#High five analysis anyone?

[bianca-mii]

High fives between the guitarists!

how it started...

how it's going...

I am honestly surprised how come it was not discussed more widely👀👀

I mean seriously😏

Or maybe it was but I just can't find it🤔

Btw, I think pretty much everyone remembers the first moment, it's from Making Of Rosenrot. All the guys except from Till were done fimling, but the crew member said: "I know you're all good friends, so I'm sure you'll wait for Till?"

Paul: "Yeah sure"

Richard: "Absolutely!"

Paul: "In the hotel..."

Paul & Richard: "Hahahaha *high five*"

Two absolute little shits!🤣 (I'm gonna be honest, I had fantasies about Till teaching them both a lesson they wouldn't forget for weeks after that🤭)

Ah well, but let's rather focus on the high five evolution, any thoughts?🤣🤣

[nasa]

Roman's primary structure hangs from cables as it moves into the big clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

What Makes the Clean Room So Clean?

When you picture NASA’s most important creations, you probably think of a satellite, telescope, or maybe a rover. But what about the room they’re made in? Believe it or not, the room itself where these instruments are put together—a clean room—is pretty special. 

A clean room is a space that protects technology from contamination. This is especially important when sending very sensitive items into space that even small particles could interfere with.

There are two main categories of contamination that we have to keep away from our instruments. The first is particulate contamination, like dust. The second is molecular contamination, which is more like oil or grease. Both types affect a telescope’s image quality, as well as the time it takes to capture imagery. Having too many particles on our instruments is like looking through a dirty window. A clean room makes for clean science!

Two technicians clean the floor of Goddard’s big clean room.

Our Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland has the largest clean room of its kind in the world. It’s as tall as an eight-story building and as wide as two basketball courts.

Goddard’s clean room has fewer than 3,000 micron-size particles per cubic meter of air. If you lined up all those tiny particles, they’d be no longer than a sesame seed. If those particles were the size of 16-inch (0.4-meter) inflatable beach balls, we’d find only 3,000 spread throughout the whole body of Mount Everest!

A clean room technician observes a sample under a microscope.

The clean room keeps out particles larger than five microns across, just seven percent of the width of an average human hair. It does this via special filters that remove around 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns and larger from incoming air. Six fans the size of school buses spin to keep air flowing and pressurize the room. Since the pressure inside is higher, the clean air keeps unclean air out when doors open.

A technician analyzes a sample under ultraviolet light.

In addition, anyone who enters must wear a “bunny suit” to keep their body particles away from the machinery. A bunny suit covers most of the person inside. Sometimes scientists have trouble recognizing each other while in the suits, but they do get to know each other’s mannerisms very well.

This illustration depicts the anatomy of a bunny suit, which covers clean room technicians from head to toe to protect sensitive technology.

The bunny suit is only the beginning: before putting it on, team members undergo a preparation routine involving a hairnet and an air shower. Fun fact – you’re not allowed to wear products like perfume, lotion, or deodorant. Even odors can transfer easily!

Six of Goddard’s clean room technicians (left to right: Daniel DaCosta, Jill Bender, Anne Martino, Leon Bailey, Frank D’Annunzio, and Josh Thomas).

It takes a lot of specialists to run Goddard’s clean room. There are 10 people on the Contamination Control Technician Team, 30 people on the Clean Room Engineering Team to cover all Goddard missions, and another 10 people on the Facilities Team to monitor the clean room itself. They check on its temperature, humidity, and particle counts.

A technician rinses critical hardware with isopropyl alcohol and separates the particulate and isopropyl alcohol to leave the particles on a membrane for microscopic analysis.

Besides the standard mopping and vacuuming, the team uses tools such as isopropyl alcohol, acetone, wipes, swabs, white light, and ultraviolet light. Plus, they have a particle monitor that uses a laser to measure air particle count and size.

The team keeping the clean room spotless plays an integral role in the success of NASA’s missions. So, the next time you have to clean your bedroom, consider yourself lucky that the stakes aren’t so high!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[verysium]

I’ve been seeing some discourse around twitter about the blue lock boys and whether they’d be a loyal bf or not 😭 Curious to know who do you think would be more inclined to cheat or who just wouldn’t at all!!!

I saw someone say sae would 100% cheat like whattt I feel like he wouldn’t even bother looking at anyone else if he already has someone (Cuz I mean dating him would likely mean you actually mean something to him) but I digress

ok anon you had me pulling up a whole argumentative essay here cus WHO TF SAID SAE WOULD 100% CHEAT??? 😔 that mischaracterization is so painfully inaccurate. twitter really took the whole emotionally unavailable itoshi archetype and ran with it. let me just clear the air here because my man deserves some explanation.

sae itoshi would not cheat. as in capital N and capital O. he took nearly an entire decade off his life just to work on his own issues and finally form a functional and healthy relationship with another human being. and you're telling me he's just going to let all that wash down the drain for someone else? 😒 twitter logic really be showing its illogical side here. apparently a man can be loyal to a professional sports career for eighteen years, but he can't be loyal to his significant other.

i think this misunderstanding probably happened cus of shidou. people read the manga and saw that sae dropped rin for a bug-eyed freak and automatically assumed he was disloyal. 😑 let me just say two things here:

(1) sae and shidou's relationship is strictly professional. imagine being stuck in an god awful corporate office with coworkers who bore you with their weaponized incompetence and a boss who annoys the living shit out of you. and then one day, the company hires a new recruit who is probably the most unhinged and debauched creature known to man. you're probably left wondering how he even got hired in the first place. but then you find out...he's useful. he takes risks and gets a high return on what he invests. it's impulsive and stupid, really. but at least it's unconventional and outside-the-box. he has your interest piqued. that's basically sae and shidou in a nutshell.

(2) just because sae gave shidou his number after the u-20 game does NOT mean he would do the same to any other person who would try to encroach on your relationship. and let's be real here. sae would get one text from shidou and block his contact.

anyways, here is my analysis on the bllk boys in general. introducing the anti-cheating to pro-cheating spectrum:

(A) cannot cheat under any circumstance (as in they already hate the fact that they live on a planet with 8.1 billion other people who are not you):

itoshi brothers (atp they don't even have the physical or mental capacity to entertain a third party), ness, reo

(B) cannot cheat due to physical incapability (literally cannot pull anyone within a five-meter radius to cheat with):

ego, igarashi, raichi, bachira (not that he's in any way unattractive...it's just...i feel like he would purposefully act weird to drive off people who aren't you)

(C) could not cheat (basically option A and B but less problematic version)

yukimiya, barou, kunigami, noa, loki, gagamaru, chigiri, niko, hiori, karasu (baby boy literally felt inferior cus his crush was the cutest in his class), kurona (head empty, just you)

(D) would not cheat (on you but everyone else is not included)

isagi (unintentionally a homewrecker to others but would never let anyone homewreck his relationship with you), leonardo (idk why but i just don't trust him entirely)

(E) could cheat (depends on what they get out of it):

kaiser, shidou (honestly what did you expect when you willingly dated a blonde man...)

(F) would cheat (either proven by canon or they accidentally fucked up somehow):

otoya, oliver, nagi

[mvrdermeharder]

Kaiser-goal analysis part 1:

Okay this has been on my mind for a while and I want to get it out real quick

it wasn’t quick, i’m still editing this TWO DAYS LATER

[This is not the analysis I’ve said I wanted to write about Kaiser’s fucked up relationships, I still didn’t get started on that… But I’ll tag you @fyeahkainess since this “little” summary of Kaiser’s goals has a lot to do w kainess, so I thought it might interest you anyways…]

So, most of the goal celebrations in bllk include players giving each other physical affection, or getting close to each other.

And I guess there’s Rin’s latest goal, which is a kinda-nuts-but-still-strangely-endearing moment where he unintentionally bonds with the other crazies of pxg.

But we also have some strikers who did not get a so called “cute celebratory moment” after their goal: Noa against Barcha, Kunigami against Barcha and Manshine, Chigiri against BM

HOWEVER

These players have only scored once or twice

(Ik chigiri scored against manshine and ubers too, but we did not see the what kind of celebration happened after it)

So then we have Kaiser, who scored one goal in every game, each getting more and more impressive from a technical and difficulty standpoint, and yet… there’s less and less directly affirmative celebration going on after each one

So I’ll try to make sense of that if I can…

First goal:

Everything goes according to Kaiser’s plan,

Ness is the one who assists,

Kaiser is very satisfied with the goal,

The pose oozes confidence, there is an ominous, untouchable quality about it (the strong shading and artistic composition of the panel also helps), it’s hard to imagine anyone trying to approach him for a hug or something

Others admire/acknowledge his talent from afar (Isagi’s and Noa’s comments have the most weight, but other players are in awe as well)

And what we see afterwards is Kaiser getting a high five from Ness -> quick and brief physical contact, which based on Kaiser’s facial expression, only seems like an indulgence to let Ness have something.

Still, Kaiser lets him close, and keeps his body turned towards him in an open, relaxed position. And I would really like to highlight it: Ness is the only one he lets close, even if the other BM players actually contributed to the goal as well (I’ll elaborate on this later)

Second goal:

Everything goes according to Kaiser’s plan,

Ness assists,

Kaiser is satisfied with the goal,

The pose - while still full of confidence and satisfaction - is much less intimidating. I could actually imagine other players getting close to celebrate, he seems far less unapproachable here. It’s the goal itself that gives him that untouchable vibe instead of the pose.

Which is why still, other players acknowledge his skills only from a distance.

Although a high five or other physical contact is absent this time, Kaiser keeps facing Ness and even approaches him. This greatly contrasts with how he keeps his back to Isagi, only turning to him in a cocky manner to tease and belittle.

And it all makes sense: in ch 243 Kaiser says how his goal is “to send all the worlds soccer players to the depths of despair” in ch 261 he expresses that he doesn’t know how to receive kindness, it’s easier to be a target of malice, and that he enjoys being an untouchable impossibility that brings despair.

So of course he doesn’t celebrate his goals with other players. Instead, seeing their shocked face and broken spirit is the celebration itself. That is the reason why he’s so weirded out by Isagi being all fired up instead of hopeless. It’s uncomfortable for Kaiser, who is still on his high from the goal and the reaction it evokes. It’s like a slap in the face that drops him from his happiest state.

He later expresses how Isagi’s behavior when faced with the impossible is not normal in ch 207. We see how it bothers him greatly as it goes against everything that he exists for. So he starts fixating on Isagi even more in the next match, to crush him as to finally feel satisfied and get affirmation for himself. Because seeing others broken after his victory is the only thing making him feel human, it’s the only thing that makes him feel good for once, so obviously, he needs to see Isagi fall in line. In the next game however…

Third goal:

Isagi is the one who starts the play, Kaiser simply steals the ball -> he doesn’t have control over the plans and playmaking,

Ness does not contribute,

Kaiser hates that the only possibility for his goal had to start with Isagi’s plans, it goes against his own esteemed self worth, thus he’s not proud of it at all.

After his goal, we see him obviously pissed off but still holding it together if only barely: his expressions and eyes are mostly covered by his hair, but when we see them they are nothing but furious and frustrated.

While other players are shocked by the impossible goal and acknowledge it - again, from a distance - Kaiser does not take satisfaction from it.

So what we see afterwards is a Kaiser who is doing his best to mask his frustration, with the only one daring to approach being an overjoyed Ness. And well, from Ness’ viewpoint, so far he has has received “affection” when Kaiser is on a high from an incredible goal, and this one was the most impressive and difficult one yet, so obviously they could celebrate this together right? Maybe in a way that lets him even closer to Kaiser?

In ch 243 he says “at some point his dream became mine”, but I think there is much more to this… In my opinion he’s just as exited about seeing Kaiser happier than ever and possibly being allowed to be close to him, as he’s exited about the goal itself. Because remember, we have NEVER seen Ness initiate physical contact. Kaiser is the one does, but only rarely: when he’s feeling the most assured in his existence = after scoring a mind-blowing goal that Ness’ pass sets him up to. (More on all of this later in the post…)

But unlike before, Kaiser does not face him after the goal, he keeps his back to him, and then viciously snaps as he can’t bear Ness voicing out (what he himself considers) as failure.

There is a sharp 180 in Kaiser’s behavior that’s obvious: he does not want to face Ness, only does so to reprimand him, and when he’s done with that (the circled panel above) he immediately turns away from him to face Isagi instead

After he declared how much he needs to see Isagi lose to him, this newest goal only contributed to the opposite of that. So now he feels even worse, needs to bury Isagi and the threat he poses to his existence even more urgently. This takes up all of his attention and focus.

And imo he does not bother to reward Ness with attention for another additional reason: Ness did not assist or contribute to the play. Kaiser only keeps him close so that he could have someone to pass to him and create a path to score. It’s very likely he’s INTENTIONALLY giving the most affection to Ness only after scoring with his help. Essentially love bombing him to encourage Ness’ cravings for making a goal possible, so that he could get to see Kaiser at his happiest, at his most open-to-affection-state. Which all benefits Kaiser.

(Alright I’m sorry, I swear I will post the continuation tomorrow, but this is already so long, and i’m still not finished w putting my thoughts together regarding the fourth goal… Because boy oh boy there are even more stuff to analyze with the Magnus goal…

So rn I’m posting this as a part 1, as I just can’t bear to have it in my drafts any longer)

Edit! Read part 2 here, and part 3 here.

[stsgluver]

synopsis. satoru returns from his final meeting with geto before he defects.

wc. 750

satoru didn't speak to anyone when he returned to jujutsu high. he pushed past both you and shoko and especially ignored yaga’s attempts to find out more about suguru's next intentions.

understandably, suguru's slaughter had created a mass panic as it shook the foundations of jujutsu high. an 18 year old special grade sorcerer murdering an entire village (his parents included) in the beginning of his efforts to erase all non-sorcerers, i.e all humans who he has been taught to protect? it sounded unrealistic – a poor joke that no one laughed at.

"don't worry sensei, i’ll talk to him. this is just a lot." yaga gave you a small nod, but your words brought him and yourself little comfort. from yaga’s perspective, he'd just lost one special grade sorcerer, if satoru spiralled too there's no telling what the consequences could be. and you? you'd just lost one of your best friends and now you were grasping at straws trying to make sure you didn't lose your boyfriend too.

since the day you'd met him almost three years ago, satoru had kept a clear wall between the world and his emotions through his extroverted personality and humour. even after dating for eighteen months, you could only count a handful of nights when he'd let himself be vulnerable around you. admitting to the stresses of limitless and six eyes, and how he doesn't know if he'll be enough.

gojou satoru wasn’t emotionally stunted — he’d just never known what it was like not to be the strongest. since he was a child, he’d been praised and set above on this pedestal that no one else could touch.

pushing open his bedroom door, you found satoru sat at a desk, scribbling something down onto paper. "hey, toru-"

"i’m busy,” he cut off harshly, not bothering to turn back and look at you. there’s a pang of hurt in your chest again, a repeat of when he’d disregarded you after returning ten minutes prior.

he’s just hurting, you reassure yourself, as if though your heart wasn’t also breaking from losing suguru too.

"i just wanted to check in.” you tried again, stepping past the threshold into his oh-so-familiar room.

you’d woken up that morning in his bed, both of you unbeknownst to what would come. he still hadn’t tidied the sheets properly and you longed to go back in time for an extra five minutes curled up with him.

"i’m fine,” satoru insisted, spinning around on his chair to face you. he looked anything but fine. his white hair unruly like he’d been combing his fingers through it repeatedly, ultimately tangling it. his eyes were the faintest of reds but clear enough for you to see he’d been crying. his posture was tight and rigid. this wasn’t your boyfriend.

"go. i can’t deal with work and you right now." he pointed to the door when he couldn’t handle your physical analysis of him any longer. his eyes bore into yours but there seemed to be no life behind them. suguru had stolen it when he’d turned the other way, wandering down a path satoru could never follow.

"satoru," you tried reaching out to comfort your boyfriend with a hand on his cheek. you barely made it within 15cm before your hand hit an invisible barrier. there’s a dry sob that is tight in your throat and you hated this wall that he built up between you because you needed him, for him to tell you that things would be okay and suguru would come back, that this was all a big misunderstanding and he’d fix it… so why didn’t he need you too? did you not bring him any peace in the storm that’s brewing around your lives?

"go.” satoru repeated the demand again, swivelling himself back around so you were stuck with the back of his head.

your nails dug into your hands as you tried not to cry or lash out because you were both grieving. you don’t say anything as you turned to go, not trusting your voice as you felt your heart break more with each second of silence, another second he was pulling away.

and it was for the best, he concluded, for he was supposed to be the honoured one. yet he was a fraud who didn't even know his best friend was suffering, let alone not being able to save him from the path he strayed down. how can he save the only person left who really knows him?

[heimeldat]

I've spent an inordinate amount of time parsing the few examples we have of Old High Gallifreyan text, and here at last is the result of my labors!

The Old Gallifreyan alphabet:

The alternate forms of letters may be used interchangeably with their main forms; the differences are purely cosmetic, much like the difference between cursive and print-style writing.

Now for my analysis of the existing texts. It's rather long, so I've put it below the break!

EXAMPLES OF OLD HIGH GALLIFREYAN TEXT

ITEM ONE

Supposedly from “The Five Doctors,” though I can’t spot this writing anywhere. Translation given in episode.

ORA PSYERPA

O – honorific indicating uniqueness, may be rendered with the definite article “the”

R – combined with the definite honorific, a common abbreviation of Rassilon’s name

A – an alternate version of the possessive “ya,” used only when the possessive noun is already abbreviated

Psyerpa – a general term for harps and other large stringed instruments

Thus, the full text reads:

O-Rassilon-ya psyerpa

The Rassilon’s harp

ITEM TWO

From “The Colony in Space,” across the bottom of the Doctor’s mugshot. No translation given.

