// NEED YOU HERE TONIGHT.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

Denny had gotten used to future-telling dreams. Prophecy wasn’t his strong suit, and it really actually wasn’t even one of his abilities. He was a shifter; he turned into an animal and then turned back into a human, and that was it. He couldn’t conjure up these prophetic dreams, and he couldn’t stop them once they started. That was why, after everything that had gone on at a time too near to the now, Denny was scared of those prophetic dreams. He didn’t want to see something that would tear the fabric of his reality in two. He was honestly scared that he’d close his eyes and everything he knew would completely disintegrate. Denny had tried to avoid sleep just to avoid those dreams, almost as if he knew something was going to go horribly wrong, but sleep had overtaken him almost every night. His body was just so worn out. Every day he just passed out, and he wasn’t even sure why. He was eating, and he was making sure Annie was eating at least two meals a day, even if they were only half the size of his own meals. He was active and he’d shifted to make sure that the monster didn’t have a chance to infiltrate or something like it had done too soon of a time before.

No matter what he did, he was still tired at the end of the day. The sun would go down and the moon would take its place in the sky and Denny’s mind would just shut off. Maybe he was suffering some sort of post traumatic stress disorder from the other day’s events, or maybe he was just simply tired. No matter the issue, he was instantly asleep the moment his head hit his pillow – of course, he had to have Annie close to him in order to sleep soundly through the night. That still held true, no matter how tired or how quickly he fell into the sleep realm. To avoid the dreams he was dreading, Denny had pushed himself to stay awake until Annie was in his arms. He had to have her there, because otherwise he’d just freak out and need therapy or something. Denny wasn’t even sure himself, actually. He just had to calm down and keep Annie close to him, which was easy enough for the time of day that it was – or rather the time of night. Promising that he’d always be around was easy to say, and yeah sure it was harder to pull off, but Denny was known for his determination. He just found the most comfort in showing that when he was trying to keep himself from freaking out over nothing.

Of course, Denny couldn’t keep thinking about avoiding this. He had to focus on other things. He had to be awake during the day, stable during those hours where Annie needed him most. So far, he was good that that. He could keep his mind clear and collected enough for him to be able to function. Of course, that included doing just enough shifting to be able to be so mentally stable. Now that Annie was completely moved in and there wasn’t any heavy lifting for Denny to do anymore, he could keep himself focused with just Annie, especially since he didn’t really have any commitments outside of the apartment. He was all about Annie, and although some girls might be a bit scared of that feeling, of knowing their man had nothing better to do with his life than dedicate himself to them, Annie didn’t. Or at least, she didn’t seem to. The fact that Annie wanted him around that much was really what kept him around; if she said otherwise, Denny would be gone just to make her happy. He didn’t really care about himself after the other day. He was trying to redeem himself for what he’d said, not that he really liked to think about it. Either way, he was happy just knowing that Annie was happy, or at least trying to be happy.

Night came and once again, Denny was ready for bed almost at a too early time. He got in bed, put his head on his pillow, waited for Annie, and wrapped her up in his long arms like she was a present and he was the wrapping paper. He sighed and kissed Annie’s neck before saying, “I love you,” before he started thinking about the prophetic dreams again. He was so scared of those for almost no reason, but Denny didn’t say anything and just drifted into sleep. At first, the world of dreams was black and blank, just filling Denny with something he didn’t quite like; emptiness, hollowness, and darkness. But then things started to appear. First there was Annie. Then there was the forest. The meadow, to be exact, that Denny had seen in a dream before. Only this time, Annie wasn’t holding him and kissing him; instead, she looked angry, and her fists clenched at her sides scared Denny out of his wits. Even worse, the sky was a dark, ugly shade of gray that only came out when a storm was heading into town. Denny could feel his eyes bugging out of his head, like he’d just been caught doing something that Annie would kill him for, and he knew it. But that couldn’t be right; Denny was too careful to break his control like that.

Still, Annie looked at him like whatever he’d done was his fault. Suddenly, her body started to shake and stir, its image totally distorting itself. This was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Denny wasn’t sure if what he was looking at was really Annie or just a projection of her. He took a step back as Annie’s body kept moving, shrinking it seemed, but somehow also expanding and extending. Denny wasn’t sure what was happening. He couldn’t even look at Annie for more than a few seconds at a time. “Annie, I-I didn’t mean to-” Denny’s voice was quick and nervous, something he wasn’t quite sure about. It made him absolutely nuts that he couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on, so he kept his mouth shut in order to keep the situation from getting worse. But that didn’t seem possible; not with the way Annie’s limbs were extending and pulsating. She shook her head and growled at him, too animal for the way she was looking but such a hurt human did her eyes betray. What had Denny done, he wondered. What had gone so wrong that she’d gotten this mad at him?

Denny didn’t have any time to guess though. Annie growled again, barring her teeth in his direction. He took another step back, which physically hurt his foot to do. “No, fuck you Denny! I’m so sick and tired of dealing with that piece of shit that you claim to be a monster! It’s not fucking real, you’re just hiding and blaming something imaginary for the shitty way you treat me!” Denny shook his head and watched Annie’s body lean down, crouching into a shape he couldn’t really identify until it was too late. The beast before him which, just a second ago, had been his girlfriend, pounced on his tall, awkward body, bringing him to the forest floor. She growled once more, then bit too deeply for recuperation into his neck. Dream Denny didn’t move, but instantly Real Denny was sitting straight up, covered in cold sweat though his entire body was heated from his hair follicles to the tips of his toes. His breathing was erratic and his vision was blurry, but that was due to the fact that he was seriously crying.


1290 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- hai bb okay i hope this is good i mean i like how intense the dream got but otherwise i dunno.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

They had fallen into a sense of normalcy that Annie didn't mind. She was content with it, actually. She wasn't exactly happy, per se. Just overwhelmingly content and at peace with where they were. She liked it better that way, though; she had learned that times of happy were often balanced with times of sad and it bothered her. But this content feeling was nice. The pattern that they had fallen into made her feel better about herself, it made her feel a bit normal, and she could turn a blind eye to those issues she had. She didn't cry, she didn't scream. Annie was quiet and she just followed Denny like a ghost. She'd gotten into a habit of lingering though, a new, light vice that just made things more real. She traced her fingertips down everything; down the wall as she walked down a hallway, back and forth on Denny's arm. She lingered in rooms, watching everything move before she did. The surreal feeling from that just made other things easier. Like eating - gaining weight made Annie feel sick, and sometimes after Denny fell asleep, she would trace her fingers across her stomach and almost cry. It was hard, but he was working, and she was working, so it was getting better. It was just difficult to cope with when Annie had no real way of doing it. She was back to pushing everything away, all these things she needed to deal with were stowed in other places, like a closet. 

One day it would spring open and she would be swept away. 

Sometimes she felt like she was being neglected but then she pushed that to the closet too, because that was asking a bit too much. Denny literally took care of her. It turned her skin weirdly to think that because Annie was still adverse to relying on anyone. But he did; without him she would be so broken down. She'd erode and deteriorate and just lose everything. Annie needed Denny to hold her hand and tell her that what she did wasn't okay, as much as they wanted it to be. She needed Denny to watch her eat and ignore her when she said she wasn't hungry - she was trying to stop doing that, too. She relied on him for everything. She missed fires and wicked laughter, but she was content. She missed something's and was glad that others were gone. The bottom line was she still had Denny when she fell asleep, he pulled her against him and buried his head against her. Nights were weird because Denny clung to her like he needed her, but in a different way. Desperately. Annie didn't mind, and he usually fell asleep before her, so his grip would loosen and she would be stuck with her own head. 

Tonight wasn't different, and she sighed, resting her fingers on the door and watched him wait for her. She was exhausted from being tired. She was tired of the same thing. She really wanted to curl up against him and kiss him until everything escalated and her lips went numb. But he wanted to sleep, and he would as soon as she curled up with him. So she sighed and walked over to the bed, pulling herself in as Denny pulled her against him. He kissed her neck and she got goosebumps. "I love you, too." she said, automatically. And then she closed her eyes to see if she could sleep, and it wasn't long until Denny was slack against her. She turned over so that she was facing him, and buried her head against his chest. She missed him. Was it possible to miss someone you saw every second of every day? Maybe not, but Annie didn't know how to explain this weird ache in her chest. So she curled up against him and let his clear, sharp smell settle on her, and she took a breathe in. That breathe shook on the way out, and Annie squeezed her eyes tight, balling her hands against his skin. Slowly, she started to let go and then she was asleep.

