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lucywritesreid · 4 years ago

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My Whole Life Waiting For You

Summary: I’m feeling fluffy. Spencer seems unusually quiet at a dinner and you worry you’ve done something to offend him, but it’s quite the opposite…

Word count: 1.8k

Warnings: None

“Spence, honey, we’re going to be late!” You shouted across the bedroom as you frantically searched for your missing earring. Sure, it was ironic for you to be telling him off about lateness when you’d been the one spending half an hour curling your hair.

Puzzled, you walked into the front room and tried to retrace your steps from the last time you’d worn the silver hoops Spencer had bought you for Christmas. “Aha!” An idea struck. You remembered a particularly enjoyable evening where you’d barely made it through the front door before your activities had started. You crouched down on the floor and stretched a hand out under the sofa until it reached the cool metal. “There you are!” you exclaimed, pushing yourself up to stand as you fastened the missing earring securely in place.

You almost gasped to see Spencer stood right behind you. He had an eerie way of walking around your apartment undetected, never making a sound. “God honey you scared the crap out of me,” you laughed, raising one eyebrow. Spencer didn’t react, slipping a hand into the pocket of his tweed jacket. That was odd. He normally loved teasing you when he scared you, and nearly always refers to that time you spilled a whole glass of juice all over your face when he jumped up from behind the sofa wearing a scream mask.

The silence was not like him at all.

“Are you ready to go?” he said softly. There was a hint of nervousness in his voice that only you would be able to detect. You couldn’t figure out why, but didn’t want to bring it up if he wasn’t going to.

Nodding, you reached out to grab your leather jacket from the back of the sofa and slipped it over your shoulders before following him out of your front door. Spencer always drove to these group dinners, mainly because he preferred to stay sober and you normally tried to drink Prentiss under the table whenever you were together. Of course, she always outdrank you.

The car ride was oddly silent. Your favourite radio station was playing and you hummed along to some of the songs. It was really hard not to stare at Spencer, not to ask him if there was any issues. You looked across at him in the driving seat a few times but his eyes were firmly fixed on the road ahead. There were no quips or comments about street names, car types, or any of the usual things he would talk to you about when you went driving. You noticed his hands were firmly gripped on the steering wheel and his face was flushed. Something was up, you just didn’t know what.

When you arrived at Rossi’s, you noticed that all the other cars were already outside. The air was chilly as you stepped out of the car and an involuntary shudder moved through your body. Spencer was quick by your side and wrapped his arm around your shoulder as you went up to knock on the door.

It was Penelope who answered, a grin beaming from ear to ear as she saw who it was. “My sweet genius lovebirds! C’mon in. Emily’s convinced Dave to open the good stuff,” She winked and stepped aside.

You quickly hung up your jacket and walked into the dining space where all your friends gathered. Sure enough, everyone was being handed a glass of red wine. You didn’t even want to know what year the bottle was from, or how much it had cost. Spencer placed a delicate hand on the small of your back and leaned in to speak to you. “Just going to speak to Rossi for a bit, save me a seat at dinner?” Before you had chance to reply he’d made his way across the room. You watched curiously as Dave nodded at him, as if knowing what he wanted, and they both disappeared into the kitchen and shut the door behind them.

It took you a second of confusion before you were able to engage with the people in front of you. You walked over to where Emily and JJ were stood caressing their glasses and smiling. JJ passed you a glass as you walked over, and you took a sip as you joined in their conversation.

“Where’s the dashing Reid tonight, y/n?” Emily asked. You quickly glanced around the room but saw he hadn’t come back.

“I don’t know, he’s been acting kinda funny today,” you shrugged, taking another sip of your drink. JJ reached out and put a comforting hand on your shoulder.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, y/n. You know Spencer. He’s always thinking.”

You nodded and bit your lower lip. “You’re probably right,” you sighed, still not sure of yourself. Still, you’d come to have a good time with your friends. You hadn’t had any arguments or disagreements with Spencer, so maybe JJ was right and there was something else bothering him.

Spencer and Rossi returned from the kitchen a few minutes later. You watched as Rossi shook his hand and gave him a smile, before Spencer made his way over to where Morgan and Garcia were flirting in the corner and struck up a conversation with them instead of coming back to you.

“Dinner is served!” Rossi declared. The grumble in your stomach told you just how much you were looking forward to it.

You all took your places at the dinner table. You had Emily on your right and sure enough, Spencer took the seat on your left. He still didn’t attempt conversation or make eye contact with you. By dessert, he’d barely said a word to you, except to ask you to pass him a napkin. Tears began to sting the corner of your eye but you wiped it away. Stop being dramatic. There’s nothing wrong. He’s probably just worried about something. After dinner, you all sat back after opening another bottle of wine, laughing at Morgan’s crude tales of hook-ups and Rossi’s detailed instructions of how he made the beautiful pasta you’d all enjoyed. You listened intently, chiming in to some of the stories, but your mind was firmly fixed on why your boyfriend seemed so distracted.

More wine followed, and then coffee. The coffee was just what you needed to perk up. There was something about red wine that made you sleepy, or perhaps it was because you were so full. As soon as people started to excuse themselves and say their farewells, you automatically looked around the room to find Spencer. This time you saw him leave the kitchen, again, closely followed by Morgan. Derek turned to face him and brought him in for a hug. That was weird too. What on earth was Spencer saying in these private conversations?

He walked over to you before you managed to look away and placed a hand on your shoulder. “Shall we head home, y/n?” He smiled softly and you nodded. It took a whole twenty minutes to say goodbye to everyone, mainly because a slightly intoxicated Garcia was intent on stroking your hair and telling you just how pretty you were.

“Goodnight my sweet geniuses. Tell me when you get home. Well, you don’t need to, I have the GPS location of your phones…” she hiccupped and stepped backwards.

“Speak to you tomorrow P,” you kissed her forehead and gave everyone a wave before stepping out into the cool night.

Ten minutes into your journey home and Spencer hadn’t said a word. The anxiousness was burning up inside you. Why was he acting so strangely? And what were those weird, private chats all about? Just as you were about to air your concerns, Spencer indicated at a turning that was unfamiliar to you. He turned the car into an alleyway and put it into neutral.

You could see he was breathing deeply. He took his hands from the steering wheel and turned to face you. “I wanted to do this at dinner but I got too nervous. So I thought I’d wait until we got home, but I can’t hold this in any longer…”

“Spence, what is the matter…” But all your questions were answered in an instant. He took hold of your hand and rubbed your palm with his thumb. With his free hand, he reached into his jacket pocket, and brought out a little black box.

He set the box into your open palm and carefully opened it. Inside, was a gorgeous ring. The centre was a diamond and on either side were two little rectangular emeralds. Tears filled your eyes and you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything. You stared down at the ring in wonder for what felt like a lifetime before he opened his mouth to speak.

“I’ve wanted to ask you this question for so long now, y/n. But I’ve found it hard to put into words just how much you mean to me. And I always have the words for everything,” you both giggled. “I want to marry you y/n. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. You are my best friend, my soulmate, my first and last thought of every single day. Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?” His fingers traced over the edge of the box, his eyes never leaving yours.

Your breath caught in your throat as you felt the tears trickle down your face. “Y-yes. Yes of course I will!” You held out your left hand and could see it shaking. There was no better feeling in the world. Spencer reached into the box, unable to control the smile that was now beaming on his face. The ring fit perfectly, and you held it up to the window to admire just how beautiful it was.

“You know why I chose emeralds?” he asked, now running his hand up your arm.

You had an idea, but didn’t want to be wrong, so turned and faced him waiting for his explanation.

“Your favourite book is The Great Gatsby. And Gatsby stands on the dock staring at the green light across the bay every night while he looks out for Daisy. That’s what I feel like when I’m not with you. I’m always looking for my light across the bay. The light of my life.”

It was just as you thought, but even more perfect hearing the words come out of his mouth. You’d barely said anything and still couldn’t, so reached across and held his face with your hand. “I love you Spencer. I’ve spent my whole life waiting for you,” you peppered kisses across his cheeks, his closed eyelids, and finally his lips. “Now, can we go back to our friends and give them the good news?”

He laughed and turned the ignition back on. “I was hoping you’d say that, future Mrs Reid.”

#criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid #dr spencer reid #dr reid #spencer x y/n #spencer x you #spencer x reader #spencer reid imagines #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fanfiction

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fanfics-for-you · 4 years ago

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Jinxed // Spencer Reid x Reader

Gender Neutral!! (Spencer Reid is a bi icon and you can't tell me other wise.)

In which the Reader just wants to talk about their feelings to some of their best friends, who they think will give them the best advice. But, they can't seem to get a word out without a certain Doctor interrupting.

//||□○□||\\

It was a really long case, and honestly you'd never been more tired in your life. But, Garcia had plead that you visit her and update all about your "adventure" with the team.

See, you actually tended to stay at the BAU headquarters with her but with your odd ease with children -and knowledge about early psychology-, Hotch had you tag along.

You ended up getting the last detail needed to find the perp, and you were very proud of yourself. Other than that though, you had spent almost all your time with Reid.

Hotch, although he asked you to attend, wouldn't let you anywhere near the field because of the lack of experience. This meant you were at the local police station, as you said helping Reid with linking locations and finding out more from the Encyclopedia that is his brain.

You worked together well, which was both good and bad, depending on if factored in the raging feelings for the Doctor. It was never said out loud though, you didn't want to have the chance of the smart man listening in.

You needed to tell someone.

"Y/N!" Garcia chirped, as you waltzed out of the elevator, your body aching for sleep.

"Hey, Garcia," you muttered, trying to focus on each step in front of you, and also not be rude to your peppy pal.

"C'mon, honey-" she ushered you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as you simply followed, oddly entranced by her sweet perfume, "-I'll get you some snacks. Mama Garcia's here."

You chuckled lightly, but found yourself humming, "I could marry you Garcia!"

"Oh, you wish, my darling-" she opened the door to her techie room, and she sat you in a chair, "-but I'm too good for you."

"'Course you are," you smiled, crossing your legs in the rolly chair, "-anyway, what's on the menu, G?"

She spun around in her chair, clicking her pen, "Ah, ah, ah. You spill, and you get some banana bread I made yesterday, for reasons you don't have to know."

You groaned, rubbing your temples, "What do you want to know?"

She scooted close to you, "I already know everything about the case, but I want to know the juicy stuff. Like, maybe... the fact that you were with Reid every time he called me? That's interesting, don't you think?"

You rolled your eyes, a small smile echoing on your features, "Hotch didn't want me on the field, and Reid was just there too, why is that important?"

Garcia raised her eyebrows, "You know why that's important, don't try to fool me."

You rolled your eyes, hiding the growing smile on your face, as you spun in your chair to tame your laughter.

Garcia held the chair, forcing you to stay still as she spoke, "So? What happened?"

You smiled, throwing your hands up, "Fine, you got me. I think I'm in love w-"

Garcia interrupted, eyes wide and jumping up from her chair, "Shh!"

She was focused behind you, at the door, and you felt your stomach drop at the idea that he stood there-

"You're in love, Y/N?"

You cursed under your breath, and spun around to lock eyes with the familiar brown eyes.

"Reid! Hey, what- what are you doing here?"

You tried to act as normally as possible, which was a bit hard because what if he heard the whole conversation? What if he was repulsed? This would not end well-

"I-" Spencer paused, holding up two takeout bags, "-I got you some dinner, you hadn't eaten during the investigation so... I thought I'd get you something."

You smiled, standing to retrieve the food with a curious eye, "Is this...?"

"Your favorite," Spencer hummed, "-I hope so. I know you get it more frequently than your sandwiches, or salads from anywhere else. So, I assumed-"

"Thank you, Spence," you hummed, taking it from his hands with a careful smile.

The silence lasted for a breath longer than it should have, as you waited for Spencer to say anything that could mean good news. It was getting more awkward by the second-

"And," Garcia jumped up, rushing beside you in a split second, "-you don't get to know a thing about what we were referring to, Mr. Smartypants. That's patient-doctor confidentially."

Spencer scrunched his eyebrows, turning to Garcia with his eyes, "...but you're not a... doctor?"

"It's a metaphor Spence," you shook your head, hard-eyeing Garcia to the side, "-she's just saying the secret is an unspoken one."

"But-" he paused, doing that scrunch thing with his nose -like he always does when he's confused-, "-that's an actual medical practice... It's unusual to ever be used as a-"

"Reid!" Penelope groaned, "Y/N is the only person in the BAU, who trusts me with their secrets, you're not ruining that for me."

"Wait, what do you mean only one? Why-"

Spencer nodded, a shine in his eye, "Well, that's kind of a given. You statistically slip-up with secrets about... 68% more than any other BAU member."

You raised a brow, "Where are you getting those statistics?"

Spencer cleared his throat, a light flush brushing onto his cheeks, "I do my research, and just because I sit at my desk and read most of the time, doesn't mean I don't hear things, really."

You and Garcia raised your eyebrows a bit in surprise, as the boy wonder seemed to play a mastermind villain. That was new.

"So," Garcia spoke, "-what I'm hearing is that you know all about the juicy gossip in the office? Reid, why don't you tell me? It's always the one they least expect-"

"Your research?" you spoke, branching off on a completely different conversational topic, "Reid, who do you think is the safest to confide in? Scientifically, of course."

Reid paused, watching you for a second, "Well, Hotch is definitely up there, but his empathetic skills are kind of lacking. Garcia is the opposite, she has the empathetic view, but also, can't stay quiet about it for long."

Penelope rolled her eyes, "No, need to profile me, you sweet, sweet nerd."

Reid continued, placing his take out in his satchel and moving his hands to visualize it -you guessed, "Emily is a good bet, but once she's drunk, it'd be safe to assume the secret is compromised. Derek is also a good bet, but... um, I'd imagine he'd be pushy and teasing."

