#“oh yeah i just don't really come but dw i still enjoy it”

[necrotic-nephilim]

https://www.tumblr.com/necrotic-nephilim/762551245228703744/ok-ok-but-jayroytim-this-feels-especially-funny?source=share

i'm sorry i'm just thinking on days that jason and roy are particularly annoyed (in general or at each other) they would have a dick measuring contest of who can make tim come more and tim ends up very sore the next day every time

(the jayroytim post) ooooh i love this. i love putting Tim in Situations where he's just the stress relief caught between two arguing doms, it's like. my fave concept ever-

i like when it's an unspoken kink dynamic too. like, Jason and Roy start arguing again and Tim is already closing his laptop and taking his clothes off bc it's the only reliable way to get them to shut up, when they pass him back and forth until he's overstimulated and crying. sometimes, they just do it because Tim is overworking himself and won't put down the case he swears he's *so close* to cracking.

but taking it to the next level, seeing who can make Tim come the most is a turn Tim does *not* expect. i think it's fun if they spring it on him, maybe Jason and Roy had the argument when Tim wasn't around and come to the completely reasonable conclusion that this is the only way they can solve it. (neither of them are sure what they were actually originally arguing about when asked.) they text Tim and tell him to clear his schedule for the rest of the day and make sure he doesn't have patrol that night. and Tim is caught between wondering if he's about to get a great date night, or if he's about to clean up an absolutely shitshow they've caused. he is *not* prepared whatsoever. meanwhile, Roy and Jason are. bc there are logistics to work out. hydration, comfort, rerouting emergency calls to all three of them if the world starts to end.

i think it's fun if Jason and Roy set rules, bc they're both known to be cheats and they want clear definitions of what "counts" and how to make sure they're not just wrestling over Tim. of course they both try to cheat anyway. but the general set up is they pass him back and forth each time Tim comes, with breaks and other sorts of rules. if they're doing this, they're doing it right because they're both competitive bastards who leave no room for grey area.

Tim is ruined within the first hour. he's crying and begging and barely feels like a person. i think Roy and Jason are both mean, cocky sort of doms who pour a lot of dirty talk into all of their touches. i think Roy is the sort who will ignore his own pleasure to focus on Tim. sure, he wants to get off, but he's not focusing on himself and is fine if he ends up basically edging himself for an hour bc he wants to see if he can work his entire fist inside of Tim while Tim cries. Jason on the other hand, is more needy with his pleasure, to the point Roy will mock him about being more of a bottom than Tim is. i think it's fun if Jason likes to ride Tim bc Jason rlly likes to lose himself in his pleasure when he's torturing Tim. it's a maddening dichotomy for Tim to be stuck in-between, knowing that they're both going to torture him in different ways.

in the end, i think Roy wins. just because Roy is a bit older and has more canonical experience sleeping around, he's very smug about proving the point he's always made about being more *experienced* where it counts. Jason is certainly good in bed, but i'm always particular to the headcanon that Jason is very inexperienced and possibly even a virgin the first time he sleeps with Tim. bc rlly when would he have had the *chance* to have sex. (yes, ik about Talia but i either ignore that it breeze over it in fanfic bc i think it was poorly handled which sucks bc JayTalia has so much potential-) and Roy is smug about it for weeks, while Tim is in absolute fear (/lh) bc he knows sooner or later Roy's bragging is going to make Jason demand a rematch and Tim is just waiting for the next time they forcibly clear his schedule.

[hotchsofficialwifey]

Heyo, I'm about as new to requests as you are to writing fanfictions, so please also bear with me if I do this wrong xD Also, just write and don't say sorry, after all we should be thanking you for putting your content out there :3 Thanks for doing this! Looking forward to your stories :-) So for the prompts:

- Jonathan Crane date with scientist!reader (I'd be really interested in something completely different from Crane's interests, like computer science/math). Maybe they know each other from university and get in touch again when he works at Arkham and appears on the news or sth.

- Neil Lewis smut where the reader crushes a little too much on a character in a movie (👀) and Neil gets jealous.

- Jonathan Crane fluff/smut where the reader has a nightmare and Crane tries to comfort them while also being turned on by the fear? xD

hi! thanks so much for your request, sorry it took me so long to get to it. I'll try to do all of your requests but i'll start with the last one. thanks again, hope you enjoy!

summary: your sleeping over at your boyfriend Jonathan's house when you have a terrible nightmare. thankfully, he's there to help.

pairing: jonathan crane x fem!reader

warnings: light smut (jonathan's horny but nothing really happens, more smut to come later ;) ), fluff, descriptions of a bad dream (nothing too scary, dw), use of fear toxin, hurt/comfort,

You're sitting on a field, eating ice cream on a sunny day, and the drizzling rain doesn't deter you from enjoying your summer afternoon. The world is bright, fun, colorful, and at ease.

But it all passes as soon as it came. The drizzling rain turns into booming thunder, and it pours and pours like buckets. You run into a nearby store, soaking wet and praying for a safe place to wait out the storm. The sky is a nauseating shade of grey, you notice once in the safety of the store. Then, you see it. A shadow lurking in the walls with red piercing eyes. Your breath catches in your throat as you inch away from it.

It, however, lunges towards you, and initiates a chase. You're running through the pouring rain, heart pounding and screaming for help, but the world is empty. Silent. Under different circumstances, maybe even peaceful. You run faster and harder, wailing and begging for help, but when you turn around...it's gone! You sigh in relief, but hide behind a tree for safe-keeping. You wait a few moments, but the coast seems clear. As soon as you begin to walk back to the store, your snatched by a shadowy claw wrapped around your neck.

You wake with a jolt, gasping as your eyes shoot open. It was a dream, you think. Just a dream.

"You okay?" A gravely, half-asleep voice asks. You turn to see Jonathan's soft brown eyes, and your heart slows at the sight of him.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." You say, still slightly breathless. But upon remembering the dream, tears resurface in your eyes. " I just had a really fucked up dream." You say with a quivering voice.

"Oh, baby." Jonathan coos, wrapping his arms around you. "It's okay..." He murmurs. His voice is sweet as honey, but his mind is far from it. The tightening in his pants only grows as tears begin to stream down your face and land on his white shirt. He shifts uncomfortably, hoping you don't notice how flustered he is as his hand rubs your back carefully.

"Jonny?" Your sweet voice calls. "You okay?"

He nods quickly, trying to play it cool.

"Yeah..." he smiles. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just go back to sleep, sweetheart..." As you both lay back down, he quickly hides the can of fear toxin he used on you.

a/n: yay, first fic on here!! not my best work, but i wanted to write a little something because i feel like I kept y'all waiting for too long lol. hope this was okay, much more to come soon!

[fancyfade]

i know i'm just being a hater and people might find me annoying because i just Have to bring it up and wont shut up about this, but im glad im not the only one whos got some problems with Robni 2021

the comic is okay at best and mid at worse for me. there are parts that i liked and the comic wasn't all Bad, i get why a lot of people loved it, i just don't get that same hype over it and i didn't really have an explanation without making me sound bitchy

umm before any willismson's or his comics defenders come at me please just remember dont take anything so serious Peace

and i'm probably biased, but i think the people who get it, get it. sorry for the annoying rant! as always i love your takes and thoughts on comics heart emoji

its always valid to rant about comics dw !

and yeah like. I just re-read robin 2021 and knowing what to expect that I didn't like, it wasn't horrible, excepting issue 2 and 3 and it lost the plot a bit by the end. Like I can see why people enjoy just seeing damian doing stuff. But seeing it suggested as The Damian Comic ™ is always disappointing to me.

I think what made me dislike it so much (and what made other people like it) is it came off the teen titans character assassination fiasco... and williamson is really not interested in retconning that out at all and acts as if it was perfectly in character. and who knows maybe DC told him he couldn't retcon it out! But he does still try to act like it's in character, and simultaneously makes Ra's worse as he also is trying to restore Ra's to his pre-2D-villain-ified status quo.... but i think the fact that many people were like "Oh thank god its not teen titans 2016 character assassination arc" made it get graded on a curve.

[silverfoxstole]

OK. Right. I've sorted my panel photos, which I'll start posting tomorrow (I won't bombard you with them all at once!), so I can get my thoughts straight about yesterday. This is going to be long; sorry! I'll divide it into two parts so that those who want to skip my wittering and just see the pics can.

I hadn't actually thought I'd ever go to a con again; my last one had been back in 2009 and they've got a hell of a lot bigger since then, which sort of puts me off as I don’t really like crowds, and living as I do right down on the south coast they're usually too far away. However, when back at the end of January an ad popped up out of the blue on my Facebook feed informing me that Paul would be appearing at Portsmouth Comic Con (less than ten miles from me) my heart skipped a beat and I started wondering whether I'd be able to go. Of course, there was nothing stopping me but I wasn't keen to go on my own, and I knew my DW-and-anything-else-related-to-scifi-fantasy-etc-hating sister would never agree.

When not long later I saw Sylvester was going to be there as well I mentioned it to my friend P (with whom I’ve attended cons in the past), lamenting that I had no one to go with and not really expecting her to suggest that she try to come down from Manchester so we could go together but to my surprise she did and so the tickets were duly booked. Fast forward to about three weeks ago, unfortunately, and things started to go - literally in this case - off the rails thanks to a driver's strike and then engineering work that meant no trains into Portsmouth for the 11th and 12th and P very reluctantly having to drop out because she wouldn't be able to get down here and back in time for work on Monday. Still wanting to go but not really wanting to do it alone I had no choice but to ask sis to come with me, which she very gamely did and I owe her. Big Time. It’s really not her thing and I know she didn't enjoy it at all. She works in town and made me stand on the outside in the queue in case she saw anyone she knew!

I had been worried about how I was going to react as I do suffer from anxiety and I've not been amongst crowds since before Covid, but much to my surprise I was completely relaxed, even when talking to the guests; I'm obviously long past my 'OMG it's Paul!' phase (thank goodness!) and instead it was a case of 'Oh, yeah, there he is, and Sylv and Sophie (a later addition, and one I'd been hoping for) too.' I don't know whether it's because they're so familiar or I just got used to actors popping in when I worked in a shop near a theatre, but it was easy and I'm so glad! The reflexology session I had in Thursday might have helped keep me calm, too; if you’re feeling tense I recommend it!

I had only previously visited the Guildhall for concerts (sis knows it better as she's had to do presentations to the city council in the past) so it was rather odd to be in there during the day. I have to say that I think they could have put aside more room for the guests as it was difficult to work out who was queuing to see who (ho ho). It was very warm and the setup also made taking photos a bit awkward with people having to dance round each other a bit. We went to see Paul first (of course), and when he clocked me in my NotD cosplay he leaned back, smiled and announced 'It's like lookin' in a mirror!' I honestly can't remember exactly what I said in response to that! Probably nothing that coherent! He asked if I'd made it myself, which gave me a neat opportunity to present the gift I'd made for him: an Eighth Doctor bear and Mr Bush bear.

I think i've wanted to make bears for Paul ever since I put together the first one nearly three years ago, but I never thought I'd get a chance so when I knew I'd be going to the con I started planning. I was originally just going to do the Doctor, and make a Seven bear for Sylvester, but as they were coming to Portsmouth I decided to do Bush as well since I can’t imagine Paul gets a lot of Hornblower-related gifts. Of course, when it was confirmed that Sophie would be there I had to make an Ace bear too and here they all are before I packed them up yesterday morning, sitting on the bags i'd also run up to put them in (not pictured, my terrible embroidery name tags to help me tell who was who):

I'll do some more detailed posts so you can see them properly another day, but I was so pleased with they way they turned out that it was really hard to give them up! At least I knew they'd be going to good homes!

When I gave Paul the bag he just looked at me in surprise and went 'Is that for me? Can I open it now?' and there was a smile on his face as soon as he saw what was inside. 'That's my career! Doctor Who and Hornblower!' He absolutely loved them, couldn't believe I'd made them and told me 'I have a room where I keep all the gifts I've been given, and these are going to take pride of place.' I couldn't wish for more than that! Well, maybe a photo of him with them but it was busy and I didn't like to ask and possibly hold things up. I hope he's found the alternative Dark Eyes outfit that I added for Eight bear as I had some fabric leftover from my jacket; the sonic for that one took a bit of ingenuity!

He asked about my costume again while we were getting into position (for want of a better term) for a photo and commented that so many people are paying someone to make their cosplays now and spending a hundreds of pounds, something I'd guess he finds quite astonishing given the incredulous look on his face when he said it. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that he likes to see what different fans have come up with; there are a lot of people who seem to be patronising Steven Ricks since Paul got his remade costume last year, which I can understand because the man is a brilliant tailor, but sometimes it must be a bit like seeing clones.

Jen took the photo and we were about to leave it there but then this strangely confident person I found inside me asked Paul a question:

‘Can I be cheeky?’

‘Sure.’

‘Can I give you a hug?’

‘Of course!’

Well, if you don’t ask, you don’t get! (says the woman who hates asking for things in shops) He gives very good hugs. 🥰

I did manage to let him go (it wasn’t easy!) and he thanked me again for the bears before we moved on to see Sophie, which involved going round to join another queue in the same small space. Confusing? Yep!

I don't know who here has met Sophie Aldred but you should because she is so, so lovely. Ace has always been one of my favourite companions and I was so pleased when I saw she would be coming. I'd already started an Ace bear with the intention of giving it to Sylvester with his, but of course that got changed and Sophie was smitten. She looked really closely at it, remarking on the little details - 'Oh, it's even got the plait. And a rucksack and baseball bat!' - and sat it proudly on the corner of her table, where I assume it stayed for some of the day. Apparently it's the best Ace bear she's ever seen - you can't get a better accolade than that! (My head was swelling somewhat by this point, by the way. I don't like to blow my own trumpet but I don't often get so many compliments, and never in such a short space of time, so i hope you can forgive me for including them.)

Last but not least, of course, there was Sylvester, which meant another queue in the same space, which was just daft as because their tables were next to each other you didn't know whether people were waiting for him or for Paul. I'm sure that could have been organised much better than it was. In the same section there were also two chaps who had somethng to do with Star Wars who weren't getting much attention at all which was a bit awkward. They haven't gone back today and I can't blame really them.

I've wanted to meet Sylv for years and he didn’t disappoint. He liked the fabric the bag was made from because its starry night pattern was similar to his waistcoat, which admittedly was why i bought it in the first place. When he got it open and saw what was inside he said 'Oh! I'm a little bear! That’s lovely!’ and when I said I'd made one for Sophie too leaned round trying to see it on Sophie's table. I half wish I'd made a set of both for each of them now but that might have been overkill, and I would have needed a rucksack of my own to transport them all; my bag was full to bursting as it was. Maybe if I see them again I’ll give Sophie a Doctor bear and Sylvester an Ace. As it stands I am so, so pleased that all three of them liked something I'd made so much, and Sylvester and Sophie were both also taken with the cartoons of the Seventh Doctor and Ace that I asked them to sign.