She woke up much before she was ready, and she felt disoriented and dizzy. She couldn't piece together anything. Denny suddenly sitting up, pulling himself from her hold and ripping his arms from around her, had pulled her from sleep. She didn't know if her eyes were open or not; she was too tired and groggy to tell. "Denny....?" she said sleepily. She yawned and pulled at his arm, pulling herself up and she leaned against him, yawning again and pushing her head against his shoulder. His skin felt slick and hot and she blinked, waking up a little. "What's wrong?" she said, her tone just kind of regular. But then she looked at him and she got a lump in her throat and suddenly everything was going too fast and Annie could keep track. Her hold on him tightened and Annie felt like everything was slipping away. She swallowed roughly. 

He was crying. Annie had never seen him cry like that. She had seen small slip ups that he tried to hide, but now he was crying like she usually did. Annie felt her body start to shake and suddenly she felt very vulnerable. It wasn't anything personally, but for some reason she just had a flashback of the miscarriage - probably the only flashback she'd had of it because she hated thinking about that - and how he'd been weak but strong. He had taken care of her. That's what Denny did. And now he was crying and Annie's head was spinning. Her world felt shaken. Her mind was pounding and her vision was getting blurred from the way she had woken up, and it was too much for her. "Oh my god, what's wrong?" Her voice raised up octaves and it was obvious the panic that was clawing at her. It wasn't that seeing Denny had broken some illusion - it wasn't like she expected him to be invincible, it was just.... wow. She didn't know how to react at all. 

Finally something instinctual kicked in and she leaned up more. She pulled both of Denny's hands in one of her's, and moved so she was face to face with him. She took her other hand and smoothed out his hair, which was sticking out in a wild, sweaty disarray. She leaned forward and kissed his face, pushing his tears away with her lips because she didn't know what to do. Her fear ebbed away and she just wanted to make him feel better. She moved her hand from his hair and kept pushing away the tears. Her heart beat too fast when they kept coming. By now she had realized that it had been a nightmare because nothing else had happened. "Shh," she said, continuing to kiss his face in-between every couple of the words that followed. "It's okay," kiss "you're okay," kiss "I'm here," no kiss because she was surprised he had said that - Annie had never seen herself as a place of solace and she didn't understand why she suddenly would be. "It was just a dream." And then she kissed him again and wiped some more tears away and some of that chilly sweat from the edges of his hairline. Her heart thumped in her throat - she didn't understand what could be so bad to cause this. 






1,248 - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - so Annie is all let me ~comfort you BUT POOR DENNY BECAUSE SHE KILLED HIM POOR BB.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

His first instinct was to be scared. Fight or flight took occupancy in his mind, and being half bird, Denny first chose flight. He almost started to push Annie away and fly off into the night, like some horrible nightmare – the one he’d just had – had followed him into this world between a completely mind bending state of nightmare and reality. He actually started to push before the thought that this was Annie pushed back on his mind, causing him to just loose the will to move. He couldn’t push her away even if that thought had kept itself in his mind because he felt so weak, but not in the place he thought he might. He half expected his neck to be ripped to shreds, bleeding in rushing currents down his body onto his sheets and all over the place until he blacked out and eventually died. But that didn’t seem to be the case; Denny’s neck was fine, and there was no blood. There was lots of sticky sweat and his eyes were so full and overflowing that he thought he might be drowning, but that wasn’t true either. Denny was just sitting up, sweating, crying, and totally freaked out as Annie was the one moving over to comfort him.

She caught him off guard though, and instantly the image of her ripping his throat out burned into his memory. It physically hurt him to think of Annie in that light, and once again he realized why he’d been avoiding these premonition dreams. Having to see Annie that way was like amputating an arm without any anesthetics, like that guy that had gotten caught in the canyon in Utah. Denny just couldn’t even look at her at first, which hurt his eyes to have to look away. His breathing was so fast and erratic because of his crying that his throat throbbed, but not in the way he’d first expected. His head hurt and his body pounded, but Annie was close and she was holding him, consoling him the way he would do if she woke up in the same manner. As soon as his mind started working the way it usually did, Denny’s body started to react almost too fast. His arms threw themselves around her waist, pulling her close so he could dig his disgustingly wet face into her neck. It was hard for him to stop crying, and for a moment he felt like he was seven instead of twenty-two, but he knew it wasn’t because he was sad or overly emotional. He was crying because he’d just seen the only girl he would ever love completely rip him apart, and though he knew it was probably for something he’d done to hurt her, that didn’t make the dream any less of a nightmare. It still scared him beyond anything Denny had ever encountered, and at that moment he realized he’d rather have Annie leave him than have her kill him. It made no sense, except for that Denny thought maybe she’d leave (if she did at all, not that he thought she would) just because of something she had running around in her head – she’d kill him for betraying her, which was the last thing Denny would ever let himself do.

He let her take his face and kiss him all over, loving the way it almost calmed him to the point of little sobs. He sounded less and less pathetically hysterical and more and more like he was just startled to the point of shock or something. But that didn’t make thinking up a logical answer that wouldn’t totally confuse or set off Annie. He’d buy his time until he could think of something, just not answering but enjoying the way Annie was the one comforting him this time. He loved the way she was using some of his own techniques to help him, but he couldn’t really tell why. Maybe it was the fact that Denny hadn’t even noticed the almost lack of physical connection they’d had since that horrible day, and now having her touch him like this and hold him and being able to hold her and have her kiss him like this was like waking up from…..well, a nightmare. Having her there to hold was enough, but Denny just guessed that it wasn’t enough to keep dreams away. He’d thought that maybe there’d been a connection the last few days between Annie and his dreams, but apparently he was wrong. That didn’t matter right now though, except to the point that Denny knew. He wouldn’t try to force a connection now that he knew it wasn’t going to happen. The thing that kept his attention, the thing that mattered, was the fact that Annie was consoling him. It just showed Denny that she really did care – not that he doubted her, knowing Annie, but more that this just reinstated the way she felt about him. It brought attention to how little attention he seemed to be giving her these days, and silently Denny decided to change that. For good.

“Thank god that you are.” His voice was raspy and gross sounding, like he was some mutant or some mutant fungus was growing in his vocal chords. Denny didn’t say anymore though; he just reached up and kissed Annie, instantly calming down and totally forgetting the nightmare. The image of an angry Annie slowly faded into blackness of nothing in Denny’s mind as his lips just formed around hers. He sighed, though it was shaky because he’d been crying – and he noticed the tears had stopped. He was still extremely warm and sweaty, but the water from his eyes had been turned off, and the tear trails started to dry up into those weird, stiff, dry lines down his cheeks. His body stopped pounding, but it started to feel limp and useless. At the same time, that wasn’t completely a bad thing. It meant that Denny wasn’t freaked out anymore, though he wouldn’t deny that he wasn’t scared. That might be demeaning of his pride, but all things set aside, he wasn’t too concerned with pride right now. His girlfriend had just killed him in a dream – the type of dream he’d been avoiding for the last few nights. Now he was scared that this was going to come true; to prevent it, Denny was going to subliminally watch his every move very directly, very closely.

He sighed and pulled back, knowing he owed Annie an explanation. He’d woken her up in the middle of the night, sweating and crying and worrying her half the death, enough to get her to act like he would if she were in the same situation, but in his spot. “I had a dre- A nightmare. This was not a dream.” Dreams were pleasant and showed Denny a future with two children and Annie has their mother as well as his wife. Dreams told Denny things he wanted to hear. “You were mad.” He paused and looked down at nothing, even though what he was really looking at might have been Annie’s chest. When he looked back up her, Denny sighed and wiped his eyes and his nose, making sure he didn’t look like a complete mess still. “Really mad. I don’t know what I did, but I know it was bad enough for you to want to rip me apart.” Denny decided that telling Annie that she actually did rip him apart was not a good idea. He couldn’t predict the outcome of that situation, so he kept it safe and short, which helped him to stop thinking about the imagery of the dream for the most part. “But I can’t ever let – that’s never going to happen. I can’t let it happen.”


1300 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- op trying to back him off of being so worked up slowly but i think that went faster than i wanted it to but anyway i love you :).

