let's get this bread.

you know i had to do it to 'em.

[daniellovestohavefun]

lana.

she shrugged, avoiding the implication that she enjoyed the time they spent together. she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’s right. when daniel tried his hardest to crack one of his jokes, lana didn’t break their eye contact. she didn’t even blink. and if he didn’t say sike soon, she was gonna finish what her father started on him. she let out a breath of relief when she figured out he was only kidding around. but when she heard his explanation, that wave of relief washing over her had once again turned into a wall of irritation that she was walking straight into. lana leaned back, placing her hands behind her to hold herself up,  “oh. so… you brought me to a normal bedroom? that’s somehow worse.”

he belatedly remembered that lana really had no idea that there was any significance to the room. “did you miss the part about how laura died paranormally? it’s not a normal bedroom just because it’s not haunted.” he took a seat next to lana on the bed before continuing, “so laura, the girl who’s room this was, went missing in 1986. her body was found later that summer. the reason we were allowed in here is because my parents helped find her. they knew laura’s sister in high school. i know it’s not the same as everything that happened to us, to you, but i don’t know,” daniel shrugged again, “i thought it might help to see it’s not just you. terrible shit happens, but you’re not cursed. life can go on. even if you keep a completely untouched room in your house.”

[daniellovestohavefun]

lana.

“i still think it’s weird that we’re here,”  lana told him, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. any sane person would think she meant it’s weird to be in a dead girls room that has seemly been untouched for decades, but would then notice that she’s sitting on said dead girl’s bed and would ultimately decide that isn’t exactly a problem for her. she didn’t quite understand how daniel even managed to convince the old couple who owned the home to let them inside. lana casually took a tank top beside her by it’s strap and held it up, tossing it back after giving it a quick scan.  “what is this? a time capsule from the eighties?”  she sighed, trying her best to contain her emerging feelings of frustration,  “daniel taupo… i know you didn’t force me off campus to investigate this random, so-called haunted childhood room.”    (  @daniellovestohavefun·  )

a chill ran down daniel’s spine as they entered laura’s room. it was eerie to be in a room that had changed so much for him. if it wasn’t for laura, the mysterybusters probably wouldn’t even exist, daniel wouldn’t even be alive. “who cares if it’s weird? i thought you’d just be excited to spend some quality time with yours truly.” he laughs as lana reached for the tank on the bed, not overly concerned with making sure nothing gets touched, he had heard stories of his parents combing through every drawer. “but do you know? do you really know?” he raised an eyebrow and held lana’s gaze for a second, even though he was positive she wasn’t in the mood for jokes. dropping the act, he shrugged and pushed his hands in his pockets. “but this room isn’t technically haunted. i mean yes, the girl who’s room it was died and there were supernatural forces at play. but i don’t think there have been any instances of hauntings since. it’s not an active paranormal site.”

[thomasangster]

[solcnas]

𝟐   𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒   𝐎𝐅   𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑:     one   moment

you  think  you  can’t  do  this?  lana…  you’re  the  only  one  who  can  do  this.

[jamesbarnesbuchanan]

[daniellovestohavefun]

vanessa.

“ not gonna lie — talking to you in spirit form would be kind of cool. would you stick around or cross over? ”  she asks, looking over at daniel. again, she can’t help but laugh as he plays along with bloody mary/blair joke.  “ if you guys weren’t hashtag goals before then you definitely are now. i’m surprised blaniel isn’t a trending tag on twitter every day. ”  getting a little serious, vanessa begins to explain what eli had told her about the basement,  “ the walkins family chest is missing. eli went down there to look for it when the door shut and the lights cut off. he says something attacked him and i believe it.  ”

“would i stick around?” daniel repeated, scoffing at the fact that she even had to ask. “obviously i’d stick around. do you have any idea how fun it would be to fuck with isaiah. my only ghostly goal would be to make him a believer. hell, it’s all i want out of my human life,” he teased, shooting her a wide grin. “oh, as cute as we are, we’re old news. not nearly as exciting as hashtag ashaiah or hashtag jerena. those kids and their short attention spans,” he shook his head as if he was so much older and wiser. however, as vanessa continued, the mood of the conversation changed. daniel’s brow furrowed, growing slightly concerned. “wait, it’s missing right now?” he stood up. “i’ve gotta go check that out. i also believe something attacked him, i just don’t know what. think it’s whatever took the chest?”

