SWEETER THAN HEAVEN, HOTTER THAN HELL

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

No one wanted to be alone on Christmas. That was like the worst thing ever, even to Annie. It wasn’t that Annie was a Christian or anything, but she was a bit slanted considering her southern heritage. It was more of a tradition to her, something that just went along with everything else and needed to be repeated. But Annie had spent a long time being alone. She had thought it was what she had wanted, time and time again; solitary. But as soon as Denny had even looked at her, she knew she was done with that. Being alone really did suck, and she could be the first one to tell you, time and time again. She’d gotten so good at ignoring it that she had almost accepted it.

Abby had brought up a shopping venture, and Annie didn’t even know why she had said she would do it. Maybe it was because Denny had looked relieved. Not in a bad way, but in a god way, like… well she didn’t want to overthink it because then she’d get critical and find something wrong and panic and flip a shit that no one would be able to talk her through. So she basically just left the whole thought process to that. And besides she needed to get Denver something for Christmas. It was just… an obligation. It had plagued her quietly about what to get him, and it got to the point where she couldn’t even think straight and she felt like her head was going to explode and she wanted to rip her hair out. It was all twisted and haunting her like she was going to fail as a girlfriend just from that, and then Denver would never want her because she had messed up so badly and she would end up alone, forever.

But what she was starting to realize that being with anyone but Denny was like being alone.

But then she had remembered the guitar that the witch had broken, and that seemed like a good idea. But Annie had no idea about anything musical but her own voice. And even then, she just kind of let it do whatever the hell it wanted. So, like, guitar strings. Were there different kinds? Or like, a one-size-fits-all kind of deal? She didn’t even know what kind of guitar Denny had. It was brown… or maybe orange. She sure as hell didn’t pay any attention. It wasn’t her business. It was Denny’s. Ugh, why hadn’t that bitch broken like, Boss’s bass or something? Okay, that was a bad thing to wish, especially considering that, in a weird way, she was thankful that the girl had given her something to buy.

So she had done that the whole day, and didn’t know about Denny buying the ring, or the fight with Jason, or the severity in which someone had insulted her to Denny’s face, for the third time since they had started going out, or whatever the hell this was. Because, honestly, although she considered Denny her boy friend and vice versa, she knew that they were more than just some couple, that they were more than dating. Dating sounded very present tense, like they were just trying each other out. Annie didn’t like the way that sounded at all. She didn’t even like together, because they were more than together. She felt like every phrase she could think of just came back to dating, and she hated that because it really didn’t give what they had the justice it deserved. But she didn’t want to say any big words, because at the same time she didn’t know how well they would work. She knew that she would never push Denver away for too long, but there were so many other pretty, pretty girls after him, ones with much less baggage than her.

So what it really all came back to was how long he would be there until he came to his senses.

But Annie hated that, too. She didn’t want to be so pessimistic. As corny as it sounded, and she would never tell this to anyone, wouldn’t even dare think of it in case Abby heard, she would marry Denny. She would give up the feral parts of herself to try and give him the life he wanted. Maybe she would only think of those things when her mind was already going down hill, but with this day dreamy aura her thought process had she could just see them having a nice house in the suburbs, like the ones in the Cat in the Hat, although a lot less Doctor Suess-y. But that was the last thing anyone expected from either of them, and so she would keep it quiet. But if it were to happen, she hated to say it but at the same time she didn’t, she would be completely content and want nothing more out of her life.

As corny as it sounded, as long as he was there she would be okay with whatever she wanted for herself. Annie had never been one big on dreams, she just took what life put in her lap. And Denny was that, but he was like one big amazing dream, too, and so she would give up all the little parts of herself to keep him happy and around.

In the stores, somehow the two girls managed to smash into Victoria’s Secret; yes, literally smash. Abby was already completely wasted, and Annie was on her way, and then with trying to control Abby it was a trainwreck. Especially when they ran into the holiday lingerie. Because, Annie couldn’t turn down a dare. And neither could Abby. And because of that, Annie ended up leaving with guitar strings and this red outfit that had impossibly too little fabric. And fucking bells. Why had she done that?

It came back to being in a pleasing mood, as terrible as that sounded.

And then the girls went back out because it was only around four or five in the afternoon and so there was still plenty of time to drink, their one big bonding activity. And so they did and did and did and Annie didn’t know what she was doing anymore, so she just went to Denny’s. That’s where she wanted to be, and she didn’t care about everyone else’s plans, because she just wanted to be with Denny, and she had another gift in mind. The kind that did not come in bags… although that lingerie could help.

She knocked tentatively on Denny’s door before just opening it all the way and walking in. At the restroom of the last bar they were at, Abby had told Annie of her brilliant idea for her to change into that and just wear her sweat shirt over it. This included fishnets and heels, which Annie felt alien in and they made her teeter like a house of cards. But after another drink that didn’t seem like such a bad idea, so she had done it. ”Dennnnnnyyy,” she called out, and through the alcohol it sounded like a whine. ”I’m sorry… if I’m late… me and Abby….we went out for a few drinks.” she giggled a little. What the hell was she saying? What was she late for? She obviously wasn’t in control of her mouth anymore. But she really didn’t even care too much about that anymore, so she just laughed lightly again, and put the bags she was carrying down. Denny still hadn’t appeared. ”Where are yoooouuuu?” she called, kind of whiny again. Annie was a weird drunk, but it didn’t really affect a lot of her. It was just really good for a recreation sort of thing for her; it loosened her up, made her more emotional, made her talk more. Maybe an emotional Annie wasn’t a good thing, but with people other than Denny she tended to give them the bare minimum, and so when the beer knocked down her walls she was a lot more pleasant to be around. So she sounded a little whiny; it wasn’t like she was a total whore drunk. She would have wanted to be all over Denny tonight, sober or not. She started to take off her jacket, the bell of the small skirt part jingling making her want to giggle again. ”Okay, okay, okay. Don’t laugh at me.” it wasn’t like he was trying to convince her to expose all that (or lack of that) but she wanted to do it, but she was scared.

She noticed her hands were shaking. That wasn’t because of anything she had drank. She was legitimately very, very terrified to be there, she was honestly shaking and just scared. There was too much of her out there, just standing there, put up high from these heels that made her sway and she didn’t even know why she was wearing them. She didn’t know why she was doing any of this. But at the same time she did. She wanted to see his face, she wanted to see his immediate reaction. And, depending on what it was, it might make her run out of that, go to her house, and vomit all that was in her stomach, food, liquor, stomach acid, anything, until she just started crying. There was no dark to cover what she was terrified of, anymore. So she just closed her eyes in lieu of that, crossing her fingers behind her back. She didn’t want to have to leave.



1,592 - just use the perverted side of your imagination for this outfit xD - lyrics to florence and the machine - longer than i anticipated. poor drunk, self conscious annie <33

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you taught my heart
A SENSE IT NEVER KNEW I HAD

The roof of his building was honestly his favorite place ever. Well, besides being anywhere that Annie was. But since Annie wasn’t there with him, he sat up on the roof of his building, just above his bedroom window where he’d brought Annie only a few weeks ago. But now he was there alone, thinking about how much his fists hurt. Still. He hadn’t even hit that guy as hard as he could have, but his knuckles were still screaming at him. The monster had left his system so long ago, leaving his mind so empty it felt old almost. The glory of the fight turned into slight regret, but not for what the fight had been about. Denny regretted just having fought in the first place, for having lost enough control to punch the guy multiple times in the face. The fact that he’d been standing up for Annie was really what justified the whole situation in his mind, and the fact that other than his knuckles, he’d walked away almost completely unscathed was just going to make the whole day easier to keep a secret from Annie. There was no possible way Denny was going to tell her, especially not now, not so close to Christmas. He didn’t want her to close up and see him in the light everyone else saw him in during the holidays, and although that was a tad too selfish, the fact remained that the initial appeal to Annie was that she didn’t see him that way.

Obviously now there was so much more than just that that Denny loved.

That was the very reason he’d thought to even purchase the ring he’d gone to get before the fight for Annie. The fact that he loved her that much to want to buy her jewelry he could hardly afford was enough for him to know that that was what he was going to do. Annie hadn’t said anything about presents for Christmas, and neither of them were particularly religious, but Denny had just thought that part of being a good boyfriend was buying flowers and nice, shiny rings for the girl he loved. So, all in all, he didn’t regret too much about the day. He just….was alone, sitting on his roof because of the void of Annie in his apartment. He concentrated on the sky, rather than the pain in his fingers, smiling at the setting sun like it was his best friend or something. Denny, if found there just happily sitting on the roof, could quite possibly be deemed psychotic, mostly because of the way he was looking at the sun. Honestly though, when he looked, the rays of light just reminded him of Annie’s hair. There were dark spots, lots of little light strands sticking out of those dark spots, twists and turns in the rays that looked similar to the braids and chains Annie tied into her hair. He wasn’t too sure how he could make that kind of comparison, but there it was in his mind.

Everything about Christmas Eve just put him in this mindset that totally calmed him, sent the monster to a far corner of wherever it took up residence while it wasn’t within Denny. The snow, though it was light and melted quickly, made him feel so comforted for reasons he couldn’t explain. The calm, still air opened the airways, inviting him higher and higher until the atmosphere became too thin for him to breathe and he was forced back to earth. The sun setting just….put him in a calm state of mind. All of it was broken, though he wasn’t pulled out of his mood, when Annie’s voice reached his ears. He could hear her from all the way across the apartment and up outside on the roof - that was just the extent of his vulture sensory. He smiled slightly, pushing himself off the ledge he’d been sitting on and sliding down to the balcony that really wasn’t made to hold is weight. Thankfully, because of the fact that he was part bird, his bones didn’t weigh half as much as they should, and the balcony only shook a little as he quickly passed from it to his bed.

Denny climbed across the sheets as fast as he could, slowing as he left his bedroom as to not seem like he was a desperate boy waiting for his mom to get the car ready so he could take a girl out for their first date. He could see the outline of Annie, could tell that she was standing by his door, and as he walked down the hall his smile grew into a small smirk. Normally, he would have just smiled awkwardly and dove right into what he was looking at. But his mood didn’t permit it - he was slightly in a playful mood, but even those weren’t the right words for how he felt. He couldn’t even put into words how he felt, honestly, but as he neared Annie and saw what she was wearing. Well, it was safe to say that his heart rate sped up a bit. He could feel it, as small a change as it was, but it fueled the growth of his smirk. “Why in this world are your eyes closed?” Denny couldn’t understand it, so he felt he had to ask. He leaned against his wall for a few long seconds, trying to anticipate his next move, carefully taking in the fact that this was Annie, and he knew her, and if he took the wrong step, she’d run.

He pushed himself off the wall and slowly stepped closer and closer to Annie until he was so close, he could feel the heat radiating off of her body. Her choice of clothing, or rather lack thereof, didn’t even really phase him. He liked it, of course - what straight guy in his right mind wouldn’t? - but the fact that this was Annie he was looking at and speaking to overruled all other factors. “I’m not laughing.” His tone was soft, not serious, and he spoke quietly because of their closeness. It was sort of nice to have Annie closer to his full height, but Denny didn’t ordinarily judge her on how short she was anyway. Denny was still smiling when Annie finally opened her eyes. He reached behind her and pulled both of her hands forward, holding them in his own hands because he knew she’d like that. He hoped it would put her mind at some sort of ease. “Now tell me,” he started, “If I were even the least bit sane, why would I laugh at you?” Denny leaned forward and kissed Annie, still smiling against her lips.