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

When Denny kissed her everything made sense and Annie practically melted in his lap, his arms the only thing holding her up. Maybe Denny felt weak but to Annie he was as sure as ever holding her close. She could feel it in his arms that he needed her, and it made Annie feel beautiful. It made her feel good for comforting him, it made her feel good because he needed her, and this kiss was everything Annie has been missing. Her hands moved from his face to his hair, holding him against her lips because Annie suddenly felt so good. Even if he sounded weird and his face was wet and it was just kind of a gross kiss, Annie had missed his lips so much she wanted to cry. She felt like she almost did and her lips did funny things to his, staying close and... Annie just needed this. His chest was hot and sweaty but she didn't mind being held against it. She didn't mind him all over her, she didn't mind anything. She was so happy in that simple moment, as little as it may mean, as small as it was. Annie wanted nothing more or nothing less but his attention. He was always preoccupied now, and Annie felt forgotten, overlooked. 

She hated that feeling. In trying to protect her he'd forgotten about key components of Annie. Denny had forgotten how to take risks because that's when the monster came out. He forgot how to kindle a fire because then he was vulnerable. He forgot how to spend lots of time with her because then he didn't get shifting to a schedule. To Annie it was almost as if the attention she wanted was being given to that monster instead. And she didn't like thinking that because unfortunately she has her doubts. She hated that because she never wanted to doubt Denny, but she just couldn't wrap her head around his claims. It was difficult for her to understand all of that when all she wanted was for him to kiss her and say that she was pretty and make her feel that way and just pay attention to her. In Denny's defense, he definitely did. He made sure she ate, made sure she felt okay and he took care of her. But he wasn't really noticing. Annie felt like she was slipping away and he wasn't trying to keep her interested. Like she had said, though, she could never leave. 

When Denny pulled back, Annie put up a little fight. She tried to keep him close, tried to kiss him again. She didn't care about explanations. But Annie felt weak and so she let go and her hands slid to his neck. She looked down too, and took one hand to cover her face. Annie felt her lip quiver as he spoke. She couldn't focus on him though because Annie was obsessively selfish. She swallowed roughly, squelching all the feelings about missing him and being forgotten because he needed her. He didn't need to hear her complain. So she swallowed herself down, pushed all of her feelings into the pit of her stomach. "I'm not mad." she lied. Her voice was even and a normal level. It wasn't quiet or ashamed. Annie had dropped her hand to her lap, and she looked Denny in the eye, carefully. She lied because Annie was mad. She felt her body burn a little because she was mad. It felt like a hot poker inside her stomach with how she was mad that things weren't fair. To Annie, fair was everyone leaving them alone. Annie was a very convincing liar, and not one feature of her face faltered. "And I'm not worried.

She sat up straight and pulled Denny close to her, resting her head against the side of his. She sighed softly and closed her eyes. She felt like she was about to cry, but she swallowed audibly and continued. Her tone was quiet, a whisper. "Remember when you spent the night and right before you fell asleep," she paused because she knew where he would think she was going. "I said you sounded like an idiot." She smiled and kissed his neck. She remembered that perfectly. She remember the way her throat felt like it was closing and she remembered how scary it was to look at him, and how her heart had bear so fast because she was so scared. "You didn't know because you weren't looking at me, but I couldn't tear my eyes from you." She closed her eyes and buried her head against him. She never imagined how much he would mean to her, and now she was kind of scared of it. She remembered how scared she had been to be in love. And she still was. 

She swallowed again. Her voice was muffled against his skin. "I just wanted to save the way you looked, the way you smelled and how you felt that close to me." she took a breath and it was obviously shaky. Her fingers were trembling against him. She was struck by how much she loved him, relieving that. He stared at the ceiling and Annie stared at him. Everything about Denver had invited her in, and she had waited, afraid. "I liked the heat from your body and I just wanted you to kiss me so fucking bad." Annie felt a blush creep up on her and she didn't know why. Her body felt really hot suddenly, heat just kind of radiating off her arms wrapped around him, her legs on either side of him. She just kept her head against him. She remembered wanting to kiss him clearly, but instead he went to sleep. She remembered him pulling her close and so, so tentatively she had laid her head against his chest. She had been shaking. "That was so scary. 'Never felt that way 'bout anyone." she murmured against his skin. She didn't know why, but she was suddenly afraid to pick her head up and for some reason she felt embarrassed. Her body was on fire. 



1,023 - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - blah

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

Something about Annie’s tone made Denny feel like he’d been unknowingly neglecting her. He got that he’d been focused on other things, but he hadn’t really felt much let alone the possibility that he’d totally forgotten Annie all together. Well, even that was a bit of an exaggeration; Denny had thought of her when he’d gotten in bed because he’d believed she was a dream catcher. It seemed that now that he knew otherwise, Denny was realizing how little he’d spent near her – and even that wasn’t the right way to say it. It was more like Denny was understanding how little attention he’d paid to her, and honestly it killed him to think he’d neglected Annie in the area she needed from him. Maybe he was just over thinking things, but it made sense. He’d been really occupied with getting rid of the monster. It had almost consumed him, which might have been why he was so mindless between realizing he was tired and actually falling asleep. It seemed the tables had turned; Annie was the one that seemed almost too stable and Denny was the one that needed fixing – but he’d fixed some of Annie already, which might just mean that parts of his personality had temporarily rubbed off on her.

Whatever had happened in the last few days was not going to happen in the next few. Denny didn’t even believe how much determination in him, but he fought hard with it, and look where it got him. All negative recent events aside, it got him with the one person he was convinced he was going to spend forever with, and she loved him possibly a bit more than he loved her, though he would never believe that let alone say it. Who loved who more would forever be an ongoing war between him and Annie, but that didn’t mean they’d get cheesy in front of everyone else with the topic. Whatever; that wasn’t the first thought on Denny’s mind. First he was making declarations and vows, although that sounded quite cheesy also. Besides that, he was just trying to figure out what would happen in the morning; would they fall back into this every-day routine Denny had created? Or would they make it into the older one, where nothing was set in stone except for how they felt about each other? As far as Denny could tell he’d let himself do, the latter seemed more reasonable to expect. He had to admit that he felt a sense of missing this, of having Annie in his arms like this and kissing her the way he was. At the same time, Denny couldn’t deny that he hadn’t flung himself at Annie either – and in fact, if asked, he’d come clean and just relay the last few days as him being almost a zombie that wasn’t after brains of flesh, but just after defeating a monster.

Denny sighed and listened to Annie, trying hard to remember the night that this entire relationship had started. Denny had been half asleep at the point that Annie was talking about – of course he hardly remembered most of it. He remembered falling asleep while mumbling something – he’d told her that he loved her, which he didn’t know until the next morning – and he remembered having the dream about the world ending beneath his flight. But the next thing he remembered was waking up alone in Annie’s old bed and walking out to the balcony to find her smoking just moments before she told him she thought she loved him back for the first time. And that was the first time he’d really taken any advance since he’d met her – that morning was the first time Denny had kissed Annie, and he was glad he’d waited until he knew she had feelings for him. Still, hearing Annie give her side of that night was nice – more than nice, actually. It was informative in an intimate way. It gave Denny insight into the time he’d missed between falling asleep and waking up, and it made him realize that taking chances with Annie wasn’t a life or death situation. He’d felt like it might be back then, and as time went by and their relationship grew, that fear deteriorated, finally crumbling right before his eyes as Annie gave him her story. He sort of smiled, but the emotions left over from the dream still lingered and doused it out just enough for his lips to form a smirk.

He reached over and kissed her cheek, keeping his face against hers without really moving anything else. His eyes closed but his mind wanted him to speak. Good thing he didn’t need to see to make his vocal chords work. “I couldn’t have kissed you when I was asleep,” he said, trying not to ruin the mood. He kissed her cheek again and just held her by her waist because he was comfortable doing so. “But I would have if I’d known.” Now that didn’t make any sense because even if he had known, Denny would have been asleep either way. He didn’t care though; he’d said it more meaning that if he’d known he would have stayed awake just to kiss her. The fact of the matter was that he hadn’t been awake. He’d fallen asleep after mumbling that he loved her and he’d laid his life out on the line without really having meant to. And tonight, he’d practically done the same thing. Denny had fallen asleep after telling Annie that he loved her, and then he’d dreamed something he hadn’t wanted to see. But he couldn’t blame Annie for that because that wasn’t her fault; he couldn’t really find any place to blame her in the last week or so. Not that he was looking; Denny just thought that backed up his habit of always blaming himself first.