[daniellovestohavefun]

vanessa.

“  no, there won’t be a next time. find a new, more progressive way to start your religion. ”  she finds it endearing the way daniel speaks of blair,  “ that’s cute. i didn’t wanna say blair because i’m scared she’s going to pop up if we say her name three times. like bloody mary. and i mean that in the nicest way possible.  ”  vanessa lets out a soft laugh,  “ yeah— i baked eli a cake. i felt bad for the way some people were treating him at the halloween party. especially after what happened in the basement. ” she explains, a little curious to hear daniel’s thoughts on the matter.

“aw, ness, you’re no fun. let me briefly die again, dammit!” he exclaimed, lightly hitting the palm of his hand on the table. “you really think that would work? i’ll have to try it sometime. it’ll cut down on travel time between our apartments if i can just make her appear at any time.” he knew the joke vanessa was making, even despite her clarification, and he’d play along, although he knew how far off she was. sure, blair seemed intimidating at first, but daniel knew what a softie she really was. “oh yeah? what’d he say about it? he never told me much about it, i just figured something had happened with whatever we’ve collected in the basement. they always pick the worst times to show up, don’t they?”

[daniellovestohavefun]

vanessa.

“ i have this half eaten cake, if you want it. ” nessa says to daniel as she enters the small break room in the office, showing him the leftovers of what she and eli had eaten. the messy i’m sorry you got attacked at the halloween party and nobody believed you but i do so tell me what happened she had written in icing had now been shortened to hall do i tell hap since and it looked pretty funny.  “ it’s home-baked. you deserve it for being a modern day jesus. if you would have come back three days later— you’d have your own religion and everything. danielthism? danielanity? i don’t know how that works. if you wanted to be a greek god you’d for sure be daniel, the god of memes. ” she jokes.  /  @daniellovestohavefun

“don’t mind if i do,” daniel responded, reaching for a fork as vanessa set the plate down in front of him. “damn, i was only about... nine months and twenty-seven? days too late. maybe i’ll get ‘em next time.” he snapped his fingers, as if he really was disappointed there wasn’t a religion about him now. “taupology?” he threw out, more than happy to play along with vanessa’s suggestions. “but actually none of those really work. gotta include b in there as well. she’s just as powerful and all-knowing as i am. more so, actually.” he took another bite of the cake. “but what was the actual occasion for the cake? unless,” he glanced down at what was left, “hal do hap sin is a language i don’t know.”

[daniellovestohavefun]

naomi.

again, naomi lets out a heavy sigh at daniel’s loaded question. even though he said he was okay with her venting to him, she wasn’t going to tell him everything. naomi didn’t want to overwhelm him. “ me and micah got into an argument. a pretty bad one. it made me realize a lot about myself, things i never knew i didn’t want to be. ” she wipes a few tears away, “ and i cut things off with my dad, which should be a good thing but it hurts because he’s still my dad— y’know? ”

reaching out, daniel pulled naomi into a hug. “you and micah will make up. i know you will.” his confidence wasn’t faked; even with micah’s attitude and naomi’s tendency to overreact, the two needed each other. not to mention how much they cared about each other. “yeah i know.” he didn’t, not really. daniel was one of the few people on the team that had a good relationship with his parents. but still, he could imagine that what naomi was going through was hard. “of course it’s hard. and no matter how shitty your dad is, it’s going to be hard. but you did the right thing, nay, he’s been horrible to you and you don’t deserve to be treated like that. basically all he was good for was babysitting the twins. but you’ll get through this; you always do. and i’ll be by your side the whole time.