Phew! If you've reached the end of this, well done! I know I have tendency to ramble on and I commend your stamina! I'll put the photos in a separate post but I was one happy camper, especially as just afterwards i got another compliment on my costume and was asked to pose in the TARDIS! We didn't stay the whole day as it was hot, I'd pretty much seen what I wanted to (the Doctor Who 'exhibition' was just a few monster replicas, most of which weren't that good, unlike the really impressive experience they had last year for the 60th and which I would have loved to see. And there were no daleks! My ambition to hug a dalek sadly remains unfulfilled *sniff*) sis had developed a headache, but I'm very glad I went. 😀

[bryonyashleysworld]

Hi, helloooo!

I don't think I've ever made a post here buuut I thought now is a great time! I've written a small self insert inspired by @queenofsovngarde fanfiction "Carefully Orchestrated Plans (no strings attached)" on Ao3 and I wanted to share it with you guys🩷

Enjoy!

-------

Ash: Mingjue will act as my family and by extension Jin Guanyao and Xichen too apparently

Jiang Cheng: Wait what

Mo Xuanyu: What's going on?

Wei Wuxian: Yeah what?

Nie Huaisang: Could you elaborate on that dear?

Ash: Okay so, remember how we said that we're doing family dinner? Well, Jiang Chengs parents graciously invited us but anyway, Mingjue and I met up today after he learned that I'm the girl from theater with Huaisang and we caught up on what's going on in our lives and all that jazz. Well, when it was my turn I had like a whole breakdown about my life, cried, it was nothing and then we talked about our latest shenanigans aaaaaand he decided to host the dinner and judge™ you guys and decide if you can (fake) marry me or not since he was always like a big bro to me until we lost contact and since my family situation is kinda wack anyway, this is great!

Wei Wuxian: ?????? BIG BRO MINGJUE???

Jiang Cheng: What the fuck

Mo Xuanyu: get wrecked guys

Lou Qingyang: I just got here but this is hilarious

Jiang Cheng: I didn't even plan this dinner okay? They decided to!

Wei Wuxian: Oh you're in trouble now brother

Ash: You know you can always just back out, right?

Jiang Cheng: :/

Nie Huaisang: Okay, she's speaking the truth.

Ash: What, you thought I was lying?

Nie Huaisang: Not about the dinner, I'm coming over now

Ash: Hey you really don't have to, oh there he goes....

Mo Xuanyu: Are we meeting up now?

Ash: Scratch that apparently because I'm already getting company?

-----------

(in privat chat between Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang)

Nie Huaisang: Are you at home?

Jiang Cheng: No?

Nie Huaisang: Well then get over here too

Jiang Cheng: The fuck, no

Nie Huaisang: So you're saying you don't care about Ash, proving to my brother that we are *not* serious about the (fake) marriage and I can't have that.

Jiang Cheng: Ugh, fine.

Nie Huaisang: Hurry

--------

Mo Xuanyu: Yeah well, text me if you still need me then

Ash: I will, thank you love <3

Wei Wuxian: I'm so confused????

Ash: Dw, the (fake) wedding is doing great and that's what's important

Lou Qingyang: Oh sure, the most important

Mo Xuanyu: Clearly, nothing is more important! How's the planning going btw?

Wei Wuxian: It's going great!!!

Wei Wuxian: Huaisang isn't being a huge help and A-Chang told me to fuck off but Ashley has been helping me immensely!!! We have a Pinterest board and everything

Ash: Oh yeah, we're really thriving

Lou Qingyang: Yesterday we looked at some wedding dresses with Wen Qing and Yanli, made a girls night out of it

Wei Wuxian: DDDD:

Wei Wuxian: @NieHuaisang @JiangCheng @WenNing GUYS NIGHT ON FRIDAY!!!!!

Wen Ning: Uh..? If I'm not busy

Wei Wuxian: you are now!!!

---------------

I sit in my room. On my bed are chocolates, already halfway eaten and in the background you can hear the quiet singing of Tamino playing soothing my silent cries. Today has been a lot on me and I just want the day to end so I can start fresh once more.

Through the screams of my thoughts I hear the front door opening and closing. Someone must've come home. Hushed voices make their way closer to my room and when I hear the knock I slowly look up with a tear stained face and slightly flushed from the warmth of my room.

"Ash...Ashley? It's Huaisang and A-Cheng. Can we come in? Please?" the quiet voice of Nie Huaisang speaks. Before I can utter a word, the door is being pushed open and I see them both standing in the door frame, their eyes in search of me. When they spot me sitting on the bed, Huaisang lets out a sigh and makes his way over to me, Jiang Cheng following closely but with a slight hesitance.

They find their places next to me. Finally, the words make their way to my mouth and I say "What are you two doing here? I didn't expect any visitors". I try to rub over my face as sneakily as possible while avoiding their gaze. Huaisang slowly puts an arm around me, pulling me into his arms gently. "We came because a birdy told me that you're not feeling well and how could we just let you be miserable by yourself?".

I put my head down, ashamed for them to find me in this vulnerable state. They haven't seen what a mess I can become nor did I want them to see it. " So he told you....I'm sorry, it's nothing you have to worry about" I speak quietly, my voice hoarse from all the crying I've done today. Jiang Cheng awkwardly puts a hand on my thigh and pats it softly, like a reminder that he's also there.

Huaisang smiles softly and shakes his head "No, brother didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. He just said that you looked like you would need company after you told us what has happened today. If he's your big brother, I want to be there for you too. And Jiang Cheng too, even if he is a grumpy cat." The latter grunts at Huaisang's teasing and shakes his head disapprovingly.

"I just didn't want you to be sad all by yourself. It's not right." he tells me firmly and once again, I find myself with tears in my eyes as I slowly lift up my head. "A-Chang, you-" I begin but he interrupts me "Don't make fun of me".

I choke out a small laugh and the tears start to fall without any control. "N-no I...thank you. Thank you both. This means...s-so much to me I-.."

Nie Huaisang presses me closer to himself. A warm body touches mine and suddenly I'm holding Jiang Chengs hand, all while my tears continue to fall down. I look up and into his face. A slight blush appears on his skin and he looks away, embarrassed by the affection showed so openly. "Yeah yeah, whatever.."he mumbles quietly, interlacing our fingers in the process. Despite the tears I smile. The thought that these two came here just because they were worried about me fills my heart with joy and a feeling I can't quite place while my cries continue.

After some time I calm down and clean my nose with a tissue Nie Huaisang hands me. "You guys are so cute..truly, thank you for coming here." I lean into Nie Huaisang and squeeze Jiang Chengs hand once more. "You know you can always count on us.." A-Cheng reminds me and I smile softly. Before I can reply, a sudden wave of tiredness sweeps over me and a big yawn escapes my mouth. Today's rollercoaster ride seems to finally be coming to an end. Huaisang gently pats my back and says " It's probably time to go to sleep huh? What do you say, we stay here tonight so we can make sure you get a good night's rest, hm? "

Stay? I blink my eyes in confusion and look at him: "Do you mean that?". He smiles and nods "Of course, right A-Cheng? Surely you have no problem with that" Jiang Cheng gives a small nod, his eyes softening as he squeezes my hand gently. "Yeah, I don't mind. We can keep you company."

Relief washes over me, knowing I won't be alone tonight. It's times like these where I always wished for someone to keep me company and I'm beyond happy that they are offering it to me. I manage a small, grateful smile. "Thank you. Really, it means a lot."

Huaisang pulls away slightly, just enough to reach for the box of chocolates. "Well, since we're staying, how about we finish these chocolates and then get ready for bed?"

Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow but doesn't object as Huaisang pops a chocolate into his mouth. I let out a small laugh, the tension easing from my shoulders. "Alright," I say, my voice steadier. "But I get the last one."

Huaisang grins, nodding. "Deal."

The three of us share the remaining chocolates, the quiet sounds from us eating and the music in the background a welcome distraction. As we finish, Huaisang stands up and stretches. "I'll grab some extra blankets and pillows. A-Cheng, can you help set up?"

Jiang Cheng nods, releasing my hand reluctantly. "Yeah, sure."

I watch them move around the room, setting up a makeshift bed on the floor with extra blankets and pillows. Their presence is comforting, their quiet camaraderie a balm to my frayed nerves. When everything is ready, Huaisang turns to me with a gentle smile and reaches out his hand. "Alright, Ashley. Time to get some rest."

I nod, feeling the day's exhaustion catching up to me. I take his hand and move down to the floor where I quickly crawl under the covers, feeling a sense of safety I desperately needed. Jiang Cheng and Huaisang settle on either side of me, creating a protective barrier that solidifies this feeling of security.

"Goodnight," I whisper, my eyes already closing from how tired they are from crying.

"Goodnight," they both reply softly.

For the first time in a while I sleep through the whole night without even waking up once. As I slowly wake up the next morning, I notice some strong arms holding me tightly. It seems that during the night, both Huaisang and A-Cheng started to cuddle me in their sleep. A bright red plush appears on my face but I can't help but smile gently at this situation. I feel warm and secure between them.

As I drift off to sleep once again, I can't help but think of how lucky I am that I have such amazing people in my life, who are willing to drop everything and come to me, just to make sure that I am alright and will remain fine for the reminder of the day.

-----

If you've read this far, thank you so much and I hope you have a great day! Take a cookie on your way out (^o^)>🍪

[cosmic-pheonix]

Feeling bored and unmotivated in posting stuff (and probably in a need for some interaction with fellow moots/followers). Saw a post on Twitter on everyone sharing their cartoon crushes. (In case you missed it!)

I decided to be brave and share my fictional crushes! 😖🫡 Feel free to either agree or roast me! (Civically of course!) I'd love to see others fictional crushes and gush over them as well! So don't be shy in sharing them under the replies!

So to first start off...

Him💜

The 1st pic and GIF of him always does something to me (My god...)

Yami Yugi/Atem (Yu-Gi-Oh! DM/DSOD) | Main Crush - My first anime fictional crush 💜✨🌟 (and still is to this day! And has been recently the cause for all those self ship/self insert reblog posts on my other blog, as embarrassing as it sounds....) This man has inadvertently popped back into my brain all of sudden and slowly got me back to hyper fixating on YGO, (in the year of our lord saviour 2024), specifically for him 💜! There's really a plethora of reasons why I enjoy and appreciate him as a character (ie his personality, aura, kindness, complexity and flaws as a character, his voice - both in English and Japanese 😳 etc. - if anyone's interested maybe I might make a seperate post about it and share my headcanons for him perhaps)

2. Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh! DM/DSOD) - Do I really need to say anything? 🤷🏾‍♀️ Same reasons applied as Yami/Atem really! The guy’s iconic, what can I say?

3. Dartz (Yu-Gi-Oh! DM) - Unpopular opinion/hot take but I think he’s pretty underrated as a villain (fuck him for making Yami Yugi cry + manipulating him and everyone else - Affectionately?? Just so my words don’t get twisted out of context, I’m appreciating him as a villain/character here, so don’t get it twisted). Is the story a hit or a miss or is it necessary? Can’t really say for sure, sorry🤷🏾‍♀️.

It’s been a long time I watched YGO, so go easy on me and take it with a grain of salt. All I will say honestly, is that I really like his design, him as a character (I think there’s a lot of missed potential that could’ve been explored more) and his voice (English preferably, Wayne Grayson’s performance as Dartz really did it for me! No hate towards the Japanese VA/Dub, just a preference towards his eng voice)

4. Pantalone (Genshin Impact) - Okay, so here’s the thing with him…If I happen to come across a guy with this much drip, charm and mysterious aura, with glasses to boot than I’m already sold! I haven’t played much Genshin in a long time, so I’m not sure what role he plays into the story. (I’d love to hear your thoughts and theories, though no spoilers please! 😊)

I’ve only seen snippets of clips and fanart of him and the fatui from here and there, but I hope he’s playable in the near future.

If Arlecchino (Father - MORE LIKE DADD-), can become playable in the future, then so can he (among other fatui members, aside from Childe).

5. Boothill (Honkai Star Rail) - I don't know about you guys, but ever since he's been leaked (and now recently added to the game have seen his character trailer - the way he just sauves and moonwalked like the smooth criminal he is did it for me!) I just adore him - Design, personality, voice everything! I love me a spunky, sassy rootin tootin space ranger cowboy that loves to cause havoc and chaos! (and serves cun-) I just think he’s neat! (Also is it just me or does his theme song in the character trailer sounded something you would hear in a freakin Ford Truck Commercial, his theme screams pure “America. Freedom, F yeah!” Vibes. PLEASE TELL ME I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT THINKS THIS?! I JUST FIND IT FUNNY TO ME)

6. Miguel O'Hara (Across The Spiderverse) - Haven’t seen the movie yet (dw I plan to watch it but PLEASE NO SPOILERS!) but this man is everywhere and I don’t blame you! I’ve seen fanart/edits of him (especially ones whenever they show his fangs 😳👀) and honestly it’s on me because I been rewatching ColeyDoesThings video on him and it immediately got me back to start watching the spider verse movies (it’s on my to do list) So thanks Coley! (You should go check out her YouTube videos on everything fandom related, it’s great!)

UPDATE: Got another honourable mention! ✨⭐️

7. Lycaon (Zenless Zone Zero) - I’ve recently started playing ZZZ and so far it’s pretty fun! I’ve seen so many clips and fanart of this dude it’s not even funny. He’s pretty cool and got a nice design and voice. And that’s all I’m gonna say. I think this video on Twitter should speak for itself:

[the-illiterate-pirate]

Tell Him that His Lonesome Nights are Over || Pt. 1

I decided on a two shot! Adding this one together with the rest of the story would be too long imo, and tbh I need to hit my fic quota for the month before it's too late. This chap is just story but dw, the next one will have all the good stuff 😏

This draft is like a year old please forgive me if my old style and my new style clashes together noticably lmao

NOTES: SFW, Fem!reader, Reader and Sandman eat jerky, Reader is said to have a large family, like huge like. Oh my god, keep it in your pants please. Tell me if I need to add anymore warnings!

I've added a reference to a song I enjoy a lot, think you can find it? >:3 probably it's very noticable

You'd felt his eye on you for most of the race. You didn't mind though. It wasn't a harmful look, more like one of interest. And dare you say it, you liked the attention.

Sandman was an attractive man, and he finished first in the last race only on his feet. (His feet! Against horses! How incredible.) It was flattering to know you'd caught the attention of someone so important to the race, but you didn't understand why he watched you so intensely. You were nothing important. You had only finished in tenth place. That was more because you got distracted helping one of the other contestants that had fallen into some cacti. If you truly had your mind on winning, there wasn't a chance you'd score under fifth place, and you knew it.

Maybe it was because you were a woman. You couldn't blame him for that. There wasn't another in the race. You stuck out like a sore thumb compared to all of the men that surrounded you. You had a bright red target on your back since you joined the race, but you didn't really care. You had one plan in mind, and you wouldn't let some misogyny take you off of it. But the woman thing was just a guess. Maybe the sandman saw something else in you.

What timing, maybe I could ask him tonight.

It was dark now, you had settled down for a night of rest. Earlier that afternoon those two riders Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli raced by, but they were the only two you found. It was late, your horse and you both were tired, and it was still early in the race, it wouldn't hurt to take your time getting to the finish lines.