QU  ETHOA TRIOUAX BRIA

Qu – This is not a complete word, merely a letter used in this case for alphanumerical file designation: note that it stands alone, separate from the main text.

Ethoa – exile

Triouax – an infinitive verb, “to persist” or “to remain in effect”

Bria – a conditional modifier used exclusively in bureaucratic contexts, implying the need for occasional update of information or policy.

This text is a record of the Doctor’s sentence, and may be rendered something like this: Exile: to remain in effect barring further review.

ITEM THREE

From “The Time of Angels.” Translation given.

JUSYMOU CAIDEU OXA OOYY MAISOM

Jusymou – An archaic greeting, roughly equivalent to “well met” or “hail.”

Caideu – self, soul, or “hearts” in a poetic sense

Oxa – prepositional suffix, “part of”

OOYY – a conceptual abbreviation that combines the two meanings of the solitary letter O (definite article + symbol of individuality) and the mathematical use of the letter Y (usually indicating a dimensional shift). Literally, this means something like the individual, shifted two dimensions. In practice, it refers to a Time Lord’s fifth dimensional aspect.

Maisom – name, designation, identification

Thus, a literal translation would read something like this: Greetings, soul-linked fifth-dimensional name!

Or as the Doctor paraphrases it: Hello, Sweetie.

ITEM FOUR

From “The Five Doctors.” Translation is given, though it’s not specified which face of the obelisk corresponds to which section of the text.

First Face:

RA NASA TO TANA EURIFSTAN OBLR ORE NATA

Ra – where

Nasa – sleep

To – in

Tana – lies, reclines, rests

Eurifstan – eternal, endless, timeless. Here it modifies the verb, so it should be rendered as an adverb.

Oblr – abbreviated form of obelar, tomb or grave

OR – the same abbreviation seen previously, “The One And Only Rassilon.”

E – an alternate version of the possessive “ya,” used only when the possessive noun is already abbreviated

Nata – a basic verb of being, is

This yields the following literal translation: Where sleep-in lies eternally, tomb Rassilon’s is.

Or as the Doctor translates it: This is the Tomb of Rassilon, where Rassilon lies in eternal sleep.

Second Face:

The text on the second face is never seen. The Doctor translates it as: Anyone who's got this far has passed many dangers and shown great courage and determination.

Third Face:

ULIREIF RAENATA TOAAN LAKI FSTA TORARO

Ulireif – to lose everything, to be utterly defeated

Raenata – an emphatic form of the being-verb nata, indicating that something really, truly, permanently is

Toa’an – to win everything, to be crowned victor

Laki – a compound conjunction combining la (so) with ki (and): “and so”

Fsta – an abbreviated form of festoa, a winner or leader

Toraro – future tense of torar, to fail or collapse

Thus: To lose all is truly to win all, and so the winner will fail.

Or as the Doctor puts it: To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose.

Fourth Face:

KIRA ATOUNA OR TA LIRI EUKI RAATO SUTE ANAAN FEIRLIO REUNT

Kira – takes

Atouna – ring

OR – the same abbreviation seen previously, “The One And Only Rassilon.”

Ta – from

Liri – hand

Euki – a compound conjunction combining eu (then, next, afterward) with ki (and): “and then”

Ra’ato – future tense of ra’at, to wear

Sute – reward, prize, payment

Ana’an – desired, sought-after

Feirlio – future tense of feiril, to get or acquire. Note that this is an irregular verb: the last two letters switch places when adding any tense ending.

Reunt – immortality, eternity

Literally: Takes ring Rassilon-from-hand and then will wear, reward-sought will have: immortality.

Or as the Doctor translates it: Whoever takes the ring from Rassilon's hand and puts it on shall get the reward he seeks: immortality.

[docgold13]

What Your Favorite Robin (might) Say About Your Personality:

A recent study found a statistically significant correlation between a group of subjects’ favorite fictional characters and self-reported scores on an assessment of five factor-personality traits.  These five factor traits include extraversion, agreeableness, open-mindedness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism; with individuals being either on the high end of a given factor, the low end, or somewhere in-between (a more in depth review of the five factor model can be found here).  

In the study, test subjects significantly tended to gravitate toward favorite characters who shared their same five factor profiles.  For instance, those who might be on the high end in terms of agreeableness, low on open mindedness and high on neuroticism tended to most like characters who portrayed this same combination of factors.  

Conversely, the traits of a given fictional favorite could potentially be illustrative of one’s own five factor personality model.  By no means a scientifically rigorous analysis, but maybe a fun exercise nonetheless.

That said, what might your favorite Robin say about you?

Is your favorite Robin Dick?  And, if so, do you relate to the above personality traits, are these elements that you see in yourself or strive to achieve?

Okay... is Jason your favorite Robin?  If this is the case do you relate to any of the the descriptors above?

So, is Tim your favorite Robin?  Do you relate or aspire to be more like the traits he possesses as listed above?

Now is Steph your favorite Robin?  And if so do you identify with her on the characteristics as listed above?

Alright... is Damian your favorite Robin?  If so, can you relate to or feel a kinship with aspects of his journey?      

The above of course is merely an exercise and should not be considered as a valid psychological assessment of personality. Still, it is an interesting notion and I'll be curious to hear anyone's thoughts or feelings on this matter.

[blorbocedes]

as an ancient nico fan, i wanted to ask you, like, what made you notice him, even though he has long quit the sport? this is interesting to me, because i know why he is such an exemplary star, and i was worried that the time will be unforgiving to him, to his achievements or his talents, but thankfully i was proven wrong!

I wanted to be an informed hater and turned into a lover instead 😅

when I got in f1 around 2022 nico was regarded widely as a joke youtuber/fandom villain, but also the allure of brocedes~ that apparently a childhood best friend broke up an entire friendship and betrayal just to win the championship, well that's just a delicious narrative

so I was fully ready to hate on the guy because everyone else did and I wanted to fit in. only problem is I didn't know the guy. he retired in 2016 I don't know shit about him, beyond him being harmlessly cringe on commentary. so to be an effective and accurate hater I set on a journey to find out more about this rosberg dude and all the evils he did~

what made me notice him is that he was really pretty (I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't have cared as much if he looked like kubica), he was the son of the wdc who won a wdc in the nepotism failbaby sport, and he'd beaten lewis hamilton in his prime while also having been childhood friends (what!!!)

I would watch his YouTube videos, esp the ones in the sim/track analysis where he'd explain the best way to optimise a track and then do a q&a, and he was so knowledgable and his enthusiasm was infectious. like did I understand what downshifting was? no. was I riveted hearing him explain why milliseconds of downshifting at the exact time on a corner matters? absolutely. that's when I was like oh he knows what he's talking about, like from a technical standpoint and not just I'm driving the car.

the more I learned about him the more fascinating he became, the five languages but not his father's, the way he was perceived by the media vs his actual personality, being the youngest ever test driver at 17, scoring points and fastest lap on debut (!!!), people thinking he only got the seat bc daddy was a world champion, enduring the britneyfication for long hair/feminine. he's also so fast, like his monaco pole laps are something out of a beautyyyyy. and then being paired up with fucking michael schumacher, having the midfield campaigns of all time at the same time while his peers and friends are winning championships. I also found him using every tactic at his disposal incredibly clever, like why shouldn't you play the media if you speak 5 languages and know german media will be more sympathetic vs british media will paint you as cold and unfeeling. his 2016 campaign that actually started after 2015 USGP when he lost the wdc -- the complete self control, restraint and putting yourself through the impossible and making it on the other side. and yet his winning radio was telling his wife WE did it, not me/i. even though it was the greatest personal achievement he never shied away from his wife's role in it and even his decision to retire is really admirable. he did it and he got to leave it behind on a high, which I think is almost impossible in f1 to do.

I think I'd have been more insane if I got to watch him live, nico the f1 driver and nico the happily retired girldad are kind of distinct entities and I enjoy both but in separate ways ofc.

but please if you (anyone reading this) was a nico fan back when he was racing how was that like!!!! how was 2016 like for you!!! and Living Through it live

[thebeast-dennis-etcetera]

Man, Myth, Legend

You waited and waited and waited some more until Jethro’s voicemail began playing.

“He thinks he’s so clever,” you grumbled to yourself as you sent him a text. Not like he would respond back but at least your two cents was thrown in there.

It was bad enough he made you stay behind with Tony instead of joining him, Ziva and McGee to his HOMETOWN. But now he wants to ignore your calls too? Granted, the calls would have only been you pestering him with all kinds of questions but nevertheless, he should still pick up the phone. What if you were in danger?!

“C’mon Probie. Let’s see if Abby has anything for us,” DiNozzo stated while walking by.

You locked your phone and huffed in annoyance before joining him in the elevator.

“You can stop calling me that Tony. I’ve been working with you guys for like a year now.”

“I know. But I just love how much it bugs you.”

You rolled your eyes at his teasing and followed after him once the doors opened.

Abby gave you two the rundown on the blood analysis before McGee’s face popped up on her screen.

“Gibbs has a father!”

You ran over with Tony while they gave all of you the much needed info on the Gibbses. Jethro had told you he grew up in Stillwater and wasn’t exactly the towns poster child but he never really spoke more than that, let alone about his father.

“I’m coming. I’m leaving,” Tony stuttered.

“Well you’re not going without me,” you added.

“Not unless you’ve found a way that people in town might have thought Ethan LaCombe was alive,” McGee answered right back.”

————

You and Tony sat in the Bullpen, throwing different questions each others way as you wanted for your next orders.

“So do you think he like got ran out of town and that’s why he hasn’t been back?” Tony asked, tapping a pen against his mouth in thought.

“I don’t know but I wouldn’t put it past him if it were true. Do you think his high school girlfriends still live there?”

Tony gave you a puzzled look which you quickly defended.

“I mean I’m just curious since most small town people don’t really move out past their county.”

“I doubt he’s dinner dating with any of his past flings probie. Plus, how is it you don’t know anything about Gibb’s past but you two are together?”

“You know he doesn’t talk much. Especially about his past. It was like pulling teeth when I asked him where he was born!”

As if his ears were burning, your phone began ringing as Jethro’s face popped up on your screen. Making a face for Tony to be quiet, you answered.

“Oh, look at that, you know how to call people all of a sudden.”

“I was busy. Talking with people,” he justified.

“People like your dad? Or the townspeople? McGee said you’re already ruffling feathers.”

“Well McGee needs to stop gossiping. I talked with Chad Winslow and his family. They’re hiding something. I want you and DiNozzo to get a search warrant together for blood samples and financial records.”

“Uh. A please would be nice.”

“Please. Honey,” he charmed, making you smile like a school girl. You’d do anything for him if he added those words afterwards.

“Much better. I’m assuming you won’t be home tonight?”

“No. We’ve got a lot of work to do here and I don’t see anyone being cooperative any time soon.”

You silently pouted but Jethro knew you like the back of his hand.

“Don’t pout. You, Abby and DiNozzo can come tomorrow afternoon. We’ll need help executing those warrants once they’re approved and Abby will need to examine the blood quickly.”

You beamed with excitement, catching Tony’s attention. You both said your goodbyes and Tony came over to give you a high five.

“I’m driving though. You suck at obeying the speed limit,” he established.

“That doesn’t count! Baskin Robbin’s was closing in 10 minutes and you encouraged me!”

————

We pulled up to the scene of the crime as smoke was still slowly coming from the wreckage. Thank God no one was in the car when it exploded. Jethro hasn’t even been in town more than 2 days and people are already trying to blow him up!

You gave McGee and Ziva a greeting before following Tony in the little store. It was stuffy and warm but the place was cute with all the natural lighting and small town vibes.

You and Tony saw an older man standing behind the register whom you could only assume was Jethro’s dad based on the eyes.

Just as Tony went to introduce himself, Jethro came from the back and interrupted. As they both talked, you made your way over to the counter.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.”

“Jackson Gibbs. Leroy told me about you but he left out just how stunning you were,” he flirted as you two shook hands.

“I see where Jethro gets his charm from.” you two chuckled together before Jethro came over looking displeased.

We took the rental to Jackson’s house as he led us to the garage where the most beautiful Dodge Charger sat.

“That’s right. I said we.”

You hopped in the backseat as Jethro peeled out onto the street like a bat out of hell, passing the shocked faces of the team and sporting the biggest grin on his face.

At the Winslow house, Jethro advised you to stay behind with Senior.

“Fine by me. Someone’s got to tell me what the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs was like as a kid,” you jested as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

You sat on the porch steps with Jackson as he started the conversation first.

“I’m glad Leroy found someone again. You know after Shannon and Kelly, I thought he’d never find love again. But you seem to make him happy.”

“I try. And he makes me happy. It hasn’t been years but I think we’re good for each other.”

“I just don’t understand how you two even came about. Someone like you, so beautiful and elegant should be dating someone similar. Like that DiNozzo guy.”

You laughed at the thought of you and Tony together.

“Jethro is much more sensitive and approachable than people think. And Tony? No, he’s far too..rockstar for me. Jethro just has that personality that grounds you and uplifts you at the same time. I’ve never felt it with anyone before.”

“Spoken like someone truly in love,” he stated with a smile.

You blushed at the thought and you two continued talking until it was time to leave.

Back at the store, McGee and Abby went over their findings as you stood next to Jethro, your hand brushing against his. You saw a small smirk appear on his face as he listened.

It wasn’t long before you guys had enough evidence to arrest Nick Kingston and his 2 accomplices and telling the awkward news of Ethan being Emily’s brother. You all stayed the night at Jackson’s place as he told you all stories of his great adventures before leaving the next morning.

“You’ve got a good one here Leroy. Don’t let her go,” Jackson praised to his son as he looked at you.

“Oh I don’t plan on it.”

You gave Jackson a farewell hug as he gave the Charger keys to Jethro and stuck your tongue out at Tony when you were the chosen passenger.

In the car, you pulled him in for a kiss and smiled. “I like your dad. We should come see him again soon.”

Jethro just shook his head and smiled before driving off.

[canonicallyginger]

I finally watched Nerdy Prudes Must Die a few days ago and it was pretty good. I was kind of disappointed that Ziggy was only there for like five seconds. I was really hoping they'd have an actual role in the story. Since they only appear in one Nightmare Time episode and it's almost completely disconnected from the rest of the horror of the setting. Also I was disappointed that the one bisexual character is never allowed to be bisexual without it being played as a joke at her expense.

But here's some of my own analysis under the cut (spoilers ahead)

Max Jagerman's personality is clearly a result of being failed by the school system (for instance, he's in a "remedial algebra" class). He's well aware that he doesn't have much of a future beyond high school. Most bullies aren't so self-aware, which begs the question: who told him that high school would be his peak? Was it a family member? What was his home life like anyway? His family is never even mentioned.

It's also clear that him being so controlling of everyone led his "friends" not to think of him in a positive light. He dies, and everyone gets over it within two weeks and they're all so much happier. I wonder if it was upsetting, to see that his death brought happiness to everyone who knew him.

Another thing: right before his death, he had a moment where he was actually genuine. He was definitely drunk when he got to the Waylon house, and he faced his fears, and then he found out it was a set-up. It made him happy (even tho the intent was to terrify and humiliate him) because that's the most effort anyone has put into anything made for him alone. Which is pretty sad honestly. It implies that he's never even had a birthday party that was put together as anything more than an obligation. The bare minimum.

It makes his interest in Grace Chasity seem like there's something more to it. Her being "forbidden fruit" is part of it for sure, but she also has parents that she's close with, she has the self-confidence to speak her mind (even when what's on her mind sucks) and to always be herself (even though most people find her off-putting and annoying at best). I feel like there's a lot of exploration that could be put into him as a character. I haven't kept up with any Team StarKid news, so idk if they're planning on a third season of Nightmare Time, but if they are, i hope Max gets more development. I don't want him to get a redemption arc or anything like that, but I do want to see more of the circumstances that made him who he is

[possessionisamyth]

Here's some RE Separate Ways analysis that isn't about shipping because I like Ada. I'm happy her DLC actually focuses on her, but some of the takes I'm seeing are Insufferable. Main statements in bold for ease of reading and skipping purposes.

-Wesker and Ada haven't been working together consistently for the past 6 years. This dripless bitch is calling Ada every five minutes to babysit her. I don't think that's the relationship dynamic of someone you're regularly employed under, and when it is, Ada is not the type of character to tolerate that behavior for 6 years. We know Ada is a contract worker. We can understand she's worked for Wesker on and off, but she's a freelance agent period. She must've done enough jobs for Wesker that he feels the need to check on her and have this constant reporting in to make sure she stays on task since he's clearly used to her not always following his orders. He 100% hired her for this assignment because he knew the situation and compared to the other options, she had the highest survival chances. Which, he was right. High risk, high reward.

Sometimes Wesker's babysitting works: Ada holding Luis at gunpoint when he tries to negotiate saving Leon and Ashley. Sometimes he knows when to step away: "Keep your dog." All of it is in the effort to get what he wants. Look, he let her live. He worked with S.T.A.R.S for years and wanted them all dead. If he worked with Ada regularly and she pulled this shit with the amber, he would've had that helicopter blown out of the sky. There's always some restraint with personal distance, especially with a guy who thinks so highly of himself.