There was something different about that one, as he stuttered it out in a bit of frustration. He'd definitely told Morgan something and recieved the bad end of the deal.

You looked up to Garcia, and she read your eyes with a look of agreement. Pulling out her phone and wandering back, she mouthed 'On it!' as her fingers went typing away.

"JJ, well," Reid continued, unmoved by the fact that Garcia had left their conversation, "-she's probably up there as well, but if push comes to shove, she'd definitely just... motherhen you until you shared it. I would be a plenty good candidate, I don't think I've ever shared a secret within the BAU-"

"But-" you interrupted him, your eyebrows furrowed, "-you have a tell, Spence."

Spencer pursed his lips, eyes darting slightly, "I do?"

"Uh, yeah-" you muttered, falling back into the extra chair Garcia had pulled for you, "-your face is full of tells. When it's a happy secret, like... Rossi's surprise birthday party! You have to hold back a smile constantly. A secret that's got you genuinely worried about someone? You glance to them like every five minutes, and your eyebrows furrow way more than normal. A sad secret? Your eyes are just like a sad puppy's, and you allow more physical touch."

"I-" Reid opened his mouth, but you continued, not even noticing the wide flush spread across his cheeks and tips of his ears.

"When it's a really big secret? That's when nervous or odd Reid comes out. You either dart your eyes/can't make eye contact, and you clasp your hands a lot. I assume, to stroke your palm, as a sense of comfort. Or you undereact to everything surrounding that secret, which just causes more suspicion, by the way-"

You finally looked up to Spencer, who was -at this moment- looking like he was about to implode. His face was bright red, and you thought it was really cute but also, you felt terrible for putting him through that.

You stopped, pausing, "Oh God, I'm so sorry, Spence. I didn't mean to offend you-"

"What?" Spencer blinked, his eyes no longer glazed over, "-Oh! No, that was... fascinating really! You don't even necessarily have to stop, if you don't want to. Not that I like it, or anything. NoT THAT I don't like it either, it's just-"

At this point, you'd fallen victim to your own blush, as Spencer rambled over something that did seem that big but he was getting redder by the minute-

You enjoyed this a bit too much, actually.

To be your saviour once again, Garcia screamed as high-pitched as she could.

At such a noise, you almost fell out of your chair, you got up so fast, "G? Everything okay?"

Garcia looked up, "Uh, yeah. Totally, definitely. It's just ya know- a spider, yeah."

You raised an eyebrow, as Reid -who now stood beside you- spoke in a questioning tone, "On your phone?"

She bit her lip, throwing her eyes between you and Spencer, "Yeah, uh totally nothing to do with you guys. Derek sent it to me as a prank, and it doesn't have a single bit to do with the two agents right in front of me, right now."

You furrowed your eyebrows, "Are you sure everything's alright?"

Garcia spun to her computer, "Oh, of course! Why wouldn't everything be alright? It's uh- Nothing's wrong, and nothing's going on. I don't know anything about the secret romance that may or may not be going on in the office. Nope, not me."

You glanced at Reid, who although he had a few of the tells you spoke of earlier, shrugged his shoulders.

"Um," he spoke, confused, "-Penelope, what are you talking about?"

She was basically sawing down on her lip now, as she opened her mouth and then shut it again, and finally closed her eyes, "OUT! Both of you out, I... I can't handle this monumental information with you both standing right in front of me. So, scram!"

You opened your mouth, "What? You wanted me in here, Penn. I don't und-"

Garcia grabbed your shoulders, "If you love me, take the beanstalk boy, and exit this room."

"But, I-"

"Please."

You sighed, picking up Spencer's take out, and grabbing his satchel's strap with unhesitant ease, "Come on, Spence. We gotta go."

"O-Okay," Spencer noted, following close behind you without hesitation, you two just trusted each other. It didn't take much.

You pulled him out into the BAU hub, and finally let go of him, spinning around to talk about that odd experience.

"So, Spence-" you grabbed, a rolly chair from a random desk and sat in it, placing your food in your lap, "-what do you think that was all about?"

"Probably a secret," Reid blurted, he'd seemed a little off as he said that, doing the same as you and pulling a chair to sit.

"Oh," you pursed your lips, digging in your bag and pulling out the container, "-who do you think it's about?"

Spencer looked at you, a bit baffled, like he'd expected you to pick up on something, but you hadn't.

He shook his head, tossing his wonderous hair as he did so, "Could be anyone, I guess."

He fidgeted with his food, picking his fork into the dish and quietly muttering something you couldn't quite hear.

"Spence?" you hummed, as he looked up to you, "-everything okay with you?"

Spencer paused, blinking, "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just tired, actually."

You frowned, "Man, is there something on my face? God, everyone has been weird around me today."

Spencer perked up, "What do you mean?"

"Ever since the big break," you spoke, a little worried, "-everyone's been looking at me weird. Like they know something I don't."

"Oh," Spencer echoed, watching your face fall slightly, "-well, actually. There was an... officer in the Chicago Department. He had a crush on you, and was really obvious about it. The team thought it was funny you didn't notice."

You raised your eyebrows, as Spencer didn't make eye contact and a quiet blush swept across his cheeks, "Really? Wow. I'm not surprised, I... uh, never pick up on those cues."

"Was there-" Spencer added with a slightly hardened tone, "-Was there any cop there you were hoping it'd be? You don't have to answer, I'm honestly just curious-"

"No, uh-" your eyes flashed up to him, "-not there. All of those guys were... weird."

He laughed, eyes lightening up a bit, "So, you're picky, huh?"

You smiled, "Maybe so, Reid, maybe so."

|//□◇□\\|

It was early morning and you were to stay at the BAU for a case, as usual. However, this time Rossi was staying too.

Something about getting his book finished and to the publisher on time, he'd avoided the plane ride and now, sat with you gazing over the large table with case files spread hastily across it.

It was a gruesome case, one where Garcia practically gagged just presenting it to the team. You honestly couldn't think about the specifics, without doing the same.

"So, Rossi-" you spoke, eyes skimming over a victim's file, "-what do you think the symbol branded on t-"

Rossi didn't look up, as he spoke, "When are you going to tell him?"

You raised your eyes, splitting a confused smile on your lips, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Reid," he clarified, his eyes steadied on the pictures scattered across the table.

You stuttered, your face a tinge of red, "I have no clue what you're talking about."

Rossi added, finally looking up, "You know the poor boy doesn't have the guts, Y/N. You're kind of hard to read as well, so you're probably going to have to make the first move."

"I-" you muttered, low and under your breath, "I don't know how."

"For him? It's simple," Rossi addressed, his hands up as if he was selling a new invention to you, "-you just have to be honest and straightforward, little one. Tell him that-"

A voice spoke up, "Tell who what?"

Rossi stopped, his eyes darting to the new figure in the room, "I thought you got on the plane, boy wonder?"

"Yeah, Spence," you spoke, raising a brow and trying to cool your cheeks, "-what's up?"

"I uh, forgot my passport at home," he hummed, his eyes anywhere but on yours or Rossi's.

You scrunched your eyebrows at Rossi, who just like you had the same idea. There was no way that was the truth.

Rossi cleared his throat, "Uh, Y/N, we'll continue our conversation elsewhere. And Reid-"

Spencer looked up at him, with his head tilted like a little puppy. He was insanely cute, you honestly don't know how he worked himself into the FBI with how much he'd seemed so... innocent, really.

Rossi continued, "We'll talk about this later, capiche?"

Spencer nodded, eyes caught up in the evidence scattered amongst the table, "Yes, sir."

||//■○■\\||

"Yeah, and then, the guy came up to me and said-" Emily narrated, each member on the edge of their seat, as she'd told her -one and only- blind date story.

"Y/N?" Hotch spoke, tapping the doorframe of his office, signaling you to come in.

Tapping Penelope's leg, you made her promise to tell you the rest of the story, if you missed it, and waltzed right up the stairs to his office.

"Hey," you smiled, a dash of concerned, "-what's going on, sir? Is everything alright?"

"I needed to run something by you," he spoke, intelligent and in no way was his voice odd so that you could dissect it, "-please, sit."

You nodded, immediately taking you're place in the seat across from his desk, "Of course! What am I looking at?"

Hotch spoke, as he carefully moved to take a file out of his desk drawer, "As one of our press/legal employees, there's been an edit to a section of our contract, and I wanted you to be one of the ones who ensures everything is correct within the document."

"Oh, it's my pleasure, sir-" you hummed, taking the file out of his hand, "-am I taking this home? Or?"

"No," his eyes flashed to the door, "-it's a pretty small edit, just read it over and let me know. You can preferably sit in here and read it."

"Oh, okay," you hummed, a little confused, but your eyes settled on the document.

'Inner Office Relationships:

Now, available if properly addressed to the supervisory agent of both parties.'

"Um, Hotch," you mumbled, eyes scanning across the full-fledged page, as only one difference stuck out to you, "-is this about...?"

"Office relationships? Yes," he confirmed, eyes lingering on you -with a slight pass to the door, "-so...?"

"So, what, sir?" you questioned, flipping the file open and closed as the awkwardness in the room peaked.

"You and Dr. Reid," he spoke, eyes telling all, "-it's been adjusted for the betterment of the BAU, specifically you two."

"I-" you blinked, unsure of what to say as you'd never seen Hotch this way.

"Listen, Y/N, just-" he paused, careful and concise, "-if it happens, please inform me for the sake of th-"

"Sir?" Reid waltzed in, a file filled with papers in his arms as his eyes stayed trained on them, "I've skimmed these documents, and the only difference I can really see between the two, is that office relationships are allowed, as long as you inform your su-"

His eyes moved up from the papers, and upon landing on you, he tripped and the file came crashing down. All the papers fluttering in the air, as he simply muttered, "Oh."

"I-I, uh, apologize, sir-" he scrambled, his ears burning a bright red, as you leaned down and picked up some of the papers with him, "-I didn't realize, you'd had company in here. I'm sorry for interrupting."

"Reid," Hotch smiled at him, "-it's fine, Y/N here, was reviewing the same document as well."

"Oh," Reid said again, ultimately trying to hide into himself, as he ashamedly picked up the fallen papers.

You paused, holding the stack you'd gathered, "Uh, actually, sir. I'm just curious, but why was that change made to the document? Do you know?"

"Actually," Hotch glanced at the other Agent in the room, "-someone sent in a request to change the document."

You raised an eyebrow, tilting your head slightly, "Oh, do you have any idea who did that?"

Reid, who had been bent slightly under the table, shot up and rammed his head into a smaller table by a couch that lined the wall.

"Ouch..." he muttered, cradling his head with hand and you immediately jumped up, concern brimming under your fingertips.

"Jeez, Spence!" you stood on your tippy-toes to get a good look, "-I don't think you're bleeding, but we'll have to get you some ice for that, just to be safe."

"Yeah," Spencer laughed nervously, his voice strained as he side-eyed Hotch, "-we should obviously go that. We can't stay in here."

In a few short minutes, Spencer was ushering you out and as you stepped out, you watched all your coworkers unabashedly act like they were not watching the whole time.

You groaned, briskly grabbing Spencer's hand, and dashing on by the the break room. You'd rather not hear anything any of them have to say at this moment, unless it was Emily's story. That was all you'd wanted to hear-

"Uh, Y/N?"

You blinked, as Reid motioned to his head, and with a swift glance to your connected hands, you blushed, "Oh, sorry, Spence. Got distracted."

He laughed, as you carefully slipped your hand out of his and scurried to get a bag, some ice, and some paper towels. Or maybe just find an ice pack in the fridge?

"So," you addressed, as you skimmed the freezer for an ice pack, "-what was that about?"

"What?" Spencer asked, until his mind clicked and he added, "Oh, I just... I don't know, I got a bit nervous, er- surprised."

You smiled into the fridge, -finding an ice pack buried under some peas, or something, you weren't sure-, "It was you who requested the change, wasn't it?"

"No," Spencer squeaked, and you could only imagine the tips of his ears getting redder.

"You can't lie to me Spence," you hummed pulling off a few paper towels, and wrapping the around the ice pack, "-remember?"

"Anyway," you continued, walking towards him, "-I don't blame you, there are some very attractive people in this BAU. I'm just curious which one you're trying to sweep off their feet Doctor Reid?"

"It's-" Reid stuttered out, gently taking the ice pack from you hands, "It's not like that."

"My money's on JJ," you spoke with a tongue of hurt in your tone, as you locked eyes with those familiar brown ones.

"What?! No," Spencer practically yelled, "-she's married!"

You shrugged, "Doesn't stop most guys."

"Pfft," he chuckled, throwing up his freehand, "-you don't think I'm one of those guys, do you? I mean, look at me!"

He motioned down to his sweater vest and perfectly placed tie, and somewhere in your head you had to disagree.

You smirked, getting up and exited the room with a shake of laughter, "It's always the ones you don't expect, Reid, it's always the ones you don't expect."

||//◇●◇\\||

It was the team's night out, everyone was at a dimly lit, crowded karaoke bar. Although, you didn't quite prefer crowds, you wouldn't have it any other way.

Derek and Garcia were out dancing on the floor, Hotch and JJ were at home with their respective families, Rossi went home early, Reid was never one to attend these outings, and you and Prentiss sat in a booth, tired but still wanting to drink.

She sipped on her small glass, eyes locked on you with a glance you'd grown familiar to.

You smiled, a bit of a confused one as always, "What, Em?"

Prentiss raised her eyebrows, "So, I heard about the Reid thing."

You rolled your eyes, "What Reid thing?"

"Don't," Emily tipped her drink to you, with a teasing grin, "-I'm a profiler, Y/N, don't underestimate me."