“Hey,” he said, his face turning into one of frustration at a loss of words. “I know what that feeling is like. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before you.” Knowing that, and the fact that he would never feel this way about anyone other than Annie was terrifying. What if Annie left? And Denny wasn’t even thinking in the sense that the nightmare had shown him. What if she just left Earth – as in ended up six feet under? Well if that were the case, it wouldn’t be long until Denny would do himself off too. It didn’t take that thought for him to stop thinking about this subject; he moved on to just talking to Annie and paying attention to her that he’d neglected to do in the past few days. “And I know I’ve recently given you reason to still be scared, but I hadn’t meant to Annie. I love you too much to want to scare you away.” He sighed and kissed her cheek again, not even noticing how his body was cooling down and calming down. He felt good now, but not good in an extremely content way. Denny just felt good to be this close to Annie, and he realized how much he’d missed it since he’d practically lost his mind to the monster.


1204 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- so yeah this looks cute and all but is it really?.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Annie liked the way he kissed her cheek and she missed him so close. To Annie, Denny was the sky. Maybe that seemed silly but it wasn't to her. He didn't have blue eyes to remind her of the sky, nor did he have any of the other overused qualities that led to sky smilies. To Annie he smelled like sky. He smaller sharp and pretty and clear. It wasn't even a distinct smell it was just so clear. He felt like the sky, or what she thought the sky might feel like. He was soft and warm and he swallowed her up. He wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. He was her air and he was her everything and Annie didn't know what she would do without him. She didn't understand how to feel so much about one person and it was scary. He meant too much to her, he defined her life. It was scary to be so in love, Annie thought it was scary to love him so much. She wasn't sure what it would be like without him, and that was more scary to her. She was terrified of losing him, she was terrified of him leaving her. 

She hated getting herself in that train of thought, though. Because now she was thinking about what would happen if he left, and it physically hurt to think about that. Watching him walk away was like losing the ability to breathe. It was like when you were on the monkey bars as a little kid, and you fell. You lost your lungs; for those few moments they had ran away. Gone, just gone. You search your whole chest and you can't find them. It's just a black pit that doesn't know what air is, and you panic. Annie felt like that now, and she wanted to dig her nails into his back and just tell him to never ever leave her. She would feel guilty though, because the tables would have turned. Denny was the vulnerable one here. Annie had to be stable. It was so stupid how she could barely do it. It made her feel sick, and she just buried her head against him and let loose a big sigh. "Its not the kind of thing that scares me away," she said evenly, because it wasn't. Annie found it impossible for Denny to push her away for more than a few hours before her chest hurt so bad from his absence that she had to go back. "but thats kind of it - I love you so much I'm scared to be without you." Without him Annie would be so alone, and lost, and vulnerable. She would probably tear herself apart because she didn't know how to help it. She didn't know how not to hurt herself. She didn't know what had started it forever ago. "I couldn't ever leave and that's scary because then I have to trust you. And you would think I'd be better with trust at this point but it's still hard." Annie did trust him but it was trust she didn't like. She could clarify and say that, but she had said it before. She hoped he would remember. 

She stayed quiet for a whole after that, quietly breathing against him. She could feel him relaxing. Gradually Denny's skin dried and he wasn't as hot anymore, and she felt him relax beneath her. She pulled her head from against him and watched his face carefully. It was dry now but he looked tired. She sighed and kissed one eye, and then the other. Her lips was extra soft against the one that was turning into a weird yellow. The bruise was almost gone, but what was left definitely wasn't anything attractive. She still didn't understand how that happened. Annie sighed and rubbed his back lightly. "Are you okay?" She said softly, pursing her lips and watching him. Then she rested her head against him again, and sighed. Annie wrapped her hands together around his back. She twisted the ring around her finger. Annie seriously loved having that, and she loved how happy Denny had been when he'd given it to her. Forever was a long time, but she didn't mind spending it with Denny. They rarely fought, which she hadn't really noticed until now. Sometimes they'd get upset, but they always calmed each other down, and usually soon after an almost-fight they would be kissing and holding each other again. "If it's really bad, maybe you could ask your dad." Annie kissed the skin on his shoulder. She didn't know where that thought had come from or how it had gotten out of her mouth, but it was worth a shot - his dad was a bird shifter. Was it something to do with that? Annie didn't really know but she had already said it and she couldn't unsay it. She kissed his shoulder again, letting her lips linger there. 



833 - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - UGH SORRY THIS IS SO DESPICABLY SHORT

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

Denny really wanted to tell Annie that he got it; he knew what it was like to always fear having the one person that meant more than anything else in this world would just leave forever. It was scary to think that the possibility of him returning to those ‘dark days’ as he’d started to refer to them as, was an actual possibility. It made the pit of his stomach turn and cork out like it was a bottle of wine or something to think that Annie would leave, but he didn’t really think she would. It wasn’t that he felt so high on himself that he thought himself irresistible; Denny felt so strongly about Annie that if he even though of leaving it would be like taking a part of Adam and giving it to Eve, without Eve ever being a consideration in creation of humankind, if that was what you believed in. It wasn’t what Denny believed in, but the allusion made all the same sense, so he stuck to it for now. Behind that, he was just trying to find words to say that would make that fear go away; he wanted Annie to go on without worrying about what her life would be like if she didn’t have him.

She would always have him, no matter what.

When he could think of no way to say that that he hadn’t already used, Denny was thankful for the quiet. It just gave him a reason to keep holding Annie. He knew the monster wasn’t going to get between them, and in fact for the first time in days that wretched thing wasn’t even a thought on his mind. He was focused on Annie, which was nothing new, but nothing less than surprising. Maybe that was love – always being surprised that that one person was always on your mind, even if they were just that, always on your mind. Denny would spend the rest of his life trying to figure out what love was, but he knew he had it with Annie. He’d spend forever trying to figure the feeling out, but he knew it ruled his life by making Annie the center of his universe, pulling strings on his heart that only lead in one direction. That direction always begun and ended with Annie, and for the rest of his days Denny hoped they would remain that way. He just sat in the silence wishing that Annie would always be the one he loved, but he knew in order to make a real wish come true, he had to do something in order to make sure it did. He didn’t know what he’d do or how he’d do it, but the answers would come around some day.

Annie’s question brought him out of the mental trance he’d fallen into. He sighed and kissed her again, not really caring where his lips met and where they didn’t. The physical contact was enough to keep him occupied. That didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking; those wheels in his mind started cranking again and soon thoughts were forming as replies to what she was saying. Was he okay? Well, he guessed he was now. His breathing was better and back to normal; his body had cooled down and the sweating had stopped. His crying was long over and his throat no longer hurt. But that was only on a physical level. Was he really okay on a mental level? For now, yes. To be honest, Denny was happy now that he wasn’t thinking about that stupid nightmare. Thinking about Annie killing him had been the scariest thing ever, but now it was over and he highly doubted that dream had been prophetic. But the effect was still there; it was like watching a scary movie. You know everything is fake – the blood, the gore, the spells and haunting and curses – but you were still freaked out when someone died during a sex scene or had their foot cut off in a chase scene. Denny knew the nightmare wouldn’t come true, but that didn’t make it any less real or any less intimidating. He was still freaked out over the entire event.

“Um,” he started, trying to find the right words. He couldn’t say that he was fine, because that word was the equivalent of completely lying. But he couldn’t say he was okay either, because that wasn’t really what he felt. “I guess,” was a good enough answer for him. Denny sighed and looked at whatever he could see of Annie, shrugging a bit just because he was okay but at the same time, he was a bit troubled. He raised one eye brow though, trying to figure out what his dad had to do with this. His dad was just a domesticated shifter, the type of person Denny might never be with Annie’s help. He never wanted to be like his father, just because Denny believed in being himself, not someone else. He sighed again in an attempt to buy time. What did he have to reply to about his dad when he wasn’t sure what his dad had to do with the subject. “What?” Denny didn’t even mean to ask that, but it had come out just because he was so confused. He didn’t remember stories his dad had told him about dreams or something he should look out for, so he wasn’t actually aware that his father had gone through any of the things he was going through. Bringing him up made no sense.

“Ask my dad about what?” he asked in an honestly curious tone. Denny’s father wasn’t a mind reader and he wasn’t a fortune teller; he just worked at some law firm across town and occasionally still shifted, mostly into a stoic, northern bird that Denny wasn’t well enough equipped to identify. Either that or he just hadn’t cared to do so before. “He’s just…..my dad. What’s he gonna help us with?” Honestly, seeing his parents sounded nice, but at what price? The last time they’d gone to see the Hurley family, Denny’s sister had been less than hospitable, his mother had been almost too over bearing, and his dad….well, Eric had just hung around in the back for the most part. What good would he serve a second time around?


