You can sign up for this year's exchange starting now by filling out this google form. In the form, you'll be providing your ✨secret santa✨ with:
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submissions will be accepted starting December 11th and will close at 11:59pm EST on December 31st. submissions for content can be links, images, and copy & pasted text. writers posting their submissions to wattpad/ao3/the site of their choice are allowed to post their fics 24 hours before the content queue begins posting at 12pm EST on December 26th-31st.
Remember: this is a secret santa event!
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thank you all for the support, and happy holidays!
title: precious bones, strawberry sundaes, and beauty in abstraction | word count: 4,412 | summary: Sarah couldn't shake the strange feeling of fight-or-flight, muscles wound tight in a way that took conscious effort to undo. She was safe, she knew that. There was no one in the world she was safer with than Erica. Her persistently high heartbeat just couldn’t listen to reason. / In which Ethan and Sarah realize they're in a lavender relationship, and are very much in love with their best friends. | AO3 Link
Is posting still running? I didn’t receive a gift exchange
hi there, yes posts will still be going up this following week! 2 people have asked for extensions, so we apologize for the delay but we'll make sure you get your gift soon! thank you everyobe for your patience <3 - mod steff
title: Stuck in Hogwarts (For Half an Hour) | word count: 1,718 | summary: Ethan and Benny are bored because there hadn’t been anything going on lately. Naturally, they created trouble, and Sarah got dragged along with it. To no one’s surprise, Jane ends up helping to fix things. | AO3 Link
title: Sweaters, Gifts and Marshmallow Thieves | word count: 1,014 | summary: It was the day before Christmas, and the Morgan household was full of chaos. | AO3 Link
It was the day before Christmas, and the Morgan household was full of warmth and chaos. Though that seems to be the norm more often than not, this was a particular brand of chaos, a festive, almost joyful kind. The kind that brought laughter, stains of hot cocoa on the floors, a very messy kitchen as the group of friends took over with the idea of making cookies, while Mr and Mrs Morgan went out for some last minute things at the grocery shop.
Ethan and Rory were in charge of preparing and mixing the ingredients, while Sarah and Erica cut them in trees and stars and little cookie people, and once they were out of the oven and cooled off Benny and Jane decorated them.
(Without magic, mind you. They've already tried. The gingerbread man stuck to the kitchen's ceiling will have to accept his fate as Christmas decoration for the time being.)
"You could totally add marshmallows to the blood substitute" Benny said, filling up a pipping bag with icing, making sure it didn't fall on the white and red sweater his grandmother had given him of a snow globe, and seeing his friends' doubtful expresions as he passed it off to Jane "marshmallows are made up from cartilage, right? So it would be, like, adding a bit of very fluffy bones to a mug of blood!"
"The problem is that I see your logic," Sarah agreed, picking a stray thread from her own sweater, a cozy looking thing with a shiny Christmas tree, before said thread could fall on the food. "I don't like it, but I see it."
"Please don't ruin marshmallows for me."
The warlock was cut off from what he was about to say when the marshmallow he'd taken, to argue his point or eat, disappeared from his hands after a golden and blue blur. "Hey!"
"How do you think I'm so powerful?" Rory told them while eating the stolen sweet, the big bow on his gift themed christmas sweater moving even if he'd paused. Maybe, Benny thought, he should've taken the one with little bells Erica was wearing, that way he would've been warned of the marshmallow-thief.
Rory, instead of paying attention to that, made his way to the living room to set up a movie for them to watch, where the gifts they picked to exchange were waiting on the coffee table until they received them and brought them home under their respective trees. But that would take a while…
He looked over his shoulder once, twice, but the others were most likely still finishing up, so what was the harm in checking which present had his name?
In the process the youngest vampire of the group may have accidentally knocked one over. Maybe. In his defense he was excited, alright? And it's not like the present actually fell- vampire superspeed and reflexes, baby!
The gift, when he checked it to make sure it was truly okay, wasn't the one he was looking for, instead this one had a card written "Ethan" in cursive. Sarah's writing, no doubt.
He knew what it was, even if it was carefully wrapped.
It had been fun going with Sarah and Erica to shop for gifts. It had been funnier when he saw Erica worrying about what to get Jane of all people in the exchange. Though, he doesn't remember Ethan's baby sister being one of the options they could get, when he saw how satisfied Erica was at finding a good enough gift he promptly forgot about it.
Rory was not only happy about having helped get Ethan's gift, about actually being asked and having a good answer, but also particularly proud. Because even if those two were really close friends now, he still knew what kind of gift to get.
He basically saved Christmas, really!
Alright, so maybe not Christmas as a whole, but he'd made it better and that was good enough.
Now if only he could find the present with his name on it-
"You're not spying before we exchange gifts, are you, Rorester?"
