divided.

So you get a shorter chapter while I figure out how to get back to the therapy plotline cause oh boy does Enzo( and Eda) need some therapy. I am taking suggestions on how to do that(pls help)

Eda raises two gods AU link here.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Daura, you are crazy!" Eda shouted at the Werebeast.

Datura purred and ignored her protests, she couldn't really talk with King hanging from her mouth.

The crazy old Werebeast had the brilliant idea of climbing the ancient, powerful, sacred and seemingly sentient tree. She had sprung the decision on them and by the time Eda had processed her words, they were already climbing up the gnarled roots.

Enzo and King both cheered as Datura lept a considerable gap between two branches. At least the kids are enjoying this. Eda huffed.

Datura paused on a particular wide branch, her tentacles remained firmly wrapped around them. The Werebeast glanced around at the other branches, Eda saw that there were carvings engraved into some of them, and she had been seeing ancient stone tablets hanging all over the tree. The writing was in various ancient languages and dialects, and she had no clue what any of it said.

This is the sort of shit Lily would love. She snorted.

She and her sister had once found a couple old stone tablets with a fairly odd language around their family home and Lilith had truly been in her happy place whenever she was investigating the dumb rock… she vaguely recalled reading some article about a young genius Emporer's coven initiate making a huge discovery in the realm of deciphering ancient languages and subsequently began working on translating a whole mess of ancient records. Twenty years old and Lily discovered several whole ass languages.

Ah Lily, you would've loved this place. Eda thought.

A small pang of longing twisted in her heart. She hadn't talked or seen her sister since… well… since she'd been home. She'd heard the odd tail or so about the Clawthorne rising through the ranks of the covens, but most Clawthorne rumors quieted in her presence, which she was fine with, as long as her sister wasn't dead, what else mattered?

She didn't actively seak out any official news reports but she'd definitely know if Lily got killed on the job. Hell, her mom would tear her door down if that happened.

She knew Lilith was doing just fine in that dumb coven she had always been so obsessed with.

She pushed aside thoughts of her sister as Datura paused her climb to survey their surroundings again. She caught a glimpse of something faint and wispy at the edge of her vision, but it was gone when she looked, and Datura was moving again before she could get a good look. There was a small splash of white against the dark wood of the tree.

Datura's tail suddenly snaked around her eyes, effectively covering them. Enzo squeaked, so they had gotten a similar treatment. Whatever Datura wanted them to see, she sure was being secretive about it.

The Werebeast finally stopped and placed them down on something flat and wooden. The sound of Datura's shift and a hand replacing the tail were followed by a deep chuckle.

"Now you can look."

Eda opened her eyes to the bright, sparkling tapestry of the cosmos on display above her. Now, she had seen some pretty impressive views in her time, the knee was widely known as one of the best places to see the stars and she'd been there plenty of times before, but this was something else.

She could clearly see the snow capped knee from the massive tree and the ice sparkled in the star light.

It was a moonless night, the stars went unopposed.

"Whoa! Pretty!" King squeaked.

"Yeah." Enzo agreed.

"Best damn view on the Isles." Datura said.

The Werebeast laid down on a thin mattress that had been nailed into the platform they were standing on. The fur and scales scattered around spoke to who had used this space before.

"So that's where you snuck off to." Eda said, nudging the Werebeast's tail with her foot.

"You were out with your songbird, kit." Datura shrugged.

Eda managed to avoid turning the color of a Solanum berry until Enzo piped up.

"Songbird?" Enzo echoed innocently.

Eda turned away from the glowing night vision eyes of the kid and fanned her flaming face. Datura hummed in amusement, her tail swishing back and forth.

Titan! Please make her shut up! Eda groaned internally.

"I think I've embarrassed your mom enough, Owlet, there will be plenty of time for stories later," Eda felt green eyes burning into her skull, "They're bound to notice sooner or later anyway." The Werebeast cackled.

Enzo was thankfully satisfied with that answer and flopped down onto the mat to look up at the stars. The little stargazer quietly started pointing out the constellations to King, who was curled up on their chest. Eda took her spot next to the kids and joined in the relaxing fun.

Personally, Eda couldn't make heads or tails of any constellations most of the time, but the kids could make a lot more sense of it than she could.