[daniellovestohavefun]

naomi.

naomi sighs, not knowing how to reply. “ what isn’t wrong, ”  was all that she could say, tapping her spoon on the lid of her ice cream, feeling a little nauseous now.  “  i just thought things would be better now. with you and blair back. the show on netflix. the team semi getting along. but it’s not. everything’s gone to shit. ”

daniel’s concern grew as naomi explained, or failed to explain, what was wrong. it was impossible to be friends with naomi and see tears at some point, but this was different. it didn’t seem like her being overdramatic or that she just needed to get her tears out and she’d be fine, it seemed like it was big. "what happened?” if it wasn’t work or the team, something else had to be getting to naomi. 

[daniellovestohavefun]

lana.

because of the way he was milking this, lana was about to respond with a mockingly bold ‘please do’ to his question about leaving again. it’s not like she’d mean it anyway; this place was chaos for months without daniel and there was no reason to be going through this hell of a job if he wasn’t here to see it. but the second he said julian’s name, lana couldn’t keep the joke going. “no! i take it all back,” she threw her hands up to signal defeat. daniel was only being sarcastic, yet the mere idea of losing him to julian as a leader for a second time was much too horrifying. the team needed more than a thousand ‘it’s gonna be okay’s and hundreds of ‘don’t worry about it’s. “that is kind of funny, though,” with a low chuckle, lana brought her arms down again and rested them on top of the desk. “you heard julian took over. who’d you hear it from? wait, let me guess… julian?”

“as i thought you would. you’re getting too predictable cruz,” he said, shaking his head. “i have my sources,” daniel half-explained, intentionally leaving it vague. a few people had brought it up, that and his and lana’s falling out. julian seemed a little upset about it, but daniel understood why lana was upset, so he wasn’t planning on intervening unless it got out of hand. and if lana continued to just ignore julian, he doubted that would be a problem. “also, i saw how against the show you were. have you come around or do you still resent it?” daniel valued lana’s insights, and although it was too late to pull the plug on the show, he wanted to hear what she had to say about it. if she had been worried about safety, he wanted to know what they could do better. lana was a smart girl, and daniel was eager to work with her. 

[daniellovestohavefun]

elijah.

             elijah bent down to pick up the scattered materials  ,  stalling as best he could  .  he fumbled to stuff his pens and highlighters back into his backpack  ,  muttering a soft thank you to daniel when the older man handed him a few other things  .  when they stood up  ,  eli’s eyes were hopeful in their wide state  ,  afraid of being lectured  ,  afraid of being on the hard end of a i thought you were better than this  .  as if he didn’t hear that from his REAL DAD on a daily basis  .  his head dropped as he steeled himself for the inevitable  ,  wishing all the while that he’d just stayed home  .  yeah  ,  his dad and stepmom both hated him and were probably GLAD that he wasn’t there anymore  ,  but at least he was used to their disappointment  .  he could never get used to daniel’s  .  when daniel spoke again  ,  eli’s head snapped up  .  he searched daniel’s gaze for any signs of a lie  ,  for any indication that he was disappointed in eli  ,  and was just too kind to say it  .  but daniel was always genuine  ,  including now  .  he blinked  ,  shaking his head rapidly  .   ❛  are you kidding  ?  i would LOVE to hear about it  ,  like  … E V E R Y T H I N G  ,  if you wanna talk about it  !  but  …  you’re  …  really not mad at me  ?  but you  … you TRUSTED me  ,  dan  ,  and i didn’t DO WHAT YOU ASKED  .  ❜  he shook his head again  ,  struggling to process the words  .  ❛  i thought  …  they told me you were dead  ,  i found out during a fucking LIVESTREAM  ,  and it was like  …  like the entire world had changed  ,  had just gone to black  ,  and we were just stuck in the dark  ,  stumbling around and trying to find a light switch that you always had  ,  but everyone else found their way out  ,  and i didn’t  ?  and  all i could think about then was how much it HURT  ,  but now you’re back  ,  and  ––  and  i  can’t stop thinking about what you asked me  ,  and how IMPORTANT it was to you  ,  but i didn’t do it  .  i let my stupid FEELINGS get the best of me  ,  and i  … CRAP  ,  daniel  ,  i’m so sorry  .  ❜  he breathed in deep  ,  cheeks growing red after his long and borderline emotional rant  ––  because  ,  right  ,  like a grown man needed an explanation on grief-induced depression  ––  and let his gaze fall to the ground  ,  nodding strictly  ,  as if to affirm his dad’s believes that little elijah should’ve been a better kid  .   ❛  i’m really sorry  ,  and it’s okay if you ARE mad  .  and  ,  um  ,  i missed you  ,  too  .  ❜  if that wasn’t already obvious  .