"Who me? Of course not!" Rory lied, badly hiding the present behind himself, goofy grin plastered on his face.
Gingerbread Ethan (which was just Ethan in a gingerbread man looking sweater), raised a brow from his place between the living room and the kitchen, mugs of hot cocoa in hand. Rory hoped he believed the white little lie, even if his friend's expression already told him he'd caught infraganti. Ethan always seemed to know things, and the gift sweater-ed vampire wondered sometimes if that was due to being a seer or because he was Ethan.
The seer sighed, but didn't call him out on it, instead just handing him one of the mugs and sitting down, so he supposed it was fine. He left the Millenium Falcon in a bottle back in place.
Soon enough the others started making themselves comfortable in the cozy room as the chosen movie started playing.
It didn't look like the cookies that they spent the morning making would survive for long, but well, they weren't really made for that. They were made to be delicious, and they did their job well.
They were already halfway through a Christmas special when the Morgna parents came back, much to the remaining cookies unfortune as they (mostly Mr Morgan) took a few, too. Gingerbread Ethan and
Benny left to help put the groceries away then, leaving Jane in Ethan's place.
And if someone cast a spell for it to be faster, well, they wanted to continue watching the special.
After that they would finally exchange gifts. They would take them home, to be opened with the rest of Christmas joys. And the cursed amulet Ethan had almost gotten for Sarah for the exchange before a vision warned him would find its way to his home anyways in the form of a gift for Samantha Morgan.
But that would take a while.
Right now it was the day before Christmas, and the Morgan household was full of warmth and chaos.
prompt: Camp Counselor Sarah Fox and Vampire Squid Siren Erica Jones have a flirty introduction meet-cute when Sarah is knocked overboard while canoeing!
title: Tis the season | word count: 3,637 | summary: Ethan and Jesse enemies to lovers speedrun thanks to elf enchanted mistletoe. | AO3 Link
Ethan was lost. Ethan was lost in a forest. Ethan was lost in a forest with no cell service and no magic user by his side. He and Benny had gotten separated at some point trying to go after the baddy of the week. He had tried to retrace his steps but everything was looking the same and he was pretty sure he was just more lost.
He finally walked into an area that wasn’t the same trees over and over again but a clearing. He then did a double take at who was standing in the middle of the clearing. A vampire he thought had left after taking credit for thwarting the Lucifractor.
“What are you doing here?” Ethan asked as he walked closer.
“Whoa! I would not come any closer.”
“Are you going to attack me?” Ethan asked suspiciously as he grabbed the sharpened number 2 pencil in his pocket. Jesse just looked exasperated.
“No. I can’t move anyway. I suggest you just turn around and leave.”
“Since when should I listen to you?”
“Fine. Do whatever you want,” Jesse said then crossed his arms and just stood there.
Ethan eyed Jesse suspiciously and started walking around the clearing, making sure not to take his eyes off the vampire in the middle. All the paths looked exactly the same to him. He was wondering if he should ask for directions when he tripped and stumbled into the center of the clearing. His head whipped around when he heard the delicate tinkling of bells and then looked at the other man when he groaned.
“Now you’ve done it.”
“Done what? Don’t be cryptic, Jesse.”
“Try moving first.” Ethan glared at him and took a step away, then tried to move his other foot.
“What the?” Ethan said as he tried yanking his foot but succeeded in almost falling over. Jesse grabbed his arm before he actually fell.
“You’re stuck. Just like me,” Jesse said pleasantly.
“Then how do we get unstuck?” Ethan asked. He then looked at Jesse horrified. “Is this a Saw trap?”
“No,” Jesse said with an eyeroll. “Although it could have been depending on the fairy or elf who did this.”
“Fairies? Aren’t they dangerous?” Ethan asked slowly.
“Very. Anyway, not a Saw trap but there is a way out.”
“How?” Ethan asked eagerly. Jesse just smiled charmingly then pointed up. Ethan squinted at the plant? “Is that a floating plant? How did I not see that?”
“Part of the trap? Not just any plant though. A popular and often misrepresented plant around the holiday season. Mistletoe.”
“Mistletoe,” Ethan said flatly. “It’s got white berries?”
“Yeah, if it has red berries, that’s holly. But what do you do when you’re under the mistletoe?”
“No.”
“Mmhmm.”
“No!”
“Saying it louder won’t change the situation.”
“I- we have to- Are you sure?” Ethan sputtered.
“Well, unlike Jigsaw, there were no instructions or death traps. So I’m going with the assumption we have to kiss to get out of here.”
“That won’t happen,” Ethan said stubbornly. Jesse just shrugged.
“I have all the time in the world.”
……………………..
20 minutes later
……………………..