The sounds of nature were far off and faded, the top of the tree felt like being in an entirely different world.

"They've changed." Eda glanced at her mentor, green eyes still fixed on the night sky.

"The stars, they've changed since we first climbed up here." There was a subtle wistfulness Eda rarely heard in the Werebeast's voice.

She did not talk much about her life before the covens, she'd talk about how it was in general, and reluctantly concede that some things had improved, but never about her own life. Eda's eyes found Datura's scar all too easily. The Werebeast seemed to be thinking the same thing, one of her tentacles brushed along the scar tissue.

"A lot has changed since we first saw these stars."

For a moment, Eda could swear her mentor was tearing up, but the beginnings of tears vanished as quickly as they started.

"But that's just the way of things, the only constant in life is change anyway. Live long enough and the entire night sky is different." She smiled and glanced at Eda with a mischievous grin.

"Wanna know what Chusi and I did up here?" She asked with a suspicious look in her glowing eyes.

Eda glared.

"Is it child friendly?" She asked

Datura's grin widened before Eda slammed her hand over the Werebeast's mouth.

"Don't. I'm not ready for that conversation." She whispered urgently.

Datura chuckled but didn't elaborate on the subject. Eda eased herself back down and listened to the stories Enzo was telling King.

"That one there is Blumenthal, the flower deer, she ran away to the sky to escape the first boiling rains, when the rains stopped, she came back down, she found all the lands dead and barren, so she got help from a Titan friend to sow the seeds of new life into the land. You can see her with her friend there in that one, the Titan was fine during the rains, they don't burn easy- oh! And that there is a great big owl, it came down from the sky and made a bunch more owl creatures before flying back up, Este would say it was supposed to come back to collect its children one day…"

The kid rattled off story after story late into the night, eagerly explaining each myth and a handful of their favorite variants to the equally eager to listen King. They talked until they couldn't anymore and both kids were asleep.

Eda ran her hands through King's fur as the two slept, picking out the odd twig or leaf here and there.

Datura suddenly spoke.

"Those aren't stories anyone remembers anymore."

Eda winced, she had noticed it too. A lot of the stories had been somewhat similar to the ones she had heard of, but there were things that she had never even heard of before included. Datura, being the collector of stories she was, had been bound to notice more than she did. Another benefit of the whole Werebeast long life thing was an incredible memory any witch would envy.

"There's no beating around it, Kit, your Owlet is old. Old enough to remember those stories the way they were first told. Old enough to have seen a lot of shit in their life." Datura said.

She sat up and rested a hand on Eda's shoulder, a serious, worried expression on her face.

"Take it from me, the older you are, the more you have seen. If you really want to help them, you have got to understand that they have possibly seen things you can't even begin to imagine. Age brings tragedy, it brings trauma." She paused, glancing at the sleeping kids, "And Owlet has certainly been through it."

Eda nodded and squeezed Datura's hand.

"How old do you think they are? Do you have any idea what they are?" She asked.

She needed any information she could get.

"They may be as old as the Isles, older maybe, there's no real way to be sure. As for what they are, I've got a few theories, but I'll need time to research and test those theories." Datura sighed.

"The one thing they are for sure is a child, a very damaged child, one who needs you." 

"Way to lay on the pressure." Eda huffed.

"Don't be like that kit, you're doing a wonderful job." Datura told her.

"My kid got stabbed! How is any of that a good job?!"

"You didn't panic and you brought your child to someone who could help, that's what you're supposed to do with any child. Trust me, kit, you're doing just fine." Datura rested her hand on Enzo's head, careful not to disturb Nibs.

"Owlet is lucky to have you." She said.

Eda smiled at her mentor, a warm feeling bubbling in her chest as she watched the pair of siblings peacefully sleeping.

"If you need any tips on getting your kid into therapy, I'll be happy to help." Datura said.

"Thanks I- wait, Datura they aren't my kids!" Eda whisper shouted at her mentor.

"Keep telling yourself that, kit." Datura rolled her eyes.

XXX

"Welcome back! Hoot! Hoot! I see you got all fixed up little guy! Hoot!" Hooty's overly enthusiastic greeting was a bit too much for Eda, Enzo could tell with the way her eye twitched she was tired.