You watch the dark headed man walking, rather than running, past your camp some meters away. You called his name, arm waving in the air in a gesture for him to come over. He was unsure at first, but he came over. Victory. The fire you had going sparked in his eyes and illuminated his sharp features in a way that made him look more charming than usual. He was beautiful in the firelight.

Settle down, now. You warned yourself.

"Hey! You are Sandman, yeah? Wanna rest those feet of yours? I got food and drink for two." You handed him one of your canteens. He stared at the offering skeptically for a second but decided to take it quickly after, downing it like it was the only water he'd seen today. The container was already half its original weight when he finally pulled away to thank you. You simply waved off the thanks. "You gotta be tired from all this running you're doin', why don'tcha stick around for the night? I don't mind the company."

Silence from the man. Then a soft, "How do I know I can trust you?"

"What? To not hurt you in your sleep? Hah!" You laughed, "I don't care about this race enough to hurt people over it. So I've got some competition, that just makes it even more exciting." You smile wickedly, the fire extenuating the color of your eyes for Sandman to see. You look down at your canteen, swirling the water around inside in a circle. "As for trust... I guess you just have my word." You look into his burning eyes. "I won't hurt you, Sandman."

He seemed to think about it. He took a slow drink from his canteen while he did. He swallowed before answering; "Today has been tiring. I'll take your word for it, so I'll stay the night."

Fantastic.

He sat across from you on the other side of the fire. A little too close to your horse for your comfort, but you brushed it off, he didn't seem like the type to hurt an innocent animal.

Only the fire crackling was heard for some time. You both sipped from canteens, washing away the thirst of racing across dry deserts. Just the image of dead trees and cacti in your mind made your cottonmouth act up again.

There were times you almost started a new conversation. Your mouth would open, but you were quick to shut it yet again. Sandman threw you a questioning raise of an eyebrow, but you could only look away in embarrassment at your inability to be comfortable in silence. Growing up in a big family would do that to you. There always had to be some sort of commotion going on in your house, and you'd grown accustomed to it in your years. The thought of being without your family for the next few months saddened you. You really missed it all. A nagging in your reprimanded the rest of you for being so homesick already. It hadn't even been a week yet!

Instead of striking conversation, you turned to your bag and opened it. This bag was smaller than the one that held your clothes (still on your horse) and was home to your toiletries, rations, a third canteen, and finally some elk jerky, made specially for you in your favorite flavoring. You tore off a chunk and began to nibble on the tough meat. The familiar taste brought you back to earlier times of traveling America with your big brothers, hunting for the best game the world offered. Simpler times, you missed it, and your brothers. But maybe now wasn't the time to be sentimental.

You weren't sure if Sandman would be interested in jerky. Did his people have jerky too? Was it wrong to assume otherwise?

"U-Uhm," The glare he shot made you jump just the tiniest bit. No one looked at you the way this man did. It was unnerving. But kind of exciting. You steeled yourself for your next question. "Do you like jerky? My brother's specially made it."

"Jerky." He quoted as he took the dehydrated meat from your hand and looked it over. "I haven't had any before the first race. I think it's really good." He took his first bite and was surprised with how tender the meat was. His eyes sparked at the flavor, mixing together in ways that made his mouth drool like nothing else. You breathed a triumphant breath through your nose. Your brothers win again. Best not to tell them that once you got home, though, all of their heads were big enough.

Although, those boys knew their way around an elk. Meat not too tender, with just enough chew. And the seasonings were to die for.

Sandman quickly finished his first piece of jerky and seemed disappointed that it was gone. He was pleased when you offered more. This time, he ate it slower.

"You mentioned your brothers made this... Do you have a lot of them?" The innocent question got a laugh from you.

"You could say that... F-Five. I... have five brothers."

Your answer must've made him inhale his jerky, because once the words left your mouth he spasmed and coughed like nothing else.

"Five brothers? How, how–?" You tried to smother your giggles, as not to interrupt him, but his face just then was too good. He seemed absolutely gobsmacked over it.

"Yeah! Five brothers and three sisters. We all chip in to help Ma and Pop at home, though. My three eldest brothers help my dad out with work while my sister's help Mom with the gardening and chores. It's pretty crowded but we made it work. We're doing well financially, but the prize money from this race could help us out a lot, that's why I joined... None of them could come though. It's kinda lonely, but I know I'll come back home to a happy family.

"...S-Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble. Do you have any family, Sandman?" He turned his sight at the fire before him, staring intently at the flames. You could see them dancing in his eyes reflection. "I have a sister," He started softly, then paused. Those intense eyes of his looked at you next as he thought over something silently. "My tribesmen have disowned me, so she's all I have left."

He fought against the urge to admit more and explain his situation. Like how with the winning money he would buy back his ancestor's land and save his people. There was something soft about you. Sandman wanted to trust you, there was something about you that made it hard to hate. Was it all just so you can trick him? If he decided to ride with you, would... would you use his trust against him to your advantage? He took his time admiring your features.

...No, he didn't think so. That look on your face, you looked so sympathetic towards him, someone you'd just met.

He decided he hated your full attention on him, he squirmed underneath your gaze. To push your attention away from him, he nodded his head towards the shadows on the far side of the fire. "Your horse, what's their name?"

"Oh! That there is Boom-Lay Boom. But my family's taken to calling her Diamond Eye." The sudden attention to your mount had you excited and jumping up from your seat to walk to her side. She was a fine mare, you'd had her since your fifteenth birthday. It was then you truly learned how to care for a horse, you'd done just about everything for her, all except change her shoes, to this day you were still nervous of hurting her hooves. And at this point you were pretty sure you'd grown a mental connection to the girl. You were as thick as thieves.

"Your horse has two names?" Sandman asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Why not?" You asked back, raising your own. Sandman laughed. And at that moment you decided Sandman's voice was wonderful to listen to. You could hear him speak all night if he would. You'd enjoy it more than your mother's music.

"She's a beautiful steed." He said while he began to stand, coming towards you and Diamond Eye.

"Aw, did'ja hear that, Boom-Lay? Sandman says you're pretty!" You cooed and coddled the horse, running fingers through her mane and up her jaw. She simply snorted at you. You heard Sandman chuckle from his spot on the other side of the mare. His hand was raised, gently petting the side of her thick neck.

It was then you decided that he and you had connected on some level, just like you had with Diamond Eye. Maybe not as deep, yet, but it was a great start.

[cloudydays69]

❇️Intro post thingy!!!❇️

Uhhh Hi! My name is Spencer, welcome to my blog I guess? I'm just on here being silly, nothing special. I'm Transmasc and go by both He/Him and They/Them pronouns!

Oh, and nicknames are welcome here too! You can also call me Shark, Dino, Cloudy or anything else y'all come up with. :D (if I'm comfortable with it)

My ask box is always open sooo, feel free to send anything there, speak yo shit :> /pos

(Also, I'm a minor, so keep note of that. You're welcome to interact with my posts and stuff obviously, idrc. Just no weird shit. Please.)

And also, I'm (possibly.) autistic and I have pretty bad anxiety, please be patient with me. It usually takes me a while to respond to things, but dw!

-!!⚠️Rules/DNI Criteria⚠️!!-

(alright, y'all know the drill.)

‼️DNI CRITERIA: If you support transphobia, homophobia, racism, ableism, problematic com-shippers, pro-shipping, pedophilia, ect (horrible shit) I will block you. Get the fuck out of here.‼️

❗General rules for this blog: Don't be an asshole, don't be a creep. That's all I gotta say.❗

Anyways, here's more stuff about me underneath!! :3

💚💉 More About me!💉💚

(Yes I like re-animator, how could you tell?)

This section is gunna list off the stuff I like, along with special interests! Many of the things I enjoy are centered around horror, movies, shows, games and music. Expect me to never shut up about any of these LMFAO. (I feel like this is the only place where I can be cringe and free where people actually kinda care idk)

🦠 Current interests rn🦠

(Expect these to change a lot, duh)

FAITH The Unholy Trinity

The Stanley Parable

Electric Dreams

Detroit Become Human

Re-animator

🧪Categories listed below!🧪

⚡Movies I love!!⚡

Re-animator, Evil Dead, Rocky Horror Picture Show, American Psycho, Little Shop of Horrors, the Saw franchise (still getting into!), Malignant and Electric Dreams.

🦴Shows I love!!🦴

Prodigal son, NBC's Hannibal, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (anime), Yuri!!! on Ice.

👾Games that are cool!!👾

Splatoon, Cult of the Lamb, FAITH the Unholy Trinity, KinitoPET, Sonic the Hedgehog, Detroit: Become Human, Pressure on Roblox, TSPUD!!

I have a switch btw, if anyone wants to add me, my friend code is SW-5412-3964-7506— I WAS chronically on Splatoon but I'm losing interest :(

📀Music!!💿

WWATT, Oingo Boingo, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Prozzäk, P!ATD and a lot of Vocaloid stuff. (The most normal music taste in the world /j) there's obviously more than that but whatever

And the things that I didn't really know how to categorize are analog horror, lost media, ARG's, sharks, rhythm games, cults and anything else I forgot. :p

Yeah that's about it for now byeee

[rollercoasterwords]

Ok this may come off as ramble-y but i just wanted on come in here gush abt how much I love your fics!! I'm a big fan of atyd so intially that's how i found your work -- through Sirius' perspective -- and i loved that shit (dare i say more than the original,, they're both amazing ofc I'm just biased coz Sirius is my fav character). I come from a super religious/conservative background and I have never related so much to a character with internalised homophobia -- like the resemblance was a little uncanny ngl lol.

But yeah,, than i read 'thtf' becoz i was craving some lesbian fics (coz the marauders' fandom is in a lesbian drought let's be real). And it was so good and i absolutely bawled my eyes out. You're writing i think especially shined in this fic and i remember i would go back an reread pages because they we're so beautifully written lol.

And then i read ur cowboy and zombie au fics (even tho I don't really ship jegulus/marylily) but they were still amazing and so, so fun!!

My favourite fic of yours by far tho is ur most recent fic, 'As the Worm Moon Dies'. I'm a sucker for fics that expand on the world-building/magic of hp because i feel like there is so much missed potential in the og hp series due to jkr neoliberal centrist politics (gag). I loved how u depicted magic in series as more of a spectrum and how every human has the capability for it. I loved how u described the elves and their enslavement becoz holy shit is that a horrible plot point in the og series (dw!! they liked being enslaved!!). Sirius as a death eater is so weird becoz canon sirius would never -- but it also shows just how much of an influence James and subsequently the Potter's had on his life. Ooooh also don't even get me started on the werewolf fighting rings and the hypocrisy of pureblood societies its absolutely so fascinating to me!! Ahh i've reread it so many times already lol. (and obviously, the wolfstar is *chefs kiss*)

I love ur writing so much i actually started reading the captive prince series solely so ic ould read ur fanfics on it lmao. (up to book 2 -- so far very interesting -- and wondering what Laurent's perspective could possibly contain).

Honourable mentions to ur nobleflower and emmary fics because they were awesome and ur characterisation of emmaline as a butch aloof lesbian is now absolutely cannon to me!!

Anyways sorry for rambling so much i just needed to fangirl about ur works!! I just wanted to thank you for all the time you put into them and your services to the marauders fandom. Oh, and if you ever published a book one day i would read it no doubt.

aww thank u 🥹 this is so sweet it’s always crazy 2 remember that there r like…real live actual people out there who r resonating w the things im writing etc so i v much appreciate the kind words 💕 also reading captive prince just 4 the laurent pov fic is crazy lmao but i hope u enjoy the series…book 1 is rough but book 2 will start bringing u back and book 3?? bananas….

[sickiebabytae]

If your requests are still open and if you have time, can I request a scenerio where a member eats something way too late at night (like ramen or something) and wakes up in the morning really nauseous? My brain is screaming either Jungkook or Namjoon but I’ll leave the sickie up to you! ❤️ thanks in advance!! I love your writing

thank you so much for the request, anon!! I'm so so sorry it's taken me literally forever to get to this, and that I kind of derailed a bit when it came to the original plot 😭😭 I hope this is still to your liking!

sickie: jungkook

caretaker: namjoon

word count: 2125

jungkook knows this will be a bad idea the moment he sets out the (six) ramen cups neatly on the table, but rational thinking isn't really in his ballpark right now. he's been feeling stressed out from their tour lately, and feels as if he hasn't been performing as well as he should be, so he thinks he needs a good stress-eating session to get his mind off of things. 

but as jungkook takes a step back and looks at the ramen cups laid out, he can't help but laugh to himself. "this is so stupid." he murmurs, pulling out his phone. this is something he thinks army might enjoy. plus, he's been trying to be more active on Twitter recently. he captions the photo with something funny and his hashtag before setting his phone down and beginning.

just as he finishes getting through the first cup and a half, lips already zinging with spice, he feels his phone vibrate against the table. he picks it up and sees it's a message from namjoon.

rapmon hyung: jungkook what the hell are you doing

rapmon hyung: I saw your post -_-

jungkook feels a sheepish smile spread across his face.

jungkook: … I'm eating my emotions

jungkook: :D

rapmon hyung: good god jungkook

rapmon hyung: this screams bad idea, you know

rapmon hyung: your stomach is going to hate you tomorrow :/

jungkook: ill be fine hyung dw

jungkook: we've got a off day tomorrow anyways, it'll be fine

rapmon hyung: you know jimin wants to go sightseeing tomorrow

jungkook: yeah, I know, I'll be okay for it :)

jungkook: please don't worry hyung, it cant turn out THAT bad

jungkook can practically hear namjoon sighing from his hotel room a few doors down

rapmon hyung: okay fine

rapmon hyung: I trust you

rapmon hyung: but don't say i didn't warn you

jungkook: ay ay captain

with that, jungkook returns to his food.

this was definitely a bad idea, jungkook thinks to himself when he's all done. well, mostly done. by the last two he couldn't bring himself to finish off the soup at the bottom. his stomach is already bloated and full beyond belief.

he decides to make light of the situation and posts an update to twitter with one photo of the (nearly) empty ramen cups and one selfie of him looking, very rightly, in pain. his lips feel swollen and his nose won't stop running and itching from the spice, eyes watery too. he throws all the cups away and shuffles into the bathroom, washing his face down and stifling a burp into his hand. he shudders and sighs. "you idiot, jungkook," the singer whispers to himself, voice thick. he pushes himself back out to his room and gets into bed. maybe lying down will help him digest, he thinks, all lessons he's ever learned in his entire life failing to come to him as his eyes start drooping closed. he feels like he's going to be sick already and he doesn't like it. maybe he'll just… rest his eyes for a moment. let the world fall silent around him. yeah, yeah that's what he'll do. 

against his will, jungkook begins to fall asleep, and he drifts off before he's even able to stop himself.

jungkook wakes up in the middle of the night, sweaty and stomach cramping. he winces and sits up instantly. "oh god- fuck-" he swings his legs over the side of the bed, but that alone forces stomach acid up that burns his throat as he burps. he places a hand over his mouth and cringes, swallowing. "shit-" he freezes in place with no idea what to do. how did this happen? he feels so much worse than when he did when he-

he fell asleep. a groan leaves his lips. he just had to have fallen asleep. his stomach is killing him, bubbling and churning. he thinks he's going to throw up. 