            “of course i wanna talk about it! we were in a fucking cult that killed people  on occasion and made it out without a scratch. or, without a scratch from the cult. mayer’s a different story. but it was so cool, the dynamics within the cult? having to figure all of that out? eli, it was so interesting.” he almost said he wished eli would’ve been there, but then daniel remembered that it had kind of been a precarious life-or-death situation that he shouldn’t be wishing on anyone. but still, it was cool. “who else am i supposed to talk to about that? who else will understand?” everyone else seemed to be walking on eggshells around him; but he was fine. really. his heart hurt as he listened to eli explain how he’d felt when he thought daniel was dead. he had known it had probably affected the team, as death does, he really hadn’t been aware of exactly how much it had hurt. gina’s death was the only one he had ever experienced, and he wasn’t as close to gina as he and eli were. he shook his head, dismissing eli’s worries, “dude, in case you forgot, when i was in charge, i almost got everyone killed in silverwood. so, no, i’m not mad at you for not absolutely killing netflix. it’s not a big deal. it was only important to me because i was excited the team had the opportunity to let this thing continue to grow. y’know, make real jobs out of it outside of merch sales. and you didn’t stop any of that from happening; the season went up anyway, so,” he shrugged, “who cares? now i’m back and we can do this together. i’m proud of you for coming back at all, not everyone would have that in them. ”

[daniellovestohavefun]

naomi.

naomi appreciates the fact that daniel doesn’t ask questions. he’s just there for her, and right now that’s what she really needs. after pulling away and switching seats with him, she lets him drive. it’s quiet but it’s comfortable. she doesn’t feel so alone anymore. “ mint chocolate chip, ” she mutters, playing with the ends of her sweater and shifting in her seat, “ i appreciate you doing this. i really do, dan. you’re such a good friend i really don’t deserve you. ”

“shut up nay, you deserve me. don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same thing if i needed you.” he didn’t give her time to protest further, getting out of the car to get them both a pint of ice cream. returning with the two in hand, daniel got back in the car, passing naomi both her mint chocolate chip and a spoon. he didn’t put the car back in drive, instead cracked open his ice cream and glanced over at naomi. “so what’s up? what’s going on?”

[daniellovestohavefun]

julian.

          seeing as the conversation wasn’t going to be put to an end any time soon ( something julian was thankful for, rather than opposed to ) he took a seat in one of the swiveling chairs, and faced daniel. “ah… yeah, you’ve got a couple good questions there.” he laughed, settling in. julian decided to get the hardest of questions out of the way first. “lana told me about her dad a while before… well, before he kidnapped you and blair. we were trying to figure it out together–how to stop him. but she scheduled the silverwood trip behind my back, and i… couldn’t forgive her for a while. thus the… yelling match you see in the episode that i’m so proud of.” julian let out a huff and took a sip of his coffee. “she still hates me for it. i don’t blame her. do i think she’ll actually kill me one of these days?” he shrugged, trying to smile it off. “probably not.”

         daniel nodded, relieved to finally be getting the whole story. lana had managed to evade his questioning, but julian didn’t seem to have any issues with telling him what happened. “hey, don’t worry too much about it. i saw the show and it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be. situations like that are hard to deal with, especially when emotions are running high. don’t sweat it.” even if daniel probably wouldn’t have made the same decision, he had made enough mistakes in the past to know how julian felt. “i wouldn’t write her off so quickly if i was you,” he said, only partially joking. by that point, daniel knew lana meant well, but he also knew how much it took her to trust anyone, and for julian to just blurt out what was probably her biggest secret when he was pissed would likely never be forgiven. luckily, for both of them, it didn’t seem as though the team was holding lana’s family against her. 