Ethan was sitting on the ground with his head resting on his knees since one foot had to remain flat on the ground. Jesse was still standing but had his eyes closed. Ethan had looked all around the clearing, played with his phone, then groaned in annoyance.
“You’re a vampire! Why can’t you just move?”
“What does being a vampire have to do with it?” Jesse asked exasperated.
“Supernatural? Doesn’t magic work on you differently?”
“Yeah, human magic. Fae magic is way older and way more complicated. I typically steer clear. Yet here we are,” Jesse said as he opened his arms with a sarcastic head tilt. “So let’s kiss and get out of here.”
“I’d rather eat dirt,” Ethan said with a sour look. Jesse rolled his eyes.
“If you drink matcha; same thing. Also, do you have a problem with two dudes kissing?”
“No! Just- I have a problem with you!”
“Just because I tried to kill you a few times shouldn’t put a damper on our relationship. I mean, I did come when called. I could have ignored you.”
“You forgot the stealing of innocent souls. And taking credit for things we did.”
“Okay, I can see how that second thing could be annoying.”
Ethan just gave him an incredulous look. Jesse just looked bored. Ethan once again looked around the area as if this time answers will appear.
“Kissing gets us out of here faster,” Jesse said once again.
“If you’re in such a hurry then why don’t you just kiss me?” Ethan asked annoyed. Jesse finally looked irritated.
“First, knowing elf magic, if there’s anything forced or inauthentic then there will be consequences. Second, I’d never force a kiss on anyone. I am, unfortunately, a romantic.”
“What? So kissing means something to you? Didn’t you kiss Erica in front of Sarah?”
“Erica kissed me in front of Sarah of her own accord. I just went with it to make Sarah jealous. How was I to know they had it bad for each other?”
“Can’t you read minds or something?”
“I like that you think I’m so powerful but no. I can control people to an extent but I actually don’t do it often.”
“I don’t trust you,” Ethan stated bluntly. Jesse just shrugged. “Also, why don’t you seem bothered kissing me?”
“I wouldn’t mind kissing you. You’re cute,” Jesse stated with a shrug. “Annoying but cute.”
“You’re just annoying,” Ethan immediately responded trying not to blush at being called cute.
“Just annoying? I’m not cute to you?” Jesse asked with a small grin.
“Shut up you know you’re… not bad looking,” Ethan said lamely but Jesse still chuckled.
“Would it really be so bad kissing me? If it’s because of past actions, I’ve changed. Look for yourself,” Jesse said and held his hand out.
Ethan looked at it, up at Jesse, then back at the hand. He then placed his hand in Jesse’s and tensed up as he got hit with a vision.
Jesse jumped in front of him taking some form of attack. Then Ethan was sitting on the ground holding Jesse as the vampire grew weaker. Ethan was desperately clinging to Jesse as the vampire gave him a weak grin and closed his eyes. The vision ended and he came back to Jesse holding his hand and looking at him questioningly.
“Did you see how good I’ve been?” Jesse asked. Ethan didn’t know why but he stood up with the help of Jesse and placed his other hand on the vampire’s chest.
“You protect me,” Ethan said with a frown as he stared at where his hand was.
“Hey,” Jesse said quietly getting Ethan to look up at him.
His breath sped up as Jesse’s other hand tucked a strand of hair behind his ear and cupped his cheek. Jesse brought their clasped hands up and placed Ethan’s hand on his shoulder and then placed his other hand on Ethan’s hip. Ethan tilted his head up as Jesse leaned forward. His eyes slid closed when he felt lips on his. He pressed his lips against Jesse’s and felt all tingly like that sensation when your leg falls asleep, but this felt more pleasant.
The mistletoe above them moved in an invisible wind and it seemed to grow. A soft tinkling of bells came as it glowed slightly. A fine sheen of powder rained down on the two. When they pulled away from each other, the moment they opened their eyes and saw each other a pink sheen glazed their eyes.
Ethan’s arms wrapped around Jesse’s neck as the vampire cradled his head and kissed him again. Only instead of a press of lips this was deep and passionate. Ethan made a small sound as Jesse licked at his lips. The second his mouth opened he quivered as Jesse absolutely devoured him. Ethan gasped for breath as Jesse let his lips go. Ethan panted for a few seconds as Jesse gave him a shy grin.
Ethan didn’t know what came over him but he suddenly hopped up and wrapped his legs around Jesse. The vampire caught him under his thighs and easily held him up. Ethan moaned as Jesse kissed him once again. The only thing he could remember was laying on the surprisingly soft forest floor and seeing the mistletoe dancing before everything became about Jesse and pleasure he’d never felt before.
“Ethan! Dude! There you are!” Benny yelled as Ethan stumbled out of the forest and into the picnic area of the park. “I’ve been trying to call you.”
