#But it was also talking about a female only bookstore

[joyful-soul-collector]

Radfems really go and talk about how all men are insanely obsessed with their dicks and then turn around and talk about how they wish they could open a female only pussy commune where there's a uterus artwork gallery and they can all sun their clits together

[it-was-summer]

The Very First... Second... Third Night

A/N: Hey guys, happy fall!!! Fun fact about me, I love Season one reid so much it's not even funny. That's pookie!!!!! Anyways, enjoy this little fluffy cute thing I wrote in a romance-infused haze (I saw that photo of MGG in that pumpkin sweater at knott's berry farms and I needed Spencer in a Halloween way). MAYBE some porn coming soon idk man. Love you all!!-Em <3

Link to the Ao3: The Very First... Second... Third Night ->Link to the: Yee olde masterlist Tags: Can't remember if I use any female pronouns for reader, but warning just incase. Season one reid, MENTION OF JEID, SPENCELLE, AND bisexual Reid, Spencer reid being critical of himself, Spencer's POV for the most part, jello mentioned guys, Overstimulated Spencer Reid at a football game, mention of a cemetery, mention of Nosferatu (1922). Kind of proofread, yippie!!!

Genre: Fluffy meet cutes. Pairing: Season One! Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader.

Plot: Spencer runs into you twice before but only manages to get your name (and number) the third time.

Word Count: 3,863

First Meeting

Spencer can’t remember the last time this bookstore was so crowded. Personally, he tried to go on early Sunday mornings to avoid the crowds– if any– that came into the shop. Maybe he was being overdramatic. There couldn’t have been more than twenty people in the store with him. But it was still twenty too many. He softly apologizes to the elderly woman as he squeezes past her in the narrow nonfiction aisle. 

Most of the crowd seemed to be hovering around the fiction area, which was fine with him– the further away, the better. With his head turned to watch the small crowd bustle about the store, he didn’t notice the person standing just inches from him in the aisle. 

You stared at him with a confused expression for a second, thinking surely this man would move eventually. But the moment never came. He was tall with brown hair and long eyelashes. He had the fashion sense of a teacher– correction, teacher’s assistant. You clear your throat softly, hardcover clutched in hand as you watch the man’s head snap over to you, his cheeks flushing red. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t see you. Not that you’re hard to miss– I mean in a good way, you’re–” He closes his mouth and swallows hard, looking into your gentle eyes. “I’m sorry.” 

You would have felt a little agitated if he hadn’t seemed so earnest, but this man oozes social anxiety, and your heart takes pity on him. Your lips move to a slow smile, and you whisper a sweet, “That’s alright,” 

Spencer’s sure he’s never seen kinder eyes, “It’s just so busy today. I was looking at the crowd,” 

Your head turns at that, allowing Spencer to take in your features. A light sweater to accommodate the cool air this early-October morning, some Halloween earrings that make Spencer smile, and stunning eyes. “Book signing pop-up, it’ll be crazy until three. At least that's what the stock girl told me.” You’re soft-spoken, too. Spencer can appreciate that.

He nods slightly, looking down at the hardcover in your hand and then over at the crowd again, “Are you not here for the book signing?” 

“Afraid not,” You sigh as you hold up a historical fiction novel, “Me and my historical fiction novel were going to take a gander at some biographies.” 

He can’t help his peaked interest as he licks his lips, “Regarding?” He’s a fan of history himself and is always happy to interact with someone who also shares a love for it. He feels slightly less anxious talking about something he knows.

You twist your lips to the side like you’re silently debating whether or not you should tell him. You look away for a second, your eyes scanning the bookshelves on either side of you. “Salem Witch Trials.” You answer him bluntly. 

Spencer nods like he understands precisely what you mean, “Ah, the more humane witch trials.” It's a funny joke… to him, at least. 

But then your lips twitch upwards as you let out a quiet chuckle, “No burning for us, just rope and intense torture.” 

He feels electric, which is stupid because he shouldn’t feel excited over something as simple as someone joking with him, but he does. He’s been working on it upon Derek’s sarcastic request, and he can’t help but wonder if it is finally paying off now. 

Spencer feels the overwhelming urge to partake in what Garcia describes as ‘info-dumping ,’ but he bites his tongue as he settles on a simple question, “How come?” 

You shrug slightly as you look up at him. The bookstore light keeps making his eyes a soft amber, and you’re having a hard time looking away now. “Halloween tradition.” You watch his eyebrow furrow, raising a hand to explain yourself quickly. “My best friend and I each pick a historical event that is relatively macabre, and then we base our costumes around it and throw a party with a related theme. It’s... It’s stupid.” You say with a smile and a wave of your hand dismissively. 

Meanwhile, Spencer’s too busy thinking you’re the most extraordinary girl he’s ever interacted with. For the first time in his life, he’s desperate for an invite to a stranger’s party—a pretty stranger who has yet to tell him her name. 

“That’s not-” 

A woman’s voice cuts him off as she barrels down the aisle with a grin, “There you are, oh…” Her blue eyes look Spencer up and down carefully, studying him. “Hello, there.” She’s direct and forward and speaks in a tone that tells Spencer to leave you the hell alone. 

He nods curtly, waving slightly at your friend. You sigh out with mock annoyance as you say, “He’s a friendly, put your gun away.” 

“I don’t believe in guns.” 

“They’re very real, trust me.” Is your sarcastic reply before looking at Spencer again. “Thanks for the company. I’ll see you around.” And just like that… you’re gone. 

Second Meeting

Spencer is sure he’ll never see you again, but here he is a week later, still thinking about you on a case. Or rather, he’s thinking about every woman ever and that he’ll never have a chance with any of them… ever. He’s feeling rather lonely, or maybe his self-esteem is taking a certain nose-dive this fine San Diego day. 

It’s not because it’s his birthday. He doesn’t hate his birthday like Elle hates hers– that’s what she told him once—the day started off great: the trick candles, the big birthday hat, his embarrassing crush on JJ. And now, they’re discussing the case, a routine he enjoys. 

His mind, always full of helpful information, quickly recognized the ballad from the 17th century– betwixt death and a lady. After his comment regarding what people could find by typing the word ‘death’ in the search engine, Derek’s laughing, “Reid, no wonder you can’t get a date.”

It sticks on him; he would love to let it slide off his back, but he’s not familiar with that kind of territory– dating, that is– so it hits a nerve. A nerve that Spencer didn’t know was so exposed. The worst part is that Derek’s not wrong. Spencer can’t seem to get a date. Not with the pretty intellectual at the bookstore, JJ, or Elle– though that last one feels strange to admit to himself. 

He’s too awkward, speaks too fast, and, according to Gideon, needs to relax more. He’s sure… he’s cute, actually, he doesn’t know if he is. All he knows is that his mind is brilliant, his skills involving women… not so much. 

He’s silently mulling it over as he approaches one of the bulletin boards, muttering lines of the ballad softly when JJ walks up beside him, “Creepy, huh?” Her voice makes him look at her, hesitating as he replies. 

“Actually, uh, conversations between death and his victims was a fairly popular literary and artistic theme throughout the Renaissance.” He’s staring at the bulletin for a second before glancing her away, and his cheeks feel hot when he sees the way JJ is looking at him– disinterest. “But, yeah, creepy.” 

He feels like a teenager, and all those years spent in college and not high school are coming back to bite him. He liked girls and boys, too. He should be better at this, he has an IQ of 187 and five degrees to prove it. Spencer walks away from the conversation quickly, his feet carrying him away from the embarrassing moment as quickly as possible. He needs to focus on the case. 

And focus he does. He’s happy to analyze the meaning of the ballads at the crime scenes, his anxiety calming as he settles into the sweet caress of facts. Feelings, beauty, and tastes were all subjective. The objective was his comfort zone.

So it stands to reason that he feels lighter after conversing with Gideon about why the UnSub would start to use the ballad if it wasn’t a part of his signature. However, after the team delivers the profile, his lightness returns to his ruminating thoughts surrounding his lack of social skills. 

The more he thinks about it, the more he feels the icy breath of repressed memories breathing down his neck. A jammed locker, missing gym clothes, a dark bathroom bolted shut. As the team waits for the UnSub’s suspected phone call to the tip line, he reaches for his bag to pull out a Rubix cube. 

His fingers quickly twist and turn it aimlessly until he feels like it’s mixed around enough for him to solve it again. Elle is sitting in a desk chair in front of him as he solves it. He wants to ask her if she’d ever consider dating him, if she thinks JJ would, or if she feels any self-respecting woman would. He doesn’t, though, the question sounding too desperate in his head to say it out loud. 

Instead, he asks, “Do you think it’s weird that I knew that ballad?” His eyes don’t stray away from the cube for too long as he asks it, scared of what Elle’s gaze might tell him. 

He’s pleasantly surprised when she chuckles and says, “I don’t know how it is that you know half the things you know, but I’m glad you do.” 

Spencer feels insecure when he speaks again, but he has to know the answer, “Do you think it’s why I can’t get a date?” He looks up at her now, waiting for the brutal blow, which is her answer. 

Elle looks slightly amused. “You ever ask anyone out?” She smiles a little, seeing the genius look genuinely dumbfounded for a second as he thinks about it. 

He never had the confidence to walk up to someone he found attractive and say something interesting enough to warrant a ‘yes’ if he asked them on a date. “No,” 

She gives him a slight shrug of her shoulders, “That’s why you can't get a date.” And Spencer seems to nod at that, and his lips tighten for a second as he nods before he looks away from her again. His focus is pulled back to the case when the UnSub calls, and for a little while, he feels better. 

On the flight home, he’s almost completely forgotten about his spiral as he plays chess with Gideon. When he hands Spencer a small present, a little smile plays on his lips as he says, “But you don’t give birthday presents.” When he finally gets the present open, he feels a little confused as he thanks Gideon for the generous gift– two VIP box seat Redskin tickets. 

He’s excited, nonetheless, to experience something new with Gideon, and Spencer believes him when he says that Spencer will love it. 

“We are. You’re coming with me, right?” Spencer asks with a slight grin.

Gideon smiles, “No.” he doesn’t let Spencer’s confusion build for long as he quickly adds, “Someone else on the plane is a huge skins fan.” 

“Who?” 

“Only person in the world who calls you Spence.” 

Speaking of the only person in the world that calls him Spence, the date was going terribly. She had invited Penelope; she thought it was a group thing. He begged Hotch and Gideon for some pointers, anything. They reminded him she was already his friend, but that wasn’t very helpful. He knew how to talk to her on a typical day. On a date? Not so much.

Then, she invited Penelope. Now he’s stuck on a date where only one person in the group knows it was supposed to be a date, and he feels nauseous. He’s trying to keep a conversation going, but every time it picks up for a second, he feels himself fumble the metaphorical ball, and it dies again. 

Eventually, he excuses himself to get some air. He’s debating calling Gideon and updating him on how it’s going. His feet pace on the concrete stadium floor. He’s near the elevators, and he can barely hear himself– it’s auditory overload hell. He shuts his eyes tight, stuffing his phone back into his pocket as he covers his ears, leaning against the cool wall beside the elevators. 

It’s all muffled, barely helping, but the feeling of the cool wall on his back through his clothes helps relax him slightly. His shoulders relax briefly before he feels two fingers lightly tapping his shoulders, and he’s rigid again. 

Rigid until his eyes snap open to see that it’s you. You from the bookstore, with that same kind smile, same dazzling smile, it is you. You’re yelling over the shouting, but he can barely hear you. You laugh. He can only tell by your facial expression as all the sound falls deaf to his ears over the crowd's yelling. 

Once it calms down, you repeat yourself, “Are you alright?” 

He nods, then you’re giving him a skeptical look, and he slowly shakes his head. 

“Is it the noise?” 

A part of him wants to tell you that it’s everything he is experiencing today, but instead, he whispers a soft “Yes.” 

You twist your lips to the side, looking upset for him. Your empathy is so sweet and pure for him that he feels the knot in his chest unraveling slowly. “Let me buy you a water?” You offer, motioning to a concession stand a few steps away. 

He doesn’t remember saying yes, but you’re grinning as you walk with him to the stand and buy the two of you a bottle. After a sip or two, you say, “I’m not the biggest fan of football games either. My dad loves em’.”

He nods along silently, feeling so socially overwhelmed that he barely has the energy for more conversation. You seem happy to fill the gap: “I ran into you at that bookstore on 8th, right?” 

Spencer’s beaming as he pulls the bottle away from his lips, nodding, speaking for the first time in a while. “Yes.” 

You let out a happy hum, “Small world,” And Spencer agrees with you silently. 