moving slowly, he shuffles to the table and grabs his phone. more stomach acid burns up his throat, swallowing again. he goes to text namjoon since he seemed to be the only one who was caught up with his shenanigans the night before and sees that he missed a message right before he fell asleep.

rapmon hyung: jungkook you look terrible-

rapmon hyung: did you really eat all of that??

jungkook sighs before reluctantly sending a text of his own, deciding to ignore namjoon's. he only hopes that namjoon is either still awake or won't wake up from the message notification. he just wants someone to know what's happening

jungkook: I feel sick

jungkook: really sick

jungkook: I'm really sorry :( 

jungkook shuffles back to bed and sits down, not wanting to lay back in case it makes whatever acid reflux is going on worse. he jolts with a hiccup and grimaces, untucking his shirt from the jeans he'd forgotten to change out of that keep digging into his stomach. he slips his hand in between the hemline and his abdomen to give it some leeway, sighing when it provides the slightest bit of relief. he knows he should get up and change, but he doesn't want to risk it. he feels like the tiniest movement will set his stomach off.

his phone vibrates in his other hand to jungkook's surprise and he lifts it to look at the screen to see namjoon having responded to his message.

rapmon hyung: god kid I told u

rapmon hyung: hold on

rapmon hyung: I'm coming over

jungkook's eyes widen, mortified already. namjoon cant come, he knows he looks a mess.

jungkook: no no no-

jungkook: hyung it's fine really

jungkook: I just felt like someone should know

jungkook: hyung-

as jungkook types out his next text, he hears knocking at the door followed by a hushed, "jungkook? are you in there?"

jungkook suppresses a groan and slowly pushes himself to stand, stifling a low whimper when his stomach churns in protest. he makes his way to the door, unable to straighten properly from just how full and in pain he is, and opens it with cheeks flushed with both shame and the beginnings of what might be a fever. jungkook doesn't know at this point. "hey, hyung." he murmurs. he can't bring himself to meet namjoon's eyes.

he hears the leader sigh and make his way in, warm hands coming to rest by jungkook's sides. "you idiot, come on. let's go back to bed. I'll grab you some clothes."

jungkook manages a few short nods, trudging his way back to bed and laying down in a curled up position, fighting back a grimace and laying his hand back over his stomach. he can vaguely make out namjoon shuffling around the room, grumbling under his breath. probably something to do with jungkook's clothing organization. or lack thereof; jungkook has always had a bit of an unorthodox way of storing his clothes while on tour. it's just how his brain works, okay?

still keeping his gaze averted, jungkook feels the bed dip next to him. he allows himself the smallest of glances and notices the clothes on namjoon's lap. jungkook can't help but smile; those are some of his favorite pyjamas to wear on hard days. he didn't know that namjoon had picked up on it.

"arms up." namjoon orders gently. jungkook reluctantly complies. he can't help but blush when namjoon pulls his soiled, sweaty shirt off, feeling embarrassed that namjoon has to deal with this. to top it off, jungkook shivers when the air conditioning hitting him, realizing belatedly that his bloated stomach is now on display and painfully obvious. jungkook finds himself wrapping his arms around it as quickly as possible and curling in on himself. 

namjoon sighs. "jungkook-ah, look at me please." 

jungkook shakes his head stubbornly. but before he knows it, namjoon's hand comes up to his cheek and tilts his head up, their eyes meeting. jungkook finally clocks just how welled up with tears his are, and he can see it when namjoon clocks it, too. "jungkook, are you crying??"

at that, jungkook feels his bottom lip quiver. a sob bubbles up out of him, unexpectedly. "fuck, I'm sorry-" he tries to look away again, but namjoon doesn't let up. 

"hey hey, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like such a big deal I just-" namjoon sighs again. "you're feeling really sick, huh?"

jungkook manages a pathetic nod. another sob. 

namjoon gives a nod back. "okay, that's okay." he says; it sounds like he's talking more to himself than jungkook, but the maknae is too caught up in his self pity to notice it all that much. "we can get through this, not the first time one of us has gotten knocked down."

"but… the sightseeing… the others-"

"will understand if you can't make it tomorrow." namjoon promises with a gentle smile. "now let's finish getting you changed so you don't get more sick from the cold hitting you." 

it's been an hour and jungkook has yet to fall asleep. namjoon lays next to him, having already drifted off a while ago, snoring away without a care in the world. jungkook is extremely jealous. his stomach is still gurgling and churning and it doesn't seem to want to provide him with any relief any time soon.

slowly, carefully, jungkook pushes himself up into a sitting position, afraid that he might choke on the productive burps that keep crawling up his throat. he worries at his fingers. his breathing feels short and heavy and jungkook swears under his breath. he hates this. he hates being sick. arguably more than anything in the world. he hates feeling so gross and out of control and-

great, he's crying again. jungkook shoves his head into his hands and tries not to make too much sound. this is all his fault, and he knows it, and that makes the whole situation so much worse somehow; this disaster is a product of his own making.

jungkook's head continues to swim and swirl with thoughts, and before he knows it, something heavy rushes up his throat. his mouth waters dangerously, a sour feeling coating the back of his tongue and weighing it down. he's definitely going to throw up. he feels it coming on, and fast.

throwing the sheets off himself as quickly as he can, jungkook hurries to the bathroom and shuts the door behind him, hand clamped over his mouth. he crouches in front of the toilet with a few heavy pants, white-knuckling the sides of the bowl. the first wave of vomit comes out of him with a guttural gag before jungkook can even fully process that it's happened. and then another wave comes out. and then another. and then he's rolling; more specifically, his stomach is rolling. agonizingly so. 

jungkook tries his hardest to be quiet. he really, really does. but it's difficult to do so when each round of puke rips his breath from his chest and burns the way up his throat, eliciting involuntarily whimpers and groans and pants.

he feels a warm hand on his back before he registers the fact that someone has joined him in the bathroom; namjoon. jungkook can't help but give a choked sob. "i-i'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, I-"

"shh," namjoon hushes. "it's okay. just get everything up, it'll help you feel better."

namjoon's calm, deep voice helps some of the tension leave jungkook's muscles, but they quickly seize up again when he has to throw up once more.

after another five minutes or so go by, the last few filled with nothing but weak, unproductive gags and pants as jungkook tries to regain his breath, namjoon decides to make the executive decision that jungkook is done. the leader reaches over to flush the toilet and helps jungkook to his feet. "come on, let's wash out your mouth and go to bed."

jungkook gives a weak moan but lets himself be dragged to the sink, pliable. now that his stomach is left with nothing more than a dull ache, and waves of relief continually washing over him from the nausea finally being gone, jungkook is tired. so, so tired. he barely feels it as namjoon guides him through washing out his mouth and leading him back to bed, helping jungkook sit on the edge as namjoon shuffles off to grab a new shirt, jungkook having soiled the one he'd changed into from sweat. 

the boy is practically already out cold by the time he's been changed and tucked in. the last thing he registers is a gentle touch brushing back his hair and the familiar voice of his leader whispering for him to "sleep well, jungkookie."

[hazbinsponsoredbyvee]

[hello, I'm the anon that asked about all your favorite horror movies and food :]

Dw, I feel you Mel, I used to not be a fan of horror or scary shit in general, like even the thumbnails of YouTube videos would make me super nervous

But what got me out of that shell was playing a horror game...

After that I slowly started watching creepy stuff and eventually horror, reading horror, listening to true crime etc. All these things that used to leave me wondering if I'll be able to sleep tonight are now some of my favorite things, turns out I like getting jumpscared half to death 🙂

All because I played Granny one time with my bsf cause we were bored 😭

Even so, there are still a few horror movies I won't indulge in, not sure if I can handle those...yet

BUT ENOUGH BACKSTORY TALK

FAVORITE TV SHOW GO‼️

- Favorite anon

So, I consider myself a horror fan. I love watching people play horror games, and the not so intense ones, I love playing myself. And I LOVE slasher movies. The Scream franchise especially, even though I don't consider it actually scary at all. And more creature-based movies like The Thing don't bother me.

I used to say I just couldn't do paranormal, but I love movies like Thirteen Ghosts and 1408. I even like The Haunting of Connecticut movies. My best guess is when there's a mystery aspect + benevolent spirits + a happy ending, it helps to overpower whatever I can't handle. 1408 I still don't fully understand how I'm cool with it, and my first time trying to watch it, I did nope out pretty quick once things started happening, but now I really like it. The Shining walked the line of what I can and can't handle - I was able to function afterwards without nightmares, but I did make my husband come to the bathroom with me cause I didn't want to be alone, and I don't know if I'll ever watch it again.

I think when the paranormal borders more on demonic, and when there's creepy stuff with children, that's when things really become too much for me. Oh, also certain psychological things (the most recent Halloween movie actually fucked me up with this, and that Netflix Black Mirror choose your own adventure movie really messed me up for a while). So yeah, I love horror, until there's something I can't handle, and then I really can't handle it. And then I will ruminate on it until I am very unwell. But I don't fully know where that line is, so it's like playing Russian Roulette anytime I want to watch a horror movie.

ANYWAY, to your actual question.

"My favorites are game shows!"

"I don't watch much TV. Scrambles the brain."

"I really like shows that are musicals! Smash is really good, if a little heavy at times."

"I really enjoyed The Fall of the House of Usher miniseries."

"Don' know about my favorite, but Heartbreak High is pretty good."

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

dw rewatch - takes on "the end of the world"

companion watch:

"the artic desert" hits different lol

something something bella vs the witch

rose's fear attack when she finds heres lf in the alien situation. she's genuinely terrified! it's a good beat, man. more than that, it's a rare beat. I get a lot of people don't vibe with it and prefer the more "buffy-esque approach, since it's "more to the point" and gets you larger than life figures… but personally I much prefer it when scifi/fantasy scenarios are portrayed as the terrifying reality they would be. also this: "ROSE: I just hitched a ride with a man. I don't even know who he is. He's a complete stranger"

war of the world vibes with the little robot fellas. /unintentional parallel to how cassandra dies and how the aliens in that book die?

"it gets inside and changes my mind, and you didnt even ask" "i didnt think about it like that" it's interesting that rose question this tbh

"five billion years in the future, my mum's dead" "bundle of laughs you are" /god i love this exchange. nine's constant attempt to downplay ANY surfacing of Real Emotions. rose's naivety in contemplating for the first time in her life that oh yeah, people die. the first statement of the "everything dies, everything ends" theme that will be woven throughout all the rtd era.

ngl i wish rose Did More in the plot of this episode, in terms of actually solving the crisis, feels like a stepdown after Rose giving her the most climatic moment... that said she does get a lot of great quibs in this one: "you two go pollinate and i'll go meet the family"/ "and i want you home by midnight!"/ "its better to die than to live like you, a bitchy trampoline" / "youre just lipstick and skin"

she's really similar to nine/ten in that aspect. they both have that "humor as defense mechanism" thing

blorbos:

the way nine and rose Lean in those stairs…. im Looking respectfully and im Thinking pure thoughts. (honestly ppl talk a lot about ten and rose's body language in s2 but there was A Lot going on with nine and rose as early as episode 1)

"all that counts is here and now" can't tell if zen mindfulness or a desperate defense mechanism to cope with ptsd.

first thing rose does is call her mum ): - Cassandra "I'm too young" vs Ten's "I was going to do so much more"...(ben wyatt voice) it's about the hypocrisy (oh having written this note before rewatching new earth... put a pin on that!)

timeless child retroactive continuity bonus: perhaps cassandra as "the last human" (not really a "human") paralleling "the last timelord" (not really a "timelord)? - "JABE: And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left". well post-s13 they're gonna enjoy themselves a lot more lol - there's something very anti-entropy about how the child gets to regenerate indefinitely without "losing" its essence and its dna integrity (vs cassandra's "flatness", the child gains more and more complexity as time passes).

colonialism/hegemony: - NINE: "mind you, when I say "the great and the good" what I mean is the rich." / "Five billion years and it still comes down to money" / this maybe be harsh,,, honestly i hate to say but doctor who sometimes really is just typical neolib """anti-capitalist""" fiction. - in the sense that it pretends to be anti-capitalist, but really is just capitalist realist. it's writers can imagine 203223 scenarios of the earth dying but they cannot conceive of a post-capitalist world, a classless society or simply a world without taxes. Of course you could say "this is so these stories are relatable" but even in their relatedness, there's rarely a portrayal of the anti-capitalist struggle (rather than just generic star wars-style, ideology-less "rebellions).- (that said, obligatory "I'm not a politics robot" disclaimer... "Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune." is an iconic retort lol) - there's also a kind of subtle Myth Of The Linear Progress Of History thing going on with cassandra being framed as someone who "stayed behind" and has not embraced this analogue to our "Color Blind Post Racial Society" which has "Obviously" outgrown prejudice and notions of racial purity. - "good thing i didn't take you to the deep south" / "you were to busy making cheap shots about the deep south" // parallels to-> "who do you think makes your clothes?" "Is that why you travel 'round with a human at your side? It's not so you can show them the wonders of the universe, it's so you can take cheap shots?" "sorry" . actually no rtd i dont think these are chepashots at all lol they are VERY relevant shots!! it's very transparent how the writers are kind of meek about making these *truly* transgressive points, but it's much easier to have the doctor argue that rose having a donor card is "a different morality"... again one is truly transgressive, the other is fun-but-no-challenging-of-the-hegemony scifi "dilemma". - the "quick word with Michael Jackson" line is doing A Lot but idek how to even begin to entangle it lol it's very 00s, for sure. - for once, a self aware one: "People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." / "It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries"

themes: - everything has its time and everything ends check your bingo cards. racial purity vs mixing vs 'progress'. class. life cycles. gut instinct (rose jumping the gun to empatise w/ the doc + nine going through the fans + rose reaction to the alien parade). destruction as tourism, as "artistic event" (an uncomfortable parallel to how this is what our heroes will be doing for the next 10+ seasons). - this episode does a bit of a u-turn on the previous (And the next) on its constant questioning of the intrinsic "meaning" of a physical body. in this, cassandra's continuous operations are framed as a kind of "lost of an essence". also the "surface" of her thinking as metaphor for her missing the "essence" of what it means to be human (biologically but more fundamentally, ethically).

Live Fast Die Young / YOLO / everyone deserves to be mourned. everyone deserves a dignified death. thread carefully and cherish life, because it will all be gone. our time is limited and short and it is because it is short that it means something. Life only means anything because there's Death.

ecology and environmentalism. "there are many species in that planet. mankind is only one / I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest." obsessed with it. wish they brought back the rainforest.