You raised a brow, knowing there was no possible way that Reid would end up here, you were safe, "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Well," Emily looked out into the crowd, and then back at you, "-why haven't you asked him out?"

"It's-" you paused, gnawing on your lip, "-complicated, Prentiss."

She opened her mouth, looking back at you, when it suddenly turned into a gasp. And you didn't even have to look back to know what was going on.

"What's complicated?"

Emily's eyes widened, "Woah, Reid! You never come to the karaoke nights with us, I'm- I'm so glad you came!"

He scoffed, obviously lying, "I go to tons of parties with you guys. All the time."

"Yeah, no, Spencer-" Emily added swirling her drink around, as she eyed the book in his hand and bottle of water, "-you don't."

You furrowed your brows, Spencer had frequented quite a few of them -in your presence at least, wait. Had he only showed up when you did?

Emily practically read your mind, as Spencer sat just beside you, "You only show up when Y/N says they're going to be there, hotshot. And I could probably get proof of that."

"I-" Spencer paused, clearing his throat, "-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure, you don't," Emily hummed, as she stood, "-I saw a hot girl on the dancefloor, I'm going to go talk to her, lovebirds. Talk to you later!"

You shook your head, laughing, "How wasted do you think she's going to get tonight?"

Spencer paused, "Usually, I'd say 9 times out of 10, she ends up puking on the floor, or leaving with someone else."

"So, maybe the chances are in her favor with that girl, huh?" you smiled at him, for just a second and peered over the glass.

He grinned right back, a glint in his eye that you hadn't recognized, "Yeah... Maybe, just maybe he does."

You hadn't thought much of the pronoun change with the loud, boisterous music, and with your heart fluttering at the wide grin -that was just utterly contagious-, let's just say you were... a little distracted anyway.

//||♡◇♡||\\

It was the obligated BAU dinner night at Rossi's, he was talking about some sort of pasta. You could tell it looked kinda like lasagna, but you wouldn't dare say that to the older man's face.

He'd probably have you kicked out, if you did.

You wouldn't blame him, either.

"Y/N!" Rossi exclaimed, his face a wide smile, "I can trust you to know what oregano is, right?"

"Uh," you paused, trying to take a minute to think, "-yes? I think."

"Good," Rossi hummed, "-take Morgan, and go pick up some from the Deli's down the street."

You chucked, catching the keys thrown your way, "Yes, sir! But I better get the first piece of that bread, mister."

Rossi winked at you, "If you come back with oregano? Consider it done."

With a pep in your step, you waltzed to the living room where a few familiar faces sat. Derek was there, his arm slung around Penelope, and Reid was bent over in laughter.

You blinked, refocusing on the task at hand -you could stare at Reid later, "Hey, Derek?"

All three people looked up with distant smiles, Reid's eyes twinkled like they always did, as Morgan answered, "What's up, my sunshine?"

You laughed, "Rossi has assigned us to pick up some oregano, you coming?"

"Always with you," Morgan grinned, his bright, teasing grin that you'd grown familiar with.

"Alright," you rolled your eyes, "-let's go then, mister. I'm sure Reid can occupy Penelope, no?"

Reid blinked, like he was knocked out of his trace, "What?"

Derek laughed, smacking the tall man on the back, "You heard them, Reid. Keep my girl satisfied, pretty boy."

With a laugh, he pulled an arm over your shoulders and smiled, "Our chariot awaits."

You nodded, and followed Morgan out the door, you'd had about 30 minutes until the store closed anyway.

The car ride was silent, as Morgan pulled into the driverseat, his driving would get you there faster and neither of you wanted to miss such a meal.

"So," Derek hummed, hands trained on the wheel, "-do you-"

"I swear to God, if this is about Reid-" you threw your hands up, rubbing your eyes.

"What?" Derek raised his brows, "What about Reid? I was just going to ask if you'd decided on a pet to adopt, sunshine."

"Oh," you paused, a bit surprised.

"What's-" Derek grinned, his eyes obnoxiously shining, "What's going on with Reid?"

"Well, uh-" you rubbed your hands together, "-basically everyone in the BAU has tried to 'confront' me about him."

"Oh," Derek hummed, "-is it about you two being lovebirds? And that pretty boy has no way of being the one to make the first move."

You sighed, "Not you too."

Derek shrugged, "What? You guys are obviously just dancing around each other, and we're a team of profilers. It's not hard to see you two."

You pursed your lips, "If so, why can't Reid read me?"

Derek mumbled, "What do you mean?"

"If it's so obvious," you hummed, quieter than necessary, "-then why doesn't he do anything about it?"

"That's a question for Reid, sunshine," Derek hummed, "-but we all know he's not particularly good at social cues."

"So?" you hummed tapping your inner leg, "I'm surprised we haven't been interrupted yet, actually."

Derek furrowed his eyebrows, "What?"

You chuckled, shaking your head, "Uh, everytime I talk about my feelings, Reid always pops into the conversation before I can even speak."

Derek scoffed, "How many times have you tr-"

He was interrupted by his phone buzzing, and a familiar name shining onto his screen. His eyes widened, as you sighed. It happened yet again.

"Speak of the devil," Derek gasped, with a small smile and clicking on the call, "Hey, pretty boy. You're on speaker."

"Oh, hey!" Reid was scatterbrained, his words quick like when he was nervous, "Rossi wanted me to go with you guys, I was told to call you before it was too late."

"Not that I don't enjoy your company, Reid-" you spoke, carefully, "-but why would you need to be here?"

"Yeah, sunshine here-" Derek spoke, looking at you with a raised eyebrow, "-has a point boy wonder."

Spencer continued, his voice raised to a slightly higher pitch, "Uh, maybe ask Rossi?"

"Sorry, Spence," you shook your head, working it out in your head, "-we're not turning around. It really doesn't make any sense, we're almost at the store now."

Derek grinned, one you knew he wore specifically for Reid, "Yeah, and to me, it just sounds like pretty boy here has a case of jealousy. Nothing too urgent."

"I-" Reid echoed, defensive, "-uh no, that's not what's happening, Rossi did-"

You raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically not Spencer tone of Spencer's voice, mouthing to Derek, "What's that about?"

Derek snickered, but he didn't explain. As usual.

"Listen, Reid-" Derek added, his voice steady with an air of teasing, "-although Y/N is very irresistible, I will refrain from stealing them away from you."

"I-" Spencer's voice spoke, exhausted and a bit defensive, "-I never said Y/N was mine, Morgan. Rossi just wanted-"

"That's enough, boy wonder-" Derek hummed flipping the phone to his ear, "-you're off of speaker now."

You watched as Morgan carefully listened to the distant hum of Spencer's voice, and a giant smug grin slipped across his face. One that just screamed that he'd tease Reid later.

Derek winked at you, as he responded with a telling gleam in his eye, "So Rossi did tell you to come, but after you annoyed him in to doing so? Still sounds like jealousy, kid."

There was a loud yell on the other end, a bit of a frustrated tone, you could tell. Derek had done it once more, Reid was frustrated.

"Hey, baby girl-" Derek spoke as smooth as butter, "-I'm sorry you had to take his place, but can I politely ask you to tell pretty boy to man up?"

You snorted, confused but at this point, you'd found bliss in the unknown. With such a big secret, you'd easily began to understand that silence was key in most areas.

With a sigh, you'd turned to look out the window and your feelings mustered in your chest. Another fail.

//||♡◇♡||\\

It was an exhausting morning, although no case had spiraled into your department, everyone was busy wrapping up previous paperwork. Including those with families, which you found to be absolutely devastating.

You kept glancing up at JJ, she seemed exhausted and she had the cutest little boy at home -who not to mention was Reid’s godson. Henry was an angel in every aspect of the word with what little you’d interacted with the boy, you’d still die for him.

Plus, watching Reid interact with him? He’d be a great Dad, just based on that.

Not, not necessarily with you.

It could be, you’d pegged Spencer as one who would adopt. His wonderful brain probably knew all the statistics of orphans and chances of mishaps in birth and percentage of abandonment in this city. You’d actually only wanted to adopt too, so maybe you were just projecting-

Okay, re-center.

You blinked, watching as JJ’s stack of papers kept growing and you kept imagining Henry getting sadder by the hour... You had known since coming back to the team, and being the lead in the communication and press department, she’d really been weighed down.

You’d had the sort of specialist as well, dabbling in the press, and you definitely didn’t have any loving husband and child at home. With a sigh, you raised up from your spinning chair, taking a longing look at your small stack and approaching JJ.

Clearing your throat, you sat in a chair by her desk with a smile, pretending to dust off the stack, “You’ve got your night made, huh?”

JJ lightly chuckled, “Yeah, all of these are for various press releases in the past few weeks. It’s really a nightmare.”

“Do you-” you pursed your lips, thumbing through the one on top, “-I know I’m not the Jennifer Jareau, but I’ve worked in press and pretty sure all of your conferences are taped somewhere... Do you think I could pick these up for you?”

JJ blinked, pausing for a second, baffled, “You’d... You’d do that for me?”

“Well,” you rolled your eyes, playfully, “-more like for Henry, but...”

JJ chuckled, “Right, of course. I’ll just... go ask Hotch? And this means so much to me, you don’t even-”

You waved her off, “No, let’s just say you owe me one? That fair? To be honest, I was just going to go home and binge a few episodes. Like the cliched unsuccessful adult. Plus, I don’t have a cute little family to go back to. So... I want to do this for you.”

JJ paused, “Okay, but I do owe you one, for real. No take-backs.”

You nodded with a smile, patiently following JJ with your eyes -you’d had a habit of ensuring everyone you’d known got to their next location safely, it came with the job. Just at the base of the stairs, JJ ran into the familiar man you just couldn’t get out of your head: Dr. Spencer Reid.

Their words were hushed, Spencer trying desperately to keep it at a low volume, and JJ seemed to be well... mother-henning him. Derek walked up beside you, just as JJ started to motion towards you -quite vividly, actually.

She was pointing her eyes to you, you saw her mouth your name a few times, and now she was... pointing at you. It took everything in you, not to laugh actually.

You spoke to Derek, with a sarcastic tone, “You think they’re talking about me?”

Derek chuckled, “You might be confused with the potted plant, sunshine.”

You snickered, going back to look at them, and now JJ was motioning you to come to her. Like angry mother, when you’d stayed out past curfew.

Raising your eyebrows to Morgan, he muttered with a smirk, “Someone’s in trouble.”

You shoved him over, as you made your way to the perhaps frustrated woman who had been motioning to you just earlier. Spencer was still standing there, awkwardly, actually, with quite the flush to his face.

“Uh-” you spoke, locking eyes with JJ, “-what’s up? I thought I was just going to go do your files, I-”

JJ grabbed your wrist, looking at Spencer with a stern eye, “Wait here, Reid. Don’t move. Y/N, can you step into the breakroom with me?”

At this point, the entire BAU was watching the interaction. Even Garcia was poking her head out of her tech room, and the rest were huddled across the room. You glanced to Spencer for some sort of explanation, but he just blinked at you with those once loved brown eyes.

They were on thin ice right now, because JJ seemed to be offended.

“I’m confused, but-” you met JJ’s eyes, quietly, “-okay...?”

JJ wasted no time, dragging your arm away, as you frantically said goodbye to him with a small smile. You always had to smile at him, it was like on a checklist in your head. You read somewhere that it helps people fall in love, it was probably scientific.

Sliding into the breakroom, she closed the door and slid the blinds down. You chuckled lightly just at the pure frustration on her features, Spencer must’ve said something really... offensive? He didn’t seem the type.

“So,” you spoke with a raised brow, “-can I ask questions now?”

JJ paused, anger dissipating from her furrowed brow, “Uh yeah, about that...”

“Let me guess-” you hummed, tired from the day, “-you can’t answer them?”

“Yeah,” JJ responded, carefully, “-hey, are you okay?”

You paused, actually debating in your mind, “Yes, I’d say so.”

JJ stared at you, “I... I don’t think so. Is it the Reid thing?”

You chuckled, a little hopelessly, as you sat at one of the small table, “It’s jinxed to talk about it, JJ. I’d be careful.”

“Jinxed?” JJ slid into the seat across from you, with a look of concern gleaming in her eye.

You raised an eyebrow, “Everytime it happens, Spence butts in.”

She scoffed, “You know, I think those might be coincidences. There’s no way that it could- Crap.”

You smiled wide, just out of the corner of your eye, you could see brown eyes slipping through the blinds. Spencer wasn’t that sneaky.

JJ was speaking kind of out of the side of her mouth, “Y/N, act shocked. I mean, jaw dropping.”

“Jaw dropping?” you spoke, raising your eyebrows and covering your mouth with an air of urgency.

JJ lips turned up, as she bit back laughter, “Perfect.”

Uncovering your mouth, you raised a brow, asking, “What is this for?”

“It’s to make Reid think we’re talking about something in particular,” JJ responded, her face barely flinching at the mention.

“And,” you added, “-lemme guess? I can’t know what.”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” JJ began, as the brown eyes vanished from the window, “-but, on the brightside, he’s gone! And we can continue our conv-”

Suddenly, the door burst open and -who would’ve guessed- Spencer came tumbling in like the clumsy man he is.

You blinked, turning to JJ with a tired smile, “You were saying?”

Spencer grinned, sheepishly, and spoke in a lighter tone than normal, “Uh, hey, you guys! I didn’t know we were having a meeting-” he slid into the seat beside you, “-anyway, so what are we talking about?”

JJ blinked, a little astonished at the very unSpencer-like behavior, lucky for her, you’d been dealing with this for ages and came prepared.

“Henry,” you answered, with a questitive tone, “-why? Should we be talking about something else, Spencer?”