-Luis is a drama queen. In the regular game, Luis acts cool and under control to the best of his abilities around Leon and Ashley. It's a part of his newly found hero-complex even though he does still know when to ask for help: "save me prince charming!" In the DLC, we see the real side of Luis. The one who's scared, and dramatic, and knows when he's not shooting with a loaded gun so to speak. When Ada tells him to leave her to fight, he does. He wants to help, but his respect for her abilities sends him fleeing like she orders him to. Also, like every scientist, he has zero self-preservation! He ran into a fire that clearly would kill him to get medicine. And the exchange afterwards? "No! Now you'll all die!" "Make some more medicine." "Oh..yeah...I can do that. I do have that ability."

The flamenco dance. "Are you mad at me???🥺 You're mad at me!😭" This man understands Ada can kill him without blinking, but still can't keep his composure around her. This is such a fun dynamic to explore in fic for expansion stories and "Luis lives" au's. The DLC gives him breaks to freak out and panic, whereas the main game holds the "cool persona" moments after Leon saves him. Even his dying words to Ada. This man is bleeding to death and still can't shut up. I love him.

Okay, that's all I gotta say about the loser men. Now for the star of the DLC. Ada. :)

-Ada "Sans Undertale go into my eyes" Wong. The methods Ada uses in the DLC are fun and appropriate. It's not invasive and in your face unlike another agent, but more subtle. She can track footprints, fingerprints, gauge the safe distance required for her grappling hook, and she knows when she needs to fight and whens he needs to run. Her practicality has always been the cleanest of the entire cast due to her being a spy, but this time we actually get to see this trait utilized through her tools.

-Ada is silly and quips her own jokes to get through it. Something I'm not seeing anyone talk about including the aeon people who are claiming anything they can get, is this specific humor parallel between Leon and Ada in the remake. Both of them have gone through the horrors of Raccoon City. Both of them went right back into very difficult military in function style work which always has a body count. I talked about Leon's humor coping mechanism here [X], but to hear Ada do the same thing? I feel like they went under the radar because they don't sound as stupid as Leon's quips, but they are still so stupid. "Nighty night." "Lights out." "Bring me a real challenge next time." "Now look at the mess you've made." "You think that gun will be enough?" She and Leon even share the same "Next," line!

If I had 80GB to spare on the game, I'd see just how many more I could get out of her. Like, these are dumb as hell. She's found a method to cope with the horrors she's witnessing that just so happens to coincide with Leon's. I'm not saying this as a marker of whatever romance you've tossed them in or even to diss any other romances. What I am saying is that they have a similar type of mental illness resulting from trauma, and they ended up using the exact same coping method despite never seeing each other.

Ada fans who hate Leon! This opens a door for you when it comes to character analysis and how Ada deals with her PTSD and/or depression! Run through it RIGHT NOW!

-Ada's infection pulls a lot more weight than it seems. I've seen some people say Ada's parasite should've been removed the same as Leon's and Ashley's. (Which is an extremely unsubtle argument to get them all in the same room for your shipping nonsense.) However, something I noticed with the DLC were the parallels to the troubles in RE2. The Black Robe/U-3/Pesenta monster is the first time where we get to see Ada dealing with a stalking enemy. Due to RE4 being so much more plot-lined streamed to maintain the flow of gameplay, these events were not allowed to be random, but the narrative purpose remains. Ada gets to have a stalking enemy in her DLC like Claire and Leon did in RE2 with the addition of a hubris check.

The hubris check? Well, Ada has never been infected until this DLC. In the original games, she can step back and watch people die because she doesn't know what it feels like. Now she knows what it feels like. The lack of control. The pain. The slow turning. Her job has had her flirting with death for years, but not in a way she can't fiddle with the odds. A parasite is not something a person can distract with words. The action to steal the amber is backed up via personal experience not just a morality code slapped on. The addition of Wesker's correction to "billions of causalities" means she's included in that number and just cements her incentive to flee. She's not doing this for Leon. She's not doing this for Luis. She's doing this for herself, and if it so happens to help other people then it is what it is. After being on both sides of the coin when it comes to viruses, she can no longer function as entirely impartial to the work she's doing.

-Ada doesn't ask for permission but asks for forgiveness. Don't take this phrasing literally. She doesn't ask Wesker to forgive her. What this means is that she'll do something before asking, and if it upsets people then she'll course correct. Her job is not the kind of job where she needs to take orders for every action she implements which is why Wesker calling every five minutes was annoying as hell. In the OG RE4 she kind of argues with Wesker for Leon to live for "his usefulness", but it's swiftly shut down until it's convenient to Wesker for Leon to live. This forces her to sneak around and betray Wesker multiple times to save Leon secretly, and the concept rightfully gets thrown into the garbage for the remake DLC.

The scene in the bedroom where Wesker tells Ada not to become a liability after taking her blood? Ada doesn't fight to get her shit back. Some people said this was flirting. Wrong. This is Ada seeking forgiveness after the fuck up of passing out in the middle of an active field by letting Wesker walk off with an infection sample. She then makes sure not to fuck up a second time in the same way, and she doesn't. She learns the signs of her parasite so in case she does pass out again, she'll be somewhere much less conspicuous. She listens for the changes in her environment and the feelings in her body and prepares herself for what's next.

-Ada saves Leon and Ashley for Luis' sake. I stated earlier that Ada's action to take the amber was for her own sake but ends up helping others. This is the exact situation going on when Luis talks about getting the suppressant. She needs the suppressant in order to do her job and kill the black robe so she can heal. It just so happens that Leon and Ashley need the suppressant for survival reasons too. They are an afterthought until Luis dies.

We watch Ada question Wesker and his plans all throughout this DLC, and she comes to her own conclusions after her experience working with him. She could've gotten the amber back and let the whole place blow into smithereens like Wesker intended. Who cares about the president's daughter? Who cares about another dead federal agent? Luis did. He cared so much he died for it, and just like that other clown in Raccoon City (aka her), she got emotionally attached. If there was anything she could've done for Luis to make his death mean something, it was this act.

-Ada sells Leon's jacket. This isn't analysis, but I thought this was funny as hell. ACAB! No exceptions! Freeze your tiddies off, Leon! I don't give a shit!

-Ada's new outfit is still better than her old one. It's still not the best they could've given her. I'm also not speaking from a fashion point of view when I say this. In the OG RE4 we see Leon in a jacket which is forcibly removed to show off his pecs to the ladies, but it clearly marks a colder time of year. OG RE4 Ada has arms out, legs out, and tits out because a hoe never gets cold. The sweater dress for the remake re-establishes that it's colder here because even Luis doesn't lose his jacket. Ashley doesn't lose her jacket either until they yoink it off her for ritual reasons. I still hate that the thigh high boots have that heel and would prefer the flats, but that's going to be in the complaint paragraph below.

-Capcom sexism at play once again. I don't give a shit about rigs and motion capture or whatever, her walk cycle was 2 adjustments from being full Bayonetta, and I hate it. The ass shots? Disrespectful. Her heels didn't have to be that high. Never heard of a kitten heel? They exist. The people who worked on RE3 Remake and worked on this DLC sure love to make a woman vomit don't they? Why the fuck was she so clean the entire game? She was being thrown around and tossed in the dirt a lot, but this woman's skin is shinier than a waxed apple. Either she has some wet wipes on hand, or god forbid women get filthy. Absolutely zero reason she shouldn't have been looking as rough as Leon by the time she gets on the helicopter! No reason at all!

That's all they wrote! I love Ada. I loved this DLC, and I loved the dynamics going on here even though I hated every time Wesker was on screen or opened his mouth at all.

As much as I would love to expand this post and go further into the changed Ada and Leon relationship, I frankly hate all the takes I've been seeing so much on either side of the Aeon debate. I hate the ongoing conversation around it so much that I don't know if I want to discuss this at all. The Aeon should've gotten this if not for Luis and Ashley side and the Aeon is dead side going back and forth with each other? All of you put on your clown noses! None of you are looking at this situation objectively to see where the lines cross and where they run alongside each other, and frankly I'm tired! I could clear this whole table off so both of you can get exactly what you want based on what you're not actually interpreting from this media, but I won't! Kill each other!

[mixelation]

i found a part of reborn au that's just like "here's how i justify team 7 still existing"

Minato was having a conundrum. 

He had the files of twelve of the current academy students lined up in front of him. These were the twelve their teachers had deemed reasonably likely to graduate; the rest would be given their fair shot at graduation, but were likely to need further training. He’d already sorted the bottom of the class into teams he thought were reasonable. 

Of the top twelve, some could still fail. It was his job for the day to finalize their proposed genin teams, with the goal of maximizing their success for graduation and also the beginning of their genin careers. The Academy liked to lie to its students and pretend the teams were all composed to be evenly matched, but this was only partially true. It would be detrimental to both the students’ development and Konoha’s interests if an unworthy candidate graduated simply because they were put on a team with more all-around skilled classmates, or if an otherwise promising student was barred from graduating because their teammates bungled their Jounin’s test. 

At the same time, Minato understood better than anyone how this sort of system stacked the deck in favor of clan-born students. If you stuck all the best students together, then you ended up with a lot of teams of all clan kids who’d had access to more training opportunities than students without large shinobi families to rely on. 

This year was especially annoying to balance, in that it had five clan heirs graduating, plus the second children of two clan heads and Minato’s own son. This meant the top portion of the class was all especially heavy-hitters in terms of current skills. 

He wanted to spread these eight students out with the other, more “normal” kids, but… well, he couldn’t split up the latest iteration of Ino-Shika-Cho, and his analysis team had made an incredibly good case for a Hyuuga-Aburame-Inuzuka tracking team. 

Hyuu-Abu-Inu? Abu-Inu-Hyuu? Excellent Tracking Combo Team: All-seeing Bug Dog?

He pondered this title for a few moments. Well, it was a work in progress. 

So that was two teams that were basically guaranteed to pass, and he now had to arrange another two teams. This is where things got tricky. 

The analysis team had identified that Naruto and Sasuke had the potential to make an incredibly effective combat duo. Minato agreed with this. He also understood that they… ah, didn’t really get along, and suggested the third member be someone who could balance them out. His analysis team had suggested Haruno Sakura. 

He stared down at her class photo, right at the center of his desk. He’d talked to Sakura maybe twice. She was the only student without at least one Jounin parent to make it into the top twelve. Between her near-perfect written scores, excellent classroom behavior, high chakra proficiency, and acceptable scores in physical tests, she probably would be a stand-out in a less competitive year. Compared to other students in this year, however, she wasn’t really anything to write home about. Minato only recognized her because Naruto happened to have a giant crush on her. 

Through Naruto’s mooning, he also knew she had her own crush on Sasuke. He knew more about the intricacies of this little preteen love triangle than he wanted to, really. It was very dramatic. 

Maybe Sakura would be a good balance. Or maybe her presence would make the team one highly flammable tinderbox. His analysis team promised the former, but they seemed inexperienced with the nature of insane pre-teen crushes. 

Minato leaned back in his chair and swiveled it around to stare out the window. 

They were twelve years old. Maybe they’d just get over their wild feelings. 

Then again, he’d never gotten over his first crush… 

But wasn’t it important for young shinobi to work with different kinds of people despite their previous feelings about them? Or was this just him trying to justify favoritism towards Naruto, wanting him to be friends with Sasuke? 

He turned back to his desk, to see if he could figure out another way to arrange the teams. 

Actually, the three remaining students would make an excellent infiltration team. It would be stupid to break them up. 

He went back to pondering a team title for the Hyuuga-Aburame-Inuzuka team. 

xXx

Minato finished his speech with, “...so you see, choosing the right sensei for a team is imperative, and you’re the only man for the job.”

He smiled nervously at Kakashi, who looked like he’d aged about ten years over the course of the last five minutes. 

Kakashi’s shoulders slumped. He looked up at Minato from the file on his new team with incredibly tired eyes. 

“Why would you do this to me?” Kakashi asked. 

“Er, well,” Minato tried again. 

He’d been much more assertive with the other jounin sensei. But the other jounin sensei weren’t his personal students he was maybe possibly screwing over in a very personal way. 

“Shouldn’t Naruto be exposed to other people?” Kakashi asked. “I heard you gave Asuma a team. Wouldn’t he be a better fit?”

Asuma was Minato’s top pick for Naruto’s jounin sensei, actually. Asuma had wind chakra and also intimately understood what being the son of a Hokage was like, and he was also someone Naruto hadn’t grown up with. Minato was originally going to hand Kakashi the tracking team. 

(Dog Bug Eyes. The Legendary Eyes Guiding Dog Fang Insect Symbiosis.)

Unfortunately, Team 7 would eat Asuma alive. Also…

“It’s not about just Naruto,” Minato said. “I need someone who can handle the whole team.”

It would undoubtedly be weird for Naruto to have his former babysitter as a sensei, but that type of conditional role swapping was something clan kids navigated every day. Importantly, Kakashi was someone Naruto would trust not to give him special treatment for being the Hokage’s kid. Kakashi was also a rare Jounin who could help Sasuke with lightning jutsu, which he wouldn’t necessarily be able to get from his clan. 

“And Sakura is a wildcard,” Minato continued his pitch. “She’s been identified as a genjutsu-type, but her chakra control could lead her to many different specialties, and she has no familial connections to help her explore them. A jack-of-all-trades like you is an ideal teacher for her.”

Kakashi’s eyes drifted back down to the file in his hands. 

“Isn’t she that girl Naruto likes?” he asked. 

“Well,” Minato said levelly. “Naruto does like her, but you shouldn’t think of your new student that way.”

“Doesn’t Naruto keep fighting Sasuke over her?” Kakashi asked, ignoring this statement. “Sensei, you’ve somehow made something worse than Team 4.”

Wrong, Minato thought. Nothing is worse than Team 4. 

“I have full confidence you can handle it,” he said. 

Kakashi met his eyes. “Why would you do this to me?” he repeated. 

“If only you’d taken one of the four other teams I tried to give you,” Minato replied dryly. 

Kakashi straightened his shoulders, exposed eye gleaming. “I’ll just fail them too,” he said.

Minato smiled tightly back at him. “I have full confidence in them.”

[roostersmustache]

Reflections of Who We Used to Be

Pairing: Loki x Original Female Character

Author's Note: It's been a while! I don't know if anyone will be reading this, but I am gonna post it anyways! I've had this idea brewing for a little bit, so I thought, why not give it a write? Let me know what you think!

Synopsis: Sigrid and Loki had everything. Love, marriage, a beautiful daughter on the way...but then everything got ripped right under her feet when Loki was killed in the Infinity War. But one day, Loki comes waltzing back into her life, except this Loki isn't the one that left her.

or

Loki comes back to his spot in the timeline, but this Loki doesn't remember living the events after his attack on New York City. He just remembers the TVA.

Warnings: Swearing, adult themes, angst, possible MCU spoilers, possible Loki spoilers, probably not entirely accurate.

Word Count: 2.5K

Masterlist

Sigrid grew up lonely. She had no siblings, and she always had a harder time than others her age when it came to making friends. Her school was small, she went to a small private school in Asgard, one reserved for those in families of higher power. Her father was high ranking in Asgard's army, practically Odin's right hand man. It was no surprise to anyone when she was placed in her school.

She excelled in school, constantly awing her instructors with her mind, always one step ahead than the rest in her class. But when it came to magic, she was weak. Sigrid was diagnosed with a condition called POTS at the age of five. Because of this, her body has never been strong enough to fully support the magic she wished she had.

Loki and her met when she was in her second year of school, and he was in his fourth. She was seven and he was nine. They met in the library, her face was nose deep in a book that he wanted to read, and instead of telling him, the weird prince, to go away like everyone else, she offered that they read it together. They've been inseparable ever since.

When they got to middle school, they were both there to experience each others first crushes, so they decided to help each other out and be each others first kiss. Just for practice. Loki wanted to be able to tell Thor he had also kissed a girl.

From then on, they were there for each other when one another got their heart broken. They exchanged books, Loki helped Sigrid with her magic, and they made each other feel less lonely. Loki had always felt like an outcast, and Sigrid had always been lonely. They filled that gap for one another.

However, after high school, Loki discovered his true parentage, thus sparking a downward spiral for him, taking everyone else with him. His mind had never been so dark and cold, so vulnerable. Sigrid was there for him, and she was just what he needed, a shoulder to cry on. Loki felt everyone else around him had begun to push him away, afraid of the monster he truly was. But not Sigrid. Never Sigrid.

But this revelation left his mind vulnerable enough for dark forced to enter it, and enter it they did.

It took too much convincing, and too many analysis' of Loki for Odin to finally believe that he had been under the influence of a dark force when he attacked New York. Loki felt it was pointless to fight the old man on it, but Thor and Sigrid had insisted.

Loki was under the influence of Thanos, and while under that spell, he had killed many innocent people and destroyed lots of the city. No one on Earth would ever comfortably welcome him back, but the people of Asgard would have to learn to. Loki knew he was seen as even more of a monster now, and that fact pushed him deeper into his darkness than he had been before.

While not under the influence of Thanos, Loki was still broken. He was dealing with the guilt of what he had done, and the realization that he would forever be seen as a monster was at the forefront of his mind. In a fight against the Dark Elves, Loki had faked his death. His mother, Frigga had been killed, and Loki was the most heartbroken he had ever been. Sigrid was devastated when Thor came back and said Loki was gone. The grief she had felt during that time was insufferable.

She drowned in her sadness everyday, and her magic had never been weaker. She fainted more often than normal, her POTS getting worse, and it was during this time that she discovered she loved Loki. She always had loved Loki. But this was the most real thing she had ever felt, and she couldn't do anything with it, because he was gone.

But then he came back one day, a couple months later, and Sigrid swears she's never been so angry in her life. He apologized profusely to her, claiming he needed to get away to stop hurting the people around him, but she didn't care. He left her, and they had promised to never leave each other. He knew she'd mourn him. She called him selfish, and the two didn't speak for another two weeks.