"And do you have snacks? Hoot hoot!" The bird tube craned his neck to see the bags they all carried, stacked with goodies and gifts from Datura, including some gifts for Gailine and her mom, which was really nice of Datura.

"Yeah! She gave us some for you too!" Enzo held open the box of specially made treats for Hooty.

"Oh? I never get any gifts!" Hooty cheered.

"She didn't want you to be left out." Enzo said.

Hooty started crying and eating the treats he'd been given. He was a little weird.

"C'mon Starshine, let's get this stuff inside and take a nap." Eda said, holding the door open for them.

"Coming!" Enzo raced inside the owl house.

The owl lady and the star child both missed the faint, transparent figure that lingered around the edges of the owl house.

And both missed the single, bright white flower that bloomed in the window box.

________________________________________________________________________________

Oh spooky~

Welp, the fluff and comfort is done, time to traumatize Enzo again😃! What do you think will be the tipping point for Eda to actually get Enzo to consider therapy?! Feel free to guess(or suggest ideas pls)! I'll probably mash a bunch of em together tbh.

I hope you all have a good day, whatever that is for you!

VJS Out!

#The Owl House #Toh #Edalyn Clawthorne #King Clawthorne #Eda the Owl Lady #toh collector #enzo gabriel #Enzo Clawthorne #Enzo the Collector #Toh fanfic #Toh AU #Eda raises two gods AU #Er2g AU #werebeast #Toh OCs #Datura the Werebeast #Noodle Bellatrix Spring the Cat Snake #Nibs the Cat Snake #Palisman OC #Jalapeño the snadger Palisman #VJS Fics:P #VJS AU:P #VJS OCs:P #VJS

[nightinghoul]

Talkin' About Poop

(CN: Hashimoto's disease, chronic dehydration, mental health, suicidal ideation and yes, poop. Mostly poop.)

Why have I decided to talk about poop today? I think it's something we need to destigmatize, so that people can ask for help, and spread knowledge for the benefit of others.

As a bit of an aside, I always find it funny when the young'ns make fun of Activia commercials. You don't think you'll be talking about your poop with your middle-aged friends/family some day? HAHAHA! Almost everyone in my life has some sort of borderline traumatizing poop issue.

Here's mine: People with Hashimotos are chronically dehydrated, which causes chronic constipation. (I feel I like I should address that really severe constipation can lead to a medical emergency, but I'm not talking about that today.) Constipation can be ridiculously uncomfortable and often pretty damn painful, but here's something else I learned recently: It can cause anxiety!

I found an article from Pubmed Central (through the US National Library of Medicine) stating, "...the prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders in constipated patients is much higher than general population..." I looked that up on a hunch. The hunch was that last night, after a week of taking mega doses of laxatives with no results, I started spiraling into anxiety and depression, thinking everyone hated me, and experiencing passive suicidal ideation. Then I pooped.

I didn't have any idea the two were related, but being physically comfortable without respite for a while can certainly have a negative impact on your mental health. And then there's this:

"...A person's stomach or intestinal distress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, stress, or depression." (Harvard Medical Publishing) So yeah, it's kind of a which-came-first situation. Anxiety certainly doesn't make it any better for me.

I was so unfamiliar with being healthy when I was younger, I didn't even talk to doctors about my gastric issues for years. I only talked to them about my most outwardly noticable symptoms, which at the time was that I was having migraine related seizures that I couldn't hide. It didn't even occur to me that ALL systems need to be working for the body to function properly. We have this basic understanding with vehicles, but we don't do this for ourselves. We wait until we're falling apart, when we know we've had a pain, something feeling off, or, ya know, weird poop for a month.

A lot of us in the US feel trapped because there's just not an emphasis on healthcare in our society. Sometimes, our only option is to crowdsource for health solutions. I think that sucks, but if that's what you're doing right now, here's *my advice for healthy poops:

1. Eat your ruffage (leafy greens, lettuce, cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, etc.)

2. Look for fiber content in food or suppliments. Here's a guide to healthy amounts of fiber. (It's the first one that popped up when I googled it.)