All of the sudden, the weight of the ring in his pocket outweighed all other thoughts in his mind, and he pulled back. He did so slowly though, hesitantly the way he always did because he never wanted to stop kissing Annie. “You look sexy. There’s no laughing matter in that.” His words spoke truth, but he was still smiling. He just couldn’t stop knowing that all of this in front of him belonged to him and him alone. It made him feel like what he’d done to and with the guy outside of the jewelry shop had been worth it, like for once he’d done something wrong with the right intentions. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the occasion?” He should have known the answer would be something along the lines of the holidays, but he didn’t even think about it. Honestly the only two things he could think about were Annie and the ring in his pocket, the previous of the two being at the front and foremost of his mind.

“Occasion doesn’t really matter, actually.” He wanted to hear the story, but if Annie didn’t want to tell him, that was just his way of saying she didn’t need to. He could tell she was drunk, could taste it on her lips and could smell it on her breath but honestly, it didn’t really bother him. Denny was too cheery (almost out of character, to be honest) to really care either way, but he’d still be just as cheery with whatever Annie decided to do. “What does matter is that you’re here.” Denny took one of his hands from hers and put it on her cheek as he leaned in to kiss her again, just honestly glad that he wasn’t alone anymore. Not as quickly as the last kiss, he pulled away and just looked her over quickly, taking in whatever he could of whatever Annie was pulling. “I have something I wanted to give you tomorrow, but if you want it now…..I can’t really deny giving it to you.”

1528 -- lyrics to silverstein, words to me duh, image from caution. -- UM DENNY IS WEARING HIS USUAL HOODIE AND JEANS JS. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- oh lookie here :)

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

Why in this world are your eyes closed? Annie bit her lip. There were a lot of ways to answer that. But the real answer was that Annie didn’t want to see. She did want to see his face, because the whole day of being with Abby and not him washed over her like a huge tidal wave, making her realize she had missed him so much that it was a physical ache in her chest and the inside of her arms, the crease of her elbows, like them being together created some kind of chemical drug for her. But her eyes were closed because she was also afraid to look at him. What if there was something on his face that she didn’t want to see? What did she do then? She would just… fall apart. Everything would come undone. She would just unravel in front of him like when you touch a really old piece of paper and it just crumbles partially under your fingertips, although Annie would just dissolve completely. There wouldn’t be anything after that because he had been the one building her up, quietly coaxing her to believe that her skin was a nice place to be.

But she wanted him to say it was a nice place to be. She wanted him to want to be on her skin and tell her that she was perfect the way she was because that was what she was constantly worried about. She knew she would pretend that she didn’t believe him, she knew she wouldn’t believe him. But to hear it from his lips would calm her down more than him taking her hands ever would. But she didn’t think she would ever feel just right, because as much as she wanted him to feel right with her, she didn’t know if that would fix it. But she was definitely hoping it would.

She found herself catching her breath, and her head got dizzy when he came close. She didn’t know why he always seemed to do that too her, but just being so close to her suddenly made her feel off balance. I’m not laughing. He said quietly, softly, and Annie was forced to look up. He was telling the truth, because, besides a huge smile, he looked very far from laughing. He looked like he liked what he saw and that gave Annie this boost of hope that she needed. She could feel the warmth coming off him in waves and she just wanted to be all wrapped up in it. She exhaled, her eyes wide in wonder. Maybe it was the alcohol, but it probably wasn’t. Denny was just lovely, a lovely person, a looker, and there he was, pulling her crossed fingers from behind her back and into his hands.

He asked her why he would ever laugh at her, and her head just made a list; she couldn‘t help it, it just suddenly made up all this proof. She was ugly, she was the wrong size, she was the wrong shape, she had the wrong voice, the wrong face, the wrong hair, the wrong thoughts, the wrong head, everything was wrong. She was so damaged and broken she wanted to scream Denny was so right, he was honest, he was whole, he was giving, he was big enough for the both of them. Annie was secretive, and wrong, and twisted up in so many ways that all her wrong ends just collided and made a huge mess inside her.

She opened her mouth to blurt that all out, to give him the detailed list of exactly why he would laugh, and then he was kissing her and she had to swallow her words and forget.

It was impossible to think about anything else when he was kissing her, not only because she didn’t want to, but her body just couldn’t. It didn’t want to let go of that, it just got completely swallowed up. Her whole life she had been looking for something that could take a big enough part of her to mean something, because no one had ever affected her. It had kind of become a challenge, and there was Denny, ready to pick up the gauntlet and show her that he would take this on. And his lips, those were a hint that he was winning.

And then he was talking again and Annie’s chest just swelled up and she forgot what she was wearing (and what she wasn’t) because Denny had this way of making none of that matter. All that mattered was him holding her hands and looking at her and telling her all these things and saying she wasn’t a joke. Because she felt like that sometimes, like she was just one big act for everyone. She would never show it because she played the role sincere, but it just seem like Denny saw through the whole thing, could pick off the excess layers of Annie that she had been so convinced were actually parts of her personality, but actually were just useless bits of anger that she held on to for too long. It left her feeling a little empty, like she was scrambling to find new traits to take place of the old, but she liked the feeling a lot. Because he was there to help her.

She liked the way he was smiling, like he realized that this was all for him. All of her and what she was wearing - or wasn’t - and all her words and thoughts… they were all for him and she was trying to stress that for right now, because she wanted him to understand that. Touching her was a taboo for almost everyone, but Annie would let Denny run his hands all over her all day long if he wanted. Annie hated talking, hated holding an intelligent conversation for longer than a few minutes, but Denny could keep her entertained for days. It all came back to him being different. He understood the way Annie’s brain worked, and reacted in accordance to it.

The occasion? Annie’s tongue stumbled inside her mouth. ”Uh, Abby dared me…” that was so anticlimactic. She felt like she should have laughed or smiled but she was still feeling nervous, and when she noticed that she was still nervous her hands started shaking inside of his. She had never shook from nervousness, she just shook when she was angry, or wanted to shift. This tremble was weird, and, frankly, It scared her. It added to the fear and self consciousness because what if he thought she wanted to shift and then he left her alone? That was honestly one thing she couldn’t handle right then, him leaving.

Her head was still spinning from the alcohol and his closeness, and then he got closer, saying it didn’t matter because she was there, and she felt like she was having an out of body experience when he kissed her again. She got so dizzy she felt like her knees were gonna get weak and give out, even though that seemed like the only thing that happened in fairytales. His hand on her cheek just did the trick and made her feel like she was swooning, although no one would have expected that from her. Maybe she was just full of surprises today. She stumbled in her heels, like she had leaned too far back, and then too far forward, and so she teetered into Denny lightly, but her only real reaction was to smile against her lips.

And then, too soon, he pulled away. Was it something that had gone wrong? What had she done? She bit her lip, but then he spoke, and she realized that everything was alright. She listened to him. Shit. Gifts. She had almost forgotten. But, then again, she kind of wanted to forget, so she just ignored him for the time being and pressed her lips back against him, along with the rest of her body, giving hints of her intent for the night. Annie was surprised at her skill at kissing so drunk, how she didn’t seem to be doing the wrong things and so she just kept kissing him, as long as she could, until she absolutely couldn’t breathe and even then she tried to keep her lips there as long as she could, like she was stealing his breath.

But when she did pull away she was panting lightly, but a smile crept across her face. ”I don’t care.” She didn’t say it in a way that she didn’t care, it was just that as long as it was coming from him it could come any time. And just him being there was enough from her. She did care, but for now, she really just wanted to keep kissing him. SO she leaned in and kissed him again.


1,468 - just use the perverted side of your imagination for this outfit xD - lyrics to florence and the machine - koala tea

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you taught my heart
A SENSE IT NEVER KNEW I HAD

Denny got the picture. He didn’t mean that in a demeaning way, but the truth was that he got it. The outfit, the kissing, the not caring too much about talking. All of it added up to something Denny wasn’t unfamiliar with. And honestly, he wasn’t complaining. The smile on his face and his seemingly infinite jolly mood just….fit with the time of the year, and obviously gave away the fact that he wasn’t objecting to anything Annie was submitting. He kind of wanted to give her the ring before his pants somehow magically ended up on the floor and it just fell out of the pocket. Because if that happened, the possibility of Annie just finding it there on the floor of…wherever this was going kind of scared Denny. He didn’t want her just picking up the box and thinking things, things that might scare her away and make her never want to even see him again. Denny desperately wanted to be the one to pull the ring out and give it to Annie with every explanation he’d already planned out for it; it was just the safer route to take as far as he was concerned.

So he was faced with a difficult decision to make. Risk having the ring end up on the floor for Annie to find on her own, or give it to her now that he’d brought it up? Pros and cons to both; what if he explained everything and she still didn’t want it? What if she accepted it now, woke up and didn’t remember a thing, and freaked out thinking they’d gotten married or something? Well, Denny had a bit more faith in Annie – he knew if that were to be the case, she’d freak out and realize it was Denny she was married to, not some stranger off of the street. Things wouldn’t be too bad, but the fact remained that he was trying really hard to take their status slowly if anything. He didn’t want to spring up and scare her out of her wits with an engagement ring, which was why he’d chosen to keep this strictly between the flowers usual couples gave each other and a ring that meant ‘we’re getting married in a matter of months!’ Honestly, as far as Denny could see it all came back to just giving her the ring and getting it over with.

Of course, he let Annie kiss him before he went for the ring. Slyly, somehow without him even noticing most of what he was doing himself, Denny pulled out the green velvet box and rolled it in his hand that had somehow let go of Annie’s face. As soon as he had a grip on the box, it was back on her cheek though, and he kissed her some more. Buying himself some time, that was all. Eventually he started to lose track of time, and he didn’t know how long it had been. But he gently, slowly pulled away again and brought the box to the small space between them and smiled again. “Don’t jump to conclusions, okay?” That was a good way to start. He sighed slightly, keeping his one hand in Annie’s as the other opened the box with ease. The simple, small, silver ring stared back at the both of them, and Denny took a quick glance at Annie’s face just to see what he could. “I’m not asking you to marry me,” he said softly, “but….just read the inscription.” He let Annie take the ring, doubted at that time that she’d be able to see the inscription because of her current mental and physical state, and then read it aloud for her.

“Forever yours, if you’re forever mine.” Now that he was saying it, two things happened. First, Denny felt the real weight of the words. It wasn’t heavy and it wasn’t an uncomfortable weight on his shoulders, but rather the kind of weight that made him feel like he had something worth doing, something worth working towards. It was a good weight, and it made Denny’s smile turn inward (at least in his mind) and filled him with this sense of wholeness that he always got when something with Annie and him went right. Second, he realized how cheesy it was. The saying was nice on the ring, but when it was rolling off of his tongue, it just felt so…..romance movie, it wasn’t even funny. The whole situation wasn’t funny in the first place anyway, but the fact remained. “I know it’s a bit…..cheesy.” He didn’t really have a but to finish that sentence with, so he let it hang in the room like a spider from a web. Well, until he did have a but, and then things cleared up in his mind again.

“But I love you, and I just wanted you to know that I promise this; if you’re forever mine, I’m forever yours.” And there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Time and time again he’d gotten himself used to the thought that there was no one for him the way Annie was for him, and there was no one she let hold her and touch her and love her the way she let Denny do all of those things. He wanted her to know that that thought ran through his mind ever single day, that he was the lucky lad that got to call her his forever. Somehow, some way he was different enough, understanding enough to break through the layers she’d built around herself to separate her personality and life from everyone else’s, and he knew it well enough to show his appreciation of her acceptance of just that.

