In The Darkness Way Below, It's My Heart He'll Keep

I haven't written in a while but I feel like I should share I was working on this insane highschool sanny fic where they were cast in the one act play "Ray and Milo"-Chris Sheppard because that is the gay penguin play and I'm a huge theatre nerd and I'm debating on picking it back up for sillies idk

one of my fave josh things is how he went from being like "oh haha yeah i can be a bit of a diva if things dont go my way" in interviews to being like Good Morning Diva Nation, Commander Cunt Reporting For Today's Divadown in every post he makes

the entirety of my tumblr is GVF, House M.D., and mamaposting. I love it here

Happy Thursday! Today we start getting a bit more from our other characters, and it’s a treat! Hope you enjoy

Pairings: Sam Kiszka X Danny Wagner *slash Jake Kiszka X Fem OC

Warnings and tags: 18+ ONLY! We’re back ladies and gents, themes of jealousy, manipulation, intrusive thoughts, smoking, smut including: m/f sex, oral m&f receiving, consensual chocking, blood drinking, vampire!AU

Word count: 4.6k

“Sam! Wait!” Danny caught the door before it could even swing shut and took off after him, no one in the party even looking up from where they were either drinking or dancing. Except maybe for Terry who was still waiting on the ice, but even he was two steps away from forgetting as his wife pulled him up and started swaying her bedazzled hips.

He could go after them, but something about the looks Sam had given him the past few days led Jake to believe his face was the last thing Sam wanted to see right now. Besides, there was something else far more interesting left waiting inside.

Quietly, Jake pushed the back door open and slipped inside, intentionally stepping around the now broken beer bottle on the floor. Once he eased his way around the corner she came into sight. Diane was sitting on the edge of the bar. How she’d gotten up there when the counters sat high compared to her short petite stature was beyond him, but he certainly didn’t underestimate her determination.

Thinking she was alone now she had a hand down the front of shirt, adjusting the way her breasts sat atop her push-up bra. Just when she was about to grab the edge of the countertop and jump down onto her flashy and probably overpriced boots her eye caught something shifting in the dark.

“Back the fuck off Billy or I’ll mace your ass again!”

She yelled like nothing scared her, but she was already reaching into her boot for said spray.

“Do I look like Billy?” Jake questioned, stepping out into the light that seeped through the windows so she could get a better look at him.

With her eyes squinted, Diane tucked the spray back into her boot and sat up straighter. “Jake?”

“Indeed it is darling” a cattish grin spread across his lips, but he kept them tightly closed as he approached her. “Why aren’t you enjoying the party with everyone else?”

“Oh,” she returned the smile, the light shade of pink gloss on her lips looking freshly applied. “I was just talking to Danny but he had somewhere else to go”. Jake was only a couple of feet away from her now, and her eyes scanned up and down his body before she lifted a suggestive brow. “I’m glad you’re here now, but why aren’t you at the party?”

“I heard a little commotion earlier” he replied truthfully, Jake was always one to tell the truth after all. “I came to check and make sure everyone was alright… are you? Alright?”

Diane faked a sigh of frustration, tossing her long jet black hair, specifically curled in loose waves for this party, over her shoulder and leaned closer in a way that made her chest puff out and her breasts press together. “Not really, I don’t want to be alone. You wouldn’t let me be alone tonight Jake, would you?”

“Oh sweetheart,” Jake grinned again as he finally came to stand before her. He reached forward, trailing his fingers against her neck and she opened her legs to allow him closer. “Why do you try so hard?”

“Hmm?” She had let her eyes close as Jake leaned forward to press kisses against the skin of her throat. It didn’t even occur to her that despite the evocative way he was touching her, Jake wasn’t at all interested.

After a few more teasing kisses Jake pulled back, waiting until her eyes fluttered open again to see why he’d stopped to continue to speak lowly. “Don’t you get it? Or are you really just that stupid?”

Her eyes widened and he felt her tense in his grasp, one hand still against the side of her neck and the other having grabbed her hip to keep her from moving. “Danny doesn’t want you like that. He never has, and he never will. So stop getting in the way. All you ever were to him was a warm drink, and that’s all you’ll be for me”.

“Dri-?” Before her mouth could even finish forming the question, Jake turned her head aside and closed his jaw around the thick ropy vein in her neck. Her scream was cut off by a choke as she fought for air against his hold.

Jake could feel her heart rate rising, fluttering faster and faster until it seemingly reached its peak and she went limp. He then let go, knowing she’d be too weak and disoriented to try and run now. At least that’s how they’d all been every time Danny was there, watching, carefully making sure Jake didn’t hurt anyone.

Danny wasn’t here though, and Jake was watching with hunger still laced in his eyes as she reached up and winced when touching her neck.

“Did you really… bite me?”

I did! Jake was shouting inside his head while his exterior remained stoic and focused. I did it! She’s fine, and Danny wasn’t even here to stop me! Fuck… Danny isn’t here. What do I do now?

During all the ‘practice’ Jake and Josh did with Danny, he had always taken over at the end making sure to wipe their memories of what had happened. Jake hadn’t gotten that far yet.

Ok, don’t panic, if you panic she will start panicking.

Diane flinched when Jake grabbed her shoulders, but he wasn’t going to hurt her. “Hey, stay right here. I’m going to go get some help”.

She stared up at him, her eyes still round as the tray she carted over her shoulder when waitressing.

“You hear me? Stay put”.

Going on nothing more than a hope and a prayer Jake disappeared. Off to find Danny before things inevitably got very, very messy.

“Sam! Have you seen Danny?” Jake asked with a slightly worried look on his dumb, stupid face.

“No”. Sam lied. Of course he’s looking for Danny, who else would he be spending all of his free time with?

“Cut the shit Sam” Jake snapped. It was uncommon for him to not remain composed in most situations so that got Sam’s attention quick. “Listen, I know something’s up with you two” he exhaled slowly, centering himself again before he went off and said something that would seriously piss Sam off - like how Danny had confided in him just a bit about the breakup. “I’m not trying to get between you and him, ok?”

Sam’s eyes narrowed as he tried to gauge how serious Jake was. Serious, by the looks of it.

“Now, will you tell me where Danny went?”

Thank the heavens Diane was just where he’d left her when Jake came back. Danny gave him a sideways look, she was also in the exact same spot he’d seen her last.

“I know, not my finest moment, but you’re still going to help me right?”

“I’m not going to do anything” Danny replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You are”.

Jake opened his mouth to counter, but before he could speak Danny already had him turned around and was walking him over to Diane. “Focus” Danny leaned down to mutter into his ear. “Look her in the eye and feel it”.

I feel… something. Jake thought to himself, but he was unsure if it was the feeling Danny was referring to or the adrenaline he was still riding from feeding. Coming to stand in front of her again Diane locked sights with Jake, her frightened eyes growing droopy.

“What now?” Jake asked, taking his time with each word in an attempt to prevent himself from slipping up.

“Now,” Danny let Jake’s shoulders go and took a step back, watching over them to make sure he was actually doing it right. “Tell her what you need to. Influence her”.

“Diane” Jake began, and she nodded her head to show she understood he was speaking to her now. “I want you to forget what I said to you earlier. Forget everything I said. In fact, forget you even saw me in here at all. When I leave you’re going to get your things and find someone sober enough to drive you home”.

Diane nod her head again, not even blinking once since Jake wasn’t blinking either.

“Did it work?” Jake whispered over his shoulder, still holding eye contact.

“We should watch her for a few days, but yes it should have”.

Jake had seen Danny influence the strangers, or ‘volunteers’ as Danny kept trying to convince them to call the people they fed on, multiple times over the last two weeks. For some reason he always thought it was going to be harder to learn. “That’s it?”

“That’s it” Danny echoed with his hands on his hips. He wouldn’t say he was proud, but Jake doing so well was giving him a sense of relief that at least something he was doing was working.

“And Diane,” Jake quickly added, “you’re going to start being nicer to Sam too”.

Danny couldn’t help the smile that twitched on his lips. Normally he didn’t like messing with people’s free will too much, but she honestly could probably benefit from being a little less bitchy to her coworkers.

Once Danny was sure Jake had everything under control he took his leave. Even if he was excited Jake was able to feed safely on his own he still wanted to look after the twins for a bit longer. At least for tonight though he’d let them be, it was their party after all. They needed to enjoy it while they still felt their birthday was something to celebrate and not just another year spent walking the Earth in the dark.

Having lost sight of both Jake and Danny for a good while now Sam tried to not let his emotions get the best of him.

I’m not trying to get between you and him, ok?

Why would Jake even say that? Sam nibbled on the corner of his thumb as he kept a dutiful eye on Josh. Sam had been most nervous about the party, so he’d already decided before it started that he was going to keep watch of the twins. Drinks had been offered to him by just about everyone here tonight, Sam having a reputation of letting loose and having a good time - no need to bring up that he was the only Kiszka in town with an arrest record.

Who knew what Jake was up to, and if it involved Danny then Sam definitely did not want to know. Josh on the other hand was doing surprisingly well. He almost seemed his normal self as Sam watched him smile from ear to ear and dance around like a weird uncle. He even had Sam chuckling from time to time when he butt in on Terry and his wife dancing, taking both of their hands and swinging his arms back and forth. When the song was over she leaned in and let Josh give her a peck on the cheek before he turned around and tried to kiss Terry next. Sam couldn’t stop his laugh when Terry promptly ran away.

What a lovable guy Josh was. No wonder it was hard for him to learn his new way of life. He’d figure it out for himself eventually though. If there was anything Sam knew about his brothers, it was that they were strong. They could get through this, together.

Fuck it the little voice in the back of Sam’s head, not the adult sounding one, shouted loud enough for him to finally pay attention. If Josh didn’t need a babysitter, then there was no reason for him to stay sober.

Remembering how anxious he had been when handling stuff at the bar for Josh, Sam crossed the gravel lot over to his usual parking spot and threw his car door open. With one knee pressed into the seat, half of his body still dangling outside the car, Sam reached over the center console and popped open the glove box.

There wasn’t much in there. Just an old CD case mostly filled with bootlegged music Jake had burned onto his own disks in high school, likely giving their family computer a virus even if he never owned up to it. Sam was so pissed when he couldn’t log into neopets to check on his stuff while it was being serviced.