It's the most comfortable he’s felt all week, and he wonders if maybe this failed date of his was a strange blessing in disguise. He’s about to ask for your name when Penelope approaches the two of you, blinking starstruck at Spencer and you as she introduces herself when the crowd begins to cheer again. Any noise he can hear is drowned out, frowning as you shake Penelope’s hand and say your name– a name he cannot hear. Some more words follow, but it's all small talk until you excuse yourself to return to your father in the stands. 

Then he’s the one being dragged away from you, convinced once more that he’ll never see his pretty stranger ever again. 

Third Meeting

It’s the night before Halloween. Ask anyone who knows Spencer; they will tell you he genuinely loves Halloween. It’s a part of him, always has been. He likes that you can dress up as anyone you want to be without judgment. He loves the build-up, the history, and the scents that fill the air. 

So, when he manages to get the night off, he’s quick to try and convince someone from the team to head over to a cemetery not too far from headquarters. Even when he explains how it is for a classic horror movie showing on the graveyard’s lands, everyone declines. 

Now, he’s setting up an oversized quilt on the soft grass, smoothing out the edges of the oversized quilt with his hands before sitting down on it. His hands move to his bag, pulling out a few of his favorite snacks, drinks, and so on as he watches the cemetery slowly fill up with people. 

He’s happy. He feels a little strange at the thought, but he’s happy– even if it is in the middle of a cemetery. 

A gentle voice cuts through the soft quiet of the graveyard, “I knew I was going to run into you sooner or later,” 

He turns his head to look at you, picnic basket and blanket in hand. You smile down at him. He trips over himself as he stands, his cheeks flushing as you laugh at the sight. He rubs his suddenly sweating hands on his button-up as he reluctantly offers you his hand to shake, only to realize that you don’t have a hand available. 

“Can I—” he says softly, “Would it be alright if I—" he swallows hard, his voice cracking lightly. Do you need help with your things?” 

You glance down at your hands, smiling slightly as you shake your head politely. “I’m sure I can find a good spot soon. I didn’t mean to disturb you.” 

“You’re not, honest. I’m, uh, I’m here alone, and it doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes.” You silently debate his offer, and then Spencer feels a wave of confidence surge through him, “You can always sit with me if you’d like. I promise I’ll try to be quiet.” 

You seem to think that’s funny as you nod, “Well, it is a silent film.” 

“You don’t have to say yes. I just have a big blanket, and I’m in a good spot to see the screen and–”

“I’ll sit with you,” You cut him off softly, bending down to gently get the picnic basket on the edge of his quilt. Spencer moves out of your way, awkwardly shuffling for a second before he decides this might be a good time to introduce himself. 

“I’m Spencer.” 

You glance up at him as you move to sit on the blanket, smiling as you tell him your name. He licks his lips nervously, nodding as he sits beside you. His nervous eyes dance over your figure as you set your blanket, which he now sees has little cartoon ghosts all over it, to the side of your basket. 

You’re frowning slightly as you reach into the basket, pulling out a small cup of jello and a spoon. “I’m sorry. If I had known I was sharing a blanket with someone, I would have brought another cup.” 

Spencer finds it funny as he leans over to his satchel and pulls out his own cup of jello and spoon, “No need,” 

You laugh lightly as you raise your jello cup to his. “Cheers, then. " Spencer smiles lightly as the two of you tap the edges together for a moment before falling into a comfortable silence while eating jello. 

Spencer’s spoon digs into the jello, and he asks, “Is this your first time seeing Nosferatu ?”

You let out a soft hum as you pull your spoon out of your mouth and quickly nod, “Yes!” You say after swallowing, “What about you?” 

“Third.” 

“Didn’t remember it well enough the first two times?” 

He lets out a shy laugh at that— it feels strange for someone to be unaware of his eidetic memory, and he wonders how long that’ll last. “Not exactly. I guess just like Halloween.” 

“A man of good taste,” You quip back softly, taking a smiling bite of jello. 

Spencer laughs as his eyes watch your lips close around your spoon before he pulls them away to look into your eye, hoping you don’t notice as he stutters lightly. “That’s debatable.” 

You’re looking down at your half-eaten Jello cup. “I’m the judge here. I deem it a fact that you are a man of good taste. You’re wearing a cardigan. That’s how the judicial system works, don’t you know?” You look back at him with a smirk, and Spencer can’t help the chortle that escapes his throat.��

“That is not how the United States judicial system works, but thank you.” 

“Yeah, you look like someone who would know all the inner workings of the judicial system.” 

Spencer can feel his cheeks getting red at how your voice sounds—teasing and a little flirty. Oh my god, were you flirting with him? He’s sure he’s all smiles and red cheeks as he looks at you, changing the topic. “None of your friends wanted to come with you tonight?”

“No, not their scene. It’s okay, though. I’m making a new friend right now.” 

Spencer’s finishing off his Jello as he steals a glance at you again, stars in his eyes. “You don’t even know me.” 

“Sure I do. Your name is Spencer. You like jello, nonfiction, Halloween, and dressing like a teacher’s assistant.” 

Spencer doesn’t want to say you’re wrong, even though he knows you’re just being nice, but he doesn’t want to spend another week without seeing you. He wants to be your friend— he’ll be anything you want him to be. “Could I–” He licks his lips, eyes searching yours nervously. 

You watch him carefully, tilting your head to the side as you look into his brown eyes. The sun is gone now, but the rising moon is shining down on him. He seems so… gentle, like a deer in a quiet forest.  A part of you just wants to scoop him up and bring him home with you, as inappropriate as that is. 

“You wouldn’t have to– It’s alright if you say no. I was just thinking I could give you my number sometime, maybe.” He manages with a gentle huff of air. 

You nod a little, “Sometime, maybe.” You repeat with a slight grin forming on your lips. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see the projector starting to play the movie, and a hush falls over the cemetery’s lawn. 

Spencer’s voice is a little too loud as he rushes to say, “I mean, now. Would it be alright if I–” A shush cuts him off, and his back straightens quickly as he shuts his mouth. His eyes meet yours for a second before darting over to the projection. 

You’re watching him again, how he’s staring at the screen like his life depends on it. You scoot closer to him, grabbing your folded-up blanket in the process. Once you reach his side, you drape the folded blanket around his shoulders carefully before doing the same to your own. 

His fingers gingerly grab one of the blanket's edges, casting you an apologetic glance for a second as your pants graze against his. You seem unbothered as you lean toward him. “I would love your number after this, " you whisper, looking up into his doe-like eyes before turning your head to watch the film. 

He’s beaming now as he stares at you, and his chest tightens slightly when you lean close to him again. You’re so close he can smell your perfume, the scent tangling with the sweet smell of crisp fall air. “You like costume parties?” Your voice is barely audible. 

He signals that he does silently, his head moving up and down quickly. The sight makes you grin as you mouth a silent, ‘Perfect’ at him before your attention is fully pulled back to the movie. 

Spencer feels warm all over for the rest of the night, and three months from now, he’ll start to believe three is a lucky number as he picks you up for your third date with him and just how perfect everything feels when he kisses you. 

[ravisinghs-wife]

The seven + Nico and Reyna and their red flags ✼

warnings: not proofread, swearwords, lmk if I missed anything!

a/n: okay I'm sorry I didn't post for like two months, ngl I simply forgot that this blog existed😭

notes to the fic: reader is written as gn (one mention off y/n), but pls don't read Nico's part if u identify as female! :)

masterlist

Percy

he's always barefoot during spring and summer

you'll never catch him with shoes on because he things that they are "blocking the fresh air his toes need"

at least they never get that dirty because he can't survive five minutes without jumping in the sea

when he was younger sally had to force him wear shoes to school, to the parkt et cetera and he was always so angry at her after that because he hated it with all his passion

that anger quickly faded after she baked some blue cookies

after growing up he learned that he should wear shoes to school et cetera but the second he is at camp he gets rid of them

after you dressed it he delegated that he always washed them and kept them clean so there was no wrong doing it and that it's actually healthy for your feet

Annabeth

listen, I love annabeth

but she's always mansplaining

Like u could be talking about ur close family that she only met once and she‘d say something like „actually, i had the impression that…“

It’s so annoying

she doesn't even mean it mean or something

but it also could be just a conversasiation that she isn't even involved in and she'll just randomly pop up and mansplain the topic

jason

That boy doesn’t have any basic knowledge

Like he is at camp jupiter since he’s three or something

I‘m not sure if they even knew what they where teaching him

Like that boy doesn’t know algebra

You could be talking about something in history and how deeply that event infected the way society lives now and he‘d be like „what do you mean?“

And he’s serious

Everytime Percy and Leo make fun of him for not knowing something he‘ll run to you and beg you to explain it to him

Most of the time you make a bit fun of him too because a 17 year old boy who doesn’t know what the french Revolution was is kinda funny

He knows that you‘re just joking though

hazel

I love her but she's like one of the extra careful mom's whose world break when their child hears a swear word

every time you are someone near both of ou swears she has this weird shocked and impressed look and looks around the room

you had to stop swearing around her bc she always starts blushing and looks at you in awe

they don't even have to be the "bad" swear words, it could be something like shit and she'd still be shocked

you had to learn to find alternatives like fudge or fox

she made you browse for the alternatives to swear words for around two hours at midnight and made you subscribe to the mommy blogs incase they had "more cool little alternatives"

piper

she's a die hard romance book hater

she always gives you the weird look when you read one or even only look at one at the bookstore

like she doesn't even have a plausible reason besides that they "always have the same ending and are very predictable"

I mean she's right but still

when she was 14 she had an instagram where she just talked shit about romance books because she was bored

it's not even that she doesn't like reading or books that much, she just doesn't like them because they (as already said) have the same ending and because she gor sick of the perfect romantic ending after drew talked night in and out about it

you once convinced her to read your favorite romance book and she tried her best to be nice

she actually didn't find it that bad and liked the ending but she would never admit that to you

leo

that boy either doesn't shower for one week or takes two hour showers

it's a bit better in the summer but especially in winter he never shower because he "would just get dirty later again"

you have to force him too properly shower because he would just forget it again

and when he actually showers for once he takes two hour showers

but especially in summer he's just gonna swim in the lake and call it a day because he basically "got clean already"

frank

I love frank sm but he would 7 in 1 shampoo

he doesn't get why it's bad and insists that it makes his hair shinier

you try to explain it to him once but he just doesn't understand 😪

he also tries to convince you all the time that it's so much better than owning body wach, shampoo and conditioner

nico

is a pop music hater

he always has this annoyed look on his face when you play pop music

he always makes this disappointed dad sigh and says "again?"

nico sounds so disappointed

he secretly loves it about you tho

reyna

she's like a confused mom and never gets jokes

"what do you mean by that, y/n? I never do that"

you try to explain the joke to her but give up after 10 minutes

she's grumpy for the rest of the day because you wouldn't finish explaining it to her

eventually she gives her pride up and asks you again

and after another ten stressful minutes she finally gets it

she kept arguing that what you said doesn't make sense

[ladykailitha]

The Caged Bird Still Sings Part 14

Hey guys! Welcome back! So this chapter is getting a little heavy on the angsty side, so just a heads up.

Things have been going great for all the stories especially the Christmas one.

This will be the story that keeps its usual schedule next week. Every other posting day will be finishing up the Olympic Swimmer one. So be on the look out for that.

Also super long chapter!

Steve tries out some hobbies, Joyce pushes, and Steve gets depressed.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

~

Steve would like to say he got right on the job search the next day, but he really didn’t. He woke up refreshed and feeling good about himself. After a run on the treadmill and big breakfast he had already talked himself out needing to.

But instead he decided that he wanted to learn new hobbies. He had the money and pretty much unlimited time so why not?

The first thing he tried felting. Yeah, he had a lot of money, but he wanted to start with something cheap in case he got bored with it.

Taking the kit out of the box, he already ran into a problem. The leather finger gloves were much too small. Like he didn’t have fat fingers or anything but they were much too tight to fit on even his pinkie fingers he turned them inside out to see if he could make them bigger somehow.

He only succeeded in ruining the finger gloves. He tried rubber thimbles as replacements but still the sharp tool would pierce even the tough rubber.

The kit sat abandoned in a corner of his hotel room until one of the porters saw it and asked if he could have it. His sister did the felting all the time and she was having trouble finding colors she liked.

So Steve let him have it. Three days later the porter came back with a bright yellow canary and a female robin. He proudly displayed them on his nightstand next to the phone and alarm clock.

Robin loved them, but refused to take the robin. She said they shouldn’t be separated at any price.

Steve loved her a little bit more when she said that.