Spencer blinked, turning towards you and on cue his ears went pink, “I uh- maybe?”

You laughed, continuing despite your own cheeks burning a bit, “Oh, you mean me picking up JJ’s work? That’s also mostly for Henry... Why do you need to know, Spence?”

JJ added, “Actually, he was talking to me, earlier, as I’m sure you saw... and he wanted to help you with the work? I don’t know why he went to me, but-”

“Oh,” you spoke softly, you turned to him, “-well if you have no plans, I’d really appreciate the help.”

“Pfft, plans?” Spencer echoed, face bright red at this point, “-I don’t... I’d never-”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” you raised an eyebrow, standing up from your chair with a smile, “-and JJ, thanks for the talk. I’ll just go grab those files off your desk.”

JJ smiled at you, “Again, thank you so much... I don’t know how I’ll repay you.”

“I’ll figure it out for you, Js” you laughed, slipping out of the room with a sigh of relief. Thank god you were out of that situation.

And just on the brink of peace, Derek spoke up, “What was that all about, sunshine?”

“You have to tell us!!” Garcia added, enthusiastically just like with everything else.

You groaned, playfully, “Not you two! You know my weaknesses so well.”

They stared at you, expectantly.

“Plus, it was about nothing-” you spoke, making your way to JJ’s desk, “-now, if you’ll excuse me... I have work to do.”

Garcia pouted, skipping away to her room with a look in her eyes that implied she’d ask questions later, and Derek shrugged it off.

With your back turned, you organized the stack on JJ’s desk. Trying to break it into two different stacks, making them even -despite knowing Spencer would 100% be faster.

Adjusting your grip, you heard the door close just behind you -that was the breakroom- and prepared yourself for either of them in your company. Taking the newly organized stack, you walked to your desk with as much energy as you could at this point.

Just as you sat down and pushed a stack onto Spencer’s desk -he was helping-, Derek’s voice caught your ear.

“Hey, you excited for your blind date tonight, pretty boy?”

You froze, looking up as Spencer looked nervously at you, “I actually promised Y/N that I’d help th-”

“Spence?” you asked, a little confused and a dash heartbroken, “-I thought you didn’t have any plans? I can pick these up on my own-”

Spencer scrambled, “Well, I actually-”

You interrupted, pulling the files back on your desk, “You just promised me Spence, go on your date. I don’t want to intrude-”

Spencer tried to speak up, “Y/N, wait-”

“Spence, come on-” you laughed, “-you can’t tell me you’d choose paperwork over a date? They could be the love of your life, Spence. Go on the d-”

“I’d rather be with you!” Spencer exclaimed, his face flushed to the max, “-I’d rather be here with you.”

“That’s my cue to leave,” Derek’s eyes widened, stepping back out of your view and you were a little speechless, honestly.

“Oh,” you laughed, pushing down any hope that may have risen in your chest, “-of course, Spencer Reid would choose paperwork over a date.”

Spencer sighed, “Oh god, how are you so oblivious and so cute doing it?”

“I uh-” you answered back, as your face fell red, “-what?”

Words began slipping past his lips, “I want to spend every waking moment with you, Y/N. Not just... not just paperwork.”

You swallowed, your mouth moving but no words coming out. The floor had literally been ripped out from under you, and you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

“Y/N?” Spencer wandered closer to you, eyes scanning the area and seeing the crowd building in front of the elevator, “-Here, come with me.”

“O-Okay,” you laced your fingers with his, as he dragged you into the breakroom once more, where JJ left apparently.

The two of you sliding back into the chairs from before

You blinked, as Spencer let out a breath, and you sat in silence for longer than you felt was comfortable. So, you decided to do something about it.

“So every waking moment, huh?” you smirked, with a bit of timidness in your tone.

Spencer smiled, his ears turning bright red, but he was oddly the most calm you’d ever seen him -leaning back in his chair with a warm look in his eyes, “If you want too? Maybe?”

You grinned, quietly extended your hand to meet his across the table with a small smile, “How about dinner first?”

Spencer scratched the back of his neck, with a nervous grin and took your hand across the table, “Of course, yeah... Yeah.”

“Not today though, Dr. Reid-” you hummed, “-if you don’t remember, you promised a certain person some help with some paperwork?”

Spencer played along, tapping his chin, “You know what, I think I might remember...”

“Oh, come on-” you laughed, pulling him from his chair, “-you big goof...”

“At least I’m your big goof,” Spencer added, as you pulled him off his feet.

“Yeah, of course,” you smiled, stopping in your place,”-but we really need to get to work, Spence.”

He smiled, his cute cheeky smile that you loved, “You’re right, we should get going.”

“Like actually though,” you broke the mood, “-we don’t wanna stay here all night, Spencer.”

“Oh, of course, yeah!” he responded, waking up from his daze, as the two of you prepared yourself for the night.

But hey, at least you were spending it with him, and maybe... just maybe you wouldn’t mind “every waking moment” either.

#spencer reid x reader #ffywriting #reader insert #spencer reid #Criminal Minds #reader #cm #dr spencer reid #gender neutral reader

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legaciezzz · 4 years ago

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Hizzie Pirate AU Headcannons

Hope Mikaelson, the daughter of the nefarious pirate Klaus Mikaelson.

Her crew: Landon, Rafael and Kaleb with Penelope as her first mate.

Lizzie and Josie are the governor's daughters.

MG is the black smith's apprentice and their childhood friend.

Hope and the crew had a plan to kidnapped the twins and hold them for ransom.

But they only managed to capture Lizzie because that night Josie snuck out to meet MG for sword lessons.

Josie's also the one who's interested in a the pirate stuff.

When everyone found about Lizzie being abducted by pirates, they went wild.

And amidst the panic and Alaric coming up with a carefully thought out plan, Josie took it upon herself to go save her sister with MG's help.

Meanwhile Lizzie was doing was she knew best and that was being a bratty hostage.

Complaining about pirates (using Landon as her main example), about the heat, the ropes being too tight, being hungry, disrespecting the ship and calling it a boat.

"Are you sure we can't make her walk the plank?" Penelope asked, being the most annoyed.

"Well maybe if you guys grabbed both of them, we wouldn't have this problem." Hope said, making her grand entrance.

"Aren't you a little short to be a pirate?" Lizzie said.

Hope drew her sword. "Want to say that again?"

Despite a sword being pointed at her, to Lizzie's suprise there was something oddly arousing about it.

"When my father hears about this, you're dead."

"We're actually counting on that... Unless he's fine with having only one daughter."

The pirates gathered around to discuss the ransom which Lizzie overheard.

"I am worth at least double that." Lizzie interjected, offended, which she quickly realized wasn't the best idea helping the pirates that captured her.

After that she found herself locked in a cell.

Rafael would come to bring her food that she'd still complain about.

One day when she was expecting him, she got Hope instead telling her how her dad seemed to not cooperating.

Their conversation was cut short by Kaleb alerting Hope that they crossed paths with a rival ship.

The pirates on that were lead by Sebastian who heard of Lizzie's ransom.

The other pirates grabbed Lizzie, but she managed to break free once they were on deck.

Lizzie was so caught up in the chaos of the fight she didn't know what to do.

She picked up a sword that was laying around which led to her accidentally stabbing Sebastian who was overpowering Hope.

Penelope helped her get back on her feet, but it was Lizzie she stared at.

That night Lizzie was invited to eat with Hope as thanks for saving her life.

They got to talking and Hope opened up about her dad.

Lizzie then mentioned how her mom once dated a pirate.

The night end with Hope asking her if she wanted to be a part of the crew.

Lizzie originally turned down the offer to work before reconsidered and said that it beat sitting in a cell all day.

After that Lizzie worked beside the crew with Penelope teaching her the ropes.

Penelope quickly gave up and so Hope took over.

Hope and Lizzie grew really close after spending that much time together.

Penelope teased Hope when she sensed the attraction.

To which Hope always responded with the "get back to work" card.

Lizzie made many remarks of the crews hygiene.

Infact, any of the insults she made Landon was the main target of them.

There's was also many times where dumped her chores like mopping the deck on the crews simply because she got bored or just didn't want to do them anymore.

One night during a sword lesson turned sensual, Lizzie cut herself.

Hope took her to her cabin to patch her up which led to them kissing and then sleeping together.

That was also Lizzie's first time with a girl.

They both were confused where their relationship stood after that night until Hope confessed her feelings after Lizzie was attacked by a siren.

Even though she's dating the captain, Hope always has to remind Lizzie that she's not the captain.

The crew was impressed by how well Lizzie could handle her rum.

But when she gets a little too drunk, Hope carries her to bed.

Whenever they dock somewhere to visit or get supplies, she always tells the crew to get fresh fruit.

"You know we aren't your servants, right?" Penelope told her once.

"Trust me, if you were I'd be asking for a lot more than just fruit."

By the time Josie and MG found Lizzie it was clear that she was in good hands.

It definitely took MG a while to pick up on the fact that Hope and Lizzie were together.

As much as Lizzie loved her old life, she'd grown to like her new one.

It wasn't hard to convince Josie to join them, and with her impressive knowledge about pirates and skills she made a good addition.

And there was no way MG was going back home alone, even if he did feel a bit intimidated by the crew.

After they settled everything, Lizzie wrote a letter to her dad about living on the sea and living the life her mother never could.

#headcannons #hope mikaelson imagine #lizzie saltzman imagine #hope mikaelson x lizzie saltzman #legacies

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rhetoricalrogue · 4 years ago

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31 Days of Wayhaven: Day 10

Prompt: Blood Rating: G Words: 1910 Characters: Winona Adams, Farah Hauville, Nicolo Morelli Summary: Farah accidentally connects two dots while dishing out on some gossip. Note: Blood, bloodlines...stretching the prompt a little? Who, me? Tony first showed up in a few headcanon posts of mine as my detective Aubrey Miller’s best friend/ex-dance partner before she came back home from the City. He’s apparently evolved from a throwaway mention minor character to a bridge between Aubrey and Unit Charlie.

For the @31daysofwayhaven event.

“You should have seen the look on his face!” Farah bent over in laughter before flopping onto Winona’s bed. Unit Bravo was stationed at the Facility closest to Wayhaven while their new warehouse headquarters was being built and it so happened that Charlie was also in between missions. When Farah had found out about how Winona had joined up with the Agency, she had made a beeline to introduce herself, practically bouncing off the walls in excitement and hoping that her Echolian hadn’t gotten too rusty after seven years. Nate was incredibly good at the language, but no matter how fluent he was, it wasn’t like speaking her mother tongue with another native speaker.

Just hearing the same language spoken so fluently made the pangs of homesickness that hit unexpectedly now and again hurt just a little bit less. They still felt like a knife being twisted in her side, but at least they didn’t take her breath away or knock her to her knees as often.

“You shouldn’t tease him so,” Winona chastised, reclining on her side and peeling an orange to share. Winona liked spending time with the youngest member of Unit Bravo. The exuberance and sheer joy that radiated out of her reminded her of her own younger sibling that hadn’t made it through the rift she’d fallen through before it had closed almost immediately after her.

Her hands trembled for a moment, the peel of the orange caught between her fingers. Her brother would have loved having these available year-round.

“But he makes it so easy, Winona!” Farah took a segment of the orange she offered, nibbling at it to acclimate herself to the taste. The first burst of sweet yet slightly tart flavor always overwhelmed her senses, but she really did like them. She sighed as she popped the rest of the segment into her mouth. “I just wish Adam would talk to someone about how he feels. I mean, Aubrey is head over heels for him, I just don’t get it.”

“People express their feelings differently,” Winona commented, peeling another segment. “And sometimes fear makes expressing those feelings openly difficult.” Her thoughts went towards Cameron and Penelope. She and Nicky had lengthy conversations on how the two of them should just say how they feel about it instead of living in a constant state of mutual pining. The unresolved sexual tension between them was so thick that Winona often felt it buzz along her skin. It was a struggle to not feed off it - had it been two other people than the ones who trusted her the most, she wouldn’t feel guilty about topping off her energy or using her pheromones to give them that extra push they needed to resolve things - and whenever things flared up between them, she found herself raiding the Facility kitchens for anything sweet to distract her from the yearning hunger that made her fangs extend and mouth water.

It was a good thing that Unit Bravo was around. She and Mason had an...agreement. The no-strings, casual sex he offered was worlds better than the slightly formal, businesslike encounters that the Agency offered. The participants were volunteers, and she made certain that they had a good time, but it always felt more like a visit to a clinic instead of a more natural sensual moment. Cam and Penny had been sparring in the training area earlier and what Winona had walked in on made her think that seeking out Mason’s company for an evening was a good idea.

Farah rolled onto the mattress until she was on her stomach, her feet kicking in the air. “I still don’t think Adam fully understands that this guy who came for a visit was just a really good friend of Aubrey’s.” She’d been in the middle of sharing a recent incident where some man had dropped into Wayhaven unexpectedly on his way to another city and had decided to surprise his very good friend. Apparently Detective Miller had been a ballerina before settling in Wayhaven and this man had been her longtime dance partner. And apparently, Adam hadn’t taken it well seeing the current object of his unspoken affections interact so easily with a man from her past.

The best part of it was that this man had been a supernatural being himself, though from how Farah described him, he had clicked with Aubrey long before he realized there was something special about her mutated blood. Farah had giggled about the fact that Aubrey had tried her hardest to make everything in Wayhaven appear normal so he wouldn’t catch on to the Agency, and then this half-fey guy turned around and threatened the four vampires bodily harm if his best friend got hurt because of them as soon as she was out of the room.

Farah was right. Winona would have loved to have seen that unfold.

“He was a cutie though,” Farah said, digging her phone out of her pant pocket. She swiped around until she found a good shot. “See?”