In addition to a pack of tissues and a couple of lighters Sam found what he was looking for - a crumpled pack of cheap cigarettes. “Come to daddy” Sam grinned as he flipped the cover over, revealing not a crumbling torn up cigarette, but the one last joint he’d rolled the week before. Normally he’d share one with their busser during break to get the both of them through the end of the shift, but tonight this one was all his and he planned to sit in his car with the windows rolled up until he was sufficiently baked enough to go back to the party.

As he watched the glass fog over with each glowing puff, Sam realized Danny had never seen him high before. He was sure they’d talked about it once or twice - Danny did go to college in the seventies after all. He didn’t much care what Danny might think if they ran into each other again tonight, he needed this.

In fact the more Sam smoked the more he felt like maybe he should bump into Danny. The head rush always did make it easier for Sam to chit chat mindlessly instead of trying to over analyze every little thing someone was saying to him.

Maybe they could have a nice conversation, try to get on good terms again. It wasn’t like Sam wanted to push Danny away, even if he had initiated a break up. It was just easier to act like he wanted nothing to do with him rather than fight every overwhelming emotion he felt when Danny still looked at him like he’d pull every star from the sky and hang them again in whatever patterns Sam wanted him to.

Danny was everything Sam had been waiting for in a guy and he wanted to be with him, desperately, but now just wasn’t the right time.

Danny had disappeared again, but he didn’t worry himself with that as he stood on the back patio waiting for Diane to come out.

“Jesus Jake!” She jumped like she had seen a ghost when he stepped from out of the shadows. “What are you doing? The party is over there”. She pointed towards the roar of music and laughter coming from the front of the bar before tucking her hand into the front of her tiny jean shorts and pulled out her car keys.

“Where are you going?” Jake questioned, his pointed eyes flicking to her keys then back to her eyes curiously.

“Home” she sighed defeatedly like it hadn’t been her idea to call it a night.

Jake took a step closer, plucking the keys from her hand before she could even attempt to ask him what he was doing. “Need someone to get you there safe?” His eyes met hers again, a subtle offer lying deep in the dark orbs that shined mischievously with the glow of the newly fixed street light overhead.

Her glossy lips curled into a smile, taking his hint, and she nodded her head. They walked quickly to her car to avoid being caught by anyone and Jake held the passenger door open for her before slipping behind the wheel.

Diane’s apartment wasn’t far from the bar. That was one of the reasons she worked there, an easy commute, and because she got good tips that paid for all her makeup and flashy nails. She was a simple girl, not one Jake usually went for, but what did it matter now they were already here.

As soon as she unlocked the front door Jake caught her by the waist before she could step inside and pressed his lips into the curve of her neck. Her body responded by pressing her ass into his groin, tossing her head back with a soft moan as he sucked harder drawing blood to the surface to form a rosy bruise. He could almost taste her again, but he kept it under control as he slowly drug his lips to the shell of her ear. “Want to taste you” he muttered with a teasing nibble that made her giggle and moan again. “You’ll let me in so I can?”

“Hmm, I don’t know” she teased back, now full on grinding against him right there in the open where all her neighbors could see. He squeezed her hips once before pulling away to swat at her ass.

“Come on, be a good girl and invite me in”.

“Fuck” She moaned again, already growing wet enough to soak her panties through at the mere thought of what was about to happen. She had a few decent guys on rotation when she needed a little night in, but something about Jake showing interest in her for the first time ever got her blood pumping. “Yes Jake, come in, please”.

Not wasting another second Jake spun her around and connected his lips to hers, backing her inside and kicking the door shut behind them. Never having been inside Diane’s apartment did not stop Jake from finding the couch. He led her there with expertise, a small ‘hmph’ leaving her mouth in a huff when she fell back onto the cushions, pulling Jake down with her. Jake took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, his fingers fighting with the tight fabric of her jean shorts until they were sliding down her smooth legs.

Keeping his eyes on hers, Jake trailed his kisses downwards at the same time as he lowered himself to his knees onto the carpet in front of the couch. He placed one more wet open mouthed kiss just above the waistline of her pink striped panties, god he could already smell her and it was making his mouth water. “Can I taste you now?” He politely asked, toying with the elastic in one hand and propping a leg up onto his shoulder with the other.

“Yes Jake” she breathlessly replied when he pressed another kiss to her center through the fabric and she bucked her hips up chasing the feeling when he pulled back to finally remove her panties and tossed them aside.

Jake resumed the same position and his tongue gently licked all the way from her entrance, gathering up a healthy mixture of slick and saliva, and landed on her clit. Diane’s hands found their way into his hair, scratching her thick acrylic nails against his scalp as he went to work, flicking his tongue until she was crying his name. With her sufficiently riled up he pressed two fingers inside slowly, feeling as more arousal came pooling out and her walls fluttered around him.

“You going to cum already?” He pulled his mouth away to smirk up at her, and plunged his fingers in harder.

Her chest was heaving, legs already slightly quivering. “You’re good at this” she whispered, like she hadn’t expected herself to be this close either.

“Well, you can have this one but then you don’t cum again until I tell you to”. Jake was bound and determined now to get her to fall apart on his fingers and he connected his mouth to her sweet bundle of nerves once more so he could taste it when she did. It wasn’t even minutes later until she was rocking her hips uncontrollably against his tongue and her orgasm came washing over, Jake licking it all up until she was done and tugging at his hair to pull him away.

Giving her a moment to float back down to Earth Jake stood, the bulge in his pants visible now. “I’m going to go clean up and when I come back you’ll be in bed waiting for me” he stated more than posed it as a question.

Diana nodded in understanding and Jake turned to find the bathroom. It was a small apartment so it didn’t take him long to find, the open door across the hall from what he assumed was her bedroom being his first stop. As soon as he was out of sight Jake gripped the counter and inhaled deeply.

Taking deep breaths didn’t work in easing him as they once did before. His body no longer needed oxygen, so pulling air into his lungs was futile as it came right back out without any relief. His head was still spinning.

He could still hear thumping in his ears, only it wasn’t his own heartbeat driving him insane. It was hers. The entire time he was between her legs all he could hear was the sound of blood rushing in her veins. His mouth watered again, but not because of what he’d done. Because he knew all he had to do was turn his head and sink his teeth into the meat of her thigh and the blood would come rushing out. Satisfying that insistent craving.

Jake never felt like he would lose control when he was practicing with Danny. Even earlier tonight at the bar when he went rogue for a moment, he was able to feed from her without going too far. For the first time Jake felt like if he’d allowed himself to slip up that he might not have been able to stop. The urge was nearly overwhelming. A primal need unlike any other he’d felt before, and it had taken all of his control to focus on finishing her off rather than really finishing her off.

In another attempt to pull himself together, Jake splashed some cool water on his face. He washed her from his lips, not needing the reminder of how close he had come to a fatal mistake and gripped the door knob hard enough it dented the metal.

“Jake? Are you alright?” Diane called out after him at the sound of the door opening. She was in her bedroom just as he had instructed. All of her clothes were removed, and she was waiting for him to join her again.

“Never better” Jake flashed her another tight lipped grin and pulled his shirt over his head, her lips pulling back into a smile at the sight of his bare chest. “Now come here”.

Diane shifted onto her hands and knees and crawled over to the edge of the bed, making contact with her lips against Jake’s tummy as she undid the buckle of his belt and reached into his pants to palm at his erection.

“My turn”. She was all too eager to finish undoing his pants and as soon as he was free she swallowed him whole until his tip was nudging the back of her throat.

“Fuck yes” Jake moaned and reached one hand forward to gather up her long hair, still holding a soft wavy curl even after everything that had already happened tonight, into his fist. He thrust into her mouth and she squeezed his hip, silently letting him know it was okay to go harder. So he did, tightening his grip around her hair and pushing inside until she was gagging around his length.

He could stay like this all night, fucking her throat, and she’d probably let him but Jake wanted more. He was quickly realizing that sex after his transformation was somehow different. It was difficult to be so physically close with someone and not want to bite into their flesh. Well, he was always a bit of a biter but never to this extent. He knew he could do this though, he wouldn’t hurt her…

“Lay back” he commanded again, thrusting one more time into her mouth then pulling out with a string of spit still coating the head of his cock. He used that to pump himself a few times as she flipped back over onto her back and pulled herself onto the pillows.

Jake kicked his pants the rest of the way off and joined her on the bed, connecting their mouths again when they met. With his hips situated between her legs now, Jake ran his tip through her folds making Diane squirm underneath him until he finally pushed inside, steadily until he bottomed out.

He braced himself and a pace was set right off the bat. Not too fast, but also just quick enough that Diane was already moaning loud enough her neighbors were sure to hear through these thin walls. Jake didn’t mind it though, the noise was a good distraction from the sound of her heart pounding in her chest. Jake leaned back, changing his angle to hit her deeper and in the very spot that took her breath away with each skilled thrust of his hips.

One of her hands found his, and she guided it up her chest until his fingers were circling around her neck. Jake’s pupils blew wide. Was she really asking him to do what he thought she was? Diane nodded her head like she could hear his thoughts, and that only scared Jake even more considering his mind was torn between continuing to fuck her, and to tear into her throat without remorse.

He buried those thoughts deep, and closed his hand around her throat. Tight enough that her eyes went rolling back but he was still careful not to use too much strength. Jake had yet to explore the depth of his new capabilities, but something told him it wouldn’t be hard at all to crush her windpipe.

Diane had no idea what he was capable of. Not anymore at least since he’d influenced her to forget their previous encounter tonight. She wasn’t bothered by it though, in fact he could feel her clenching even tighter around him as she fought the urge to cum again. Who knew she would turn out to be so obedient?

Jake could feel her pulse beneath his fingers, but this time it didn’t bother him so much. His mind was too occupied with keeping his grip on her throat loose enough that he wasn’t doing any real harm. She might have some bruises tomorrow morning, but nothing anyone else wouldn’t be capable of leaving behind after a wild round or two in the sheets.

“Jaaake” she practically screamed his name as he fucked her harder into the mattress.

With his hand still wrapped around her neck Jake leaned forward and silenced her with another kiss. “That’s right, go ahead and give it to me now” he muttered against her whimpering mouth.

When Diane fell apart Jake’s pace never slowed. Her orgasm wrapped around the both of them all at once and suddenly he felt his teeth growing into sharpened points. Jake pressed his lips into a harsh line and looked away quickly, his long hair curtaining his face. Diane was too consumed by her pleasure to even notice anything was wrong until he was pulling out and finishing on her stomach with an animalistic groan.