Denver waited for Annie’s reaction, then smiled and put the ring on her finger for her. It was just…the way he knew, you know? Either way, with the ring and the worries along with it out of the way, he took her hand in his again and kissed her, getting right back into the place they’d paused for the ring. Whenever they moved and her skirt started jingling, Denny couldn’t help his smile. But the both of them knew where this was going, and one way or another they were going to make it across his apartment. Everything that they needed was in his bedroom, especially since planned parenting wasn’t in either of their speed dials. His living room was just like a bank that was going broke; it had insufficient funds for the both of them, so moving to another bank would be the safest, smartest, most convenient idea. Denny moved as close as he could before moving his hands as slowly as he could to pick Annie’s legs up, positioning them on either side of his frame before he started moving towards the back of the apartment. Once he reached the doorway to his bedroom, he let her down and put her back against the way, not pushing to keep her there but rather just standing there, kissing her. His hands found one of her hands again, the other reaching up for her cheek once again.

Then his hands were gone, but they didn’t move far. They were taking off his jacket since things were getting a little hot, and the fact that he’d decided not to wear a thing under the jacket didn’t hurt. It made things easier, actually; as soon as his jacket was on the floor somewhere, his hands were back on Annie, bringing her over to his bed with as much ease as he could manage. His hand that had been on her cheek moved once they were laying down. It moved from her face to her neck, gliding past her collar bone, around the curve of her back to her waist, finally resting on her hip. He didn’t want to move any further in case that was the wrong thing to do, but he knew what they both needed. The heat he’d felt under the jacket before was growing rapidly into that familiar flame that sparked between them every time they needed to be connected this way. The fire was starting, and at this point there was only one thing either of them could do.

Pretty much, all they could do was add fuel to the fire.


1389 -- lyrics to silverstein, words to me duh, image from caution. -- UM DENNY IS WEARING HIS USUAL JEANS JS. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- okay this is slower than the first one and i know it. i'm tired and my fingers are being weird :/

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

Annie stared at the ring, not really doubtfully, but that was really the only wayu to describe the look. She just looked at it in his hands. The first thing he said was to not jump to conclusions, and so she was trying not to. But it seemed very engagement like, and for a moment, that appealed to Annie. She thought about what she had been thinking earlier, about how she would give up her vagabond life stylings just to give Denny what he wanted. She didn’t know exactly what he wanted, but for some reason she had the idea that it was like what his parents had, that he would want a family, something stable. Which was weird, because she didn’t know the first thing about stable. But, if he wanted that, she would learn. She would marry him if he asked, and be scared every step of the way, but she would if that’s what he wanted from her. Kids, even, although she knew that would just end badly for everyone involved. Honestly, she didn’t know why her mind was writing out all these scenarios. But some little part of her liked it. That confused her a lot, but then Denny was talking again, about how he wasn’t asking her to marry him, and all her day dreams dissipated like low-flying clouds.

She had to admit that some little part of her was disappointed, even though everyone thought Annie would run from the smallest signs of commitment.

Annie looked at the ring in her fingers, turned it over. The inscription was small on the band, and with her head spinning it was hard to decipher any actual words. Forever your’s if you’re forever mine. Annie’s mouth was open in a slight “o” as she looked at it. The simplicity appealed to her a lot, and she knew that she could never turn up an offer like this. His words were heavy and Annie thought in the quiet that echoed them, selectively ignoring what Denny said about it being cheesy. To her it wasn’t cheesy at all. She liked it, because it gave her some hope. She knew that she would always be there for Denver, and no one else. No one had ever really took the time to look at her like he did. Everyone glanced her over, and took her as she appeared. No one had ever said they loved her, no one ever looked long enough to realize that underneath all of her wild looks and bitter exterior that she was hurting. She didn’t even know if Abby had, because Abby was too preoccupied with still getting laid, even though Annie had given that up a long time ago. Denny had seen her, and in trying to help her, he had helped himself. So they had this attachment to each other from that, and that was what started that love, she supposed, but then it just grew like a humongous tree out in a billion different fashions, unable to untangle and look at each reason. But she thought it was better that way because love wasn’t something you analyzed.

It just was.

His next words forced her to her to look up at him, and that was good, because his face sealed the entire deal for her. He made her feel like more than she ever had in her entire life. His words built her up more than anyone else’s, his small gestures were healing the biggest canyons between them, the ones they wanted to ignore. He made everything alright for her, and she didn’t even know how. Maybe alright wasn’t the right word, because life had always been bearable and tolerable. But he just fixed it to where it made sense, like when you fit the wrong piece in an enormous puzzle, and it looks alright, but if you were to really scrutinize it, it would look sore and out of place. But Denny was like the seasoned puzzle expert that came along and picked up the piece that Annie had shoved into the spot, putting it where it rightfully belonged, and then she stared at it dumbfounded, like it was so obvious, like oh, so that’s where that goes. He made it all make sense in a big way using small pieces. Like his gentle motions, and his soft voice, like he was trying to coax a wild animal out of the bushes, which he kind of was. And even the way he just called her sexy, which lots of people had over the years, but for some reason it was different. It was the smile, it was how, before he had said that, he had told her quietly that he wasn’t laughing. It wasn’t a cat call or a way to get her in bed. It was honest, like that’s really what he saw and that’s how she was. Maybe that sounded crazy, other people would analyze words like beautiful, and gorgeous, and pretty, no one else would just get that much meaning out of sexy.

But Annie did. Because it mattered to her, and when things mattered to her she dwelled on them and never let them go and held them close like small reminders that she was better than she thought.

And when he put it on her finger it felt really right to her, like she couldn’t even think of words that made it fit right, there were no phrases to describe it, so she just kept quiet about it, licking her lips trying to think of words that would work anyway. ”Denny… I-I… I love you, too.” That was the only thing she could think to say, and then he was kissing her again so she didn’t really have to say anything because her lips spoke for themselves. She completely forgot about giving Denny his gift, especially when he pushed himself closer and his hands started to slide down her legs, lifting her up against him. She was a little surprised because, hey, that was new, this whole carrying thing. But she couldn’t really focus on her surprise because of the kissing and the moving, and then when they got to his bedroom and he put her down. They backed up against the wall, still kissing, but Annie felt like she was missing something, like she wasn’t catching up quick enough to him. She had to admit that she liked him making all the moves, but it left her feeling forgetful. You think muscle memory would be back in place because, unfortunately, she had done this so many times. Not to mention their bodies knew each other better than Annie’s body knew anyone, so you think it would be reacting quicker, knowing what to do.

When his hoodie came off, though, exposing that bare chest, Annie started to remember and she was kissing him again, more feverishly than before, feeling the fire spark in her legs and move up until it was all over, like she was a witch burning from the bottom up. But better, much better. And then they were moving to the bed and Annie’s head couldn’t keep all this moving straight and she suddenly felt like she was suffocating and all of her clothes needed to get off right now. His hand slid from her face to her hip, leaving like a gasoline trail behind it. Yes, she basically needed to get completely naked, right then. So she just kept kissing him and tried her smoothest to slither out of this outfit, but the fishnets proved to be a problem for her drunken discoordination, and she had to pull her lips back slightly as she giggled because her feet were just everywhere as she tried to pull the damn things off. But then everything went back to fire an she couldn’t keep anything straight because it was just fire, fire, fire.

But she really did like it that way.

When the fire finally died down and the smoke cleared, Annie was laying stomach down on the bed, resting her head against his chest so that the really only visible part of her body was her bare back. The bruises were still there, even if Annie didn't notice them (which was evident by what they'd just done). They covered her concealed stomach and wrapped around her sides like hungry fingers, and in some parts feathered so far across her back that they mingled on her spine. It was all like an ugly mustard yellow, except on the edges where it was purply, like smashed grapes or something. Annie didn't feel them anymore, didn't notice they were showing. She looked up at Denny. She couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not, because his eyes were closed and her wolf-senses were significantly lowered when she was this drunk. She sighed though, because her head was all jumbled up with things that she didn’t want to think about, like how she just wanted to scream that she didn’t believe he would stay with her, even if she was forever his. But she would hate to contradict him, because that would be horrid. She loved him to much to ever hurt him by saying that she didn’t believe. But her lips just tingled, because now that she wasn’t kissing him she desperately wanted to say something. She rifled through everything that she had been thinking earlier, and then sighed, pulling herself closer to him, and closing her eyes.

”But… if you had asked me to marry you…. I-I… I would have said yes.” her voice echoed softly in the quiet dark of his apartment.



1,528 - just use the perverted side of your imagination for this outfit xD - lyrics to florence and the machine - i don't even know what i'm writing anymore its just idek. I DON'T KNOW WHERE THIS IS COMING FROM, IT'S SO NOT ANNIE, WFT.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you've got me buried with your every move
YOUR FINE LINES HAVE ME AT A LOSS OF MEMORY

How two people came together and created this enormous fire and extinguished it all in the same place and time (generally speaking, anyway), Denny would never be able to explain. However, he really didn’t want to. He felt like this fire was meant just for him and Annie, and he wanted to keep it strictly between the two of them. It wasn’t like if someone else knew about it – Abby, Boss, or whoever should happen to fall upon the knowledge of it – Denny would be angry, but he felt like the whole sensation was just for him and Annie and no one else. Besides, he felt a bit awkward thinking that someone else might feel this way, not that he had any valid reason behind such a feeling. So, even though this was quite redundant, it was better left unsaid to anyone outside of Annie and himself.

Despite all of that, the fact that the bruises had gone overlooked could only be blamed on the fire. But when it was decreasing in size and the air around them was clearing up, Denny saw the yellows, purples, faded blues on Annie’s skin and automatically a hint of worry sparked in his mind. He hadn’t let it show and in fact managed to keep it at the farthest reach of his mind, but he could constantly sense it, and he knew it wouldn’t go away even if he tried to clean it out through his ears. Even when he closed his eyes, soaking in all he could without having to look at the bruises, the worry about their presence didn’t escape him. They were there, they were real, and if he opened his eyes they’d be in plain sight. He didn’t want to end up just staring at the weird colors they were turning because this was still Annie in bed with him, still Annie that he loved and had finally handed the ring over to. This wasn’t like…just his best friend anymore, not even just his confidante anymore – this was Annie, the only person in the entire world that he whole heartedly cared for and would do anything for. The bruises set him on such an edge cause of the unearthly feelings he had for Annie.

But with his eyes closed, he was able to keep the worry in the back of his mind. He was torn, still. He wanted to look at Annie, to just see her and be engulfed in what beauty he found. But he knew, at the same time, if he opened his eyes, he’d find the bruises, and though he’d find some illogical beauty in them, he’d still be worried. He’d be two opposite sides of the same battle, essentially. And it would tear his mind in two, but he knew if he saw Annie’s face everything would be okay. There were no bruises there, nothing to defame the gorgeousness he always found in her face. If you asked Denny, there were no blemishes to Annie’s face, and so if he just looked at that part of her anatomy everything would be alright. But he didn’t know if he’d be able to keep his eyes on her face for that long with the knowledge that the bruises were there. While he didn’t want to see them in fear of letting the worry seep out of every one of his pores, he wanted to see them for the same reason, and it was tearing his mind apart even without him even having really taken the time or attention to really look.

To make the matter even more confusing, he really didn’t want to lay with his eyes closed anymore. He didn’t like the dark that stared back at him behind his lids, didn’t particularly like the way he couldn’t focus on the colors through the cycle of thoughts running through his mind. It was like the train station that usually ran like an actual train station had turned into a huge circle; the trains would depart and arrive at the same station without any stops, leaving the passengers so distorted that they couldn’t tell if they location was the same or not until it was too late and their train had left again. Denny couldn’t handle this. His brain was being twisted – or so it felt – and it put him in this odd, awkward shape mentally that when Annie spoke he had to listen to it over and over again in his mind in order for it to just push out the rest of his thoughts. It took a couple more rounds of her voice ringing through his newly evacuated mind for him to really even begin to register what she’d actually said. And when the words hit him, they did so with a bang! It almost hurt, but not particularly in a way that made Denny cringe, even thought hat sounded so incredibly impossible.