[aur0ralights]

OOH WHAT IS Hyrule gets attacked for being a good person?? 👀 My baby who hurt him >:(

ALSO I dare you to share Time is not dad, he is magic claw 👀👀👀👀

oh yeah! that's a superhero AU idea i had where like, both villain and hero sides kinda use Hyrule as a secret healer, but they both don't know that they've hired the same healer, its a whole thing dw about it- but one day this group comes along and is like, 'hey, a healer? nah, ours' and just kidnaps him. both hero and villain sides work together to save him :)

(its probably a bit obvious who hurt him- cough cough DINK cough cough) some spoilers on whose on which side! - legend is a villain, he'd be very stubborn with his morality to side with heroes- he enjoys the freedom of being a vigilante, though he is only classified as a villain because he refuses to work with the heroes. (in the other superhero AU, hyrule is legends henchman- but theyre buddies- this one isn't that superhero AU, so shhhh) - wild and twilight are a duo, theyre hero/vigilantes? idk yet, still working it out ngl - sky is a hero that goes by the name of 'lightning storm', he ofc, can harness lightning and electrons in the air (and probably in electronics? havent figured that far out yet)

- wind is a hero known as 'revenant', he can leave his body and is the hero agency's TOP informant. while outside of his body, i assume he can possess others, dunno yet tho, we'll see lol

- warriors... all i have written down for him is that he can spin attack really good. aiight bet.

- time is a vigilante known as 'fierce deity', he doens't often go onto the field, he's more of an urban legend than anything. the only reason he's classified as a vigilante is because he refuses to talk with either side, and nobody can get hold of who is true identity is either.

- four! four is my favorite one, he makes weapons for all sides, he's honestly just here for the chaos. there are multiple times where heroes and villains have run into eachother while being in his shop and four is very quick to tell them to make up or he wont be selling *EITHER* of them anything.

annnd yeh! knowing me its just gonna end up crying and gathering dust, but its one of those things where i think about it often enough to where it has a document dedicated to all the ideas i come up with xD

(also i tagged u in magic claw time, heheh)

[octolingkiera]

5, 15, 16, 29

hi!! thanks for your ask!! :3

(the list)

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

so on the one hand, my danny phantom fics always get a lot of attention and it always leaves me a little surprised, but on the other hand, that fandom is very fic focused, so at the same time it Doesn't really surprise me when i get a lot of kudos for them. what surprises me more is how much other fandoms DON'T comment or bookmark or follow fics lol. i was seriously spoiled with those lol

as for a fic that's gotten more feedback, uhhhh hm. a couple of my dp fics have done better than i thought they would, yeah, but i also have this bleach fic that's in second person that seems to have come across really well, so i guess that one's the most surprising lol

aftershocks has done really well, but that's not surprising considering the talent that went into it, the fact we updated every week, and the word count, but it still baffled me as we were updating it how well it was doing lol

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

definitely my rottmnt separated au (chapter 1 is posted on ao3 as sunset hues, jetpack blues (SHJB)) lol. ive been putting a lot of effort into it, more than i give most of my fics, tho i'm realizing now as i'm working more on planning i may have jumped the gun a bit and posted it a biiit early?? but also i wanted to post it on my birthday so i'm not so concerned about that kdshbfhdsf

when i post chapter 2 (which is basically done except for the final revision i need to give it), i'm gonna reread chapter 1 as well and make sure it's up to date with the minor stuff i left out bc i hadn't nailed down some specifics yet (but dw, it'll be Very minor and won't effect the plot lol)

besides that, i have oneshot prompts i wanna fill out and i have a fic in the works i'm calling Fallout, which is inspired by fall out boy songs (which ive been thinking about since like february/march when "love from the other side" dropped lol)

i also lowkey wanna try to get a fic done for danny phantom's 20th anniversary in april but idk how that's gonna go lol. i'm still very focused on ninja turtles

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

of my 54 works on ao3 Fluff seems to be my most used tag with 10 times, which is. lowkey a surprise LOL. Hurt/Comfort comes in second with 7 (tied with "not beta read" and a tag for a danny phantom fic event) and Angst is in third with 6 (barring the two that i'm not counting lol)

going by just my rise fics, first place tag goes to Donatello and Leonardo are Twins (TMNT) with 6 of my 8 fics (ao3 says 9, but one of them is aftershocks, which i won't include bc it's a collab) and only reason it's not all 8 is bc i didn't tag it in fics where it's not a main focus lol

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

hmmmm let's see.... okay what have i written this year....

oh god that's a lot more than i thought, uhhhh

i have a lot of stuff i Really enjoyed tbh. there's a fun little action sequence i wrote for a later part of SHJB that i liked (that i'll prolly have to rework a little), there's a few Other parts of my prewritten SHJB stuff i enjoy, there's a bunch of stuff in my rise august fills i really liked...

but i think for a single line/passage, i'll go with this bit from the beginning of my fic what's in a name? (which is also posted here on tumblr!!)

Donnie, not bothering to look up from his phone, flaps a hand in the air dismissively. “I keep all my anger bottled up in here,” he taps his chest, “and hope one day it will just kill me. Like a normal person,” he adds, as if what he just described is unequivocally a universal experience.

this entire piece was a lot of fun to write and there's some more silly lines in this i really enjoyed but i think this is the one i think about the most, like the exchange directly after this lol

Leo purses his lips and steeples his hands, holding this fingers to his mouth. “So that’s a yes to the mad, then.” “Or it could be, like, the coo-coo for cocoa puffs type of mad!” Mikey chimes in, crossing his eyes and swirling a finger beside his ear. “Y’know, like British people say.” “Ew,” Leo says, because that’s all that needs to be said about that.

and this line a little bit down from that

Raph’s next exhale is heavy, the burden of Atlas in his eternal torment. “Pizza Supreme, I wish.”

thanks again for your ask!!! these were a lot of fun to answer. i love talking about my writing dfjghbdfg get me started and i'll never shut up lol

[darcyfangirlsfrequently]

I Met You At the End of the World - chapter 4: All is Well (but I'm scared as hell that you won't like me)

Chapter summary: The Dirty Dozen case comes to a close, and Luke bids the BAU adieu, to the disappointment of many.

Chapter word count: 10,388

Total word count: 27,010

Can also be read here on Ao3

And I don't normally do this, but I'm tagging some people in this chapter: @hey-dw I know you exclusively read this on here and I don't want you to miss it! @a-potato-wearing-plaid I don't know if you follow this fic at all (I don't think so but you totally should because it's great and completely spoiler-free for you) but this is the chapter where Pretty Boy™ and Soft Boy™ meet and become friends and also there is a large Reid focus and also a lot of Soft Garvez™ that I think you'd enjoy

Luke and Tara had food in front of them they had no intention of really eating and martinis they were probably only going to take a sip or two from as they watched from their table as Reid entered the restaurant and sat down at the table that had been reserved for him and the woman he was meeting that night. Luke made eye contact with Morgan who was across the restaurant at the bar with JJ to confirm that they were all in position. Nothing could go wrong that night.

Luke watched as Reid fidgeted with his tie nervously—he wasn’t used to undercover work. Luke had offered to go in his place since he had plenty of experience with it, but he wasn’t a profiler, and they needed one to be the person going head-to-head with this woman. Reid placed a rose on the table—a request from the woman—and waited. All they could do now was wait.

They didn’t have to wait very long. A woman in a dark coat and teal dress with brown hair down to her chin walked up to him. “Spencer?” She could be heard asking through the microphone hidden behind Reid’s tie. Here she was. Cat Adams.

“Cat?” Reid responded.

“Hi!” 

“Hi. Hello. Hi.”

Cat attempted to hug him. “It’s nice to finally—”

Reid backed away from the hug. “Oh! Sorry, I have a… kind of a germ thing. I’m kind of weird with hugs.”

“Oh,” Cat replied. “Sorry.” 

They stood there silently for a moment, just standing there. The inaction made Luke uneasy. He knew Reid was nervous, but if his nerves accidentally caused him to do anything that might tip their hand… this night could go very poorly.

“Can I sit down?” Cat eventually asked.

Reid snapped right back into the moment. “Yes, please! Yeah, of course! Sit down!”

They both sat, and she took off her coat, placing it and her bag on the stretch of curved booth in between the two of them. 

They were silent for a moment more, and Luke couldn’t see her face, but he imagined Cat was examining Reid and his facial expressions. 

Cat was, again, the first one to break the silence. “First time doing this?”

“Yeah,” Reid replied, almost sound relieved. “I mean, yeah.”

“Yeah, I still get nervous too,” she said, as if to reassure him. Credit where credit is due, this woman was good at what she did. “Really, it wasn’t until an hour ago that I was like, wait, we’ve been trading emails back and forth but I still have no idea what this guy looks like.”

“Hence the…” Reid pointed to the rose on the table.

“I know, and then I was like, wait, he’s going to bring a red rose so we need to go to a nicer place, which is why I switched the restaurant at the last minute…”

“Not a problem at all,” Reid assured her, which was a bit of a lie. It had been a frustrating detail for the team, but one they were able to work with nonetheless. 

“And now I need to change and put something nice on for this place,” Cat continued. “‘Cause I was totally underdressed and my whole wardrobe makes me look like a Kardashian.”

Luke scoffed and rolled his eyes. Sure, it does.

Tara smiled at his reaction, having had the same thought.

Reid must have made a face at the name “Kardashian,” because Cat asked, “You don’t know who that is, do you?”

“No, oh yeah,” Reid replied enthusiastically. “Robert Kardashian. He got OJ Simpson off. You don’t… you don’t look like his daughter.”

Luke pressed his lips together so he didn’t actually laugh out loud, but made a mental note to tell Penelope about this later, knowing she’d get a kick out of her beloved “Boy Wonder’s” little slip-up.

“Yeah, no,” Cat said. “I was making a joke. A bad one.”

“No, it was a good joke!”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It was funny.”

They chuckled awkwardly and then, for the third time that evening, were silent. After a pause, Cat finally said, “Can we start over? Hi, I’m Cat.”

Reid was still laughing nervously. “Hi, hello. Hi, I’m… I’m Spencer.”

“It really is nice to meet you, in person, finally,” she told him, sounding incredibly sincere. 

Reid nodded in response. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Tell me a little bit about yourself,” Cat prodded. “Do you really have three PhDs?”

“Yes. Erm, yeah, I do, I have three PhDs.”

“What was your favorite book that you read last year?”

“Um, honestly, I’ve never read a book I didn’t love.”

Then, Cat said the one thing that got their evening started in earnest. “Tell me about your wife.” She rested her head on her hands casually, waiting for his response.

Poor Reid was instantly made nervous yet again. “If you don’t mind, I’d, er, I’d rather not talk about her.”

“Might as well get it out in the open, right?” Cat replied. “That’s why we’re here. How long have you been married?”

“Four years.”

“When is she due to give birth?”

“In a couple of months.” Reid leaned across the table then, and lowered his voice, but not enough that the microphone could no longer pick up the conversation. “Should we talk about price now, or…”

Cat leaned forward as well. “Slow down, tiger. What exactly are we negotiating here?”

“You know.”

Cat shrugged. “I want to hear you say it.” 

There it was. There was a bit of the psychopath coming out. Forcing him to say what she already knew, giving herself all the power she could.

“To have her killed,” Reid whispered.

Cat remained silent for a moment, and Luke was almost certain she was smiling. People like her often did at this point.

“Let me see your ring,” she said. 

Reid held out his left hand where his fake wedding band was sitting, and Cat reached over to twist it around his finger.

“You know what that is?” She asked him. “A noose. Only it doesn’t kill you all at once. It kills you slowly, day by day. You ever feel that way?”

Luke watched as Reid nodded and knew that he, along with everyone else on the team, was making note of Cat’s destructive views of marriage, likely stemming from her experience with the marriage of her parents, and likely contributing to her corrupted worldview. 

“I feel that way all the time,” Reid said. 

“Take it off,” Cat instructed. 

“Why?”

“As a sign of your commitment,” she replied simply. “To me.”

Reid did as he was told, taking off the ring and handing it to her. 

She turned the ring over in her hand, examining it as she did so.

“If she sticks to pattern, she’ll take him to a secondary location and kill him,” JJ said over their comms. 

“We’re not going to let it get that far,” Rossi told her from his place at a booth on the opposite side of Reid and Cat that Luke and Tara were. He could see her completely if he looked over, while they could see him completely. “Hotch, do you have a visual?”

“Just hacked in,” came Penelope’s voice through their earpieces. She and Hotch were back at Quantico watching and monitoring remotely.

“All right Reid,” Hotch said. “We have you over her left shoulder. Do you copy?” Reid was supposed to cast a glance up at the security camera to confirm, and he must have, because then Hotch said, “All right, all agents stand by. Dr. Reid will give the green light. Don’t move until we have it.”

Cat was still playing with Reid’s ring. “24-karat?” 

Reid nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

“24 K… times four years… means this rign should be dinged and nicked, but this sucker is brand new.”

Luke’s heart dropped to his stomach. They hadn’t given him an artificially distressed ring? They hadn’t even attempted to make the ring look old? What were they doing?

“You’re not married,” Cat continued. She fiddled with something in her bag, and then Luke swore he could hear the sound of a gun clicking. Shit. This was not good.

“What was that?” Penelope asked over the comms, obviously having heard what Luke did. “Was that what I think it was?”

“Everybody hold,” Hotch instructed.

“Why are we here, Spencer?” Cat asked, voice still unnervingly light and calm. 

Reid leaned forward again, and when he spoke, his voice was steady, even, and even slightly cold. It was made very obvious that his nerves that night had all been an act to get her feeling confident and make her drop her defenses. “We are here because you belong to a network of four hitmen who’ve been operating in the shadows of the Internet. You’re known as Miss 45. My team and I have been hunting you for months, and I knew that if I boxed you in, I could arrest you with as little resistance as possible.”

Luke knew that all of this was supposed to remain a secret from Cat until the end for obvious reasons, but flipping the tables like this would get the element of surprise back on their side. She was alone, and if she knew she was surrounded, she might be able to be convinced to give herself up.

“Your team being the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI?”

Luke and Tara stared at each other. She wasn’t supposed to know that. They hadn’t anticipated her knowing that. 

“You guys are good,” Cat admitted. “You’re the only ones that got close to us.”

Well yeah, Luke wanted to tell her. Because you were stupid enough to go after one of their own.

“But we got kind of close to you too, didn’t we?” Cat asked Reid. She leaned forwards, closer to Reid and the mic she must know he had. “Hi, Penelope.”

Luke’s blood boiled at the mention of her name, but he toned down his reaction. He needed to avoid Tara finding out, and besides, he couldn’t let his feelings for her get in the way of his job. Not when his job was protecting her. 

Penelope’s small gasp of fear could be heard on their comms, and Luke’s heart broke for her. She was so scared for herself already, and she was scared for Reid, this must all just be exacerbating that.

Cat sat up straighter. “Do you know why I’m so good at my job?”

“Because you kill without compunction or remorse,” Reid stated plainly.

“That only gets a girl so far in life,” Cat told him. “No, it’s because I think through every potential outcome, and then I plan accordingly. You see, I didn’t walk into your trap. You walked into mine.”

Reid remained silent.

“Where’s your head, Spencer?” She asked him. She slid along their curved booth until she was right up next to him, putting herself in everyone’s line of sight, barring Rossi. “What are you thinking about?”

“I was thinking about entropy,” Reid answered.

Cat nodded, and put her hand on Reid’s chest and began moving it lower, looking for something. 

“It’s the thermodynamic measure of the degradation of matter and energy in the universe. To put it another way—”

Cat found what she was looking for. “There’s your gun,” she said, pulling it out and taking it away from him. 

With potentially the worst timing ever, the waiter approached them then. “Good evening.”