“Fuck that was hot” Diane panted, slowly coming down from her high exhausted and out of breath. “Please tell me we're doing that again sometime”.

Jake had never thought about getting in bed with Diane before. He knew she was an attractive girl, just about all the single men in town knew that, but after all the bellyaching he heard Sam talk about her during their lunches he was never really keen on giving her the time of day.

Well Jake had all the time in the world now, so what was a few nights having a little fun? They were pretty physically compatible and Jake had just proved to himself that he was still capable of sex without losing control.

“No promises doll” he smiled slyly, his teeth having returned to normal after a few moments of concentration. He offered his hand to help her out of bed and they walked across the hall together to shower off before he bid her goodnight and went on his way.

Taglist:

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@sanguinebats @holdingup-fallingsky @musicislove3389 @i-choose-the-road @alantern-inthenight @scarabsinthestardust @josh-iamyour-mama

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Chills me down to my soul

Kraken!Danny Wagner x AFAB/GN Reader

18+

Warnings: graphic sexual content, horror themes, monster AU, inappropriate use of tentacles, a tad bit of degradation, weird autonomy (octopus stuff), penetrative sex (it ain't a dick though), reader fucking dies?, death mentioned multiple times, language/cursing, hostage situation, as always..shitty writing

Word count: 1.8k

ok this is not going to be everyones thing. this was a very self indulgent fic (as per usual), I could not shake the thought of kraken danny, so here it is. can y'all tell I'm fixed on pirates?

~

the night was cold.

You are traveling with a small group of pirates. At the moment, you are on a small boat, paddling to shore for a minor attack, planning to rob in the night and escape by sunrise. You had been rowing for about an hour, you had to keep the main ship far away from the land as to not alert the people. There was 7 of you total crammed on the vessel, 5 of which were asleep, leaving only you and one other awake.

Neither of you had spoken, not interested in conversation at the time. The water was still, making it fairly easy to cross. Well, you thought it was still, until there was a rough rock of the boat. It woke up two other men. You all looked around in confusion, but not seeing anything, relaxed back. A moment later, it happened again, rougher and repetitive, 3 times. Now everyone was awake. You looked out, the water was perfectly still. There was something beneath you.

Suddenly, the ship was forced to a full stop. You attempted to keep paddling to no avail. It was as if you were anchored down, or had crashed into something. You looked up at the bow to the first mate of the crew, who was facing you, looking confused and concerned.

"What in Gods name is going on?"

Your eyes widened as you looked past him. A massive tentacle was rising from the water, dead silent, rippling, poised to strike.

"Holy fuck"

You were cut off as it grabbed the man and pulled him down, and before you could process it, the boat was flipped. You can just barely hear the screams of your crew before you are submerged under the water. The dark sky makes it impossible to see anything in the sea. As death begins to take you, you can ever slightly feel something wrapping around you, pulling you down.

~

A loud thrumming pounds in your ears, a steady beating. You awake and sit up, coughing, hurling up water. The beat comes to a stop. You blink and rub at your eyes, trying to adjust to the light.

You are sitting in a dark, rocky cave. The ground is covered in ankle deep water. The air is chilled, the water cold. You are sopping wet and freezing, shaking.

In the dim light you can just barely make out a figure in the corner. It wasn't human. The only thing you could see were its eyes. They were dark, hungry. Staring into your soul. You shuffle back as much as you can before crashing into the back wall of the cave with a thud. It laughs softly. You glance around, trying to find any form of escape, yet there was nothing.

It slowly moves towards you. As it gets closer, you can start to see it's features. The top seems to be that of a man. Tall, muscular, pale. His jaw is sharp, his nose arched. He has long, black, curly hair. It's damp, sticking to his skin. His eyes are set on you. Deep browns, focused. Your eyes travel down his body, and the sight would have made you shiver if you weren't already. From his waist down came eight, thick, long, dark blue tentacles, moving in sync as he came over to you.

"What a pretty little thing."

The end of one of the tentacles wraps around one of your ankles and roughly drags you forward. You cry out and he shakes his head, the grip tightening.

"Hush. There's no one else here to listen."

When you quiet down, it loosens, but doesn't let go, instead, slithering up your leg, coiled around it. Another comes forward, wrapping around your other leg. They were wet, yet gave a little warmth. Alive. Through the material of your pants you could feel the hundreds of suckers that lined them, attaching themselves to you.

You writhe a bit against them and he leans down until he's eye to eye with you, head tilted, questioning. You stop to look up at him. He was actually rather handsome.

"Do I frighten you?"

His voice is soft, his eyes on yours. You weren't sure how to respond. You were terrified of him, yet intrigued. Curious what this creature was. You shake your head and his eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Really, now? You don't look too confident in that."

You sit up till you are nose to nose with him.

"I'm not scared."

He slowly blinks, and when he re-opens his eyes the whites have faded into a golden yellow, the pupils narrowing to thin black ovals. He grins.

"How about now?"

You lean back away from his face, startled. He tuts and brings a hand to the back of your neck, pulling you forward, forcing you to look at him.

"Ah-ah-ah, no. Look at me. Are you afraid?"

You stare into his eyes. His glare was intense. You swallow thickly.

"No."

His nails dig into your neck just a little bit. He shook his head and smiled.

"How interesting. You should be, you know?"

He wanted you to be afraid. Usually humans were horrified of him, and the fact you seemingly weren't pissed him off. You had every reason to be scared, but you were acting like you weren't.

"Why should I be?"

You boldly questioned. He laughed, baffled. He leaned back, speaking through gritted teeth. The tentacles tightened around your thighs and pulled, forcing them open.

"Are you stupid? Blind? You do realize the entirety of your little crew is dead because of me, right? I could kill you right now. Should have just let you drown with the rest of them."

You gave the smallest bit of a whine when the tip of one of the tentacles brushed across your crotch, not purposely. The creature quickly stopped his ranting, leaning towards you again, a smirk playing across his lips.

"Oh?.. Are you….sensitive?"

You knew your cheeks were flushing red. You couldn't believe yourself, getting aroused by some monster just barely touching you. One of his other tentacles coiled around your waist and lifted you up, holding you before him. You tried to squirm away but he held you firmly in place.

"You want more? Answer me."

Rationally, you should have said no. Rationally, you should have been trying to find an escape. But what did you have to lose? There was no way you were making it out of this alive, so why not indulge in one last fantasy before you're killed?

"Yes."

He grins and sets you back down. The tentacles come off of you for just a moment before one slithered back between your thighs. It nudged your shirt up your stomach before hooking into the tie holding your pants up, tugging it loose. Another tentacle snakes up and they both dip under your waistband and pull your pants entirely down and off.

He bites his bottom lip as he takes in the sight of you. You can see now his teeth are a little sharp, mainly the four front ones. Not extremely, but enough to be noticable. The end of a tentacle flicks at your inner thigh, a silent request for you to spread them more. He smiles when you obey.

The tip of the tentacle slowly runs up your cunt, brushing across your clit carefully. The sensation elicits a soft moan from you. He repeats this motion for a couple minutes, over and over until you are trembling with need. You look up to find his eyes entranced on your cunt.

"Please.."

You whine softly. He looks at your expression for a moment before he begins to slowly push the tentacle inside of you, his eyebrows knit together tight in concentration. A groan drags from deep in your throat at the burning stretch.

You could feel the suckers attaching themselves inside of you, creating a pulsing sensation, it was like nothing you had ever felt before. The creature hums softly, closing his eyes as if he was thinking deeply about something. He opened them again and leaned in close enough that you could feel his breath on your neck.

"You taste so sweet."

You looked up at him in confusion, trying to figure out what he meant, or how he knew what you tasted like. He laughed quietly.

"The suckers. That is how I taste. You've never seen an octopus before? I certainly can't taste with this."

With that, he leaned in and ran his tongue over your neck, and the feeling made you shudder. His tongue was covered in tiny little sharp teeth, scraping across your skin. A radula. You curled in on yourself, horrified of it. He sat back up, grinning.

"Oh my Gods. What the fuck-"

He cut your words off with a particularly deep thrust into you, making you stutter, a surprised moan slipping out. He continues at a slow pace, fucking you ruthlessly with his tentacle.

"Yeah? You like that, you little harlot?"

As he spoke he picked up a brutal pace, shoving it into you until you were writhing and clenching, crying as he brought you right to the edge. One of his free tentacles slid up and wrapped around your neck, not tight enough to kill you yet, but enough to make you struggle to breathe.

"So close!.."

You choked out.

"Give it to me."

His eyes flashed dark as he watched you intently. He was reaching a part of you that you didn't even know existed. This all felt so incredibly wrong, so strange, yet, you had never felt so good in your life.

You cried out as you came hard. He kept a relentless pace through it, fucking you until you were sobbing and shaking with overstimulation, begging him to stop. He slowly pulled the tentacle from you, leaving you feeling sore and hollow.

After a moment of just watching you, he moved his tentacle from your throat and instead to your waist, bringing you up by it so your face was close to his.

"Y'know, I was always told not to play with my food."

Your eyes widened at the realization. In the depths of pleasure, you had entirely forgotten just what you were dealing with. This beast had every intention of consuming you and there was nothing you could do to stop it.

Before you could even speak a word one of his hands slipped up and yanked your head back by the hair. His sharp teeth sunk into your neck, tearing through the flesh, fully ripping your jugular out.

The last thing you saw before the icy hands of death embraced you was his eyes. Far too human for the destruction they caused.

oh this was so beautiful. this will be the reason I learn how to line dance

Boots, Beards & Betrayal

Word Count: 4.2K

Summary: Danny finds a new pass time while Greta Van Fleet is off from touring that doesn’t involve the Kiszka’s, and they are less than accepting.

Warnings: language, assless chaps, Sassy Sam, Sunglasses at night - indoors, theft if you squint, alcohol consumption, a super bendy, a flexible guy named Ryder, shameless flirting, and the misuse of an Applebees 2 for $20 meal…

AN: This idea was born from seeing a random line dance tiktok while i was talking to @tripthedharmadivine! I actually sent her a very long message that started with "Imagine if you will -" and proceeded to fill her inbox with the most unhinged very shortened rough draft of this. She is a real one because she puts up with me, lol! 💜😘I also need to thank @writingcold because she read it first to make sure it wasn't too out there, and to make sure I dotted all my i's and crossed all my t's. She is an amazing human that one! And she also puts up with all of my harebrained ideas, and usually has some kind of input to make them better! 💜😘 LOVE YOU BOTH LONG TIME!