The next thing he tried was painting.

That lasted all of six hours before they got handed off to Will. It was a beautiful oil, acrylic, and water color set, with all the paint brushes and pallet and metal wood-handled pallet knives.

It lasted that long was because that was the time it took for Steve to set everything up, including an old sheet Rosa let him have, start painting and promptly knock everything over. The water, the paints, the easel. Everything. He broke the easel, knocked a hole in the canvas, and smeared paint all over the apron he had bought just for the occasion.

Will was happy to receive the paints, but in turn he gave Steve a simple notepad and pencil and taught him how to draw.

Steve liked that.

It was just for doodling and making silly pictures so it didn’t make him feel like a failure. He went to the bookstore and bought a bunch of books on how to draw certain things. Animals, the human figure. He even found this great reference book on clothes sorted based on the English monarch who was in power at the time the were wore.

Which was all well and good, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

One day while he was over at Will’s talking art and whether or not kneaded erasers were worth the pain they caused if you dropped, Ellie introduced him to a new hobby. Will was against the things, Steve was for.

Jonathan huffed, “That’s probably a class issue as Steve here can afford to replace them and Will can’t.”

Steve and Will stared at each other in complete shock, but had to admit that Jonathan was probably right.

“Yeah, okay,” Steve huffed, “that’s fair. I guess I really didn’t think about it because it’s not my money I’m spending.”

“Have you tried looking for a job?” Joyce asked. She didn’t like that someone was paying to keep Steve safe. As nice as it was, in her experience the well tended to dry up when you least expected it to.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mrs. Byers.” Which he had. Yes, he had been focused on trying to learn things that would keep his mind from atrophying, he had also been looking. “If they seen me coming they take down the sign or if they don’t get to it in time, they say it’s an old sign and that they forgot to take it down.”

Joyce’s shoulders slumped in sympathy. The rumor around town is that because Mr. Harrington was the landlord for a lot of the properties that the businesses were on, he had threatened to raise their rent if they gave Steve a job.

Something that all the adults promised not to tell Steve so that he wouldn’t get so discouraged as to not try at all.

But surely Clint Harrington didn’t own every business in Hawkins and she told Steve so.

“No,” Steve huffed. “But he’s friends with ones that he doesn’t. I’m going to try the mall next. Most of the them are franchises and have their main bosses outside of Hawkins.”

She let out a little sigh of relief. It showed that Steve was trying and actively thinking of these types of pitfalls.

Steve shifted uncomfortably. “What have you got there, Ellie?” he asked trying to shift the focus off of him for a moment.

Joyce was watching Ellie while Hopper was at work.

The young girl held up long satin strings of embroidery thread. She had three shades of pink, a white, and a red. She tied the ends to a safety pin that was pinned her leg.

“I’m making friendship bracelets for me and Max,” Ellie said proudly. “The pink is for me, and then I have these colors for her!” She held up blues and purples.

“That’s way cool!” Steve said scooting over to sit next to her.

Jonathan and Will shared a smile. Steve was lost to the shiny allure of friendship bracelets.

“I could teach you if you like,” she said with a smile. “I also have boondoggle!” She held up shiny plastic strips. “I make key chains and other things that need to last a lot longer than the thread.”

Steve really lit up, but then frowned when he saw out intricate it all was. “I’ll never be do anything that fancy.”

Ellie sat closer and pulled out a little paper that she had in her caboodle. “I couldn’t at first either, so I went to the library and took out a book on all the different ways you could plait and how to do boondoggle. Then I copied a couple of the pages I wanted to try.”

She handed it to him and pointed to the easiest. “That’s the one I started with and it will probably take a little bit to get the spacing right.”

Steve tilted his head. “Is this like braiding hair?”

“Yes!” Ellie said excitedly. “That’s right. I forgot you braid Max’s hair all the time. So then it will be easy for you.”

Soon they were off in their own little world.

Joyce watched with her arms crossed and a concerned expression. Jonathan spotted her and shook his head. He stood up and went to stand next to her.

“You’ve got to let it go, Mom,” he said gently. “You aren’t his mom and even if you were, he’s still an adult. As near as anyone of can tell, whoever is footing this bill isn’t in it to exploit Steve, just making sure he’s taken care of.”

Joyce breathed out through her nose as she tried not to snap at her son. She didn’t know that as a fact and Hopper’s reassurances weren’t enough. She hated having to take his word that whoever this was wouldn’t harm Steve. And that galled.

“It’s all the expensive gifts,” she tried to explain. “The car, the unlimited credit card, cash drops weekly, the gold necklace, the hotel. It’s just not right, it’s not decent.”

Jonathan shook his head. “What about all the non-expensive gifts? Things this benefactor thought Steve would like or get a kick out of? Like that little canary with top hat that he keeps on his dashboard? Or all the music tapes they send, thinking Steve might want to try something different. Hell, according to Steve until they left the country, they talked once or twice a day. That doesn’t sound like someone out to hurt him.”

She let out a shuddering sigh. Because Jonathan was right, that didn’t sound like someone trying to use Steve. “I know.”

Jonathan patted on her shoulder and then went into his room, probably to call Nancy. Another person like his mom who worried Steve was being taken advantage of. But even if he was, that was a lesson he was going to have to learn the hard way.

On his own.

Will had long since left to go hang out with Mike while Ellie and Steve made friendship bracelets. He made four. A black, red, and dark grey one for Eddie, a red, a brown, and a light grey one for Robin and two yellow, white, and black ones. So he could one each to Eddie and Robin.

“Those are really pretty, Steve,” Ellie congratulated him. “Those are some interesting color choices.” Spoken as though she was silently judging, but too polite to say so.

He blushed and held up the first one. “This is for my special friend, they are his favorite colors.” Then he held up the second. “And this is for Robin. The colors remind me of a female robin and the last two represent who I am now.”

Ellie blinked for a moment as she took in the information. “I can see that now. Thank you for explaining it to me.”

“I get my thread at Melvand’s,” she said serenely, “if you wanted to continue to make more, that’s where you would go to get your own.”

Steve kissed the top of her head. “Thank you, Ellie.”

He didn’t stay much longer than that, now that both of the other boys were gone, Joyce was keeping too close an eye on him with Ellie. He knew it wasn’t the gay thing as she didn’t mind Will being around her. And it wasn’t being a barely legal adult considering she would gladly leave Jonathan to look over her.

Nope.

It was entirely because she didn’t know who Steve’s mysterious benefactor was. And the thought of this unknown, probably male, person might hear about Ellie later? Yeah, that’s where she drew her invisible line.

Which was bullshit, like with Robin’s mom, Eddie wasn’t going to prey on little girls. He was freaking out about Steve might be underage when they met in the club. But it wasn’t like he could tell Joyce that. She might revoke his time with Will and Ellie if she learned he had been underaged drinking that night. The night Eddie saved him.

Steve went up to his hotel room and flopped face first into his bed. He was tired. Tired of all the questions about finding a job and getting out from under Eddie’s thumb. Like Eddie was financially abusing him or whatever.

He just wanted to bring people to his hotel room and show them all the little things Eddie sent him just because he walked into a gas station and saw something cute he thought he would like. The keychain from Kansas City with his name on it. The bright yellow shirt that said “I don’t take no shit” and had the Iowan state bird of the American goldfinch. That one came with a little note explaining that it was a canary, but the black on the wings reminded Eddie of the deliciously tight black leather pants.

Steve blushed for hours after that one.

He wiggled onto the bed and crawled under the covers without having taken off any of his clothes. Maybe he could hibernate until Eddie got back in America.

~

Steve managed to bury himself under the covers before the porter with the felting sister ripped the blanket off from over his head.

He stared blearily up at the porter. “Martin?” He struggled to sit up, but flopped back down on the pillow in distress. “Just leave me alone.”

“It’s Marty actually,” the porter huffed. “The only people that call me Martin are my boss and my mom. You’re not either.”

“Marty, I just want to go back to sleep.”

Marty pulled the rest of the blankets and yanked Steve off the bed. He went with a startled yelp. He leapt to his feet to fight him, but he saw that Bob and Rosa were standing by his bed with looks of concern on their faces.

“I have the shower running,” Bob said, “you will get in there and at least clean off the sweat you reek of. Then Rosa will change the sheets. Marty will bring up some food while you are showering, then the three of us are staging an intervention, because this isn’t like you!”

Steve opened his mouth to refute that statement, probably something about how no one called the whole time he as sulking.

Bob pulled out a stack of messages. “I have thirteen messages, and that’s only because the answering machine is full.”

Steve looked behind him and sure enough the machine was blinking complete with a full tape.

“Oh.”

He meekly went and did as he was told. He was only going to do a perfunctory wipe down because they were waiting for him, but once he got under the water it felt so good that he began to thoroughly scrub himself down. Normally going without a shower for a couple of days really didn’t do much, but because he had barely moved to pee, he was covered in thin layer of sweat.

He washed his hair and got out of the shower. He dried himself off and put on the long robe Eddie had gotten him. He opened the door and was instantly hit with enticing aroma of chicken noodle soup. He moved out of the bathroom to the main room, lured by the scent of real food.

The sofa was full of the hotel employees so he grabbed his bowl of soup and spoon and sat down on the armchair curled up as small as he could make himself.

“You frightened us, mi corazón,” Rosa huffed. “You weren’t answering your phone, you weren’t ordering food. The only way we could tell you moved at all is that occasionally the cup in the bathroom would be wet or you would be on the other side of the bed.”

Bob nodded. “We were told to look after you, money was no object. That’s what we were told, but you turned out to be kind and generous and frankly better than ninety percent of the patrons here. You treat us like we’re human, so it became our pleasure to serve you. So when you weren’t opening your door to anyone or answering your calls, we knew something was wrong.”

“Sorry,” Steve muttered into his bowl. “I just got so tired of everyone trying to find out who is bankrolling my life style and telling me to get a job that I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”

“It’s none of their business,” Rosa huffed. “They’re just jealous that they don’t have this life. I know your papa wants to hurt and all this for you protection, but it seems to me your friends just see the money you...” she snapped her fingers. “What’s the word?”

“I’d use ‘splash around’,” Steve said with a shrug.

“Ehhh,” she knew it wasn’t the word she was looking for but it would have to do. “They see the good. Not the bad. They see new car, but they weren’t there to see you give up your old car. They see the fancy hobbies, but they don’t see your big room and no one to fill it with.”

“She’s right,” Marty said. “I don’t think even the girl that comes with your gifts from Eddie Munson quite understands the crippling loneliness and isolation you have to be feeling right now.”

Steve sniffled into his soup. “Thanks, guys. I don’t know how to impress upon them how dangerous this all is for me. Like the only ones that remotely understand are the Hendersons and that’s because my dad showed up on their doorstep. But even then I don’t think Dustin quite grasps the enormity of it all, but then he’s thirteen so...”

“The only reason your father hasn’t penetrated hotel security,” Bob said with a grimace, “is that the owner, Dr. Sam Owens hates business men like your father. Otherwise, his hold over this town would have extended to here, no doubt about that.”

“So this is what’s going to happen,” Marty said, “if you need to sneak out and just go for a drive to get out of your head, call Bob and he’ll arrange it. If you need someone to talk to ring up Rose or myself. We’re here for you. We understand that Mr. Munson is out of the country right now and it makes it harder, but we’ve got you, okay?”

Steve nodded and said weakly, “Okay!”

~

Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @beelze-the-bubkiss @blondie1006

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @cryptid-system

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @sticknpokelightningbolt

9- @scoops-aboy86 @kurofuckingshi16 @watermelonmite @eyehartart @dreamercec

10- @little-birch-boy @yearningagain @micheledawn1975 @sadisticaltarts

[nerdieforpedro]

Her smile was worth it

Pero Tovar (modern AU) x plus size female reader (La jefa)

Word Count: 1882

Warnings: DARK FIC, mobs and their enforcers, mentions of general violence and graphic violence, mentions and descriptions of torture, descriptions of injuries, solving problems Tovar style, comfort food and tea

Summary: Pero Tovar only has a few people he chooses to interact with willingly. The bookstore owner is one of them. Someone made a very stupid mistake, Tovar will handle it and still have his tea.

Notes: This was written for @iamasaddie ‘s writing challenge 2.0. My color was Mob Enforcer and the prompt was “Hurt/Comfort” and “Who did this to you?” We're longer than a Drabble again, we dribbled quite a bit. Such is Nerdie.