Undoubtedly knowing she had to get him away from them for whatever her plan was to continue, Cat acted quickly. “Hi, you know what? We’ve been having so much fun getting to know one another, we’ll let you know when we’re ready, okay? Thank you.”

The waiter nodded and left their table, unintentionally guaranteeing his own safety.

“Now that we got that out of the way,” Cat continued, sliding back over to her original place. “Will you do me a favor and tell Blondie and Baldie over there at the bar to disappear?” She looked right over at JJ and Morgan, blowing their cover.

“JJ, Morgan, stand down,” Hotch instructed through their earpieces. 

The two got up and walked out of the restaurant, passing right by Cat and Reid’s table.

“Thanks for playing, guys,” Cat sing-songed after them.

“If she learns how many agents we have outside she’ll start shooting,” Hotch said. “Dave, get ready to take her out.”

“Yeah,” Rossi confirmed. 

“Reid, do not let her get up from the table,” Hotch told him. 

“All right, you’re in charge,” Reid said to Cat. Placing the control back in her hands would prevent any unexpected actions on her part. “Tell me what you want and I will see if I can get it here for you.”

“Anything I want?”

“Anything you want.”

“Like a million dollars in unmarked bills and maybe a plane to Aruba?”

“Is that what you want?”

“And you’ll say you’ll bring it here, but the real plan is to distract me from what is, I’m sure, an impressive law enforcement response just outside that door. Is that the plan?”

Reid smiled at her. “That’s the plan.”

What is he doing? Luke mouthed to Tara. 

She shrugged in response. It was anyone’s guess at this point.

“Okay,” Cat said. “Let’s talk, but let’s talk about something interesting at least. Tell me about me.”

She had no idea that that was a mistake. Getting Reid to talk to her about her would only play into her psychopathy and narcissism, and it would give the power back to him. 

“You?” Reid repeated before continuing. “You’re a black widow hitwoman. You specialize in seduction and you’re patient. You learn everything you can about the men you’re hired to kill, physically, psychologically, and emotionally, because you want them in as compromised a position as possible so they don’t see it coming when you pull the trigger.”

“And when I do it really well, they pull the trigger themselves.” She paused. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“Because I know what I want now. I want to play a game with you. You like games?”

“I do.”

“Do you win?”

“I always win.”

“Give it to me,” Cat insisted.

Reid handed over his phone.

“Okay, here’s my game. You have thirty minutes to answer every question I ask. And if you lie, I’ll know. Because I’ve spent the past ten years of my life studying men and their lies before I kill them. Do you believe me?”

“I do.”

She set the phone down in the middle of the table. “That was true, you’re getting this. Now here’s how we’ll know who wins at the end of thirty minutes: If you win, you’ll drag me out of here in handcuffs. But if I win, you will escort me out, like a gentleman, to make sure I exit safely. What do you say, Spencer? Think you can win this one?”

He leaned over the table to her, motioning that she do the same. “Considering everything you put Garcia and so many other people through,” he whispered dangerously, “you’re going to have to shoot me in the face before you walk out of here.”

“Game on.”

“Oh boy.” Penelope’s voice was wavering, fear for her friend evident. No one knew what was about to happen.

“What do you want to ask me?” Reid said to Cat.

“How you found me, of course. A professional learns from her mistakes.” With that, she started the timer. 

The game was afoot.

“We got our big break in the case at the end of last year. I didn’t learn how big until I came back from some time off.”

“Why’d you take time off?”

Reid started to tell the story of coming back and meeting with Morgan and Savannah, getting some medical research from her, and collecting him for work.

“Stop,” Cat commanded.

“Why?”

“You still haven’t told me why you took time off.”

“It’s not relevant.”

“That’s not the game. The game is you answer every question I ask. Is it a secret?”

Reid shook his head. “No.”

“Is it dirty?”

“No.”

“Then tell me.” She strung the ‘me’ out, almost sounding like she was whining. Pleading. Begging.

“It’s not important to your story.”

“Out of curiosity, is it me you don’t want to tell or the people listening in?”

Reid looked down at the phone in the middle of the table. “Is this really how you want to spend your thirty minutes?”

“Yes,” she replied, not even skipping a beat to consider. But then she paused. And admitted, “No. Okay, so you were saying you showed up for work that morning and…”

“We learned that someone unexpected decided to talk.”

“And who would that be?”

***

Three weeks before

Hotch had called an emergency meeting, and Luke had anticipated being the first one to the Round Table Room, but he wasn’t. A man he had never met before was already there, studying files. This must be the famed Dr. Spencer Reid. Penelope had told Luke he’d be coming back that day. She was really excited about it, and so he was, by extension, happy on her behalf.

“Hey,” Luke said in greeting. “Luke. Alvez.”

“Oh hi!” The other man exclaimed. “I’m Dr. Spencer Reid.”

Luke smiled at his correct assumption. “Ah. No hand-shaking, right? Your reputation precedes you.”

“Yeah. Did Morgan tell you?”

“Him and Garcia, actually. They both speak very highly of you.”

“Of you, too.”

The rest of the team filed in then, cutting their conversation short. Hotch and Penelope took their places at the front of the room as everyone else took a seat. Luke shot Penelope a comforting smile, and she returned one of gratitude.

Hotch turned on the presentation. “Brian Cochran from the NSA. I’ve placed him on a 24/7 lockdown at USP Terre Haute. The network has proven that they can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime, and now that they’ve targeted Garcia, we can’t afford to lose another lead. Cochran used one of the hitmen to target DEA Supervisor Graff.”

“But we can press him on that to get him to cooperate,” Morgan said.

“Well, fortunately, that won’t be necessary,” Hotch told him. “He had a breakdown in solitary confinement and he was already willing to make a deal.”

“We need to go talk to him,” Rossi declared.

“Garcia and I already did,” Hotch informed them. 

“That is, we video-conferenced with him,” Penelope elaborated. “He was limited in what he could tell us about the hit people. He didn’t know their names, but he did know all of their areas of expertise.”

“How specific do they get?” Reid asked her. “Most successful hitmen are basically just Swiss Army Knives of murder.”

“Well, take the OG hit guy who got us into this mess, Giuseppe Montolo. Remember him? He was a genius at making hits look like an accident. The others, depends on what you’re looking for. Take the guy who’s still out there who’s responsible for shooting poor Mr. Graff. He’s known simply as The Sniper. He can make a T-zone shot from over 2,000 metres.”

“Which means he’s ex military,” Luke said. “Not necessarily ours, but he’s definitely trained. Has to be. You don’t get that good anywhere else. I’ve worked with really good snipers in the past, all of them are current or ex-military.”

“So who’s number two?” Tara asked.

“That would be The Chemist,” Penelope told her. “He works with poison. He specializes in hits that don’t leave a trace.”

“He sounds delightful,” Rossi quipped. “What about number three?”

“That would be The Bomber,” Penelope answered, using the remote to switch to pictures of an absolutely devastating bombing site. “According to Cochran, he’s responsible for this. It’s a chemical fire in Tianjin, China. Apparently a bureaucrat didn’t pay his bribe on time.”

“All that’s Conspiracy Theory Garbage,” JJ argued.

“But what is credible” Hotch replied, “is Cochrans insistence that he was trained by Mossad. Jack Garrett’s following up on leads.”

“That leaves us with number four,” Penelope continued. “The one with the highest body count of them all.”

“And who’s that?” Reid asked.

***

“Me!” Cat answered.

Reid nodded. “Yes.”

“Wow, that was really impressive,” Cat said sarcastically. “Yeah, the way you just made all those brilliant deductions with all that information that was just handed to you on a silver platter. Quick question: are you guys really profilers or are you just lucky? Because this, what I’m about to say, is profiling.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “The reason you took time off from work was to deal with the same girl who broke your heart.”

“No,” Reid answered quickly.

“The death of a parent, then.”

Luke rolled his eyes. Some ‘profiling’ this was if she was just guessing at different reasons someone might need to take time off work.

Reid hesitated slightly this time. “No.”

“Ah, hello, I’m getting close. It’s Mom or Dad in the billiard room with the candlestick… oh you’re mad at me aren’t you?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“Yes you are, I can tell.”

“No offense,” Reid said to her, “but you’re not really worth getting angry at.”

Luke’s eyes went wide. Goddamn.

Cat changed the subject. “So you figured out what the four of us did, and then what?”

“We profiled that you operated as spokes on a wheel. Somehow it had to be centralized, how you got jobs, who paid you. Somebody did all that for you.”

“You found The Snowman, didn’t you?”

***

“Great, so who’s this Snowman jagoff?” Rossi asked. Penelope had just explained that central role to the network.

“Cochran says he’s the IT expert,” Hotch informed them. “He’s the key to the whole network.”

“But if he set it up, he’s not going to tear it down just because we ask nicely,” Morgan remarked. 

“He will,” Hotch refuted, “because he was kidnapped by one of the hitmen and held against his will in a safe house.”

“I wonder how that feels,” Penelope snipped. 

Luke bit down on his lips to keep from laughing.

“Even if they have him under duress, he’s still going to be impossible to find,” JJ said.

“We will find him,” Hotch stated, “with this.” He held up the USB he’d confiscated off Cochran when he’d been arrested and then placed it down on the center of the table.

***

“Woah, woah, woah,” Cat interrupted. “I’m confused. What just happened there?”

“When we arrested Cochran, we found a flash drive, one that gave us access to a specific shadow of the Darknet, one we didn’t even knwo existed. Garcia used it to find the website The Snowman set up for all of you. Once we had the website, we had geography, specifically, the safehouse you were keeping him in. So we waited until the shift change when we knew we could take two of you down at once.”

***

Penelope had hacked into The Snowman’s server and was live-streaming a video of herself to him. She was holding up flashcards with messages on them, so she could silently talk to him. On these cards, she explained who she was and how she could help him. And, most importantly, told him to get down as the rest of the team stormed the building. 

Luke and JJ ran in, and she was able to take down The Sniper. Unfortunately, The Chemist killed himself with his own poison before they were able to aprehend him.

“What is this?” Barry Winslow, The Snowman, asked JJ and Luke as they undid his chains. “What’s going on?”

Luke patted him on the back as they exited the room. “Welcome to the FBI, kid.”

***

“Well, well, well,” Cat said. If Luke didn’t know any better, he’d say she sounded impressed. “You took The Chemist and The Sniper out of commission, huh?”

“Did you know?” Reid asked her. 

“I knew something was off. They didn’t bid on some contracts. And this isn’t the kind of job where you get to take time off to be with your… mother? Is it your mom? It’s gotta be your mom.”

Reid didn’t answer her.

“Why’d you take time off from the FBI?”

“I’m not going to tell you.”

“Spencer,” Cat insisted. “Why did you take time off from the FBI?”

“You can ask me as many times you want,” he replied in a cool voice, “and you can continue to waste your time, but I’m still not going to tell you.”

“Then you’re cheating and I don’t like cheaters.”

Luke rolled his eyes. She sounded like a petulant child.

“You don’t get everything you want just because you’re pointing a gun at me under a table,” Reid said, practically scolding her. “You’re not the first killer to point a gun at me, you’re not even the first woman to point a gun at me. Sorry.”

“You’re really going to take this all the way, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” 

“So am I.”

“Dave, go,” Hotch ordered through the earpieces.

“Look at my face,” Cat said. “Does it look like I’m bluffing?”

“I know you’re not bluffing.”

Rossi got up and started to move towards the pair just as Cat slid over in the booth, putting Reid directly in between her and Rossi, blocking the latter’s line of sight.

“I’m going to ask you this one more time,” she told him. “Before you say no, I want you to consider something.”

A sharp ringing went through their earpieces then, and Luke winced.

“She muffled the mic,” Penelope told them. “We lost audio.”

“Damn,” Luke whispered.

He couldn’t hear what Cat and Reid whispered to each other, but she must have seen Rossi and threatened him, because he could then hear Reid say, at a normal volume, “I’ll tell you.”

She removed her hand from his tie.

“Rossi, stand down,” Reid instructed, not breaking eye contact with Cat. He turned to the older man then, and said, “Please.”

Rossi turned, and walked away.

“My mom has schizophrenia,” Reid finally admitted to Cat. “The doctor has changed her medication, which seemed to agitate her, so I went to the treatment center to help her.”

Luke’s heart sank for the man he considered a friend. He hadn’t known that, and that kind of news was just devastating. No one deserved that.

“That’s it?” Cat asked.

“That’s it,” Reid confirmed.

“You just risked your life over mommy’s pills?”

“It’s the truth.”

“It’s part of the truth,” Cat decided. “You’re holding something back. Here’s what I’m going to do.” She reached over to the phone in the middle of the table. “I’m going to penalize you by adding ten minutes. And keep in mind that the only reason why you’re not dead right now is because I did learn something important.”

“Oh really?” Reid asked, doubting her statement. “What’s that?”

Cat grinned and gestured widely to the space around them. “Your backup! I flushed them out! It’s just you and me now.”

Smarking, Tara lifted her glass to Luke. “Guess again, bitch.”

Luke returned a smirk of his own, and tapped his glass against hers. Tara was the newest to the team, and Luke wasn’t even officially on it, so of course she wouldn’t recognize them.

“So,” Cat said. “When we left off, the score was you had two of our guys and The Snowman. You must have thought you were home free.”

“No,” Reid told her. “If anything, the case was harder.”

***

“I can’t tell you that much about them,” Barry Winslow told the team. “It’s not like we had heart-to-heart conversations while they handcuffed me to a computer.”

“Do you know any of their names?” Tara asked him.

“No. But I know their bank accounts.”

“How long do you think we have before the other two realize the network’s been compromised?” Reid asked.

“Two days, maybe. They like being independent contractors, so they always work jobs separately. And, uh, they rely on me to coordinate all their online traffic.”

“Which I can help fake,” Penelope offered.

Brian nodded. “Yeah. We have the facade covered on our end, but they also have back channel communications that I can’t account for. Especially The Bomber.”

“Why him?” Rossi asked.

“I don’t know,” Barry replied honestly. “But all I know is when they would rotate watching over me, he never showed.”

“I know why,” JJ said. “Because he’s paranoid. Most explosives experts are. Blow everything up, you live in fear that you’re next.”

“We need to lure out the hitwoman,” Hotch stated. “If we can take her alive, she’d lead us to The Bomber.”

“We have to give her a target worth coming out of hiding for,” Morgan said.

“That means me, doesn’t it?” Penelope asked timidly.

“No,” Hotch, Luke, and Morgan answered simultaneously and firmly.

“Sir,” she tried to argue.

“Garcia, that’s not going to happen,” Morgan told her in a voice that bore no room for disagreement.

“It’s not safe to leave you there exposed like that,” Luke explained gently.

Hotch turned to face Barry. “You have a record of all the kills she was paid for?”

“I have records of everything,” Barry confirmed.

“All right, even a contract killer can have victimology,” Hotch mused. “A pattern of which she’s not aware. We need to find that.”

It didn’t take long for Barry and Penelope to find the pattern after they knew what they were looking for. They found three men, all of whom wanted their wives killed. However, those hits had not gone the way the buyers had intended. The hitwoman had taken their money and then killed the men who hired her. Additionally, all three men had children. They were able to deduce that those specific kills were personal to her because something similar happened to her when she was a child. They decided they needed to lure her out using a made up client that fit that victimology.