The first time they spoke after that, he told her he loved her. She told him she loved him. He promised he'd never leave her again.

The rest is history.

A year later, the two got married, a wedding that some supported and some did not. Many people still thought Loki was a monster and that he would never change. But those who really knew him knew that wasn't the case.

Their marriage was filled with such joy and happiness for the both of them. They brought out the best in one another, and Sigrid helped people see that Loki wasn't the monster they all thought he was. Sigrid had never been happier, and it was quite obvious to everyone. The girls who used to tease her in school now bowed down to her as their princess, and the boys that bullied her now wished they had her.

And Loki. Sigrid thought Loki looked better the older he got. When his hair reached his shoulders, she was a goner. He was so handsome, and it seemed that the rest of the kingdom had started to notice too. Palace workers would tell him it was "alright if he needed a break from his wife," and shoot a wink his way. Sigrid would have to excuse herself to simmer off, but Loki would remind her just how devoted he was to her every night.

After a couple years of being married, Sigrid found out she was pregnant. She had kept waking up sick, and sure enough, it's because she was expecting. Loki had been overjoyed, terrified, but overjoyed. Sigrid didn't think she could love her husband more, but the promise of him being a father left a flutter in her stomach she didn't know she could have.

They had already begun prepping their nursery, keeping it as gender neutral as possible, as they wouldn't discover the babies gender until they were born. Sigrid found a new hobby in making her old baby clothes, and Loki would hold her belly and sing to her every night. She was living in a bubble of bliss.

But every bubble pops at some point.

Thor and Loki had heard about the threat of Ragnarok, and at first Sigrid didn't believe in it, but then Loki and Thor returned from a place called Sakaar and informed her that it was very real, and definitely going to happen. While they were in Sakaar, their sister Hela, whom none of them knew about, had totally taken over Asgard, and had even kept Sigrid hostage in the castle. Sigrid was surprised Hela didn't kill her, but she also knew she was being used as leverage to get the princes back to Asgard.

Those few days where she was under Hela's control in Asgard were Sigrid's own personal hell, literally. She was paraded around like a prize, dangling over the Asgardian's heads. Heimdall came to her rescue, sneaking in one night and taking her with him, where they sought safety with the other Asgardian's.

The next day, Thor came back with Banner and Valkyrie, and Sigrid started to worry when Loki wasn't with them. Especially since Hela's army of the dead and her massive dog, Fenrir, were surrounding them on the bridge. But Loki did show up, he showed up on a massive ship, and suddenly everything was better.

Sigrid rushed to give him a hug, but he urgently rushed her on the ship, not willing to risk hers and their babies life. Sigrid watched from inside with hundreds of Asgardians as her husband, Thor, and Valkyrie all defeated Hela and Asgard burned to the ground. It was a bittersweet feeling, watching home collapse but also knowing everyone was safe.

Sigrid thought the chaos was over there, finally feeling relieved that they were finally en route to somewhere to rebuild. She was already thinking about her new home wit Loki, what the new nursery would look like. They settled on Earth, but as they were on the way there, they came across an enemy ship.

Sigrid begged and begged Loki not to go check it out with everyone else, but he insisted. She then begged to come with him, but he refused. Any other time he would've loved her companionship, but carrying their child was not something he was willing to put on the line.

Sigrid cried to him to not go, she had a horrible feeling, but he insisted he had to for the good of their people. They told each other they loved each other and kissed goodbye, and he promised he'd be right back.

He promised he'd be right back.

But Loki didn't come back. Loki never came back. Thor came back a different man, and all he could utter was that Loki was gone. Sigrid felt a type of pain she hadn't ever felt in her life. Even when she thought Loki was dead the first time, it had never felt this way. She thinks it's because a part of her always knew he was never dead, but she knew this was real. Even as she screamed at Thor and told him he was faking it, she knew it was real.

While Thor and Loki were confronting Thanos in the first place, several of Thanos' "children," as he called them, killed hundreds of Asgardian's, and only about a hundred made it out alive.

Thor had found them in Norway, and he came with Loki's body. Sigrid had shook her husband and wailed at him to wake up, to stop playing tricks. It wasn't funny. This wasn't the time to joke.

But it was no joke.

A few short months later, Sigrid gave birth to their daughter without him. Sigrid took one look at their daughter and decided to name her Frigga, after Loki's mother whom he loved dearly.

Frigga became the light in Sigrid's life that she had been missing, though she wished more than anything that Loki was there with her. She found him everywhere; in the wind and the way it put a breeze in her hair, in the green hue of the mountains surrounding their new home, New Asgard as they called it, and in the rain, Loki's favorite weather.

Sigrid found her days spent distracting herself with baking. She decided, not long after she had Frigga, to open a bakery in town, just a couple blocks from her home. Thor decided to live with her and Frigga, offering support that Sigrid was endlessly grateful for.

She, and the rest of her people, picked her life back up piece by piece. Her bakery flourished, Frigga was happy, and she slowly started to properly mourn her husband, taking forever to fully accept that he was gone. She visited his grave everyday and talked to him, it brought her peace. Once Frigga was old enough to understand, she brought her with her.

Frigga knew her father to be a hero. Her uncle and her mother did a great job painting that picture for her, and she went to school and bragged about him. Frigga inherited everything about him. She had his long, black hair and piercing blue eyes, and, much to her mothers awe and dismay, his magic.

The first sign she had Loki's magic was when she could turn inanimate objects into snakes. Sigrid had screamed, and then laughed, thrilled that her daughter had her father's magic touch. Now, at age eight, she was able to shape-shift into small animals herself. She could also make herself invisible, manipulate other objects, and read peoples memories with the touch of her hand on their head. Just like her father.

Frigga followed her mother to the bakery everyday that she didn't have school. She had become quite the baker herself, and Sigrid loved having her help.

Today was no different, it was a Friday and Frigga had run to her mothers bakery as soon as she got out of school. Sigrid let her bake some brownies before starting on her homework, and then it was homework before she could help again.

Sigrid had spent the day making various cakes before her daughter had come. Now that she had sent Frigga off to her designated desk in the back to do homework, she was going to start on some lemon bars. The store had been running slow today, and with no customer in sight she had decided to make some treats to pass the time.

She was really feeling pop music recently, and had it blasting through the store as she worked, powder fresh on her face. She was singing along to the newest song on her shuffle when she realized she needed more sugar, running to fetch some from the back.

While she was back there she made sure Frigga was on track with her homework, receiving an annoyed scoff from her daughter. She just rolled her eyes and lightly tapped her on the head before moving back out to her baking table.

She heard the bell ring on her front door, signaling customers, and she hollered at them that she'd be right out. She was almost finished cutting up another lemon, when she heard them start to talk. She could make out three separate voices, a woman with an accent, a man with no accent who mentioned key lime pie, and finally...

Sigrid stopped her motions all together, almost cutting herself with her knife. That third voice was one she hadn't heard in almost nine years, but one that she could surely recognize in a crowd of millions. It was deep, sultry, and had a thick accent. It was the voice she had fallen utterly in love with. And as if no time had passed between the last time she heard that voice and now, it carried her towards it like a magnet.

She scrambled to reach the front of the shop, her skin feeling icy hot and her heart hammering in her chest. She reached the front counter and her throat went dry. When was the last time she had a POTS spell?

As she looked up she was gasping for air, and her vision was going blurry. But she'd recognize those eyes, that hair, anywhere. She felt a tear roll down her face.

"Loki?"

She fainted.

~~

If you would like to be added to the tag list, let me know! Likes, comments, and of course reblogs are always welcome and appreciated!

[piglet26]

Top Five Reylo Scenes

Before I start I do want to add why Reylo means so much to me. Recently I went through a really deep depression and part of what pulled me out of it was Reylo. I was able to write essays and do analysis about this OTP. Rewatching the films and focusing on theirs scenes helped get my mind off of some pretty deep stuff. I was also able to receive love and connection through the Reylo community. It's meant a lot to me! Also, I know that Tumblr is very supportive to anyone going through a tough time and directing people to self help lines. If you are going through a time that is really dark or challenging I Love You in Reylo.

Now my top three scenes is tough cause I love them all, but if I had to focus on an order to the game I'd say........

5 " You Need a Teacher"

“There’s a history in Star Wars of the attraction between the light and dark…”

Truth be told I'm surprised this scenes ranked as high as it did with me because I do not like that she beat him. The more I thought about it I realized why I did want to rank it. There is something raw and dirty about them here. The look of sheer amazement he gives her after that lightsaber flew to her was everything. The force theme beginning to play. Then when she lit the lightsaber and he was like "oh, you wanna duel? ok, let's duel then." The moment they found the force together with their faces beautifully lit up. It really is great.

There is nothing violent really about their fight, like I don't fear for their lives. Resembling the scene where Kylo Ren said could “take whatever he wants” and “Don’t be afraid, I feel it too” while looking at her lips. The chemistry took me by complete surprise and I shifted in my seat uncertainly watching this the first time. Surely I shouldn’t like a murderer and a villain with Rey, but I couldn’t help it. This very chemistry, though probably amounting to less than ten minutes of actual interaction between each other, leaves the audience with a hungry desire for more.

Reylo and Anidala could be mirrors of each other with Anakin falling to the Dark Side because of his selfish love for Padme and Kylo coming back to the Light because of his selfless love for Rey.

When Kylo is with Rey, he is calmer, and calculating. For Kylo, the seduction is to the Light. However, when Rey first searches out the Force with her feelings, she immediately ends up in the Dark Side, and is unafraid to take what she wants from it. In battle, she is furious, screaming and bent on destruction. As I mentioned above, Anidala and Reylo could be the Force’s attempts at balancing itself. Where Anidala was destined to fail, Reylo is destined to prevail and finally balance the Force.

4 "You'll turn........I'll help you"

“The Abduction,” the song in TFA when the “bridal carry” happens, has a very similar ascending line of notes to a recurring theme in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture.

I love everything about this. The infamous elevator scene. Reylo once again dominates the screen in The Last Jedi, easily rendering Finn’s growing romance with Rose bland and tedious in comparison. Rian Johnson is a Reylo stan so I stan him. This is the first time Rey and Kylo are physically side by side since she tried to kill him in the forest on Star killer Base. It's the most sexually charged body language! They spiffed up for one another. She’s changed her clothes, put on makeup and decided to leave her hair down. His hair is freshly washed with a spritz.

“Ben” She’s using his real name now and like in every scene with her now he's calm. He hates his name, but when she says it he hears her. She's appealing to his true nature, or, what she believes it to be. It's possessive as well. He is HER Ben. The way he tried not to have a reaction to her until she said his name. He's trying to stay blank and not give away what he intends to do, but none the less has a reaction to her.

Rian Johnson basically confirmed that Kylo / Ben wanted to kiss Rey in the elevator scene. It’s canon so I am prepared to fight. Not to mention, Johnson tells us that Adam Driver, as Kylo / Ben, seriously considered kissing Rey in this scene. He is, indeed, staring at her lips in the elevator with the most intense eye contact.

Reylo speaks to me, and many others, on a spiritual level. Like many stories of both maiden and monster, Reylo shows us what it means to be a heroine. A heroine reaches her hand out to monsters and says: you deserve love and compassion, no matter the mistakes you’ve made. We're in a movement where women are tired of "fixing" men and I'm here for it. I honestly think that's why so many woman found it difficult that Reylo is not soft and sweet.

3 ........Ben?"

Adam Driver says Kylo Ren can’t help but harbor admiration for Daisy Ridley’s Rey in the Last Jedi. “I think there’s something familiar there, as well as something to be feared, or something… that he (Kylo) can’t quite place.”

Let me go ahead and say that I'm going to cheat.... I'm including the novelization in this because that mixed with novel is what gives me life. TROS brought such mixed Reylo emotions. We got great stuff! In small doses *eye roll* In the novel. She was glad to see him. Glad to be with him in this moment. It was the greatest gift she could have given him. His heart was full as Rey reached for his face, let her fingers linger against his cheek. And then, wonder of wonders, she leaned forward and kissed him.

The way Rey sits in wonder...... never mind she was borderline dead..... Ben is there, really there and she's just staring in wonder. Ben is looking at her in painful awe and relief. They are both almost child-like in their affection. The way Rey hesitates, after years alone, it takes her a moment to work up the courage for her first kiss. Ben just lets her take her time. The way he waits patiently for her to work up the courage and then the moment the kiss, he pulls her to him like she is the air he breathes for his first kiss. Oh! The smiles. Seriously?! Ben and Rey are happy! There was fireworks, champagne and pussy power! Rey’s hand. Ben gave his very life essence to Rey because his love is that absolute.

And let’s not forget the novelization of TLJ had this quote “They will never have to be alone again”.

Now this is where things get messy as hell. Adam was on the set of Tatooine..... but as they cut that ending. Daisy stated regarding the ending “the crew was shaken in a way I had not seen before. and I thought, ‘my god if this is people’s immediate reaction when the scene isn’t even ready, imagine what it will be like to see it in the movies, with the John Williams soundtrack and all that." When Ben faded into the force...... no one felt anything for a moment then there was just confusion and disappointment. You cannot nor will you ever have me believing that this janky ending was the real deal.

2 "Join Me.......... Please"

“He (Kylo) sensed his and Rey’s destinies were intertwined, but how?......"

The Throne Room Proposal! Kylo premeditated in the purest Sith way regarding the murdering of his Master for his bae. Then he gives Rey a furious speech on killing the past in a bid to win her over and fulfill his dark Queen fantasy. “You come from nothing, you’re nothing—but not to me,” Kylo tells Rey, in one of the most beautifully twisted declarations of love ever uttered in a family blockbuster, before quietly pleading with her to join him like he’s the most desperately lonely person in the universe. The duo’s visions of their future together—Rey sees Kylo turning to the Light, and Kylo witnesses Rey joining him in the Dark. However, upon Snoke’s death, the bond still stands. Kylo offers Rey a place at his side and his hand in marriage, but it is the proposal of an awkward boy, grasping desperately at a relationship he has only begun to understand.

And you can see it in her face, that she’s torn, there is a part of her that wants to take his hand, not to rule the galaxy, that’s not her ambition, but to simply stay with someone who truly understands her as well. But it’s the ‘please’ Adam Driver showed that Julliard education with that one word. Both actors just brough it. You can see how far they've come and yet still so far away from each other.

1 "You're Not Alone.......Neither are You"

“When Rey feels rejected by Luke Skywalker, who also sees parallels between the power in her and the abilities of his estranged nephew, the old Jedi master inadvertently pushes the two towards each other.”

You knew it was coming. In TLJ, Kylo is at his most sympathetic and tempting; Rey at her most understanding. Both are outcasts because of their power, they are both lonely, whispering to each other comfortingly “you’re not alone” and “neither are you.” Kylo sees more in Rey than she does within herself. He also challenges her as an equal. Ben ultimately encourages her to not only expand her mind, but in embrace her womanhood. It is no wonder that Rey goes to him. After experiencing Luke and his failings as a master and failing to find the answer's she's been looking for....... Rey ends up relating to Kylo. Kylo, for once, has put the whole of misery and life lessons into something productive.

When we find them alone in a dark hut, slowly lean towards each other, and very hesitantly touch hands in a scene fraught with romantic tension. Notably, the Force music plays during the scene, signaling their relationship’s importance. A tear crawls down Rey’s face as the two connect and understand each other on a level so deep that it is reminiscent of sex, and causes Luke Skywalker to pull the ultimate Dad move and blow up the hut.

As Rey and Kylo develop their bond we see the force attempting to balance itself. Yin and Yang....... the imagery littered throughout the sequel trilogy is drawn heavily from those belief systems. We see continuous parallel shots with Rey and Ben to represent this duality. Both are presented in contrasting surroundings that represent the duality of the masculine and the feminine. In many shots half of their figure is bathed in light and the other half is bathed in the darkness.

This connection is as spiritual as it is romantic. As Jason Fry explained, romance is merely the analog we have in the living force for this deep spiritual bond.

[aubreysheadspace]

Heyyy!!! Love ur posts and am glad to see you back on writing!!! <3

Anyways, may I request the omori MAIN CAST and their ways of showing you affection/main one of their 5 love languages?

Love ya! <3

MAIN CAST AND THEIR LOVE LANGUAGES

it’s nice to be back! after replaying omori more than usual, i made up my answers through my personal analysis and headcanons, so i hope you enjoy!

SUNNY — QUALITY TIME

shown throughout the game, SUNNY is someone who doesn’t like to be alone. his good memory allows him to remember the good times he has with his friends and cherish them dear into his mind.

even in silence doing absolutely nothing, SUNNY would still cherish the time with you because that’s how much he enjoys being with you. he likes the quiet anyway.

he doesn’t enjoy being alone, so he’s down with anything you wanna do… even if it’s something he might not enjoy. he’ll try to get through it and suck it up, he likes spending time with you either way.

AUBREY — QUALITY TIME

another person who likes quality time, but she could also be words of affirmation. AUBREY has shown that she hates being alone and enjoys hanging out with the people closest to her, such as the original main cast and the HOOLIGANS.

she likes planning upcoming dates, which she calls 'hang-outs' (she’s a little embarrassed to call them dates, but will never admit it) so you and her can go out together. she also likes going over to your house to spend time with you there.

as much as she doesn’t admit it a lot, she hates feeling alone. as long as she’s with people she cares about, like you, she doesn’t feel lonely and it makes her happy to make new memories with them and you.