[daniellovestohavefun]

naomi.

the guilt of waking him up this late is gnawing at her, and she knows he’s only being nice by saying that he was craving ice cream.  “  yeah, okay i’ll be there soon.  ”  her voice is quiet and hoarse due to all the crying and screaming she’s been doing, but she manages to thank him before hanging up and heading in the direction towards his parent’s house. it’s been a long time since she’s been there, possibly her senior of high school since they would gather at the taupo’s basement for mysterbusters meetings. how she wishes she could go back to the simpler times. before she knows it, she gets there and she sends him a text message announcing her arrival. 

as soon as daniel got naomi’s text, he was out the door. instead of getting in the passenger seat, daniel looped around to the driver’s side and opened the door. “get out,” he told naomi, not about to let her drive when she was in the middle of a mental breakdown. once she stepped out, he immediately pulled her in to a hug, one hand gently rubbing her back as the two stood in silence. after releasing her, he got in the car and waited for her to get settled before pulling away from his house. daniel didn’t ask any questions about her state; not about why she was crying or what she was doing awake and driving around at two am. no, the questions could wait until they got their ice cream. pulling into the parking lot of a 24 hour convenience store, daniel put the car in park and glanced over at naomi. “what flavor do you want?”

[daniellovestohavefun]

lana.

there wasn’t anything lana hated more than how cool of a person daniel was ( well, actually, there were a few other things she was choosing to ignore at the moment ) because she wanted to hate him for being so invasive, she really did, but there was no way in hell. his affirmation did help scratch the surface of lana being okay ( the term being used very loosely ) with what happened in silverwood, even if it was a bit strange to hear out loud. he was intimidated by her. daniel intimidated by lana? it was a dream she never knew she had. “yeah, i only did it because i thought he killed you,” she teased him, failing to hide the growing smirk on her face. “and then you came back, so i’m feeling a little guilty now, y’know?” she was aware that he was serious about the whole emotional support offer and she’d probably take it up with him if ever needed be, though for right now, lana didn’t have the emotional vulnerability to do that.

daniel didn’t push lana to open up more, trusting that she would come to him (or even naomi) if she needed to. it was an intense situation, and one that he doubted lana had opened up about already. but there was no way it hadn’t affected her. or hell, even if she wasn’t torn up about killing someone, maybe she was about the fact that her dad had tried to kill people that she (hopefully) considered her friends. or the fact that she hadn’t told them as early as she maybe should have. no matter what she needed, daniel would be there for her, and he was sure she knew that, so again, he wouldn’t push it. “who woulda thought lana cruz, of all people, would be out here avenging my murder?” daniel put a hand over his heart and pretended to swoon, “my hero.” stifling a chuckle, daniel did his best to keep a poker face as he spoke again, “oh,” he said, standing up, “you want me to leave again? help ease that guilt?” he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb towards the door. “i’ve heard julian took over while i was gone. i can leave you with that again if that’s what you want.” 