Ethan patted himself down and found his phone. He woke it up but saw no messages and then all of a sudden a ton of new messages and missed phone calls came in.
“Of course you find an area with no service,” Benny said. “Come on. The girls took care of whatever the thing was. You okay E?”
“Yeah. I just need a shower,” Ethan said with a grimace. Benny nodded and draped an arm over Ethan’s shoulders.
“Yeah. I get it. It’s too naturey out here,” Benny said as they walked back to the parking lot. Benny looked around suddenly feeling like he was in extreme danger. He let go of Ethan to hold his hands in a defensive position but the feeling disappeared.
“B?” Ethan asked.
“Nothing. Just a weird feeling,” Benny said as they finally got to the car. “Hey did I mention that grandma said there’s elf magic in the forest?”
“You don’t say,” Ethan said flatly.
“Benjamin, you were supposed to give Ethan this talisman and stay with him!” Evelyn scolded her grandson.
“I wasn’t expecting to get separated!” Benny protested.
Apparently walking into the Weir household set off an alarm. Evelyn didn’t trust fae at all and had a ward on the house to let her know when elves or fae magic were around. So she immediately appeared in her nightgown even though she had been deep asleep. When she saw Ethan she frowned and made him sit at the kitchen table.
“It doesn’t seem to be malicious. It even seems to be a blessing. But you can’t trust an elf’s blessing,” Evelyn said.
“Uhm can you see what kind of blessing it is?” Ethan asked sounding embarrassed.
“Well I’d say it has to do with love with how pink it is,” Evelyn said as she adjusted her magic seeing glasses.
“Sweet! So he can bag the honey he wants. See? Nothing wrong.”
“That’s not how that works Benjamin,” Evelyn said sounding very unimpressed with her grandson.
“Plus you sound like Rory, dude.”
“Go to your room Benjamin. I’ll send Ethan home for now,” Evelyn said. Benny frowned but grandma just crossed her arms.
“Talk to you later E,” Benny said sounding dejected. Evelyn shook her head as Benny tromped upstairs.
“I didn’t want to say it in front of my grandson but I can see this love blessing being connected to someone else. And it’s a very strong bond. So you did more than just kiss in that forest.”
Ethan cringed and tried to hide his face.
It was true and he could feel the evidence clinging to his thighs. He was going to die from embarrassment.
“You’ll have to tell my grandson about your new girlfriend,” Evelyn said but then lifted an eyebrow at the weird twitch Ethan gave. “Your boyfriend. This bond will make it very obvious.”
“Wait, how?” Ethan asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re in basically the honeymoon phase,” Evelyn ignored the embarrassed squeak. “It‘ll calm down as the magic settles. But I’m sure your other half is waiting for you.”
“Is this bad?” Ethan finally asked.
“You tell me.”
“Can I go home now?” Ethan asked instead. Evelyn stepped aside.
“If you do need help, I’m right here. But now I’m going to sleep. Goodnight Ethan,” Evelyn said as she started to leave. “Oh and turn the lights off on the way out.”
Ethan had just sat on his bed in his pjs after taking a thorough shower. It was almost midnight. He perked up and immediately went to his window.
“Come in.”
“Finally.”
Jesse fluidly stepped into his bedroom and Ethan was immediately pressed up against him. He hummed happily as Jesse once again cradled his head and kissed him. He had no idea how long they stood there making out but Ethan felt content.
“Ethan,” Jesse murmured as he stopped kissing him. Ethan frowned and kissed him. “Ethan,” Jesse said again sounding amused.
“What?” Ethan asked annoyed.
“I figured you’d be more inquisitive than this,” Jesse said.
“Too tired. This is nice,” Ethan said and tried to kiss Jesse again. The vampire turned so he kissed Jesse’s cheek.
“You should get some sleep,” Jesse said but couldn’t help himself and kissed Ethan’s cheek but lingered. He then kissed down to Ethan’s jaw and he felt his fangs ache as the boy tilted his head back. “Ethan.” Jesse said lowly.
“Jesse,” Ethan sighed. When all he felt was Jesse breathing on his jaw he brought his head back up and nuzzled under the vampire’s jaw. He then kissed Jesse’s neck. And then did it again and again.
“Unless you want to do an encore of what we did in the forest, we should stop,” Jesse said.
“The forest,” Ethan mumbled and then what Jesse said finally got through the haze of tiredness and pleasantness. He took a step back from Jesse and it literally felt like ungluing himself.
“That felt weird,” Jesse said patted his chest.
“Something about the magic settling,” Ethan said then swayed towards Jesse. He took a step back but Jesse took a step forward with a frown.
“I don’t like when outside forces dictate my moves,” Jesse said as he glared off to the side.