3. For the love of God, drink lots of water. Myself, I drink a minimum of 64oz of water a day, in addition to any fluids I may get through foods. But really, I drink way more than that.

4. Consider the possibility that certain foods may be related to your discomfort. You might try eliminating certain foods for a couple of weeks to see how it makes you feel.

5. De-stress - whatever that means to you. Your mental state can absolutely affect your gut.

*I am not a medical professional! I just have gut issues. If you can talk to a doctor, I highly recommend that. Never withhold important health information from your doctor, even if it's a bit embarrassing!

Get your poops healthy!

#health post #health issues #mental health #it's poop ya'll #gut health #Hashimoto's

[firstumcschenectady]

“What is Good?" based on Psalm 92:1-5, 12-15 and Matthew 7:15-20

Two weeks ago I preached a sermon entitled “There is No Single Way to Follow Jesus” where I talked about diverse understandings of God and Jesus, multitudes of prayer practices, and not writing people out of the Body of Christ because we disagree with them. It seemed pretty important to me, especially as we baptized a teenager who might have been told along the way that there is one right way to follow Jesus. Others told me that, and I was grateful my church gave me space to disagree.

Afterwards, one of the wise ones around here recommended that I preach a follow up sermon that continued to make space for the multitude of ways to follow Jesus, but helped us all see that is different from saying “everything goes.” I have taken that to be an invitation to talk about “discernment” which is the fancy word for “figuring out what God would have us do.” Or, as apple dictionary puts it (exceptionally well, wow!) “perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding.”1

So today we're talking about discernment, following the warnings of Matthew 7 to beware of false prophets and pay attention to whether or not love is the outcome of teachings, decisions, and leadership. That means we are also talking about how we live our faith values, and how we making decisions while listening to God. But, as an entrance into this conversation I need to tell you about what I am now thinking about as “The Great Toilet Brush Dilemma of 2023.”

Several articles I've come across recently have stated that toilet brushes should be replaced every few months, which is faster than I had thought, and I decided perhaps it should be taken seriously (as it didn't appear to be put out by the toilet brush industry.) However, the toilet brushes I have are made of plastic, and I try to minimize my use of plastic (with limited success), so I searched the internet for “eco toilet brush” and found there were a number of options. However, most of them seemed excessively expensive, which violated that old Wesleyan principle of “earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can” so I ignored those. One seemed reasonably priced and came with decent reviews, but a further look found that the brush didn't work with chemicals (maybe OK), was hard to get dry (hmmm), and tended to mold (no!). So then I went back and looked at the suggested brushes from my preferred guide to such things and they offered two ideas, both made of plastic, but with REUSABLE brush heads. Which is better than non-reusable brush heads, right? But THEN I looked to make sure I could get the brush heads and I discovered one could, but then one had to decide between getting one brush at a time at nearly the price of the whole thing or getting 4 at a time for a much better rate, that even claimed to be “eco” and CLAIMED to be biodegradable but the number of asterisks around that led to that claim being less than believable, at which point I was needed to do something else and I made absolutely no decision. It is now nearly a week later and every time I think about finishing this decision I throw my hands up in the air and move on to something else while muttering to myself that this is a really trivial thing not worthy of so much of my attention.

Which is to say that in an attempt to balance some values I hold: care for creation (limit plastics!), financial responsibility (spend wisely!), and basic cleanliness (limit bathroom bacteria growth) – I got stumped. And I needed to tell you that so I could enter into this conversation about discernment with the appropriate levels of humility and no one would think I was offering expert opinions.

It really is true that not everything goes. There are better and worse decisions that can be made, sometimes even good versus evil. But those are the EASY choices. Choose good! The harder ones are where it is more difficult to see which is which, and while we are always going to struggle with those, God is here to help us, and to forgive us when we get it wrong. We're talking about how to make those harder decisions today.

In this church we were given the gift of the phrase “optimize prime values” by a now departed member, Lee Tupper. Lee wrote, “there is a set of higher values (henceforth referred to as prime values in this discussion) that serve as the ultimate standard by which the relative 'goodness' of the consequences of human activities is to be judged. This relative 'goodness' is a measure of the degree to which the evolving human system tends towards a consistency with the relational type of God assumed. It is reasonably obvious that none of these concepts can be expected to be known or understood with real precision. It is also likely that we will not ever know whether the prime values are absolute and our knowledge of them is evolving, or the values themselves are evolving.”