1056 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- short omfg short short

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Annie felt a flush creep up again. She didn't know why she had said that and she wished she could take it back. But it was out of her mouth and now there was no turning back. She snuggled her head against him and kissed his neck again. She didn't want to continue a subject that made her feel awkward because she didn't know why she had brought it up in the first place. It was like now that he had said something, Annie could see the absurdity of what she had said. Denny's dad was so different than him. Maybe in a different world they would be more alike. Maybe without Annie there they would be more alike. She knew how different he would be without her. There was of course the fact that he had felt so turned away from everyone, but if you took away the accident and Annie, she knew that he would be so... different. And she would be so alone because no one would quite understand her. She would have been caught up in his smile, if that hadn't happen but they had still crossed baths. Nothing would have made her gravitate towards him, and he probably wouldn't have been interested in someone was unstable as her. But the fact was that Annie didn't know. He might have been, but most likely not. So it was good that those things had happened. She felt more sure about being so close to him.

Those thoughts made Annie feel thankful for everything that had happened, and she shifted her body back and forth a little to settle it against him because she wanted to be as close as possible. The accident was the only thing - in Annie's mind - that guarenteed this whole deal. THe fact that he had drifted away from everyone, that he had been alienated, was what opened his heart to letting Annie in. So she pushed herself closer because she just wanted to cuddle with him, and she kind of felt bad for being so happy that he had been so upset. But she also felt awkward about what she had said. Yet again, she was struck with this want to just slip into his skin, wish that his body could just swallow her up and she could dissolve into his blood. Annie always felt that way when she was particularly upset or irritated... or even happy. Whenever she was so over come emotionally, she just wanted him to hold her with him, she wanted Denny to take the brunt of the burden. It was easier, she felt better, and he was warm and she was loved. "I don't know.." she murmered under her breath. "I just thought he might know something, but I guess that was kind of, uhm, silly, I guess." She laughed lightly. That word silly felt so stupid on her tongue but she kind of wished it was a bigger part of her life. She wished that things were light and easy and she could just smile and kiss him all the time. They didn't have to fight their own minds, they didn't have to try to stay calm or quiet.

And so that's what she did. Annie subconciously made it her goal to be lighter. She just felt over come with how much she absolutely loved Denny. She felt it with every pulse she had, the way her blood moved in her body. She picked her head up and watched him, pursing her lips lightly. Her heart beat even faster when she looked at his eyes and she smiled a little when she realized that. Every thing just kind of screamed how much she loved him. Her hands moved up his back and her fingernails dragged lightly across his skin. She pulled her hands up until they were on either side of his face and then she leaned forward and kissed him lightly, but not shortly. Just light and soft because she had really missed him. Again, she wondered how she could miss someone when she had been with him nonstop all this time. She guessed that they hadn't really been on the same page, though. Their heads had both been in drastically different places. BUt now she was close and it felt beautiful and Annie couldn't be happier. And so she took a little breathe, very brief but deep, and then pressed her lips back against his, deeper this time. Annie felt good.


747 - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - la la la

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

Denver was nearly notorious for being connected to how he felt. It wasn’t like he was overly sensitive or emotional to the point where seeing a dog on the streets would bring him to positive tears (although it did move him, especially when Annie was technically related to those dogs in some way that Denny couldn’t really explain), but he always noted how he felt and what was running through his mind. It hadn’t always been that way, but then again a lot of things that Denny did or felt nowadays hadn’t been a part of his life all twenty-odd years. Most of all of this feeling hadn’t been a part of his life until he’d been in juvie for a few weeks. He’d been lonely mostly, and he’d isolated himself from the other delinquents because they just weren’t the kind of people he wanted to associate with. To be honest, Denny didn’t really want to associate with anyone. He wanted to be alone, even though he knew wallowing in his own self pity would have gotten him nowhere but into a rather large mental black hole. His silence had just forced him into spending too much time in his own head, but instead of thinking he just felt. He’d look at the kid across from him and just feel; he wanted to talk to the kid but at the same time, he didn’t, and he didn’t care to hear his story. He wanted to be alone, but there was always that painful loneliness living in his heart.

That same painful loneliness had been what had almost made him mad to the point of an intervention. He was pretty sure his mother had been tired of unreturned phone calls and his ignorance to her knocks on his door. Of course, when she’d come over, she’d just come in and demanded that Denver come out of his room and see her, and when he finally did, she’d demand he go out with her to get some air. So really, Denny should be thanking his mother. She’d been his saving grace in his darkest time. Actually, it had been her idea for him to get out the night he’d met Annie, so he should really be thanking her for that. In the long run, it was Donna Hurley’s fault that he’d even met Annie, and it was Annie to blame to make him feel the way he did. But the difference between blaming Annie for that and blaming Annie for anything else was that the latter was impossible – and even more, Denny wasn’t blaming Annie in the punishment sort of manner. He was blaming her in a way that was so unconventional that it really shouldn’t even have been possible – his blame was thankful, because without all of that feeling, without Annie…… Well it was safe to say those dark days wouldn’t have ended so abruptly.

But she was there, and she was real, and everything that Denny felt wasn’t just a dream, like he thought it might be in those dark days. He hadn’t believed he could be brought out of that depression he’d fallen into. It seemed so permanent – it had felt so permanent. It had felt like he’d be the same way until his body just gave out, or his mind, and even shifting hadn’t been enough back then. Yeah, he’d spent plenty of time as a bird, but even when he hadn’t turned back into his human form for days he didn’t feel like that position he was in could be changed. It was like he’d been playdoh before, and the accident had made a huge fingerprint in the center of the dough; the play toy had hardened over time until it came to the point where, if you tried to morph it again, it would break. But then he’d met Annie, and breaking didn’t seem so bad. There was still that moldable little center that was trapped by the hard shell, and Annie had taken off the shell piece by piece without even knowing it. Denny had felt that, and he’d realized that breaking that outer hardness hadn’t been nearly as painful as he’d expected.

All of that had happened, and still Denny just felt so much with all of his energy. He couldn’t just go back to the way he’d been when he was sixteen, where he was just so indifferent to what went on around him that nothing had meant much to him. No; Denny had something to evoke those feelings out of him – and that something was Annie. So beyond feeling her there, in his arms, kissing and touching him like no one had before, he felt so found (in comparison to being lost). And he only chose the word found because nothing else really fit. Yeah, of course he felt so in love because he was, but that was included in the feeling of being found. He didn’t say any of this because he didn’t really want to ruin this quiet; Denny just wanted to sit there and hold Annie. He didn’t want to go back to sleep, he didn’t want to dream another nightmare, and he didn’t want to do anything but be with Annie. But he did listen to what she said and smiled because he felt silly when she said that word. It was like he was wearing that ridiculous hat again, though he couldn’t really remember where he’d put it last; but the hat had made him feel the same way.

Denny turned his face a bit and just kissed Annie, still smiling when he pulled back only far enough so that he wasn’t kissing her anymore. He missed being this close, but he hadn’t noticed that until tonight, when he’d freaked out over that creepy nightmare. Whether or not he got sleep, he was going to keep staying this close. Being this way reminded him of the date night they’d had a while ago after their trip to the white building that Denny didn’t want to think about. It reminded him of just cuddling in the dark theater without really caring about anyone else in the room. He ran his hand down her leg, just because he missed doing that, and he rested his palm on her knee, above some of those scars she’d given herself. But Denny had told Annie that he didn’t care about the scars – he honestly thought she was still beautiful with or without those there, and the fact that they were healing made him confident that things were getting better, even with the minor setback of the last week or so. He sighed and kissed her again, not really sure what to say now. What could he say that would fit this mood or wouldn’t totally destroy it?

There were only three words. Eight letters, and none of them consisted of a ‘b’ or an ‘s’. With his eyes closed, Denny still smiled when he said, “I love you.”


1166 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- op :)

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Annie liked kissing Denny. Kissing him occupied her in good was, and she was used to his lips molded to her's in a perfect way.  She liked having her hands pressed softly against his face, holding him lightly against her. His face was warm and perfect under her hands, his body was beautiful against her's. Annie was so close that her arms bent tightly to hold him to her, and She realized for the first time in a long time she wasn't wearing a long sleeve shirt. Her arms were vulnerable, her burns were on display. Annie was still extremely self conscious of her those; She worried about them and she didn't like them at all. The burns bothered her and reminded her -  almost the point of pain - what it felt like to lose her mind. But right now she felt good and she liked kissing him and he was holding her so tight and Annie felt so wanted. She loved when he made her feel that way. She liked being everything for him. It gave her this sense of belonging that she had never really felt before. His hand slid down her legs and Annie got goosebumps when his hand rested on her scars. His hand was warm and gentle. Denny was always careful with her. He knew how breakable she was even when she seemed invincible. She didn't know why, but she liked when he touched her burns. It gave them this weird kind of acceptance that Annie liked. It calmed her. She kissed him again and made some kind of sound under her breath because she liked him so close and she liked kissing him. And then he told her he loved her and Annie just kissed him again and smiled. 