KEL — PHYSICAL AFFECTION

KEL just screams physical affection. giving a simple high-five is enough for him to feel pumped up and happy. he’s like the type of guy to have his arm around your shoulder, like he’s gotta be latched onto you somehow.

if you’re comfortable with it, he’ll try to lessen his touch, but he can’t promise it when it’s basically how he shows affection towards those he cares about deeply in his heart.

words of affirmation can also be his thing as well! he likes cheering you on with words that help him out whenever he’s sad. he’s like your personal and number one cheerleader as well!

BASIL — GIFT GIVING

while this one was a little tough, but i think it works well sort of? BASIL could also be words of affirmation or acts of service too, either way he enjoys receiving any kind of affection thrown at him.

he likes both receiving gifts and giving them! he might get flustered, but he will forever be grateful for any gifts. and he will, of course, think carefully on what to give you.

he’s definitely assigned you a flower, no questions asked. that itself is like his whole love language, a flower that will always remind him of the people he loves and cherishes, including you!

HERO — ACTS OF SERVICE

HERO is quite literally the king of acts of services. he could also be words of affirmation too, he likes to offer advice and help cheer you up with cheesy, romantic words to make you laugh. but of course, he also means those words too!

you got some chores around the house? he could help finish them for you! are you hungry? he’s already cooking up something tasty! are you sick? he’s already got you resting in your bed and on his way with some warm soup for you to eat!

he also doesn’t mind if you wanna do some acts of services for him, he appreciates it more than you know. he doesnt wanna admit it, but he does need the help sometimes, especially with how stressful college seems to be for him. but hey, at least he’s got you!

MARI — WORDS OF AFFIRMATION

MARI is basically the queen of words of affirmation. her words can hype up and make anyone feel better in just a few seconds! she also enjoys quality time with you, picnic dates or just simply spending time with her makes her very, very happy.

right next to KEL, she’s like your personal cheerleader. her encouraging words can always give you the motivation and strength you need! there are some days where her words might not be enough but that’s okay, even she has those kind of days..!

now onto receiving. she loves to receive physical affection, if you’re okay with it. if not, that’s totally fine, it’s not a need anyway. she does enjoy holding hands with you so hopefully you’re okay with that. if you aren’t then.. that’s okay too!

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Memoriam | Spencer Reid

Add yourself to my taglist! | Here’s my masterlist!

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: depictions of abuse, pedophilia, talk of murder, panic attacks...

Author's note: This is a rewrite of S04E07 Memoriam because I'd had this idea of reader/OC being Spencer's best friend from Las Vegas and that they'd grown up together and were geniuses together, so when I saw this episode, it kind fit...

Words: 13,947

“Detective Y/L/N,” the captain of the North Las Vegas Police Department approached the Y/H/C woman at her desk. The woman swiveled in her chair, looking up at the man she called her boss. “Can you get the file of that petty arson on my desk by noon?” 

“Sure thing, boss,” she nodded and swiveled back, returning to the very file she was just finishing up. 

Y/N Y/L/N was the youngest detective at the Las Vegas Police Department. At just 22 years old, the girl had joined the department with three doctorates on her name and a BA in Sociology. Now, at 27 years of age, she was the most trusted, the most vetted detective in the department. Her co-workers trusted her more than anyone, all except Detective Hyde. 

The man had known her since she was just a little girl. She was best friends with the son of one of his best friends. Maybe he didn’t like her because he still thought of her as the little girl she used to be. Or maybe he didn’t like her because she was a girl.

Just as she began focusing on her file again, a voice she knew all-too-well snapped her back out of that focus. 

“Hi. I’m Special Agent Spencer Reid with the FBI,” the voice sounded. 

Y/N turned around in the span of a nanosecond, her eyes locking on the source of said sound. There he was. Tall and beautiful as ever. The boy she had grown up with. Her non-biological-twin. Her best friend. 

Slowly, she got up and approached the man she hadn’t seen in a couple of years. He was talking to one of her co-workers, but quickly got distracted when she spoke up. “Dr. Spencer Reid, as I live and breathe.” 

His eyes snapped up, surprise and amazement written all over his face as he saw her. “Detective Y/N Y/L/N,” he scoffed in surprise. “Wow, it’s been–” 

“Six years and forty-five days?” she cut him off with the exact number of years and days she had gone without seeing him. “Not that I’m counting, or anything.” She let out a small chuckle as he did the same. 

Y/N Y/L/N and Spencer Reid had met when they were still in nappies. Their mothers had become fast friends when they were in labor together and gave birth to their kids on the exact same day, at the exact same time. Ever since that day, the two women have been inseparable, as did their kids. Both of them grew up to be geniuses with IQ’s through the roof. They went to school together, graduated high school at twelve years old and went on to graduate from the academy together. 

While both of them applied for the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI, only one of them got hired while the other settled for a life in Vegas with the Police Department there. 

“Wh-what are you doing here?” she then asked when he didn’t move or say anything. 

Spencer seemingly snapped out of a daze as he made a beeline for his oldest friend. “Do you remember Riley Jenkins?” he asked. 

“Wasn’t he your imaginary friend?” she asked, but he quickly shook his head. 

“That’s what I thought, but he actually existed. Can you maybe get everything the LVPD has on the 1984 murder of Riley?” 

Y/N’s eyes widened. “He was murdered?” 

“Yeah… And I think I know who might’ve done it.” 

With a nod of her head, Y/N got to work. She researched every inch of the department until she finally came up with the files from the case in a cardboard box, along with Detective Hyde, who apparently worked the case. 

“That was a rough one,” he sighed as he set the box down on Y/N’s desk. 

“Did you work the case?” Spencer asked while his best friend started looking through some of the files. Memories flashed before her eyes from the time she went to Spencer’s little leagues games and practices. 

“Yeah,” Detective Hyde replied. “I was three of four blocks away when the call came in on the radio. My first kid. You don’t forget those.” 

Y/N looked up to notice Spencer’s sad expression, telling her he’d had his own ‘first kid’ at some point in his career. 

Instead of pressing further on the sentiment, Spencer continued by asking another question. “Let me ask you this, were there any suspects?” 

Something told Y/N he was fishing for a specific answer, something he hadn’t told her yet. 

“We looked at the family initially. The dad, older brother,” Hyde explained. 

“Makes sense. The boy was found in his own basement, right?” Spencer asked. 

Hyde sighed. “Yeah. After a while the family got defensive, stopped cooperating…” 

“Like the JonBenét case?” Y/N chimed in as the thought popped into her head. 

The older man nodded his head in agreement. “I never liked them for it anyway,” he added. “I always figured it was somebody outside the home.” That seemed to elicit some kind of emotion from Spencer, though Y/N couldn’t decipher what it was just yet. 

“What’s the Bureau’s interest in the case?” Y/N then asked. 

Spencer’s eyes flitted to hers before focusing on the box in front of him. “Uh, research.” There was something he wasn’t telling them. Something important. He wasn’t here with the FBI, Y/N figured quickly. He was here of his own volition. 

“Is this everything?” he then asked, diverting the subject. 

“There might be another box down in Records,” Hyde responded, his confused eyes darting from the young agent to the young detective. 

Spencer nodded his head. “I’d like to see it all, if you don’t mind.” 

Nodding his head, Hyde left the two young adults alone to go and get the files they requested. As soon as the man was out of earshot, Y/N turned to the man she once knew as a kid. “What are you hiding from me, Dr. Reid?” she asked in a soft whisper. 

Spencer didn’t answer and opened one of the files, showing a picture of the young boy to Y/N. “Don’t you remember him?” he asked. The kid in the picture gave the camera a soft smile. He was wearing a red Rovers T-Shirt and a red cap that hid his brown curls. 

“From your little leagues games,” she stated as she grabbed the picture. “He was a little older than us, wasn’t he?” 

Humming, Spencer nodded his head. “Yeah, he was six. Dad was his coach. He figured playing ball would make me normal.” 

“But you aren’t normal,” Y/N said with a soft smile. “You’re extraordinary.” She tucked a strand of his hair that had fallen on his forehead behind his ear, but then quickly pulled away when she realized what she had done. 

Spencer’s smile mirrored hers and he opened his mouth to say something, but Detecitve Hyde returned with the rest of the files, stopping the twenty-seven year old from doing so. Instead, he grabbed the files from Hyde, placed them inside the box in front of him and shut it before picking it up. 

“It was nice seeing you again, Y/N/N,” he said with a smile and turned. 

It hurt watching him walk away yet again. It had hurt not seeing or hearing from him for almost seven years. Having him here, close to her, felt right. Watching him walk into the precinct felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. 

“Wait!” she called, stopping him in his tracks. “You need any help?” 

Spencer turned back around and shook his head slightly. “No, that’s okay.” 

As he turned back around, Y/N sighed and rushed forward, stepping in front of him so he couldn’t move. “You’re really just gonna walk out here and not talk to me again for the next seven years? Because that’s not something I can handle. I can tell you’re stressed. I can tell something’s bugging you about this case and I wanna help. I’m your best friend, Spence.” The entire time she talked, she looked at him, trying to gauge any reaction from his face. “And I don’t know if you remember, but I did also almost get into the BAU if another genius hadn’t rightfully taken the spot instead.” 

Spencer sighed. “Y/N/N…” 

“Don’t ‘Y/N/N’ me, Spence. I wanna help. So let me help.” 

Another sigh elicited from the boy in front of her. “Fine. When do you get off?” 

“Now,” she smiled, lying through her teeth. “Lemme get changed and I’ll join you, yeah?”

With a nod of approval from her best friend, Y/N went back to her desk and grabbed the finished file from her desk, dropping it off at the captain’s desk before making it into the locker room where she quickly changed into jeans and a top. 

The two of them headed down to Fountainview, the hotel Spencer was staying at. The whole car ride down there, the two friends filled one another in on their lives. It was a pleasant conversation as though no time had passed. Spencer was still the one person she would feel safest with. He’d been her solace for the past twenty-seven years. Seven years apart didn’t change that. 

“And then I just kicked him in the balls and left the club,” Y/N finished her story with a giggle as she and Spencer walked down the hallway on the fourth floor to his room. “It was–” she cut herself off when she heard a sound coming from the door they’d just stopped at. Judging from the look Spencer gave her, this was not supposed to be happening. 

Slowly but surely, Spencer unlocked the door and walked in first, Y/N following closely behind, just in case she’d have to protect him. Inside the room, the tv was playing reruns of some sort of soap opera Y/N didn’t know the name of, and in front of said tv were two men, both older than Spencer and herself. One of them had to be in his mid-thirties while the other seemed a good twenty years older than them. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Spencer asked, telling Y/N that he did know them. 

“Hey,” the younger one greeted as Y/N and Spencer both moved further into the room. “What’s it look like we’re doing?” he asked, pointing at the tv. 

Spencer moved to set down the box of files on the high stool next to him. “Breaking into my room and watching Days of Our Lives?” 

“Young and the Restless,” the older man corrected before turning the tv off. 

As Spencer put his messenger bag down, the two men looked up at the younger adults in the room. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a plane back to D.C.?” Spencer asked. 

“And you’re supposed to be hanging out with your mom,” the older said before his eyes darted over to Y/N. “And I don’t think that’s your mom…” 

Spencer looked back at Y/N, who gave the guys a shy wave. “That’s Detective Y/N Y/L/N. She’s my childhood best friend, we went to school together.” 

“Didn’t you graduate at age twelve?” the younger one of the men asked. 

With a grin, Y/N replied, “So did I.” 

“Y/N/N, these are Derek Morgan and David Rossi, my co-workers,” Spencer quickly introduced them, pointing at each of them as he said their respective names. 

“Nice to meet you, agents,” Y/N said politely, smiling. 

Derek smiled back at Y/N, “You too, sweetheart.” The man had a flirty demeanor about him. The way he said the words, the way he looked at her, … All of it just told her that she shouldn’t take the words to heart. It was just how he was. 

Then, Derek’s eyes moved over to the box on the chair to which he pointed. “Riley Jenkins?” he asked. 

Spencer sniffled before stuffing his hands in his pockets, something he did to keep himself from fidgeting too much, Y/N knew. “Uh, no. That’s not… That’s actually not why I’m here. I–” 

“He wanted to see me,” Y/N chimed in, noticing how the man was trying to talk himself out of it. 

Whatever this Riley Jenkins case was to him, his co-workers couldn’t know. 

Derek’s eyes flitted from Y/N to Spencer and back. “You don’t have to lie for him, sweetheart.” 

“She’s not lying. That-that’s why I’m–” 

“Reid,” Derek quickly interrupted as he placed his soda can down on the table between him and David. “Come on, man, who do you think you’re talking to?” He got up from the chair and approached Spencer and Y/N. “I know what this has been doing to you.” 

David was next to get up from his spot. “Let us help,” he said. 

Y/N couldn’t help but smile. His co-workers only wanted what was best for him, she could tell. The fact that they stayed behind in Las Vegas, knowing their co-worker needed their help, was very telling to her. 

“Maybe together we can find out who killed him,” David added. 

“I think I might already know,” Spencer responded with a fearful tremor in his voice that only Y/N caught onto. Her eyebrows furrowed the more she heard him talk about it and the more she watched him and his behavior. 

“So, tell us about the suspect,” Derek encouraged. 

Y/N watched his shoulder tense ever so slightly. “The truth is, I don’t know anything about him.” 

The puzzle pieces clicked in Y/N’s mind. His sudden interest in the case, the lie about the bureau’s interest in the case, the tension in his shoulders… She knew everything about Spencer’s life and the one thing neither of them knew very much about was the reason why he was doing this in the first place. “Your dad…” Y/N whispered. 

The agents exchanged some glances before Spencer started unloading the case files from the box and spreading them out on the bed with Y/N helping him out. 

“Before we go down this road, you need to be sure,” David pointed out, worry evident in his voice. 

“He’s right,” Derek chimed in. “Some rocks don’t need looking under.” 

Y/N looked up at Spencer as he sighed. “My mind is sending me signals. I can’t ignore them any more.” 

“Mixed signals,” Y/N muttered, capturing everyone’s attention. “That’s what the subconscious is all about, you know that better than anyone, Spence.” 

Nodding, Derek continued, “Reid, your dad left you.” Y/N noticed Spencer’s shoulders tensing ever so slightly. “You take it to the Freudian extreme, you could say that he killed your childhood.” 

Y/N’s heart broke a little at the memory of Spencer’s dad leaving. Though he never really talked about it with her, she knew how much it had hurt. She was there for it all. She was there to pick up the pieces of his broken heart and glue them back together in any way she could. 

“It could explain a dream in which you see him as a murderer,” David noted. 

Spencer shook his head. “I’ve come this far, I’m not going back.” 

His two co-workers exchanged glances once more before the four of them got to work. As each of them grabbed a file to look over, they gathered in the living area to go over the case together. While Spencer and David occupied each of the lounge chairs, Derek paced the length between it and Y/N was perched on the armrest of the chair Spencer was sitting on. 

“Riley was six at the time. His father, Lou Jenkins, was supposed to pick him up from T-ball practice at four, but he got delayed at work, prompting Riley to walk the three blocks home,” Spencer started to explain the case. 

Y/N nodded her head, already pretty familiar with the case. “When his mother got home in the early evening, she found him dead in the basement,” she continued. 

“So the offender came to the house after the boy arrived home,” Rossi noted, his eyes flicking up to the younger agent and his best friend. 

“Or picked him up on the way there,” Spencer offered his two cents. 

Derek stopped pacing for a moment as he spoke up. “Coaxes Riley into the basement, where he sexually assaults him.” 

A shiver ran down Y/N’s back as she thought of the boy she once knew. 

“The boy’s mouth was taped shut,” David read from his file. 

“Symbolic,” Y/N answered. “The perp fears Riley will talk, panics, weighs his options, …” 

“Decides to make certain that he’ll never talk,” Derek finished her thought before sitting down on one of the chairs to her right. 

David then continued, “He finds a knife in the fishing gear under the stairs, stabs Riley nine times in the chest. Stuffs him behind the washing machine.” The older man closed the file with a sigh. 

“So, the UnSub’s a white male in his late twenties to early thirties,” Spencer pondered. 

Y/N turned to him for a moment. “UnSub?” 

“Unknown Subject,” he quickly whispered, reminding her of the theory they had seen when they were in the academy together. Having not used the term in over seven years, a girl can sometimes forget. Unlike Spencer, she didn’t have an eidetic memory. 

“So that means we’re looking for someone in his fifties,” David spitballed. 

“And he likely knew the boy, maybe even been to his house,” Derek went on. 

“Neighbor,” David finished, having Derek nod his head in agreement. 

Finding her best friend a little too quiet for his own good, Y/N looked down to find him looking at a map of North Las Vegas. It was clear his brain was picking up on something but the thought hadn’t quite finished processing yet. 

“Spence?” she asked, capturing his attention. “What is it?” 

“My family lived less than a half mile from the Jenkinses,” he said, then pointed at a house a couple squares away from his. “And so did yours.” 

“Do you think your dad knew the boy?” Rossi questioned, brows furrowed before he glanced over to Y/N. “What about yours?” 

The girl shook her head. “Mine’s been dead since before I was born. Died in combat while my mother was pregnant with me.” 

“I don’t know,” Spencer then answered his co-worker’s question. “My memory is…” he rubbed his eye in frustration. “The lack of recall just reinforces how little I knew about him.” 

A sigh heaved Derek’s chest as he turned to his youngest colleague. “Reid, we’re gonna have to track him down. You do know that.” 

“We should talk to my mother first, neighbors, get their impressions,” Spencer suggested instead, clearly not ready for a reunion with his father just yet. Noticing the tension in his shoulders, Y/N placed her hand on his shoulder, squeezing ever so slightly to let him know she was there for him. 