I may have leaned too hard into the ‘hurt portion’ but we’ll see. 👀

Main Masterlist/ Pero Tovar Masterlist/ Writing Challenges

The only good thing about doing collections, was that most of the time, Pero wasn’t using violence. Just intimidation. The shopkeepers knew why he was here and knew the amount they needed to pay to The Family. It’s been the same amount for the past six months, in was raised temporarily for some needed repairs on the club the Valentino family owned. The actual story was that a few of the younger members had been ordered to torture a few members of a rival family and went overboard. The walls, floors and everything needed to be scrubbed. 

Tovar’s been with the Valentino family for fifteen years and as one of their premier enforcers for the last seven working his way up from errand boy. His height and broad frame discourage crossing him, and even if someone is dumb enough to do so, they find themselves bloodied, battered and with at least one thing broken. 

Today’s last stop for collections was planned and one that Pero normally did by himself. The bookstore owner also functions as the town’s librarian since the town doesn’t have one. It’s a smaller town and to get to a library you must drive two towns over. She normally offers him tea and some type of baked goodies. He wouldn’t admit it, but he’s grown to have a slight sweet tooth. Maybe. Really, he could care less about the sweets, he usually chats up the owner and barrows books. Considering he is collecting money from her, he felt he should pay but she always said no. He got the sense it wasn’t out of fear, she liked knowing his thoughts on different books. At first, he didn’t like the idea of discussing them. The enforcer wasn’t sure if he could really talk about different themes, symbols, characters and the like he often heard people talk about when discussing these books. 

La jefa (the boss) as he often greeted her didn’t judge him on his answers or lack of them. He’d talk the best he could about what he read, even if he didn’t understand it all. She listens and sips her tea, then asks him questions to draw more answers out of him. It fustrated him at first. But he grew to enjoy the bi-weekly sit downs with her. 

The chime of the bell goes off as he opens the door. The sun is at Pero’s back as he enters the bookstore. He comes early in the afternoon around two. She’s not at the counter, though the shop is listed as open. Calling out for her, she doesn’t answer, and he sucks his teeth. It isn’t like her at all. There’s no tea out either. There are no books that appear out of place and making his way behind the counter, nothing appears to be wrong with the register.

The enforcer goes into the back of the shop, he only knew where the bathroom was back here. He was looking for anything that resembled an office, as he walked down the hallway, there was a sniffle. As he kept going, they got louder. Taking a breath while he stood in front of a door that was slightly ajar, he tried to prepare himself. Maybe it was a bad day, maybe she got a papercut or was reading a sad book or something. Tovar instantly knew none of those were the case when he opened the door. 

Sitting behind the desk, her shoulders were slumped, and her hands were covering her face. He saw the scabs on the back of her hands, defensive marks. “Jefa dejame ver. (Boss, let me have a look).” Her sniffles stop for a moment as she shakes her head, turning her body away from him in the swivel chair. His eyes widen at the mark on her neck he spies it when she turns, it looks like it could be from a palm. Moving to her side, Pero places a hand on her shoulder, “I need to see cariño (sweetheart) or just give me a name. Who did this to you?” She finally drops her hands, but she turns her face away.

“I don’t want you to see. The envelope is on the desk Pero. Please.”  It is on the table, and he’ll put it in his jacket shortly - it is why he came here in the first place, but he can’t just leave like this. On top of her being one of a small number of people who he wants to be around, it could get around that the protection money the shops pay isn’t worth a damn because you could get beat in your own shop, and nothing will happen to whoever did it.

“Then tell me a name.” It’s sterner this time, but he’s released her shoulder and instead picked up her hand, his thumb tracing the scabs on her knuckles. She’d tried to fight back at least. She’s biting her lips when she finally looks at him, most of the discoloration is on the left side of her face though there’s a cut on her chin and one on her bottom lip. A large bruise is on her chest across her right clavicle, partly covered by her shirt. Pero’s able to keep his face motionless. “Por favor cariño (please sweetheart).” He doesn’t recognize the name she says, but he kisses her forehead and wraps an arm around her. “Gracias (thank you). I’ll be back princesa (princess).” 

Pero puts the envelope in his jacket pocket and heads out of the office. “Close the shop now and have the tea ready when I come back. Between eight and nine tonight.” He’s going to be quick about dropping the money off and he’s texted one of his associates with the name she gave. Within fifteen minutes, Pero has a picture to go with the name and a location. Marcello talks way too much, but he’s the best Tovar knows at tracking people.

Pero finds this man himself and tells Marcello to tell the higher ups that he needs to demonstrate a lesson in messaging with the family. He’ll need the basement and he’ll keep the clean up to a minimum. It’s not that there wouldn’t be blood. There might be too much blood so the powers at be approve the basement use but ask that Marcello and a second enforcer be there so that the man isn’t killed. There’s only murder when necessary and it wasn’t they viewed in this case. Pero sucked his teeth for the second time today but would make sure the man in question lives. Just not with all functioning limbs. 

After the submission of the money and subsequent torture was complete, the man’s body was bandaged by one of their doctors on the payroll and dropped off at his home, during a time they knew his family would be home with the message, “The Valentino family suffers no fools.” Pero carved it into his back to emphasize the point. He was still alive but would not be the same. Not after, as Tovar saw it, he’s violated one of his favorite places. 

La jefa has long closed her shop and made herself dinner. Now that she thought about it, she’s never made Pero any of her food, just cookies, brownies and the like. Since he said he was coming back, she would make extra. The worst that would happen would be that he would say he didn't want any.  It also dawned on her that she has not made a book recommendation today. She should pick one out before he comes, straightening out her mint green dress. Turning off the stove, she went downstairs to look for a book and saw Pero standing at the door ready to knock. It was a quarter after eight, he was glad he’d taken the extra time to shower. He didn’t want to be late, but he didn’t want to be dirty either. 

“Ah! Mi princesa del librios es bonita (My Princess of books is pretty). You have our tea ready tonight?” His question follows the chime of the bell above the door as she unlocks it and lets him in. She then locks it again and nods.

“I have tea and I made some extra for dinner. I didn’t pick out a book for you yet.” She seems a bit brighter than this afternoon but still trying to make sure she was facing him with her right side. Pero takes her left hand and tugs it a little, not hard, just enough so she faces him fully.

“Hermosa (gorgeous) you don’t have a bad side. Don’t worry about the book. I haven’t finished with the other one yet. I want my tea and I want to see what you made for dinner.” The corners of her mouth curve and finally she smiles, squeezing his hand and leading him up the stairs. Pero watches her walk up and into her living area. It’s cozy as it has books scattered about as well. 

“I don’t know if you like stew, but I made that and heated up some rolls. There’s butter too. I have water, apple juice, coke, and some rum.” The last option surprised him as he didn’t picture her drinking at all. Maybe she had a glass or two when she sat up here before bed. She poured herself a glass of water as Pero pointed to her glass and held up an empty bowel on the table. She filled both and they sat down across from each other. “I hope you enjoy Pero.”

“I don’t doubt that I will cariño.” The food went quickly as they ate, and she asked what other kind of foods he liked. Pero felt he might be getting greedy. Perhaps he’s been gluttonous of her attention each time he comes here. She gives it so willingly. 

Tonight’s tea is mint like her dress which makes Tovar chuckle as he takes up half of her loveseat sitting down. She takes up the other and they sip tea, speaking of past books they’ve read and things he may want to read. 

Even if he got an urgent call, he’ll ignore it because he’s having his tea. Pero Tovar doesn’t feel like an enforcer or a conduit for violence. He just has an arm around one of his favorite people as she places her head on his shoulder. The tough pads of his fingers touch the injured side of her face while he tells her that it’s been taken care of. He won’t tell her details. Tovar figures she can put it together. If he can just have moments like these where he’s just a man with someone he cares for, Pero can use that to sleep. He prays she can rest without crying or being scared. 

The loveseat has his feet hanging off outside of the blanket he found on the back of it. So far, he hasn’t heard her sniffle again. Pero carried her to bed after she fell asleep in his arms. The faint scent of mint mingling with the earthy smell of the books lulls him to sleep. He had blood on his hands again today, but it was fine. It was for her sake, and she hasn’t cried again.

It was worth it.

[monsterswithimagines]

Undisclosed Desires - Part 5

Joe Goldberg x female!Reader

Summary: Twenty minutes before he would have met Guinevere Beck, Joe meets you instead. You intruige him, but it will soon become clear that there is something off about you.

Words: 781

Masterlist

Let me tell you what I've learned about you these last two weeks.

I know at which store you buy your groceries (TV dinners and twizzlers), and that you spend far too much money on Starbucks coffee (a White Café Mocha in the morning, a Caramel Frappe sometime during the afternoon). You work in an office building. According to our friend Google, the building is shared by an online marketing agency and a large fashion retailer. I want to say you must be in fashion, but I'm just not sure.

What else? You didn't lie to me. You haven't made many friends here. During your free time, you drift through New York all on your lonesome, and you don't seem to mind it. You never seem to know exactly where you're going, and you don't ask anyone for directions. You don't talk to strangers at all - I was an exception, then, and that makes me feel good - and you get lost in crowds, and sometimes I want to approach you and pretend it's random, but I don't want that glassy, dreamy look to go out of your eyes. It's the same look you had the first time we met, before you found Stephen King.

There is so much you can find out about a person, once you know where they live. I'm finding out so much about you, (Y/n).

And yet, I’m having trouble finding an in.

You are not predictable. You don’t get your coffees at the same time every day and you never walk the exact same route twice. Getting breakfast at the same place two days in a row must have been a fluke, because I never catch you following any sort of routine except for when you go to work.

You never go to any other bookstore except Mooney’s, though. I wait for you there whenever I’m working, except for when I know you’re also at work. I feel like a puppy, and I don’t like it. This is what you’re doing to me.

My reward for all this waiting? Your smile.

You walk into the bookstore again, just like you did that first time only now your eyes immediately find mine, and you smile at me and I can’t help but smile back. You approach me, and you say: “Hey, Joe.”

“Hi, (Y/n),” I answer, copying your tone.

“So I was thinking,” you say, leaning your elbows on the counter between us. “We never hang out.”

“Oh?” I say. I can’t sound too interested, but I am, (Y/n), I am! “What do you mean, exactly?”

“We text, occasionally,” you say, and I can tell this is something you’ve practised. You’ve been thinking about what to say because you think about me. You’re obsessed with me. Why else do you come here so often, if not to see me? “And we see each other here, when you’re working. We should hang out some other time, when you’re not. Working, I mean.”

“That could be fun,” I say. Are you asking me on a date? “What did you have in mind?”

“Coffee?” you offer. “Or lunch.”

You are! You’re asking me on a date!

I can’t believe my luck, (Y/n). I’ve been trying so hard to find a way into your life and here you are, finally, opening the door for me. If I’d known it was going to be this easy, I wouldn’t have had to follow you around so much. But then, I’m glad I did, because it means I know to say:

“Saturday? One pm? We can meet here.”

“Yes,” you say, because you don’t work on Saturday and of course you don’t have plans. You pull a hand through your messy hair and you smile with your teeth and you add: “It’s a date.” And it is! It really is!

I’ve been working so hard, (Y/n), and it’s all seemed so impossible so far. But I should have known you were testing me. You wanted to know how long I was willing to wait. For you, I’d wait an eternity.

“Well, the books are calling me,” you say, leaning back. You tilt your head to the side. “Do you hear them?”

“For sure,” I say, even though all I’m hearing is happy music. “Go find your next novel to devour.”

You disappear into the stacks and I stare after you. I can’t wait for our date, (Y/n). We’ll get coffee and I’ll take you on a walk, one of those long walks you enjoy that have no specific direction. We’ll talk about anything and everything, and at the end of the night you’ll love me. You really will.

[withloveoptimus]

Ask by @musicalmedli : How about a human he secretly likes doing something that unknowingly means bettothal in Cybertronian culture and it freaks her out. can be sfw or nsfw, your choice.

had some difficulties posting this the first time and unfortunately lost the ask but here it is now !

i had lots of fun writing this and i hope y'all enjoy !

TFP Optimus x Female reader

Summary: Reader accidentally proposes to Optimus and, after a quick talk with Ratchet, she promptly freaks out.

Warnings: none

sfw , fluff , misunderstanding , miscommunication , pre relationship , cultural differences

Optimus had begun to act weird around you, and you weren't entirely sure why. He was more affectionate with you, whether it was simply holding you in his palm or sending you smiles that he wouldn't share with anyone else. It made you swoon, of course, but also a little curious.

Wanting to return said affection, you bought him a gift with the bit of money you scavenged together. You'd gotten him a few books from the local bookstore that the two of you frequented. It was a cute little store and the lady that owned it was so sweet, she happily indulged Optimus' curiosity whenever they were there.