But once the words were slowly played out before his mind and the registration of the words made sequential sense, Denny’s eyes popped open as far as they would go. Suddenly he was looking right at Annie with a huge smile across his face and once he realized how creepy he must have looked, he forced his eyes to close themselves a bit. He leaned forward just a bit, completely forgetting all that had troubled him before, and kissed Annie, hoping that would be enough because all of the words in his mind just sounded jumbled and hurried, like he didn’t have enough breath to say everything he wanted to. His hand found her cheek again, burying itself so deep into her hair it felt like his fingers would just mold themselves around what he could hold onto, even if he wasn’t pulling. He was just holding, keeping himself there with a sense of urgency he didn’t even recognize until then. And when his lips moved away, they didn’t move too far, and he stayed so close his forehead rested against hers, like he always seemed to like to do. “You have no clue how happy that makes me to hear you say that, Annie.” But he kind of felt like it did, because of the kiss he’d just given her.

“But….and this as absolutely nothing to do with you, I swear; I’m not ready to get married just yet.” No matter how he said it, it still sounded like he had some sort of commitment issue. Obviously he didn’t; Denver had completely and wholly given himself to Annie willingly, excitedly, completely and utterly without regret or second thoughts. In fact, even when they were just friends and he had fallen for her, he was ready to jump into boyfriend mode whenever she would accept him that way. There was no way he had any sort of commitment issue to Annie; if anything, he was like her dog and not the other way around. At least in that department. “I love you, and I always will. But we’re young and we have time for that.” That sounded convincing enough. To him, anyway. Denny really didn’t have an actual valid reason why he didn’t really want to get married right now except for that – he was only twenty-two, Annie only twenty. It wasn’t a matter of ‘I might find someone else and I don’t want to be tied down to the wrong person forever’ because the right person was right there, with him, loving him as he loved her. Denny knew with every fiber in his existence that Annie was right for him, no matter what she or anyone else thought. None of it mattered to him, really.

“That’s why, for now, I just wanted to promise you that I’m always going to be yours. I will never belong to anyone else the way I belong to you; not now, not ever.” He smiled at her, holding her face by her cheek again the way he was starting to get used to tonight. He kissed her again, this time with less urgency but more emotion, still smiling because he couldn’t help himself. He knew in the forefront of his mind that even if he hadn’t asked her to marry him tonight, one day he would, and one day she would say yes. He had all the faith in the world that he would be able to know the right time, have the right ring, be in the right place to ask her, and he knew because of her words to him that she would say yes. He wouldn’t hold that as some sort of ransom until he did ask, because blackmail was so out of Denny’s character. But he would hold onto that faith for future reference, just in case, when the time came around, he started to doubt himself and his abilities to actually go through with it.


1476 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- UM DENNY IS NOT CURRENTLY WEARING ANYTHING. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- oh lookie here :)

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

She watched him carefully, and since she wasn’t looking at her back like Denny was, she didn’t understand why he wouldn’t look at her, and her mind immediately jumped to the worse conclusions. Why wouldn’t he look at her? Was something wrong? Her mind jumped to everything that could be wrong, and it spun back and forth like a sick version of the wheel of fortune. And, of course, the dial landed on her body. That’s what was wrong. She knew it. That was immediately what she thought of, and it was the easiest thing for her to blame. But there were so many other things it could have been and it really just made her feel like dirt. It was like she had been there when Jason was yelling about seconds, fifths, tenths. But she hadn’t been there; but her mind was thinking that exact thing. That now he was realizing, after the euphoria of the first time drifted away, that Annie really wasn’t anyone special, because she just slipped into the same routine. Maybe he was realizing that, that she was far from special. She was weird and didn’t fit right with anyone, like she had thought that she fit with him, but now she was being proven wrong and her lips trembled.

But then his eyes were open, and Annie watched him cautiously, but then caution was gone because he was just coming towards her and kissing her. This was more than any kiss that they had shared because there was the firey kissing, and pecks, and making out, but there was this huge urgency to this kiss. She could feel it in his tense fingers as they tangled through her hair and brought her face closer to his. Closer than she ever would have thought they could be (excluding what had been going on like twenty minutes ago). She didn’t know what to think about this, but it did a good job and washing away everything that she had been thinking about, about how much she hated herself and how much she was thinking that he didn’t love her. But his lips made her forget and made her just believe him. Believe what he was trying to tell her, believe in his body and her’s together, and everything that he was saying with his hands and lips, and that’s all she needed. When she could believe in that, she could feel the weight of the ring on her hand, it it calmed her down a lot. She realized how much she liked it then, because it was a good calming factor. Maybe it was because she was still a little drunk from the alcohol - and a lot of drunk off Denny - but she could swear that she could feel the words burning into her skin. Forever your’s, if you’re forever mine. It held a lot of relevance and calmed her down more than anything else. His words - or even words that he had chosen from someone else, it didn’t matter, because he meant them no matter what - just burning into the flesh on her fingers. It was a comfortable burn though, like the fire that always seemed to kinder between them but less sexual, more fueled by love than bodies.

She listened to him speak, and it rose her level of euphoria up to unbelievable levels. She couldn’t even understand how someone could ever be this happy. His face was so close that she could feel the words on her lips, like they were something to taste, like they were air. And he really was all that she needed to breath. She pursed her lips and felt his breath there and she felt dizzy because she was so happy right then that she couldn’t think of anything to do but close her eyes and feel his breathing, feel his forehead pressed against her’s and just focus on his hands tangled in her hair. In that moment, there was nothing else. The only things that she could focus on was where his body was touching her’s. There were no boundaries, there was no universe but the one that existed inside this bed. Outside was honestly nothing to her. It held no such promise or pleasure or was as content to her as under these covers, against her boyfriend, with these lips so close to hers and with these hands on her. To her, there was just nothing else that she would ever want or could even think that she would ever want. There was nothing sweeter that they had ever shared, there was nothing better than this that she could remember in her entire life, even with all the closeness they’d had, and all the songs and the words and the tangled limbs. None of it could even compare to these few seconds. It eclipsed everything that she could ever compare it to.

But then he was taking again and she opened her eyes in time to see it all just kind of shattered around her like glass. It wasn’t that she had been expecting him to just be like ‘okay, let’s elope tomorrow!’ but she did wish that he could have said it a different way. She didn’t know if there was anything in her voice that had said that he needed to let her down like that. And she sure as hell didn’t think there was. It kind of just switched the perspective from the pinnacle to the falling action, everything falling apart, literally like a glass window just shattering, and he just kept talking and it felt like his words stung her a little, but her face was still so close that she just closed her eyes again because she felt like her emotions and disappointment were just going to spill out of her like a breaking dam. Annie didn’t want that, because she knew that she was overreacting. But with the feelings from earlier, she couldn’t help that it affected her so strongly. Annie hated herself; she didn’t want to, but she literally hated every aspect of her personality, of her body. Maybe hate wasn’t the right word though, because she didn’t want to change. No, if this what was Denny was in love with then she definitely wanted to stay that way. It was more that she just wanted to accept herself.

But she didn’t. And this conversation wasn’t helping that.

She listened to him try to patch it together, but she just couldn’t pay attention because her mind was already on it’s own rampage. That was one of her bad qualities; Annie would just freak out sometimes, and you couldn’t talk her down. It was a terrible habit, but it was a habit all the same. Annie was literally made of habits, and some of them were so easy to break while others weren’t. Her prostitution broke easily, smoking was out the window as soon as Denny had kissed her for the first time. Her fear of love and trust was harder to fix, but it went away too, in time. Bulimia though was proving impossible. She didn’t think she would ever shake it, but some part of her didn’t want to. Didn’t want to let it go until she was happy. Happy with herself, because she was already entirely too happy with Denny and what they had. But she didn’t know if she would ever be happy with herself, and so there was this never ending cycle.

Her mind knocked away every piece of her like a building, brick by unattractive, unwanted, disgusting brick. Annie hated this. She felt like she was dying underneath his lips. She wanted to shrivel up there. It didn’t matter that Annie wasn’t ready to be married anyway, it didn’t matter that she was young or that she wasn’t even sure she wanted to get married. Although Annie realized that she did want to marry Denny, but they both knew it wouldn’t work because she wasn’t ready to be married to him - there was a big difference between want and ability. But she didn’t see that; in the back of her mind the logic made perfect sense, but in the forefront it was just rejection. Annie was starting to develop a pathological fear of Denver ever rejecting her, and so right now she just wanted to die two inches away from his face, his next breath her last one.

But, unfortunately, she couldn’t die just when she wanted to, so she would have to deal with living through this.

And he was kissing her again, and so she was living off his breath and she liked kissing him, his hand resting on her cheek as all that emotion passed through. It was like she was the socket and he was the plug, all this emotion like electricity passing through them. And it kind of was, because she knew that if there was a spark it would all light on fire, but the most delicious, enjoyable fire she could ever think of. But that was the farthest thing from her mind right then. As soon as he gave her a chance, she pulled her lips away, turning her head so that his fingers unthreaded from her hair, and she pursed her lips, exhaling loudly and sitting up.

”I know that,” she said bitterly, eyes closed. ” I was just saying…” She licked her lips, and then turned around from him, so her entire bruised back as was the only thing he could see of her, with tendrils of her hair across it. She bent her head down and pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes, her lips molded into a kind of wince, although she wasn’t in pain. She sighed roughly, and it sounded entirely strung out by pain. But it wasn’t a physical pain, it was her mental thought process string out too far, with emotions poking holes all through it. ”Denny, you know what absolutely sucks?” she started, quietly. ”The fact that I really hate myself.” she didn’t know why she was addressing this right now, but she was, so she was just going to go with it, even though some of her words weren’t very clear - but she had sobered up considerably through the night. ”I mean, I know I’m not ready to be married- honestly, I don’t know if I ever will be, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t marry you. The point is, the first thing I thought of was that I wasn’t good enough. When you kept your eyes closed… I felt like you had come to your senses, and that you realized all the bad I was and that you were going to leave.” acoustic chords played sillyily in her mind, I’m surprised that they love me, because I’m such an awful fuck. Annie didn’t know why they were there, but they were. She was pretty sure that she wasn’t, but her mind was stupidly dwelling on it. ”And then when you said I you wouldn’t marry me… I guess… I don’t know, this is all just kind of stupid and I wish that I had kept it in my head. But… every time something like that happens, I immediately think that there’s something wrong with me,” she sighed, pressing her hands deeper into her eyes. ”and my mind always jumps to the fact that you’ll find someone better. And I hate it.” She took a breath. ”I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT.” she screamed into her hands. She felt like there was something wrong with her throat, like she was going to cry but in a really bad way.

”I hate it… I hate it because it feels like I’m not trusting you. It sucks, because I know that I can trust you, and I know that you’re being totally honest when you say you’ll be with me forever.” She took another breath and she felt like her hands were shaking. And they were, but she just couldn’t focus on that. She couldn’t focus on anything. ”It’s just more evidence that I’m so messed up. And I feel like that’s another reason that you wouldn’t love me. That you would get tired of me, or something.”





2,044 - LOL ANNIE IS IN HER BIRTHDAY SUIT. - lyrics to florence and the machine - i have never been more happy with a post.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you've got me buried with your every move
YOUR FINE LINES HAVE ME AT A LOSS OF MEMORY

Denny literally felt like pulling each and every one of his hairs off of his head, one by one consecutively until he was completely bald. Why would he even go there, knowing Annie? What the fuck had he been thinking? Obviously he hadn’t – and this was where the second guessing came in. He wasn’t second guessing Annie or his decisions that dealt with her, but he was second guessing what he was saying to her. Though he was honest and tried to never lie to her of all people, there were just some things he could go without saying. Saying that he wasn’t ready to get married was one of those things. He could have just said that hearing what she’d said made him happy, because it did, and then none of this would have happened. But of course, Denny had to be too honest, almost blunt to a fault, and it ended him with this – a good, hard look at the bright bruises lining Annie’s spine almost all the way down. How could he have been so stupid to even go there?