“Reid, I don’t need to tell you that this signature was need-based and sexual in nature,” Rossi sounded almost reassuring. “The man we’re looking for is a pedophile.” Spencer’s jaw tensed. “So, I’ll ask you again, are you sure you want to go down this road?” 

Derek and Y/N glanced over to Spencer before the guy got up with slight hesitation in his movements. “I’m gonna talk to my mother first.” He turned to the Y/H/C girl next to him. “You wanna come?” 

Nodding her head, Y/N followed behind Spencer as the two of them made their way to the sanitarium where his mother was a patient. Y/N had been there a few times to visit Diana without Spencer knowing. After all, she’d been the one to push Spencer to send his mother there when they were eighteen. 

“Oh, Y/N/N!” Diana greeted in excitement, seemingly happier to see the girl than her own son. “I’m so happy to see you again. Did you read the book I gave you last time?” 

Spencer turned his head towards his best friend in confusion. “Last time?” he asked. 

Decidedly ignoring him, Y/N nodded her head in response to Diana’s question. “I did. I absolutely loved it. Just like you told me I would,” she told her with a soft smile, placing a hand on her arm. “Hey, how about a game of scrabble, huh?” She motioned to the board game in front of them. 

Diana offered her a smile as the three of them started playing. The young woman could feel her best friend shifting in his seat, his brain whirring at thousands of miles per hour. He was spiraling, anxious to ask his questions. 

“Mom…” he then finally started as Y/N was placing her letters on the board to form a word. “Can I ask you some questions about Dad? I’m having trouble remembering.” 

“Quixotry,” Diana read Y/N’s word. “That’s a great word, Y/N/N.” The woman beamed at the girl before turning to her son. “What do you wanna know?” She was now focused on her turn, trying to find a good word. 

“Did he like to be around children?” Spencer asked carefully. 

Diana looked up from the board. “Children? Well, yes.” She returned her gaze to the game a little too quickly. Something was telling Y/N that the woman she had called her second mom was hiding something. “If it were up to him, you’d have a house full of brothers and sisters.” 

“You didn’t want more kids?” Y/N then asked, genuinely interested. 

With a proud smile, Diana looked from the girl to her son. “Why mess with perfection?” She winked at Y/N with a smirk on her face. The young woman looked up at her best friend, who was gazing at his mother in admiration. 

“Yeah, it was pretty perfect on the first go,” Y/N agreed. Her admission caused Spencer to tear his eyes away from his mother to land on her instead. The sparkle in his eyes still remained the same, even after seven years. Even after all these years, she still had to deny the butterflies in her stomach she got whenever he looked at her like that. 

Shaking himself away from his thoughts, Spencer turned back to his mother. “What about other people’s children? How was he around them?” 

“He was good with kids, I guess,” Diana responded. “He coached your Little League team.” 

Y/N nodded her head. “I remember that, always trying to put him into normal activities.” 

“I tried to tell him you’re not normal, you were exceptional,” Diana added to this, smiling up at her son. It was nice to hear the words she thought of Spencer come from his own mother. Though Spencer himself wasn’t really hearing it. 

“Let me ask you this, Mom,” he said, shifting in his chair and pushing his hair back. “Did you ever get the feeling like, on his part, the marriage was just for show?” 

“Spence,” Y/N hissed, wanting to keep him from hurting his own mother’s feelings. 

However, Diana wasn’t too phased about the question. “These questions are very strange, Spencer. What is this about?” she asked instead. 

“It’s about Riley Jenkins,” he said, almost tearfully. 

“Riley Jenkins?” Diana asked. “I told you he was someone you made up.” 

“He’s not, though, Diana,” Y/N told her softly, reaching for her hand. The woman looked at her with confusion in her eyes, begging her to explain what was going on. 

“He was a real boy who lived in our neighborhood, and somebody killed him, and…” Spencer continued as his mother looked at him, allowing the words to simmer in her mind. “I don’t know, I think that Dad might have had something to do with it.” 

Diana’s grip on Y/N’s hand tightened. “He was real?” 

“Yeah,” Y/N answered in a whisper, squeezing right back. “He was on that Little League team, too. With Spence. I-I remember going to the games and the practices with my mom to cheer him on.” 

Y/N could hear Spencer sniffle, so with the hand she wasn’t holding Diana’s, she reached out for Spencer’s, holding both Reid’s hands tightly. There was nothing else they were going to get out of Diana and Y/N knew that. So, after a few moments of holding mother and son, Y/N let their hands go. 

“We’ll let you get some rest, mama,” she told Diana with a soft smile before turning to Spencer, urging him to get up, too. “We’ll be back to visit soon, okay?” She kissed the woman’s cheek before taking a few steps back to let Spencer say goodbye to his mother. Once he did, the two of them fell into step together. 

“You visit her?” he asked when they were outside.

Y/N shrugged. “One of us has to,” she simply replied before getting in the car again. 

After informing the two other agents of the information they got from Diana, Derek, Spencer and Y/N headed into town to find Lou Jenkins, Riley’s father. They explained everything to Lou about their theory of William Reid being the one who killed his son. 

“It’s just a theory, Mr. Jenkins,” Spencer reassured him. 

The man threw something in the back of his truck, Y/N couldn’t see what it was, before he turned to the agents and detective. “You must be out of your damn minds,” he said. 

“We’re just trying to get some new facts,” Y/N stated. 

Lou turned to the Y/H/C, trying to appear intimidating towards her, but none of that ever worked on Y/N. Unlike Spencer, Y/N had actually grown a spine to stand up against bullies and men who tried to overpower her. 

“Well, you’re hell and gone from facts if you think Will Reid killed my son,” he said, nearly spitting in the girl’s face. Derek placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, pushing him back from Y/N. 

“So, you were friends?” Spencer asked instead. 

Glancing between the agents and detective, Lou recoiled a little. “Who the hell are you to come here asking this?” 

“I’m his son,” Spencer answered, stopping the man dead in his tracks. Lou looked at the young man in front of him. 

“Spencer?” he asked and the boy she once knew made a reappearance with the expression on his face. “Spencer, a G-man.” He then turned to Y/N. “And the Y/H/C never too far from ya, hey?” A blush fanned across Y/N’s cheeks. She had always been Spencer’s shadow to everyone else but to Spencer and their moms. “I still don’t understand.” 

“Was William around your house often?” Derek questioned. 

“Yeah, the occasional barbecue, that sort of thing.”

“Was Riley around on those occasions?” Y/N continued. 

Lou’s eyes flitted from the girl to the two men flanking her. “Why are you doing this?” 

“I need to know,” Spencer replied and pressed his lips together. 

Noticing the tension in his shoulders returning, Y/N reached for the balled-up fist on his side and unfurled his fingers, placing her palm against his and intertwining their fingers. It was something she used to do whenever he was panicking about something in school or when the bullies would get to him again. 

He visibly relaxed as she hid their intertwined hands behind her back. 

“Take it from someone who does know. He was a good man,” Lou reassured them, but something about the way he said it struck Y/N. Neither of the agents noticed it as Derek turned and patted Spencer on the stomach, his arm grazing Y/N’s chest as she stood between the two men. 

“Thanks for your time,” Derek said as he walked away. 

Y/N began to let go of Spencer’s hand to follow behind Derek when Spencer’s grip on her tightened as he stayed put. “Where is he these days?” he asked Lou. “My dad?” 

“It’s been years, but he’s probably still at that same firm in Summerlin,” Lou answered. 

Spencer’s grip loosened on Y/N’s hand as he slumped. “He’s been in town this whole time?” Her heart broke at the sight of him. Once again, Spencer’s dad broke the boy’s heart and Y/N was there to pick up the pieces. 

That was never going to end, was it? 

“As far as I know,” Lou replied before Spencer let go of Y/N and turned on his heel. 

Y/N shot one last smile at Lou before falling into step with the two agents. 

“You know Summerlin?” Derek asked both of them. 

“Yeah, it’s like nine miles east of here,” Spencer replied. 

“Off the 95,” Y/N finished his sentence. 

“He was ten minutes away and he never let me know.” 

Rossi joined the three of them at the company William Reid worked at. As they entered what seemed to be the lobby of the law firm, Y/N started to look around to take in her surroundings. Before she could take anything in, an unfamiliar voice sounded. 

“Can I help you, gentleman?” The woman behind the desk got up and walked towards the front desk. One glance at the small board on her table told Y/N her name was Ms. Cahill. “And lady,” she added when her eyes fell on the Y/H/C. 

“Yeah,” Spencer replied and then fell silent. He inhaled a couple of times, opening his mouth to say anything, but nothing came out. 

“We’d like to speak with William Reid,” Y/N said in his place. 

“Is he expecting you?” Ms. Cahill asked. 

“I don’t think so,” Rossi said before flashing the woman his FBI badge. 

While the woman told them Will was in a meeting, Y/N’s eyes landed on Spencer. He was having difficulty breathing, like he was on the verge of a panic attack, something Y/N knew all-too-well. The boy used to have them all the time when they were kids and Y/N was always the one to help him out of it. 

“Are you okay?” Derek asked before Y/N could. 

Spencer nodded his head. “Yeah. No. Yeah, I’m going to go to the bathroom.” Before either of them could say anything, he sped off towards the bathroom, leaving Y/N with his co-workers. 

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Derek pointed out. 

A heavy sigh heaved Y/N’s chest. “I have,” she said. “Excuse me.” 

She pushed past Derek and followed Spencer to the bathroom, not even caring she was entering the boys’ bathroom. Her heart and mind were set out on helping her best friend. She didn’t care much about bathroom etiquette. 

“Spence?” she called out just before one of the stalls slowly opened. The man walked out of the cubicle, hands shaking and lip trembling. “Hey, you okay?” He simply shook his head before placing empty vials of something on the sink. Y/N reached for one, inspecting the label. Her heart sank. “Dilaudid, seriously, Spence?” Her voice contained more anger than she had intended to. 

He splashed a bit of water in his face and blindly reached for the paper towels. Quickly jumping to his aide, Y/N handed him two. “Don’t, Y/N/N. You weren’t there,” he told her calmly as he dried his face. 

“For what? For you to get hopped up on some drug?” She held the vial up for emphasis. 

“For me being kidnapped and tortured!” The volume of his voice went up ever so slightly. 

The anger that resided on Y/N’s chest washed away as her heart plummeted into her stomach. “What?” she whispered, her eyes filling up with tears. “Spencer…” 

“Let’s just get this over with,” he said and pushed past her before she could even say anything else. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Y/N followed behind him and joined the other agents and Spencer’s father. 

“Did something happen?” Y/N heard William ask. 

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Spencer responded in a cool, toned-down manner, much different from how he was moments before. The dilaudid seemed to be working quickly, Y/N thought. “Hello, Dad.” 

William Reid looked at his son as if he’d seen the ghost of Christmas past. Y/N was suddenly reminded of all the times she had spent at the Reids’ and every time William picked them both up from school because her mother was working overtime and couldn’t pick her up. 

“Spencer…” William whispered before his eyes landed on the girl next to him. “I’m glad you two are still together.” 

Y/N couldn’t help but scoff at his comment. There had been so much in the last seven years she didn’t even know about. So much had happened. So much for which she should’ve been there for him. Too much, it seemed. 

“Let’s talk in my office.” William invited the four of them into his office. While he himself took a seat on the armchair, Rossi opted for the couch opposite of him. After what happened in the bathroom, Y/N felt withdrawn from her best friend and opted to lean against the bookshelves, Derek joining her quickly, while Spencer stayed put near the door. 

“You don’t look like me any more,” William told his son. “You used to. Everybody said so.” 

Y/N’s eyes flicked towards Spencer, who was exhibiting a cool stance towards his father. “They say some people look like their dogs, too,” he started. “It’s attributed to prolonged mutual exposure. Elderly couples, also. They unconsciously mimic the expressions of people they’ve been around their whole life. It’s why we’ve been called non-biological twins our whole life,” he said, motioning towards Y/N at the end. “So it kind of makes sense that I wouldn’t really look like you. I haven’t seen you in twenty years.” 

No one else noticed it, but Spencer’s bottom lip quivered. He was keeping up a strong facade, but it didn’t fool Y/N.  

“So, are you in town on work?” William asked. 

“We’re just wrapping up a case,” Rossi intervened smoothly. Maybe Y/N wasn’t the only one who noticed Spencer’s lip quivering. They were profilers after all, studying everyone’s behavior. 

“A five-year-old boy was abducted and murdered,” Derek chimed in. 

William looked up at Derek and Y/N. “I read about that. Ethan Hayes, right?” Glancing over at Y/N, Spencer’s eyebrows furrowed at his father’s behavior and he knew she had taken note, too. “That’s terrible.” 

“Yeah,” Spencer agreed. “That case got me thinking about Riley Jenkins.” 

“You remember Riley Jenkins, Mr. Reid?” Y/N questioned. 

William nodded. “Of course.” 

“I’ve been having dreams about him for a really long time,” Spencer explained. “But when I came back here for this case, it jogged something and the dream changed. I saw his killer and it was you.” 

Along with Spencer’s co-workers, Y/N paid close attention to William to see if anything in his behavior or reaction would tip them off. 

“Interesting dream,” William said, oddly calmly. 

Y/N’s head tilted slightly. “You don’t seem that surprised.” 

Turning back to his son, William smiled ever so slightly. “I stopped being surprised by Spencer’s mind a long time ago.” The man almost sounded proud. 

“There are certain criteria we consider when looking at this type of suspect,” Rossi continued, ignoring the pride in William’s face. “You fit parts of that profile.” 

William glanced at Y/N, a familiar face for guidance. When she didn’t offer any, he turned back to Rossi. “Me?” 

“We just want your cooperation,” said Rossi. 

“My cooper–” William chuckled in disbelief as he glanced at every person in the room. Neither of them were giving him any satisfactory answer, all four of them glaring at him to gauge his reaction. “You’re not actually saying you think I killed Riley Jenkins.” 

Spencer shook his head ever so slightly. “We didn’t say that.” 

“Good. Because that’s absurd.” 

“We’d just like permission to look through your computer, access your records,” Derek stated. 

William leaned forward in his chair. “And what would you be looking for, exactly?” No answer came forth, telling the hot-shot lawyer enough. “You want access to my files, get a warrant.” 

Having asked him enough questions, the team of four returned to the hotel. Rossi and Derek got their own rooms while Y/N joined Spencer in his. She wanted to help him on the case a little more, see if they could come up with something together. Plus, if it gave her the chance to ask him some questions about what had happened to him, it would be even better. 

As the two of them turned the corner in the hallway, Spencer dialed another co-worker’s number. Penelope Garcia, he’d explained to her. Tech analyst at the BAU. Computer wizard. “Yeah, we’re not gonna get a warrant so we’re going to have to go under the radar on this one, Garcia.” 

“You want me to hack your father’s network,” Y/N could hear Penelope’s voice from the other side of the line. “You’re sure about this?” 

The two of them stopped in front of room number 419. “I really wish people would stop asking me that,” he said to Penelope as he reached into his pocket for his keycard. He hung up the phone as he opened the door, stopping in his tracks as his foot stepped on something that wasn’t the carpet. His sudden halting caused Y/N to bump into him. 

With confusion written in her eyes, she watched as Spencer bent down to require the folder that was on the floor. It was a brown envelope with a post-it stuck on the flap. “You’re looking at the wrong guy”, it read. 

Spencer glanced over his shoulder at his best friend. “Do you know about this?” 

She shook her head in response before he opened the envelope and fished out the files inside. At the very top of the bundle was a picture attached. More accurately, a mugshot from someone named Gary B Michaels. 

Spencer glanced at Y/N before leaving the room again, this time, with the file in hand. Slightly frustrated by his lack of communication, Y/N followed behind, closing the door behind her but not before checking if Spencer had taken the roomkey with him. 

Rossi and Morgan were in the downstairs bar, nursing a drink when the two younger ones joined them, Y/N a mere half a minute later. Spencer handed them the envelope without a word. 

“Was the envelope dropped off at the front desk first?” Rossi asked. 

“Nope, I asked the front desk. No one dropped anything off for Spencer,” Y/N replied. 

Rossi nodded his head in thought. “So, they know what room you were in.” 

“I do have to admit, the timing of this seems a little suspicious,” Derek agreed. 

“Yeah, an hour after I see my father, we’re handed another suspect.” 

Rossi looked up from the file. “You think you knew this guy?” 

“I don’t know,” Spencer replied. “I think so but I’m not sure. I … No, I don’t know.” He was stuttering and chaotically jumping from one thought to the other. 

Nodding at Y/N, Derek asked, “What about you? Have you seen him before?” 

“Can’t say that I have… Or…” she reached for the picture again, looking at the man properly and in a more lit-up room. The dark eyes pierced through Y/N’s Y/E/C ones as if he could reach through the photo and just grab her like that, transporting her to her childhood. 

“That’s a pretty dress.” 

Before she could go any further in that memory, Rossi’s voice stopped her. “‘Exposed himself to a minor.’ That’s a precursor to molestation,” he said and his words threw Y/N right back. 

She was at the playground, waving her ribbon around while Spencer was playing chess by himself, when a man stopped her in her tracks. 

“That’s a pretty dress,” he complimented her cherry-patterned dress her mother had put her in that morning, even though she wanted to wear pants and a T-shirt. Y/N looked up at him. He was tall and his hair was smoothed back by gel, leaving it sticky and greasy-looking. 

“Thank you,” innocent, unknowing Y/N responded. “Mommy picked it out for me.” 

“Are those real cherries?” he asked and crouched to her level, reaching for the dress, feeling its fabric between his fingers. 

Young Y/N frowned at him. “Of course not, silly.” 

“I think it is,” he replied and tickled her belly before pretending to eat a handful of cherries, causing the young girl to laugh. “You like cherries?” Y/N nodded her head eagerly. “So do I.” 