Although you didn't have to, you wrote him a little note as well, writing the kind little thoughts down and thanking him.

When you'd presented the gifts to Optimus, he was happy. His face brightened up like when you present a kid with candy, and you fought the impulsive thought to kiss him.

He promptly thanked you with a warm smile on his face.

That's when things began to spiral.

Optimus' affections were much more frequent and whenever he would speak to you, whether it was in the comfort of your house (he liked to help around and use his holoform even though you insist he doesn't need to) or when you're out for patrol, his tone is fond and warm. That's not unusual for him to do but it felt odd. It's like those few moments when you're talking to a crush or lover.

That thought made your face hot and you quickly tossed it away. That wasn't it; there was no way he would talk to you in that way.

When you bring it up to Ratchet, Optimus' closest friend, he has an unreadable look on his face before swiftly recovering.

"Do you know about Conjunx Endureas or Conjunx Ritus?" The medic asks you, looking uncomfortably serious.

The lost look on your face was enough of an answer and he ex-vents. According to Cybertronian culture, you learn that you had accidentally proposed to Optimus fucking Prime.

What a shocker.

You promptly left before Ratchet could tell you anymore, deciding to head home for the day and process the information. One day of being home turned into an entire week. You avoided going to the base like the plague, only answering texts from the kids while ignoring Optimus' worried texts and calls.

You were a full-grown adult, yet here you were, doing what you only saw in those cliche romance movies you watched when you were bored. It was wrong and totally stupid, but you could care less.

You loved the Autobot leader, that was a fact, and the simple implication that those feelings would be returned made your heart beat faster. Marriage, though, was a huge step to take and you two weren't even dating yet!

A conversation would need to be had eventually but for now, you'd rather process everything at a distance.

One day, upon returning from work, you see Optimus' alt mode parked in your driveway and dread pulls in your stomach. You knew it was coming but you just weren't prepared.

Hesitantly, you enter your house and find Optimus' holoform in your living room, sitting patiently on the couch. He had a serious look on his face, and it made you want to curl into a ball. Before you're able to say anything, he stands and walks over to you.

You gulp, biting your lip, as he stops just a short distance from you.

He tilts his head down and you realize that the serious look he had was actually... shame?

"I... I apologize, it seems that I misunderstood the intentions behind your gift." He speaks and his gaze suddenly elsewhere. There's a hint of embarrassment in his tone. "I hadn't meant to make you uncomfortable in any way."

The note; he was talking about the note.

"Oh, Optimus, I-" You start but he cuts you off.

"If you wish to stop talking to me, I understand." Then he goes, rambling about you and his feelings, all the while you try to stop him because you don't want to stop talking to him or anything of the sort. The conversations you two have are the highlights of your day and you love just being around him. You don't get the chance to do so because he just won't stop talking.

So, you went on your tippy toes and shut him up the only way you knew how.

The kiss is sweet and, a little awkward, as you hadn’t kissed anybody before. Optimus stood stock still for a few moments, eyes wide as he processes what exactly was happening. Then, his hands are on your hips and he’s reciprocating the kiss. A warmth spreads throughout your body and your mind becomes hazy, any thought passing through your mind were only of him as he surrounds you. You press yourself closer, savoring every second that passes.

When your lungs finally begin to demand oxygen, you pull away with a breathless gasp.

“So,” you murmured, “we obviously need to have a conversation.”

Optimus huffs, amused, “We do.”

A few beats of silence pass and you’re able to properly breathe.

“Where shall we start, then?” Optimus inquires, tracing his fingers along your hips.

“We’ll start slow, like dating slow.”

“Understood.” He smiles, warm and affectionate, “May I take you out for dinner?”

Your cheeks flush and you bite your lip, “Of course.” Everything he does is making you swoon and it’s the best feeling in the world. Just what did you do to get someone like him?

He ghosts his lips along yours, “May I kiss you?”

“Yes.” You whisper, allowing him to kiss you breathlessly.

[breeistired]

J.M with goth reader hc's

Warnings: Reader is female, suggestive content (its JJ, come on-), witchcraft, pogues macking on each other

Tropes: Sunshinexgrumpy, opposites attract, poguexpogue,

Bree rants: I really want to write this as a whole oneshot, so if you like these head-cannons, please give me some feedback on if you want more oneshots with goth reader. ALSO, read-a-thon is tomorrow, so go check it out, its pinned! I do also take requests, but if you do request something, please be patient, I have a busy life and I am a new writer. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, I AM ADDING THIS TO ALL POSTS, AND IF I FORGOT IT @brokenwingsgalore WILL PUT IT IN THE COMMENTS. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, DONT READ IT!!!! Thank you! I love you and make good choices kiddo.

(still dont know how to make aesthetic boarder things.)

JJ! Meeting goth reader at a beach party. Only noticing her because she stood out. The only one wearing a black dress that went to her ankles, dark hair with specs of purple in it, holding a red solo cup filled with some non-alcoholic drink. The rest wearing short dresses or bikini's.

JJ! Noticing how reader groans and rolls her eyes at the music playing.

JJ! Nudging John B, pointing at goth reader, telling him how he thinks you're cool.

JJ! Then telling Sarah to get her man to stop being a dick. Goth reader wouldn't have a clue about this.

JJ! Walking to goth reader, getting shy and nervous as she reapplies her black lipstick.

JJ! Basically recreating the scene in Scott Pilgrim Vs the world where he first meets Ramona. "So, do you like parties?" JJ says, ending his sentence with a shaky breath. Goth reader sighs and simply says a deadpanned no. JJ quickly says me too, despite loving them. Goth reader gives them an awkward smile, not knowing what to do with this golden retriever of a man beside her. JJ slowly and embarrassingly leaves.

JJ! Who comes back to the pogues telling them what happened, letting them make fun of him.

JJ! Who sees goth reader come back to him because her friend told her she needs to socialize. JJ who is ecstatic, while goth reader is awkwardly waving.

JJ! Who rapidly takes goth reader away from his friends before they can embarrass him

JJ! who talks to you and slowly you get out of your shell. Telling him how you hate parties, and hate the music, eventually telling him you liked rock music, as if it wasn't obvious.

JJ! Who tells goth reader he has to go to the bathroom. When in a reality he's forcing the DJ to play the music you like so he can dance with you.

JJ! Who comes back and acts surprised when Metallica, All American Rejects, System of down, My chemical romance, and so on plays.

JJ! Who gets you to dance and has the best night of his life with goth reader.

JJ! Who gets goth readers number at the end of the night, setting up a date with you.

JJ! Who takes goth reader to an old creepy bookstore and buys all the books she looks at with a small amount of money in his pocket. And at the end, they watch the sunset while having a picnic.

JJ! Who falls in love with goth reader after a week of dating because she's the opposite of him. He says, "Its boring when people are like me, the conversations are as bland as John B's cooking." When deep down its because she brings balance to his life.

JJ! Who makes goth reader sleepover at the chateau because he sleeps better when she's there.

JJ! Who lets goth reader do all the witchy stuff to him. Whatever makes his doll happy right?

JJ! Who lets goth reader sage his dick because "too many girls with negative energy have been on it."

JJ! Who lets goth reader put crystals and incense all over the chateau.

JJ! Who is so so so in love with goth reader and loves their differences.

JJ! Who brags to John B about goth reader, because she's into freaky things during bed. (She asked him to put healing wax on her back and he took it as sex.)

(STILL DONT KNOW HPW TO USE THOSE AESTHETIC BOARDERS)

[blkmxrvel]

Haven’t Forgotten My Way Home (30) - [CONVERTED]

Pairing: Kara Zor-El x Female!Reader

Summary: In the D/s society of National City, men and women abandoned by their Dom/mes or otherwise deemed unfit for life “outside” end up at the Mount Overland House for Orphaned Submissives. It is here that Kara Zor-El finds Y/N Hastings, broken and fearful from mistreatment at the hands of her former Dom. Can Kara coax Y/N back into the world that once so terrified her, and show her the true meaning of care and submission?

Warnings: Domestic Violence (Flashbacks, Mentions and Descriptions), Misogyny, Domination/Submission.

[previous] | [masterlist]

Little Y/N/N,

Good to hear you and the loud one (I’m kidding don’t kill me) are settled in. Ma’am says she “finds the pictures acceptable, but please tell Kara we need to talk about the color scheme in the living room.” (Actually had to give her the laptop.)

Back to me now. Sam’s good, her and Lena are just spending their time spoiling the monkey face. I finally have babysitting privileges. Brainy took the Paternity  test. It would’ve been nice for him to be a dad, but Lana’s looks are scary so I’m glad it came back negative. And Ma’am and I got some brochures from an adoption agency yesterday; we’re going to see about maybe a kid of our own.

Don’t worry about Kara finding a role. Ma’am says it’s a tough business but if anybody can break into it Kara can. Oh, thought you’d like to know that Schott got arrested for taking bribes from Willis. So now all his cases are being reviewed. Dunno what that means for yours, but Ma’am says not to worry, she’ll let you know. And Sam and Lucy are on top of it too.

I gotta go cause it’s roleplaying ni grefsrersl  cause Ma’am says so, but I’ll write again soon.

Miss you, Little Y/N/N. Love ya.

Maggie

Y/N closed her laptop with a smile; she’d answer Maggie later. She sipped the last of her tea and glanced out of the shop, seeing the sun beginning to slip down. It had been a good day, her first at the bookstore. Her boss was nice, a sweet little submissive who was pleased that Y/N knew so much about art and Broadway, and Y/N got a 20% discount on books. Mistress was limiting her to two books a month though – “Just for now,” she had said – because they were just starting out and she knew Y/N would buy out the store if she could.

Today was also Mistress’s first day, at an off-off-Broadway workshop, and Y/N couldn’t wait to ask her how it had gone. She knew Mistress was in a hurry to win a good role, because she wanted success for herself and Y/N, and to get them both out of the small apartment in a moderately good but still not the best neighborhood. But it would come in time, Y/N had reassured her, and after all, they’d only been in New York a month.

She was on her way, and so was Mistress.

And the apartment might be small, but it was theirs. It was on the 4th floor but thankfully there was an elevator, and Mistress had been glad that there was a doorman for a little added sense of security. They had decorated it together, though apparently Alex didn’t agree with the shade of green they’d chosen for the living room. Y/N could only imagine what Mistress would say to that, and she laughed softly.

As if on cue, she felt someone slip in next to her and clear their throat expectantly, and that’s when Y/N realized.

The sun was going down.

Oops.

“I was supposed to be home an hour ago.”

“That you were,” Mistress said, but she wasn’t angry, and she rested her head on Y/N’s shoulder. This was Y/N’s favorite shop besides the bookstore, and Mistress knew that if Y/N wasn’t to be found, she’d usually be here, just two blocks from their apartment.

“I’m sorry, Mistress.” Y/N tilted her face to kiss her forehead.

“Mmhm,” Mistress hummed. “When we get back to the apartment, for an hour you’ll spend 3 minutes of every 10 in the corner. Perhaps that will help you remember the importance of time.”

“Yes, Mistress,’ Y/N answered, and smiled as she began running her fingers through Y/N’s hair.

“Are you sure you like it?”

“I told you I did,” Mistress said, toying with the cropped pink strands. “It’s a good look for you. And very, very hot.”

“Mm, good to know,” Y/N said, kissing her. “I think I’ll keep it this way for a while, then.”

“Let’s get home now,” Mistress said. “Theo missed you.”

“Just Theo?” Y/N teased, standing up and shouldering her bag as Mistress circled her hand around her wrist, holding her protectively.

“No, not just Theo, you little brat,” Mistress said with a roll of her eyes.  “I missed you too. And I was worried. I thought you’d forgotten your way home.”

Y/N shook her head and stopped in the middle of a busy New York evening to hug her Mistress, and kiss her with as much love as she possibly could.

“I could never forget my way to you.”

FIN

[matenrou-fan]

May I request Diavolo and Lucifer in a poly relationship with a female baker reader?

Diavolo x fem! baker! s/o x Lucifer

femreader, fluff, just wholesome stuff;;

-Ooh, poor Barbatos.. He has a competition now right here..

-Well, but can I really call it 'competition' if we all already know the winner? Of course it would be you. Because both your boyfriends are waiting for your baking more than for holidays.

-"Mm.. This pie that you made today, s/o.. It's absolutely fantastic!" - Diavolo laughs, with his casual loud tone. - "I haven't eaten something so sweet for centuries! And the dough is so soft it's like it's melting in my mouth.."