“Are you blaming magic for this?” Ethan asked, taking another step back. Jesse managed to hold his ground.
“The feelings are real. I guess I just have this thing about control.”
“Well you better not think about controlling me,” Ethan said with a frown.
“I never want to control you,” Jesse said honestly. “Besides, I think you’re the one in control here.”
“Yeah?” Ethan asked as he stepped towards Jesse.
“You’re powerful, Ethan Morgan,” Jesse said and held his hand out. Ethan grabbed the hand and felt his heart flutter as Jesse kissed the back of it while staring at him. “You’ve bewitched me.”
“Jesse,” Ethan said as he once more pressed himself against the vampire and kissed him. Instead of staying languid the kissing started to get passionate. They both startled when a door closed.
“I should go,” Jesse said as he ran a finger along Ethan’s jaw.
“Yeah,” Ethan said and then licked his lips then grimaced making Jesse chuckle.
“You’ll want to invest in lipbalm or chapstick. Kissing dries out the lips,” Jesse explained. Ethan frowned and ran his finger over his lips then over Jesse’s.
“Why don’t yours feel chapped?” Ethan asked then gasped when Jesse licked his finger with a suggestive look.
“Vampire. Now, unless you want this to go further, I should go,” Jesse said. “We’ll continue this at The Bloodsucker.”
“That new club?” Ethan asked confused. He frowned as Jesse pulled away. The vampire pulled out his phone and held it out to Ethan on the New Contact page.
“My club,” Jesse said smugly. “My place is right above it.”Ethan gave him back the phone. He kissed Ethan and took a picture. He then texted the photo to Ethan. He looked at Ethan then cleared his throat.
“I’ll see you later,” Ethan said shyly.
“Absolutely,” Jesse said. He swayed towards Ethan, shook his head, and then quickly disappeared.
Ethan frowned but went over and shut his window. He then got in bed and looked at the text. He added Jesse to his contacts using the photo. He then turned off the light and fell asleep.
Ethan woke up feeling like he’d been hit by a truck mainly in his hip and thigh area. He poked his phone to see what time it was and groaned. He was so happy it was the weekend. He got out of bed but wrapped the comforter around himself as he walked out of his room. He wasn’t cold he just felt like being in a cocoon.
“Good… morning?” His mom started then asked as he trundled into the kitchen.
“You look like that teen who just woke up meme,” Jane said as she walked by him.
“It’s a universal constant. Not a meme, Jane,” their mom said amused. “Now, why are you bundled up?”
“Don’t feel good,” Ethan grunted as he sat down then groaned in pain. His mom came over with a frown and felt his forehead.
“Well you don’t feel warm or clammy. Is it your tummy?” His mom asked worried.
“No mom. I’m just sore and achey,” Ethan said trying not to blush.
“Hey I got the car loaded up. What’s wrong buddy?” His dad walked in and asked.
“Ethan doesn’t feel good. Says he’s achey,” his mom explained as she petted Ethan’s hair.
“Too much hiking. Plus you did get home a little late,” his dad said. “You should get some rest Ethan.”
“So he’s not coming to my recital?” Jane asked. Ethan frowned and looked at his sister miserably.
“I’m sorry Jane.”
“It’s fine. I guess,” Jane said with a fond eyeroll. “Sarah’s still invited.”
“Considering she helped with the choreography, I doubt she’d miss it,” Ethan said with a small grin.
“Well we’re going to head out now,” his mom said putting a bowl of steaming oatmeal on the table near him.
“Now? At eleven in the morning?” He asked confused.
“They needed help with set up,” his dad said. “Mom volunteered us.”
“We’ll check in when we can,” his mom said and kissed his head.
“You text us if you feel worse, okay?” His dad asked after ruffling his hair.
“I’ll let Evelyn know,” his mom said more to his dad than him. Jane hugged him before he could tell his mom he’d tell Benny himself.
“This better not be supernatural related,” Jane said quietly. Ethan shrugged.
“Combo? Anyway, you’ll obviously win but break a leg,” Ethan said. Jane just grinned happily and walked towards the door.
“Bye sweetie,” his mom said.
“Bye guys,” Ethan said.
He sighed after the door closed. Guess he had the house to himself. He grabbed the oatmeal and brought a spoonful up but waited for the steam to dissipate so he picked up his phone and unlocked it then stared. It was open to his contacts, specifically Jesse with the new photo.
“So that wasn’t a dream?” He asked no one and took a bite then immediately spit it out as it burned his tongue. “Why do you stay hot for so long?!”
He got up to grab a glass of water but turned down the hallway to go to the front door instead. He was very confused when he opened the front door. Jesse was standing there with his hand up about to knock. They stared at each other.
“Come in,” Ethan said but didn’t move. Jesse stepped into the house and pressed against him making Ethan melt.