Annie didn't know how long she spent just kissing him over and over again in the same soft, light ways. Brief and easy. And then when she got bored with his lips she moved her's elsewhere, kissing his neck and his jaw and his cheeks. Annie just wanted to kiss him all the time. She loved him, she loved kissing him. She loved the things he said, the way he thought and the way his mind worked. She loved the way he looked, she didn't know how it was possible to not be in love with Denny. She got tired eventually, though. She got tired and her kisses stopped and she pulled her arms to her chest and curled up against him. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling safe with the way he came in from all sides, completely overwhelming her. Warm and comforting, definitely something she loved about him.  

Annie was struck with how tired she was, suddenly. Being woken up so abruptly really wasn't doing any favors for her. She felt exhaustion creep in. Annie was afraid she would think all of this was a dream - she definitely didn't want that. She kissed his chest lightly because that's where her head was, but she felt herself start to get really drowsy. She worried that the nightmares would bother him again, but he could always wake her up. "I love you, too." she said lightly, and then wiggled herself against his chest, like she was trying to make herself a home in his skin. It was awkward to fall asleep in this position, but she didn't even care. Her last thought before she feel asleep was that she was just so happy to be so close to him. 


really short - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - la la la

[/quote]

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

Denver had to admit that he was a little scared of falling asleep again. He didn’t want to dream nightmares again, but he also knew that he had never once in his life fallen asleep and dreamed, then woken up because of the dream, and then fallen asleep another dream or a continuation of the first dream. It was safe to say he wasn’t just going to unconsciously start now, right? He wasn’t quite sure, but he wasn’t instantly tired anyway. Sure he was laying down now, with Annie against him, and sure he felt fulfilled the way any normal man would at the end of the day, but he wasn’t that tired. He wasn’t wide awake per say, but it was easier to describe him right now, as just plainly being awake enough to not fall asleep. He held onto Annie and listened to her breathing as it slowed, finding an even pattern as she just fell asleep. Besides that, the room was silent, which almost creeped him out. The middle of the morning was dark, and Denny could feel a slight breeze coming in from the window, but it wasn’t nearly as open as he usually kept it. It was a good thing he liked Annie where she was too much, otherwise he would have moved just to open the window more, to try and coax the moon’s light and energy to flow into the room and fill him with sleep.

His mind drifted and suddenly he didn’t want to be in bed anymore. His legs felt almost too long and his arms almost too heavy. His head felt too big. His stomach, too leathery in a certain kind of way. He wanted to get out, jump from the window and shift halfway to the ground. He wanted to fly and feel that cool wind all around him. Denver wanted to soak up the moon and let its shine ride his back as he flew around the city, only long enough to wear himself down enough to come back, snuggle in, and drift to sleep. He wanted to see the city at night, with few lights other than the glory of the moon. He wanted to see something he’d never seen before, though he wasn’t sure what that would be. He wanted to take Annie with him, but she didn’t fly. He’d never seen become any sort of flying creature; Annie preferred to run. Denny chose the sky and Annie held the ground. Denny wanted wings and an endless span of sky; Annie wanted legs and to be a pioneer by her own rules. Denny wanted to see the world from the bird’s eye view; Annie wanted to see whatever it was she wanted to see through the seductive eyes of a wolf. They were so totally different in that manner, which only depressed Denny in the sense that he couldn’t take Annie on a journey into his world as a bird.

He had to not think about that anymore though. He had to change his train of thought and let his mind wander in a new direction. He looked down at Annie and just rubbed one of her arms. He just admired her for a few minutes, watching the way she breathed as she slept. He wondered what was going on in her head, or if anything was going on in her head. He wanted to peek in there, maybe find some clue as to how to go about fixing everything. Denny wanted to see what would help, what wouldn’t, what he should do and what he shouldn’t. He thought about the hospital, and for the first time he really let himself think about it. The monster had seeped in then, but he’d been mad at the doctor’s for thinking that they could control Annie. Like they had a hand in her fate. They didn’t, and the monster let them know that with help from Denny’s determination to keep her safe at all costs. So was the monster all that bad after all? Sometimes it helped, but most of the time when it was around, it only hurt Annie, the best thing that had ever happened to Denny. The monster was there in the hospital, but the monster had been in his apartment twice, once before and once after Annie’s miscarriage. It had nearly destroyed their relationship between him and Annie the first and second time it had been here, but never in his bedroom.

And that just got him to thinking about how much he and Annie had been through in the last few months. Besides the fact that they’d been friends for over a year and a half by then, Denny had fallen asleep and told Annie that he loved her, they’d kissed for the first time, then……everything. They’d fallen more in love than Denny ever thought he could be; they went to his parents house where he introduced her for the first time, and not just as a friend, but as his girlfriend; they finally did it that night, proclaiming – however overused and cheesy that word was for that particular situation – their love in the most intimate way possible; Annie beat out some redhead then freaked out and came to Denny completely bruised and battered; Denny physically fought some werewolf douche bag because of what he’d said to him about Annie; Denny promised Annie his forever, as long as she did the same; they’d shared the sexiest Christmas he’d ever had together; Annie had backed off without warning and nearly threw Denny back into his hazy depression little by little, day by day; she’d called him in desperation and he’d pulled threw and talked her into her senses, at least to a certain extent where she wasn’t so desperately crazy; they’d thought she’d been pregnant – and she had been; Annie’s body had rejected their child and almost killed her, but Denny had been there the whole time to let her know he wasn’t going to watch her die or be totally exasperated and depressed over losing the baby; Annie had moved in with him and then – well, leaving out the horrible mistake of last week, that ended them here, where they were now.

It just gave Denny this sense of sensibility to know that she was still there, still sleeping beside him through all of that. It was definitely a testament to how strongly he felt about Annie, how he felt that he would never be with anyone the way that he was with Annie. He’d waited twenty, almost twenty-one years for her, and the wait was wroth the result. Of course, that result was hard work and almost too much effort for one person, but Denny had nothing else to work hard for, nothing else to put that much effort into. No one else wanted him like this. No one else made him feel wanted like this. No one besides Annie accepted him the way she did, the way she always had. No one else that he had ever come into contact with would let him love her, not the way that Annie did. His heart was so wholly grateful that he almost burst. He really wanted to wake her up and thank her, kiss her until her lips fell off and her body just convulsed or something. But at the same time, he realized he was finally tired enough to fall asleep. At the right moment, right when his thoughts all came to that conclusion, Denver closed his eyes, tucked himself and Annie under his blanket, pulled her closer to him, and fell asleep.


1272 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- weeeeeeeeeeee!

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

In the night, Annie stirred. Her sleep remained light and easy, comfortable that she was in his arms. She felt safe, and she thought about how protective he was over her. Annie liked that quality though, although some people might be worried that he thought too much for her; Annie liked it. As the stars blended against the sky, her sleep got lighter, and Annie stirred. Her sleeping bumped and broke when the sun started coming up. The sky was a dark gray, like the color of smog. The morning was much too early to have any real color, but Annie could already smell the sharpness of rain from the open window. It was too early for anything to be much more coherent than the fact that she knew the day would be stormy. Her head was dizzy and she yawned widely. She turned in Denny's arms so that she was on her back, looking at the ceiling. What's so fascinating about the ceiling? the memory was somber but Annie smiled a little anyway. She couldn't decide if her eyes were open or not, her head was too fuzzy to give her a straight forward answer. Annie stayed like that for some time, watching the ceiling. It was covered in cement polyps, like ceilings tended to be. She had called it a canvas - so stark and white and bare and new. Her mind kind of buzzed on without her, and she couldn't consciously keep up with it. 