Automatically, as soon as Annie had just shut herself up and turned away from him, he felt as if his whole body had gone cold. That was when he wanted to kick himself so hard in the stomach, he’d be coughing up blood and whatever other bodily fluids he could get out of his mouth. He really just wanted to go somewhere dark and keep himself tucked into the shadows so that no one could see him do whatever damage he did to his body or his mind or both maybe. He just felt so stupid for even having continued what he’d said, for even having thought it at this point. But he knew he couldn’t just skulk off into the dark, not with Annie in this state, not after what had just happened. He had to try and fix this, had to say something to make it all better and coax Annie to believe him. Well, she said she trusted him, but that wasn’t enough for Denny at the moment. Because of his own self doubt, he needed her to believe him, that he wasn’t leaving, and that she was crazy for even thinking that was possible. Who would have him? The criminal? Everyone else thought he’d try and run them over with the car that he didn’t own – but not Annie. She didn’t judge him on that. She didn’t hold it over his head like a knife, threatening to slice his head open from the top. Annie had never used that against him and still didn’t, mostly because she knew the truth. That wasn’t the only reason he loved her, and he’d make that known, but because of his particular inferiority complex, he needed to get her to see that this was it – this was everything he’d ever want, get, need for his entire life.

Denny fought the strong urge just to let everything go and cry. He felt so belittled because of that urge, but pushing it back made him feel more like himself as he sat up and scooted so that he could see the side of Annie. No matter what chaos was wreaking inside of his head, he was determined to stay calm and collected physically. He needed to be the wall, the stable one between the two of them, even if he had to keep reminding himself of such information. “You are never not good enough for me. Don’t even think that, Annie.” His voice was soft and gentle, but there was a certain tense tone to it. It wasn’t an angry tone, but rather a tone that just dragged out his point. “As far as I’m concerned, there will never be a time when you aren’t going to be good enough for me.” Denny knew it was a lot to speak of the future the way that they did, but he felt confident when he did so. He just knew there was never going to be another girl like Annie – a girl that had been built so much for him that she tore away his entire past, made him forget about everything in this universe except for their existence together. There was never going to be another love like this one, and there was never going to be anyone in this entire world that Denny was going to be able to talk to and treat and touch and hold the same way that he talked to and treated and held Annie.

“There will never be anyone better.” He had to admit there would be, but he was carefully watching what he said at that point. There might be pretty girls, but none that even came close to Annie. There would be kind girls, but none with the same charisma that Annie had. There would be easy girls that would want a ‘no strings attached’ deal, but first that was so far out of Denny’s character that he wouldn’t even hear of it; second, easy girls weren’t his thing. He liked challenges, and he liked the fact that Annie was the biggest challenge he’d ever faced. He liked that there would be countless times where they just wanted to rip each other to shreds, but the next minute all they’d want to do is cuddle and be in love. He liked the fact that she was stubborn and complicated and just so complex, like a jigsaw puzzle that was so unsolvable Denny’s mind almost wanted to give up, but the thrill of the challenge kept him going. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it as many times as you want. I’m not going anywhere. Not now, not ever. Not until the day I can’t breathe anymore. Because there will never be a day that I won’t love you. Never.” Like hate, never was a strong, powerful word, and there Denny was, throwing it around like it was paper.

Denny didn’t know what to say after that. He racked his brain, almost physically moving it to try and find the words that would get to Annie. But he had none. He thought….maybe he could try something, but he wasn’t sure if it would work. Annie hated being touched, he knew that, but he knew that she loved it when he touched her. Sure, this planned called for using that to his advantage, but he wasn’t using it against her to his advantage. He was using it to his advantage to try and get her to understand that he was there, he was real, and he was really in love with her, and there was no way he was ever going to not be in love with her. Annie was the first and the last. Annie was the one and the only. So taking this chance was worth it, as far as Denny could see. The worst that could happen was…..well, probably worse than he was hoping. He scooted behind her, moving her hair over one of her shoulders. He didn’t even look at the bruises, though they were clearly there, in the bottom of his vision. Denny ignored then, not letting them get in the way of what he was planning. He actually had such a control on his actions and his mind that really he could have been in the middle of an earthquake and the only thing he would have been focusing on was Annie. The crazy things people do when they’re in love. The quote didn’t really have too much relevance to the situation, but at the same, it did. The contrast didn’t hold too much of his attention thought.

His face slowly lowered until his head was leaning lightly on her shoulder. “I don’t understand why you’re so convinced I’d give you up and hurt you that way.” He wasn’t smiling, but there was a hint of a lighter tone in his voice now. It wasn’t that he was happier or lighter or whatever, he just….didn’t feel quite as agitated anymore. He guessed it was because he’d connected himself with Annie, which always set him at ease and explained why he’d let himself get so out of control that one morning over French toast. “You’re the best thing that’s ever been mine, Annie. Every part of you is something that I love. It doesn’t matter how twisted or wrong or bad you think that part of you is – I find a way to love it because it’s a part of you.” He looked up from her shoulder to see her face, but couldn’t really see much. Denny could see one of her eyes and the tip of her nose, and of course an ear, but that was pretty much it. “I don’t want you to change for me. I don’t want you to feel like those flaws of yours are reasons for me to want to leave. They’re not. They never will be.” He turned his face and lightly, as to not completely scare her or have her totally reject him. Though he had a feeling that was what she was fearing, he still wouldn’t like the feeling of being shut down by the one person he counted on to always let him in, even in the slightest way. Lightly, as lightly as he’d turned, he kissed the skin beneath his face, then turned back again.

“If I’m crazy for loving you, then I’m crazy. If everyone thinks I’m wrong, then they think I’m wrong – but I know I’m right. I feel it. I know that I will always love you.” Denny reached down to grab her hand, the one with the ring he’d given her, and looped his fingers through hers. “I’m sorry that what I said made you feel like this. I didn’t mean for it to, and if I have to I’ll keep telling you until I run out of oxygen that I love you, that I will always love you.” He brought her hand up to his face with his own hand and kissed every one of her fingers just as lightly as he had her shoulder. “Remember? Forever yours, if you’re forever mine.” And then he kissed the finger with the ring again, not really smiling because he was anxious for a reply, but content with how he’d reacted and how much control he’d held over himself.


1735 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- UM DENNY IS NOT CURRENTLY WEARING ANYTHING. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- garsh denny way to be extremely heartfelt.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

Annie didn’t want to look at him as he spoke, she just pressed her hands into her eyes and turned up her lips and tried to not focus on anything. She wanted to listen to him and find the meaning hidden in his sentences, but she didn’t think she could. She wanted to, so badly, she wanted to believe him like had been thinking about. But she didn’t know how capable she was of it right then. She couldn’t think of what to think, or say, or do. She just listened to his voice. She didn’t want to decipher his words, so she just listened to his soft voice. He was saying important things but she had worked herself up beyond the point of listening. But his voice calmed her down, but she just couldn’t pull her head out of the hole that she had dug. Her mind was like a camera that couldn’t focus on it’s subject, so it just switched focus, over and over and over, until finally some things started to come out clearer to her. Because there will never be a day I don’t love you. Never. Annie swallowed this lump in her throat. She wanted to cry, but tears would be useless and complicated. Her mind couldn’t decide on an emotion. So she just stayed quiet, and waited as her moods swung in every which way and she didn’t know how to keep anything straight. It was killing her that she had missed what he said, it was killing her that he wasn’t touching her, it was killing her that she had told him this.

Actually… it wasn’t. It was the kind of thing that had been on both their minds for a while, constant, always there. How could it not be when it basically shaped everything that they were, everything Annie was, every way that Denny interacted with her. It was the guidelines for how he touched her, it told him what to look at and what to not look at. Denny had to know through all her quirks and anger and violence how to deal with her. Sometimes it was difficult for him to understand, as difficult as it was for her to keep her head straight as all this swirled around her. She wished that it wasn’t so complex, she wished that her terrible personality could just leave them alone. But it wasn’t, it kept biting back and tearing through her flesh and making her want to scream in frustration. Admitting these issues made her want to pull her hair out and punch things violently. She didn’t know how to deal with it anymore, and it just kept getting more twisted and tangled and mangled and Annie wished that she just didn’t care.

She thought back to when he had just held his face against her, and she missed it. She thought about when she felt like she could see every star right there on his skin, in his eyes, drifting through his hair and falling onto her skin when he touched her. It was alarming how much her world revolved around him. She knew that it would always be in the same room as him, and when she wasn’t there, she wasn’t there; her head was gone and her heart was stuck somewhere in between, and she didn’t have an anchor or stability. As soon as Denny entered her life it had been easy, but it just got harder and harder when he was gone, because with relying on something so stable, the chaos that ensued when it was gone was terrifying. And it was gone, and her head hurt and her fingers ached, and her mouth was dry. She wished that she hadn’t said anything, but at the same time she was glad. Because if she hadn’t than they would just be stuck and he would think about it, but never know, and Annie would constantly worry.

She listened to him move closer, and knew the contact was coming. But it still… shocked her. His fingertips brushed lightly against her back, and she bit her lip because she wanted to gasp. When he was touching her she realized how bad it was when he wasn’t. But all the animosity she had towards anyone just dripped away when he was touching her. She couldn’t be mad when he leaned her head against her shoulder. She arched her back, and sucked her lip into her mouth, not understanding all that was twisting in her body. She wanted to scream at him. That’s not fair! How could he do that to her? It wasn’t fair at all that he could just leave her defenseless just by pressing his forehead against her. That he could tear her body up and down and all apart with just the lightest touch. He unraveled every piece of her, leaving her at his mercy.

Part of her was so angry that he could do that, but she still loved his touch, just wanted to revel in the feeling of him leaning against her. She couldn’t be mad at anyone when he did that. Some little piece of her knew that he was using that to his advantage. But she couldn’t even be mad; (as dirty as this sounds) she just wanted him to touch more of her, all of her, and never stop. She didn’t care how hot it got, when he did that there was just nothing else that she needed.

Annie moved her hands away from her face, and she still couldn’t see anything. It was probably around one in the morning. She could see vague outlines, but that’s because the moon was shining in from behind her, tainting everything with it’s monochrome fingers. Annie knew that Denny wanted to be on the roof, wanted to be touching the moon and listening to it the way that Annie listened to the trees. But he wasn’t, he was there, trying to make her understand, even if the moon was so close and the temptation was probably unbearable. It kind of put things in perspective for Annie, when she thought about it. He was here for her, trying to make her understand that he would love her, love her flaws, love her complex mind and try his hardest to help her figure herself up. So either Annie was a fantastic fuck - not that Denny even had much to compare her to - or he really did love her. She smiled a little, because she knew it was the latter.

And when he leaned in and kissed her neck she felt it sweep over her in a huge tidal wave. His words hit every chord that was in her body and then what wasn’t. All she was were the places his skin touched her’s. That’s all that she could direct her life to, and she never wanted him to leave. And he wasn’t! That was the brilliant part, like the biggest epiphany she had ever experienced. He was staying he would be there. Forever! like the ring said, like he said, like Annie said. It astounded her and was brilliant and so many things that she couldn’t even think about them all, there were too many, there were too many options and ideas and horizons for her to look at.