“Fae magic is terrible,” Jesse stated as he wrapped his arms around Ethan, lifted him up, and shut the door behind him using his foot.
“Wait, is that why I felt awful this morning?” Ethan asked as he looked down at Jesse only now realizing that he had wrapped his legs around Jesse’s waist like he had yesterday.
“We weren’t close enough,” Jesse said quietly as he looked up at Ethan. “You need to stop blushing.”
“What? Why? How can I not?!” Ethan asked. Jesse groaned more in annoyance but Ethan’s body heard that a different way.
“I can hear your blood,” Jesse said.
“Are you going to bite me?” Ethan asked trying to pull away but Jesse continued to hold him.
“I can bite you but not turn you,” Jesse said thoughtfully. “Let me bite you.”
“The last time you did wasn’t great,” Ethan said while glaring. He squeaked when Jesse’s hand moved and squeezed his butt.
“Trust me, this time will be so much better,” Jesse said. He kissed Ethan’s neck, which made Ethan duck his head down so Jesse whispered in his ear. “It’ll be even better than the forest.”
“Wait! We shouldn’t- Jesse this is weird,” Ethan said pushing away from Jesse. He was surprised the vampire actually put him down and took a step back.
“It is weird. And still annoying that it’s a forcing compulsion. But I’m fine with it.”
“Yeah but you’re over 200 years old I’m just a… I’m a teenager! Isn’t there laws?”
“Human laws. Are you saying you don’t consent?”
“I mean- I- Stop confusing me!”
“I’m just standing here, Ethan,” Jesse said holding his hands up for emphasis. “I’m just a boy standing in front of another boy.”
“Don’t quote Love, Actually at me.”
“Wait, you watched it?”
“No my mom watches it every Christmas,” Ethan said. “Ugh this is complicated.”
“Is it?” Jesse asked. “I mean, we could just hang out. No touching. No kissing. No nothing.”
“No biting?” Ethan asked. Jesse sighed.
“I’d have to go out and grab a bite because I’m actually really hungry,” Jesse admitted.
“Okay, go grab a bite. Then we’ll just hang out,” Ethan said. Jesse pouted at him. “Stop that. I’m gonna go eat breakfast and then we’ll just go from there.”
“Fine. But the day is still young,” Jesse said then disappeared.
“Was that a threat?” Ethan asked then just shook his head and went to go get that water.
title: Gotta beat them all | word count: 2,318 | summary: The gang are teleported into Bennys ds. | AO3 Link
Ethan wasn't sure how he always got roped into helping Benny, but here he was 8:00am on a Sunday morning clearing out Benny's granny's basement. Of course, he hadn't come just because Benny asked him to, it also had something to do with the fact Sarah had offered to help. So here he was dusting cobwebs and moving boxes.
Sarah and Erica were pawing around old jewellery boxes and chests of clothes, Roxy had found a box with a dead rat in it to entertain himself, Benny who was supposed to be moving boxes was fascinated by an old purple ds he had found, Ethan remembered when him and Benny had gotten matching ones, blue and purple.
"Will you stop messing around with that thing and help me? I doubt it even works!" Ethan complained waving his arms around as he usually does when he's annoyed. Benny completely ignored him in favour of digging dirt out the game slot to figure out which game was stuck in it, which gained a huff from Ethan.
"Come onnn" Ethan groaned grabbing a hold of Benny's shoulder. "It might not be working right now, but…" Benny smiled, stretching his fingers. He pointed at the ds whispering something in Latin, or maybe backwards? Ethan was sure he heard him mumble "get fixed". All five teenagers stopped to watch as the handheld console lay on the floor…
"Nothing happened, genius" Erica remarked, using an unsuspecting Rory as support she pulled herself off the ground and turned to leave, a neck full of pearls and silver. Rory stumbled back, grabbing Ethan for support as he toppled into Sarah.
"Wha! Watch it!" Sarah warned as she struggled to get out from under Rory and Ethan. Benny, still laughing from the sight of it all, offered a hand to Ethan and with a sigh Erica walked forward to offer the same to Sarah.
Right as her hand closed around Sarah's a crunch under her foot sounded and before she knew it a purple glowing light shot up her leg and through her arm. Benny watched as within a second the light spread across all there limbs, connecting them, before it got to bright and he had to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes he was still gripping Ethan's hand, however they were stood in a bedroom that didn't belong to him, or Ethan, or anyone they knew.
"Benny?… Benny?!? What… what!" Ethan looked around the room, chest heaving slightly. "Hey, hey! It's fine, this is fine… my spell must have… gone wrong? And now we, well we're… somewhere" Benny gave a reassuring smile and if it weren't for the worry in his eyes Ethan might have felt better.