Annie had never loved someone before Denver. Just another way that she was different. Almost everyone experienced love in the littlest of ways - they loved their parents, or their friends, or pets. Annie had never met her mother, and she would be fine if she never saw her dad again. He was her dad, but he was from a time in Annie's life where she didn't know how to get attached to anything. And now she was a completely different person; he wouldn't recognize her. Annie had never had friends. Wow, what a thought. But she hadn't - a lone wolf to the core, the girl had never seen a need for something so fleeting as a platonic relationship with girls who were no where near this odd level her mind was on. Abby was her friend, sure, but Annie didn't know if love was the right word for her. And pets? Annie had never had those. She was her own pet, in once sense. In another, she kind of based her diet of some things people considered pets, like rabbits and guinea pigs and cats and small dogs. So pets weren't really her forte, either. 

That all kind of just reinforced how weird it felt to be so in love with Denny. She had never experienced love at first site, she had never had those odd moments where you fell in love with someone who walked by you, that you would never see again. That was for the better - love was a serious thing for Annie. It wasn't something you threw away or around. She did not joke, lie, or mean anything but the entire, serious truth when she told Denny she loved him. She would not say it unless ever molecule in her body was aching to be on the side of her that was touching him. She would not say it unless she knew - with the entirety of her complete being - that she was absolutely in love with him. Love was once. Love was not fleeting. It was static and solid and love did not joke. Sometimes it played and made you feel silly,  but it never kidded about the object of it's affections. Annie had this idea that you simply knew when love had entered your life and dragged it's fingers across you. It pulled your head and made you look at what you really loved. Annie hadn't noticed love dragging her around; her stubborn and tenacious personality made he blind to it until, suddenly - Oh! There was Denny. And wow, Annie loved him. And that's how Annie felt about love and that's how she knew that everything she felt for him was real. All the things that added up to it were confirmed by that. 

Annie turned back to Denny and sighed against him, pulling her hands against her chest so she could be close. His sleeping breathing blew in her hair and she giggled lightly. Summer was coming - she wondered if her freckles would come back. Annie wasn't fond of how the snow has peeled them from her skin. Annie missed freckles because they were like her burns but they were so natural and instinctual. The burns were not. They would never stop bothering her, save for the moments when Denny touched them. She closed her eyes and sighed. Annie didn't need anything but this. Love was so sure and stable, and Annie felt confident with it in her life. Denny was so stable for her. She listened to the sky open and the rain pelted everywhere. The floor under his window would be home to a puddle in a few hours. Annie should have gotten up and closed the window, but the smell of rain invaded her mind and made her muscles all go numb with the way it relaxed her. Rain was colorless. Annie didn't know why but she loved rain. She loved sitting in the forest, taking refuge under ferns, and watching it poor down in the woods. It would get deep into the ground, pine needles trapping it there where it's smell festered forever and it was clear and filled her nose and the space in her head. The steady, constant sound of it echoing in the space of Denny's bedroom reminded her how tired she was. She remembered watching it drip from the edge of the plants, constant although it's frequency was always changing. Waking up oddly like this just made her more exhausted. She soon was asleep again, breathing evenly against Denny, more than happy to be there. 


1014 - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - la la la

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[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

Waking up was the hardest part. Falling asleep…well, yeah, that was complicated for Denny. Sometimes he would fall asleep without a second thought, and sometimes it took him forever to just be able to close his eyes without feeling antsy. Sometimes the moon and the night coaxed him into sleep. Sometimes, and this wasn’t any time recently, he managed to booze himself to sleep, but that ‘sometimes’ was a very narrow window. The little alcohol he had in his apartment – or the little he’d had before Annie had moved in – had been left all but untouched for years. There were so many ways to fall asleep, and only three to wake up. There was the every-day working man that woke up according to his alarms; there was the sun, the natural way to wake someone up; and then there was the nightmares. Night terrors, night mares; all if that ended up with the same result. Sitting up straight in bed the way he had hours before the sun came up; sweat running down your body; a dizzy mind and the room is always spinning. Being woken up that way sucked, and Denny could support that statement at any moment necessary.

With the sun, it got into your eyes and made you squint and turn around like it wasn’t there on the other side of your bed. But you’re already awake, so you toss some more and you don’t understand why you can’t get back to sleep, but when you toss again the sun is right there, staring straight at you. You have to get up after that, because you don’t want to squirm away from the sun anymore. So you drag yourself out of bed too early, too tired, and hop in the shower to try and wake yourself up. But you’re not paying attention because the sun’s rays are still in your eyes, so the water is too cold as you get into the shower. It stings in a bad, cold, surprising way, and you hop out again and stub your toe and you just want to cry because the morning is so horrible and the only thing you can blame is the sun. Oh, and we all know how days begin and end with alarm clocks. That’s almost as painful as the sun, which was why Denny never kept an alarm clock in his apartment. He hated those things. The sounds were unholy.

This morning was supposed to be one of those sun mornings. The only fault: there was no sun. His partially-open window let the wind blow in, as well as the light drops of rain. They were light for now; Denny couldn’t say they would be for the rest of the day. The coldness of the drops that fell on his face acted as the sun. They fell against his skin, making the parts of his face where tears and sweat had stuck unsticky, then moved down across his pillow. He moved his face once, away from the window, slightly waking up because he couldn’t move the rest of his body. He moved his face back, then squinted and opened one eye slowly. Gross he thought, though he wasn’t sure why that word of all words had come to him first. He forced that one eye closed again and attempted to move, but his body stayed still. He realized Annie was still holding him, and that he was still holding her, too. The night before flooded his memories, totally waking him up without any turning back. Denny sighed and wiped his face, although it was useless since the second that his hand left, more rain drops replaced the ones he’d wiped. He glared up at the window, reaching one long arm out to force it down. His shoulder started to hurt and the muscles in the sides of his body felt stretched, but he pulled through and pushed the window down completely, finally coming back to his face to wipe away the rain that had fallen there in the second round.

The morning as just as silent as the night before had been, except now the rain was coming down on the window. It started to pick up a bit, but just enough for Denny to detect. He sighed again because he was bored and tired and he didn’t feel one hundred percent, probably because of the nightmare he’d had the last night. His head hurt a little bit, but not enough to really send him reeling. He just had to find something to do with his hands, and since it was raining, flying didn’t seem so convenient. It would take his headache away and it would calm his body down, but the rain would pelt him, and he didn’t want to shift without letting Annie know. Staying in the apartment just seemed like the safest bet. So Denny, once again, sighed and neatly, cautiously pushed himself out of Annie’s grasp, keeping as quiet as he could to slip out of bed. He had an idea, and part of him knew what the outcome would be, but the rest of Denny was more okay with handling those consequences. Plus, he was hungry; he had to run out of the room so the sound of his stomach wouldn’t wake Annie up. In a hurry, he moved into his kitchen and pulled out a big pan, then found a bag of frozen hash browns in his freezer. He heated up the stove, pushed the potatoes into the pan, put a lid over the pan, then hurried back into the bedroom. The potatoes would take at least twenty minutes to cook, and he hoped by that time Annie would be awake. For now, he had to make sure she didn’t freak out to find him not there when she did wake up.

Just as carefully and stealthily as he had getting out of the bed, Denny slid himself back into the bed and under the blanket. He pulled Annie close to him again, pretending like he’d never stepped foot off of the mattress and onto the floor. His head felt a bit heavy, but it didn’t hurt half as much as it had when he’d left. He was wide awake now, so he knew falling asleep would be impossible. Instead, he reached back a bit and just looked out the window for seconds at a time. The sockets that his eyes were attached to started to hurt, and his neck started to ache from the way he was arched to see out the window, so he laid back down and just waited for Annie to wake up. If he didn’t, he’d have to put the potatoes in the fridge, and that would require getting up again. For now, he’d deal with the crippling silence. Just to occupy himself, he leaned down a bit and kissed Annie, just because he could and just because she was facing him. His hurried mood was slowing down; his frantic mind was calming itself to the point where he could think things through instead of just making rash and fast decisions. It felt nice to just lay there with Annie and hold her, calm in mind and body.