He looped his fingers through her’s, and Annie turned her head slightly. She couldn’t see his face because it was shadowed. But she didn’t care. She could feel him there, she could feel him in the room. It was like she had thought of, the entire universe right here between them. When they got so close the pressure was like a shaken champagne bottle, chemistry that was just explosive. She felt it now, and she just needed to kiss him. He brought his lips to her fingers, and she closed her eyes and smiled.

”Yeah. Forever.”

And then she opened her eyes and grinned wildly, her teeth showing bright in the moonlight. She looked like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland, full of the secrets of a world gone mad, the only one in on the joke. And the grin betrayed it all. Annie didn’t have much to say because all she had needed was the reassurance. She didn’t need to have an entire conversation about this, because that would be completely irrelevant and toss them into a place that they didn’t need to be. So Annie just looked at him with this smile, suddenly feeling on fire, but not the fire they were familiar with, but just like a star. Maybe it was because she could see them through his window, but her mind was just revolving around stars tonight.

She leaned backs against him, and pressed her face into her neck, her nose tracing his jaw line. She closed her eyes and sighed, her teeth still showing through her teeth. ”You know,” she whispered against his neck, her breath fanning against his neck and back on her face. So close, but she liked it. ”I’m seeing a reoccurring trend with this whole sex thing.” She smiled wider, her eyes still closed. Annie wasn’t sure why, but she was all about addressing the issues tonight. ”I feel like we should change that…” She pressed her lips against his neck, like he had after their last fight, when they had been laying on the couch. She pursed her lips against him, and smiled against Denny’s neck, her lips tights against his skin. ”What do you think?”



1,569 - LOL ANNIE IS IN HER BIRTHDAY SUIT. - lyrics to florence and the machine - bleh idk about this one

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you've got me buried with your every move
YOUR FINE LINES HAVE ME AT A LOSS OF MEMORY

Well, at least Denny knew that his tries weren’t going unnoticed. And he was actually getting somewhere, like he’d only hoped he’d be able to do when the thought had come into his mind. But Denny knew he was actually making progress, which sort of surprised him. If he knew Annie so well, what had tempted him to try and bring her out of something he knew she wouldn’t be able to be brought out of? What made him even begin to think he had the will power or even the influence on her to have her change her ways so quickly? What made him so special? Well, for one he knew her. He knew more about her than he could even begin to realize, and if he really dug into his mind he could begin to anticipate her moves so quickly that he’d be able to practically tell the future. It wasn’t that Annie was predictable, but it was that Denny was spending so much time and attention and energy with and on her that he was just….getting used to the things that she did and the moods that she’d fall into when he made the wrong move. Honestly, he blamed himself for those, like he blamed himself for most things. If he just watched what he did and said a little more often and carefully than he normally did, most of their sticky situations could be avoided.

But Denny was a guy, and the male gender as a whole was quite renowned for being quite senseless. There would always be things he’d say to set her off, no matter how hard he tried to keep them in, because that was just how his mind worked. Sometimes, most of the time, it was a filter, and it pulled out the things that he knew Annie wouldn’t like to hear. His mind was getting much better at that now that he had her as his girlfriend, not just his friend. It wasn’t that he was hiding things from her because he couldn’t do that if he wanted to, but it was more that he was just sparing her the thoughts in his mind that either didn’t revolve around her (a rare occasion these days), or the thoughts that would put her…..in this mode. Other times, his mind just malfunctioned and let those unfiltered, unedited thoughts run out of his mouth into the air around them. Of course he heated that little flaw in his mind, because when those things came out, there Annie was, totally stuck in her own world while Denny had to find new, inventive ways to redeem himself. He’d never know when those things would fall out, but he knew he had to be more careful than he already was. Talking about getting married was out of the question for now; the only thing he could talk about at the moment was how much he loved her, how much he was determined to let her know he was never leaving her. It was almost as if he understood just how much Annie needed him and that he understood just how much each of them knew there was no one else for them except for each other, right there, in his room. He did to a certain extent, but there was no way either of them could wrap their minds around the entirety of the knowledge. There was just too much else between them, going on around them and for them for that to happen.

And then, despite everything that he hated about his mind, his technique of sorts, though that sounded so much more malicious than he wanted it to mentally, was working. Annie was responding in ways he recognized only because of her, and suddenly nothing else was real. The moon outside, practically calling his name, was just a big dot. It was two dimensional compared to this, compared to having Annie against him, compared to being able to touch her the way he loved to. The bed was like…..as cheesy and impossible as it sounded, his bed was more like the carpet from Aladdin. It was almost floating when he could be this close, this intimate with Annie without really needing to worry about anything. The world outside of this bedroom, including the rest of his apartment, just wasn’t real. It was all just a wasteland with nothing to offer him because everything he ever needed was right here, on that magic floating carpetbed, in his arms. The whole universe outside of them didn’t really exist – it was just a poorly drawn thing in front of them, something neither of them really had to be concerned with. As long as they had each other, they had the world in their hands, and nothing could take that away. Or maybe Denny was getting carried away.

Whatever the case was, he had Annie, and he had her attention again. It wasn’t like he needed it, but he didn’t want her to be wallowing in this self hate she’d brewed up however long ago. Denny couldn’t fix everything at once, but he could take small steps and try to tighten things and straighten them out at a pace that wouldn’t completely alter Annie. In fact, he didn’t really want to fix anything except for this self hate. The…..the eating disorder (because he couldn’t even bring himself to say the actual word mentally) he’d have to deal with for now, because he wanted Annie to see first what he saw in her. He didn’t want to change her – like he’d told her – but fixing didn’t exactly the same. Plus, he didn’t feel the need to change her entire persona, he didn’t want to. He loved her just the way she was, but he wanted her to see that she wasn’t as horrible a person as she thought she was. She was capable of loving and being loved, and that much was evident by the way they loved each other. She was capable of faith because without it, she wouldn’t believe in Denny the way she did, and she wouldn’t be with him the way that she was. She was capable of changing herself, as much as she thought she wasn’t. She was able to tell herself enough times that she loved Denny, that Denny loved her, that she would at least try this between them because either he was so persistent or extremely convincing. Either way, Denny knew Annie was capable of being a person she could be content with without completely losing herself as she was now.

It seemed like a feat all to great for the both of them, but if Denny could do it to some extent, then Annie could, too. If Denny could be content with who he was, regardless of what went on in his head, Annie could do it too as far as he could see. It would take time, but Denny was patient. It would take effort, but Denny was energetic and enthused by the challenge. It would take being really stealthy, but Denny was already scouting out a plan. It would take just being around for Annie, always being there to hold her hand or kiss her lips and just be the best boyfriend he could be – but honestly, there was nothing else Denny wanted to do on this planet. All he wanted was for Annie to be happy with him (not with his actions or his words, but to actually be happy and content while with him), and he’d try his hardest to make sure that happened. For now, he just had to enjoy what he had, and that was Annie leaning against him again, finally just reacting to him and these words instead of the unfiltered words that he wanted to throw in the largest, most disgusting garbage can he could find.

Denny sighed and continued to hold her hand, moving the both of his so he was holding her lightly around her middle. He just listened to her talk, even though he wasn’t quite sure what it was she was talking about. He wasn’t so lost in thought that he couldn’t hear what she was saying, but her words didn’t make too much sense to him. However, a confused look didn’t adorn his face in any way. He was actually starting to smile, but not a smirk that was showing off just how much he’d won. He didn’t win anything – he just figured out how to keep Annie from totally destroying herself from the inside out. Sort of. Either way, it had worked for now, and he was going to enjoy what he could. “I don’t really know what you mean by ‘sex thing’,” he said quietly, “but I’m totally okay with whatever.” He turned his face and kissed whatever was in front of him, not really ready to stop being so touchy-feely, even if that wasn’t the exact word he wanted to use for it. He really just wanted to kiss Annie all day and be with her like this forever.



1514 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- UM DENNY IS NOT CURRENTLY WEARING ANYTHING. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- i feel like this is good but not the best. i dunno.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

Annie was starting to realize that she had unhealthy ways of dealing with things. She relied too heavily on her vices for a way out, like an excuse. She wished she could back track through her mind and her history and realize where that had all started, but she didn’t think she could. Maybe she had been born with these malfunctions, or maybe they had just crept up slowly like sand through and hour glass. The only thing she could be completely sure of was that she didn’t know. All she knew was that this was the way she reacted to things. She couldn’t help it, couldn’t change it. Being with Denny was taking a small step to change it, which made everything much easier for her. Being with him was taking a load off of her body, but at the same time it was also making it harder, because she would get herself so worked up over the little things. He constantly had to hold her back, like he had from Seth and Kayla, but also from herself. He had to make sure that she wouldn’t tear herself apart, because it seemed like she was always in danger of doing that. There were the little things that she did that infuriated them both. There were the big things that she wanted to do, but didn’t let herself do. Sometimes she just wanted to claw her nails up and down the inside of her arms until she started bleeding, or until her nails started to break from the sheer pressure she would do it with. She wanted run and run until her paws bled, and then when she shifted back to a person she wouldn’t be able to walk for days. Maybe that’s why she got some sick sense of pleasure out of the pain the bruises had given her (a few days after it had happened though, because not being able to talk wasn’t enjoyable).

Annie was a danger to herself, and by not addressing that, both of them were being ignorant about it, and one day she would hurt herself more than he would be able to handle.

Denny moved his hands so that they were wrapped around her waist, and she realized how close they were and that his arms kind of overlapped because there was a lot of extra space. When he was touching her she kind of forgot. I mean, weren’t most girls with eating disorders supposed to hate the feeling of people touching them? But Annie didn’t, as least not with Denny. She felt like she should be the most self conscious around him, but she wasn’t. He made her whole body still, and she couldn’t focus on herself because she could only focus on him. He commanded all of her attention when he pulled her close and had his arms around her. It had kinf of always been that way, but she didn’t notice it until now, when he used the contact to her attention, to pull her out of her own world. Now she was forced to focus on it, and it opened up a lot of doors in her mind, but also left her kind of confused.

Annie’s head was still reeling though, and her hands fisted up, even the one that was holding his. Her face was still turned into his neck, but she just… couldn’t seem to keep her emotions in order. It was those mood swings that she had picked up somewhere in her life. Minutes ago she had been screaming about how much she hated herself, until her throat was getting raw. And then she had just wanted to cry when he touched her, even if he was just leaning his head on her shoulder. It was like one brush from him just flipped her body out, and all of her emotions attacked each other viciously, rolling headlong into each other and scratching at the walls of her mind with angry, burning claws. But at the same time he calmed her down so she couldn’t even worry at all, she was just static, suddenly. Stable. It made everything clear it put it into this brilliant perspective in front of her, but at the same time it all crashed against each other in the angriest fashion imaginable.

But Annie didn’t even question it anymore. That’s just what he did.

She listened to him talk, and she had been so busy focusing on the contact that she had forgotten what she had said. She shrugged lightly, because she couldn’t think of words that wouldn’t make her sound insane. Because sometimes she did question her sanity. He turned and kissed her cheek, and Annie just sighed. She liked being right there in that moment, she didn’t ever want to move. So she didn’t plan on it at all. She just sat there, with her eyes closed, breathing against him, listening to his breathing. That was how she measured time, by all the moves that Denver took. She took her free hand and ran her fingertips along one of his forearms that was wrapped around her midsection. She started to trace things there, like secret messages and symbols that were just for him. Like a secret language that would never read this room. But she didn’t even know what she was writing there, she was just mindlessly touching him because she wanted to.

She lifted her head up a little, and kissed what she could reached, which was his jaw. Annie just wanted to stay like that, and so she would, and that’s what she was doing. She liked this heat that was between them, she liked the way that everything looked in the moonlight, like she couldn’t see any colors. It made it all surreal and dreamy. She didn’t want to go to sleep, she just wanted to stay right there and memorize every muscle movement and breath and breeze. She just wrapped her hand in his tightly, and continued to run her fingers down his arm lightly, distractedly like she was in a daydream. She closed her eyes and just kept her head in the crook of his neck. She took a breath.