Winona looked at the picture, smiling as she took in the relaxed, easy smile on the detective’s face - she’d only been briefly introduced to her once during her initial stay and Winona could tell that she had still been taking in the fact that beings such as herself existed and that she had a murderous vampire hunting for her. It had been a lot to take in, and honestly, Winona was surprised that Aubrey had taken it as well as she had.

Then she focused on the man next to her. Yes, he was attractive, but there was something oddly familiar about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Zooming in on his face, she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. “What did you say this guy’s name was?” she asked, zooming in further. His eyes and the way his mouth quirked as he smiled made her dig out her own phone and pull up a picture.

“Tony.”

“Last name, Farah.” She zoomed in on her phone and held it side by side with Farah’s.

“I don’t know, something Italian?” Farah rested her chin on her hands. “Something with an M?”

“Morelli?”

Farah snapped her fingers. “That’s it! Wow, that was a great guess!” She started when Winona all but jumped out of bed and rushed towards the door.

“Nicky! Get in here now!”

***

“Are you certain this man’s name was Morelli?” Nicky asked, holding Farah’s phone as he paced around Winona’s bedroom.

“Yeah, he’s a famous dancer in the City.”

“It checks out,” Winona said, holding up her phone to show Nicky the quick Google search. “Do you think that the two of you could be related?”

He frowned. “Morelli is a common last name, it could be coincidence.”

Farah squinted. “Are you sure? I mean, the two of you look awfully similar.”

Nicky stared at the screen, his eyes boring holes into the picture. “None of my mother’s family survived the plague of 1656. I was only a child then, but my grandmother would have taken in anyone who had made it.”

“What about your sister?” Winona asked, sitting at the edge of her bed. She resumed peeling off segments of orange, purely to give her hands something to do.

“She only had one child, and they died along with her and her husband in the earthquake of 1693.” He pointed a finger at her. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t have any children.”

“Nicky, you did sleep around a lot,” Winona pointed out. “Like, a lot-a lot.”

“But I was careful! I admit, I may have been a bit of a -”

“Horny dude who couldn’t keep it in his pants?”

Nicky glared at Farah, who just laughed at him. “A romantic with a great love of women,” he pointed his finger at Winona in warning for her to not chime in. “But I was extremely careful to leave without leaving a…” he searched for a word. “Little souvenir behind.”

“Well!” Farah hopped up from the bed and snatched her phone away faster than Nicky could react. “I know one way to solve this!”

“Wait, what are you doing?”

She pulled up her contacts and pressed down on the one named AUBS that was bracketed with little ballet shoe emojis and sparkly pink hearts. “Getting info from a source.”

“No, you don’t -”

“Too late! Hey Aubs! How’s it going?” Farah bounced a little on the balls of her feet while listening to whatever Aubrey was saying. “Quick question: you know your dreamboat best friend? Ha, okay, so thanks for telling me he’s single, that’s actually really useful info, but I was wanting to know a little bit more about him. What’s his mom’s name?” She twirled on the ball of her foot in a lazy, half-pirouette that she’d been working on with Aubrey. “No, no reason at all, just really interested!”

Nicky scoffed. “Like that’s not going to raise suspicion.”

“Gianna? Gianna Morelli? That’s really pretty!” Farah gave Nicky a glance and raised her eyebrows to see if the name rang any bells. He shook his head when it didn’t. “Okay, so maybe a little weirder question, do you happen to know who his grandma is? I remember you talking about her and how she made the best chicken soup that one time the whole cast of a production got sick.” She gasped and pressed a hand to her chest. “Aubs! Of course I listen to you, I’m offended you’d think otherwise!”

“Well?” Nicky asked, resuming his pacing. Farah waved a hand at him to get him to quiet down.

“Oh. Okay. Can you call me back as soon as you ask then? And ask where from Italy she was from! Oh, cool, thanks! Okay, byeee!” Farah clicked off the phone. “She said she didn’t know, she’d have to ask Tony. She’s always known her as Nona Morelli.”

“Did she know where she was from?”

Farah fidgeted with a curl of her hair and was tempted to drag it out, but thought better of it when she saw that Nicky was incredibly tense. “She wasn’t quite sure where, but she said Tony’s grandma always talks about Sicily and how she goes back to travel there every so often. She’s really big on historical preservation and does a lot of work with the older cemeteries.”

All three of them jumped when Farah’s phone rang, ABBA’s Dancing Queen chiming out. “That was fast!” she said by way of a greeting. “Okay, fine, confession: I may have shown off a picture to some people here at the Facility and Tony may bear a remarkable resemblance to one of the other agents in another unit. No, no, not a supernatural. He’s human, just dead, like really dead. It’s a long story. Anyhow, what sort of news do you have?” Farah sat on the bed and kicked her feet in front of her. “Uh huh. Uh huh. No, it’s probably not likely they’re related, but think how neat it would be!”

“Her name, Gallinetta.”

“Oh! Isabela Morelli? That’s a really pretty name too!” Winona shouted out a warning as a loud thud made Farah turn around. Her eyes widened when she saw that Nicky had fallen to the floor, his hand clutching his chest. “Uh, Aubs? I’m gonna have to call you back. That dead guy I told you about? I think he just fainted.”

#31daysofwayhaven #my writing #farah hauville #nicolo morelli #winona adams #Unit Charlie

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darks-ink · 5 years ago

Text

Absurdism Chapter 6

Big fighting scene! Wowie. Spectra is always a fun villain.

Rating: Teen/K+ (a lil swearing, because teenagers, man) Warnings: - Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Additional Tags: Sibling Bonding, Family Bonding, Alternate Universe - Halfa Jazz AU, Jazz makes friends

[AO3] [FFN] [more Absurdism on Tumblr] First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

---

Chapter 6: My Sister’s Keeper

The new counselor stood outside her office, grinning brightly at the waiting students. Jazz watched her, eyes narrowed, cold air pouring from her lungs.

Something about this new counselor was off. She knew it in her gut, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t figure out what, exactly, was wrong. Penelope was oddly cheery, yes, and seemed to take the news of ghosts very well. But that couldn’t be why Jazz had such a bad feeling about her, could it?

“Who’s she?” Sidney’s disembodied voice asked, quietly. Quiet enough for bystanders to miss. He hadn’t startled her—her ghost sense had warned her beforehand, as usual.

“Penelope Spectra,” she explained to him, equally soft. “She’s the new counselor.”

“Huh.” Cold fingers wisped over her shoulders, like the ghost was shifting to peek over her shoulders. Like he wanted her protection against Penelope. “She… looks familiar.”

“She does?” That was odd. Penelope couldn’t possible be from Sidney’s time—there was no way she was that old. And he didn’t leave the school, so where else could he have seen her? “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely positive.” He paused for a brief moment, and the two of them watched as the counselor entered her office again, tailing a student. “I just… can’t remember from where.”

“It’s odd either way.” Jazz shifted her backpack onto her shoulders properly, dislodging Sidney’s barely-there touch. “Something weird is going on, and I don’t like it.”

Sidney clicked his tongue, then poked her, gently. “Maybe you should ask Phantom? If your worlds are so similar, surely he’ll know who she is?”

“Yeah, I think I will.” It wasn’t one of their training days, but he wouldn’t be that hard to find. Probably. “I’ll go do that. Thanks for the idea, Sidney.”

“Yeah, no prob.” He patted her on the shoulder, encouragingly. “I don’t trust her either. She’s… dangerous, I think.”

Jazz nodded in his direction. He felt it, too. It was all the proof she needed, really.

She raced home, speeding up the stairs and into her room in record time. Phantom, lying on her bed in his human form, startled visibly.

“Jazz?” he asked, lowering his voice—in case anyone else was around, probably. “What’s wrong? Why are you in such a rush?”

“There’s a new counselor,” she started explaining, hurriedly. “There’s something suspicious about her, I think. Do you know anything about Penelope Spectra?”

Phantom froze. His shoulders drew up, tense.

Then, suddenly, he swore. Loudly.

She started, backing up a step. Or two. Phantom didn’t seem to notice, anyway, caught up in his anger.

“God dammit,” he growled, under his breath. “How could I forget? This is right about the same time as when she came to Casper High in my timeline. Fuck!”

“So she’s bad?” Jazz guessed, feebly. She’d already suspected that Penelope was bad news, but what could’ve driven Phantom to react so explosively? Not even Vlad had brought out such a bad reaction.

Phantom snarled, heaving for breath. His fingers were buried deep in his hair, disappearing in the black locks. His eyes shone bright and green, unnatural and off in his human face.

“The worst,” he finally managed, voice low and grim. “She’s a ghost, feeding on people’s negative emotions. Their fear, especially. She’s a walking nightmare—finds your deepest fears and digs into them. All your worries, your insecurities, your doubts. She weaponizes them, turns your mind against you.”

He scoffed. “And her touch worsens it, as well. She’ll dig her claws into you, and down the depressive spiral you go.”

“Oh…” That was… a lot worse than she’d expected. Why hadn’t Jazz— oh. She’d thought that it was Sidney who kept setting off her ghost sense, but it must’ve been Penelope. Spectra? “We need to stop her, then!”

“We can’t fight her.” He lunged over to her, grabbing her by the shoulder. Shook her a little. “Seriously, Jazz, listen to me. We can’t fight her head-on.”

“So then what?” She swatted his hand off of her shoulder. “You want me to ignore her presence in the school? Let her leech off of everyone else’s fear, worries, doubts?”

Phantom shot her an offended look. The green leeched out of his eyes, returning them to their original blue. “Of course not! Of course we’ll take her out, Jazz, but we can’t fight her.”

“Well, how did you take her out, then?”

“I—” He sighed, then sat down on her bed again. “I didn’t. Not really. I tried to, but she pinned me down. Got her claws in me, and I couldn’t throw her off again. She sapped all my strength away, all my confidence. She would’ve killed me, Jazz.”

“What… what happened?” How was he still here, then? He must’ve won somehow, right? They just had to do that!

The look he threw at her was sad. Sad, and reminiscent. “Jazz saved me. She stormed in with the Fenton Ghost Peeler. Took down Spectra in one hit. With her claws off of me, I got enough sense in me to use the Thermos and catch her.”

“Alright, well— We’ll just have to skip some of that!” They couldn’t use the Peeler—it didn’t work for half-ghosts, and she didn’t trust her parents not to go for them instead of Spectra. But that was fine! “We can’t fight Spectra, sure, but we don’t have to! I can go through the teachers to get her fired, and then— then— um…”

“And then we’ll ambush her,” Phantom finished, his eyes flashing green for just a brief moment. Like courage had flooded back into him. “She won’t be expecting us, not so quickly. We’ll ambush her with Thermoses, catch her before she can attack anyone.”

“Yeah!” She nodded. “We’ll take her out, just like that!”

---

“Mr. Lancer,” Jazz started, softening her posture as much as she could. She needed him to listen to her pleas. “Could I talk to you about the new school counselor?”

“Of course.” He frowned a little, a crease in his brow. “What is wrong, Miss Fenton?”

“I…” She licked her lips, suddenly nervous. Her entire plan with Phantom hinged on her managing this. She couldn’t be too direct, but not too gentle, either. “I don’t think she’s very good at her job.”

“Oh?” The crease in Lancer’s brow deepened. “I assure you, Jazz, she has very good credentials. Lots of praise for her work.”

Yeah, praise no doubt acquired by overshadowing her superiors. The advantages of being a ghost, huh?

“Yes, well— I don’t know, Mr. Lancer. It just seems to me that things aren’t getting better.” She turned her gaze downwards. “Is it really necessary to have her around?”

Lancer sighed, deep and heavy. He looked a little pained, and Jazz felt sorry for doing this to him, but… it was necessary. For the greater good.

If he knew what Spectra was, what she did, he would’ve agreed.

“Things have been hard for a lot of people in this city recently, as I’m sure you know,” Lancer started explaining. “Your parents are no doubt excited about the… the ghosts, but they are among the few. And with the violence, the fact that these ghosts are attacking people in the city…”

“Not all of them,” Jazz interrupted, automatically. She heard it so much at home. How Specter and Phantom were just like all the other ghosts, fighting over territory or whatever. The leading theory changed almost daily, but one thing remained the same; her parents always thought she was as malevolent as every other ghost.

“No, not every ghost,” Lancer agreed lightly, to Jazz’ surprise. He ignored her wide-eyed look. “But enough ghosts are. Even if those other two fight the others off, that’s still worrying to people. Death has always been a scary thing. To know that the dead remain, might come back as ghosts…”

She could imagine. Despite her parents, she’d always been hesitant to believe that ghosts were real. That the dead could come back in the form of malevolence given a physical form.

“I understand,” she told Lancer. “But I don’t think Spectra is the right person for this. Since she started here I’ve seen more and more people getting upset, and hurt.”

Lancer’s eyes narrowed. “You cannot be suggesting that our new counselor is making people feel worse, Jasmine. Of course the number of people upset by what is happening is increasing; more and more we become aware of the ghosts haunting the city.”

“Yes, I get that. But none of the people she has talked to have gotten better.” Jazz carded a hand through her hair, forcing herself to calm down. She couldn’t get too upset. Couldn’t flash her eyes. If she did, there was no way of recovering this conversation, or the plan as a whole. “In fact, every single person she’s met with seemed to have gotten worse. They walk out of her room completely miserable. Surely that can’t be right?”

“No, I would imagine not,” Lancer admitted, slowly, clearly reluctant. “But I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary—no one has.”

She opened her mouth, but Lancer held up a silencing hand and continued. “Although I suppose something might’ve been missed. There has been a lot going on, recently, with the ghost attacks, and the preparations for those. I will keep a closer eye on Penelope, and on the students she attends to. Okay?”