It all started with a girl.

Well, kind of.

Really, it started with Daniel Wagner following a girl into a honky tonk on a Thursday night - cowboy boots clicking like a metronome for the unhinged, disco ball spinning just a little too fast, the air thick with cheap beer, cigarette ghosts, country twang, and the scent of heartbreak that had been marinating in the floorboards since 1973.

He didn’t even get her name before she disappeared into a sea of denim, rhinestones, and the kind of joy only found in synchronized stomping. She was gone in an instant. Vanished between a man in assless chaps and a woman drinking tequila straight from a glittery boot.

But it didn’t matter. Because something else caught his eye.

Line dancing.

Structured chaos executed with wild precision. Absolute boot-stomping, fringe-flapping anarchy in 4/4 time. The dance floor moved like a single, glittery organism, every heel-toe and clap echoing like gospel. Boots stomped in perfect rhythm to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” and something deep in Daniel Wagner’s soul - something dusty and long-dormant, shifted.

He stood there, eyes wide, transfixed. A grown man with calluses from drumsticks and emotional walls like Fort Knox, now practically weeping over a grapevine step.

He didn’t know where the girl went after that.

He didn’t care.

Within minutes, he was in the corner of the bar, hunched over his phone, trying to learn the Electric Slide from a YouTube tutorial titled “Beginner Line Dancing for Southern Moms.” His concentration was absolute. The bar could have been on fire and he wouldn’t have noticed unless the flames tapped to the beat.

And that’s where everything began to fall apart.

~~~~~

By the next Thursday, Daniel had returned.

Voluntarily. Eagerly.

Wearing a pearl snap shirt and a belt buckle so large it could pick up satellite channels. His boots were polished. His confidence was unearned. But dammit, he knew two whole line dances now and half of “Fancy Like.”

The bartenders greeted him with a nod. The DJ called him “New Boots.” A bachelorette party asked for a photo with him after he did the worm during a line dance break. He’d never been more alive.

And like any man in the first stages of a sudden identity crisis, he threw himself in completely.

By week three, he had purchased a denim vest embroidered with “Boot Daddy.”

By week four, he was attending practice. With a group. On purpose. In a church basement where everyone brought snacks in Tupperware and spoke in hushed reverence about the “Chattahoochee Slide Incident of ’19.”

Daniel didn’t understand it all. But he felt it. In his boots. In his bones.

At home, however, things were beginning to unravel.

He stopped replying in the group chat. He missed three rehearsals. He turned off his read receipts.

Josh tried calling him twelve times in one day. Sam drove by his house and swore he saw a hay bale in the driveway. And Jake… Jake refused to speak of it. Every time someone brought up Daniel’s name, he simply looked out the window and whispered, “He was the glue.”

By the fifth week, the others were fully convinced Daniel Wagner had been abducted by the Honky Tonk Underground.

“Guys,” Josh whispered one evening, holding up a blurry photo he’d found online. “This was taken last Saturday. That’s Danny. That’s him. In a hat. A real one. Not ironic. And look at his hips. They’re swaying.”

Sam leaned in, horrified. “He’s become one of them, and he looks... happy.”

Jake’s sunglasses glinted under the overhead light. He hadn’t moved in hours, but now, slowly, mechanically he reached down and pulled on his boots.

The others fell silent.

Josh swallowed. “What are you doing?”

Jake stood, slow and deliberate. He cracked his neck. “We’re going to get our drummer back.”

Sam grabbed the random zucchini laying on the kitchen counter, “Danny would understand,” was all the reason he gave. 

Josh grabbed a tambourine,  “For distraction purposes,” he clarified.

Jake grabbed the keys.

And with all the gravity of a rescue mission gone too far, they climbed into Jake’s jeep - an old thing with too many bumper stickers and a distinct smell of regret - and tore off into the night, following the distant sound of fiddle strings and heartbreak.

~~~

The honky tonk loomed ahead - loud, pulsing, alive. From the outside, it looked harmless enough. Neon lights. A wagon wheel. A banner advertising “Thirsty Thursday Boot Scootin’ Bonanza.”

But the trio knew better.

Inside that barn-shaped dive was a cult. A rhythm-based utopia. Their drummer - their friend - was somewhere in there, two-stepping further from sanity with every chorus of “Friends in Low Places.”

Jake killed the headlights a block away.

They parked in an abandoned Sonic lot and approached on foot, sticking to the shadows like denim-clad ninjas. Sam crawled behind a row of hay bales. Josh rolled unnecessarily across gravel, smearing dust and dirt all over his pants, that somehow made them shimmer and sparkle like glitter. Jake simply walked, slow and deliberate, sunglasses reflecting the honky tonk’s blinding marquee like some kind of country-themed action hero.

As they reached the entrance, they paused.

“Remember,” Jake said, voice low, teeth clenched around a toothpick that he had picked up somewhere along the way. “We go in quiet. Observe. Blend.”

Josh nodded. “Got it. Stealth.”

Sam gave a thumbs up. “I brought disguises.”

He pulled out three mustaches. All the same. All far too large.

Jake blinked. “That won’t work.”

“It will if you believe,” Sam whispered ominously, already sticking his on upside down.

They slipped inside with the slow-motion gravitas of an early 2000s action movie. Boots hit the floor in perfect sync. The bar lights strobed dramatically, though that might’ve just been a power issue. Everything slowed down - the glitter in the air, the whirl of the disco ball, the swirl of fringe and flannel moving as one.

Time didn’t stop, exactly. But it did sway to 4/4 time.

Jake scanned the crowd.

Josh gasped. “There. At the bar. It’s him.”

Daniel Wagner. Wearing a shirt that read “LINE DANCING SAVED MY LIFE.” Laughing with a woman in fringe and a man named Skeeter, who had a full sleeve of cowboy boot tattoos and the confidence of someone who'd line danced through a tornado.

“He’s… happy,” Sam whispered again, like it was the worst thing that could possibly be true.

They didn’t move. Just watched. Observed. Absorbed.

The bar smelled like spilled whiskey, deep-fried regrets, and…. glitter? A banner hung above the stage: “HONKY TONK ROYALTY: Line Dancing King & Queen Showdown”. The stakes? A trophy shaped like a rhinestoned boot, Honky Tonk King & Queen t-shirts, and a $50 gift card to Applebee’s each.

The music was loud. The crowd was louder.

Josh stared wide-eyed from the back of the bar. “...Did that sign say queen?”

Sam elbowed him. “Focus. We’re here for Danny.”

Then, as Sam turned to look at him, without warning - Josh was gone.

He slipped into the crowd, tambourine tucked under his arm, hips beginning to twitch dangerously to the beat. Sam cursed and ran after him. “DON’T YOU DARE CONGA LINE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

Jake stayed in his spot.

Watching.

Waiting.

Planning.

They’d come for a rescue.

But the honky tonk had other plans.

Jake adjusted his belt buckle - pointlessly, but aggressively - and stepped into the fray.

The moment he crossed the dance floor’s threshold, something shifted. The lights hit him like judgment. The beat pulsed beneath his boots. A fiddle wailed from the speakers with the kind of violence that sounded… personal.

He was in the belly of the beast.

Line dancers moved in precise formation, parting just enough to let him pass like some kind of denim Moses. A woman in a pink cowboy hat winked at him. A man in sequined overalls offered him a Bud Light. 

Jake didn’t falter, just continued moving.

He stalked forward, sunglasses still on despite the dim lighting, scanning for Daniel - his brother in rhythm, lost to the glittered cult. He passed a couple practicing the “Honky Tonk Hipslap,” a bartender doing shots with a man wearing a bolo tie shaped like a scorpion, and an elderly woman who looked him up and down and whispered, “Gahlee boy, you look like trouble.”

He tipped an imaginary hat to her. “Ma’am,” before he made his way toward the stage for a better view of his surroundings.

Sam, still chasing Josh through the crowd, came to the middle of the dance floor and stopped dead in his tracks.

Daniel. Dead center of the dance floor. Mid-“Tush Push.” Beaming. Alive in a way Sam hadn’t seen since they played Red Rocks. Surrounded by people who were cheering him on like he was homecoming royalty.

Sam’s chest tightened.

And then the music stopped.

A voice boomed over the speakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new challenger.”

The crowd turned.

Sam froze. “I’m not—”

But it was too late. The dance floor had closed in around him. The DJ hit the intro to “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” like it was a war cry. A woman handed Sam a fringed vest. Someone put a solo cup in his hand. The lights dimmed.

The crowd chanted: “DANCE OFF! DANCE OFF!”

Daniel stepped forward, face flushed, breathless, smiling. “Sam?”

Sam’s jaw clenched. “We came to bring you back.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Then dance for me, bitch.”

And with that, the crowd roared, the beat dropped, and Sam Kiszka - bassist, brother, reluctant savior - was dragged into the most aggressive line dance showdown in honky tonk history.

It started innocent enough.

Sam threw down a decent heel-toe combo. Nothing fancy. An attempt at a little old school mashed potato with a dash of the twist, and a few claps, just trying to keep pace with Daniel’s frighteningly natural rhythm. The crowd whooped, forming a circle like a country-western fight club, drinks sloshing and boots stomping in chaotic support.

Daniel grinned and spun - a perfect lasso-motion with his arms - his fringe cutting through the air like judgment.

Sam mirrored it.

Then Daniel body rolled.

And that’s when everything went sideways.

Sam hesitated. A body roll? Here? In daylight, with his brothers watching? But the crowd cheered. Encouraged him. Demanded it.

He rolled.

It betrayed him.

His back cracked like a haunted attic door. His hips lied about their range of motion. Jake gasped as he heard the crack from the edge of the dance floor. Someone yelled, “OH NO HE DID THE SPINE SHIMMY.”

But Sam kept going.

Fueled by pure spite and one tequila shot he deeply regretted, he doubled down. Hands in the air. Shoulders rolling like he’d been possessed by the ghost of a jazzercise instructor. Daniel answered with a slide, a spin, and a devastating finger-point.

Sam couldn’t lose.

So, naturally, he attempted a pirouette.

Why?

No one knows.

Not even Sam.