“I can do it,” Luke offered without missing a beat. “I have undercover experience, it’ll be as easy as breathing for me.”

“I appreciate the offer,” Hotch told him. “Really, I do, and I appreciate your undercover experience, but to guarantee this will lead us to The Bomber, we need a profiler to be the one talking face-to-face with her, and unfortunately you aren’t trained for that. However, your undercover experience is still invaluable, and I would greatly appreciate your help planning the operation.

Luke nodded. “Whatever I can do.”

“I can do it,” Reid said then. “I pretend to be that kind of client. I’m going to pretend to be a husband who wants his pregnant wife dead.”

“Well I’d want to kill you if you told me that,” JJ remarked.

“Exactly,” Reid said. “Then all we have to do is set the right meeting spot. A bar or a restaurant that we can control so the odds are better of us taking her alive.”

Hotch nodded. “That’s our best strategy.”

***

“But there was one flaw,” Cat said. “You. You’re not married, and you don’t have children.”

“I’m the person on my team whose closest in age to you, and I knew that if I lost control of the situation, you’d be more likely to negotiate with a peer.”

“You have zero control here,” Cat said bitingly. “None. I outflanked you from the beginning.”

Reid considered this. “Well, some of your moves were pretty obvious.”

“Such as?”

“Such as showing up armed, such as changing the venue at the last moment…”

“I needed a restaurant full of innocents in case this was a trap.”

“If you really suspected this was a trap, then why show up at all? Even when you first laid eyes on me, from the bar, from outside, from wherever you were, you should have seen through me and kept moving but you didn’t. You couldn’t. Because you can’t get to the man you really want to hurt, so you need to hurt any man who reminds you of him.”

Luke knew Reid’s words had affected Cat, because she hesitated before answering him, and when she did, her voice was slightly shaky. “That’s kind of boilerplate psychology, isn’t it? I’m just another girl with daddy issues.”

“You’d be surprised how many killers do what they do because of their parents. If it’s so boilerplate, then why don’t we test that theory? How hard did you look for him?”

“Very hard.”

“And how disappointed were you when you realized that you will never find him? You needed some other outlet for your rage, and for a while this worked, but it also tripped you up. Can I tell you a little secret?” When Cat didn’t respond, Reid took it as his sign to continue. “Everything eventually falls apart. The trick is accepting when it’s over.”

Cat stared at him.

Reid stared at her.

The timer went off.

“Except it ain’t over, is it?” Cat asked.

“Do you really think I’m just going to let you walk out of here?”

“You profiled so much about me, except, you forgot to ask the most important question. Why would I make you sit here for thirty minutes?”

“Because you’re stalling.”

“Then you don’t know me at all. Do you think I’d show up here without an escape plan? Or is that what just another girl with daddy issues would do? Maybe if you hadn’t fallen victim to your own gender bias, and yes, all men have gender bias, even you, Dr. Reid, you would have recognized that your entire strategy was based on one faulty detail. Can you see it?”

“You’re not here alone,” Reid realized.

“And my partner? Less paranoid than you think.”

“You planted a bomb in the building.”

Luke and Tara glanced at each other, unsure of what they should do. Stand by and wait for instruction? Try to find the bomb?

“We’re on the move,” JJ said through their earpieces.

“I’m going to go look for the owner,” Tara whispered to Luke. “Stay here.”

He nodded.

“I didn’t,” Cat corrected. “My job was to keep your entire team focused on us, so he could do what he does best.”

Luke realized that Cat had, once again, unwittingly made a detrimental error. She had wanted the entire team’s focus on her… but then got rid of three team members, leaving them free to focus on anything else, including whatever The Bomber had set up.

“Hotch,” came JJ’s voice again. “We’ve got inter-connected C-4 charges down here.”

“How many?” He asked her.

“There’s six charges,” Rossi replied.

“They’re connected to the city’s gas line,” Morgan added. “She could take out the whole block.”

“There are innocent people here,” Reid pleaded with Cat.

“Yes, there are,” she agreed. “So let me remind you what we’re playing for. Not only will I walk out of here, but you will make sure I leave safely. And from where I’m sitting, it looks like I’ve won. You need to pay attention to this part. I’m going to tell you the terms of my victory. I want you to move all of your backup away from this building. If I walk out of here and see one cop, I will incinerate us all.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Spencer,” she warned.

“It’s not me. What you’re asking takes time.”

Cat grabbed Reid by the tie and pulled him close, her face right by the mic. “This is to whoever’s in charge: Unless you guys want to be responsible for the biggest FBI disaster since Waco, you will back off now.” She let go of the tie and whispered, “Watch this.”

Hotch was too busy trying to deal with the bomb to address Cat’s demands. “JJ, say again. The bomb has a cellphone trigger?”

“That’s right,” she confirmed. “All she has to do is call the number and boom.”

“Can you jam the signal?” Hotch asked, most likely to Penelope.

“Not from here, no,” came her reply, her voice tight with fear.

“The failsafe will still kick in,” Morgan told them. “Same outcome. Can’t move ‘em, can’t submerge ‘em.”

“It’ll take us hours to get the gas turned off on the whole block,” Hotch said mournfully. “If we alert anyone, then the panic could set her and the bomb off.”

“SWAT’s on the radio with the bomb squad,” Rossi informed them. “They say our only chance is to get our hands on that cellphone. If we shut down the trigger, we can remove the charges.”

“Alvez,” Hotch called. 

“Go ahead, Hotch,” Luke replied.

“Does she have a cellphone with her?”

Lifting his glass to his mouth so the wide brim would slightly shield his eyes, Luke looked over at Cat and Reid discreetly. “I don’t think so. I didn’t see her pull one out. The Bomber was setting this up while we were all up here. I think he’s holding the trigger.”

“We’re combing the block. He could be anywhere though. Where’s Lewis?”

“She went to go find the owner and inform the staff of the situation,” Luke told him. “She just texted me, she said she told the staff to calmly tell each patron there was an unforeseen problem in the kitchen that cannot be resolved, their dinner has been paid for, and they need to leave at their earliest possible convenience, as well as instructing them to leave Cat and Reid alone.”

“Good,” Hotch replied. “It’ll minimize if not completely eliminate mass panic.”

The servers started coming out in droves then, and Cat noticed. “Look at that, there they go.”

Reid started to explain. “All we want to do—”

“Is minimize the collateral damage,” Cat cut him off. “I get it. I’m not mad. It’ll give me the cover I need to slip out. I just need to know it’s clear, so do me a favor and tell your boss that nobody leaves until it’s safe for me to.”

“Reid, perimeter agents are pulling back,” came Hotch’s voice. “You have to let her go.”

Reid’s face looked pained. 

“Well?” Cat demanded.

“Repeat,” Hotch said. “All agents do not engage or pursue until the bomb is defused.”

Reid still said nothing.

“Spencer…” Cat said, audibly growing annoyed.

Finally, he said, “You can leave.”

Cat got up, took her bag and coat, and moved to leave.

“But you won’t,” Reid said, stopping her in her tracks. 

“I’m sorry?”

“Double or nothing I can get you to sit back down.”

“Reid, what are you doing?” Hotch asked, unnerved at this sudden turn of events.

“Wow,” Cat drawled. “Now you’re stalling.”

“You played your trump card, but I have one too.”

Cat wasn’t taking the bait. Turning away, she said, “Thanks for dinner. I had fun.”

“I found your father,” Reid called out to her.

If Luke had taken a sip of his drink at that moment, he would have choked on it.

Cat’s reaction was similar. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned back around. “No you didn't.”

“Look at my face,” Reid replied. “Am I bluffing? I’ll tell you where he is. But you need to sit back down and listen to the rest of my story.”

“No, tell me now, or I’ll—”

“Detonate the bomb? You’re not going to do that, Cat, because then you won’t learn anything. You said you were good at your job because you think through every outcome. Well guess what? So do I.”

Cat looked around for a moment, seeming unsure, but then sat back down at the table. “All right. Finish the story.”

“To prepare for this dinner, I had to learn everything about you, starting with your real name.” He described the way he had profiled her and found her with the help of Penelope. “Catherine Adams. Daughter of Daniel Adams, who did in fact leave the country in 1987 but came back in 2012. Based on confidentialrecords in rehabs and sober living houses, which in turn pointed us to flophouses and soup kitchens. He couldn’t put twenty-four hours together sober. And you can probably imagine my surprise when I discovered that he actually lives right here in DC.”

“Where?” Cat demanded, tears in her voice.

“It’s not that simple,” Reid told her. “He was in bad shape when I found him. I showed him a picture of you. He had no idea who you were.”

“He didn’t remember me?”

“The alcoholism shredded his brain. I’m sorry.”

Cat scoffed. “You’re not sorry. Sorry is what people say when they don’t understand.”

Reid didn’t reply.

“Wait,” Cat said, realizing something. “Your mother. Tell me.”

“Is this part of the game?”

“No. The game is over.”

Reid was silent for a moment before answering. “When I looked at her medical chart, it didn’t make any sense. The medication they gave her should have been helping, but I couldn’t figure out why it was making her so angry. So I went to see her. The moment I walked into her room, I saw it. For three seconds, she didn’t know who I was.”

Luke’s heart clenched with sympathy. He hoped his new friend was lying in an effort to stall Cat, but if he wasn’t… that was potentially the worst experience someone could have with their parents. He couldn’t imagine how he’d react if, one day, his own mother didn’t recognize him. 

“I had her tested that morning,” Reid continued. “And I found out that night that she had early onset of dementia. Most likely Alzheimer’s.

“Did you test yourself?” Cat asked him.

Reid looked down at his lap. 

“No, you didn’t. You were too scared.”

“I thought I dodged a bullet when I turned thirty and didn’t have a schizophrenic break like her,” Reid said, voice thick with tears. “But this is somehow bigger and scarier because I can actually see it happening. All the memories that we used to share… are just dying. I can’t stop it. I can’t help her. All I can do is find people that I can help.”

Cat cocked her head to the side. “Is that really why you showed up tonight? To help me?” She leaned across the table to him. “Do you know how many men have told me that they wanted to help me? How do you think that worked out for them?”

JJ’s panicked voice came through the comms then. “Hotch, she just armed the bomb.”

“Hotch we need to pull back,” Morgan insisted.

“Copy. Alvez, get out of there.”

“Hotch, we might have a lead here,” Tara said, having returned to their table a few minutes prior.

“She hasn’t touched anything to arm the bomb,” Luke explained. “That means The Bomber’s here, somewhere in the restaurant.”

“All right, if you can take him, do so,” Hotch conceded. “But the priority is evacuation.”

“I’m not even sure it is a him” Luke mused. 

Tara nodded. “Cat mentioned something about gender bias. So what if we applied that to The Bomber as well?”

Hotch considered this. “All right, she’d have to be in a position to maintain line of sight of Reid all night. Who do you see?”

“Look for anyone with their phone out,” Luke advised as he and Tara started discreetly scanning the restaurant. “That’s the detonator. Our woman will give herself away by looking over.”

“You’re right,” Reid said then to Cat. “You don’t need my help. You don’t need anyone’s help. You are completely in control.”

Tara and Luke kept looking as Reid spoke, and then Tara found her.

“I’ve got her,” she whispered. “Blue dress. By the bar.”

“Hey, you know what, babe?” Luke asked at a normal, playing his part of the couple he and Tara were pretending to be as their cover. “Let’s get out of here, I’m not really feeling this place.” He got up and extended a hand to her.

“Aw, really?” Tara pretended to whine. “I kind of like it.”

“I want to take you to a spot where we can do some dancing,” he explained, leading her along the bar on their way to the exit. The second he was behind the woman Tara had pointed out, he grabbed her arm and twisted her away from the bar, wrestling with her for her phone. The second he had it, he pushed her toward Tara, who in turn shoved her against the bar to make the arrest as Luke used the phone to de-activate the bomb.

“Hotch, we’re clear,” came JJ’s voice, alerting Luke to his success, but only momentarily.

“Reid’s not,” Hotch informed them. 

Cat had grabbed Reid and was standing by their table, holding her gun to his head. “Don’t!” She screamed.

“FBI,” Luke announced, making his way over to them. “Everybody stay calm please.”

“We’re going to be smart about this and talk it out, aren’t we, Cat?” Tara called out as she cuffed The Bomber.

“That’s up to you,” Cat called back.

“Get everyone out of here,” Reid instructed them.

“Move,” Tara ordered the civilians around her, dragging The Bomber out with her. 

Morgan came into the main area of the restaurant then, having run back after the bomb was safely deactivated, and stood by Luke who was still standing in front of Cat and Reid with his gun trained on her. 

“Morgan, Luke, you too,” Reid said to them. 

Morgan shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Me neither,” Luke agreed.

“Guess we’re right back where we started,” Cat mused, looking at Reid. “You and me with a gun.”

“Reid, it’s time,” Morgan warned.

Time for what? Luke wanted to ask, but he held his tongue.

“No,” Reid pleaded.

“We don’t have a choice,” Morgan insisted. “We have to do it.”

“Morgan, shut up,” Reid begged. 

“There’s one thing he hasn’t told you yet.” Morgan directed that at Cat.

“That’s not true, he’s lying, don’t listen to him,” Reid babbled.

“What haven’t you told me?” Cat demanded. 

“Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!”

“We brought your father here,” Morgan announced. 

Okay, so he was bluffing, Luke realized. The promise of her father was likely the only thing that could guarantee to get Cat out of this building alive.

“Here?” Cat repeated in disbelief. “He’s here?”

“He’s right outside,” Luke confirmed.

“Reid thought he needed every bargaining chip he could get,” Morgan explained.

“Morgan,” Reid pleaded again. “I am begging you, don’t. Don’t.”

Morgan ignored him. “Every bargaining chip he could get to convince you to do the right thing.”

Cat scoffed. “How is this the right thing?”

“Your father killed your mother,” Luke stated, playing along. This, this was what he knew. What he did best. The hunting, the undercover operation, talking down the unsub, it all brought him right back to the Fugitive Taskforce, and he loved it. He thrived in it. In these final hours of the night, it finally made sense to him why Morgan had begged him to come aboard. “There’s no statute of limitations on murder, so you really need to think about your options right now. You shoot him, I will kill you. Or if you surrender, you will live to testify against your father.” 

“That’s not good enough,” Cat spat.

“We can arrange for the two of you to drive into custody together,” Morgan offered, “and then you can remind him of who you are.”

“If you give her this she wins,” Reid argued. “Don’t do it.”

“Kid I am trying to save your life, now let me do that!” Morgan snapped back. There was a beeping sound outside, a large vehicle backing up. “They’re bringing him in right now.”

Cat looked over at Reid, who looked absolutely agonized and distraught. “You’re really upset about this, aren’t you?”

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Luke asked her. “A chance to finally hurt the man who deserves it.”

“They all deserve it,” Cat told him. 

“He deserves it the most,” Luke countered.

Reid shook his head, which only seemed to spur Cat on and make her decision easier. “Only if Spencer escorts me out.”

“Deal,” Reid said through gritted teeth.