"We have to find the others! Or.. okay we have to figure out where we are, then find the others" Ethan was talking to Benny but his friend had already wandered off to more interesting things. "Look at this! I use to have one of these!" Benny smiled holding up a toy pokeball. He tossed it from hand to hand smiling.
"Benny please, focus!" Benny's head snapped up to look at his friend as he shouted, however as a mixture of poor coordination and lack of concentration, the toy fell out of his hand clattering against the floor. 'Oh' he mouthed as he flinched away from the ball breaking open, however unlike the plastic toys they had as kids, this one didn't crack when he dropped it. Instead it popped open with a small white light bursting from it, and then…
"Pika! Pika!" A small yellow animal sat in front of them. Staring at Benny with adoration."Benny that's…" "Ethan? Ethan that's!" The two boys stuttered and stumbled over their words before finally both realised with had happened "WE'RE IN POKÉMON!" The two exclaimed in unison.
After celebrating how cool this was Ethan reminded himself and Benny that they had to focus on finding their friends. "Okay so, this is your ds… that means this is your Pokemon game!" Ethan rushed to the nightstand that a backpack sat in, he pulled out a map of town, a finished Pokédex that 12 year old Benny had spent months trying to complete, Benny's trainer id with all but one gym badge completed, and a bunch of pokeballs and potions.
"Okay we have to… well first we have to find the others, then figure out how to leave" the two rushed outside hoping to find someone to help however a lot of the npcs didn't have anything useful to say "have you tried talking to the professor?" "A fun challenge is completing your Pokédex!" "Woah, you're certainly in a rush".
"This is pointless! Wheres our guide?!" Benny sighed and almost like magic a dark haired girl came running across the road, Benny had hoped for a best friend character that helps along the adventure but…
"There you are! What have you dorks done?!? An old man just gave me a dog and told me I should 'find my friend and provide help'? What's going on!" Sarah stood with her hand on her hip and her 'dog' eevee sat next to her.
"Listen don't freak out. Okay?" Ethan asked his hands raised, Sarah glared at them both for a minute before sighing. Ethan took that as a sign they were in the clear "we're inside Bennys old pokemon game, I believe the only way out is to finish the game but first, we've gotta find the others".
So the three of them set off into the woods heading to the next town, they encountered a hoard of wild pokemon, a bunch of npcs freaking out about team rocket and a handful of annoying trainers but considering how highly levelled bennys team was it really wasn't taking them long to win. They made I through four more towns searching every road for their friends.
Ethan and Sarah were going door to door looking for the pair of blonde vampires whilst Benny stopped at nurse joy to heal his team. As he walked out however he walked right into an npc, triggering their response "watch out for team rocket, they're around here" the man said before hurrying away, it was weird Benny didn't remember the npcs seeming sooo… life like. He thought more on it as he made his way to Ethan and Sarah.
"Hey E, have you noticed the npcs are talking a lot about team rocket yet… we haven't had any run ins?" Ethan frowned at his friends words, confusion written across his face as he tried to come up with an answer, an answer that Benny might have gotten out of him if it weren't for the explosion that sounded off in the distance.
"What was that?!?" Sarah asked looking at the two boys who looked just as confused.
"Something that wasn't supposed to happen" Ethan answered as he took of running towards the route, the sprinted to the next town, ignoring trainers that called on them for a fight and wild Pokemon that jumped out in front of them.
As they reached the next town ash covered the paths, fire covered the rooftops and npcs screamed "its team rockets charizard!" "My house! My house!"
"This isn't how the game goes! Team rocket shouldn't do this and the npcs aren't saying their coded lines!" Ethan panicked. "We're inside a magical ds who cares?!?" Sarah responded but the twos arguement was cut short when…
"OH MY… OH MY GOD TEAM ROCKET ATE MY FRIEND!?!?" An old man npc collapsed to the floor. All three heads shot round at this, in the middle of the flames stood to blonde, fanged, team rocket members. Erica's face was covered in blood whilst Rory's wore a wicked smile as he sent forth his Pokemon to terrorise the town.
Sarah, using her supernatural speed, dragged the two out of the flames, pushing them in front of Benny and Ethan. "What were you's thinking?!?" Ethan asked and the two shrugged.
"Burn the game down so we can get out!" Rory smiled. "Get breakfast?" Erica answered. This led the a full blown fight between the group with Sarah telling erica its inhumane, erica arguing that these things aren't human, Benny telling Rory how stupid he is and how he could have killed them, Rory arguing that the game card is plastic so his fire would melt it and free them.
Ethan however was more worried about the fact the characters weren't following their coding, it wasn't right, how could they break code? He looked around watching as npcs put out fires, screamed, catered to wounds, and… and stared right back at him. A man in a black hood watched him from behind a burning bush. He went to approach the man when Sarah called on him.