He lifted his arms. Planted his foot. Turned - once, twice - too many.

His other boot caught on a discarded cowboy hat. He flailed. Time slowed.

The crowd gasped in one collective inhale as Sam went down, limbs flailing like a noodle in a car wash. He hit the floor with all the grace of a wounded armadillo.

A hush fell.

Then, the DJ whispered reverently: “Fatal pirouette.”

Daniel extended a hand. “Nice try.”

Sam, flat on his back, groaned. “Tell my bass… I died line dancing.”

Jake facepalmed before choking out a laugh.

Josh shouted as he danced the funky chicken, “I TAUGHT HIM THAT SPIN!”

Sam’s head whipped around from the floor.

“No,” he croaked, eyes narrowing like a man who’d seen too much. “No.”

He sprang to his feet with the speed of someone who had absolutely no business springing to their feet.

“There he is!” he barked, pointing like a preacher spotting sin. “Josh, no!”

But it was too late. Josh had fully committed. His shirt was unbuttoned to his navel, his hair fluffed by the honky tonk air like a shampoo commercial in slow motion. He was doing a cowboy shimmy that felt deeply illegal in at least three states.

Sam tore across the dance floor, dodging boots, fringe, and pure chaos. “I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU START TWERKING—”

Josh cackled and galloped toward the back exit, two-stepping his way into legend.

Sam chased after him, red-faced and limping slightly, yelling, “YOU’RE RUINING OUR FAMILY NAME!”

Sam chased Josh through the back exit, boots skidding over gravel, past a smoldering ashtray and someone’s forgotten purse. But when he rounded the corner—

Nothing.

No Josh.

Just an empty lot lit by the neon hum of a flickering "Longneck Saloon" sign and the faint echo of laughter on the wind. Sam spun in a circle, hands on hips, muttering curses under his breath before trudging back into the honky tonk with the solemn air of a man who had seen things.

And then - there he was.

Daniel.

Cowboy hat tilted just so, arms locked with that same mystery girl, stomping and spinning like he’d been born in a barn and raised by honky tonk angels. His shirt clung to him in all the right places. His smile could light up all of Nashville. The dance floor glowed around him like a stage ordained by heaven and Bud Light.

Sam stopped cold. Jaw slack. Eyes wide.

He was watching a miracle. Or maybe a cult recruitment.

Josh sidled up beside him, whispering with reverence, “…Is he glowing?”

Sam’s fists clenched. “She corrupted him.”

They were just in time for the final round.

Josh shrugged off his jacket with Broadway flair, grabbed the nearest twink - whose name, it turned out, was Ryder - and shouted, “Partner me UP!”

Ryder screamed with delight. They twirled directly into the spotlight, as Josh summoned super bitch telling Danny to “fuck off” as Ryder twirled him around the floor to the sounds of Hank Williams Sr singing “Hey Good Lookin” in  a blur of sequins and commitment.

Sam tried to follow. He really did.

But fate, and someone’s discarded bolo tie had other plans.

He tripped, windmilled, and dominoed straight into three contestants and a bar stool, landing in a pile of denim, feathers, and mild embarrassment. The judge held up a hand. “Eliminated.”

Furious. 

Petty.

Sam resorted to throwing peanut shells on the floor trying to make Danny’s dancing partner slip and fall.

When those failed?

The chair he was sitting in came next.

It arced across the dance floor like a majestic, wooden missile, slow-motion and poetic. The impact was cinematic. Danny and the girl were mid-spin when it struck—shocked betrayal frozen in time as they toppled together like romantic bowling pins.

Josh and Ryder went down next. Legs tangled. Sass flying.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

The DJ whispered, “Y’all… it’s a massacre.”

The honky tonk was chaos - upturned chairs, groaning dancers, peanut shells raining like confetti.  Amid the wreckage, Sam, Josh, and Danny regrouped by the jukebox, breathless and covered in varying degrees of sweat, sawdust, and shame.

Josh rubbed his elbow where he and Ryder had gone down. “You launched a chair, Sam.”

Sam crossed his arms. “It was symbolic.”

“Of what, exactly?” Danny asked, brushing sawdust off his shirt. “Your inability to cope with losing to a guy doing the Cha Cha Slide in cowboy boots?”

“You were glowing,” Sam snapped.

Danny’s brows furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“You had that weird... twinkle thing going on,” Sam mumbled. “It was unnatural. Like you’d been kissed by Dolly Parton herself.”

Josh threw his hands in the air. “You assaulted all of us because Danny found his rhythm and I found a very flexible man named Ryder?”

“He flipped into a dip, Josh!”

Josh smirked, “Twice.”

“Okay, ENOUGH,” Danny said, running a hand through his hair. “We lost. No trophy. No t-shirts. No bragging rights. No Applebee’s gift card! Thanks to Sam’s cowboy WWE debut.”

They stood there, glaring, stewing in collective irritation and disappointment, when a sudden quiet washed over them.

Sam looked around. “Wait… where’s Jake?”

They all turned.

Scan of the bar - no sunglasses at night. No boot scuff trail. No awkward attempt at dancing with a drink in each hand.

Josh frowned. “He was at the bar when we came back in.”

Danny squinted toward the shadows near the back booths. “He’s not with tequila boot lady…”

Sam’s voice dropped. “You don’t think he left, do you?”

They fell silent. Something cold slid down their spines, replacing the whiskey warmth.

Josh glanced at the exit. “C’mon. We better find him before he signs up for karaoke. You know how he gets.”

Danny grabbed his hat. “Or worse - tries to slow dance alone.”

Sam shivered. “The horror.”

But just as they turned toward the exit, a sharp twang split the air.

All three froze.

Heads turned toward the stage where a small crowd had begun to gather, gasping and whispering.

And there he was.

Jake.

Standing dead center under the spotlight, stage lights catching in his hair like some tragic honky tonk messiah. He held a fiddle in his hands - wrong, completely wrong - like it was his SG. His fingers fumbled across the strings with the uncertainty of someone trying to butter toast with a spork.

Josh whispered, horrified, “Is he trying to play that thing?”

Jake squinted. Turned it upside down. Back again.

Then he began to pick.

Random, discordant notes at first - like a drunk mosquito tapping out Morse code.

Danny winced. “This is how revolutions start.”

But then—

Magic.

Like someone flipped a switch or poured moonshine on a gremlin.

The notes twisted into something terrifyingly familiar. Fast. Faster. Too fast.

Orange Blossom Special, but played like he was being chased by demons. The fiddle let out a scream of sonic chaos, and Jake leaned into it like he was summoning ghosts. His foot stomped the beat. The bow blurred in his hand.

Josh’s jaw dropped. “He’s - he’s shredding.”

Danny blinked. “On a fiddle.”

It was unhinged. It was magnificent. It was enough to make Roy Hall dance a jig in his grave and possibly rise to request an encore.

The bar went silent - then erupted.

Boots stomped. Hats flew. Someone screamed, “GET IT, VIOLIN JESUS.”

Sam, jaw clenched, whispered, “He’s possessed.”

Josh just stared. “He’s glowing.”

Danny put a hand to his heart. “I think I’m in love.”

The DJ's voice boomed over the speakers.

“Alright folks, the FINAL round of the line dancing competition is about to begin! Get your partners ready and your boots to stompin’!”

Sam, Josh, and Danny paused, then exchanged looks after noticing Jake was gone again..

"Now where'd he go?" Sam whined as Jake seemed to have disappeared from the stage.

“Maybe he’s in the crowd,” Josh muttered.

“Or backstage?” Danny suggested.

They didn’t see him anywhere. No Jake. No sunglasses. No unnecessary flair. Nothing.

Defeated, they retreated to the bar and claimed a corner with prime viewing. Sam ordered three whiskeys and a bowl of something suspiciously labeled "nacho-adjacent."

Minutes passed.

Competitors twirled. Couples spun. Fringe shimmered under the disco ball. And still - no Jake.

“Maybe he really did leave,” Danny sighed.

“He wouldn’t,” Josh said with conviction, then added, “Unless the bar ran out of bourbon.”

They were just about to give up when it happened.

“DON’T GIVE ME NO LINES, AND KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF!” blared from the speakers, somehow played at double speed, nearly indecipherable.

And there on the edge of the dance floor — he emerged.

Jake.

But not just Jake.

Oliver Reed.

Fake beard askew. Cane tucked under one arm. Cowboy hat tipped rakishly to the side. He was dressed in his full, absurd alter ego getup, and his feet were flying.

An Irish jig. A literal, blazing, heel-kicking, toe-tapping jig. To the Georgia Satellites.

His limbs moved faster than physics should allow. The cane twirled. His loafers clicked in rhythmic fury. The entire bar ground to a halt.

One by one, the other contestants slowed, confused, mesmerized.

Josh’s jaw dropped. “What... what is happening?”

Danny shook his head in awe. “He’s... glowing.”

Sam’s fists clenched. “The honky tonk corrupted him.”

The music hit its final frenzied beat just as the DJ leapt to the mic.

“Well folks, I think we’ve got a clear winner here! Give it up for... OLIVER REED!”

The bar erupted.

Jake bowed. The beard fell off mid-spin.

Nobody cared.

The crowd was still roaring as Jake—er, Oliver Reed strutted off the dance floor, cane twirling and beard now draped over one ear like a rogue opossum.

Sam was the first to intercept him.

“What was that?” he demanded, eyes wild. “You jigged. To Southern rock. In disguise. After vanishing for half an hour!”

Jake blinked, still catching his breath, chest heaving. “I blacked out. I think I heard the spirit of Johnny Cash tell me to take it personally.”

Josh doubled over, laughing so hard he had to lean on a bar stool. “What even is our life right now?”

Danny pointed at Jake’s feet. “You were hovering. I swear to God. I saw sparks.”

Jake grinned, barely able to stand. “I don’t remember anything. Someone just handed me a fiddle and said ‘prove it.’”

Sam threw up his hands. “YOU CAN’T EVEN PLAY THE FIDDLE.”

Jake shrugged. “Apparently I can now. I think the beard unlocked something.”

Josh wiped tears from his eyes. “I—no, I can’t—Sam, please be madder, this is killing me.”

“I am mad!” Sam shouted, gesturing wildly. “You disappeared. We thought you’d been abducted by honky tonk cultists. Then you teleport onto the dance floor dressed like a grandpa and win the whole damn thing??”