"Oh, Dia, stop it.." - You can't help but chuckle too, as it's really hard to stay calm and serious when the young Lord is smiling like that. - "You literally had a little tea party with Lucifer yesterday, aren't you? I'm sure Barbatos treated you two with no less yummy things.."

"Great considerable skill, even if it was developed and gone deeper through a hundred years, will never withstand a pure savour of real love.." - low chuckle escapes Lucifer's lips as he looks at you. - "It more feels not like the softness of the dough, but more like the softness of your caring heart, s/o.."

"What a great way to compliment, Lucifer!" - Diavolo gets surprised along with you, then titters shyly. - "Ahh, now I want to amuse s/o with my grateful words too.. Or maybe a kiss would be better to show my appreciation..?"

-It doesn't matter if baking is your job or just a hobby, your boyfriends would spoil you with presents to help you improve your skill and learn something new.

-And they both will choose everything themselves. For example, Lucifer can just ask (order?) Satan checks the library or bookstore for new recipe books for you, because his little brother knows these places inside out. Yet he prefers to go all alone, slowly exploring store shelves, flipping through different books. He will try to find something with only new interesting recipes, or with the things you say you wanted to bake..

-And Diavolo can just rely on his loyal servant's taste, as Barbatos is really good at finding high-quality spices and seasonings for his own cooking.. But your lover would go with his underling, to choose something himself, that he thinks would please your soul. Hm, aren't you talking about these expensive sprinkles a few days ago?

-Uh.. But there's so many magic items in Devildom, who knows what ended up in your arms this time?

-"Hm.. These strudels you made this time, darling. They're so much sugar.." - Diavolo mumbled, quickly draining his cup of tea. - "Even for me.. It's so sweet.."

"Was something in your mind when you baked it, s/o..?" - Lucifer also seems so unpleasant after a few bites, cause he had less sweet tooth than your other lover.

"I'm sorry.. Apparently, the baking soda I added this time had some magic effect.." - with blush on your cheeks, your gaze was fixed on a small package, too ashamed to look at your beloved demons.

"Mm? There's a small footnote.. If someone will use it for cooking for their lover, the level of sugar in the final product will increase depending on the strength of their love.." - Lucifer gets behind you and leans closer, reading over your shoulder.

For a moment you all froze.. How can you not notice this small note?! Yet then a prideful demon smirked, watching as your face got even more red:

"Oh.. how sweet of you, s/o.."

"I.. I have no choice but to savor every last bit of your love in that case, s/o.." - Diavolo nods as his cheeks also get redder, and he places another piece of strudel in his mouth with a more pleasant face.

"I also suddenly have an appetite for more.."

-I also totally can see Diavolo willing to learn something himself to understand what you're talking about, just because he gets kinda jealous when see you chatting with Barb about some new topping you find.

-"Oh! Yes, I do understand..!" - sparkles of joy flash in his pale yellow eyes, making it shine almost like gold. - "You're talking about bicarbonate of soda, aren't you..?"

"Hehe, no, dear.. It's cream of tartar, actually" - a small smirk appears on your lips. You were showing them both the new ingredients you bought for your next dessert, and it looks like Diavolo gets really interested. - "Well, but your guess was kinda close.."

"Since when did you start to understand something in baking? Or at least try to understand, Diavolo?" - your other lover smirks too, looking at different bags in your arms.

"W-well.. I just thought if I would know more I would be able to support s/o more in her interest.." - a small blush appears on Diavolo's cheeks as he looks away, shooting his eyes with furrowed brows in embarrassment.

"Oh! Then maybe we should ask our little darling to teach us?" - Lucifer's amused gaze meets yours. - "What do you think about it, chef?"

-Kitchen in House of Lamentation survived enough things already, so it turns for Demon Lord's Castle's Kitchen now. Cause it's gonna be an interesting experience..

-Lucifer would try to do everything accurately and carefully. He's an avatar of Pride, after all, he wants to surprise you with his cooking skill and receive some praise and compliments from you. When Diavolo would be more goofy, using this quality time not only to learn something but just to fool around with you.

-And everything ended up with Lucifer also playing along with your antics, forgetting about his role as strict partner, and actually enjoying some silly time. Yes, he will also love corny things like smearing each other's noses in cream or getting the whole kitchen in flour..

-"Huh.. I always scold my brother for this mess they always make in our place when it's their time to make dishes.. But it turns out I'm no better than them.." - Lucifer mumbled with furrowed brows and crossed arms after you three calmed down, and was just standing, catching your breath, all in dough, cream and glaze.

"Hahaha! But it was absolutely delightful, wasn't it?" - the loud laugh of Diavolo thundered through the whole kitchen, as he was even more excited and playful than usual now. - "I'm sure it would be the most delicious thing we all ever taste..!"

"Well, we will know after half an hour.." - you giggle, looking at the working oven. - "I think this time would be enough for us to clean at least part of this mess.."

"You're right.. Just please, never tell my brothers about this thing.." - Lucifer's voice gets quieter as he looks at you with a soft gaze. - "I don't want them to know about this side of me.. It's our little secret, okay?"

"Then maybe we should keep the whole situation confidential?" - Diavolo chuckles, his fingers on his lips. - "Despite the fact that I do want to brag a little about our ultimate cake, I also wish that this tea party would be enjoyed by just the three of us.."

[blues824]

What about Female satan is the remarried empress.

💚Her a calm book reader until sombudy makes her release hear pure wrath making people shocked that the normal calm satan mc almost ripped rattrash apart.

🐱Imagen her being mistaken as navier sister because of their looks and somtimes they get mistaken with each other because of their close relation with each other like 2 serious women that kind of relationship I can even see the Satan reader taking over some of navier her jobs.

💚Imagen rattrash acedently mistaking Satan mc with navier and calling her infirtle only for the satan mc to turn fully in het demon form and almost killing her (not like sovieshit can lock her up or kill her without starting a war with hell )

🐱And after the devorse of navier and sovieshit he wants the satan mc to stay because she reminds him of navier even asking her to become a concubine only to feel her wrath but not giving up on her becoming a mistress.

💚Her inviting mammon to the wedding of rattrash and sovieshit and even mommon the avatar of greed disliking rattrash wedding dresses saying its a insult to the sin of greed.

🐱The satan mc finally sneaks out of the eastern empire and going to the western empire to support navier and they missed each other imagine the Satan mc giving a gift to navier for her wedding and telling her that she isn't alone anymore.

💚Her treating heinley if he gets a mistress that she will personally drag him to hell for eternal torture and then giving his part of her gift to him.

😺Her having having a lot of cats like a lot who needs jewellery when you can have cats what if some of the cats stick to to them and she let's them have them (exept rattrash and sovieshit no cats for them 😡)

Again, I try to stray away from describing the reader, but demons can shift their form… so…

Sovieshu

The first time he had seen you was when he went to a bookstore within the town. He recognized you from the manor that everyone calls the ‘House of Lamentation’. You were just so beautiful, and the way that you focused on the book within your hand just made his heart flutter. So, in order to get closer to you, he had purchased the book for you and gave it to you, and he walked with you back to the palace with your arm in his.

It was there that you found out that he was Emperor Sovieshu, and he was not just married, but also had a mistress. You already knew his intention in inviting you to go with him to the palace, and you might have accepted had he not been taken. You were absolutely disgusted, and shoved him to the ground. You even tore apart the book he had purchased for you, crumpled each piece of paper, and threw it at him. 

You went up to Empress Navier and Rashta and apologized, as you did not know who he was when you first saw him. Sovieshu saw how you kind of brushed both him and his mistress off, but gave an actual, sincere apology to his wife. When you looked back at him, there was just a look of disgust and pure anger.

Next time he saw you, you were in his wife’s chambers having a cup of tea with one another. He listened in closely, and heard you both talking about how you and your brothers would support her in every decision she made for the Empire and within her marriage. It ended with you hugging Navier, and Sovieshu felt absolutely jealous.

But, he never gave up on you becoming his concubine. He invited you and a plus one to his wedding to try and get closer to you. You chose to bring Mammon, as he didn’t have any excuses to try and get out of attending. But, during the ceremony, the groom saw your brother leaning over and whispering something in your ear and you stifled a laugh.

After the whole reception, he saw that you were about to leave when he pulled your other arm that wasn’t wrapped around your brother’s. The look you gave him was, again, one of disgust, as you shoved him back and stormed off. He could have sworn that he saw your brother have horns on his head, but he chalked it up to his eyes playing tricks on him and just overall stress of losing his ex as well as you.

Rashta

She was happy that she got an apology, but you were more sincere in Navier’s that she couldn’t help but be jealous. She had heard of the House of Lamentation, and she was always told to stray away from it. As she watched you throw the pieces of the book at the Emperor himself, she could understand why. You and your brothers were known to not truly conduct yourself properly when properly provoked.

One day, you had come to visit at the Empress’s request, but for a moment Rashta could not tell the difference between you two. As a result of the confusion, the mistress had instead accidentally called you a pitiful cause for being infertile. You froze in place, but then you turned around and asked her to repeat herself. As you turned, your form morphed into your demon form (horns and tail and all), and the look in your eyes had the heat of a thousand fires.

Rashta quickly realized her mistake, and apologized deeply. You pulled her in and shoved your face into hers as you stated clearly that you could kill her in moments and you could make the whole world forget about her and her unborn child. You also stated that the next time she tried to make a comment like that to the real Navier again, you would bring her soul straight to Hell. 

When she heard about the whole plan of the divorce and how you and your brothers were supporting Empress Navier, she was nervous. If your family had the same abilities you did, her life would be in danger. The future of the Eastern Empire as we all know it would be in danger if you were against the new Empress.

Then, the wedding between her and Sovieshu took place. As she was walking down the aisle, she heard gasps, and she thought they were gasps of awe. But, she looked and saw your brother and you sitting next to each other, Mammon whispering something presumably about her. You giggled softly, and this made her self-conscious. Seeing you leave after the reception for the Western Kingdom was a huge relief to her, but she was shocked to see her new husband run over and beg you to be his concubine. Tears started falling from her eyes at the absolute betrayal, but you refused her husband by pushing him to the ground. Your brother even looked at the fallen Emperor with a glare that could kill.

When they went to Navier’s wedding, she saw you and your brothers there, as well as Kosair having your arm wrapped around his. It turns out that the two of you were engaged, and the residents within the House of Lamentation were now residing within the Western Kingdom. Unfortunately, even though you were engaged to someone else, she still had to worry about her husband’s wandering eyes.

Navier

She had never known someone could be so sincere in an apology, but here you were. It surprised her, how you were able to so quickly turn against the person who had betrayed you, and she watched as you tore apart the book that her husband had given to you and threw each crumpled page at his face.

The lovely Empress knew of your family, the Morningstars. She was aware that the House of Lamentation had lost their younger sister many years ago. So, she guessed that you were angry at the Emperor for taking advantage of you trying to escape your reality through literature. She understood the sentiment completely. 

So, a few weeks later, she had invited you to have tea with her in her chambers. As she got to know you, she realized that you are just like her, aside from your wrathful side. You were actually very strategic in your arguments as well. This got her thinking… you would get along well with her own brother. She had even set up a day where the two of you would coincidentally meet each other, as she knows that her brother constantly getting in trouble would not look good, and thus you could help each other.

Anyways, this little teatime between the two of you was how she knew that she had the support of the House of Lamentation, a family rumored to have abilities that the gods themselves despised but could not rid of. She had the pleasure of meeting your brothers a few times, and she at first thought that you reminded her exactly of your oldest brother, Lucifer. A very eccentric bunch, she would say.

She was not surprised to hear you were invited to Sovieshu and Rashta’s wedding, but she was surprised that you had brought your brother with you. But, it turned out to be strategic as the Emperor stopped you before you left to beg you to be his concubine. Mammon’s horns and tail showed briefly as he glared in anger before pulling you away, trying to prevent you throwing hands. Navier had to admit that seeing her ex-husband so desperate was very embarrassing.

At her wedding in the Western Kingdom, she was happy to see the gold engagement ring upon your finger as you stood with her older brother. You presented her with a gift; a book that had brought you comfort in troubling times. Then, you told her that she would never be alone, and that she could consider you a friend, an ally, and a sister [in-law].

Heinrey

Your family was known across the lands, as you held influence no matter where you went. You lived wherever the chaos was, and he was well aware that the chaos currently resided within the Eastern Empire. However, he met you and your brothers in the Academy. You all were top of your classes, with you all being demons. Yeah, he knew about your family secret, but he wouldn’t exploit it. You knew what he and his family were as well.

Once he had started visiting the Empress in bird form, you recognized him immediately. He was surprised to see you in Navier’s chambers, but he was especially surprised to see how alike you two were. The only difference was that you were not oblivious by any means. Instead, you used your slightly deceptive nature to cover for him.