“Yeah.” She grinned, hesitantly. “Thank you, Mr. Lancer.”

“Of course. It’s my job as vice principal to make sure any concerns are dealt with.” He softened visibly, smiling back. “Anything else?”

“No, I’m good.” She grabbed her backpack. “See you tomorrow, Mr. Lancer!”

---

Cold burst from Jazz’ core, and she paused in the hallway. Ran a quick calculation in her head; where in the school was she, and what were the chances that this was Sidney?

Low, she decided, and turned around to look for the spectral intruder.

Mr. Lancer stood next to Spectra, talking in front of her office. Her assistant—apparently ghostly counselors had those—stood next to her, an unhappy expression on his face.

Wait. Was she getting fired?

Yeah, it definitely seemed that way. Well, shoot. She needed to get out there with Phantom and a Thermos immediately.

She rushed off, speeding towards an abandoned part of the school without seeming suspicious. Cold wisped from her mouth again on the way, and, hoping, she asked, “Sidney?”

“You’re in a rush,” he replied, and she thanked her lucky stars that it was him. “What’s going on, Jazz?”

“Spectra’s getting fired,” she said, as rushed as she was feeling. “I need you to find Phantom and tell him.”

“Yessir.” The cold feeling left almost as soon as he’d said it, and Jazz continued on. She just hoped they were quick enough. Surely Spectra would hold off for longer? She wasn’t much of a fighter, was she?

Jazz ducked into an abandoned bathroom, pulling on her core the moment the door closed. Hurry hurry hurry.

Light flashed and she went from walking to flying in one smooth step, phasing through the walls. Belatedly she turned herself invisible as well, racing back towards the front of the school.

No Spectra, and no assistant. Where could they have gone? She went further up, hoping to spot the two, dropping her invisibility along the way.

Her ghost sense went off again, and she jerked. Sidney became visible, Phantom right on his tail.

“Oh,” she said, extinguishing the ecto-blast she didn’t even realize she had formed. “Thanks for getting him, Sidney.”

“Yeah, no prob.” He nodded to her. “I’m leaving. Good luck with the counselor, Jazz.”

He flew off before she could reply. In his wake, Phantom started peering around.

“I don’t know where she went,” Jazz admitted. “I had to go pretty far away to find a quiet spot to transform. Now what?”

“I’m… not sure.” Tension was clearly visible in Phantom’s shoulders, the tight coiling of his muscles. “We need to find her before she—”

A scream.

Both she and Phantom whirled towards the sound. Without discussion they both knew what to do, speeding towards it.

The street was filled with panicking people, screaming and shouting and— and all kinds of chaos. A bright green ghost bounced around, keeping the crowd from escaping. It was almost like a fluid, how easily it changed shapes. From a shapeless blob to a wolf to a ninja and then back again.

And, above it all, the ghost in charge. Entirely black, appearance flickering unsteadily like flames, bar her terrifyingly sharp talon-like fingers. Her eyes were the only points of color; bright red like embers, and completely empty.

Spectra, and her assistant, Bertrand.

“Fuck, we’re too late,” Phantom swore, dropping to a roof nearby. Neither of the ghosts had seen them yet. “There’s no way we can get them in a Thermos now; the fear of those people is making Spectra too powerful.”

“So now what?” Jazz hissed back, hunkering down as well. “I thought we stood no chance in a direct fight?”

“Well, we have no other choice.” His bright green eyes darted to her, then to Spectra, and then down to Bertrand. “We need to free the civilians, but if we focus exclusively on them, Spectra will slaughter us. I’ll distract her, you get Bertrand.”

“What? Phantom, I thought she was—”

“Dangerous? Yeah, but I’ll stand a better chance than you.” He grabbed her shoulder, shooting her something that was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile. “Get Bertrand, and then we’ll get Spectra together. It’ll be okay—I’ve fought her before.”

“And lost,” she said, but he’d already turned around and, in that moment, kicked off from the roof.

God, was her actual brother as bull-headed as this version, or was that a half-ghost thing?

No point in fighting it, now. The only thing she could was take out Bertrand as quickly as she could.

She dove off of the roof, towards the crowd that Bertrand was circling. Above her, she heard Phantom yell out.

“Hey, Spectra! Thought you were more of the prying type? What happened, huh?”

Bertrand paused where he was circling, looking up towards Phantom. Jazz risked a glance as well; Phantom had paused near Spectra, but out of her reach.

The other ghost scoffed, cocking her head at Phantom. “Shows what you know, hmm? What is the point of spending such efforts acquiring bits of negative emotions when I can just knock them free in one go!”

Jazz twisted in her dive, angling herself slightly. Bertrand was still staring up. Just a little more…

She hit the ghost with an enormous impact. Wrapped her arms around his waist—or what passed for his waist—and physically dragged him away from the crowd. They screamed and yelled as she sped past, but she ignored it.

Bertrand growled, becoming almost liquid-like in her arms. Slipped out like it was nothing. He landed back on the ground, shifting into a wolf-like appearance. Bared his teeth at her.

Jazz landed as well, boots noiselessly touching down. Golden ecto-blasts formed in her hands with a mere thought.

“Oh, look at the little ghost girl,” the wolf taunted, through its sharp teeth. “Do you really think you stand a chance?”

She stamped down on the self-doubt. Don’t listen to him. Don’t worry about it. Just do your best.

The first ecto-blast went flying, but Bertrand dodged easily.

“What’s this?” he continued to jeer, landing easily. “Can’t find your words? Do you know, deep inside, that you really can’t win?”

“Got better things to do than listen to your idiocy,” she snarled back, firing two more blasts. Bertrand’s form loosened like slime, easily twisting around the two blasts.

“Is that so?” His voice was as slimy as his body, his words as sharp as his teeth. “Like attend to your floundering grades? Or perhaps engage with all those friends of yours? Ah, or were you planning to spend more time with your oh-so lovely parents?”

She growled, firing two more blasts. This time, however, she sped in after them.

Bertrand dodged the two orbs of golden energy, twisting to smirk in her direction. In the direction where she’d been.

Jazz crashed into him at full speed, released another ecto-blast directly against his center. It exploded, the blast of energy knocking them apart again.

They both rolled over the street, and Jazz groaned. Alright, maybe that didn’t quite work out as planned. She pushed herself up on her hands, glancing over to Bertrand.

Gone.

Uh oh.

The green wolf crashed into her with force, straight towards one of the buildings lining the street. He’d probably planned to pin her against the wall, but she turned herself intangible—and him as well.

A bounce over the hard tiled floor. She tried to continue the momentum in a roll, but Bertrand pinned her down, paws on her wrists.

“You think you’re such a hero, don’t you?” he jeered, sharp teeth inches from her face. His breath stunk of ectoplasm; copper and citrus. “Such a mature little girl, saving the town all on her own?”

She kneed him right in the leg. Bertrand sunk down, and she pushed him off the rest of the way. Rolled up into a crouch.

“You’re an idiot if you think I’m alone,” she snapped back, reaching for her Thermos while Bertrand was down. “The two of you aren’t the only partnered ghosts in this city.”

Bertrand shifted back into his base form, lunging for her with arms outreached. This time she was ready for him, however.

The Thermos whirled to life, its blue vortex catching one of Bertrand’s arms.

“No!” he yelled, twisting around himself like he was trying to wrench himself free. “You— You two stand no chance against her!”

Jazz opened her mouth to snark back, but realized, too late—

It was a distraction.

The ecto-blast, as green as Phantom’s, hit her right in the chest.

She crashed back against the wall. Her head cracked against the hard surface, and her vision blackened briefly. Pain wracked through her, sharp and piercing.

Her core thumped in her chest. She could taste the ectoplasm in the air decreasing. Bertrand might’ve landed a last hit, but he hadn’t gotten away.

Her core thumped again.

Jazz jerked where she sat, opened her eyes—when had she closed them? Her hands clawed towards her chest, to the steady thumping.

She caught sight of her clothes—the long black sleeves, bare hands, blue jeans. The tension leeched out again, a brief sigh of relief.

The thumping wasn’t her core at all. It was just her heart. Its pounding echoed in her head, a dull thrum.

No time to rest, though. She had taken out Bertrand, but Phantom was gonna need all the help he could get to take down Spectra. She could deal with the headache—and the other pains—later.

Light flashed as she shifted back to Specter, the blinding light briefly aggravating her headache. The Thermos laid still in the center of the room, and she dragged herself back over to it. Swept it off the ground easily, capped it, put it back on her belt.

“And now for the really bad one,” she said. Her stomach twisted. She didn’t want to, but she had no choice. She had to. It was her responsibility. Phantom was relying on her. Amity was relying on her.

A door creaked, and Jazz startled out of her thoughts.

Danny stood in the opening, blue eyes large, sweat beading over his skin. Was this her actual brother? He hadn’t seen, had he?

“Specter!” he shouted when his eyes landed on her. “You need to get out there! The other ghost, he needs you!”

That was a yes on the brother thing, and a no on having seen her shift. Good.

Wait.

“Shit,” she swore, pushing off the ground. What they really needed was… “We need more firepower!”

She phased through the wall, back into the open air. The street had been abandoned, all civilians having fled when she had drawn Bertrand away. Spectra had pinned Phantom against a building, green energy coiling around them. She couldn’t tell whose it was.

A blast of golden energy knocked Spectra off of Phantom as Jazz sped in closer. “Get away from him!”

“What’s this?” Deep black shifted like flame, the pits of red turning back to Jazz. Spectra grinned at her, and Jazz could feel the shivers crawl down her spine. “Come to offer yourself up as well, little girl? Thought you could succeed where he can’t?”

“We’re a team,” she growled back, pouring as much energy into her fists as she could. “I don’t need to be better than him at all.”

“Oh, please,” Spectra chattered, a tone like laughter in her voice. “Like either of you really—”

A green explosion knocked her out of the air entirely. Spectra crashed down on the street, leaving Phantom hovering in her place.

“She really doesn’t know when to stop talking,” he growled, the last traces of ectoplasm misting away from his hand. His eyes flicked away from their opponent and to Jazz, briefly. “Are you okay?”

Not really. Her head was killing her. She hadn’t felt such pain since the accident.

“I will be,” she said instead of expressing any of that. “I got Bertrand in the Thermos. We just need to deal with her.”

“Yeah, easier said than done.” Phantom’s eyes had locked onto Spectra again, and Jazz followed his sight. She was rising off of the ground already, and her glow remained strong and steady.

“Keep your distance,” Phantom continued, not looking away. “We’ll have to keep circling, make sure she can’t get her claws into either of us. Rely on your ecto-blasts.”

“Gotcha.” She nodded, pulling her legs together in a spectral tail. Coiled herself up for the dive.

Phantom nodded as well. Dove. She followed a step behind him.

When he split to Spectra’s left, she went right. Discharged her first blast simultaneously with Phantom’s.

But Spectra dodged as easily as Bertrand had, lunging towards Jazz. Had identified her as the weaker point, too.

Jazz managed to twist her tail out of Spectra’s clawing reach, but she’d lost all momentum in the process. Phantom blasted Spectra away again, but they had lost the circling already.

“Fuck,” she heard him swear distantly. She was focused on her own core, on the rapidly depleting energy it contained.

She shot an ecto-blast of her own, but Spectra swatted it away like it was nothing.

“Oh boy,” Jazz mumbled, backing away again. Spectra chased her, pursuing at the same speed as she had.

Another blast of energy—blue?—swung past her, hitting Spectra in the chest. The ghost crashed back to the ground, large crystals spiking from the impact site.

Phantom came up next to Jazz, his presence more comforting than she’d thought it would be. He continued to launch the blue blasts at Spectra. Every blast spread more ice onto the ghost, freezing her back to the ground every time she broke loose.

“I can’t keep this up forever,” Phantom informed her, voice strained. “This isn’t weakening her. I have something that’ll weaken her enough for the Thermos, but it’ll cost me everything I’ve got.”

They were out in the open. Anybody could be watching. Hell, she knew for a fact that her actual brother was nearby.

“You can’t,” she told Phantom, heart clenching. Her core spluttered. She didn’t have enough energy to weaken Spectra. Could barely cling to ghost form. “Phantom, you can’t.”

A sharp crack. Jazz’ eyes snapped back to Spectra. Phantom had paused just too long between blasts. She was loose once more.

“Fuck,” he swore again, passionately and so tired. “Time for round three.”

She pulled herself back into a fighting position. Energy wisped through her fists. They just had to— to last a little longer. Outlast Spectra.

The ghost in question snarled. Coiled like a snake. Shot towards them, claws outreached.

A blast of green whizzed between them, and Spectra screeched to a halt. Jazz felt her heart stop in her chest.

On the ground, cloaked in heavy metal armor, stood Danny Fenton.

“Oh, thank the lord,” Phantom breathed next to her. Why was he so excited to see—

oh.

That armor her brother was wearing was the Fenton Ghost Peeler. The weapon that Phantom’s sister had used to take out Spectra the first time.

“Let’s go distract her, make sure he can land a hit,” Phantom told her. Before she could reply, he dove, fast as lightning.

Energy rushed through her core, like hope given shape.

Final stretch, she thought to herself. Then she dove as well, legs merging back into a spectral tail.

She swept past Spectra, low to the ground. Glanced just on the edge of her reach. Before Spectra could lunge, however, Jazz darted away again.

On the other side, Phantom flung himself high. Fired off an ecto-blast against Spectra’s back, not enough power to knock her away, but strong enough to draw her attention.

With the ghost distracted, Jazz shot past again. Darted right over Spectra’s flaring hair.

Before Spectra could dig her talons into Jazz, Phantom dove low. Froze her twisting tail back to the street.

They both split away from their opponent, almost in perfect sync.