She threw her gun to the ground. Morgan and Luke approached the pair, Morgan handing Reid the cuffs while Luke kept his gun trained on Cat in case she had any surprises up her sleeve. Once she was cuffed, Reid began to escort her from the building.

“Hotch,” Morgan said into his comm.

“Yeah?” 

“We’re coming out.”

“Okay, you’re all clear,” the Unit Chief informed them.

The four of them walked out of the building together, but Cat stopped dead in her tracks the second they crossed the threshold. “Wait.” She paused for a minute, then said, “Okay. I’m ready.”

Reid guided her down the steps and to the police van that was waiting for her, and Morgan and Luke followed them. They swing open the doors to reveal… nothing. Cat’s father wasn’t there. He never had been.

Reid led her into the van and cuffed her properly to the wall.

“You lied to me,” she said, sounding near tears.

“If it makes you feel any better, I really did look for him,” Reid told her sincerely. “But I couldn’t find him, so yeah, I did make it all up.”

“Not all of it,” Cat replied. “You don’t pull a story about a parent losing her memory out of nowhere. Your mother and the Alzheimer’s, that’s true.”

“Did you know?” Luke whispered to Morgan.

“Not a clue,” he whispered back.

“I won,” Cat declared.

“How so?” Reid asked her.

“Because I will get out of here.”

“Yeah, in twenty years, maybe, if you’re lucky,” Reid retorted.

She brushed him off. “Yeah, that’s fine. You know why? Because in twenty years, I’ll remember your name, but you won’t remember mine.”

Reid didn’t bother responding, he just stood up and got out of the van, Luke and Morgan slamming it shut behind him.

“Come on,” Morgan said to the other two. “Garcia’s spending the night with me and Savannah, let’s go and say hi to our girl.”

Reid nodded, smiling at the prospect of getting to see his friend free and happy again. Luke tried to not make it incredibly evident how much he was looking forward to seeing Penelope again, and at the same time, how sad he was this whole ordeal was over.

Morgan’s house was a decent walk away, but the weather was nice, and the three men enjoyed the cool night air to help soothe their nerves after the intense night, hell, intense months they had had. They didn’t say a word the whole time.

“You guys want to come in for a bit?” Morgan offered once they had arrived. “Decompress?”

Luke nodded, but Reid shook his head.

“I’m good, I’m probably just going to go home,” he replied.

“That was an intense case,” Morgan sighed. 

“Yeah,” Reid laughed. “It’s over. Network’s gone.”

Morgan nodded, a serious look on his face, and Luke stepped to the side a little, wanting to be as not-present as he possibly could be for this no doubt personal conversation that was about to transpire. 

However, before anyone got the chance to speak, a very drunk Penelope came barrelling out of the house calling, “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” A frantic Savannah came running out after her.

Morgan’s eyes went wide. “Hey hey hey, what is happening right now?”

Penelope was on a roll, running down the stairs in her four-inch heels to go to them. “You’re what’s going on. Right now is what’s… You are here. Do you know what’s happening right now? It is… it is done! The Dirty Dozen is done! Yes! Duh-uhn! I’m in it!” She made little strange gestures with her hands as she spoke, which had the group in absolute stitches. 

Morgan turned to Savannah. “How much did she have?”

Savannah scratched the back of her head guiltily. “She started out with jäger.”

“Jäger?” Morgan repeated in shock.

Penelope put her hands on Morgan’s shoulders. “I love you.”

“Okay,” he replied, trying to see where she was going with this.

“I love you,” she repeated. “And you!” Penelope pointed at Reid. “I love you so much. And you,” she stumbled over to Luke and planted her hands on his chest to ground herself, staring down at her feet. He was glad she was so drunk she likely couldn’t feel how much his heartrate had just accelerated. She turned her head back toward him, a look of concentration on her face. “I don’t know you well enough to love you yet, but I definitely like you a lot and I could love you.”

“Okay,” Luke managed to squeak out, flustered as all hell.

Penelope turned to Savannah then and grabbed her by the shoulders. “And you! I should be jealous of you because you’re so hot—”

Savannah turned in shock to stare at Morgan, who was equally at a loss for words. 

“But I’m not!” Penelope swore. “I’m not! I promise you I’m not! I’m not, I promise! No, I’m not, ‘cause you know what? All I feel in here is love.” She started running her hands over her body. “I just… I am feeling full of love. So much love… I’m wearing too many clothes!” She turned and started running back up the stairs to the house. 

“I got this,” Savannah assured them.

Casting a glance to Morgan and Reid, Luke decided they could probably use a moment to themselves, so he called after Savannah, “I’ll help you.”

"You don't have to," Savannah told him as they chased Penelope through the house. "I can handle a drunk Penelope, it wouldn't be the first time." 

"Oh I know, but I don't mind," Luke assured her. "Besides, Mor– Derek and Spencer looked like they needed a minute to themselves." 

Savannah nodded, understanding. She knew Derek's three closest friends were right there, Luke, Penelope, and Spencer, and knew that two of them had been having an especially tough go of it. She had learned to love each of them as much as he did. She wouldn't fault her boyfriend for spending time with his friend, especially one who had been gone so long. "We need to convince Penelope to go to sleep," she told Luke. "She's a very blabbery drunk, as you saw, but she's also a sleepy one. The sooner we get her to bed, the better she feels in the morning. But normally she brings pajamas, she doesn't have any this time." 

"Did she happen to bring her bag that she was living out of at Quantico?"

Savannah's eyes lit up. “Yes she did! Okay, I’ll go grab the pajamas, you try to corral her in the guest bedroom at the end of the hall, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan, but first I’m going to get her a glass of water so she doesn’t have a killer headache tomorrow.”

Savannah took off to find the pajamas, and went to get the water and Penelope. “Hey, Penelope, hey,” he said gently, taking her by her shoulder—and trying to pull her cardigan back on because he was respectful.

“Luke! Hi!”

He smiled warmly at her. “Hi. I have a question for you. Wouldn’t you just love to go to sleep in a real bed instead of your office couch like you’ve been having to do the last few months?”

Penelope’s entire face lit up. “Yes! I’d love that! Yes! Please!”

“Okay, then follow me, all right? We’re going to the guest bedroom. Savannah is bringing you pajamas.”

“All right!” Penelope replied enthusiastically.

Luke was absolutely enamored. She was just… adorable. “And can you drink this glass of water, please? I don’t want you having a headache in the morning.”

“Oooh, good idea.” She took the glass from him and gulped at it greedily.

Savannah met them in the guest bedroom and gave Penelope the pajamas, and they gave her time to change. Once she had, Luke helped get Penelope into the bed—she was somehow more uncoordinated drunk and out of heels than she was drunk and in them—while Savannah put the dress she’d changed out of with her other things. 

“I am really tired,” Penelope said as she lay down, falling asleep the second her head hit the pillow, letting out a small snore that Luke genuinely considered one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard.

Savannah chuckled as she left the room. “Now I need a drink.”

Luke pulled the blankets up to Penelope’s chin, a soft smile on both their faces. If he happened to give her a small kiss on the forehead once Savannah had left the room, what would it matter? Sweet dreams, sweetheart. Sleep tight.

Morgan came in once Reid left, and the three remaining adults sat down with drinks of their own. 

"So," Morgan sighed. "That's over. At long last." 

Luke shook his head in disbelief. "I know. It hasn't sunk in yet. It was the last few months of our lives, and now it's done." 

"And you're done with the BAU now." 

"Yeah. I'll be by tomorrow to pick up my things and say goodbye, but then it's back to normal." 

"Well we'll miss you." 

"I'll miss you guys too." 

"How'd you like the BAU, Luke?" Savannah asked him. 

"Oh, it was great," he replied easily. "Great experience, great people, I kind of wish I didn't have to go." 

"See?" Morgan laughed. "I told you you had nothing to worry about! You were all worried about not being good at the job, but you're a natural." 

Luke shrugged off the compliment humbly. "Eh, once I met the people it was easy. You guys make the job easy. And of course, once I met Penelope, I understood why you were so eager to protect her." 

"Yeah, she has that effect on people, doesn't she?" Savannah laughed fondly. "She's pretty great."

Luke's entire face lit up. "She's amazing. We got along great, she's definitely one of the people I'm going to miss the most. I would check in on her every night, I'm gonna have to get use to not doing that anymore." 

Morgan's eyes went wide. “Ooh, look at how he’s smiling!” He turned to Savannah. "Are you seeing this?" 

Savannah's eyes were shining with shock, glee, and a little bit of mischief. "Oh I'm seeing it all right." 

Luke schooled his expression instantly. "Seeing what?"

"You, my friend, are crushing," Morgan sing-songed.

"I am not!" Luke lied, feeling his cheeks and ears burn.

"You so are!" Morgan goaded. "You have a crush on Penelope!" 

"Can we not call it a crush, please?" Luke begged. "That sounds so… high school." 

"Maybe so, but that's exactly what it is!" Savannah teased. 

He fixed her with a faux-glare. "Et tu, Sav?" They had only met a few times in the two years she and Morgan had been together, but, both being easy people to get along with, they formed a quick and easy friendship.

She raised her hands in the air in mock surrender. "Hey, I'm just calling it like it is!"

Morgan grinned. "I think it's great. You are absolutely smitten."

Luke smiled to himself. Yes, he was helplessly and hopelessly smitten, but he wasn't going to admit that. At least, not in those words. "Shut up," he replied instead, with a laugh.

Morgan only half-listened. "So. You gonna ask her out?" 

"No," Luke replied quickly. 

Morgan cocked his head to the side. "Why not? You two would be good together!"

Like thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase everything in a way that made sense. "I'd feel weird about it. She's just been through an incredibly intense draining and traumatic experience, I would feel like I'm taking advantage of that. And I also wouldn't want her to feel like she owes me, in some weird way? And I also don’t want to come off as the guy who feels like he’s owed, because I’m not an asshole. Besides, you know, I’m sure once I no longer see her every day for a few weeks, and I’d hate to try to start something only for that to happen.”

“First of all,” Morgan countered, she would never think any of those things and second of all, if you really think your feelings will fade by not seeing her, then by asking her out and seeing her frequently, they wouldn’t fade.”

Luke seemed unsure. “I’d hate to ruin our friendship over something I’m unsure about.”

“Then wait a bit, see how you’re feeling, and then go for it!”

Luke shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

***

As promised, Luke was back at the BAU the next day to collect his things. The army and the Fugitive Taskforce had instilled in him a habit of traveling light, so all he had to do was throw a few things in his backpack and he was all set. He said goodbye to everyone, giving Hotch and Rossi a firm handshake, Morgan, Tara, and JJ a hug, and holding up his elbow to Reid to bump his own against. Then, before leaving, he made his way over to Penelope’s office. 

“How’re you feeling?” Luke asked with a smirk once she opened the door.

She rolled her eyes playfully in response. “Fine, actually. Probably because you and Savannah made me drink water and go to sleep, so thank you.”

“Any time.”

“So what are you doing here? I thought you were done now? Are you staying longer?”

She looked so excited at that prospect, and he was loath to contradict her. “No, I’m done. I was just here to grab my things, and I wanted to say a proper goodbye.”

Her smile morphed into a frown. “Aw, okay.” She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him tight and resting her hands in the middle of his back.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the sweet, flowery smell of her hair. 

“I’ll miss you,” she whispered into him. 

“I’ll miss you too,” he whispered back.

“I’ll have to get use to you not coming to visit me every day,” Penelope said as she stepped out of the hug.

“Well you can call or text me any time,” Luke assured her, squeezing her shoulder gently. “Don’t be a stranger, okay, Penelope?”

She nodded, smiling softly. “Okay. You either, Luke.”

He smiled warmly at her one last time. “Goodbye, Penelope.”

[kkotda]

not having tumblr on my phone/ipad (yes even on my ipad from when i used to draw, sue me) is so helpful because i can be productive and not get distracted because it's pretty easy to not open the desktop vers BUT NOT OPENING THE DESKTOP VERS PUTS ME SO BEHIND SO UH

happy lantern rite!! hope you all had the best of fortune when it came to pulling for cloud retainer/xianyun and nahida!! (or ga-ming because honestly same) I ALSO HAVE A REALLY FUNNY STORY ABOUT PULLING THAT I'LL PUT LATER FOR SAKE OF LENGTH

happy valentine's day! it marks the 1 year of my greatest betrayal (my v-day event that just never got done......... i'm sorry guys i'll be much better from now on i promise)

HAPPY T-2 DAYS UNTIL HAIKYUU MOVIE?????? very excited lowkey i've been withholding from the manga that way it'll be fresh and new and exciting and then i can go back and enjoy the manga (i think i heard it's better the other way but i also simply just do not have the time to read any manga rn T-T)

uhhh what else....... oh HAPPY 2024!! lunar new year passed recently! may your year be filled with light and great fortune >:3

okay now really quickly for the story time:

was at my friend's apartment because we were having a studio ghibli marathon night (i could not survive... after move #4 i tapped out i could not do it anymore)

anyways after we were like yeah let's stop watching we went to my other friend's apt to just hang out and then it got like pretty late and they're all like huge dnd fans and so they have dice out and around but i'm jumping ahead, second friend also has playing cards in his apt and he was like doing card tricks (the throwing kind) and then when it hit like late 11pm he was like hm you should go to bed but i was like ehhhh i don't wanna so we put it up to chance, he pulled out quite a bit of cards and fanned them out and was like if it's clubs or spades you have to go home and hearts and diamonds are good and i pulled hearts (wow look at the genshin in me) so yay i didn't have to go home

THEN it hit much later (after much of throwing cards and having fun, also dw no cards or walls were harmed!) he had exactly 3 cards in his hand and i had no idea which, and it was again clubs and spades go home and he looked at it and went like :000000 and i thought it was because i was guaranteed going home and so i was like eh whatever if i have to go home i have to go home, but it turns out it was 1 club, 1 ♤, and 1 heart (i have autocorrect for the spAde, sorry guys) and !!! i pulled the heart AGAIN!! woo luck!! why can't i have this luck when it comes to genshin or hsr (or crk) </3

AND THEN he did it again to like really test my luck

and guess what? hearts again i was on a ROLL

and he was talking about like the probabilities and whatnot and i was like bro you're talking to a genshin player rn

and for simplicity's sake i only "named" 2 friends but we were a group of like 5? so another friend was like you should pull on genshin to really test your luck

my phone was on 10% (also i had to redownload genshin because i took it off my phone for mental wellbeing purposes) and so i was like what if it dies lol

anyways skip forward i pull

but now like any good anime i bring up some backstory (but mine isn't really backstory)

i pulled like the week before because i got peer (bf?) pressured by my bf to pull and like i was at ~45 pity, pulled, got "early" ended up being diluc BUT fortunately that was from the like wish part and not the primos part so i still had 90 wishes worth of primos!! pulled obviously guaranteed xianyun

okay

i didn't pull after that

return to present time

i pull it's literally 0 pity, 1 10 pull, ONE

gold.

GOLD.

Y'ALL DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT IN MY HEAD (it was 1am i couldn't actually scream)

AND GUESS WHAT

IT WAS XIANYUN

my luck that day was insane

anyways that was the story time i ended up going home after that because i was nearing the point where i would despise myself in the morning (8am class </3)