When you both had met face-to-face as humans, it was at the New Year’s Ball. He could tell that Sovieshu was constantly asking you to dance with him, but you were getting sick of it. Navier had to step in to be your knight in shining armor, and Heinrey fell even more in love with the Empress because of how kind-hearted and thoughtful she was. Later on in the night, you finally held a conversation with the Crowned Prince of the Western Kingdom, and you informed him that, if this thing with Navier works out, he had the support of the House of Lamentation.

With your support, he continued pursuing Navier. He saw his own relationship with her developing alongside your love with Kosair, and you both were each other’s wing-person of sorts. Your brothers also were in full support of him marrying Her Imperial Majesty once she divorced the Emperor, and you all made preparations to move to the Western Kingdom as soon as possible.

He is a tad surprised when he finds out that you were also invited to the Imperial Wedding between Sovieshu and Rashta. The four of you (Mammon, you, Heinrey, and Navier) all sat with each other as well. Mammon had whispered something to you and the now-King about how the new Empress’s wedding dress was an insult to the Sin of Greed, and you both had to hold in your laughter.

During his own wedding, you had presented Navier with a book, saying that its pages kept you company in the darkest of times. You then turned to him and your horns made a small appearance. You whispered to him and said that if he were to take on a mistress, his soul would suffer in Hell and you would oversee his punishment. You then handed him a book about demons, and demon pacts… you were offering to make a pact with him so that you could protect him and Navier if it is ever needed. 

Kosair

You had met when Navier realized that the two of you were very much alike and made sure that you were in the palace on the same day. You were reading in the palace garden, and he had spotted you. You were absolutely beautiful. He sat next to you and asked about the book you were reading, and you said it was about a girl who trespassed into the castle of a beast to rescue her father. You then gave it to him, and said that you often frequented the bookstore in the town and that’s where he could return it.

When he did go and give it back, it launched you both in a very deep conversation about how both the girl and the beast had flaws and they accepted each other nonetheless. Meetings such as these continued until you both found yourselves falling for each other. So, many months later, he made the very important decision and informally proposed. 

I say that because it was when he was being exiled from the Eastern Empire, and he was in a rush to go to the Western Kingdom to seek refuge. Tears welled up in your eyes, and he held your face in his as he proposed to you without a ring. You smiled and said that you wanted to be engaged and eventually wedded to him, but you wanted a proper wedding. He promised that you would get your wish when you joined him after the wedding between Sovieshu and Rashta.

But, when you were in his arms once again, you expressed your concern about the Emperor of the Eastern Empire coming to Navier and Heinrey’s wedding because he was not afraid to beg you to become his concubine in public right after he got remarried. Upon hearing this, Kosair was beyond angry. His anger put yours to shame. Had he been a demon, he would be raining Hellfire upon the E.E. 

However, it turned out to be alright. Sure, Sovieshu did ask you to reconsider marrying Kosair and going back with him, but you quickly shifted into your demon form and stated that even though you were a demon, you were the Avatar of Wrath and you would stay loyal to your fiance and until his death do you part. Said member of the Trovi House was flustered at hearing you say it, and seeing his soon-to-be-wife so angry and ready to fight.

Then, you two were finally wed. Your house was filled with cats, as your husband knew about your love of the animals. He just couldn’t say no to you, especially when seeing you read in an armchair by the fire with a cat sleeping on your lap. A few years later, when the two of you had children of your own, you both were still just as in love as when you met each other in the palace garden back in the Eastern Empire, or when you met again in the bookstore.

[amphibious-thing]

Philippa Gregory and Lazy Research: the Issue With Pop History as Exemplified by the Misinformation Surrounding Geneviève d'Eon in the Book Normal Women

If you frequent bookstores or libraries you might have seen Philippa Gregory's new book Normal Women in the best sellers or most wanted displays. The fact that Geneviève d'Eon, a trans woman, is included in a woman's history book is marvelous. D'Eon has been denied her place in woman's history for far too long. So what's the problem? Well Philippa Gregory's lazy research is the problem.

For full transparency I have to admit I didn't read the whole book. And honestly based on what I did read I probably wont read it because the short section I did read left a lot to be desired. While the section on d'Eon is short Gregory sure can pack a fair bit of misinformation into 7 paragraphs.

The most glaring error is d'Eon's name. Gregory claims her name was Lia however this is simply not true. D'Eon's full name was Charlotte-Geneviève-Louise-Auguste-André-Timothée d’Eon de Beaumont, or Geneviève d'Eon for short. When d'Eon transitioned she changed her first name to Charlotte, but she actually went by her middle name Geneviève, which was one of her baptismal names. The name Geneviève had both personal and religious significance for d'Eon having been given to her by her godmother. She talks about this in the draft of her autobiography:

I did undertake to make a novena to my patron saint, Geneviève, in the hope of gaining insight, since the name Geneviève was given to me at baptism by my godmother, the sister of my father and of my uncle.

(The Maiden of Tonnerre, p9)

She also mentions her name when writing about the joy of being able to live openly as a woman:

At present I am living in profound peace; and my joy is so great that I praise God in three languages so that a greater number of people may partake of the happiness of the angels in this life while awaiting the crown of ordinary martyrs, Nunc Genofeva d'Eon est nomen meum; quam suave et dulce est laetitia mea! [My name is now Geneviève d’Eon; how delightful and how sweet is my joy!]

(The Maiden of Tonnerre, p87)

[Ticket for Geneviève d'Eon's fencing display at Mrs. Bateman's house in Soho, c. 1793, via The British Museum]

The only evidence that suggests d'Eon may have used the name Lia is from a flirtatious letter written by her then boss the Marquis de l'Hôpital during her mission in Russia. L'Hôpital, who was 30 years her senior, calls d'Eon "ma chère Lia" and "ma belle de Beaumont". In other letters l'Hôpital often complains about d'Eon's lack of sexual activity, often making comments about her penis. It's unclear how d'Eon felt about the name Lia or the multiple sexual remarks made by her boss. (see Mémoires sur la Chevalière d'Éon by Frédéric Gaillardet, p16, 77, 80, 94, 99 & 110 for the l'Hôpital letters)

Gregory isn't just confused about d'Eon's name, she also mixes up details of d'Eon's life claiming that d'Eon dressed as a woman during her mission to spy on England in preparation for an French invasion, stating that d'Eon "moved in London society as Lia de Beaumont." I've never seen any strong evidence that d'Eon was dressing in woman's clothes for this mission and Gregory doesn't provide any evidence of this either. Certainly d'Eon claimed to have dressed in women's clothes during her mission in Russia but not England. (see The Maiden of Tonnerre for d'Eon's claims that she adopted a female alias in Russia)

Gregory also claims:

In August 1777, Lia de Beaumont chose a male identity and wore a grenadier's uniform to volunteer for military service in the American War of Independence, but was prevented from joining the conflict

While d'Eon did attempt to rejoin the French army in 1778 & 1779 she did not "chose a male identity". D'Eon asked to be able to rejoin the army as a woman. In February 1779 d'Eon published an open letter to "several Great Ladies at Court" hoping for support in rejoining the army:

Foreseeing that there will be less fighting on land this year than last, I earnestly entreat you to use your influence with the ministers, in favour of my petition (as stated in the enclosed copy of my letter to the Comte de Maurepas) to serve as a volunteer in the fleet of the Comte d'Orvilliers. Your name, Madame, is one to which military glory is familiar, and, as a woman, you must love the glory of our sex. I have striven to sustain that throughout the late war with Germany, and in negotiating at European courts during the last twenty-five years. There is nothing left for me to do but to fight at sea in the Royal Navy. I hope to acquit myself in such a way that you will not regret having fostered the good intention of one who has the honour to be, with profoundest respect, faithfully yours. La Chevalière d'Eon.

(Originally published in Correspondance Littéraire, Philosophique et Critique, translation by Alfred Rieu in D'Eon de Beaumont, His Life and Times, p233)

Nowhere in this letter does d'Eon claim to be a man. In fact she writes "as a woman, you must love the glory of our sex" (emphasis mine) and signs it in the feminine "La Chevalière d'Eon."

Gregory also includes the following quote from Madame Campan's book Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette:

He was made to resume the costume of that sex to which in France everything is pardoned. The desire to see his native land once more determined him to submit to the condition, but he revenged himself by combining the long train of his gown and the three deep ruffles on his sleeves with the attitude and conversation of a grenadier, which made him very disagreeable company.

I have to ask why Gregory felt this needed to be included? Why is Campan's speculation on d'Eon's gender given more weight than any of d'Eon's own writings on gender? Shouldn't we prioritise what d'Eon said about herself over the speculation of an acquaintance of hers?

Why not include this quote:

I would prefer to keep my male clothes, because they open all the doors to fortune, glory, and courage. Dresses close all those doors for me. Dresses only give me room to cry about the misery and servitude of women, and you know that I am crazy about liberty. But nature has come to oppose me, and to make me feel the need for women’s clothes, so that I can sleep, eat, and study in peace. I am constantly in fear of some sickness or accident that will, despite myself, allow my sex to be discovered …. Nature makes a good friend but a bad enemy. If you chase it through the door, it just blows back in through the window.

(Monsieur D'Eon Is a Woman by Gary Kates p71)

Or this one:

If certain modern philosophers do not approve of my conversion, it is because they do not believe in God, the law, or the King. God forgave me, the living law vindicated me, and the legal systems in England and France awarded me full rights to wear a dress. Louis XV and Louis XVI were my patrons, the Queen who is the daughter of the Caesars had me dressed in her court by Mademoiselle Bertin; the very woman who dresses the Queen did not turn up her nose at dressing Mademoiselle d'Eon grandly.

(The Maiden of Tonnerre, p134)

Or maybe this one:

Having been a decent man, a zealous citizen and a brave soldier all my life, I triumph in being a woman and in being able to be cited for ever amongst those many woman who have proved that the qualities and virtues of which men are so proud have not been denied to those of my sex.

(La Vie militaire, politique et privée de Melle d’Eon (1779): Biography and the Art of Manipulation by Anne-Marie Mercier-Faivre)

Gregory isn't alone in the choice to highlight Campan's speculation over d'Eon's own words, Wikipedia also does this, which makes me wonder if she originally got this quote from d'Eon's Wikipedia page. Perhaps Gregory doesn't know what d'Eon wrote about gender because she hasn't read anything d'Eon wrote about gender.

It's clear that Philippa Gregory's research on d'Eon was frankly lazy and nothing exemplifies this as much as her thinking d'Eon's name was Lia. But why does Philippa Gregory think d'Eon's name is Lia when primary source evidence clearly shows otherwise? Well it's certainly a common myth that d'Eon used the name Lia de Beaumont as a alias while working as a spy in Russia. The assumption was originally made by Frédéric Gaillardet in his largely fictitious book Memoires du Chevalier d'Eon. Gaillardet assumes that d'Eon used the name Lia de Beaumont because of the letter from the Marquis de l'Hôpital in which he calls her "ma chère Lia" and "ma belle de Beaumont". Whether or not d'Eon even did have a female alias while working as a spy in Russia is a controversial point amongst historians. However even if we assume she did use the name Lia as an alias its still not really her name.

I don't think I've seen a single historian claim d'Eon's name was actually Lia but I have seen many people on social media claim this was her name. The logic seems to be that if d'Eon used Lia de Beaumont as an alias that it was probably her preferred name. With most secondary sources on d'Eon using her deadname and never identifying d'Eon by either her first name Charlotte or preferred name Geneviève the issue gets confused. Lia seems like the preferable choice of name to people who don't want to deadname d'Eon but also aren't aware of any other feminine name she went by.

But why does Philippa Gregory think d'Eon's name is Lia? Surely Gregory isn't getting her information from social media? Right? But none of her cited sources identify Lia as d'Eon's name. In fact one of her cited sources, D'Eon Returns to France: Gender and Power in 1777 by Gary Kates, is one of the few secondary sources that does mention that d'Eon's name was Charlotte. Is Gregory even reading her own sources?

This issue isn't unique to Philippa Gregory it's a common issue in pop history. If you want to cover a broad topic that will appeal to a wide audience, like 900 years of women's history, you almost certainly are not going to study every aspect in significant detail. Can we really expect Philippa Gregory to do in-depth research into one individual she only talks about for 7 paragraphs? Of course not. So the research gets lazy.

[cozywriter]

After two coffees and several breakdowns, I finally have my BVZ OC!

And because I don’t want to torture you guys with my horrid handwriting, all her info is typed here!