Danny took the opportunity for what it was. The Peeler’s shot whistled through the air and hit Spectra straight in the chest.

She screeched, high and piercing like a banshee’s call. Her outer layer literally peeled away, the black opening up to her human form. Then that split apart, leaving a slightly older version of Spectra’s human form.

As Jazz watched, several more layers peeled away from Spectra’s body until, finally, just a shriveled old woman was left. She jerked around, but couldn’t break free of Phantom’s ice anymore.

“No!” she screamed, clawing at her face. “No! My beautiful youth!”

“Yeah, you know what? I’ve heard enough from you already.” Phantom uncapped his Thermos.

Spectra was dragged in without a struggle, and finally, finally, the fight was done.

Jazz sighed, feeling the full force of her exhaustion and pain come back. She was gonna sleep for a week to get over this again, jeez. But first…

She cocked her head towards Danny, and Phantom nodded. They both lowered themselves back to the one human left on the street.

“Thank you,” Jazz told him, watching as the armor slid back into the Ghost Peeler. “For your help just now. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Yeah, of course.” Danny shrugged, easily, casually. Like he hadn’t just gone against years of their parents’ lessons about ghosts to help them. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Specter,” Phantom said, a tone of urgency in his voice. “We’d better get going.”

Her core twitched, drawing on the last vestiges of power.

“Right. Let’s.” She nodded towards Danny again, trying to wordlessly convey her gratitude. He grinned back, like he understood, somehow.

The two of them fled. They didn’t go very far—Jazz crash-landed on a nearby roof when her core gave out. Phantom shifted back too, the bags under his eyes far more pronounced than she’d ever seen them.

“Are you okay?” he asked, crouching next to her. “That was a pretty rough fight.”

“Our first big one, wasn’t it?” She let herself slump down, her head resting against Phantom’s shoulder. “Bertrand got me a few times—I hit my head pretty hard. But I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, his cool fingers carefully combing through her hair. Looking for injuries, probably. “You’re allowed to not be, you know?”

“I’ll be fine, Danny.” She rested her head on his shoulder. His hand paused, then shifted, slid to rest on her arm. “I’m fine, and the city’s fine, and we’re both okay. Everything went alright.”

He laughed, weakly. “Well, I hope you’re ready for what’s next. Now we’re really in for it.”

“Oh?” She considered lifting her head again, but it was heavy with exhaustion. No looking at Phantom’s expression, then.

“Now Amity really knows who we are,” he explained. “About our team.”

“Oh,” she said again. “That’s fine. We are a team.”

“Right.” He swallowed so heavily she could feel him move. “Of course.”

#danny phantom #phanfic #dp fanfic #dp fanfiction #phanfiction #phic #danny fenton #jazz fenton #jazz phantom au #halfa jazz au #penelope spectra #dark writes #absurdism

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sir-see · 6 years ago

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SnowBaz Band AU

-So Simon Snow is in a band along with Penny and Agatha and a couple of other people

-Simon is the drummer bc we all know that if he had to choose one thing to do, it would be hitting things with sticks-

-Simon also chose to be a drummer bc all of his life in homes, he would always make a mess of things by fighting so it feels good to create as well as have an outlet for his emotions

-Penelope is on keyboard and background vocals bc she has a rough yet nice voice and is quick with her hands

-Agatha is uses the band as her “rebellion” but she’s the main singer and the one who decided to start it in the first place

-Side band members include Keris and Trixie who play guitar and oddly enough, Cello (it sounds really cool in the midst of rock-esque music and adds a nice touch)

-They mostly play at small bars and different kinds of venues but they got a pretty solid fan base

-Meanwhile, Baz and Fiona run a small bar, Baz working as a bartender and Fiona working as well, Fiona.

-After hearing their music, Fiona decides she loves their grunge rock and wants to hold a show to get more customers

-Baz is absolutely against the idea of having even more people come in than usual, not to mention he hates rock bc he’s a pretentious ass violinist

-Anyways, the night comes where Simon and them perform and Baz is pissy as hell working the bar but he has to admit, the Cellist does sound quite good and the singers voice is rich, etc, etc. (Lets be real, he’s tapping his foot to the beat and humming the songs for the rest of the night)

-After Simon has finished the gig and the crowd clears out, he goes in for a drink and sees Baz who, okay he’s really fucking hot

-He tries to strike up a friendly conversation and is rudely shot down (Baz is gay panicking, give him a break)

-Eventually Simon is like “Oh how did you like the band!”

-Cue pretentious violinist Baz automatically critiquing the music despite actually quite enjoying it

-Simon is Offended™️ and immediately deems Baz as an enemy bc he shat on the one thing Simon uses to project his feelings

-(The band will never hear the end of Simon ranting about the one vampire looking bartender who didn’t like them)

-“Simon, you cant expect everyone to think we’re perfect”

-“That’s not the POINT, he obviously knew I was the drummer, he was such an asshole he probably said that shit just to piss me off” etc etc

-Fiona, however loves them and decided to book then regular gigs so, to the chagrin of everyone else, Simon always has an excuse to rant

-During one gig, though, Simon takes over the show and does a solo act on his acoustic guitar

-Literally everyone at the bar is whipped by this golden boy with calloused fingers who is usually smashing away at the drums playing such a soft instrument

-Baz is in the background shitting himself at how head over heels he is for this kid

-Simon: “so anyways here’s wonderwall”

-Baz comes over while Simon is performing and Simon, thinking its a genius evil plan to get revenge on this asshole, gestures Baz up on stage

-Long story short, it turns out way more romantic than Simon was expecting

-Baz ends up singing along and Simon is shocked that this posh guy listens to Oasis, so he plays while Baz sings

-They’re making eye contact the entire time

-Once the song ends, the crowd is screaming and begging for more of those two

-Fiona books one night a week for them to get together and perform, and the other nights are for Simon to go back to drumming with his band

-Simon and Baz still fight non stop, but Simon can’t help liking the way Baz looks when he’s concentrated on his violin, and Baz stares adoringly as Simon when he plucks the guitar or handles the mic

-They call a truce and actually end up becoming fRiEnDs???

-One night, Baz randomly tells Simon he won’t make it to their gig and Simons like “ummm okay”

-Simon walks into the bar ready to set up for the night but the stage is already set and the spotlight is on Baz, holding his violin

-Penny’s voice sounds over the microphone asking Simon to please take a seat in the front row (the rest of the bar is completely cleared out)

-Basically, Baz serenades Simon with his violin while Penny plays the piano somewhere hidden in the background)

-The song is Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears (https://youtu.be/tUAD7h6dHWE)

-Simon is laughing and crying simultaneously that this dork is playing 80s music for him

-Halfway through the song, Simon climbs up on stage and pounces on Baz

-Baz: “So I take it you liked the song then?”

#carry on #simon snow #snowbaz #basilton pitch #my posts #au #headcanons

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iudae · 5 years ago

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overview

charming fair ambitious intelligent

insensitive short-tempered superficial arrogant

QUICK FACTS

- he is the son of a muggleborn witch and a half-blood wizard, both employed at the ministry of magic and residents of a small town near newport, wales.

- he grew up amongst both magical and muggle children, but never attended muggle primary school. instead, his parents and grandparents would take turns looking after and teaching roger.

- his love for quidditch was first sparked by his paternal grandfather arthur davies, who was equally as obsessed with the sport and vehemently supported the tutshill tornados.

- before attending hogwarts, roger had already practised flying on a children's broomstick, and played quidditch with family and friends. he tried out every position, as they would usually rotate, and both the positions of keeper and chaser suited him well.

general

FULL NAME

his parents, penelope and dilwyn davies, settled on the name roger caerwyn davies. roger was his mother's suggestion, while his father pitched the traditional welsh name.

NAME MEANING

roger: glorious spearman, from germanic hrod "fame, glory" and ger "spear"

caerwyn: from welsh caer "fortress" and gwyn "white, fair" or wyn "loved, blessed"

NICKNAMES / ALIASES

he had many nicknames in his youth, given by both friends and family: ro, rory, roger-dodger, rog (or rather 'rodge') and it's diminutive roggie. the latter is still used as a loving pet-name by his mother, even though he would prefer her to stop. now, friends only ever call him rog or simply roger. his colleagues know and call him by his last name.

DATE + TIME OF BIRTH

roger was born around ten in the morning of the first of june, 1978. it was a thursday.

ASTROLOGY

his starsign is gemini, with the moon in aries and leo ascending. he was born in the year of the horse on the chinese zodiac calendar.

PLACE OF BIRTH

the midwife came to assist penelope in goldcliff, where he was born in his living room of his childhood home.

RESIDENCE

all his life, his parents have inhabited the pretty little house in goldcliff. for years roger called hogwarts his home just as much as goldcliff. after graduating, he soon sought independence and moved into an apartment in bristol, england. it is a mere twenty-minute flight over the channel to tutshill, the town his team is situated in, and close to the welsh border.

SPECIES

wizard

BLOOD STATUS

roger is a half-blood, descendant of a muggle-born witch from cornwall and a half-blooded welsh wizard ( son of another half-blood wizard and a pureblood witch ).

SOCIAL STATUS

both penelope and dilwyn live comfortably off their wages as civil servants. it is a job that both dilwyn's parents had, therefore their inheritance is equally as solid, whereas penelope's parents live self-sufficiently as farmers. roger was born into a perfect middle-class life, complete with a neat little house on the welsh countryside.

as a quidditch player he earns considerably more, which allows him to maintain an upper class bachelor lifestyle.

FAMILY

penelope herald and dilwyn davies would have never expected to be end up leading a boringly normal life, because neither of them were either normal nor boring. penelope had graduated at the top of her class, and the ravenclaw was determined to make a change in the world. she began her career at the very ambitious bureau for international magical law as an intern, where she met dilwyn. the hufflepuff seemed to her like a hard worker who yet never lost sight of the fun in life, and equally as idealistic as she was. they fell in love head over heels and started a tumultuous and stimulating relationship. they married only a year after meeting, to some a very rash decision, and in 1978, at the peak of the war, became the parents of a healthy baby boy. penelope had never envisioned herself as a mother, leading a settled life, yet she found herself to be oddly happy in this situation. their life adopted a new, slower pace, and she enjoyed every minute of it. over the years, she and dil grew into the sort of life she would have hated as an idealistic young woman, comfortable and routined, and there was nothing more satisfactory than it. as long as they didn't feel boringly normal, they weren't.

roger never had any siblings, but grew up surrounded by his loving family: his grandmother alys davies, a proud and wicked woman who seemed to know everything but betray nothing except for rare and surprising occasions; her husband arthur davies, a brilliant man who nonetheless would rather stand out thanks to his humour and passion for quidditch; their son and dilwyn's older brother albert and his wife camilla, incredibly warm people who would treat roger as if for their own son, and their own son reginald, a few years older than roger and always a source of inspiration and subject of his awe.

on his mother's side, his grandparents eunice and mortimer are two diligent and caring, who until their old age tend after their little farm, and penelope's younger brother elliot, whose wife patricia, a muggle too, bore him a lively little daughter named Phoebe, who in her toddler age ( around the time when roger was finishing school ) is already displaying signs of magic.

PETS

when growing up surrounded by animals, roger never really needed another companion, but for his eleventh birthday his parents bought him a young majestic eagle owl to accompany him to hogwarts. rex remains his close and loyal companion to his day. he is a very astute bird with a great sense of pride that is easily offended.

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generallynerdy · 7 years ago

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Bad At Your Jobs (Spencer Reid X Reader)

Summary: The team thinks you and Spencer would be absolutely adorable together. The thing is, the two of you act as though you’re practically a couple already! You buy each other meals and coffee, almost live at each other’s desks, give each other dorky pet names, and the team can’t take it anymore. But...there’s something off. Is Garcia just paranoid or is there something they’re missing?

Warnings: None (maybe a curse word or two in there)

Key: (Y/N) - your name

Requested by EmmyDrakon: I REALLY dig your Legolas x Reader and your Aragorn x Reader works <3 Also Sherlock. And idk if you watch the show but, if you do, Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds could always use more love :) Sorry I don't have anything more specific; you'll be the first to know when I do ^_^

Note: I love Criminal Minds! And Spencer! Very much so! (Please feel free to request more Criminal Minds, it seems to be a pretty good cure for writer’s block) I swear I’m working on more requests, I just have a lot of said writer’s block right now. :(

Derek Morgan, Penelope Garcia, and Emily Prentiss watch from across the room in disappointment while you lean over Spencer’s chair and wrap your arms around him. They continue to watch you ruffle his hair, laugh, and point things out in the open book he’s holding. Garcia shows further disappointment, sighing as Spencer explains something from the book to you in depth and you listen devotedly.

“That is is disgustingly adorable.” Penelope sighs, leaning onto her arm.

“Mhm,” Derek confirms, stoic while taking a sip of his coffee.

“God, I feel like we shouldn’t even be watching this.” Emily huffs, looking away.

As they all express their agreement, a certain blonde agent appears beside them, holding a new set of case files. She glances at her friends, confused, before following Penelope’s gaze to you and Spencer. She smiles fondly and turns back to the trio to question them. “What’s going on?”

“Look at them,” Penelope muses, “So young, so sweet, so-”

“Blind.” Emily scoffs, lifting a coffee mug to her lips.

Derek scoffs just as his co-worker did, “They’re practically a couple already. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised neither’s asked the other out yet.” Emily concurs, considering how well the two of you fit together.

J.J laughs before her eyes widen and she looks at her friends incredulously. “You guys can’t be serious.” They all look at her bemusedly, completely stumped at what could possibly be wrong about their shipping habits. “Spencer and (Y/N)-”

“J.J.” Aaron Hotchner calls from far off, to which the woman immediately makes her way over to him.