However, other than suggesting “love” and “justice” as likely candidates, Lee didn't tell us what the prime values ARE. As a church we've spent some time discussing it, and at the moment we lean towards naming that we think love, justice, compassion, inclusion and humility are prime values (although we have made no claim that this is a complete list).

So, if you are looking to figure out where God may be leading you in a decision, and you are needing some structure to use in thinking about things, considering love, justice, compassion, inclusion and humility might be of use. They at least put boundaries around what is important. That said, it doesn't answer the Great Toilet Brush Dilemma of 2023, other than maybe affirming that the concerns I have are valid, which actually is a great help.

Within Methodist circles, one of the better known means of making decisions is to look at John Wesley's three simple rules: 1. Do no harm, 2. Do all the good you can, 3. Stay in love with God.2 I have taught courses on Bishop Reuben Job's short book on these rules, they're quite lovely. However, my strongest memory of teaching it was the wise lay person who said, “These rules are great, but when I attempt to apply them to anything, I get no more clarity than when I started.” I had no counter. The rules are good, and sometimes they help, but sometimes they don't.

The truth is that discernment is HARD WORK, and more of an art than a science. Most decisions are really complicated, and if they were simple they wouldn't be the ones we were struggling with. There is very, very little in the world that is pure good or pure evil, and all decisions involve balancing various values while working with limited data. (Perhaps why the Tupper family motto is “We need more data!”)

I have two means of discernment that tend to work well for me, ones that help me get past the clutter of data and competing values. One I've mentioned a few times: the spiritual practice of daily examen. Truthfully, this is the BEST method I know for making big life decisions, and often small ones too. It combines spiritually and data in a way that brings me deep joy. The process is this: every day, take some time to ask for God's help in reviewing the day and then ask two questions. One question should be along the lines of “what was the best part of my day?” or “where was I most connected to love today?” (I think those are two versions of the same question, you may not.) The second question should be along the lines of “what was the worst part of my day?” or “where was I most disconnected from love today?” After reviewing it all, thank God for the day as a whole – the good the bad and the stuff in the middle. Then, write down the answers. If you have a spiritual partner, it can be great to also share these answers every day. Over time, patterns will emerge in your answers. You will be able to see what is bringing life and what is draining life from you, and hopefully to adapt your life towards what brings life, and away from what drains life. When it comes to decisions about jobs, relationships, housing, or even faith communities, this sort of careful attention to where God's life-giving energy emerges in you is amazing for guiding decision making.

The second method is one I learned from another church member. I would NOT recommend it for major life decisions, but it may in fact work for me when it comes to the Great Toilet Brush Dilemma of 2023. This one, like the last, involves trusting that God is with me, and that I thus have the wisdom I need to make the best possible decisions. In this case it involves trusting bodily wisdom. It goes like this: Sit on the edge of a stool or a hard chair. Set up two options in different places in front of you (say, to the right and to the left), close your eyes, and then notice if your body sways towards one or the other. That is, your subconscious will guide you to the decision you likely already made but hadn't noticed yet, and the decision you already made is one that God helped you with.

Ok, there you have it: four methods to help with discernment, which is far fewer than I know, but maybe more than you needed. There is one last thing to say about this: we're going to get things wrong, a lot. And that's OK. God works with us where we are, and I think God works to multiply the good in the world, so whatever goodness we end up helping with ends up being far bigger than we might imagine. However, despite it all, I still have no clarity on toilet brushes. Alas. Amen

1Definition 2, accessed March 2, 2023.

2Particular phrasing adapted from Reuben Job. (He says 1 and 3 that way, but makes 2. “do good”).

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

March 5, 2023

#Progressive Christianity #Thinking Church #schenectady #fumc schenectady #umc #sorry about the umc #first umc schenectady #rev sara e baron #pandemic preaching #Lent #Discernment #Great Toilet Brush Dilemma of 2023 #Daily Examen #Three Simple Rules #Optimize Prime Values