FULL NAME: “Yume Fujiwara”

PREFERRED NAME: “Yume”

NICKNAMES: “Yu” and “Mei Mei”

TITLES AND ALIASES: “The Book Keeper” and “Ms. Dazai”

PRONOUNS: She/Her

CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: 10 Years Old

MENTAL AGE: 24 Years Old

GENDER: Female

SEXUALITY: Asexual

RACE: Poppet

Poppets are mechanical dolls that are designed and manufactured by Puppeteers — people who are licensed to design and create Poppets — who are commissioned by clients to create them for any purpose. Because of this, Poppets can pretty much look, act and sound like anything. However, a dead giveaway are their ball-joints located behind their elbows, wrists, fingers, where their pelvis meets their thighs, behind their knees, ankles and toes. As creations, a Poppet’s personality depends on their programming, however in extremely rare cases, Poppets have been known to break from their pre-programmed self and become sentient. In simpler terms, although extremely unlikely, it is possible for a Poppet to become their own person despite their former programming

ORIGIN: Victoria

BIRTHDAY: Unknown

OCCUPATION: Informant/Bounty Hunter

HEIGHT: 5’1”

WEIGHT: 153 lbs

PERSONALITY: Adventurous, Loyal, Optimistic, Kind, Empathetic, Stubborn at times, Childish, Forgetful and Clumsy

POWERS: Yume has the ability to eject solid steel strings from her fingertips, which she then uses like whips during combat, tools in traversing harsh terrain and sometimes uses them to pick locks when necessary. When she’s especially irritated, she uses her strings to control her opponent by wrapping them around their wrists, knees and feet and make them off themselves. However at the same time, she also uses them to assist in her everyday life, such as using them to grab objects from across the room. All in all, her ability is very versatile, but their maximum length is only 20 feet long.

BACKSTORY: Commissioned by the Mafia, Yume was designed to be one of the first Poppets the organization would utilize to dispatch their targets or anyone who dared cross one of their own. However, after a failed assassination attempt on a high ranking Government Member of Empirica, the Mafia had left her for dead and resorted to using a protocol that forcibly shut her systems down, resulting in her memory banks being wiped. Two months later, she wakes up in a junkyard of some kind due to a lightning strike kickstarting her once more. With no clue who or what she was, she wandered and wandered until she found Sensei’s Temple, in which she trained and studied under him. She continued living her life never knowing of her past and eventually breaks from her programming and developed as her own person with Sensei’s guidance. Later on, she even comes to think of him as a father of some sorts and develops his taste in literature. Fast forward to five years later and she now owns a quaint bookstore, aptly named “Doll House” and makes a living by selling books, information on anyone people pay her to tail and a few bounties here and there.

EXTRAS:

She often forgets the keys to her bookstore at home, so she resorts to lock picking most of the time

the official time line of events is supposed to go something like this: Mafia (2 Years) -> Training with Sensei (5 Years) -> Opens her bookstore -> (1 Year) -> Starts her Bounty Hunting Career (Onwards)

before she broke from her programming, she was aloof, insensitive and lacked empathy. However, after an incident involving a lone, stray pup and one lengthy talk about responsibility from Sensei, she cried for the first time, mumbling about how it was just missing its mama and wanting a home. So with great hesitancy, Sensei let her keep the pup… Until it ran away the next day and Yume was inconsolable for about a week.

since coming to Sensei’s Temple, he had given her a new name based off of a character in one of his novels. “Yume” meaning “Dream” and “Fujiwara” meaning “Wisteria Field”. Her true name from her time in the Mafia remains unknown.

She dislikes modding her own body despite knowing how to

She does best in melee combat even without her strings.

She has a soft spot for children and baby animals, to the point she almost cries in happiness at anything they do.

She likes anything sweet but dislikes anything sour

on the same note, she prefers cold drinks over hot ones, but dislikes cold meals and prefers when they’re piping hot.

She doesn’t know that Sensei had died

She dislikes the zombie outbreak since they drive away her usual customers, but it has given her the time and opportunity to continue reading her own books, so she’s thankful for it to an extent.

[munchiemomo]

🍓˚｡⋆୨🍡୧˚Valeria headcannons 🍓˚｡⋆୨🍡୧˚

pt-1

a/n: another writing piece pulled from the depths of word from last year. these are my personal head cannons so just fair warning it might be ooc.

🍮About her🍮

she has a suppressed girly side to her only you her partner will see. She loves all the traditional girl stuff- pink, makeup, plushies, bow, frills, the whole nine yards she loves it.

has a hello kitty addiction but wants to hide it

on the talk about girly things, she loves make up brands with elaborate and elegant packaging- ysl, kvd, Anna sui . I feel that she like more of the Gothic packaging.like this:

has a stash of makeup, but barely touches most of it because of her line of work.

she keeps her makeup natural, but when alone with you she sometimes experiments with smoky eyes, bold thick eyeliner, the whole works

she loves the colors pink and red. They are also the colors she chose for her manicures.

she has a private nail tech that does her nails, since he is a busy woman. she tends to get gel nails as they last longer.

she loves gourmand perfumes but doesn't wear them since it might give a bad impression to people as she is the leader of a cartel. Despite this she still has a collection of them.

very strong and independent women from the outside, but little girl at heart

owns two female dobermans she rescued from a dog fighting ring. Their names are Dulce (may her lovely soul rest in peace)& Talia, after he favorite singers .

despite her love for sweet feminine scents she tends to use more masculine ones. Smells like old spice Fiji since it smells more gender neutral.

has a huge car collection

loves the style of older sports cars like the 1997 Acura NSX or a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette.

♡₊˚ 🍰✧ 🍫About the relationship with you♡₊˚ 🍰・✧ 🍫

always want to protect you no matter what.

her way of showing affection is through gift giving. loves buying you little trinkets and jewelry that she thinks you might like. loves seeing the happiness on your face when you receive the item

when she is not busy with the cartel she likes to have little makeovers with you. Doing each other's hair, painting nails, doing make up, she really likes it all.

loves when you give her anything girly: any of the makeup brands she likes, stuffed animals, etc.

loves to go on relaxing dates to cafes, bookstores, the park or beach.

[duckprintspress]

Happy International Women’s Day! Enjoy these 13 Queer Books Starring Women!

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. Duck Prints Press challenged our rec list contributors with a Herculean task: to pick one, and only one, favorite queer book starring a female character. Thirteen contributors rose to this challenge, and this rec list is the result! The contributors to this list are Shadaras, Polls, Alex, boneturtle, Alessa Riel, Dei Walker, Nina Waters, Maggie Page, and four anonymous contributors.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade series) by Seth Dickinson

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb series) by Tamsyn Muir

Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know by Cyan Wings

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan series) by Arkady Martine

Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness Quartet series) by Tamora Pierce

Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire series) by Yoon Ha Lee

The Tiger’s Daughter (Their Bright Ascendency series) by K. Arsenault Rivera

She Wears the Midnight Crown edited by Nina Waters

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk

A Restless Truth (The Last Binding series) by Freya Marske

How about you? Can you pick JUST ONE favorite queer book starring a female character?

You can view these recommendations, and many others, by visiting the our shelves on Goodreads.

New! Duck Prints Press is now a Bookshop.org affiliate! We are still in the process of turning all our rec lists into browsable shopping lists, but we’re working on it. See a book on this list, or any of our other lists, that you’d like to buy? Make us your Bookstore on Bookshop.org to support indie book stores and indie press: you get a great book at a great price, and part of your purchase goes to supporting Bookshop.org and Duck Prints Press!

Love queer books? Want an awesome community to talk about queer books with? Join our Book Lover’s Discord Server!

[monsterswithimagines]

Undisclosed Desires - Part 4

Joe Goldberg x female!Reader

Summary: Twenty minutes before he would have met Guinevere Beck, Joe meets you instead. You intruige him, but it will soon become clear that there is something off about you.

Words: 1121

Masterlist

American Gods is a very good book, I'll give you that. It's about a man whose wife dies while he's in prison. When he gets out, he starts to work for an eccentric stranger. His wife's corpse follows him around. It's exactly the kind of stuff I imagined you'd read.

I tear through it in a few days, and am disappointed when I hate your other favorites. Addie Larue is alright (Addie falls for a guy in a bookstore) but I can't stand The Secret History or The Raven Boys and have to put them both down before I'm even halfway through them.

Are these the kind of people you're into, (Y/n)? Rich assholes who think they own the world? If that's the case, I have no chance with you.

But no. Shadow Moon is your favorite, and he is an every man's man. He went to prison for aggressive behavior, but I can tell that he is not an aggressive person. He made a mistake and he regrets it. Like me.

I'll admit, (Y/n), that I have made mistakes in the past. Before you, there was Candace, and everything about that relationship was a mistake. I regret my behavior deeply. But it's okay, because it was all just practise for the moment I met you.

We text a little throughout the next week. It's all superficial. Sometimes you tell me you're at work, but you don't tell me where it is that you work or what you do there. I get the sense that you don't want me to know too much about you.

I tell you I'm reading American Gods because of you.

YOU: !!!!!

YOU: lemme kno what u think!!

But you don't give me any more than that, and when I tell you I loved it you only send me a smiley.

Worse, I'm not at Mooney's when you next come in. Ethan tells me he saw you, and I want to put my hand through a wall.

I've only just found you, (Y/n), and I already feel like I'm losing you.

Finally, a lucky break. You come to the store again, and this time you're not alone.

There's a girl with you. She's taller than you, and dresses more modestly. She's also more quiet, but you introduce her to me as Nadia Ronig and when you both leave - not a lot of conversation between us today. You're focussing on your friend - I find her on Instagram.

And through her, you.

Nadia is from Belgium and is visiting you for the week. Like most people, she enjoys attention more than she lets on. Her account is public, and she is a serial-poster. Which is how I find out you've had breakfast together at the same place two days in a row. You are a creature of habit.

She's also posted a picture of your apartment building, and the park next to it, which is how I finally, finally find out where you live.

You shouldn't let your friends post pictures like this so publicly, (Y/n). This time it's just me, but anyone could find you this way. Who knows what kinds of creeps might be interested?

Scrolling back through Nadia's account, I find pictures of you together as young adults, teenagers, even as children. You've known this girl for a long time. Maybe longer than anyone else. That's important to know, because it means you must value her deeply. She values you, anyway. Until three months ago, when you must have moved, almost every one of her posts included you.

I find Nadia on Twitter, too, and realize pretty quickly that the account she most interacts with is you. @MoonShadow_. You don't use your own name because you don't want to be known, but you've told me American Gods is your favorite. You wanted me to find you on here.

On Twitter, your account is public. You mostly post about books, in English anyway. With Nadia, you interact in Dutch, and translating it makes me understand why it's been so hard for me to get to know you. In English you're aloof, but in Dutch you're not afraid to speak your mind. You talk about your day and your life and your political opinions, which mean nothing to me because I don't know any European politicians.

Maybe I'll learn Dutch for you. I won't let you know about it right away - it'll be a surprise. We'll go to the Netherlands for an anniversary of some sort and I'll be able to talk to your family in their language. You'll see how good I am to you, how hard I'm willing to work.

And I am willing to work for you. Of course I am. Otherwise, I wouldn't be outside your building at two am. Don't you think I'd rather be sleeping? But these are the things I do for you.

It may be late, but the lights in your apartment are still on, so I can watch you. You live in a shoebox on the first floor. It's a single room with an attached bathroom. Your windows are open, and you have curtains but they aren't closed. You're on an air mattress on the floor, scrolling through your phone. Nadia has your bed, but she's in the bathroom right now.

I like your apartment, (Y/n). It may be tiny, but it's undeniably you. Every wall is covered by a bookcase, except for where you keep a rack of clothes. You don't have a kitchen but you do own a microwave. You eat exclusively TV-dinners, as far as I've seen. When we're together I'll take better care of you than that.

I'm across the street. It's not a good neighborhood to be out alone this late, but I'm willing to risk it for you.

Nadia comes out of the bathroom, and the two of you start a conversation.

The street is narrow enough that I can hear the two of you talking. That doesn't help me, though - you and Nadia speak Dutch, exclusively. I wish I understood what you were saying, because I think it would help me know you. Unfortunately, I'll have to make do just listening to the sound of your voice and the tone you speak in.

I think you two are having an argument. Either that, or Dutch is just an exceptionally harsh language.

After a while, you turn out the lights and you both go to sleep. I'll leave, for now, but I'll be back tomorrow. During the day, this time. I want to see where you go every day. What you do when you're not reading.

It's time for the two of us to meet somewhere outside of where I work, don't you think?