Jake patted his shoulder solemnly. “The beard chose me.”

Danny leaned in, still trying to breathe through his laughter. “You okay, Sam? You’re looking a little... emotionally unstable.”

“Don’t. Start with me,” Sam growled, pacing a tight circle. “We were disqualified because of my chair, and somehow you still won with a cane and a jig.”

Josh nudged Jake, eyes sparkling. “You know he’s just mad because he is jealous of Ryder’s bendy flips and dips.”

“Ryder was limber,” Jake acknowledged, nodding.

“DON’T MAKE THIS ABOUT RYDER,” Sam wailed.

“Too late,” Danny said. “This is now Ryder canon.”

Sam turned in place like a malfunctioning Roomba. “I hate this bar. I hate line dancing. I hate Georgia Satellites. And I especially hate that Jake looked good doing that jig.”

Jake slung an arm around his shoulders. “We’re all winners tonight, Sammy-boy. But especially Oliver Reed, and well… interestingly and profoundly me”

Sam let out a long-suffering groan as they exited the bar. 

~~~~~

They all gathered at Applebee’s to cash in the coveted gift card Jake - sorry, Oliver - had won through his stunning display of foot fury and disguise. A true hero’s feast was in order.

Josh, having crowned himself with the neon purple Honky Tonk Queen shirt he’d pilfered from Jake’s prize pile, entered the restaurant with the flair of a man arriving at the Met Gala, finger-gunning the hostess and announcing, “Royalty has arrived.” He refused to sit unless someone pulled out his chair. No one did.

Jake insisted on drinking only from his rhinestoned boot trophy. He brought it in tucked under his arm like a newborn, cleaned it with a napkin, and poured root beer in it with the reverence of a sacred ritual. “It tastes better this way,” he claimed, while clinking it gently against the salt shaker in a lonely toast to himself.

Sam, always on a different wavelength entirely, asked the server if the cook could incorporate the zucchini he’d brought from home into his meal. “It’s organic,” he explained, placing it on the table like an offering. “And emotionally bonded to me.”

The server blinked. “Sir, this is an Applebee’s.”

Danny, ever the oasis of reason among unrelenting nonsense, had quietly ordered a 2-for-$20 meal and was aggressively guarding both plates like a dragon hoarding treasure. The glint in his eye said don’t even think about it.

“No, Sam,” he said, not even looking up from his riblets. “I don’t want to share.”

“But you got the spinach-artichoke dip and the—”

“No.”

Josh tried to flirt with their waitress by telling him he’d just won a major dance competition. When he asked what the prize was, Jake leaned in and said, “A boot and a trauma bond.”

Sam, stewing in his seat, kept muttering things like “I was the real Honky Tonk Queen,” and “If I had better arch support, I would’ve won.” He also started Googling “line dancing legal loopholes.”

Josh, mid-way through a chicken tender, caught sight of himself in the reflection of the napkin holder and whispered, “God, I do look good in purple.”

Jake, still sipping from his trophy, declared, “Oliver Reed never dies. He just line dances into legend.”

Danny sighed, wiping his hands slowly with a napkin. “I should’ve gone home with the mystery girl. Or literally anyone else.”

Josh finally raised his regular glass - he’d given up trying to steal the boot - and made a toast, voice raw from laughing and inhaling mozzarella sticks.

“To chaos, twinks, and aggressive footwork.”

Sam raised his zucchini.

Jake raised his rhinestoned boot.

Danny did not raise anything. He just kept eating, silently accepting the fate of being the only sane man left in Applebee’s.

how are the tinies celebrating Pride?

They're supporting the queer community, of course

am I losing my mind or do they have matching necklaces. do yall see this.

okay y'all I was just doing henna and thinking. I feel like josh would do henna on his dick. just maybe.. like I can see him drawing flowers on it n shit please tell me you see the vision

HOLYYY FREAK IM SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS

Thanks for tuning in to another chapter of this shit show. It keeps getting worse from here so, I’m sorry?

Pairings: Sam Kiszka X Danny Wagner *slash

Warnings and tags: 18+ only please for the love of all that’s good, graphic depictions of grief, aftermath of violence, dealing with character death, shock, guilt, lots of angst, blood, drinking blood, some kissing, vampire!AU

Word count: 6k

Jake you need to come home, it’s Josh.

5:48PM…

*a constant high pitched ringing blurred everything in the background*

6:15PM…

“Sam? Sam what happened?!” Jake was yelling but Sam couldn’t hear him, he just sat immobile with his eyes fixed straight ahead. The knobs on the cabinets were digging into his back but he couldn't feel it. The only thing he could feel was how the blood dried on his hands stuck in the curls on Josh’s head as he stroked his hair back and forth, back and forth… waiting for the sun to go down.

“We need to get him to the hospital!” Jake’s frantic voice finally broke through the buzzing in Sam’s head as he tried to pry his twin’s limp form from Sam’s hold.

“No!” Sam cried out, feeling his cheeks warm up as tears started streaming down his face again. “We have to wait for Daniel. I’m waiting for Daniel-” his voice trailed off as his pupils constricted, giving him tunnel vision again. He was staring back ahead, trying to dissociate until Danny came to fix this mess.

Another hour passed and Jake had given up on trying to do anything to get Sam to release his brother’s body. He always thought with all of his professional training he would be able to remain calm in a situation like this. Josh was a clutz, he banged himself up pretty often and he always let Jake patch him up with a steady hand and a clear head. This however he never could have prepared for. Seeing his other half lie lifelessly on the floor.

Working as an emergency room nurse Jake saw his fair share of blood and it never phased him, until now. There was so much blood. All over the kitchen floor, all over Sam’s clothes, and all over Josh. He’d already emptied his stomach into the sink once, Sam not even flinching at the sound of Jake’s wrenching above him.

Now he sat at the table, his back turned away from the scene with his head slumped over in his hands. He knew they needed to call the cops, he wanted to call the cops, but he was still in shock and he feared how Sam might lash out if someone else even tried to come near them.

Josh was… dead? How could this have happened? He needed answers, but the only person who had any possible answers was in even worse shape than he was. Was Sam here when it happened? Is that why he was so out of it right now? Jake was jumping to conclusions, but what else could he do? He clearly wasn’t here.

No, he wasn’t here to protect Josh, and what was he doing instead? Hooking up with just another nobody when he should have been home.

Neither of them really registered the sun setting behind the kitchen window, nor did they realize that all of the lights had still been on until the fiery orange glow that cast shadows was replaced with the harsh artificial light above them. Any minute now Danny would be here, Sam kept telling himself that over and over again as his eyes started to feel heavy.

“Sammy?…” A hoarse but comfortingly familiar voice shattered the silence that had enveloped the house. Both Sam and Jake’s heads snapped towards the sound, watching in shared shock and subject horror as Josh’s eyes blinked slowly open.

“I’m here” Sam choked out, resuming the petting his hand had grown too tired to continue before.

Another sound startled Sam, the chair clattering against the floor as Jake stood up so quickly it knocked over. “Josh?” He called out, so incredibly confused but overwhelmingly happy at the same time that he hadn’t lost the most important person in the world to him. But how could this be happening? Josh was all but dead merely seconds ago, and now he was trying to sit up until Sam pulled him back down into his lap.

Jake wanted to run over to him and throw his arms around his shoulders, vowing to never let go again, but just as he started to take a step towards them the front door was thrown open and Danny came running inside.

“Please! Help him!” Sam finally snapped into some semblance of himself when he saw Danny’s form looming over them, immediately zeroing in on the gash on Josh’s neck.

“I’m so sorry Sam…” Danny muttered, backing away slowly to allow Jake to lower himself onto the floor in front of them in his place.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jake questioned, his fingers brushing against the wound making Josh wince slightly. He hadn’t seen this before, but it was clearly the source of all the blood. It looked like his artery had been torn open yet somehow he was awake and trying to speak.

“Vam-” Josh’s voice cracked and his brows furrowed as he tried to swallow to no avail.

“What?” Jake leaned in closer, trying to get his answers.

“Vampires” Sam spoke up for him, his eyes meeting Danny’s from across the kitchen. “He was attacked by vampires”.

Of course Jake didn’t believe him, at least not at first. But as he followed Sam’s gaze and looked up at Danny who was standing at a distance, watching and waiting until they’d had a second to process, his own eyes widened.

“Is he going to be alright?” Sam questioned Danny, the two of them being the only one’s in the room who’d had extra time to understand this at all.

Danny bit his lip, carefully choosing his next words. “Yes, in a way he will be. He’s in transition”.

Sam choked out another sob and Josh with barely any energy reached up to swipe his thumb across Sam’s cheekbone.

Jake broke then, shouting “please!” to get everyone’s attention. “Will someone tell me what is going on?!”

“I know this is a lot for you to take in right now” Danny was trying to sound as calm and composed as he could, but internally he was just as panicked as Jake was. “I need you to listen to me, if Josh doesn’t drink human blood by the time the sun comes up tomorrow morning then he will die”.

“Why are you saying this?” Jake began to cry as well, so absolutely terrified of losing his brother again.

“Here”. Sam reached for Jake's hand, pulling him closer and using his support to help stand up as they traded places while holding Josh’s head up.

Jake dried his eyes on his shoulders, the only comfort he had now being Josh’s weak grasp on his pant leg. “Wait, what are you doing?” He questioned when he calmed back down a bit, watching as Sam pulled his hair into a bun at the top of his head, a determined look in his eye.

Danny quickly caught on to what Sam was intending to do and pulled him aside in an attempt to talk to him one-on-one. “I don’t think that’s a good idea” Jake still managed to overhear him saying. “He won’t have much control, and it’s not been long since the last time…”

“I don’t care”.

“Sam, I can help him find someone-”

“No” Sam abruptly shut him down. “I’m not letting my brother feed on some stranger”.

“Well then maybe we can just give him some in a glass”.

“Does it look like he can drink from a glass right now?” Sam spat out in defiance. “He can hardly hold his eyes open!”

While the two of them were arguing, Jake took it upon himself to find a solution of his own. He searched the area around him for something he could reach to help, his eyes landing on the handle of a knife left sitting out on the kitchen counter just above him. Blindly and as stealthily as he could to not jostle Josh in his lap too much he reached overhead and grasped for the knife, his fingers brushing against the cold steel before he gripped the handle and brought it down.

Just as Sam proved there was nothing Danny could say to stop him he turned back towards his brothers, the air being knocked out of his chest when he saw Jake running the blade against his wrist.

Jake wasn’t sure he really believed them, but he’d do anything to save Josh now. Anything to right his wrong. So as crimson started to pour from his cut he turned his wrist over and pressed it firmly against Josh’s bluish lips.