[daniellovestohavefun]

elijah.

             despite what special k might have thought  ,  elijah was absolutely NOT avoiding daniel taupo  .  he would never do that  ,  because daniel was his dad idol  ,  and he’d have to be out of his mind to avoid the person he looked up to most in the world  .  he was  …  taking his time to see him  ,  that was all  .  not because he wasn’t HAPPY about his reappearance  ,  because duh he was  .  he’d just rather avoid NOT HAVE any serious one-on-ones right now  ,  because the last conversation he had with daniel ended with the guy trusting elijah with a very important task that he never did  .  and it wasn’t that elijah didn’t want to see daniel or talk to him  ,  he just wasn’t that excited about facing that disappointment  .  it was this inherent drive to avoid put off that conversation that had elijah lingering in hq past his usual time  ,  hoping that everyone would clear out before him  .  with everything that had been going on  ,  he knew daniel was worn out and would probably go home early  ,  or whenever he thought the office was cleared out  .  twenty minutes after the last of the group left  ,  elijah finally started to pack up  .  he had his laptop halfway in his bag when he heard a noise behind him  .  he JUMPED  ,  whirling around to face the direction the noise had come from  .  fearful eyes stared at the spot for another long moment  ,  waiting for the noise to come again  .  when nothing came  ,  he decided that it was definitely either a ghost or a mouse  .  hopefully  ,  it was the former  .  ❛   hey there  ,  ghostie  !  sorry if you wanna hang out  ,  i gotta get home or my roommates are gonna get worried  .  or maybe not  …  they might play board games without me or something  .  i don’t really know what they do when i’m not there  ,  but between you and me  ,  they’re definitely still not having sex  .  which is kind of pathetic  ,  but then again  ,  who am i to judge  ,  ya know  ?  or maybe you don’t  ,  you probably totally got laid when you were alive  ,  huh  ,  buddy  ?  oh  ,  well  !  i still gotta go  ,  so  ,  uh  … please don’t follow me  ,  i’m sure you’re a cool ghoul and all  ,  but my roommates really wouldn’t like that  and anyway i’m gon  ––  OH FUCK  .  ❜  elijah jumped again  ,  this time dropping everything that he’d packed up during his rant  .  he winced at the thought of his laptop being in that bag  ,  then put on his best and brightest grin  .   ❛   hey  ,  daniel  !   ❜  act cool  ,  act COOL  .  /  @daniellovestohavefun

             maybe for someone else, it would be weird to be back at work already. but for daniel, it was the only thing that felt right. sure, what he had gone through had been terrifying, but not nearly as bad as people were making it out to be. if anything, daniel thought it had been exciting. he had always been slightly fascinated with cults, and he had actually gotten to experience it; it was cool. both he and blair had come out the other side fine, so it wasn’t a big deal. he had been looking forward to getting back to work; he loved work, so he didn’t even think twice about returning to work. or about returning to his old habit of staying at work until long after everyone else left. he knew it would take weeks for him to feel like he was really back to where he had been before they left, but he was definitely getting there. and that was enough to make him confident enough to turn in for the night. letting out a breath, daniel shut his laptop and packed his bag, heading for the door. on his way, he heard eli speak. it took him a second to realize he wasn’t talking to him, but to whatever he had heard (which was probably just daniel), and then he stood silently for a few beats, smiling to himself as he listened to elijah ramble on. shifting slightly, the floorboards creaked below daniel, causing eli to jump and drop his bag. immediately, daniel reached out to help him pick up his things. “hey, 'lijah,” daniel said, giving him a light pat on the shoulder as they stood up. “i’ve been meaning to talk to you. i wanted to say sorry. it wasn’t fair of me to dump all the responsibility of the show on you and then disappear.” he held his hands up for a second. “i didn’t have any control over what happened, but the situation wasn’t fair, no part of it was.” not for either of them. he had already heard that julian and vee stepped up, or at least they attempted to, but eli hadn’t been as successful as daniel had thought he would be. not that he was disappointed in him, that wasn’t the case at all, daniel didn’t care that eli hadn’t done anything with netflix; it just wasn’t the situation daniel wanted for eli. he wanted to be there for him, to guide him into a leadership role in something he genuinely loved, but he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to do any of that. eli had to deal with daniel’s death, and daniel knew him well enough to know how hard he would’ve taken that, so he never would’ve expected him to step up and unite the team. “and it’s good to see you again. i missed you. and not just because you’re the only i thought would be excited to hear cult stories.”