”I love it when you touch me,” she said, and she realized that could have sounded pretty… dirty. But it didn’t, not to her, not at all. Her voice was soft, and had an even tone. Even just the lightest brush of his fingers against her skin was absolutely lovely, and it started off this feeling that she just couldn’t get enough. But it wasn’t like things needed to get intense, it was just like… she needed him to always have a hand on her, or something. It calmed down storms in her mind and made her feel a little calmer. She needed him. It was alarming, but she didn’t.

Annie had never needed someone before.



1,150 - LOL ANNIE IS IN HER BIRTHDAY SUIT. - lyrics to florence and the machine - don't like this one. well, i guess i do. i just wish it was longer.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you've got me buried with your every move
YOUR FINE LINES HAVE ME AT A LOSS OF MEMORY

Denny had never thought he’d be able to feel this. Somehow he’d just talked himself into believing no one would ever want him. Not that he wanted her, but the girl his sister had run over didn’t want him. For a while he’d felt like his father hadn’t wanted him. A few weeks ago it felt like his sister didn’t want to see him. He just……he’d gone on being used to being unwanted. Since he was seventeen, he’d sat around like life was nothing but a big smack in the face because after he did something so amazingly stupid for his sister, no one wanted him. It had just been a vicious cycle in his head since he’d gotten out of jail and saw the looks, heard the whispers. That was years ago now, he knew, but the fact that all of it had happened just stuck with him. He’d deemed himself not good enough for anyone. He’d been trapped in this mental state where he only had himself and all he could do was make his music and pretend like the world was a great place to be in, even if everyone knew the latter was all just a hoax. Denny had hated the world, at one point. All he wanted to do then was spend time making music, and if he wasn’t playing with his guitar, he was flying so high and away from everything that he let himself forget about all of it. He let himself slip into the Vulture mental mantra where everything was about hunting and waiting for things to die, despite the wet, humid air that brought life into everything. His body had called desperately for a dessert, and at one point he’d flown out far enough to find one, though he hadn’t known where it was. For a moment there, he felt at home, like his heart was really there and he wasn’t alone because the sun beat so brightly that he could see every living thing through the death that the dry heat provided among the atmosphere.

And then things just changed. Things always changed, he’d realized, and this time things had changed for the better. His vulture had just sat in the back of his head one day, and he’d really just been looking for someone to interact with, someone just as dead on the inside as he was. He hadn’t been looking for someone to find and keep forever. He hadn’t even been looking for something that would last than a few hours. Actually, he didn’t even know what he’d been looking for, but he’d gotten more than he’d bargained for. All it took were a few short words like, Hi, I’m Denver. and I just needed something to do. By that time, he’d been going around in his head how he would never be anything more than a lonely vulture without his flock, someone that would forever be just that guy in a part of society that no one really liked. No one paid attention to him. No one loved him anymore. His mother would call and check up on him, but Denny wasn’t the same guy that he’d been when he’d loved with his family. At that point he’d lived alone, in the quiet, tense rooms of his own apartment for too long. All he’d had was himself and his guitar. And then things had flipped and twisted and become more than just Denny and his instrument. Things had begun to make sense again, and suddenly there was room in his life for more than just the vulture over his head. Suddenly he had Annie, he had a friend, he had someone that would actually want to go out and be seen with him without cringing at the thought of what he’d done years ago – regardless of the fact that he hadn’t actually done anything at all.

And yet again, things changed. Suddenly his home was slightly empty, less tense than he remembered it every time he walked in. Suddenly the roof became more and more of his home because he could see everyone from there. Suddenly risks were worth taking, and suddenly he didn’t want to be alone anymore. His mind yearned for attention, even if he was the one giving it. He wanted to listen. He wanted to be listened to. He wanted to be close to someone on any level, share secrets with them that he’d never told anyone because they were all stuck in his head and they were threatening his sense. Slowly but surely he was becoming less of a hermit but not quite a socialite. The more time he spent around Annie, the more he liked about her, the more he wanted to be around her, the more he liked the interesting, creative, original ways she did whatever she wanted to do. She’d been so liberating to his dim, dark world, like an odd golden ray of light had been shown into his life. Light wasn’t exactly the right word because Annie was more of a night person, but Denny’s life had been so dark and she had just came in and turned everything opposite of its original standpoint. Even if he hadn’t been in love with her then, he knew she’d always be a part of his life, even if only in memory. There was no way anyone could forget someone that came into their life and completely shone a different light on the events and happenings within their lifetime.

But then things just kept changing and morphing and shifting and soon enough Denny found himself falling for a train wreck even if he didn’t see it that way. He saw all of the odd things Annie did, the very animalistic tendencies of her behavior as just perks and quirks. It wasn’t that he thought she was perfect, but she was unlike anyone or anything he’d ever seen before, and it intrigued him to the point of infatuation. Things continued to change; Denny started to become this man he’d never known. He spoke all the time and listened intently and promised himself things he didn’t know he could promise. And then he’d found himself in a completely new predicament – he was in love. His heart did this weird skip every time he saw Annie and his pulse quickened whenever she touched him. Then he’d found her getting closer and closer to him, sharing things she’d told him she’d never shared with anyone ever before him. Denny started to feel things he’d never experienced – appreciation for secrets, thankfulness for being wanted around, wholeness whenever Annie was around. All of these changes and feelings and whatever it was just turned his insides out, letting Annie in to see whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. In the course of probably a year or so, give or take a few months, Denny had gone from being this wallowing body of a person to this honest, caring, risk taking man with a heart big enough to love.

And somehow, Annie had started to feel the same way for him as he did for her. It seemed to Denny that things were working themselves out, that karma was coming back around because he’d waited out his loneliness already. His luck in life was turning around and Annie was suddenly really close to him, closer than anyone had ever been before. Suddenly she was his best friend, his mind reader, and the only girl he’d ever loved. Suddenly he was laying on her bed half asleep, mumbling that he loved her under his breath on accident. Suddenly he was dreaming of the world coming down around him, and suddenly he was waking up and having her telling him that she loved him too. Sort of. But suddenly he was kissing her, and they were exchanging secrets like never before, mostly on Annie’s part. Suddenly they were both fighting that Seth kid, and suddenly more secrets, then suddenly he was bringing her home to his parents and all of his thoughts were rushing right through his mind in and out of one another. Suddenly they were physically loving each other and suddenly things got heavy and emotional and so much more than Denny would have been able to deal with if he was still that guy that had sat alone writing emotional music. And then there was now. Christmas morning, technically, and they were totally in love. So much in love that they were able to bring each other to these levels of living that no one else could. All he had to do was hold her, touch her, have her skin against his in some way, even in the littlest way, and everything was calm and easy and light. All he had to do was be her world, be her sky and her air and things would be alright. As long as she loved him and showed that she loved him, as long as she let him touch her and look at her and hold her the way she did right now, he’d be absolutely perfectly fine. As long as she didn’t turn away when he insisted he loved her more than he loved anything on this planet, in this galaxy, in this entire universe or the next or the next, his life would be worth living.

He found himself reaching down a bit. While he could have been doing so in a rather perverted way, Denny actually didn’t know what he was doing until he was already in action. His hand that wasn’t holding hers with the ring just reached down a bit and started rubbing the outer side of her leg, mostly because he suddenly remembered his little infatuation with that particular part of her body. His hand was soft and gentle, a lot like hers was on his arm, and he just realized that he liked just sitting her and rubbing her skin. That sounded a bit awkward in his mind, but it was the honest truth. He could sit there all morning and just hold and touch Annie because to him, she was soft and warm and he just enjoyed holding her like this. When she spoke, he sighed a little happy chuckle and turned his face again to kiss her cheek. He didn’t really know what to say – everything he thought of just sounded wrong and out of place. I love you was nice, but it just seemed……not overused because he could tell her that all day every day, but rather the words just felt out of place with the subject they were on. His thoughts became irrelevant fast, but somehow they still managed to fit the situation if you took out what had previously been said, as if you had a reel of film and you were putting in subtitles that had very little to do with the action you were watching. “Merry Christmas, Annie.” He took in a deep breath and enjoyed the way she smelled, loving the fact that his senses were heightened because of his vulture abilities. “There’s nothing I want more for Christmas than you.”



1857 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- UM DENNY IS NOT CURRENTLY WEARING ANYTHING. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- took me too long to ramble about denny's life like we didn't already know what happened.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

Merry Christmas, Annie. She sighed, and smiled to herself, her head still pushed against his neck. She nuzzled him there lightly, just so... conent. Completely happy in that moment. She couldn't ever think of a time that she had been mmore content. She wanted to say more happy, but she knew that just wasn't the word. She had been happier, but the happiness always seemed short lived, or conflicted. She had never been pleased with such a small little event like this, never more content with anyone or accepting of them, or having someone accept her so much. To calm her down after she admitted how much she was angry with herself, to stay after she wanted to scream and kick him. Annie was always conflicted like that, but Denny always calmed her down. He knew that was his job, to calm her down, to be the stable one. It was a difficult one, she would imagine, because her emotions just tended to sweep everyone up. But he had only eveer given up once, when he turned into someone she had never met or ever realized. There’s nothing I want more for Christmas than you.

There was nothing anyone had said that made her feel more powerful.

Maybe powerful wasn't the right word at all. Actually, Annie didn't want to use that word at all. Powerful implied that she held something over his head, but she knew that she didn't. Or maybe she did, but saying she was powerful implied that she was going to do something about it. But she wasn't, she would let Denny walk all over her. It was just when he said that, she felt so full of so much. I was weird for Annie to feel it. It was awkward and slipped into her skin like a snake sliging into a nursery. But at the same time it was welcomed. She liked it, It made her feel incredibly monumental. Annie actually meant something to someone. That was new for her.

His hand rubbed her thigh and it was kind of calming, just like the rest of him. It was like the swing of a pendulem, and it went in Annie's mind lke a gentle tick-tock, the light brush of his fingers against her skin. The movement was kind of like breathing, a gentle, constant pattern that was easily overlooked, but needed to servive. But it also seemed that the movement could be a really inappropriate sort of touch. Even with all the sex that Annie had been through in her life, that touch was a lot more intimate than anything that went through her memory. That made it sound as if his hands were finger tipping on a fine line between creepy and comforting, but with those hands being Denny's hands, she liked it a lot. That sounded weird, but it wasn't in a perverted way at all. She just liked the contact. There were places that were to unbleiveabley off limits to others, but open to Denny. That was one of those places. She just leaned against him, putting more weight against his shoulder, still tracing her made-up language on his arm. She didn't ever want to move. She wasn't tired, but it felt like Denny was lulling her into a a dream like mood. With the repitiion of his hands on her skin it turned into a cycle, and soon her fingers started moving at the same speed. He still had the one hand wrapped around her midsection, holding her against him as she continued to let her control over her body slip away. Soon the only thing she was even doing that let him know she was still awake were her fingers, constantly moving in different patterns across his skin. Her mind was half on that, and half on his hand on her outer thigh, notcing that her leg was a couple degrees hotter than the other.

She just couldn't help that he trailed fire all over her.

If Annie were to look back on all of this, she wouldn't know what to say. She had been raised with good enough manners, but she had been born with her mother's mind, and with that came this weird outlook on life. Everyone was playing a game, and every time it was Annie's turn, she merely skipped. She watched everyone with bemused eyes. She wasn't winning, but she wasn't loosing. Because in every game, there was only one winner, and with so many people in the world there was bound to be sabatoge of the worst kind, things to get people disqualified. But with Annie just watching, with this smirk on her face, she wasn't competition. And while everyone got rid of everyone she could rise to the top.