"Ethan? Ethan?!" She shouted, grabbing his shoulder and suddenly the hooded man was gone. Ethan looked around frantically but all he saw was the concerned faces of his friends. "You alright man?" Benny asked patting his back.
Ethan wasn't sure who that man was or what he wanted, all he knew is that he didn't want to stay to find out. "We need to finish the game and get out of here" the others stared at him blankly, waiting for more.
"Now!" He demanded dragging them towards the routes whilst still looking over his shoulder.
"You three can fly us to the end!" He said to his undead friends who all gave a quiet nod before grabbing him and Benny and taking off.
They stood in the final town, right in front of the one gym Benny couldn't complete. He smiled cockily to his friends and walked in… then five minutes later he walked out of the poke centre next to it and walked in again, and again, and again. Each time looking less enthusiastic and more annoyed.
"Ethan? What's wrong with you?" Sarah asked as the boy scanned around them. "We have to leave"he said and right as he did Benny done the walk of shame from the poke centre once more.
Ethan groaned "maybe someone else should try!" Benny huffed at this "be my guest! It's impossible!" Ethan snatched Bennys bag off his shoulder and the pokeball out his hand and as he did his eyes went white and he collapsed.
“You don’t belong here. You must leave. You don’t belong here, they know you don’t belong here. Everything’s wrong because you’re here, seer!”
When Ethan came through he was leaning against Benny whilst Sarah tried to give him water. “What did you see?” Sarah asked but she didn’t get an answer instead Ethan jumped to his feet grabbing Erica’s arm and marched into the gym. He blew through trainer after trainer, not caring how injured or exhausted his pokemon were instead filling them with revived and potions and putting them back to work. He reached the top floor of the gym and knew exactly who was there.
“You don’t want us here, just give me the badge and we can leave” he stated, a laugh sounded from underneath the black hood. “That’s not how gyms work, seer” Erica looked a little taken back by the character knowing what he was, Ethan didn’t seemed phased at all which confused her more. “I’m going to fight you, I’m going to win, and if I don’t win, my friend from team rocket here is going to really ruin your day” Ethan stated as he walked forward.
The battle begun.
Everytime Ethan would beat one of his pokemon, he’d beat one of his in return. They went back and forth healing, fighting, losing, winning until eventually they were both down to one pokemon.
The trainers level 80 Lapras against Ethan’s level 70 charizard.
The trainer was stronger, had a Pokemon type that combated Ethan’s, more powerful so, Ethan had to do whatever he could.
“Erica, bite it” his face unchanging. she looked at him, then the sea monster, then its trainer, then she sunk her teeth into it. Blood ran down its neck, it swayed side to side, injured then Ethan took his turn and incinerated the creature. By the time charizard stoped the gym leaders Lapras was coal black covered in ash, lying unconscious.
The gym leader wore a look that Ethan couldn’t figure out as he called back his Lapras, feeding it a number of potions and antidotes before tossing a gym badge towards him.
“Go.” He stated and the two were more than happy to listen as they went to join their friends. As they came out and placed the gym badge with the others the route door at the end of the path began to glow.
“Our way home” Benny laughed nudging Ethan who smiled, uneasy, “let’s go fast” he said as he hurried off towards the door right before they went in the black hooded trainer walked out in front of them. “Your adventure doesn’t end here, Ethan Morgan. The worlds got more in store for you” he smirked before walking out the glowing door into the real world. Sarah was the first to move, charging after the man, grabbing his cloak as they both vanished through the door, the rest of them rushed in behind her.
When they came out they were stood alone in Benny’s grandmothers basement, surrounded by cobwebs and boxes. “There’s no one else here… he must have just… been part of the game, right?” Benny asked, looking at Ethan whose face was chalk white. Sarah opened her mouth, but when her eyes met Ethan’s, full of confusion and fear, she smiled. “It was just a stupid game, that Benny messed up with his stupid magic”.
Ethan gave a weak smile, feeling vaguely reassured by his friend’s words. Only Erica, who had rushed in straight after Sarah knew that Sarah was hiding a torn piece of black fabric behind her back.
For submission do I just copy and paste the story and link or should I state in my submission who it’s for?
hi there! yes, for submissions it's preferred that you include who your giftee is as well as your own user, and the gift is as well of course. we'll then go in and format it further from there! also, if you are uploading your fanfic to ao3/wattpad/etc. you can upload it anytime now and include the link for us to share with it! hope this helps! - mod steff
Just to remind everyone, the final day to submit your gift is the 31st, in just 2 days! If you need an extension, then please contact one of the mods or DM our page so an extension can be arranged. We have been so elated by everything submitted so far, and we are very excited to see what everyone else submits next! ❄️