“Come on Josh, you need to drink it” Sam encouraged him, getting back onto his knees in front of them as he watched the blood run in a line down his chin. In an attempt to help he used his thumb to pry his lips apart, and Jake quickly replaced his wrist as Josh finally closed them back around the hot skin.

As if what little energy Jake had left was flowing from him into Josh, he lifted his arms and wrapped his hands around the wrist at his mouth, his tongue poking out to lap at the opening where blood was still flowing out.

“That should be enough” Danny instructed, still watching from a distance to see if they’d be able to handle it on their own. “Sam” he spoke louder when Josh didn’t even try to stop.

“Hey, you’re ok” Sam cooed, urging Josh to regain focus. “It’s going to be ok”.

Josh released Jake’s arm who pulled it back and accepted a towel Danny offered him to wrap tightly around his cut. He licked his lips and swallowed again, feeling the numbness in his throat subside as warmth trickled down into his stomach.

“Thank you” Josh began to regain control of his voice and muscles as he slowly sat up and wrapped his arms around Sam’s shoulders.

“You scared me” Sam was still shaking as he reciprocated the hug, meeting Jake's equally teary eyes.

Danny put his hand on Sam’s shoulder, helping each of the brother’s back to their feet one by one. “Come on, let's give him a chance to clean up in the shower then we’ll all talk”.

Josh nodded his head, allowing Jake to place his arm over his shoulder and walk with him towards his room and en-suite bathroom.

Sam and Danny spent the time that Josh was showering to clean up the mess in the kitchen. They ultimately decided to just throw the towels away that they’d used to soak up the pool of blood instead of attempting to get the stains out. With everything double bagged in a kitchen trash bag and then in a large black lawn bag Danny offered to take it out to the trash while Sam and Jake went upstairs to also change.

“So Danny is a vampire?” Jake asked once he’d pulled an old black t-shirt over his head, having tossed a change of clothes for Sam to borrow onto his bed. Sam didn’t respond, he didn’t want to start this talk alone but he knew Jake wasn’t going to just drop it that easily. “Seriously Sam? Just when we thought you were getting your shit together”.

“What do you want from me Jake?” Sam turned around and hissed, “Vampire or not, Danny is a great guy. This wasn’t his fault…” The last part he didn’t sound so convinced about. It was like he was also trying to make himself believe it too.

“But he knows why this happened?” Jake continued. Of course he knew there was something else Sam and Danny wasn’t telling them, Jake was too smart to not have his suspicions.

“Let’s just go back downstairs. We’ll explain everything”. And with that Sam pulled the pants on Jake had offered him, not even waiting until he’d finished buttoning them before he was already turning and making his way out the door.

Everyone regathered in the living room, having had enough of the kitchen setting even with the evidence of what had happened almost completely erased. Danny could still smell the faint remnants of blood though, and he’d been stiff as a board trying to be on his best behavior now that everyone was all looking at him for answers.

“Josh?” He began tenderly and cautiously, “do you remember what happened?”

The eyes in the room shifted to where Josh was curled up in the chair with a blanket draped around his shoulders. His hair was still dripping wet from the shower, but for once in his life he didn’t seem phased by the state he was in. “A man,” he began with a crinkle between his brows as he tried to remember every detail he could before it all went black. “Last night I got home from the bar. I couldn’t sleep so I was having a glass of wine in my office when someone knocked at the door”.

“And you let him into the house?” Sam interrupted, though it didn’t quite hit him that he was the only one who really knew the implications of inviting a stranger into your home since he’d met Danny. He and his brother’s were raised in southern hospitality. When some came knocking at your door you let them in with a smile.

“He said he was a detective” Josh used as an excuse for his ignorance - though he couldn’t have known any better. “He was dressed in a suit and he showed me a badge. Said he was investigating a missing person case and the last place they were seen was the bar so he wanted to ask me a few questions. So of course I let him in. I grabbed my glass of wine and led him into the dining room. I asked if he wanted anything to drink and left him at the table to put on some tea. When I came back we talked for a little while. I kept drinking my wine, and let me tell you I’ve had more than one glass of wine after coming home, but this one must’ve really hit me because I started to feel really light headed”.

“He must have spiked your glass with vampire blood” Danny explained. “It can have mind altering effects on humans”.

“And if you die with it in your system…” Sam started to add, but Danny squeezed his hand to quiet him. The last thing they needed was a brand new vampire with little to no impulse control knowing how the transformation process worked.

Josh had already understood what Sam was going to say though, and he realized that whoever this was, they had meant to turn him on purpose. He swallowed hard, still feeling the soreness even though his wound had magically healed already, and finished his story. “I excused myself to get my own cup of tea, and I was getting ready to cut up some lemons for it when he grabbed me from behind and bit me in the neck. Next thing I know I’m waking up on the floor and well, yeah”.

“So do you know who this was?” Jake spoke up next, looking at Danny as he avoided eye contact with Sam. “Why come here? Why us?” He used us liberally even though Josh was the only one who was hurt because Jake considered an attack on any of them was an attack on them all.

“I can’t say for sure without more information,” Danny answered straight, watching as Jake huffed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “But, I don’t think Josh was the one he was after. I think it was supposed to be Sam”.

Jake finally looked up and met his youngest brother's gaze, his eyes wild with hearing that after what had already happened they were still in potential danger. He didn’t care about details anymore, he just wanted to protect his family. “So what do we do?”

“You two should be safe here now, just don’t let anyone else who you don’t know into the house. And do you have a basement?”

Jake nodded his head, opening a mental tab to take notes on Danny’s instructions.

“Josh should set up a room down there, no sunlight can get in”. Danny turned to speak to Josh directly now, making sure he understood the living conditions he’d have to abide by from now on. “You won’t burst into flames but it’ll burn, like hell”. He waited for him to nod as well, then continued with Jake who was the most alert out of the bunch. “Make sure he goes down before the sun comes up, and if the door has a lock, lock him in there. It will take some time for his mind to get used to the new sleep cycle and if he wakes up during the day he can get confused. It’s for his safety and your own”.

“I will” Jake assured him, but Josh quickly voiced his own opinion on the matter.

“Jake! You have to work! You can’t be here taking care of me. And what about the bar? Who’s going to open for lunch? Terry can’t handle it by himself every day!”

“I’ll call in the morning and tell them I need to take the week off” Jake replied without hesitation. “It’ll be fine, I know a few people who have been looking to pick up some hours anyway. This is where I should be”.

“And I’ll keep an eye on the bar for the time being” Sam chimed in. “Terry and I can take turns opening. And Danny can help me close up until we get all of this figured out”.

“I’ll be able to go back to work right?” Josh looked like he could tear up as he looked at Danny for support, but he wasn’t sure he was even capable of something as simple and human as crying anymore. “I mean, at night right?”

“Eventually, but it would be best to take a few days to adjust. You’ll feel ill for a while until your body accepts the transformation, and then you’ll be hungry…”

If Josh didn’t already look frightened, he really did now. How was he supposed to just ‘adjust’ to needing to drink blood to stay alive? If he could even call what he was now alive at all. He already felt it, like his stomach was full of bile that needed to be expelled but he didn’t want to throw up now, not in front of everyone so they could worry about him even more.

Jake stood and placed his hand on Josh’s blanketed shoulder, the same one that was now bandaged up at the wrist. “I’ll take care of it. I can run by the hospital and take a couple of blood bags. We go through them all the time no one will notice if a few are missing”.

“So it’s settled then. The two of you stay here, lay low, and we’ll check in every day. Sam’s staying with me, it’s the safest place for him to be right now”.

It wasn’t ideal. None of it was. And there were still so many unanswered questions no one had the energy to continue to debate it right now. Even if they spent all night talking about it, nothing would change. Josh was a vampire. The only thing they could do now was accept it and try to move on, together.

“Fucking hell. This shit is harder than it looks” Sam grumbled to himself as he entered in the bar tickets for the fourth time, having had to start over every time he messed it up since he didn’t know how to stop in the middle to fix it. He squinted again at a receipt smudged with the rim of a glass, trying to decipher the tip amount so he didn’t accidentally over or under charge anyone.

“That’s an eight, not a three” Diane pointed a pink manicured nail to the first digit scribbled on the tip line. She’d finished her closing duties nearly an hour ago, so she had just been hanging around watching Sam struggle with a smug grin on her face before she decided to actually get up and help him.

“Right, thanks” Sam tried to act truly grateful, even though all she’d done all night was try to make this job ten times harder for him. What was her deal with him? She had gotten ten times worse recently.

“Where’s Josh anyway? Haven’t seen him in a few days?” She asked, her tone switching to sounding sincere. Contrary to her never ending competition with Sam, she quite liked Josh… and she needed this job so if something was wrong she wanted to know if it was time to jump ship before it sank.

“He’s not been feeling well. Took the week off to recover but he should be back soon”. It had been three days since Sam found Josh laying in a puddle of his own blood, having been turned into a vampire against his will by some unknown enemy that may or may not still be after them. None of that was any of Diane’s business though, so he stuck to the same cover story he’d been using on everyone else who asked where their beloved ball of sunshine was. Hopefully Josh would retain his jovial attitude in his return, otherwise his favorite customers would easily be able to detect something was off with him.

“Are you ready?” Danny came up from behind Sam, Diane’s eye falling on his hand that came to rest on Sam’s hip before she rolled them and left to gather up her jacket and bag.

“I think I’m almost done” Sam replied, tidying up the stack of receipts and paper clipping them together to put into the folder in Josh’s office along with the cash bag in the safe. “Hey, do you think we can stop by and see them for a bit? Terry is opening tomorrow so I have a few hours to spare”.

“Of course, I’m sure Josh would like an update on things here anyway”. Danny had been continuing fixing up everything on their list even while Josh was stuck at home. He needed to keep an eye on Sam anyway, so there was no better place for him to be.

With everything locked up they headed to his brothers’ house, Sam growing more and more quiet the closer they got to the neighborhood until he was parked outside and staring at the lights shining through the windows. They were home. Of course they were, where else would they be?