But some where along the line she lost the rules, and just didn't want to play at all anymore. Her head was getting messed up and twisted and she couldn't think anymore. Depression ahs settledd on her, but she let no one know. Because she was making her new game, and she played it by her rules. It was about having people wrapped around her finger. She didn't give in to anyone, and she didn't trust anyone. People that had her trust when she was born didn't deserve it, the only people that she was supposed to be able to trust. And so what reasons did she have to trust anyone else? It may have seemed as if she was being controlled, with the random sex, and the prostitution. But she wasn't; she controlled herself, found people that liked her body and played with them, spreading this wild web to see if they woud fall in, and they always did. She captured hearts, and tossed them between her fingers like small glass beads, laughing when they fell from her grasp and shattered beneath her. And then she would leave and trap someone else. And endless cycle, and as she got older she still used it, but then she got more. The infatuation may have been much more momntary than with the sex in high school, but now she was making a living off of it.

But suddenly, suddenly everything changed. Denny entered her life, and at first she still played with himm. But she wanted to drag it out bcause of her boredom, make the game last longer. But she wasn't using the same rules that she had been all her life. She didn't try to trick him into loving her. She didn't know what she had seen in him, or what he had done that made her stop and take a look at him. But when she did, she saw something very different than anyone else saw in him, and it was still the same.

He was innocent. He was still the seventeen year old he had been when he took the blame. He was still kind of like a child, like he had never really grown up, even though he had almost been forced to. But she was so thankful for that. Not only did his sister get to continue living like a normal, but it was like he was a time capsule for this pure, child-like love. If it hadn't been for that expierence than they would have a much different relationship. He would be much more jaded, they would fight more. You could see this by the way Denny was so able to forgive her, found it so easy to love her. Where as Annie was always in a constant battle when she loved him. She took offense so much easier, she fought with him, was irritated. She had been around the block and thrown into the ringer and was just too jaded from ife. She was tired of it. Denny had been hibernating or something, saving all the emotion from five years so now that Annie could feel it all in this immensity that wanted her to cry.

The sincerity he touched her with, even the casual and repeating pattern of his hand stroking her leg, it just brought tears to her eyes, suddenly. Between the words he had said and his calm manner of saying them, it all just became this perfect storm, and when she spoke you could hear the strain in her voice, like she was steps away from tears. "You don't know how that makes me feel." It was like she had been asleep and woken up, for she had fallen silent for some time as her mind rambled on faster than she could catch up with it. But she hadn't, because the entire time her fingers had been tracing his arm, the entire time she had been so intensely aware of him. Her subconcious had taken that on as it's job, to be hyper aware of him. "You can't understand how you make me feel." She kept her eyes closed, and nuzzled her head deep into the crook of his neck, causing her next words to be distorted by his skin. "You make me feel on fire, with your touch, with your words. Not just the fire," she said, meaning what happened when they got so close, when he touched her so much more than rubbing her leg. "I have never felt like more in my entire life than when you tell me you love me. I never feel as beautiful than when you touch me."

She took a deep breath, smelling all of Denver and she thought about when she told him he smelled like sky and freedom. She felt like if the moon had a smell right now, that would be Denny. She realized that made her sound crazy, but she could feel it. Like he just had the perfect scent for sitting in this room, in the dark. The colors and the beauty of both of them. And so she she took another breath, deep and full of him, her face sill pressed into him. She still didn't want to pull her lips back, even though it seemed like the importance of her words was distoted when her words were. But she didn't care about clarity, because he could hear her with her face just below his head. "There is nothing in this world more important to me than you."



1,710 - LOL ANNIE IS IN HER BIRTHDAY SUIT. - lyrics to florence and the machine - kinda liking this one.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

you've got me buried with your every move
YOUR FINE LINES HAVE ME AT A LOSS OF MEMORY

Everything just seemed perfect. There had never really been a time in his life before he’d met Annie where things were perfect, and even after he’d first met her things were still not perfect. But after he’d gotten to know her, after he’d observed some of the ways she did some particular things, after he’d gotten a tiny taste of what went on inside of her mind, things started to slowly fall into place. His life just became sensible and logical and things had meaning. He could walk down the street with his hands in his jean pockets and realize that the sun was out and that he liked the feel of the rays on his already tan skin. Then he was able to understand why the light on a glass of water glinted with a rainbow in every direction like it did, and he liked the sensation he got from that understanding. Things had just all started to become this big melting pot of sensible thoughts and feelings, and honestly it put Denny into this mindset that he was still in to this day.

First it had been little things, and then the feelings and thoughts had grown. After a while Denny was able to recognize the light in his bedroom at night from the moon shining through his window. He could see the hints of hope and growth around the town as his feelings for Annie grew, until finally everything that she even so much as mentioned glimmered and shone just for him. It was like the more time he’d spent in Annie’s presence, the sunnier and brighter things got. It had been odd at first, but after a while Denny had just accepted what was happening to his mind. He just realized that there was more to life than being a hermit, holed up in his bedroom with his guitar and nothing else. There was more to life, and that more was something he found through falling in love. It had taken him a while, but at twenty-two he felt like he was still young enough to enjoy being in love, even if it took Annie a few years to come around. And it hadn’t taken that long; within months she’d started changing in small ways, and then when he’d told her he loved her changes were coming at him from every direction she could hit him from. Each change brought out a new level of dedication within Denny until he was holding Annie back in fights and threatening blond clerks and redheaded witches for her.

All of that had just turned into this Christmas, white and glorious and totally and utterly perfect. Sure, their disagreement just moments ago could have ruined that, but Denny hadn’t let it. Annie had pushed him away, but he’d reeled her back in, told her exactly what she wanted to hear, touched her in the exact way he knew she’d want him to. That made him sound like had a hidden agenda, but he didn’t. Even when he was confident in his choice to try and bring her back to him, he’d been scared that it wouldn’t have worked and she would have just rejected him on Christmas morning. He’d slightly been scared that she’d changed her mind, that suddenly she wasn’t caught up in the booze from the night before or the love she’d thought she’d felt. Because of that, he’d feared her taking off the ring he’d bought and throwing it back in his face like it meant nothing. But the ring meant something, and he knew his faith in her wasn’t a lost cause because it had pushed past the fear and tackled his mind until he was touching her, holding her, telling her things that fixed everything he’d said about marriage. Because of his attempt to fix everything he’d done, the entire morning was preserved and completely perfect.

He sat and listened, enjoying her fingers running down his arm as his ran across her leg. Everything was so intimate and amazing. Denny had never ever been so close to any one being before. He’d been a virgin, although he wouldn’t admit it to many people other than Annie, before they’d made love for the first time, and that had gone so smoothly that it had surprised him a bit. But this…..this was different on so many levels. This was just Denny and Annie holding each other, being totally engrossed in each other without the distraction of the bonfire they managed to create. The fire each of them felt now as just as intense, but not nearly as sensual. It was more like an intimate campfire – like Denny had found some deserted island for him and Annie to vacation on by themselves and all they had in front of them (because nothing could possibly come between them….literally) was that comfortable, amazing fire as they just cuddled and loved each other. He could feel the heat in his fingers on both hands, although his hand that was running across the skin of Annie’s leg was slightly more heated than the other.

Her words just made him feel like he was a giant standing on the top of the world, looking down at the small continents as if they were merely landmasses with blue lakes between each of them. She made him feel so important, like no one else ever had. She just brought this whole world up to his knees, making him feel like everyone else meant nothing. That feeling of having everything outside of just the two of them being unreal and illogical returned, and it just filled Denny with a sense of completeness. He almost cried at the intensity of everything, but he controlled his emotions enough to prevent it. He could hear the way Annie was in the exact same predicament, but that actually made him happier. If that was possible; he was already so happy that he was sure not even shifting would have made him change his mind as to this perfection. And though it sounded a bit evil for him to be happy at her tears, he was happy because he knew if she did end up crying, it would be out of happiness, not sadness or irritation. He could hear it in her voice, feel it in the comfortable weight of her words. Everything just made sense to him then, and he did mean everything – even the illogical way everything around them was totally and completely turning into blasphemy.

Everything just fell into place. Puzzles were solved, Christmas was amazing so far, and honestly not even the broken strings on his guitar could bring Denny down. His lips found her skin again, kissing a few times without pause. He smiled because he couldn’t help himself, not that he really wanted to, and held her as tightly as he could without hurting her. “I love you.” He said it to make her feel just as important as he felt. She was his everything, and without Annie, there was no Denny as many knew him these days. At the same time, he continued to run his hand across her leg, just so she would feel beautiful and amazing. He kissed her face again, still smiling. He felt like if this moment never ended, neither would his smile, and if they stayed that way forever until their bodies molded together, he’d be perfectly fine with that. “There has never been anything and there never will be anything or anyone that will ever impact my life the way you have, Annie. There isn’t any room for anyone else. And honestly, I’m perfectly fine with knowing that.”



1280 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- UM DENNY IS NOT CURRENTLY WEARING ANYTHING. -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- omfg denny get any cheesier and you're going to turn into a block of sharp cheddar.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

there's a drumming noise inside my head
I SWEAR THAT YOU COULD HEAR IT, IT MAKES SUCH AN ALMIGHTY SOUND.

The morning was something like perfect, even though it was creeping on late enough for them to sleep. Moments ago, Annie didn’t think she had been tired, and she still wasn’t so sure, but with the whole feel of tonight, and the way that Denny was holding her was kind of convincing her to relax a lot. She didn’t mind at all. But the perfect feel of this morning wasn’t that right now they were saying the right things. The beauty of the moment - to Annie, anyway - was that they had said the wrong things. That he had backed himself up against a wall, that she had felt at the end of a rope. The beauty of it was the way he fixed his mistakes, the way that she broke down and told her why it made her feel like that. That wasn’t a very Annie-like thing to do, confront the problem. And that’s what made the whole thing better to her. Because there was an eerie beauty in imperfection. And Annie could be the first to tell you that the two of them were far from perfect, but somehow they made this unbelievably good couple.

He kissed her face again and again, pulling her closer and holding her tighter, and Annie liked it. She felt like that verb, like was starting to get over used, because Annie very much liked everything about Denny. She liked everything about tonight, and about them and just about the whole last month or two. It was just that incredible, astounding feeling of no longer being alone, at the idea of never being alone again. That was what he did for her among the other things, it was another thing that made her love him. She didn’t want to question the way she loved him, or the reasons, because she would find something wrong. She knew she would, she was a pessimist at heart and was naturally adept at finding holes in her logic, the holes that would be the end of her. I love you. she smiled, and he kissed her face again, his hand still moving on her leg. There really was no other place in all of the world, in all of time, with any other person. She could sit here forever, and never run out of things to say. Because there wasn’t anything to say, if she said something then they would just spend the rest of the night arguing in this vague back in forth manner about who made who feel better.

And Annie didn’t want that.

It made Annie feel comforted that there wasn’t room for anyone else. Despite everything that had happened, she was still the insecure, possessive girl that she had always been, and she was still going to second guess herself every step of the way. She was still going to give sideways looks to ever girl that even glanced at Denny, she was still going to worry that she wasn’t enough to keep him with her. But through this, and the ring… she was learning to shut up about it. She was learning that the ring meant she didn’t have to do that. But she knew she still would, she always would want to question it. But it was moments like these where it was almost too easy to accept what he said, to accept that he really did love her. It was moments like these that were going to build her up to what she could be, in time.



588 - LOL ANNIE IS IN HER BIRTHDAY SUIT. - lyrics to florence and the machine - so short.