“Y/N/N?” Spencer’s voice brought her right back to the present day. She blinked rapidly, adjusting to the bright light of the hotel’s lobby. “You okay?” he asked. Before she could say anything, Derek’s phone rang, cutting the men’s worry for the young woman away. 

“It’s Garcia,” Derek said before picking up and putting the phone on speaker. “Talk to me, baby girl.” 

Y/N gave the man an intrigued look, but decided not to say anything. 

“I’m not interrupting boy time at Crazy Horse Too, am I?” the peppy-sounding woman asked. 

“You know that’s not my thing. I’m more for in-room entertainment.” 

“I can’t help you there, but I do give good phone.” 

Y/N looked over at Spencer who gave her a look that told her this was how they always interacted with one another. 

“Let me hear what you’ve got.” 

“Reid, we’ve been all up in your father’s business,” Garcia started. 

“What did you find?” 

“Well, let me tell you first what I did not find. No kiddie porn, no membership to illicit websites, no dubious e-mails, no chat room history.”

“What about his finances?” Spencer asked, his shoulders tensing a little again. 

Another voice came through the speaker now, one Y/N didn’t recognize. He sounded like a strong male, very authoritative voice. “We went back ten years. No questionable transactions that we could find.”

“Well, he did buy a ticket to see Céline Dion six months ago,” another woman’s voice came next. “But I think we can overlook that.” 

Y/N couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly. Céline Dion was very often playing in their house. Both at Spencer’s and at her own. The two families were pretty crazy about the French-Canadian singer. 

“He’s smart. Is it possible he kept things under the table?” Spencer wanted to know next. 

The man’s voice sounded through again. “Well, of course. But from what we can tell, Reid, he doesn’t fit the profile.” 

“We can tell you other things about him, if you want to know,” the female voice that wasn’t Garcia’s said. 

Spencer looked down at Y/N as if to find his footing again. “I’m listening.” 

“Uh, he’s a workaholic. He actually logs more hours than we do,” the woman said. “He makes decent money, but he doesn’t spend a lot of it. He has a modest house, he drives a hybrid. He doesn’t travel much, he stays away from the casinos. And according to his veterinary bills, he has a very sick cat.”

The man spoke next. “He appears to spend most of his free time alone, and goes to the movies a lot, and he reads. And from his collection of first editions, it seems his favorite author is…” 

“Isaac Asimov. I remember that one,” Spencer cut him off. He was agitated, doubting every single belief he had about his father. Though she was still kind of upset with him, Y/N reached for his hand again and intertwined their fingers, hoping that would ground him again. 

“He does have one other major interest. On his home computer he’s archived a gajillion things on one common subject,” Garcia took over again. 

A smile spread on Y/N’s face, knowing what she was going to say. 

“What?” Spencer asked. 

“You, kiddo.” Y/N could hear the smile in Garcia’s voice and she squeezed Spencer’s hand. “He’s got like everything that’s been published online. Every article you’ve been quoted in, pieces you’ve written for behavioral science journals. He even has a copy of your dissertation.” 

“He’s keeping tabs on you,” Y/N told him, beaming. “That’s saying something.” 

“Yeah, and he Googled me. That makes up for everything,” he said before pushing past his colleagues, letting go of the one hand that could ground him. “I need some air.” 

“Spence!” Y/N called, but he was already gone. 

Derek sighed as he spoke into the phone again. “You guys still there?” 

“I thought we were giving him good news,” Garcia sighed, too. “Also, who else is there? I swore I heard a woman’s voice.” 

“Oh, that would be me,” Y/N answered. “I’m Detective Y/N Y/L/N. Spencer’s childhood best friend. I’m trying to help out here, wherever I can.” 

“Didn’t you apply for the spot at the BAU, too?” the male voice sounded again. “I remember seeing your resume on my desk.” 

Y/N let out an awkward chuckle. “Yeah, I did. But, uh, you chose Spencer over me. Which is totally valid. He’s a great guy and I bet he’s a great asset to your team.”  

“I’m sorry we didn’t pick you, Detective Y/L/N,” the man said. 

“It’s fine. I’m proud of Spencer for getting in anyway and I’m happy in my job, so. Hey, no resentment, all right?” 

“Glad to hear that. Can we do anything else for you guys there?” 

Derek held the phone up to his mouth. “Yeah, look up a name for us, if you would. Gary Brandan Michaels.” 

The name alone sent shivers down Y/N’s spine, bringing her right back to that day on the playground. 

His hand moved from her belly down to her short legs, placing one on the back of her knee. “Could you do a twirl for me, pretty girl?” 

She quickly snapped herself back out of it and looked up at the two men in front of her. “I need some air,” she whispered and took off the same way Spencer did. Trying to find her breathing again, she stopped around the corner and focused on her respiration. It wasn’t until she heard his familiar voice that she looked up again to take in her surroundings. She found herself on the other side of the lobby where they had some of those casino machines. One of which was manned by her best friend. 

He was accompanied by a blonde girl in a sparkly purple dress. She was sitting a bit too close to her best friend for Y/N’s liking. 

“Normally video poker odds are slightly worse, at point-seven percent in your favor, but if you employ optimal strategy and always draw for the royal flush, you can push those odds to point-two percent,” Spencer explained to the woman. 

“Hmm,” the woman hummed. “Smart and handsome.” 

Spencer looked up at this, but his eyes weren’t on the woman for more than a second as they caught something behind her. Or rather someone. 

“So are you in town for the convention?” she asked while reaching for a cigarette. 

Spencer slightly shook his head to force himself to pry his eyes away from the beautiful Y/H/C in the corner who was looking at him, too. “Um, there are twelve conventions in town this week, which one are you talking about?” 

“Take your pick,” she said, laughing, before lighting the cigarette. 

Upon seeing this, Y/N walked over. “Six minutes,” she mumbled. The woman’s eyes landed on the newest addition to their conversation as she blew out her smoke, though Y/N couldn’t but focus on how Spencer’s lips twitched up into a smile. 

“Excuse me?” the woman asked, clearly offended. 

Spencer shook his head slightly with a smile. “I-it was something I used to say to my mom to try to get her to quit smoking. A cigarette takes six minutes off your life. So every time she’d light one, I’d say, ‘that’s six minutes less that I get to spend with you’.”

“Aw! Did it work?” 

If Y/N hated how the woman was so charmed by her best friend, she was very much showing it, though neither of them noticed. 

“No,” Spencer replied chuckling. 

“Because I’ve tried it all. The gum, the patch, nothing works.” 

The Y/H/C let out a chuckle. “You should try hypnosis, they’ve had a lot of success in the–” Just as the idea popped into Y/N’s head, it seemingly did in Spencer’s, too, as his head snapped up at her with wide eyes. 

“Tell you what, I’ll put mine out if you buy me a drink,” the woman tried, but Spencer wasn’t even listening anymore. 

Grimacing at the woman, Y/N placed her hands on Spencer’s shoulders. “Not today, sweetheart.” 

Just as Spencer turned in his chair, Derek and David joined Y/N’s side. “We’ve been looking all over the place for both of you. Come on,” said Derek with a serious expression on his face. 

Spencer got up from his chair and took Y/N’s hand in his, entwining their fingers to give her the support and calmth she needed after her near-panic attack just mere moments earlier. 

“Hey! You won like two-thousand dollars here,” the woman called. 

“Keep it,” Spencer told her over his shoulder. 

“You do realize you just gave two grand to a hooker,” Rossi pointed out. 

Derek’s eyes glanced from the woman in the purple dress to Spencer to Y/N. “Must’ve been quite a conversation. What was it about?” 

“How to stop smoking,” Spencer replied before walking off, dragging Y/N with him. 

Outside, Spencer explained his plan. Derek and Rossi weren’t entirely in on the plan, but Y/N convinced them that it could help. 

“I could sit in,” Y/N suggested, but Rossi shook his head. 

“No, I’ll sit in, make sure everything’s going well.” 

Furrowing her eyebrows, Y/N looked at him. “Why not? We’re practically soulmates, we–I can help.” 

“That’s just it, Y/N,” Derek chimed in. “You’re too close. Let Rossi do it. We’ll wait out here.” 

After a reassuring nod from Spencer, Y/N sat down next to Derek, allowing Rossi to go in with him. She didn’t love this. Her best friend might get hurt and she wouldn’t even be there to patch up the breakage. 

“You and Spencer…” Derek started once the silence settled over them in the waiting room. “You’ve been more than friends?” 

“No,” Y/N shook her head. 

“But you wanted to?” 

Y/N’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. Never had she even admitted to herself that what she felt for Spencer was more than platonic. She didn’t want to admit it, scared that it was true and it was going to ruin what they had going on. 

“I–How do you know?” she asked, her voice quiet and vulnerable. 

A soft laugh erupted from Derek’s throat. “I’m a profiler, Y/L/N. Besides, it’s blatantly obvious.” 

“How so?” 

“Come on, the way you look at each other, the way you hold each other’s hands…”

Y/N’s brows furrowed. “Wait,” she said, confusion laced in her voice. “You’re not saying ‘you’. You’re not talking about the way I look at him, but the way we look at each other…” 

“Pretty Boy’s blatantly in love with you, too, genius.” 

Scoffing, Y/N shook her head. “Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England.” 

Derek wetted his lips as he chuckled. “All right, Your Majesty. Whatever you wanna believe…” 

“Y/N/N!” the sudden scream of her name caused her to jolt from her chair and rush into the practice where she found Spencer on the couch, panting and frantically looking around the room. 

“Spence,” she whispered and rushed to his side, relieving Rossi from his protective duty. “Spence, you’re okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.” She soothed him, allowing him to grab onto her hand as she smoothed his hair back and pressed kisses to his head. “You’re okay.”   

Once Spencer had calmed down and explained to his co-workers and Y/N what he had seen, he had decided to go back to his mother to confront her and ask her about that day. 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Y/N asked, her voice soft and fragile. 

Spencer looked down at her and nodded her head. “Please,” he whispered. 

Derek dropped them off at Bennington Sanitarium, wanting to wait for the couple in the car until they were ready. The whole way to her room, Spencer held Y/N’s hand tightly, power walking through the familiar hallways. They found her in her room where Spencer explained what he had seen in his vision. Y/N watched from the sidelines and noticed how Diana became more and more agitated. 

“Try to remember, Mom,” said Spencer, needing to push her a little. 

“No, I can’t.” 

“You were there. You watched Dad burn the bloody clothes.” 

Diana shook her head. “You had a dream.” 

“Mom, this was not a dream,” Spencer pressed, causing his mother to turn around to face him. “This was a memory. It was a memory and I saw you.” 

She walked up to him and grabbed his face in her hands lovingly. “Your mind. Such a treasure. Even as a baby you knew about things you weren’t supposed to know.” 

“This is not about me. This is about Riley Jenkins.” 

“It was always about you,” Diana said in a whisper, matching her son’s tone of voice. 

“Please, Mom. Please. Please just try to remember,” Spencer tried again as he grabbed her hands and guided her over to her bed where they sat down. “Remember Riley. Riley.”

“Riley… Riley,” she mimed as she let the name simmer in her brain. “Riley was real. Poor Riley.” 

“Yes,” Spencer whispered. “Poor Riley. Poor Riley. Did Dad do something to him?” 

Diana looked up at her son in surprise. “Dad? No.” 

“Think, think, think,” Spencer pressed. 

“No, no, no, no. That’s– No, no. Now you’re confusing me, Spencer. No.” She placed her hands over her face. It was stressing her out. He was pressing and pushing her too far. 

“Spence,” Y/N tried softly, but he didn’t hear her. 

“You knew, Mom. You knew about Dad and you didn’t do anything.” 

“No, you don’t know. No! No, no, you don’t know! You don’t…” Then, she started to yell out her ‘no’s before getting up and starting to hit herself. 

“Mama,” Y/N walked up to her and tried to keep her from hurting herself, but Spencer quickly pulled her away and let the nurses push past them to get Diana in control. As the two of them watched the nurses put something in her arm to calm her down, they held onto one another tightly. Spencer’s lips were pressed against Y/N’s hair, the scent of her shampoo calming him down. 

“He got to Y/N/N,” Diana whispered once the medicine started working. 

Y/N and Spencer exchanged glances before Spencer let go of the girl. “What? What did you say?” 

“He got to Y/N/N and it could’ve been you, too.” 

The flashbacks she’d been having were real. They were actual memories from her childhood. From the guy that touched her and asked her to twirl. The guy that killed Riley Jenkins was the same guy that played with her with her ribbon. 

It could’ve been either of them, instead of Riley. 

The following day, Y/N went back to work, not entirely ready to face her captain’s wrath about missing a few days, but she had to go through it. He wasn’t entirely happy, but the girl didn’t get fired either. A warning, Hyde had said. Another one and she’d be out. 

For as long as she could, she tried to focus on her work. It was a simple filing day, so there didn’t need to be too many brain cells involved in this activity. Lucky for her, because most of her brain cells were focusing on the Riley Jenkins case, her conversation with Derek about Spencer and Spencer himself. 

Y/N knew she had a crush on her best friend. She had since they were sixteen but she couldn’t admit that to anyone else. Not even herself. 

“What was Lou Jenkins doing here?” The familiar and normally soothing voice of Spencer Reid made her jump out of her thoughts. 

Sighing, Y/N smiled her fakest smile. “Good morning, Y/N/N. Good morning, Spence. What can I do ya for?” She held the whole conversation by herself, earning an annoyed glare from her best friend. “I don’t know what he was doing here, I didn’t even notice him.” 

“I thought you were a good detective,” Spencer quipped, and though Y/N knew he was only teasing, it actually stung a bit. 

“What are you doing here, Dr. Reid?” she asked, allowing her tone to showcase just how pissed off she was. 

Spencer’s features softened. “Can you come with us? We gotta convince Detective Hyde that we wanna arrest my dad.” 

“Don’t you need a good detective for that?” she shot back and swiveled in her chair, away from him. 

She heard him sigh before he turned her chair around again. His eyes glazed over ever so slightly as he crouched down to her level. The flashbacks from her childhood returned for a quick second. “I’m sorry, Y/N/N. That was uncalled for. Please, will you help me?” 

“Get up,” she whispered, not wanting to be reminded of the guy in the playground again. “Please, Spence. Get up.” Confused, Spencer stood up straight again before Y/N took a breath and got up, too. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Derek asked, worry laced in his eyes. 

She offered them a smile. “Fine. Let’s go.” 

Allowing Spencer to sit down in front of Detective Hyde, Y/N and Derek remained by the door. Spencer explained the entire case to the detective, handing over the file they had compiled. 

“You’ve got no evidence,” Hyde concluded. 

“A suspect can be detained for questioning for forty-eight hours, regardless of evidence,” Spencer told him. 

Hyde glanced up to Y/N and Derek before turning his focus back on Spencer. “I’m not in the habit of ruining people’s reputations on a whim.” 

“Where’s your Captain? I want to talk to your Captain,” Spencer stated. 

“Talk all you want,” Hyde chided. “This was a local murder and your authority ends at the state line.” 

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Y/N said, “Mine doesn’t.” 

Detective Hyde glared at his co-worker before getting up and taking a seat on the edge of his desk. “Look, why don’t you just head back over to the Fountainview, and have a couple of drinks by the pool, and think about this?” 

“I have thought about this,” Spencer stated determinedly. 

“The guy’s your father.”

“What’s your point, Detective?” 

“Maybe you’re here to work out some other issues…” Spencer got up just as Derek approached the two of them, pushing past his co-worker. 

“Listen, Detective–” 

Derek started, but Y/N was quick to cut him off. “Give us twenty-four hours, Hyde. Consider it a personal favor to the FBI, huh? Don’t you want to be in these guys’ good books? Don’t you wanna be the grand local hero?” 

Y/N and Hyde had a stand-down for a good minute. Her Y/E/C eyes didn’t defer from his for even a split second. She was going to get to him, even if it cost her her job. 

“Fine. You’ve got twenty-four hours.” 

Smiling, Y/N patted his shoulder. “Thank you, good Detective.” 

“I appreciate that,” said Derek before turning on his heel and following after Spencer, who quickly burst out of the office. “Reid, you’ve got to keep your head, man,” Derek said to the young agent just as Y/N joined them. 

“He could’ve just agreed to it, it happens all the time.” 

“They just want to feel like they’re the ones in control,” Derek assured him right before his phone rang. Spencer took this as an opportunity to walk away, only for his best friend to follow right after him. 

“You okay, Spence?” she asked, worry laced in her voice. 

He smiled at her. “Yeah. Could ask you the same thing. What was that earlier?” 

“You pissed me off,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest as if that would protect her from the truth. 

Shaking his head, he stepped closer towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “No, not that. When I crouched down in front of you. You flinched. You-your eyes glazed over as though you were gonna cry and you tensed up.” 

“I-I guess I’ve been having some–flashbacks from our childhood?” she stuttered and stumbled over her words, not even sure what to make of it herself. 

Spencer’s head tilted. “From our childhood? And it’s making you scared of me?” 

“No, I–” before she could say anything, Rossi walked into the hallway they were in, intervening in their conversation. 

“Your dad’s here,” he said. 

The two of them joined Rossi and Derek when they had William Reid in the interrogation room. “You still think he did it, don’t you?” Derek asked Spencer. 

“Why shouldn’t I?” 

“Well, for one thing, Gary Michaels fits the profile,” Derek answered. Hearing the name caused Y/N to shiver ever so slightly. “You okay, mama?” Y/N simply nodded her head in response, allowing Derek to continue. “For another, he fled town after Riley’s murder. He’s a better suspect than your dad, Reid.” 