Penelope sighs again, Derek echoing her actions. “I don’t get it. Every time we’ve tried setting them up, it hasn’t worked.”

“Yeah!” Emily chimes in, “Like that time with the closet!”

“6 hours in a closet with each other and they don’t do a thing.” Derek rolls his eyes, clearly upset at Reid’s lack of game.

During this exchange, Penelope is oddly quiet as she watches one of the higher ups approach you and Spencer. The two of you separate quickly when the agent shows up, but he still reprimands you for some reason before leaving. When he disappears, you sit down in your own chair and go back to work. However, you reach behind you and grab Spencer’s hand in yours, letting your intertwined hands hang there for all the world to see.

Penelope’s jaw drops 3 feet. “Oh my God.”

The others follow her gaze and let their own surprise show through. Emily chokes on her coffee, “They’re already dating?!”

“Engaged actually.” Hotch appears next to the table, J.J beside him.

“Hotch, you knew about this?” Derek questions.

J.J. jumps in, “He and Rossi had a bet about how long it would take you to find out, actually.”

Emily looks offended, “You bet on us doing our jobs.”

“We bet on you being bad at your jobs.” David Rossi arrives, prepared with a sassy comment, as always.

There’s some silence while everyone turns their attention back to you and Spencer. Spencer says something long-winded, but you interrupt him with a small comment that makes him smile like a bigger dork than he already is. You smile to yourself, entwining your fingers tighter with his, completely unaware of the team watching. They all can’t help but smile at the two of you, your hope and happiness bringing them the same emotions that will get them through this stressful day.

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.”

-William Shakespeare

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likethetailofacomet · 6 years ago

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Dance Again

Claire makes her debut at court and has an interesting conversation with his royal highness.

(hey guys, no heartbreak in this one!)

tagging: @sleepwalkingelite @zaffrenotes @nekkidmolerat @ooo-barff-ooo

“Claire! Over here!” Maxwell was near the front of the entry hall, jumping up and down to be seen over the tops of people’s heads, waving his arms wildly.

Claire navigated the crowded entry way, weaving around noble ladies and their sponsors and advisors. It was like being afloat in a sea of gowns, each one more intricately detailed than the last. Looking around, she momentarily forgot her disappointment in the way things had been going since she landed in Cordonia, and she found herself smiling. The rich colors, the jewels, the beading and embroidery- she felt as though she were strolling through a fairy tale or a museum or a piece of art. She’d never seen a spectacle quite like this.

“Maxwell, “ she said breathlessly when she reached him, “this is amazing! I mean, it’s ridiculously over the top and extravagant and how could anyone live like this every day, but…” she looked around again, wide eyed, “but for tonight it’s beautiful.” A smile skipped across her red tinted lips.

Maxwell returns her smile with an even bigger grin. “And so are you! Look at you in that dress! Talk about wow. Liam’s eyes are going to drop out of his royal head when he sees you!”

Claire still hadn’t told Maxwell that she had no interest in pursuing Liam. It wasn’t that he wasn’t kind or handsome, and he could obviously provide for her and any family that they would have. It was that she couldn’t imagine living in this world of gowns and gold for the rest of her life. It was beautiful and charming now, but she could see how it could become strangling and suffocating, always stuffing herself into proper ballroom attire, worrying about which fork to use and if it will offend someone if she’s wrong, feeling pressure to have children so that the throne has an heir…it all seemed too much to wrap her brain around. She needed short skirts and city nights, hot summers at the shore. She needed jogs through the park and mornings wasted at coffee shops reading books and listening to music. She needed passion and freedom- she was an eagle, not a parakeet, she needed to fly free. Changing the subject, she asked, “Who are all these women? Are they all Cordonian?”

“Well, most of them, yes.” He points to a tall, elegant but fiercely intimidating woman to their left. Her gown is red with black lace. Diamond encrusted swords dangle from her ears. “That’s Duchess Olivia Nevrakis of Lythikos. She’s an old childhood friend of Prince Liam’s and she can be…”Maxwell thinks for a way to describe Olivia accurately but delicately. “Sharp,” He comes up with, shrugging. Claire is pretty sure that she knows what he means. She watches as Olivia snaps at her advisor with a scowl.

“Those two ladies standing together are Lady Penelope and Lady Kiara,” he nods his head towards a thin, pale woman with jet black hair tucked into an intricate bun, and a shorter, olive skinned woman with supermodel curves. The olive skinned woman turned towards them and Claire was taken aback by her exotic beauty. “Penelope, the taller one, is the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Portavira and Kiara is the daughter of Cordonia’s most well respected diplomat and one of our most famed artists. She speaks seven languages.” Claire considered the two women as they chatted jovially to one another. They seemed friendly, at least, and hardly as intimidating as Olivia.

“Over there in the pink dress is Lady Hana Lee. She’s not Cordonian, like you. Her father is an important businessman in Beijing, China. I don’t know much about her, but I’ve heard she’s one of the most talented and well educated ladies to ever come to court.” Hana seemed to be the only other one there who looked as wide-eyed as Claire was. She had a warm smile on her face and her eyes looked genuinely kind. Claire hadn’t had any close female friends in years, but something instantly told her that Hana would be a friend to her. It was oddly comforting, even if they hadn’t met yet.

“And then there’s me, daughter of no one and purveyor of fine burgers and beers,” Claire joked.

“Hey, I meant it when I said I thought you could shake this place up, Claire, and not just in a party way.”

“Oh, really? And in what other way were you thinking?”

“You shouldn’t discount the importance of having a real, down to earth everyday kind of person here at court to balance things out. That’s part of why Liam treasures his friendship with Drake so much. He keeps him grounded and reminds him to think about the common civilians as well as the politically driven nobles. He’s always eager to get involved with disaster relief, community outreach, that sort of thing, he just hates all of the glitz. Don’t tell Drake I told you that, though. If he found out I was tainting his reputation as an uncaring brute, he’d not be too happy with me.” He winked.

Claire frowned. “Why is Drake so…” she trailed off trying to find the right word.

“Grumpy? Difficult? Surly? Cantankerous?” Maxwell rattled off synonyms.

“All of the above,” Claire said with an eye roll in a deflated voice.

Maxwell shrugged. “He keeps to himself a lot. Not a big sharer. I know he’s been through a lot because Liam has told me as much, but that is the extent of what I know. Grumpy kind of suits him, though. He’s got the eyebrows for it.”

Claire felt a flash of empathy for the dark, brooding man. She could understand better than most what it was like to have a past that wouldn’t let go of its hold on the present. It seemed as though he had more layers than she thought, and she wondered what more she might learn about him by peeling them back. Stop it, Claire. Don’t go looking for something that isn’t there, she told herself.

Somewhere inside the ballroom a herald had started to announce some of the suitors. Claire watched as Duchess Olivia stalked past her with a confident smile, her head held high making her seem even taller than she was. She greeted the Prince jovially; Claire could see them laughing and smiling but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. A few more ladies were announced and before Claire realized what was happening, she heard her own name called as though through a tunnel. Maxwell nudged her shoulder. “Hey, Lady Berkley, you’re on!”

Claire felt hundreds of eyes on her as she entered the room, all of them trying to determine who she was and how big a threat to their daughters and sisters and nieces she was. Focusing her attention on not tripping in the tight gown, she made her way to the other end of the room where a surprised Liam stood. He was wearing a black suit adorned with the sashes and crests of the Cordonian nobility, and a bemused smirk that twinkled in his soft blue eyes. “Claire? Is that you?” he asked, when she finally reached him.

“Your highness,” she smiled and dipped into what she hoped was a respectful curtsey, though her movement was limited by her gown.

“Lady Claire, while I am pleased to see you again, I do admit that I am rather confused. You’re here to partake in the social season?”

“Yes, House Beaumont is sponsoring me. I know realistically that I’m not really princess material,” she said, “but Maxwell seemed to think that I’d quote, shake things ups a bit, end quote.” She made air quotations and gave him a playful smile.

Liam laughed heartily. “If our night out in New York was any indicator of what your time here will be, I would agree with Maxwell. But Lady Claire, I do have to tell you something and I hope you won’t take it the wrong way…” Claire noticed Liam’s eyes scanning the crowd behind her as though looking for someone. Suddenly the sound of heels clicking on the marble floor behind her made Claire realize that another suitor was approaching, and their time was up. “I’ll find you later, M’lady. We have something to discuss.” With that he kissed her hand and she took her place among the other ladies.

Once all of the suitors had been announced and had greeted the prince in turn, King Constantine made his opening remarks, welcoming them all and sharing his hope that this will be a pleasant and fortuitous social season. Applause followed the King as he left the podium, and the floor officially opened with Prince Liam escorting Duchess Olivia out for a dance.

“Olivia is so lucky,” Lady Hana piped up beside Claire. “The Prince honors her with the first dance.”

“Oui, as Lady Olivia is the highest ranking suitor, it is only proper for her to open the floor.” Kiara explained. “The prince will dance with all of us, Cherie, do not fret.”

Penelope turned to face Claire. “It looked like you and the Prince knew one another, Lady Claire. May I ask how?”

“Penelope!” Kiara gasped, “It is not good form to ask such assumptive questions of another lady at court!” the shock on Kiara’s face almost made Claire burst out with laughter.

“It’s fine, really,” Claire assured an embarrassed Penelope. “I actually met Prince Liam when he came to my bar on the night of his bachelor party.” The puzzled looks on the other ladies faces made Claire go on. “Er... I was his server, and then we went to the beach. Maxwell tracked me down the next morning and now here I am.” She shrugged.

“So you truly aren’t nobility?” Penelope asked. Kiara shaking her head next to her friend, an exasperated look on her face as she gave up on trying to teach Penelope courtly expectations and manners.

“Not unless I missed the memo,” Claire responded.

“How exciting this all must be for you!” Lady Hana exclaimed.

“It’s certainly been…different.”

Just then the song that had been playing came to a close, and Liam made his way over to the group of ladies. “He’s coming this way!” Penelope squeaked. Kiara covertly elbowed her.

“Ladies,” he greeted their group with a bow, to which they all bent their heads and curtsied. “Lady Claire, would you be so kind?” the glint in his eye suggested that he would use their time on the dance floor twofold.

“I would be honored, your highness.” She smiled back and took his arm.

Out on the dancefloor it occurred to Claire that she had no idea how to ballroom dance. A panicked look crossed her eyes making Liam chuckle. “Just follow my lead,” he said. She relaxed and did as she was told and, unsurprisingly, Liam lead her gracefully through the dance.

“You said we needed to discuss something?” Claire said after finally feeling comfortable with the steps.

“Yes indeed. Lady Claire, while I am rather happy to have you here for the social season, and while I do firmly agree with Lord Maxwell that your good hearted presence could be good for Cordonia, I have to tell you that there can be nothing more than friendship between us.”

“Liam, you don’t have to explain. I already know that you need to consider your country when picking your queen, and for what it’s worth I think I would be a terrible queen.” She smiled to show him that she was not upset by his words.

Liam returned her smile with a soft one of his own. “I’m not so sure you’d be terrible, however there is another reason why I cannot choose you.”

Claire winced. She knew that being a commoner and one from another country to boot diminished her chance with the prince. This didn’t bother her, as she hadn’t wanted a chance with him, not romantically, anyway. But this didn’t mean that she wanted to hear a full blown list of reasons why Liam couldn’t lower himself to her level.

“It’s because my best friend in the world is falling for you, Lady Claire, and while I find you rather alluring and exciting, I would never betray Drake that way. He is like a brother to me.”

Claire’s mouth dropped open. “Drake?” she questioned. “All due respect, your highness-“

“Please, I feel that I will be counting you among my close friends soon. When it’s just us, please just call me Liam.”

“Okay, all due respect, Liam, I think you must be out of your mind. Drake has been nothing but sour and rude since I got here.” She frowned.

“You’ve seen him, then?”

Claire let out a breath. “Yes. And Liam, I have a confession to make too. I could never be your queen, not just because of who I am or where I’m from, but because that is not what I came to Cordonia for.” She bit her lip nervously. “I came here for Drake…though now he doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me. He won’t even let me explain that I am not here to chase your crown.”

Liam’s eyebrows flew up and he chuckled.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you feel reduced to your headwear,” she shrugged and he laughed again.

“No need to apologize. You’re hardly the only one to remind me of the motives of many. Now, as far as Drake is concerned, I am not out of my mind,” he paused to give her an amused look. “I happen to know that he was planning on returning to New York after the social season to see you.”

Claire felt a rush of warmth flood her cheeks, her throat tighten, her knees buckle. “What?” she whispered in disbelief.

“The morning we left New York I pulled it out of him. But Claire, Drake has been through quite a lot of heartache in his life, I’m afraid.” A sad look crossed his normally neutral features. “He’s a tough book to crack but I promise that you won’t find a better read on this Earth. Under his prickly exterior he has a good heart. He’s a loyal friend and a decent man in a world of intentions and motives. I will do everything I can to help you reach him. I think you could be exactly what he needs.” Liam spun her outwards, the ballroom flashing before her eyes. As if the world were moving in slow motion she caught a glimpse of him standing at the bar, and for the most fleeting of moments their eyes met. Claire felt a lock open inside her chest as everything she pushed down from the night before came rushing back. Drake’s eyes seemed to soften for a fraction of a second before Liam was spinning her back into his arms as the dance came to an end.

“Lady Claire,” he kissed her hand platonically. “It was a pleasure dancing with you. I hope to see you on the floor again soon, perhaps showing Drake how to dance again.”

#trr #the royal romance #choices #pb #play choices #drake walker #drake x mc #liam x mc #drake x claire #liam x claire #maxwell #hana #kiara #penelope #olivia #the gangs all here #fanfic #trr au #learning to love again

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