“He’s going to be happy to see you” Danny tried to read Sam’s thoughts based off of his facial expressions, or lack thereof. Sam wasn’t worried about that though, Josh loved him to death - and after, he knew that hadn’t changed. What did worry him was seeing his brother in this state. He knew Josh had transformed but how much of him had changed? He needed to find out sooner or later.

When they made their way to the door, Sam took the lead and knocked, his fists clenching and relaxing over and over again at his sides as he waited for one of them to answer the door. It was Jake who ultimately cracked it open and stuck his head out, cautious of who could possibly be visiting at this hour.

“Sam?” He answered, though he didn’t pull the door open any wider.

“Hey, can we come in for a bit?” Sam asked, his eyes already trying to look past Jake to see if Josh was nearby.

Jake nibbled on the bottom of his lip for a moment. He looked like he was about to try and find an excuse to tell them no, but after a moment he sighed and stepped aside. “Yeah, come in”.

What’s his deal? Sam wondered as he crossed the threshold first, thinking it odd that Jake was wearing a sweater when it was hot enough to make his hair stick to his forehead. “Everything alright?”

“Hmm?” Jake acted like he didn’t know why Sam was asking that. He closed the door behind Danny and adjusted the ends of his sleeves down around his palms before taking them both to the living room where Josh was.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were stopping by!” Contradictory to Jake’s weirdness, Josh looked excited to see them as he jumped up from the chair and pulled Sam into a tight hug.

“Yeah, we decided to come see you” Sam wrapped his arms around Josh’s too but he had to tap on his back to get him to loosen his grip. “Ouch Josh, you’re squeezing me like a gorilla”.

“Right, sorry seems I don’t know my own strength anymore” Josh pulled back, flashing him a toothy smile.

“It’ll get easier to regulate yourself” Danny said as he too got a hug from Josh.

Maybe nothing really had changed… Sam thought to himself as he watched the two of them hug and laugh as Danny filled him in on where they were with the repairs. He started to feel less worried, at least that was until he looked over at Jake again who was reaching over to clean up a dirty plate from the coffee table and caught a glimpse of something on his wrist.

Sam followed him into the kitchen, the other two hardly even noticing they had left the room. When Jake dumped the scraps into the trash and left the plate in the sink Sam caught his arm and pulled up his sleeve before Jake could shove him off. “Sam! Don’t!” He shouted, alerting Danny and Josh who both found their way to them in just a few seconds.

“What the hell is this?” Sam exposed a unique looking pair of puncture marks on Jake’s wrist, ones that matched a still healing wound he himself had on his inner thigh.

“It’s exactly what it looks like” Jake snatched his arm away and pulled his sleeve back down to cover it again, though in the harsh pull of the material it exposed another bite on his collar.

“Jesus Jake, another?!” Sam pointed at his neck and Jake tried to hide that one too with his hand. “You’ve been letting him feed off of you?”

“And! What else was I supposed to do? Just let him suffer?” Jake spat back in defense.

“No! But it's dangerous! Why didn’t you call us?”

“Because I have everything under control. We’re fine Sam, you see? So why don’t you two just leave already!”

“Jake-” Josh tried to speak, but he himself felt just as guilty about putting Jake in danger. He’d just been so thirsty, but he couldn’t bring himself to hurt anyone. So when Jake kept insisting he didn’t know what else to do.

“Come on, give them a break. Jake looks fine”. Danny tried to calm his boyfriend but Sam only slapped his hand away and ran out of the house. “Are you ok?” He stayed behind to ask Jake.

“I’m fine” Jake bit out. He knew how much blood loss a body could withstand, and Josh hadn’t gotten anywhere close to actually harming him. He was just taking care of what he needed to.

“And you?” Danny asked Josh next, who didn’t respond in time. “I’ll come over tomorrow night and teach you how to feed safely. Just please try to stay in control until then”. Josh’s face scrunched into frustration and he stormed away, Jake following closely behind leaving Danny to go chase after Sam himself.

“I can’t believe him!” Sam fumed as he sped towards Danny’s house. “What if something had happened? How does he think Josh would be able to live with himself if he hurt him?”

“It’s my fault” Danny tried to shift the blame so Sam wouldn’t be mad at his brothers. “I should’ve known the blood bags wouldn’t last long. New vampires always go through more than they need”.

“See!” Sam only continued to get more and more mad. “Jake thinks he can handle this, but what if Josh loses control? What then?”

“This is actually a pretty good thing, if Josh is drinking from the vein instead of a cup then that means he’s handling his transition really well. The bites looked even, his fangs must’ve come in all the way by now. It’s time to teach him to start hunting”.

Sam’s grip tightened on his steering wheel as he pulled up to Danny’s house and he threw the car in park before turning to Danny with a scowl on his face. “I need you to have my back on this Daniel. You don’t know them like I do, this isn’t a good thing”.

“I do,” Danny sighed, once again feeling guilty for not knowing how to help them the right way. He’d never done this before, having refused over the years to turn anyone despite the few that had asked him to. “I’ll say something to him tomorrow, is that alright?”

“Yes” Sam exhaled as well, letting his hands fall off the steering wheel into his lap.

“I’m sorry you’re upset” Danny reached over and tucked some of the loose ends from his bun around his ear. “How can I make it up to you?”

“I just want to go to bed” Sam answered, popping his door open and stepping outside, not even waiting for Danny to follow him as he marched over to the side of the house and stood outside the cellar doors until Danny joined him and unlocked the padlock around the handles.

Danny let Sam enter first, making a solo trip into the house to check on a few things, and also give him a little bit of space to cool off. When he made his own way down into the room Sam was already in bed, his hair let down and his back turned away from the door with the blanket pulled up high around his shoulder. He crawled in next to him slowly in case Sam was already asleep, pausing to brush his fingers against the top of his back just so he could feel the way his body moved with each deep breath.

Though he had dozed off waiting for Danny to come down, Sam rustled first then rolled over. With sleep still trying to pull him under, Sam blinked up at the faint outline of Danny’s form covered in a soft glow from the night lights. One hand reached forward and his palm slid against Danny’s jaw who leaned his head into the touch and closed his eyes. Sam pulled him closer, connecting their mouths as Danny came to lay down next to him.

“I’m sorry” Danny apologized again, his voice a quiet tickle against Sam’s lips.

Sam knew he should probably say something, tell Danny it was alright to ease a little bit of his guilt, but what could he possibly say that would make all of this alright? He had willingly put himself in harm’s way when leaving with Danny the night they met, but he hadn’t expected his brother’s would also suffer the consequences of that rash decision. Maybe guilt is what they needed to feel, guilt for rushing into this relationship without thought to who else could get hurt along the way.

For tonight though, Sam didn’t want to feel guilty anymore. He’d felt guilty most of his life for things that were ultimately out of his control. He has thought that with Danny at least, he was finally in some sort of control. If gambling with his life was any way to gain jurisdiction over fate.

Not wanting to think about blame or guilt anymore, Sam pressed his lips against Danny’s again. Danny kissed him back, not knowing how Sam had gotten over his anger so easily but unwilling to stop and question it as he slid his arm between Sam and the mattress and held him closer. Sam parted his lips, deepening the kiss with a swipe of his tongue that Danny responded to by allowing him inside.

They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other until Sam needed a break to catch his breath. Danny could feel him pressed up against his thigh hard and hot but he didn’t make a move, allowing Sam to call all of the shots tonight. Although Sam had initiated the make out, there was something different about the way he clung to Danny. The way his eyes looked distant and unfocused. Danny chalked it up to all the stress he was under, but a little voice in the back of his head warned him that wasn’t the extent of it. Whatever it was that had Sam acting this way, it frightened him.

“Good night Daniel” Sam whispered, loosening his grip and rolling back over into his sleeping position without another word.

There were still a few hours until dawn, so Danny watched Sam’s back waiting for his breaths to even out again before he sat up and raked his fingers through his curls with a sigh. He could go back upstairs for a while. Take out his frustration on one of the many unfinished projects he had up there, but even in his sleep he didn’t want to leave Sam down here alone. His eyes searched the dimly lit room for something to occupy his mind in the meantime, scanning over the books on the shelf across from the bed until he remembered the one Sam had pulled out and set on the nightstand.

Danny picked the book up and carefully turned over the cover, already knowing what was on the other side. In faded black ink was his father’s name written, something he often did with the books he added to his collection to show their ownership. He examined each letter, every detail of his father’s penmanship from the loop of his ‘g’ to the arch of his ‘r’, and when he was done he turned the next page over and began to read.

It was nearly noon when Sam woke up. Or at least that’s how late it felt, his body feeling heavy and stiff with all the sleep he’d finally managed to get. Danny was still next to him, asleep himself now with a book turned over on the last page he’d read resting against his unmoving chest. He didn’t need to breathe when he slept, so he laid there like a statue with his features carved into a blank expression leading Sam to believe he didn’t get to dream in his sleep either. How boring that must be, having all the time in the world but never getting to dream. He’d go insane.

Sam didn’t think he’d be able to wake Danny, but he was still careful as he climbed out of the bed and tiptoed around to the other side so he could pick up the book and set it back onto the nightstand. He slipped a piece of paper between the pages so Danny would know where to pick back up reading, though he was surprised when he saw which book it was Danny had selected to begin last night. He would have to ask him how it was later.

Today he had to go home for a while. Do some laundry and pack another week’s worth of clothes in his duffel bag. He also needed to go grocery shopping since Danny didn’t have any reason to keep much food stocked in the house. Just as he was pulling his jeans on he heard his cell phone vibrating and when he saw who the contact was he answered it right away.

“Jake?”

“No, it's me” Josh’s voice came through the other end, making Sam grab the phone from where he had wedged it between his ear and shoulder as he put his shoes on.

“Josh? Why are you calling on Jake’s phone? And in the middle of the day?”

“Well, I broke my phone…” Josh vaguely answered his first question but ignored the other. “Sam, I need you. I fucked up. I fucked up so bad”.

“What?” Sam stood up, the laces on his shoes still undone but he didn’t pay them any mind. “What happened?”

“Please…” Sam could hear the tremble in his voice even through the phone. “Just come over, quickly”.

With a glance in Danny’s direction Sam debated trying to wake him up, but the sun was out. What was Danny going to be able to do right now?

“Stay on the phone with me” he replied, grabbing his keys and his wallet and slipping out the door by himself. “I’m on my way”.

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