Spencer’s nose scrunched. “He’s a convenient one. Someone slipped the file under my door, Morgan. What am I supposed to think?” 

“Maybe they’re trying to help,” Rossi chimed in. 

“Or maybe they’re trying to protect him,” Spencer suggested. 

Rossi stepped closer to Spencer. “You’re talking about someone helping to cover up the murder of a child. Who would do that?” 

Something clicked inside Y/N’s mind as she watched her best friend’s father through the glass. He didn’t strike her to be someone who would murder a child. He was the one person she hated most when she was a kid, but he didn’t seem to be the one to do the hating. Along with the flashbacks she’d been having and the things Hyde was saying mere moments ago, it didn’t make sense to her that Spencer’s dad would be behind this. 

“Didn’t it seem a little odd how resistant Hyde was when you asked him to bring in your father?” she asked Spencer, voicing her thoughts. 

Derek looked at her. “I know you hate the guy, but are you seriously accusing a cop right now?” 

“It was a police file,” Spencer said, agreeing with his best friend. 

“A very old one. Anybody could’ve accessed it. You too, Y/N/N.” 

Y/N scoffed. “Aside from that…” she turned back to Spencer. “He told you to go back to the Fountainview, have a drink by the pool, and think about things. Have you told them you were staying at the Fountainview, Spence?” 

Her best friend looked at her in thought. “No, I haven’t. Have you?” 

“Uh-uh,” she shook her head and watched as the gears behind his eyes began working him up. “How bad of a detective am I now, huh?” 

“You’re brilliant,” he whispered before walking past her and entering the interrogation room where his dad was. 

Beaming, Y/N turned to Derek. “I’m brilliant,” she cooed, proudly. 

“And you’re still trying to convince me you’re not in love with him?” Derek asked, smug smirk on his face. 

Not really having a retort to that, Y/N pulled a face before turning to the window to listen to Spencer interviewing his father. 

“The question is simple. How did the blood get on the clothes?” 

William looked up at his son. “I told you, I’m not going to talk without counsel.” 

“You don’t have anything to hide, you don’t need a lawyer.” 

As Y/N watched Spencer interview his father, she felt weird. Something didn’t add up. William was hiding something from them. Detective Hyde was not trying to help them but protecting someone else and Lou Jenkins had been at the precinct for God-knows what reason. Diana told them he’d gotten to her and that he could’ve gotten Spencer, but William had never laid a hand on Y/N, which meant she wasn’t talking about William. 

“Did you hear from Garcia on Michaels’ whereabouts?” Y/N asked Derek. 

He shook his head. “No, why?” 

“I have a weird feeling about this,” she murmured. 

Nodding his head, Derek reached for his phone. “I’ll check up on them now,” he said and walked out of the room. It didn’t take very many minutes for him to return and call Spencer away from his interview. 

“Gary Michaels is dead,” Derek told them what his boss, Hotch, had told him. 

Y/N felt weak in her knees upon hearing the news. The hairs on the back of her neck raised while the feeling of fingertips grazing her skin left her feeling nauseous. 

“Y/N/N, you okay?” Spencer asked as he guided her into a chair. 

Y/N shook her head as tears lined her eyes. “Your mother said he’d gotten to me, Spence. It was Gary… He’s the guy that –” A sob shook her entire body, keeping the words from coming out of her. “He’s– He–” she tried over and over again, failing every time. 

“Hey, hey, Y/N/N, look at me,” Spencer placed both hands on her face, forcing her to look at him. “You’re gonna be okay. Tell us what happened.” 

She sniffled. “I can’t. I-I can’t.” 

“Okay, that’s okay,” Spencer whispered before looking up at his co-workers. “Let’s bring her home–”

“No,” she quickly interrupted and grasped his hands from her face. “I don’t wanna go home. I don’t wanna be alone.” 

Spencer’s thumb caressed her hands. “You got to rest, Y/N/N. Where do you wanna go?” 

“I wanna come with you.” 

“Sweetheart, I don’t think that’s a good idea right now,” said Derek. “Where else does she feel safe?” 

With one glance at his best friend, Spencer knew where to bring her. “With my mom.” 

As simple as that answer was, it was even simpler bringing her there. Y/N found Diana on the couch in the communal living room, leafing through an old photo book. 

“Hi, mama,” Y/N greeted, hoping she wouldn’t see how puffy her eyes were or how scared she was. Diana looked up and smiled at the girl she considered her own daughter. “Can I sit with you?” 

She nodded and patted the spot beside her, showing the pictures in the book on her lap. “Do you remember this?” she asked, showing her a picture of her and Spencer at the beach, sharing an ice cream. “It was the first time the two of you were allowed to have big-kids ice creams. You were so excited about it, you got most of it on your face and body.” 

Smiling at the memory, Y/N traced a finger across the laminated photo. Immediately, she felt a hundred times better. Coming here, visiting Diana, always made her feel better, no matter how shitty her day had been. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” the doctor spoke as he joined the two. “Can I talk to Diana?” 

“Sure,” Y/N whispered and got up, but Diana quickly stopped her. 

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of her.” Y/N looked at the woman in surprise as she plopped back down. “She’s family.” 

The doctor sighed and took a seat on the coffee table so he was in front of Diana. “I’m told you’re refusing medication.” Y/N blinked at Diana in surprise. 

“I’m just holding off for a little while, if you don’t mind,” Diana told her doctor. 

“You know what will happen,” the Doctor warned her calmly. 

Diana nodded her head. “Tremors, panic, and the voices,” she summed up, having memorized it all. “But before that, when the fog lifts, a window of clarity. And I really need that right now.”

“I can give you some latitude here. Just tell me why,” said the Doctor. 

Bowing her head down, Diana sighed. “I wanna remember,” she said solemnly, reaching for Y/N’s hand to squeeze it as she looked at the picture of her son, his best friend, her mother and herself. All four of them. Happy as Larry. 

“Diana, does this have anything to do with Spencer and what we’ve been asking you about?” Y/N asked, squeezing her hand. 

She looked at Y/N, her eyes softening with tears in her eyes. “I need to remember, Y/N/N. I need to remember who it was that got to you.” Her free hand went up to the young woman’s cheek, cupping it. Melting into the familiar touch, Y/N leaned into her hand, allowing her own tears to flow. 

“Shall I stay here with you until you remember?” Diana simply nodded her head in response and Y/N smiled before the two of them returned to the picture book after having thanked Diana’s doctor. 

It took a couple of hours, but the window of Diana’s memory started widening and brightening. She told Y/N it was time and, along with the doctor, she brought the woman she considered her second mother to the precinct where she told Hyde to bring them to Spencer. 

“Agent Reid,” Detective Hyde said as soon as he opened the door. 

Spencer turned and with a booming voice, he yelled, “Do not interfere with this interrogation, Detective. This is not your case anymore.”

“Spence,” Y/N murmured softly, appearing from behind Hyde with his mother’s hand in hers. 

“Spencer, it was me,” Diana told him. Spencer's eyes flitted from his mother to his father to his best friend before he finally made the decision to hear his mother out first. They headed into Detective Hyde’s office where his father perched against the desk and Spencer grabbed two chairs. One for his mother and one for Y/N. He himself took a seat on the sofa. 

“I’d seen him around,” Diana started. “At your ball games. At the park. You used to play chess there, do you remember?” Spencer softly nodded his head. “You played with him once.” 

“With Gary Michaels?” A shiver went down Y/N’s spine. 

Diana’s hand squeezed Y/N’s in reassurance. “I didn’t know that was his name back then,” Diana admitted. “But it wasn’t unusual for you to play with adults. And you’d win, too. I’d only started to grow concerned when I noticed him around Y/N/N. He – uhm,” Diana halted, unable to get the words across her lips. 

“Did he do something to us?” Spencer asked, worried eyes flitting over towards the Y/H/C girl with the tears streaming down her face. 

“Not to you, no,” Diana whimpered, squeezing Y/N’s hand tighter. 

Spencer leaned forward, wanting to crouch in front of his best friend, but then refrained and returned back to his seat, remembering how she reacted to that the other day. “Y/N/N… You remember what happened to you, don’t you?” 

Nodding her head, Y/N cried out. “He touched me, Spence. I-I suppressed the memory for as long as I could remember, but-but when I saw his mugshot, I just… I suppose the memory just flooded back into my mind.”

“He was inappropriate with Y/N/N, he looked at you like he wanted to do the same thing to you. I just couldn’t let it happen…” Diana continued, holding onto Y/N’s hand. 

“A mother knows,” Spencer recited something Diana had told him mere days ago. Diana nodded her head. “So, you told Riley’s dad?” 

Diana heaved in a deep breath. “Two nights later, Lou called the house. He was agitated. He said he needed me to meet him. We went to stake out his house, Gary’s. He was bringing out the garbage when Lou asked me if that was him. He told me that that was Gary Michaels and that he had a history with kids… I-He then told me to go, but I didn’t listen. He got out and I-I sat there, I couldn’t move. It was like a dream, that paralysis in the face of something terrible.”

“What happened after that?” Spencer asked. 

Clearing her throat, Diana bowed her head. “It’s okay, Diana,” William encouraged, placing a hand over Y/N’s and Diana’s locked hands. “Go on.” 

“At some point I found myself walking towards the house. I found Lou hovering over Gary’s bloodied body… And the rest… It’s all dark after that.” 

“You came home,” William continued for her and turned to his son. “She couldn’t talk at first, but eventually I came to understand what had happened, and I knew that nobody could ever know.”

“So you never told anyone?” Y/N asked, voice meek and fragile. 

William shook his head. “No, she could have been implicated. And I had to protect her.”

With teary eyes, Spencer looked up at Y/N before moving to his father. “You were burning her bloody clothes,” he stated. 

Both Diana and Will nodded their heads. “But the knowing, you can’t burn that away,” William said. “It changed everything.”

“Is that why you left?” Spencer asked his dad. 

“I tried to keep us together, Spencer, I swear to you, but the weight of that knowledge was… It was too much.” 

Y/N looked at Spencer. His bottom lip was quivering whilst the gears behind his eyes were working overtime. “You could’ve come back,” he eventually told his dad. “We could have started over.” 

“I didn’t know how to take care of you any more,” he said to Spencer before turning to Y/N. “And I didn’t know how to approach you, knowing –” Will quickly stopped himself before he could burst into tears. “When I lost that confidence, there was no going back.”

“What’s done is done,” said Diana without a single ounce of resentment before turning back to her son. “At least now you know the truth… Both of you.” She squeezed Y/N’s hand again. 

Spencer stared down at his hands for a couple of seconds and Y/N knew he was fighting back tears. “I was wrong about everything. I’m sorry,” he squeeked. 

Getting up from his spot against the desk, William went to sit next to Spencer. “Me too, Spencer.” 

A small smile spread across Y/N’s lips as she sniffled. After everything that had happened, she was glad Spencer got some kind of closure with his dad. And, above all, she felt the hatred she’d harbored for William Reid all these years, lift from her heart. Everything he did was to protect his family. 

“So,” Diana then said, lifting Y/N’s hand and placing a kiss on it. “I believe these two have a couple of things they need to discuss.” She motioned to the youngest ones in the room. “Plus, I need to be back in my room before curfew.” 

With a smile, Y/N blew the woman a kiss. “I’ll visit you tomorrow, mama.” 

“See you next time, mom,” said Spencer as he got up and kissed his mother goodbye. 

With that, Diana and William left the office, leaving Y/N and Spencer to their own devices. Y/N was watching the two leave with a smile on her face, not even noticing Spencer staring at her until he captured her attention. 

“Hey,” he said in a whisper. Y/N looked up at him. “Come here.” He patted the spot beside him. 

Y/N moved from her spot on the chair to the couch where Spencer grabbed her hands and kissed her knuckles. “Are you okay?” she asked, cupping his face with her hands right after he kissed them. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’m gonna be,” he replied. “Are you?” 

Heaving in a deep breath, she let go of his face and dropped her hands in his lap where he grasped them again. “I suppressed those memories for so long and now I have to digest them all over again… It’s gonna be a lot of therapy.” 

“Do you want me to go with you?” he asked, lifting her hands again to kiss them. 

Y/N shook her head. “No, I think they might need you in Quantico,” she said with a smile and wriggled one hand out of his grip to push back a strand of hair. This time, she didn’t feel too awkward doing it. 

“Actually, I was thinking you could come with me to D.C.?” Y/N perked up at this news. “I-I talked to Hotch earlier and he, uhm, he’d like you to come in for a few, like, trial days at the BAU… Only if you want to, of course. I-I don’t expect you to give your life up here to fly with me to Virginia and just throw your life upside down. I just–” 

“Spence,” Y/N interrupted him with a chuckle. “I’d love to go with you. With you gone, there’s nothing keeping me here.” 

Spencer let out an amused scoff as he looked at her. For a moment, it was just that; him looking at her, her looking right back. His eyes glimmered the way they always did when he looked at her. After all these years, it still made her feel like she was the only girl in the world. 

“Spence,” she started in a whisper, “I–” Before she could even begin her sentence, a pair of soft lips shut her right up. At first, she was surprised, but she quickly melted into the kiss and let it completely overtake her senses. 

“I know,” he whispered when he pulled back. “Me too.” With a smile on her face, she kissed him again, only for him to pull back after a few seconds. “You did wanna tell me you’re in love with me right? Otherwise I probably read this situation very wrong.” 

Giggling, Y/N kissed him again. “I’ve been in love with you since we were sixteen, Spence. You can be so dumb sometimes,” she told him between kisses, some of the words getting lost in his mouth. 

“Actually, it’s just that I–” Before the man could go off on a rant about statistics and scientific facts, Y/N quickly shut him up by kissing him again. 

After everything that had happened, this was not the ending Y/N had expected for her and Spencer, but she was happy that it was. 

“Are you sure they’re gonna like me?” Y/N mumbled as Spencer dragged her down the hospital corridors on the way to his co-worker, JJ’s room. He’d told her she had just given birth to a baby boy while they were in Vegas and it was the first thing they were going to do when they landed back in Virginia. 

It also meant it was the first time his co-workers, and Y/N’s new co-workers, were going to meet her in real life. 

Spencer chuckled and pulled at her hand so that she’d fall into his chest and he could kiss her passionately. “Yes, I am sure,” he told her when he pulled away. “Oh, we’re here,” he said, pointing at the room number. 

He rapped two times on the doorpost, capturing everyone’s attention in the room. “You guys have room for two more in here?” he asked, smiling at his colleagues, especially as they looked at him with confusion in their eyes. 

Pulling Y/N with him, he entered the room with a smile. 

“Spence, hi,” the blonde in the hospital bed greeted with a smile. 

“Welcome back,” the tall guy they had landed next to said to Spencer before his eyes landed on Y/N. “You must be Y/N Y/L/N,” he said, holding out his hand for her to shake, which she did by letting Spencer go for a second. “Aaron Hotchner, but everyone calls me Hotch.” 

“Nice to meet you, Hotch,” Y/N said, grinning from ear to ear. 

Spencer then turned to the little one in the room. “Wow,” he said before his eyes landed on the father. “Congratulations.” He reached out his hand to shake. 

“How is it that I just went through fifteen hours of labor and you look worse than I do?” JJ asked, a hint of worry in her voice. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Spencer muttered. “You look beautiful.” 

Y/N simply nodded her head in agreement at the sentiment. With one glance at her boyfriend, JJ wordlessly told him something the rest of the visitors didn’t quite catch onto. 

“Well, I could sure use some coffee. Anyone else?” he asked. 

Everyone agreed and filed out of the room, one by one. When Y/N made a move to follow, catching onto JJ wanting to be alone with Spencer, he pulled her back to his side. “You better not think about leaving my side.” 

Y/N shot a fleeting glance at JJ to check if she was okay with it. Judging by the smile on her face, the Y/H/C stayed put. 

“Are you okay?” JJ asked as Y/N nudged him to move a little closer. 

“Yeah, yeah. You?” 

“Yeah, yeah. You sure? Because there’s something I wanted to ask you, but it can wait.” 

Feeling her heart leaping in her throat, Y/N tried her hardest to contain her excitement. She already knew where this was going. 

“What is it?” he asked, brows furrowing ever so slightly. 

JJ smiled and looked down at the baby in her arms. “Will and I were talking, and uh, we want you to be Henry’s godfather.” 

An excited squeal erupted from Y/N’s throat, causing Spencer to look back at her in surprise. “I don’t even know. I don’t know…” he stuttered and stumbled, his eyes flicking back and forth from JJ to Y/N and back. 

“Here, do you want to hold him?” she asked, already holding out the newborn for him to take. “It’s okay, here you go.” 

A little hesitantly, Spencer took the baby from his friend. “Oh, hi, Henry,” he cooed.

“If something were to happen to us, it’s up to you and Garcia to make sure this boy gets into Yale,” JJ joked. 

Spencer puffed. “Yale. Yale. Do you wanna go to Yale, Henry?” he asked the baby as though he could answer. 

With a chuffed smile, Y/N joined Spencer’s side again. “That was your godfather’s safety school.” Spencer’s honey eyes met her Y/E/C ones in surprise before he turned back to the baby. 

“Don’t worry, I can get you into CalTech with one phone call,” he whispered to him like it was a secret. 

As Spencer looked at the baby in his arms, he couldn’t help but forget the stress he had felt in the past couple of days. If something so small and fragile could be in his arms without breaking, something JJ trusted him with, he was certain nothing else could touch him anymore. 

Especially not with his best friend by his side. 

Everything taglist: @calamitykaty@littlemissaddict@n0wornever@wanniiieeee@unnowhatthisistbh