1204 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- a bit shorter and the cute only really came at the end but ugh i dunno i wasn't really in the right mindset for too much cute, but i had plenty of denny muse. okay. well, he's there and he's cute at the end :)

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

the sound of the rain kept annie's sleep light. she liked that. she liked feeling so safe curled up against him, like nothing could even touch her. she liked the unconcious safety that he brought. he didn't flaunt it, or get in her face. it was a subtle, unspoken kind of protection that she could rely on without words. she liked his heat from all sides and his hands on her and just... sleeping with denny - in every sense of the word - always just did things to annie. when they got severely physically, annie just felt happy. she knew no one could make her feel things that denny made her feel. and then in the most innocent way of the word, just having denny hold her as she dreamed - or didn't dream - was something annie never would have seen for herself. it was something that she couldn't understand, but it was something she just never owuld have seen. annie's mind didn't even have the capacity to understand what it would feel like to feel so cherished. she wouldn't have even reserved it to books - to annie, that feeling just didn't exist anywhere, ficticious or not. and yet... here she was. so many things that annie didn't know exisited, had never even heard a myth of... it was all her's now. it was a hard concept for her, but it was the kind of thing that feel heavily - in a good way - upon her when she was sleeping with denny.

waking up had neer been one of annie's favorite things. it was growing on her to wake up with denny, though. she wished he had left the window open, even if it meant that his bed would have been soaked and they could have gotten pnemonea or something. she would have just laughed about it. she was just in that kind of mood and it made her feel so happy. annie couldn't remember the last time she had woken up like this - if she ever had. she was so happy to do it though. she felt denny kiss her and she smiiled, waking up against him. she sighed and buried her head against him."i love you." she said at a normal level. normally she just would have whispered it, like a secret for the two of them. but she didn't really feel like doing it like that. annie wasn't in a secretive mood. it was hard to put a word on what she felt, or a finger on the emotion. it was so much and so little. it was the way she deserved to always feel - simple, light, happy. she knew it was denny that made her feel this way and she was so happy because of it.

annie had always had a lot of problems with feeling pretty, with udnerstanding the simple beauty in her problem. to be blunt and honest, she wished that he would say she was pretty or something more often. but she was getting it now, that she was more. she was understanding what it meant to be more, and it made her feel much better to know that kind of thing. annie also got that kind of feeling through the way he touched her and how good she felt laying against him. she felt so perfect and beautiful and there weren't enough words to describe the good feelings she had about this whole ordeal. it was real, and it wasn't a chance. it was so sure, and stable. and annie couldn't think of anywhere in the entire universe that she would rather be than denny's arms. he was just so appealing to her in everyway possible, there weren't even words to describe it.

she pushed her head up and kissed him,loving the feel of him really closed. she liked his bare skin and the fact that it was warm and the fact that he was so there. she hadn't scared him away yet - she didn't even know how. between her first mood swing, and then the secrets and then the physical swing and more secrets, and then going to dinner and making a fool of them, and then breaking down on him and running. and then more breaking down, and leaving him for so long. and she came back so damaged that time, like she had really been pushed and pulled in unimaginable patterns. and then the miscarriage and more freaking out. so many breakdowns. how had he stayed?

somehow annie found a beauty in all of that. she saw something about them in each piece that added up to how they were now. whether it was the look on his face when she spoke, the way he carried her home when she fell asleep, how his arms had felt against her bare back. his mom had been happy to see her, and then he'd held her soundlessly and stoticly as she cried so much that she felt lost. he consoled her, time and time again. he held her close and she felt safe. annie just... it kind of all added on her at once and made her feel a little breathless. she didn't even know how. but kissing him and thinking of all of this... annie didn't really know what to do. she was just happy.

idk short - idk she's wearing some big ratty t shirt and boyshorts - header for this will come e v e n t u a l l y - la la la

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

I JUST FEEL COMPLETE
when you're by my side ,

With the potatoes cooking, Denny felt himself relax even more. Just a few minutes ago, he’d been tense and rushed and slightly cranky for being woken up by the rain, but now he was quite calm if he did say so himself. It wasn’t like the rain had ruined his whole day, just his method of getting out of bed. But that was done now; the window was closed so the cold water wouldn’t fall annoyingly on his face – at least, it annoyed Denny. That left him empty in a way that wasn’t necessarily bad. Empty in the sense that he was just feeling nothing but relaxation. Of course, that was until he kissed Annie, because that woke her up. At least he liked to believe it had, so he smiled some more because that was all he could do. It seemed like it had been so long since he’d woken up like that, especially after the move. He’d gotten so worn out those days that they’d actually moved things that eventually he’d just snapped, which was never a good thing with Denny. But bounding back from that break had been harder than Denny had noticed; he’d been neglectful, forgetful, and utterly stoic for lack of a better term. Nothing had really made much sense in those days recently, and he’d pretty much just been a blank robot with few goals and no mind.

So, in retrospect, his nightmare hadn’t been all bad. It had opened his eyes to what he’d been missing, of what he’d had but was simply overlooking. He’d spent so much time focusing on getting rid of the monster that everything else had taken a backseat to his secondary personality. That made no sense now, with Annie there in his arms. She looked so happy to be there, and it burned the fact that he’d all but forgotten about her existence since he’d snapped at her. That wasn’t a very good boyfriend, if you asked Denny; that was the kind of guy that got dumped for being an arrogant, ignorant asshole. That was not Denny in any sense. Denny tried to be the best guy he could be to Annie, partly in gratitude for her pulling him out of that dark age; partly, and mostly, because he loved her. He hadn’t tried quite as hard to be this guy when they’d just been friends. Then, he’d just tried to be a good friend. He’d wake up at three in the morning when Annie needed to talk about something, which had been a rare occasion because of how secretive she’d been; he’d gone on an errand for her when she asked him to, just because he really had nothing better to do. Then circumstances had changed, and Denny had changed with them.

After that night in her room, Denny had been there for Annie when she told him the things that she’d never told anyone else. He’d decked a clerk in the face for pushing the prostitute thing in Annie’s face. He’d told her none of that had mattered to him because none of it affected him, or the way he felt. There was some fault to that statement because it did affect him, just not as greatly as it would have some other guys. Denny wasn’t necessarily a jealous guy, at least not until someone got in front of him and waved around Annie’s past sex life in his face. Twice that had happened, and twice third parties had gone home with a bruised ego/jaw. Now that he was reflecting, he wondered why no one had called the cops either of those times, but he was glad that no one had. He didn’t regret hitting those douche bags for what they’d said, he just regretted that there hadn’t been any consequences at those instances. No; the consequences had come in the form of Annie’s swings. Mostly they’d all just built up to after Christmas, when she’d left and burned herself and hadn’t talked to Denny until after the new year. But thinking about that arose more questions, like why hadn’t he gone to check up on her when she never called? Why hadn’t Denny sucked up the depression that was seeping out of his body and leave to go to her place, just to see if she was okay? What kind of boyfriend just let their girlfriend loose her mind while he sat and wallowed in the same feelings and thoughts that he’d been in before he’d ever met her?

Looking at Annie now made Denny wonder why things hadn’t gone in the ways he was imagining. But looking at her with that happy face on, the way he always felt when they were calm and together and not quarrelling over something, it also evoked the knowledge that he just didn’t care about any of those things in the past. He didn’t care that the clerk or the asshole outside of the jewelry shop hadn’t called the cops. He didn’t care that he hadn’t gone earlier to see Annie. He didn’t care that he’d gone back into a semi-depression until she’d texted him to meet her at the beach. Without any of that, without all of it actually, none of this, right now, would have happened. He wouldn’t be laying awake in bed, waiting for potatoes to heat up while he just looked at Annie, held her, kissed her, loved her. That was all that mattered, right? Yes; the only answer was yes, and simply yes. All of that pain and whatever suffering was worth every moment of happiness – even the miscarriage had been worth it because, to Denny, the time he’d spent defending Annie in the hospital had been one of his first chances to make up to her the times he’d neglected her in the weeks before. Now was his time to redeem himself even more, and now also for the last few days. He wasn’t going to let that go to waste.

“I love you more.” Denny thought that was funny; joke wise, and for the fact that he’d never said more at the end. It had always been too; more was like some cheesy cliché he’d never ventured into. But now he just wanted to be light and playful and cute, even though he wasn’t one hundred percent sure how to be that way. He thought that this was a start, so he leaned in again and kissed her, moving one hand to hold her face the way he liked to do all the time. That was just one of his favorite things to do, and he missed it because of the way he’d recently been acting. He honestly missed just holding her face close to his, as if he was trying to mush their bodies together just to create one person. It would be easier that way; they’d never have to be separated, they’d never have to be in two places away from each other, which really made that reasoning redundant. Well, either way he half-wished they were one person, but at the same time that would just some things so much more complicated. He was glad that he was his own person and that Annie was hers; he was just ultra grateful that he got to love that individual. When he finally pulled himself away from her, just far enough so that they weren’t attached at the lips anymore, Denny smiled through his words: “Morning, Annie.”


1246 words -- op denny's just wearing some boxers -- i made it all but lyrics go to a day to remember -- cuter i think cuter yes